A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been following this fic. I'm so grateful for all the feedback and support.
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I don't wanna lose you, don't even own you. I just wanna stay here, until never dawns.
-Corinne Bailey Rae
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Bonnie yanked her mouth from Damon's, her hand flying to his parted lips, clamping tightly over his mouth. She couldn't betray him, she couldn't betray Kol. This, everything that she was suddenly feeling, this wildfire, this new maddening rhythm that was altering her rattling bones, changing their tenor, this, him, his lips. He was gasoline.
"Bonnie!" he called as she bolted, running from his room again.
She bounded down the hallway littered with room service trays, hurdling over a room service cart that had tipped over in the middle of the long passage. Sprinting past security, she kept her head down, hair swung over her face and she had to remind herself that she had done nothing wrong.
She was free and single.
The All access tag suddenly felt heavy around her neck. She wasn't betraying Kol, how could she betray him when they were no longer together. Bonnie dashed through the casino, past a labyrinth of high pitched slot machines, staggering gamblers collecting their winnings from cashiers and hissing roulette wheels. She forced her finger on the button for the eighteenth floor, hitting it repeatedly. Come on. Come on. Her heart was punching at the wall of her tight chest, a stampede that was cutting off her air supply. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think and then as the elevator doors began to close, someone jammed his foot in the opening, prying the doors open with his hands.
"Damon"
He stood there, chest heaving, cheeks flaming and fists clenched at his side. Bonnie retreated until the wall behind her collided with her back. Stepping inside, the doors closed behind him and he stalked the edge of the elevator like an animal circling its prey. Finally, he was hovering over her, his hands placed on either side of her head.
"You're a coward "he said with a lowly growl.
"I'm not a coward" Bonnie thrust out her chin, digging her heels into the soft carpet beneath their feet.
"Prove it,' he said scathingly brushing a strand of hair from her flushed face, she gasped back a shaky whimper as his fingertips grazed her neck.
"Stop it!" she screamed pushing him back" I don't have to prove anything to you Damon"
"Not to me' He came again, pressing closer to her, so close that his breath fanned her neck "prove it to yourself" One hand cradled the back of her head, pushing her against the wall, the other groped for her belt, pulling her hips toward him.
"Stop it!" she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him back again but he bounded for her all over again, a renewed glint in his eyes.
"Let it go," he muttered burying his face in her tousled hair. His hand cupped her chin, angled her face toward his and he studied her wild eyes "this fear of wanting something you think you shouldn't be wanting" he murmured, questing to her hips, his hands pulled her closer "Finish what you started Bonnie"
He guided her unsteady hands around his neck, her fingers looped around the soft, tangled hair at the nape of his neck.
"Stop it!" she cried again, regaining what little composure she had left but he relented, anchored to the spot taking her strikes and feeding off them.
"Bonnie-"he began as he drew back before she bucked up, grasping him by the front of his shirt, she yanked him toward her with such great force that his chest slammed against her breasts. Everything thumped around her, her rioting pulse pounding inside every single inch of her as she kissed him, open mouth, tangled fingers and gasping inhales.
Bonnie fisted her hands in his hair, urging him deeper into her mouth, revelling in the heated strokes of his chasing tongue and the nips of his teeth. She felt his arm snake around her back, his warm hand under her shirt, calloused fingers hot against her spine. The universe, the elevator, everything was off balance, the world spinning off its axis; she latched on tighter to him, firmer, riding the ripple of their kiss.
No gravity.
No air.
No sound.
She was falling.
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Once upon a time, a bad girl had a maddening love affair with rock n roll. It wasn't the soft flutter of quaking wings but rather the ripple of the entire universe. The fire in their kisses devoured them, burned them clean.
With Damon she felt free, she thought watching him strum his guitar as he sat on a bar stool, his back to the waking sun. In that acid yellow light, the needle marks on his arms disappeared into a blazing silver. He dropped his head, fidgeting with the strings before he looked up again, fingers raking his hair as a smile teased his lips.
Remnants of their dinner from last night was still scattered around the table-lobster shells, olive pits and bottles of beer. They were lazy, caught in a beautiful languid trance, strumming to the rhythm of their own lust song. Bonnie's hair spilled down in loose curls as she pulled off her tee-shirt.
"I could get used to this, "he smirked, his eyes roving over her body, her glossy brown skin "you in my bed, whenever, however…"
"That's the plan" she smiled biting her bottom lip, beckoning him to her.
"You wouldn't tease a guy, would ya?" he smiled waggling his eyebrows, leaning down over her supine figure, his guitar long forgotten.
"You talk too much" she whispered dragging his face toward her, fingers woven into his dark hair and kissed him. Damon fisted his shirt, tugging it over his head "Why don't you just lie back and let me do all the work today?" he breathed against her warm mouth, his strong thighs straddling her slender thighs.
"And let you have all the fun?" she rolled him over, pinning his wrists down to the bed, fighting for position "to hell with that" she chuckled before grazing his neck with her teeth. Snarling, Damon swung himself over her again, pinning her hands on the bed. He was firm, hot and anxious with his kisses, chasing the heat and warmth of her tongue. Bonnie gasped, a husky titter escaping her lips when he dragged her denim down her squirming thighs.
"Ah-ah-ah, you forgetting something" she teased, pulling him up and kissing him again without hesitation. Painfully, he tore himself from her kiss, waggling his eyebrows as he plunged his hand inside the nightstand drawer. Dragging her teeth over his earlobe, nails scraping down his back, she was relentless in her exquisite ache for him.
They kissed again and again and again until Las Vegas was a blur of neon forest and flame.
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In Boston, Damon knew he was addicted.
In the too bright, over-exposed Boston mornings, she was his adrenalin. She was his rapid heartbeat, the twitch in his muscles after that first sublime shot and he was hooked.
His warm breath teased her awake and Damon felt her move as her hair tickled his nose. He was numb, his arm and shoulder stiff from cradling her all night and he didn't care, he loved it. Bonnie's arm was still draped around his waist, her lush body warm against his.
"Morning" he murmured, brushing his nose along the soft line of her jaw, touching her cheek with his hair.
"Hmm, hey" Instinctively, she cupped a hand over her mouth "morning breath," she mumbled against her hand with a contagious grin.
"Yeah, you are kind of gamey," he smiled pinching her nose.
"I love this, being with you like this" she whispered, tracing her fingers along the jagged edges of his needle marks and Damon flinched. He felt naked when she did that to him, rousing his wound with her scorching angelic touch. She was far from a saint with her sailor mouth and tempestuous temper but she was his storm to chase and tame, she was his rock n roll to love and understand. She lay there breathing beside him, her hair a black tangled mess and her flesh warm in all that amber light flooding into the hotel room.
Suddenly her mobile phone rang from somewhere in the expansive hotel room with drawn blinds. He watched her as she ran across the room, rummaging through piles of things, laughing and searching for the source of that infuriating noise.
Damon laughed, launching a soft pillow at her. She dodged his weak attack, head thrown back in a body quaking laugh.
'Yeah!" she laughed into the phone. Damon heard the tapering of her beautiful laugh, saw the rush of blood creeping into her flushed cheeks, the slack in her shoulders, and the vigorous shake of her head. She tossed the phone on the littered table, staggering to find a seat to sink into. She was pale, all of her juddering.
"What's wrong?" he asked leaping from the rumpled bed.
"There's been an accident" she replied looked ashen, gingerly covering herself with a nearby throw "it's Kol" she said meekly. Damon moved so fast that by the time she choked her first tear, he was there, arms draped around her shivering body as Bonnie began to cry.
