The story continues! :))
Klaus checked and double checked every nook and cranny he could reach and touch in order to avoid the inevitable, land, he didn't know why he was so nervous.
Since this morning he had been right on the edge of a metaphorical plank waiting to dock not that he had told her yet, he wanted to surprise her stupidly.
He managed to gash himself while practicing with Kol and the wound had yet to settle much like his pride considering he was humiliated because he wasn't focusing about the match.
He was instead thinking about the way Caroline's hair reflected in the sunlight, he scrunched sucking on the blood that fell from in between the nail and skin as he moved along the corridors deep in thought.
She was driving him out of his bloody mind, he shut his eyes smelling her scent on his from the clothing they shared, the bed they shared, "Damnation," he cursed clutching his heart.
He took a few calming breaths rationalizing, it wasn't like she could go anywhere considering this was his own private island.
He had his own private villa that overlooked the sea with windows in every room, his home was majestic there was no way she would stay anywhere else while they restocked.
Yet still his body quaked with the idea that she's disappear on a ship it was easy to keep her in view, to keep her safe but there were too many variables on land.
Klaus knew he would be set in meetings for most of the time so his brother had offered to shelter her for the three days they would be inland.
That was when a thunderous jealousy fit broke nearly taking half the food supply with it as his brother jousted on the lower deck.
Kol loved riling him up he thought as he bested him helping Kol off of the floor though as he smirked Klaus declined the offer not even trusting his own brother after Tatia.
After a quick walk through the top deck he knew he had run out of things to do the ship growing loser inland as he stalked down the stairs to her.
Not one moment had she escaped him that day, not even once.
Klaus knew his affections for her were growing at a dangerous rate but there was no stopping them.
He didn't know why his mind lingered there on that last thought but he knew his heart did, Caroline was unlike any other, the way she carried herself was all her own she was indispensable.
From the first moment he saw her he knew she would be irreplaceable in this world, what he knew now that he didn't then was that it was his world he spoke of.
She would make a perfect queen of the golden isle he called home he felt that burning thought in his heart as it clutched in his chest tighter and tighter with each step closer to his cabin.
His hand gripped the latch on the door as he took a deep streamlining breath before swinging the heavy door open finding her in such a state.
Determined to move past it, "Come on then," he said about to retreat when her face caught his attention a bewildered look fitting over her making him step inside.
He walked to her magnetized, mesmerized was a better word like a siren in the sea he was drawn to her he waited for her to speak as she stood from her place.
"Wait just one second," she said getting up, "Am I allowed to be here?" she asked unsure of the protocol when it came to a lady on a pirates land.
Klaus felt his heart lighter as he smiled, "You're my guest," he assured her brushing her hair from her face, "Even the wind brushing your hair could be punished for harming you," he promised.
He could sense her almost jumping outside of her body with joy as she looked at him trying to calm herself the whole look making him smile.
"Will you escort me?" she asked clapping her hands together as her waist to keep from fidgeting her heart pounding with exhilaration at the thought of land
and his smile.
Klaus felt as though she had slapped him again, he touched his face making sure she hadn't before he asked, "Are you being nice to me?"
Caroline lifted her shoulder and dropped it casually, too casually as she looked up at him, "I just prefer the devil I know," she told him.
Klaus arched a brow with a turn of his head his eyes never truly escaping her own as he lent out his arm to her, "Right then," he said softly.
"Thank you," she said taking his arm with all the joy her body could contain and then some flowing through her into him it seemed by the smile that graced his lips.
Easily forgotten was the uneasiness of the morning by the two it seemed as he grasped her waist to keep her from falling in the sand.
Her first morning on the island she woke in silk sheets tired from the night before, she blushed thinking how odd it was that she could no longer bring herself to sleep alone.
She missed him at her side as much as it annoyed her when he was, she awoke in the most comfortable of beds but still she wished to have awoken in his arms.
She wished that his face was the first face she saw, wished that she could pretend to still be asleep as he watched her, touched her arm of kissed her temple.
How he had sunk into every part of her in such a short time Caroline would never know her eyes shut as she recalled the night before.
Her first step on land was riveting she could have knelt on her knees and kissed the white sand at her feet if he hadn't held her by the small of her back.
That was an entirely too welcome feeling as they met with more men from his family to his crew, he didn't let her out of his sight for a single moment.
She got many stares from the women around her, possibly concubines thinking they had been replaced she almost snorted as a brunette almost shoved past her.
Strangely Kol swiped her from view and she didn't see her the rest of the night but Caroline didn't care in fact she was far too happy to be in the company of stranger to worry about jealousy.
She laughed and jested with many people when didn't think she would meet again dancing with Kol as Klaus looked on from the side.
A woman appeared behind his chair kissing his cheek and dragging him away in the next turn Caroline almost falling in the process, "Who's that?" she asked Kol.
His eyes practically glittered knowing why she was asking, "That's our sister," he informed her as they continued with the song.
Yet still when she thought he had lost sight of her he would catch her eye and give her an assuring nod and they would move forward.
She found herself rather alone by nightfall watching him work, coordinating with some of his officers even, she knew it was past the midnight hour when he walked her here.
She was certain he read her disappointment when he left her at her doorway off to settle some business he said Caroline knew that was code of something but didn't question it.
She rose trenching as she slipped out of bed walking to the grand window overlooking the dock where his ship floated like an ornament on the most beautiful of trees.
She squints her eyes finding him staggering off the landing onto the dock a bottle in hand a few men and women following after him.
Her brow furrowed, what had he been doing on a ship he'd spent the better half of the year in when he had a bed in a dry home on land.
He looked up her body reflexively jumping on sight hiding behind the curtain before he could catch her staring at him like a crazed loon.
He found her looking out of the center window of her room just as the orange tinted morning glowed over the shape of his ship behind him.
Caroline was incandescent, a mirage to a man starved in a dessert, he felt longing in his heart, the more he drank, the more he felt it.
He found his father had lied to him about many things including drinking to forget a woman, especially one like Caroline whom he had no business loving.
He reached home stumbling through the door eager to rid himself of the stink and liquor he had palpitating from his pores.
She was safe in his home, his mind was cleared as he went in search of a bath nodding in somber greeting to each person he passed.
He was set on avoiding her path for the time being while missing her warmth, her radiating presence, this was for his own good he reminded himself each moment he felt himself sulking.
After he walked her to her room he ached to kiss her, it wasn't like him to feel like that, he was a man who was known to take what he wanted give nothing in return unless if convenienced him.
Still with women he wasn't likely to kiss or touch where he wasn't wanted, he had scruples at least in that regard and Caroline didn't seem to mind their distance.
Sometimes it felt like she rather enjoyed her time away from him, as if his mere presence sucked the life from her veins leaving her dry.
All day he gave her what he felt she would want, his distance, he doted on her from afar settling new clothing and a bath with the most luxurious scents he could find.
He gifted her shoes, and a pair of trousers for her own day to day wear should she chose it, he made sure she had eaten and was treated well but aside from that he threw himself in his work.
All day and she hadn't heard a peep from him, she would be angry at him if the day wasn't so kind to her, blessing her with the slight browning of her skin and the full feeling in her belly.
She had eaten meat, not potatoes, not lentils, but meat and pastries, she almost moaned at the memory of chocolate as she walked along the sand sitting herself on a dried up tree trunk.
She smiled at the setting of the sun feeling at home here, at peace, she pulled her pashmina holding it closer to her body shielding herself from the chill of the night air.
"You're a long ways from the villa Caroline," she heard his voice trickle in her ears after a long day without him she turned her head to look at him.
"Not to worry, I can't swim to America from here," she jested with her hands in her lap as she waited for him to decide of his was leaving her staying as he seemed to be debating on it.
"I'd fancy seeing you try," he remarked deciding on staying as he crossed over the lower half of the castaway wood sitting on the edge with his legs parted.
He offered her a sip from his bottle but she shook her head in reply without sparing him a glance, "I don't drink," she told him from her perch.
Klaus laughed softly remembering the one time he could recall her doing so, "Don't you?" he jibed from his place below her earning a glower from Caroline.
"Only in the company of gentlemen," she said completely ignoring that knowing look he gave her in return as she instead studied the horizon.
Klaus looks down at his weathered hands after setting the bottle in the send between his feet, "I think I could pretend for you," he muttered to himself missing her shocked look.
One or two left! :))
