Damon held back the groan that wanted to be heard as he tasted Bonnie's lips. She seemed unsure as she kissed him back, subtly not allowing him past her lips. Damon tried to tempt her by drawing soft lines along her closed lips with his tongue, and it almost worked. He felt her body shift toward him a little, her hand finding his where it propped him up on the ground next to her. He pulled away from her mouth to find that hand, seeing a flash of disappointment in her gaze along with unease. His free hand captured her hand and brought it to his lips as he watched her expression; when he gently nipped her fingertips, a soft blush covered her face and her eyes darted away from his, focusing on something over his shoulder, then going back to his eyes, down to her hand, and back to something over his shoulder.
"Am I making you nervous?" he asked softly as he watched her.
She waited a short moment to answer. "Yes," she mumbled.
He looked down toward her legs. "Your leg is healed," he murmured, kissing her hand again before letting it go. "You moved it without realizing."
Bonnie stared at her leg for moment, testing it out and moving it carefully. "Wow," she whispered. "I've known about vampires, and about my being a witch for how long now? And I'm still appalled at how quickly vampire blood heals."
Damon chuckled as he moved down to her leg. "You might want to be a little wary about it, though," he warned as he picked her leg up and used very gentle fingers to probe around the area of the bone that had been broken. The bruising from the break was still there, but had faded to nearly yellow already. "Does this hurt at all?" he asked, looking back up at her to see that her eyes had gone dark. He smiled slightly, looking away and pretending that he didn't know that she was enjoying that touch.
Enjoying, he thought to himself, smiling inwardly as his eyes narrowed. She's enjoying my touch. Damon wasn't sure why that made him feel good.
"It doesn't hurt," Bonnie mumbled, watching him closely. She knew that he knew that his touch felt good on her skin, though she wasn't planning on talking about it. She was too fixated on that fact that his large hands that could cause so much pain were being very, very gentle. She'd never understood that realization in books—she'd started at an early age reading romance novels and had read the "large hands being gentle" thing multiple times. Now she understood how it could be…dare she think it…arousing. Bonnie gnawed on her bottom lip and paused when she tasted Damon there.
"You okay?" Damon asked as he watched her battle emotions. She was adorable when she was undecided. He'd given up trying to shield thoughts from himself about her. Dammit, this girl…this woman in front of him was adorable.
Bonnie shook her head. "Still a little…"
Damon watched her try to decide on the word she couldn't think of. "About the witches in the house or about me?" he asked.
"The witches," she mumbled. "And you. And me."
Damon smiled slightly and crawled back up to her. He sat next to her though not touching. He would let her get used to the thought of a relationship, and when she was ready, he would let her come to him. Women usually went after him anyway, but with Bonnie it was different. He knew what he wanted with her, and he was determined not to screw this up.
"I think I'm ready to go home," Bonnie said quietly, looking up at Damon. He was watching her out of the corner of his eyes.
Damon nodded. "I'll drive your car," he told her.
"What about your car?" she asked, looking confused.
"I can walk from your house to mine," he assured her, reaching for her hand but thinking the better of it.
"I won't break, you know," she said as he put his hand back where it had been. She reached over to his hand and picked it up, letting their fingers twine together. "My ancestors are probably very pissed off at me right now."
Damon ducked his head when Bonnie looked away from him. "You can say no," he said softly, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand. "If you don't want—"
She put her other hand over his mouth. "I know I can say no," she said. "Don't think I won't. But…I'm okay with this." She lifted their twined hands.
Damon pulled the hand over his mouth down and kissed her knuckles before letting it go. "Good. I won't feel like I'm pressuring you then."
Bonnie gave him a confused look, then shook her head. "This is all knew for me, the good Damon. I'm expecting you to make a joke or be incredibly sarcastic like you usually are."
Damon grinned. "There are other facets to the diamond that is Damon Salvatore," he said regally, putting a hand over his chest.
Bonnie smiled as Damon stood up and pulled her to her feet. She rested her weight on her newly-healed leg carefully. It held and felt like it hadn't even been broken. She really wanted to pretend to fall over though, just to see if Damon would catch her.
"Still good?" he asked, one of his hands poised behind her back and the other near her arm to catch her if she did fall. Bonnie smiled; of course he would catch her. She took a step, confident that her leg wouldn't give out.
She was wrong. She collapsed the second time she let her weight go to that leg. Damon caught her right away, almost exactly when she collapsed. He lifted her in his arms, cradle style, and smiled when she looked at him. There was a stunned look on her face.
"How did you catch me so fast?" she asked.
"Vampires hear better than you think we do," he told her as he walked forward. "The muscles in your leg aren't totally up to speed, and I can hear that better than you can feel it."
Bonnie looked enlightened. "Jeez," she mumbled. "Do you hear like that all the time?"
He shook his head. "Only if I'm focusing hard on it. I wanted to make sure I caught you in case your leg wasn't up to it."
"Oh," she murmured, draping her arm over his shoulders. "Well, thanks."
Damon chuckled. "My pleasure."
Bonnie opened the car door when they got to the passenger side, and Damon set her on the seat carefully. He shut the door and flashed to the driver's side. Bonnie laughed when he tried to sit in the seat but couldn't because Bonnie had fixed the seat for her height. When Damon finally slid into the seat, he grimaced as he fixed the mirrors.
"Your car is tiny," he told her.
Bonnie grinned. "That's what I like about it."
"Seatbelt," he ordered. "If I get us into a crash, I have a good chance of living. You don't."
Bonnie made a face as she pulled the strap across her shoulder. Damon started the car and zoomed down the driveway.
"Please don't hurt my baby," she pleaded to him, rubbing her hand on the dashboard in front of her.
Damon chuckled. "I'll do my best," he said dryly. He rested his right elbow on the center console and offered her his hand. She hesitated before threading her fingers through his.
The car ride was quiet and surprisingly comfortable. The radio was set to a classic rock channel, and Bonnie knew some of the songs to sing along with; Damon knew all of them and sang along as well.
"Are you still okay?" Damon asked as they entered Mystic Falls.
Bonnie nodded. "For the most part," she mumbled.
"For the most part?" Damon repeated, pulling into a vacant parking lot all of a sudden. "What do you mean?" He parked the car and turned the radio off, turning to her.
She shrugged, looking away from him. Damon reached over to pull her chin back toward him. "Tell me," he murmured when she met his eyes.
"I still feel like a rebound," she mumbled.
Damon sighed, closing his eyes. "What can I do to persuade you otherwise?"
She shrugged. "Tell me something you wouldn't tell anyone else, not even Elena or Katherine."
Damon didn't pause. "Every time I see Katherine, a little piece of me breaks off. It feels as if the past is rushing back and I'm in desperate love with her again. After I see her, I hole up in my room, sitting in the spot you found me, nursing a bottle of booze to drown out the sorrows of the memories she brings back and the rejection she makes me feel. I want to get rid of this constant feeling of rejection from both of them. I want to feel something for someone else, something that will make me forget about the two females that have plagued me all my vampiric life.
"Katherine's presence…she tears a hole in my chest the size of her fist. I don't understand why it happens or why I can't get over the two of them. Maybe it's the constant reminder of the feelings I have for them." A look of disgust flitted over his face.
Bonnie nudged him. "What feelings?" she asked softly.
"Hate," he muttered. "Loathe. Disgust." He paused. "Love." He sighed deeply. "Yeah, I still love her. How screwed up is that?"
Bonnie didn't laugh, though laughter was what Damon had been looking for. "She was your first love, wasn't she?" she asked.
Damon nodded. "Then Elena…and the hole just never goes away. Sometimes it feels like it's ok again, but at the same time, I feel like just Elena's name, or her voice, could tear me in half."
Bonnie nodded slowly, shifting in her seat so she could reach across the arm rest and take Damon's hand. She squeezed it gently. "This hole in your chest…I've never repaired a broken heart." She paused. "But I'm willing to help mend it a little at least."
Damon smiled at her, squeezing her hand. "Thank you, Bonnie," he murmured, drawing her hand away from her lap and to his lips. "You've been mending it without knowing it, actually."
She blushed a little before pulling her hands from his and cupping his chin, tugging him gently over to her.
Damon tensed suddenly, just a hair before their lips touched, and pulled away, a grim look on his face. "Get ready to be scolded," he warned, nodding toward her side of the door.
Bonnie turned around to look out her window and groaned. Sheriff Forbes had just pulled into the vacant parking lot in her squad car. Caroline's mom got out of the police car and walked over to Bonnie's car with a business expression on her face.
Bonnie opened the door to step out. "Hi, Sheriff Forbes."
"Bonnie?" The sheriff was surprised to find Bonnie just sitting in a parking lot. "Are you alright? What are you doing here? You should be getting home now."
Bonnie heard the driver's side door open. "Sorry, Sheriff," Damon drawled as he stepped out, looking at the sheriff over the top of the car. "It's my fault for keeping her out so late." Even though it wasn't all that late…
The shock on Sheriff Forbes' face was priceless. "Damon," she said, sounding surprised. "Um, I'll trust you to get Bonnie home now." She nodded at him and gave Bonnie a small surprised look before going back to her car.
Bonnie looked over the top of her car at Damon, who was fuming. "What's your problem?" she asked, her voice playful.
"She interrupted you about to kiss me for a change," Damon grumbled, slipping back inside the car. Bonnie joined him and reached over to cup his chin again. They kissed for a few seconds before Damon pulled away. "Should get you back," he muttered.
"Why was Sheriff Forbes so surprised that you were with me?" Bonnie mused aloud.
Damon gave her an amused Damon-esque look, eyebrow raised. "I'm shirtless, remember?" he drawled in that voice, grinning when Bonnie's face flamed.
"Let's get you home before we get yelled at by Caroline's mom," Julian said softly, brushing his finger over her lip.
She smiled shyly, agreeing.
Damon pulled into her driveway a few minutes later and kissed her hand before getting out and flashing to her door, pulling it open before she had the chance.
"My lady," he murmured, offering his hand to her.
She grinned, giving him her hand and let him pull her out. His arm slipped around her waist gently, making sure that she wouldn't fall before he let her go.
"You okay?" he asked, helping her walk forward.
"I think so," Bonnie answered, looking down at her feet. "I feel a little wobbly, but I think I'll be okay."
"I'll help you to the door, just in case."
Bonnie looked up at the badass vampire helping her to the door and smiled inwardly; she felt so special when he looked at her.
Bonnie unlocked the front door and leaned against the doorframe, smiling up at him. "Thanks, Damon," she said quietly.
He smiled widely and leaned in, stopping when he felt the barrier block him. His eyes narrowed slightly and crooked his finger at Bonnie.
She grinned and leaned toward him too, letting him kiss her once.
"You're not going to invite me in, are you?" he murmured, nuzzling her nose.
She shook her head. "Some time soon, though," she mumbled, looking down shyly. "Promise."
Damon smiled. "I'll hold you to it. But for now, I'll let you alone."
"Okay," she mumbled, reaching for him and grabbing his t-shirt. She gave him one more kiss before whispering, "Bye."