You impress me

Bella looked at the table with her heart racing in her chest, it almost felt like a teenage date sitting here and waiting for Nicolas to return.

Though she felt he was hiding things from her, that sorrowful breath he took in the garden, was he sad? If so why? She had this feeling in her heart, a deep longing to be with him, she didn't even feel it around Esteban, her relationship with the wolf in the past so normal and worry-less it felt like she got used to Esteban, and there wasn't any real sparks.

Now though, in her current situation with this world of hunters, can she say she finally found a piece of heaven again? A situation she can call normal? For two years her own voice sang to her, she never once thought of meeting anyone.

How could she? In her mind the only people she thought she'd fit in with are werewolves, yet here she sat ready to eat a meal with a human, Nicolas, his past deeds around her warmed her up so much, how he stopped to pick her up, kept her away from the authorities, even came after her when she got kidnapped.

Why else? She thought worriedly, would he come back for her? He could have just left and be on his way, but instead he came after her, to try save her from the evils of humanity.

It was her life, somewhere down the road Belladonna knew she would be captured, kidnapped, even shot, her luck would have ran out eventually, man kind gets smarter every day and it was only a matter of time.

But here was Nicolas... She felt her heart flutter when he came back in, his smile to her as he rounded the table and sat "Sorry to keep you waiting"

"Its fine" she said but her mind still wandered, silently watching him pour them each a glass of wine, then held hers over.

"I hope this isn't too much for you?" He asked seeing her face still blushed and her lips sealed.

"Not at all..." She wanted to say the truth, this is a dream, the first dream come true after the five years of nightmares, she didn't want to spoil it with unnecessary talk, all Bella wanted, was to sit and eat with him, talk, drink wine, like a normal person.

"You're quiet suddenly?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, I just never thought I'd have moments like this again, my past was so dark I thought this could only be a dream" she said looking around the well dressed table "I'm still figuring out if I am in fact dreaming"

"Well, this is no dream, I mean, I'm definitely not a man of any woman's dreams" he said and chuckled.

Bella warmly smiled "Don't underestimate yourself Nic, one of the reasons I thought I'd never be here was because in my mind I always thought I need to be around werewolves to be normal... But you just proved to me otherwise"

He sat forward and took a sip, then slowly placed the glass down "Bella... Do you mind?"

"Mind what?"

"Being with me?"

"Not at all Nicolas! Why do you even ask?"

He streeled his finger over the rim of the glass and it softly cooed in the silent room "I want to be with you, I'll say it to you straight, I would like to go into the future with you"

"Me too" she answered.

"But, you say it so quickly, isn't there any doubt?"

She took the glass and drank "You're the one doubting arent you? Is it because I'm a werewolf? Is it because I'm a monster!?" She said pushing herself away from he table.

"No! The only doubt I have is in myself!" He said as she rose.

"What!? Doubt you'll keep a straight face when I transform into that animal!?"

"That I can be a man for you!" He said and she stopped her movement.

"What do you mean by that? You're a man, you have a dick!"

"Normally a man should protect her, guard her, care and look after her, if I tell you I can't give you that, what would you say?"

She slowly sat down again and shimmied her chair in "Is that what bothers you? You can't protect me from the world?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have to" she said picking her glass up again.

"But I want to" he said.

She smiled warmly "Don't charm me"

"Its the truth, I wish I could take away all your pain, all the worries you have, your sorrow, your fear, I want to make you happy... If, we continue this..."

She smiled leaning in "In a small manner of ways you already did all that Nic"

"What?"

"You saved me from the cops... Twice... You kept me safe by booking that crummy motel room that many of my pursuer's would miss, you came to rescue me from kidnappers, you even joined forces with a vampire to do so, heck set your arm on fire! Who even does that for a normal person! You not only did it for a complete stranger, you did it for a werewolf... Nic... You impress me"

He took a gasp as she reached her hand over the table and took his "Please, don't doubt yourself? You're doing it for me, you are playing all the correct notes, and I love dancing to the strings... You, you make me happy, you give me a reason to see a happier future, sure they can all still chase me, but I'll find sanctuary in you, I'll find peace next to you, just... Allow me in?"

He turned his hand and allowed her to clasp it, then closed it around those petit fingers, feeling her skin so soft in his palm "You nosed your way I to my heart somehow Bella, and I would like to spend more time with you, to find out why"

She smiled "I used my secret weapon"

He frowned seeing a sense of playfulness about her "Oh? Secret weapon hey?"

"Yes, have you figured it out?"

He ran his tongue over his teeth grinning "Its that pistol of a body you have"

She gasped "No! You were watching me in this dress weren't you!?"

"No! Okay I peeked, I said it before and I'll say it again, you have a smoking hot body Bella"

She giggled but scoffed "Seriously!? Is that all?"

He took his wine glass "I'm joking with you, your personality is better than any human woman I've ever met, and that's a promise"

"Oh... Thought for a second you're secretly a pervert"

"Sorry, if I snooped"

She sat back widening her shoulders, Nicolas saw the magic that dress made with her body, pressing tight against her chest allowing her breasts to slightly bloom out the top, he bit his lip blinking back to her sly eyes "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"Maybe" she said picking up her glass "Maybe its okay for you to look right? Its a werewolf thing" she said shrugging.

"That so? Care to educate me?"

She smiled "A young human woman will obviously dress skimpy to attract men, knowing they look, but then as time passes she'd get engaged, marry, have children, her way of dressing, moving and living her life goes on normally, she has her husband by her side and is happy for that, but a werewolf is different..."

Nicolas felt this might be an elaboration of what Deno meant wolves being picky lovers, he was about to hear the truth from her mouth, not her sworn enemy... Then again poor Bella had more than just a sworn enemy, even if vampires were just that, she had the humans to fit that bill just as well.

"How much different can you be? I mean I said it before, I saw nothing but a normal woman so far Bella?" He said.

She smiled "If I found an attraction to you, I want you to look at me, I want you to absorb me with your eyes and your fantasies, I want you to lust over me, it makes me feel good, I feel noticed when your eyes gaze at me as you do sometimes.

When you decide that I'm yours, you should understand I should be your only one... I want your fantasies to be for filled, its my duty then as your soul mate to keep you interested in me, because I won't turn my back on you... but if I catch you looking at other women... I'll gouge your eyes out..." She said but he saw her suddenly blink surprised at her own words "Uh~"

"Are you okay?" He asked flabbergasted.

She was red as the wine "I'm, I'm fine"

Nicolas thinks she might have over spoken but bloody hell what a speech! He could make out she didn't mean to say what she just said, it must be something about this surge day Deno spoke off, and despite the gouging out of the eyes part Nicolas has never heard a woman so confidently announce what she wanted from a man, and confidently make it clear she'll be everything he ever wanted.

His heart pounded his chest, Belladonna was so full of surprises he couldn't wait to see what happens around her next.