Nico's POV:

It was long past midnight and Khloe still wasn't asleep.

I realized a while ago that I had gained a habit of waiting for her to fall asleep before I did, and I knew that she had no problems falling asleep when she was with me.

Except for a couple of nights like this one, when she had some pressing matter or question in her mind that she usually brought up the next day.

Although this one seemed to be consuming her thoughts at the moment.

I could feel her fingers fidgeting against my shirt and the frequent curling and uncurling of her toes.

Not to mention the occasional deep breaths she would exhale.

I'll admit I was curious about what the topic of her thoughts was.

None of the ones prior made her this antsy.

I gently trailed the hand that I held against her down her back, silently letting her know that I was awake; hoping that maybe she would just get it out of her system now.

My movement surprised her, her body growing stiff against mine.

I guess she thought I was asleep. Or that she woke me up.

I pulled her tight against me, placing my head on hers and breathing in her scent.

Kissing the top of her head, I spoke.

"Talk to me, sweetheart."

She was silent for a moment, her head lifting to meet eyes with me.

"About what?"

"Whatever's on your mind right now. Whatever's bothering you enough to keep you awake."

I could see the blush appear on her face after I spoke.

"How did you-" she cut herself off, biting the inside of her bottom lip.

I grinned at the surprise from my accuracy that she had. As well as the embarrassment that was now prominent on her features.

It made me ever more curious about what it was she was thinking about.

"I'm more observant than you might think," Is all I said.

She crossed one of her arms, rubbing her upper arm.

"It's nothing, it's just... embarrassing," she mumbled.

I had figured out that practically everything she thought was embarrassing, I thought was cute, so her words didn't sway me much.

"Does it have to do with me?" I asked.

She waited a moment before speaking.

"Yes," She said reluctantly, and so quietly that I almost didn't hear it.

Something embarrassing that had to do with me?

Well, now my curiosity was at an all-time high.

I pushed myself up onto my elbow using my other hand to tuck away the hair that was hiding her face.

"Were you going to bring it up eventually?"

Her lips pulled to the side, her face deepening even more in color.

"Yeah... at some point," she replied.

"Alright, well then why not just do it now and get it over with?" I offered. "If it's something that you're worried about, let me hear it and I'll do everything in my power to fix it."

If she didn't want to talk about it yet, that's fine, but I thought I'd open myself up for her if she did.

I was pretty much the only person she could talk to about anything concerning us, so I wanted her to be able to utilize that.

She stayed quiet for a long while, thinking over my words.

I could practically feel her nervousness grow as the seconds passed, her eyes staring directly at my chest.

Finally, she exhaled, giving in.

"You're...you're attracted to me, right?" She asked.

I blinked, my brows furrowing.

"I thought that much was obvious," I stated.

"Well- yeah I mean." She shook her head, regaining her composure, "I mean... In what ways?"

She gazed up at me expectantly while confusion overcame me.

In what ways? What the hell did that mean?

I felt like I had to tread carefully through this conversation.

If this was the topic that had been bothering her this much, then I really didn't want to say the wrong thing.

Not that I even had a clue what the right thing to say was...

I was attracted to literally every part about her.

Her mind, her body, her personality, hell, I even found all of her actions attractive.

The surprisingly fluid way she moved, the looks of concentration shed make while she worked on an art piece, her shy yet sure touches.

God, that list was practically endless.

"Every way?" I replied.

A small bit of relief showed through her shoulders, but not all of it.

"So... Does that include um..," her face reddened to the point that it nearly matched her hair, "Sexually?"

Oh.

Oh.

Wow.

I had to bite back the laugh threatening to escape.

This was serious to her, so I didn't want to disregard her how much this apparently meant to her.

But the amount of sheer shy innocence radiating from her from just that sentence alone was immense.

I didn't even really think that she had these kinds of thoughts.

I cleared my throat.

"Yes."

"Really?" She questioned.

I found it odd how she didn't know the answer to this already.

Despite my efforts to keep my want for her in that way in check, there were still things that I couldn't exactly hide.

Apparently, I was better at hiding everything than I thought...

I shifted my elbow so that it was sitting on my pillow, my head resting on my fist.

"Of course," I began, twirling her hair around my fingers, "Did you think I wasn't?"

She kept her gaze lowered, apparently too embarrassed about it to meet my eye.

"Well... I don't know. You've never really... touched me anywhere in that way, and whenever things get heated between us, you'd always have us stop before we could go any further so I just thought... Maybe you weren't into me like that."

Given her typically diffident nature, her words surprised me yet they fit her.

I always thought I was careful about what I did with her when we were alone, but I guess the thought never came to my mind that with my physical restraint, I was maybe giving her the wrong idea.

Maybe her delicate process wasn't as delicate as it was intricate.

"Khloe I've never touched you sexually because I knew how nervous you get at sudden moves like that and I didn't want you to be uncomfortable," I moved down so that we were at the same level.

Her eyes flickered to mine as I lightly ran my fingers down her cheek and jaw, "And I know that I'm so insanely attracted to you that if I don't stop when I do, chances are that I won't be able to if we took it any further and we both know that you're not ready for that yet. The last thing I want is to rush you into this."

Despite the fact that she brought this up, I knew that she still wouldn't be comfortable at this moment in time with going through with it.

Given her nervousness just talking about it right now.

Her bold side showed up every once in a while, but her timid nature still had the tightest grip on her.

I think she just needed a little more time to find a happy medium between the two, and a little more time to become completely comfortable with me.

"It's so weird," She started, surprisingly with a small laugh, "Whenever I'm deep in the moment with you, the thought of us going that far excites me, but also terrifies me. It's just such a weird mix in the moment because you... you..."

"Turn you on? I know. The smell of it is still lingering in the air."

"The what?!" She exclaimed, pushing herself away from me as her embarrassment turned into horrification.

This time I couldn't contain my laughter.

Reaching out to her, I pulled her against me before she could move further away, instead having her hide herself in my chest.

I managed to suppress it a little bit as I rubbed her head.

"There's no need to be embarrassed. It's natural."

"For a vampire, maybe!" She retorted, her voice being muffled by my shirt.

Well, I guess she's right. Human couples don't really have the luxury of being able to read their partner like a vampire can.

"If anything, its a compliment. It lets me know that I'm doing a good job of pleasing you."

She pulled back and peered at me through her lashes.

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

I smirked.

"I don't see why you would want to. But to answer your question again, Yes. I am very very attracted to you in every way. Including sexually."

I tilted her head up, wanting her to see me as I said my next words.

"But, just because we both share that mutual attraction, doesn't mean that we have to go through with it right away. I'm more than happy to wait until the thought no longer terrifies you.

"I-I didn't mean it like that," She stated in a panic.

"I know," I spoke quietly, trying to ease her mind, "It's okay to not be sure about this. Our relationship is still young and we're still working on progressing together. We don't need to be having sex to know that I'm yours and you're mine. But when or if we do, I want you to be 100% comfortable with giving that part of yourself to me."

She was completely silent for a moment as my words sunk in.

"So it's up to me?" She asked.

"Basically. I may be intuitive, but you still know how you're feeling better than I do. Whenever you feel like you're ready then just let me know and we can go from there."

She pondered over my words again, steadily relaxing before she released the rest of her tension with a long sigh.

"Okay," She breathed out, curling her body up against mine. The corners of her mouth rose ever so slightly, "Thank you."

I guess that was all she needed to hear.

My thoughts were confirmed as her steady breaths began from beside me and she was asleep within minutes.