"…and then Mrs. Flowers told us that next week we're taking a field trip to the aquarium in Richmond. That's where they keep a whole bunch of fish. Maybe even some sharks!" Nadia explains excitedly.
"Sharks?" Damon repeats with a smile. "Really? Wow."
Nadia nods happily. "She said we need to bring some money for our lunch," she adds as she dips a breadstick into marina sauce and bites into it.
At work, he'd spent all day watching the minutes tick by on the clock, wanting time to fly so he could get to this moment with his girls.
Damon looks up, spotting Elena as she makes her way out of the bathroom near the front of the restaurant. He watches as she moves across the room, the light catching her eyes and seeming to make her glow from within.
She's changed out of the clothes he'd seen her at work, and the dark blue dress she is wearing– the kind that ties at the waist gives him all sorts of ideas about the knot... Elena is stunning and he can't take his eyes off her, even as Nadia continues to babble excitedly about her day at school.
"I'm starving!" Elena exclaims as she smiles at Damon when he pulls the chair out for her.
"I told Daddy that we were hungry enough for the extra large," Nadia informs her. "And we got sausage and cheese."
"Sounds yummy!" Elena shakes her head, laughing, and he is taken with the rosy glow in her cheeks, the way her eyes always seem to sparkle.
Their eyes meet across the table, and electricity snaps and arcs between them. Elena smiles, slow and feline, and he feels a tempting wave of heat flood through him.
"My friend Caroline and I like Hawaiian pizza. It has ham and pineapple."
Nadia wrinkles her nose. "Pineapples on pizza? Yuck."
The waiter appears at the table then, presenting their enormous pizza, and Nadia nearly falls out of her chair as she leans over to get a better look.
"It's so big," she declares, wide-eyed. "Almost as big as the tires on Daddy's car!"
Damon and Elena both laugh, nodding in agreement.
"Well, I hope you're hungry," he tells Nadia. "Because you're going to have to eat at least–"
He was cut off by the buzz his cell phone makes as it vibrates in his pocket. With a frown, he pulls it from his jeans. "Sorry," he apologizes. "Hello? Yes, this is he…is he okay? Alright, I'll be right there."
"What's wrong?" Elena asks as Damon ends the call.
"Enzo's been in an accident. I have to go to the hospital."
Elena looks at him with concern. "Is it serious?"
"Bonnie said something about possible head trauma…" He looks over at Nadia. "I'm sorry. Your Uncle Enzo is hurt so I've got to go check on him and Aunt Bonnie. Okay?"
She bobs her head. "Don't worry, we'll save you some pizza."
Damon laughs sadly, reaching out to stroke her hair.
"Why don't you go see Enzo and I'll meet you at the hospital once I drop Nadia off with Stefan," Elena suggests.
"You don't have to do that."
"I want to, Damon."
Nearly twenty minutes later, Damon stands inside Enzo's hospital room watching as Bonnie fusses over him. He has a black eye and he looks considerably less than fine.
"What happened?" Damon asks.
"The road was wet. The car skidded," he sighs and kisses Bonnie's hand. "I hit a utility pole. I wasn't going fast."
"Dr. Parker said that you hit your head on impact…that you were unconscious when the EMTs got there with the ambulance," Bonnie chides him.
Enzo cradles her hand in between his. "But I woke up after a few minutes. I know the year, the president…I'm fine, sweetheart."
"You've got rib fractures," Bonnie declares. "And a mild concussion as well. That's not fine."
"But I will be," Enzo scoffs. "Aren't you supposed to be having dinner with Elena and Nadia tonight?" he asks, locking eyes with Damon.
"Yes, but Bonnie called, of course, I'm going to come."
There is a moment of silence before Enzo clears his throat. "You like Elena so don't blow your chance," he continues. "Sometimes there's a moment to seize and if you don't do it, if you hesitate for even a minute, no matter how noble or self-sacrificing you think your reasons are, it's lost for good."
Damon shakes his head. "That's your concussion talking…"
"It may be, but that's my two cents...and now I'm butting out..." Enzo laughs softly, closing his eyes.
Minutes later, Damon hugs Bonnie and backs out of the room. He stands in the hallway for a moment, feeling shaky and out of sorts. It is barely eight o'clock but the whole night – from the moment he'd met Elena and Nadia at the restaurant to leaving Enzo – feels like forever.
Time is strange, Damon thinks. How it always moves slowly when you want it to pass and breezes by when you want it to linger. In the end, there never seems to be enough of it.
With a sigh, he looks up and spots Elena walking toward him.
"Is he all right?" she asks.
Damon reaches out and cups a hand around her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "He has a mild concussion and a couple of cracked ribs. They're keeping him overnight for observation. Bonnie's staying here."
She sighs in relief.
Damon lowers his head, studying the tiles on the floor for a moment before looking to meet her concerned gaze. "I'm sorry I left, Elena. Bonnie's always been there for me through thick and thin, I had to be here but you didn't have to come."
"And like I said earlier this is where I want to be."
She finds herself wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. Loving someone like this – wholly and completely, wildly and passionately – is both terrifying and thrilling, and she only hopes that Damon feels it too.
He presses his lips to the top of her head, his breath ruffling her hair, and they rock together like they are the only two people in the world.
"How's Nadia?" he asks after a moment.
Elena tilts her head back to look up at him. "She said to tell you that we saved like three-quarters of the pizza for you," She tells him with a smile.
He looks down at her for a long, silent moment, his expression so warm and tender that she feels her chest ache. He leans in and kisses her then, and Elena can feel her heart twisting and tumbling, turning cartwheels as her mouth moves against his.
"Why don't you go home? I'm going to check in on Bonnie once more...I'll stop by...if that's okay?"
Elena nods, latching onto his smile like a lifeline. "Sure. Of course."
His grin widens, and he bends to kiss her once more and watches as she heads toward the bank of elevators and steps inside.
Love won't ever be safe. It carries a risk and a leap of faith every day.
By the time he arrives at Elena's house, it's close to ten. As his knuckles rap against the door, Damon is surprised when she opens the door so quickly. The sight of Elena, standing in the dark foyer in her tank top and pajama pants and her hair in a messy ponytail is nearly his undoing. His heart is pounding so hard that he's sure she can hear it.
"Come on in." Elena closes the door, turning to face him. She smiles, though she seems a bit uneasy, fidgeting with the drawstring of her pants.
"You said it would be okay if I stopped."
She shakes her head, looking bemused, and lets out a quiet laugh. "Yes, I've been waiting for you," Elena says as she reaches for him then, wrapping him up in her arms and pressing her face to his chest.
He holds her to him, sliding his fingers against the warm skin of her bare arms and breathing in the clean scent of her hair.
When she smiles, so lovely and wide, the breath trembles out of him in a dizzying rush.
The temptation to kiss her is strong, so he leans in and presses his lips to hers, drinking in the sweet, ripe taste of her like he might never get enough.
Elena giggles against his mouth, trembling in his arms herself.
"I have a bottle of Dom Pérignon Brut Rosé in the fridge," she said. "Caroline gave it to me when I opened the store. We just never got around to drinking it."
She starts to move away from him, but Damon catches her wrist and tugs her back. She tilts her head, staring up at him.
"You might want to hold off on that champagne for just a minute." Damon clears his throat, trying to figure out exactly how to explain it all. "There's something I need to tell you."
Elena furrows her brow, frowning slightly. "Whatever it is, Damon, just say it."
Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulls out the small blue velvet box. He knows the second that Elena sees it because a broken little sob escapes her throat and her eyes shimmer in the scarce light and he can feel her shaking against him. His hands, though, are surprisingly steady.
He opens it and takes the Blue Paraiba Tourmaline ring between his fingers.
"Damon," she gasps, her eyes darting from him to the ring.
"I know we haven't been together all that long, but these last few months have been the best of my life, Elena...You're the only woman I've ever loved," he whispers. "You know that."
She nods tearfully and reaches up to cup his cheek, stroking her thumb against his lower lip.
Damon closes his eyes for a moment, just reveling in the feel of her. He purses his lips against her finger, kissing the skin there.
"Waiting around for some perfect moment that might never come is a waste of time. You run the risk of looking back at your life someday and realizing that it could have been so much more. I don't want that to be us. I don't want to regret anything. I don't ever want you to be one of my regrets, Elena."
Elena smiles, and the breath trembles out of her like a sigh. "I don't want that either," she agrees.
Damon nods, exhaling slowly. "There is nothing in this world – that would make me happier than spending the rest of my life with you and Nadia as a family." He lifts the ring, taken for a moment by the way it reflects the light.
"So, what do you say?" Damon teases. "Will you help me make that dream come true?"
She laughs a nervous, breathless sound. "You're sure about this?"
"More sure than I've ever been of anything in my life."
Elena smiles, so sweetly and happily that Damon feels himself start to tremble.
"Yes," she whispers, bobbing her head excitedly.
Damon swoops in for a kiss then, sweeping her off her feet so unexpectedly that she squeals against his lips. They laugh into each other's mouths as he spins her around the room.
Elena pulls back after a moment, though, regarding him with a breathless, dazed smile.
"This probably goes without saying," she murmured. "But I love you like crazy."
"I'll never get tired of hearing it."
Elena reaches out for him. Her hands cup his face, turning him so he has no choice but to meet her glimmering eyes.
"Come here," she murmurs as she coaxes him toward her, her breath teasing and warm against his face and she leads him to her bedroom.
And then Damon is touching his mouth to hers, her breasts crushing against his chest. She tastes rich and sinfully good.
They barely stop to take the time for breaths. Oxygen seems unnecessary, and Damon feels dizzy like the blood is churning through his body in some kind of whirlwind.
Elena clutches at his shirt, the buttons straining under her iron grip, and she tries to pull him closer, always closer.
Damon shifts, bringing his knee up to rub at the heat between her thighs, when he suddenly feels her dragging him to her bed.
Damon looks at her and his breath catches. Elena is stunning as she stares back at him, panting in the darkness, her sweater falling off one shoulder so the dark, lacy edge of her bra peeks out from beneath.
Elena holds her arms out to him at the exact moment that he starts to move toward her, and they both sigh when he fits himself against her.
Elena turns on her side then, and he watches in as she reaches for something on the bedside table. She lets out a quick breath when she finds it, and as the light from the window catches the object, he realizes that it's a condom. She tucks it beneath the pillow and reaches for Damon once more.
"You're sure?" he asks, even as her mouth traces the line of his jaw.
"Yes," she whispers into the darkness. "I'm sure."
Damon lets out a long, slow breath, and bends to kiss her again.
Elena wraps her entire body around him this time, cradling him against her with her arms and legs, and he rocks against her slowly, the friction so achingly good.
As Damon tastes the delicious, wet inside of her mouth, he forces himself to go slowly.
The last time they'd been together, he'd been raw and possessive. She'd given as good as she got, so he suspects it was something they both needed at the time.
Damon reaches between them, slowly inching the soft fabric of her sweater up her body. She trembles when his fingertips whisp along her ribcage and he finds himself smiling against her mouth.
He tugs her sweater off, dropping it carelessly beside him, and studies her, panting and flushed in her delicate lace bra and jeans. Her skin is golden, almost caramel colored in the faint light, and he traces his tongue along her collar bone, down along the valley between her breasts, closing his eyes at the sweetness of her skin.
Elena fights with the buttons of his shirt, trying to pluck them free even as he makes his way down her body, his lips blazing a hot trail along her belly. She makes a fretting noise deep in her throat and tugs at his hair. "I want you," she moans.
Damon rests his chin on her stomach, just above the waistband of her jeans, and smiles up at her in the darkness. "Shh…" he scolds her teasingly. "Patience…"
Damon bends to undo her jeans, and she sighs, almost in relief, as he slides them from her body. He follows the sleek line of her legs, pressing his lips along her skin from ankle to thigh, touching her gently.
Elena shifts restlessly against the sheets as if the light grazing of his fingertips is almost unbearable, but when he slips them beneath the lace of her panties, touching her where she is hot and wet, her hips nearly launch off the bed.
Damon doesn't want to tease her, not when she is so obviously ready and not when he is in such pain himself, his erection is throbbing demandingly through the layers of his clothing. He shifts up to his knees and starts to work the buttons on his shirt, staring down at her all the while.
Elena is hazy-eyed, with flushed cheeks and a wet, glistening mouth, and when she bites her lip, almost coyly, he feels it in his groin.
He slides the shirt from his shoulders, undoes his jeans, and kicks them off while still watching her.
When Damon finally eases himself back over her, she is trembling again and he feels her nails rake against his back urgently. He stops to take off her bra, savoring the firm ripeness of her breasts.
Elena pulls at his hair and plants her feet flat against the mattress to try to get some leverage.
He doesn't let her move, though, determined to do this slow and easy.
Damon is so hard that it almost hurts, but still, he holds himself back, tugging off her panties with great care.
Elena reaches beneath her pillow and hands him the condom.
Her eyes are feverish. Heat radiates from every inch of her body, and his fingers shake as he rolls it on.
When he looks down at her, the desire and love that softens her expression, Damon can't stop his heart from racing.
Elena reaches for him again, pulling him back toward her. As soon as he feels himself against the warmth between her thighs, he pulls his hips back, then slides forward again, and he is inside her.
Elena's breath rushes out of her in a surprised gasp. "Yes," she moans. "Just like that…"
Elena lifts her hips against him, and that small movement makes him see stars. He can't stop himself from pushing forward and driving himself into her.
She bites her lip, stifling moans every time he shifts, but her eyes fly open suddenly and their gazes lock and for a moment, it is impossible to imagine ever feeling more connected to her.
Her legs wrap around his waist and Damon slides his hand to the small of her back, tilting her hips up so he can control the angle. He knows he's hit the right spot when she cries out, sounding hoarse and desperate.
Damon keeps up the rhythm, knowing it won't be long. When Elena tightens around him, strong as a vice, he slows down, trying to prolong it for her.
Her eyes slip shut as she arches her back against the mattress, and he immediately misses staring into her dark eyes.
It's good, the way they are moving, but it could be better and Damon finds himself rocking back on his heels, keeping his hand at the small of Elena's back so he can drag her with him without slipping out of her.
Elena clings to him, groaning along with him as he pushes deeper inside her to a spot that leaves them both trembling.
Somehow, Damon manages to sit down on the mattress, arranging Elena in his lap so they are eye to eye once more.
No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to catch his breath, particularly when she begins to rise up and down against him, moving at a pace that is somehow too slow and too fast at the same time.
He presses his lips to her throat, licking at her slick skin, and tries to hold back. This needs to last. It feels too good not to.
But then Elena moves faster, grinding against him hard and Damon can't keep his eyes open either.
He buries his face in her shoulder, moaning into the curve of her neck as he feels himself slipping over the edge. Heat grips his body and then Elena does too, and suddenly he is coming, harder and longer than he can ever remember. He shivers with the effort, panting wildly as she continues to milk him for everything he has.
When Damon lifts his face from her shoulder, he can only shake his head.
Elena laughs, running her fingers through his hair. "Yeah," she murmurs breathlessly. "That was the best."
She grins, so lovely and luminous, and the mere sight tightens his chest.
They are still tangled together, all wrapped up in one another, and Damon can't seem to make himself pull away. He reaches out to brush the hair from her eyes, still struggling for words.
"Elena…"
She shakes her head, sighing happily. "You don't have to say anything."
But he wants to. He needs to. And as he looks at her beautiful face, the only words that mean anything come to him in a rush.
"I love you," he whispers.
Her eyes seem to darken, and she tilts her head and bites her lip. Elena rubs her thumbs against his cheeks.
"And I love you. So, so much."
It's not done yet. Thank you all for reading.
Chapter title: Ultimate by Lindsay Lohan from the Freaky Friday soundtrack.
Have a great day.