Hi there! This is a little surprise for my English readers. I wrote this and another One-Shot two years ago for the project 'Moonlight – Best Moments' in a forum and never posted in on another site. But Susan who got my two One-Shots as a birthday present, told me I shall post them for all my other English readers too and even beta read them. And now they are ready and you are able to read them. I hope you'll enjoy them and maybe leave me a little comment. Have a great Sunday, yours Jenna

Temptation (Oneshot to Episode 6)

"Temptations come mostly through doors deliberately left open."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

It was the wrong decision… wrong but yet so right. Wrong, because to hold this warm, squirming, sensuous body in his arms and press it firmly against him, brought Mick's self-control again to an almost unbearable level, nearly torture – right, because he knew this was the only way to cool them both down as quickly as possible and fight the effects of the drug in Beth's bloodstream.

What else could he have done? Let her wait upstairs alone and see what she'd do next? She wouldn't have waited up there long, would have returned and again provoked the beast in him, would have broken down his so laboriously achieved victory over his animal instincts and would have delivered herself up to his wild, instinctual side, defenseless. He wouldn't have been able to resist her again; even now he wasn't sure how long he could continue to endure this torture. The water was indeed cooling their bodies. Not only his senses but also hers could feel every movement of their bodies in a most intensive way; from the way their muscles moved, the skin on skin contact, each heavy breath, every heartbeat… It was as if their bodies were talking to each other, whispered longingly of the bliss they both wanted to give each other and he couldn't help it. His own body betrayed him, fought against him, as his blood flowed into the deeper regions of his body, made his heartbeat and his breathing accelerate and his hunger for her blood, her sweet throbbing blood under the so promisingly soft skin of her neck, soar. Her neck so close to his lips… He need only to bend down a little, press his lips to this wonderfully soft skin, taste it, and caress it with his tongue…

He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth with such pressure the muscles of his jaw began to ache. 'Control… control… control,' pounded with each rapid beat of his heart into his skull, and the next moment inhaled, hissing. Beth had stopped trying to turn around to him. Instead, pushed her firm buttocks against his crotch and uttered a low, pleading "Mick…" that instantly sent a whole bevy of hot-cold showers throughout his body. The tightness in his pants grew, and he cursed himself inwardly. In her hypersensitive state there was simply no way she didn't feel how much she had aroused him with that movement of her body against his. The next even more demanding thrust of her hips proved how right he was with this assumption.

Like many times before, she tried to turn to face him, but the grip of his arms around her was so tight it had prevented her from succeeding.

"I want you, Mick…," she whispered in his direction, now leaning her whole body up against him. A low, tortured groan escaped his lips. The pulsing and throbbing in his pelvic region was just too intense, too painful. His body made another violent attempt at prevailing over his mind.

"It… it's only the drug," he repeated the words he had said so many times now, but this time spoke more to himself than to her. When her repeated plea to be turned by him, changed to wanting to have sex with him, it shook his self-control even more. His inhibition to make her a vampire was much greater and harder to overcome than that of just giving in to his sexual desires here and now in the shower and making love passionately to the woman he lusted for so painfully. But he couldn't do that to her, not in this state. She had a boyfriend and wasn't herself right now. It would throw her into a deep crisis of conscience and shake the foundation of this precious friendship between them, if not destroy it. He had to stick it out, had to be strong, keep fighting until the effects of the drug wore off. And weren't her plea's getting weaker; her efforts to push against him and show him how much she wanted him becoming more restrained?

"Mick, please…"

Yes, even her voice sounded tired, exhausted. He risked letting his face get closer to her again and concentrated on the sounds her body was conveying. Relieved, he found her heartbeat had slowed and her breathing calmer, more regular. And her eyelids had lowered significantly, becoming heavier and more languid.

"I want to… feel you…" she whispered yet again, writhing against him once more. Although her strength had faded, even this gentler movement ensured that Mick had to once again close his eyes and firmly bite his lower lip to not betray himself with an aroused groan.

He raised his eyelids again when he noticed how heavy she was getting in his arms all of a sudden. Her head was leaning against his shoulder and she had closed her eyes, but he knew she wasn't asleep yet, was inwardly struggling to stay conscious. Only, fortunately, her body was no longer cooperating. With each passing second, a little more of the tension in her body vanished, and she became quieter and more sleepy.

Only now did Mick venture to move again. He loosened the grip of his arms from around her, even let go of her with one arm to turn off the shower. A human body wasn't allowed to get too cold, especially not when it was also fighting the effects of a drug. Unfortunately, Beth was still alert enough to notice the movement and lack of restraint immediately. She turned neatly in his embrace threw her arms around his neck and stretched herself up to kiss him. Mick reacted rapidly to avoid her, but her lips still caught his lower lip and sent a shower of the most pleasant kind throughout his body. So warm and soft, so full of promise…

He turned his face away from her reluctantly, resulting in her lips now sliding gently and seductively along his chin and finally down his neck, making every inch of his skin tingle.

'Relax, calm down,' he comforted himself trying to quite the painful throbbing between his legs. Control yourself, you can do this. Feel how sleepy and weak she is. Think! What's more important now?'

They had to get out of the shower and… Oh, God, don't suck there - not there! Mick narrowed his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek so hard he could taste blood. God, how he wanted her!

'Get out of the shower first, St. John! No matter what your plans are,' his voice of reason reminded him. He slid a hand down her wet body, reached behind her knees and lifted her into his arms. Beth let out a sound of surprise and let go of his throat deciding to hold on to him instead. He tried to avoid looking at her as he stepped out of the shower and moved towards the open door of the bathroom, but noticed from the corner of his eye, this lewd smile on her lips that she now brought close to his ear.

"Are you going to take me to bed now?" she whispered to him and her warm breath blew in his ear and caused, along with these words, goose bumps to spread rapidly all over his body.

He had to swallow hard to even bring out anything at all. "I have no bed," he gave back much too hoarsely and almost faltered entering the hall as he caught himself thinking how easy it would be to push her up against the wall and take her right there in a standing position.

'Focus!' he snarled at himself. 'You'll hurt you both with this lack of discipline!'

"It doesn't matter," she whispered. "I don't need a bed…"

Mick uttered a sound that wavered between surprise and violent arousal as her teeth dug into his ear lobe with gentle pressure and he actually stumbled a little to the side, before regaining control of his maltreated body. His teeth even ground a little as he clenched them again violently.

"Bring me where ever you want," she replied with a suggestiveness in her voice that made it hard for his mind to still function effectively, particularly because her lips had now found the sensitive spot just below his ear, caressing it with such yearning and agonizing devotion. Mick had great difficulty moving forward and holding back the sounds of pleasure that wanted to burst forth from him. But nevertheless managed to open the door to the room he now needed and carried Beth in without him or her bumping against the door frame. There was only his wardrobe and two armchairs in the room, which he headed for hastily. He set her down gently into one of them, but had to use a little more force to get her to release her arms from around his neck. She resisted, and although she had no real chance and her strength was fading, she found enough to slide a hand into the neckline of his shirt. For a brief moment he felt her fingers on his chest, her nails grazing his bare skin. Mick stood up quickly, a rasping noise was heard and two buttons fell to the ground.

"Oops!" Beth exclaimed, and let out a low, amused chuckle, which made it difficult for him to be annoyed about the ruined shirt. At least he'd been able to remove himself from her seductive body and she hadn't given the impression she would immediately jump to her feet again. Quite the contrary - she leaned back in his chair with heavy eyelids and looked around the room.

Mick heaved a sigh of relief, although a part of him had already begun to miss the contact with her body. He quickly stepped up to the cabinet, opened it and dug out a few more towels.

"Indeed… no bed," he could hear Beth murmuring behind him. "Where do you sleep then?"

His lips twisted into a small involuntary smile. No matter what state Beth was in - her curiosity was always hard to contain.

"In my freezer," he replied and walked back to her loaded with towels and one of his shirts. He was startled when he noticed her head had sagged to one side and she was about to fall asleep. Oh, no, not now, not yet! It was too soon! First she had to put on something dry!

He squatted down in front of her, laid the things beside her and touched her cheek, gently stroked the warm, wet skin. "Beth!"

Her eyelids lifted a little, fell, rose again. A soft smile appeared on her lips. "Mick…"

"Don't fall asleep now, okay?" He asked her, took a towel and began to dry her face and then her hair very gently. Beth let out a pleasant sound and lifted her hand to his cheek, caressed his face tenderly and Mick's barely regained control melted again. It was almost scary how intensely his body reacted to her slightest touch, how fast she could awaken this burning desire deep down inside him that wanted nothing other than to be close to her, in the deepest, most intimate way two people could be.

"You… you have to get out of these wet clothes, Beth," he brought forth quite hoarsely. He noted with dismay that his attempt to dry her had unconsciously reached the area of her cleavage and he quickly lowered the hand with the towel.

Mick backed away a little, as Beth's face instantly came closer to his without saying a word, but this time she had only wanted to sit up and turned her back to him. Mick's throat became tight and dry. Of course, in this state she couldn't really reach the zipper. What had he expected? It hadn't really been an attempt to lead him into temptation again… although in doing this, she had.

His fingers were a little shaky as he grabbed the zipper and slowly opened the dress. The noise it made caused another wave of heat to shoot directly to his groin, for it instantly evoked images and fantasies in him, which were anything but decent. When would this ordeal finally come to an end?

Evidently not quick enough, for Beth turned to him with these seductive bedroom eyes and this sensual smile on her lips, which just further inflamed a specific region of the body in most men. However, the expression quickly disappeared from her face as she toppled to the side and would have fallen from the armchair if Mick hadn't grabbed her.

"Oops," she uttered again and narrowed her eyes. "I… I'm so dizzy…"

Mick helped her to sit back in the chair and she closed her eyes. "Just… just for a little moment…," she stammered, and he let her, began rubbing her legs dry. Only the calves and knees… and of course up to her thighs…

He paused in his movement, shaking his head to himself. What a pathetic attempt to dupe himself. He looked back up at Beth's face. She had closed her eyes still, breathing deeply and evenly… deeply and evenly? He sat up quickly grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. No movement.

"Beth?" Panic was heard in his voice. Not that too!

"Beth?" Another shake and she lifted her eyelids dazed. "You still have to put this on!" He held out his shirt, but instead of stretching out her hand, her eyelids closed again.

Mick ran a hand over his face. It was obvious by the signals her body was giving off now that he didn't stand a chance of bringing her around enough to be able to change her clothes on her own. If there was a God, he was testing his strength thoroughly today. He breathed in and out deeply, repeating this process several times until the problem in his pants had subsided a little and his pulse and breathing had also normalized somewhat. Where was this usually so well-functioning vampire coolness when he urgently needed it? Miserable traitor!

'You can do this, St. John. Just imagine her as someone very ill that you're trying to help - or better yet a child! The child, you saved back then…'

He leaned forward, grabbed the straps of her already too low-cut dress and pulled it down slowly, freeing her body inch by inch from the dark wet fabric that stuck to her like a second skin. Of course, there had been no room for a bra under the skin-tight dress and Mick's heartbeat and breathing stopped for a moment, when he became only too well aware that Beth was no longer a kid anymore, but a very feminine, beautiful woman. She was, just as nature had created her, even more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. Her waist was narrow, her skin smooth and her breasts… her breasts were firm, round, and not too ample… and this contrast between the delicate rosé of her nipples, erect from the cold, and her creamy white skin… so velvety and seductive… They beseeched him, enticing him to touch them as her chest rose to meet him with each deep breath.

The tingle in his fingers and again the very palpable stirring of his manhood forced Mick to tear his eyes away from her bare chest and stare at the ceiling above him. He closed his eyes, shook his head, opened them again, but didn't dare lower his gaze again. His hands groped for the shirt next to him, grabbed it quickly. He counted down from ten inwardly, thinking with each number of something disgusting and only then felt comfortable enough to look at Beth again. He avoided looking directly at her breasts as he gently pulled his shirt over her head, put first one and then the other arm into the sleeves and then pulled the soft fabric down, preferably without touching her skin. Only then, did he dare breathe out again and let himself fall back heavily on his heels.

It was funny, even with her wet hair, smudged make-up, the wet dress that still clung to her hips and this far too big man's shirt, Beth still looked so incredibly adorable and made it extremely difficult for him to suppress the need to be close to her. So he had to collect himself again before he slipped his hands under the shirt, grabbed her dress and pulled it down her hips. That his knuckles slid over her warm, soft skin in doing so, was unavoidable. And when doing this, it also became clear that there was another wet item of clothing on her body that needed to be removed as well. Mick let the wet dress slap to the floor and shook his head again.

No, this went too far - for him and for Beth, who would certainly feel terribly embarrassed when she woke up on his couch the next morning without panties. And actually, it was warm enough in his apartment that the thin piece of fabric could dry on her body. Mick got up, walked over to his closet, and dressed himself quickly in dry clothes, noticing relieved that his state of arousal had quickly subsided once he had removed himself from the sight of Beth. It looked as if his suffering had finally come to an end and everything would become normal again.

He approached the sleeping Beth with a deep sense of relief once again, bent down, slid his arms under her limp body and lifted her up. She gave a quiet, contented sound, grabbed, without opening her eyes, the collar of his shirt and buried her face in his chest. Mick looked at her for a moment with this warm, pleasant glow deep in his heart, looked at her lovely face, her relaxed features and was suddenly overwhelmed with the strong feeling that she belonged here, here in this apartment, in his arms… in his heart. In this brief moment that belonged to only them, far from her boyfriend, this drug story and all the problems and dangers in this chaotic world, the idea hadn't even frighten him, it seemed so right so true to him, that he, out of a deep need, bent down and let his lips touch her forehead ever so gently and carefully.

This gesture said, 'You belong to me,' and only on his way down with Beth, was he able to lock away the incredibly intense feeling linked to this gesture, deep in his heart…