Quick smut warning... or is it? ;)

CHAPTER TWENTY

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

The drive to the North Cape the next day was breathtakingly beautiful. The atmosphere in the car, however, was less so. Everyone was tense and silent, with Elijah and Silv doing their utmost to completely ignore each other. Klaus had exchanged the offroader for a large SUV in order to have everyone fit into one car after they had spent the night discussing how to proceed. Caroline had slept dreamlessly for a couple of hours, and she couldn't help but thinking how much better she had slept in Klaus' arms and how she no longer had an excuse to do so. All you have to do is ask…

When they arrived on Magarøya Island, where the North Cape was located, early that evening, they checked into a small hotel in Honningsvåg, Norway's northernmost town. Silv, Rebekah and Caroline shared one room, the men the one adjacent to it. There wasn't much to do in the little town, so they just went to their rooms early after dinner, talking about meaningless topics. They could hear the men in the room next door, so any kind of serious women talk was impossible anyway. Klaus and Kol kept snapping at each other, obviously struggling with being confined to such a small space with no possibility to stay out of each other's hair. When the fighting started to interrupt their conversation, the three women looked at each other in exasperation. Caroline winked at the other two.

"Caligula and Chucky! If you don't shut the hell up now, I will make you, and if it's the last thing I ever do! I'm ready to go down with flying colours for five minutes of freaking silence!" she shouted.

There was indeed a moment of deafening silence when Rebekah and Silv stared at her, open-mouthed. Then all three of them erupted into a hysterical laughing fit. "Caligula and Chucky," Rebekah howled, "oh my Gods, I love that!"

After a minute, there was a brisk knock at the door. "Caligula or Chucky?" Silv giggled, and the three of them went into another round of hysterics. Caroline went to answer the door, still laughing and holding her sides. Klaus was staring down at her, hands on his hips, doing his best to keep a wide grin from splitting his face.

"May I have a word, Miss Forbes?" he asked.

"It's Caligula," she called over her shoulder. "I'll be right back. If I'm not, he threw me to the lions!" She closed the door to more giggles.

"What can I do for y…" Caroline didn't get any further. His mouth crashed down on hers and he scooped her up in his arms, flashing down the stairs and out of the small hotel until they were a good five hundred yards away where he sat them both down on a wooden bench next to a tiny hiking path. He kept her on his lap, kissing her until she had no breath left in her lungs. She smiled when he released her lips and rested her head against his shoulder.

"If this is how I get punished for calling you names, I will do that more often."

He chuckled. "Ask Damon for a few, he can be quite creative."

"So why did you kidnap me like this?" she inquired, caressing his cheek and snuggling closer to him.

He sighed. "No particular reason. I just felt like it."

"Hadn't we established that you were not going to lie to me, Klaus? You're lying now. So what is it?"

"I am not sure when we are going to be able to have a moment like this again, and I am just being plain egoistical, love," he answered slowly. Caroline nodded. She knew what he meant. And if he was being honest with her, she was going to be the same.

"I'm scared, Klaus," she admitted and felt him tense. "No, I'm not scared of Prelati or Mikael or whatever is coming our way. Well, maybe a little," she added with a smile.

"Then what are you afraid of, sweetheart?" he asked very softly.

She hesitated. "I am scared of how much I wanted to ask you to stay with me last night," she finally murmured. She heard his sharp intake of breath and looked up into his face.

"Say that again, love," he whispered, his hands at both sides of her neck. Caroline understood that despite his having pursued her for months, he was as insecure and confused about what was between them as she was. It gave her courage. She shifted on his lap so she could straddle him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"I wanted you to stay with me last night, Klaus. Not because of any dreams or threats or whatever you are protecting me from. I just wanted to be with you."

"Caroline," he breathed, not knowing what to say.

You might just as well tell him everything now. He's right. Who knows when there will be another night like this?

"I know you think I'm not ready for the real thing, Klaus. But had you stayed last night, I would have asked you to at least give me a dream… a dream of… you and me."

His eyes widened. "You would have asked me that?" His voice was hoarse and she could see the desire flashing in his eyes. "Sweet Heavens, Caroline, do you have any idea what that does to me?"

"I think I do," she whispered. He closed his eyes, obviously struggling for control. Was she really affecting him this much? It sent a bolt of lightning through her system.

He opened his eyes again, and the raw emotion had been replaced by a glint of mischief. She smiled inwardly. If he could handle that better, so be it. She wasn't going to put any additional strains on him.

"Well, my incredibly desirable Caroline, I might not be able to give you a dream tonight," he purred in that silky voice that made her think of crumpled sheets, sweat and absolutely no sleep, "but I can at least describe the dream to you."

Her breathing hitched. He was going to do what? Heat flashed through her in a mixture of embarrassment and total excitement.

"So why don't you close your eyes and hold on to me, sweetheart?" She did as he asked and felt him breathe a feathery kiss onto her lips. Mmh. Klaus… "The only thing I want you to hear now is the warm, light breeze rustling the trees outside our bedroom, and the distant sound of the waterfalls we have visited earlier. The excitement on your lovely face when you first saw the cascade… it would have been enough to make me take you right there and then, in plain daylight, under the prying eyes of everyone. But I've been biding my time, just innocently touching your arms…" His hand caressed the length of her arm, his voice never rising above a whisper, "… your back…" Another hand glided slowly down her back, making her hiss when the tip of his finger fleetingly touched the naked skin at the hem of her shirt. "… your legs…" Both of his hands were now softly caressing the outside of her thighs, making her shiver. "And kissed you only very chastely, so you were burning for a real kiss all day."

He kissed the right corner of her mouth. Then the left one. Then his tongue traced her lower lip, making her whimper. Her lips parted, but he didn't kiss her fully. She groaned in frustration, making him chuckle.

"But now it is just you and me, sweetheart. Which is why I can finally kiss you the way I have wanted to all day." His lips were on hers. He didn't plunder, but he kissed her with that searing passion she fancied so much. "And I have longed to look at you, love. That dress is quite something, but what I really yearn to see is the genuine beauty underneath. So let me brush the straps off your shoulders… oh, hold on, your skin is so inviting…"

His fingers had tenderly pulled the collar of her shirt to the side and now she felt his soft lips brushing her shoulder. Once, twice. Oh… It was all she could do not to start purring like a cat.

"I'm having a very difficult time not to madly roam and plunder your divine body, love. Now that the dress is gone, I need to see all of you. Mmh, that bra is very sexy indeed… still…"

She felt one of his hands glide over the clasp of her bra – and it was undone. How…? I didn't even notice! She had no more time to marvel at that, as his hand was now exploring the bare skin of her back. The feeling was beyond compare. She started to shiver and held on to him tighter.

"I could spend hours just caressing that wonderful, soft, erotic skin of yours. It feels like it is melting under my touch. It feels like… you are melting under my touch. You have no idea how this is driving me insane, Caroline. Especially when I touch you here… right underneath your lovely breast."

She gasped as he ran a finger along the highly sensitive skin. Her head fell back, and she heard him give a small moan.

"I was right," he murmured huskily, "you are truly melting under my touch. But it is no longer enough. I want you to writhe under my hands."

With that, his hand swiftly slipped under the cup of her bra that was still loosely in place and tenderly covered her breast. "Klaus…" she whispered, her eyes popping open in sheer amazement at how his touch made her feel.

"Shh, my love… close your eyes. You're dreaming." My love? "And so am I. My fingers can't even begin to get enough of that incomparable softness."

He was caressing her breast with his skilled fingers, in turns making her moan and gasp. She heard his breathing accelerate as he went on. His hand never left her breast, while his other hand was running over her back, along her spine, tracing patterns. She forgot everything but the hands and the dark, seductive voice that were all over her.

"But it is time for me to taste you now. I've waited all day to get my fill of you, so I let my tongue run over your breast, replacing my fingers. It feels like your breasts were made for my mouth alone. Gods, I adore the way your nipple is all hard for me, sweetheart…"

Klaus' fingers were lightly pinching her nipple now, and among shivers of pleasure, something told her he wouldn't take the physical part of her 'dream' any further. So she just gave herself over to his voice and let her mind conjure the images he was painting. She was soaking wet by now, and she wondered if she was supposed to be embarrassed, but she didn't really care. This was not embarrassing – this was plain sexy!

"I still haven't looked at you in all your glory. Black lace panties? Very enticing, but decidedly in my way now. Sorry for ripping them to shreds, sweetheart. Now let me look at you. Let me just take in that dizzying loveliness of your naked body."

She felt his breath brush over her ear, and she could almost feel how he closed his eyes. She let out a deep, shaky sigh and bit her lip.

"By the Gods, you have no idea just how beautiful you are to me, have you, Caroline?" He paused and brought his lips so close that they were now moving against her earlobe. "Will you let me touch you?" he whispered, and she nodded, dazed.

"Just one finger for now, my love. Ah, Caroline, so hot and wet under my touch… how easily my finger glides over you… and… inside you," he hissed while pulling her hard onto his lap so her core slid over his rock-hard arousal. Caroline groaned, cursing the pants they were both wearing. And so did he.

"Still not enough, sweetheart. I need to feel you completely. I want you to surround me, and I want to give you everything I'm capable of giving. So I am filling you very, very slowly until you can really, truly feel every inch of me inside you."

They were both panting by now. Caroline thought she was going insane, as she somehow could feel him inside her. She started to rock her hips against his in sheer need, her core gliding over his crotch. His breathing grew as erratic as hers.

"Yes, my love," he breathed, "just like that. You're moving so perfectly against me, and I will start to take you a little faster now. And… much, much deeper."

She moaned loudly when he gripped her backside and started to guide her motions, his hips moving in perfect harmony with hers. "Yes…," she whispered, feeling it build inside her. "Please… don't stop!"

"How could I ever?" he panted. "I would rather die than deprive myself of seeing you come, Caroline." She was moaning with every friction of their bodies now, and Klaus had already forgotten everything. He needed to feel her come in his arms. Nothing else mattered.

I will come. I will really come. She held onto him tighter, their bodies moving against each other, and despite the fact that they were fully clothed, there were goose bumps all over her. God, it felt… ohhh… In the same instant, he pulled up her shirt and his mouth found the valley between her breasts while he pushed her against his rock-hard arousal one last time. "Klaus," was all she managed to rasp as she found her release, trembling like a leaf in his arms.

When she finally stopped shaking, he gathered her close, kissing her hair and stroking her face, her neck, her arms. She curled into his lap, her breathing still labored, and let him hold her.

"What about you?" she murmured after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "It doesn't seem fair that I… and you didn't."

He gave a soft chuckle. "This isn't a competition or a quid pro quo, love. My time will come, do not doubt that for a second." It made her smile and she rested her head against his chest.

"Thank you, Caroline" he whispered after another while.

"Whatever for?" she asked, puzzled.

"For giving me this," he replied, kissing her hair again. "This was more of a dream for me than it was for you."

She looked up at his face and said firmly, "And that, Klaus, is where you are very mistaken."

He pulled her back into his embrace, and they held each other close.

Caroline closed her eyes. After a while, she opened them again and stared at the distant lights of the scattered houses. She idly wondered if he had noticed… that he had called her my love, and more than once. She most definitely had.

You're either in all the way or you back off.

Could she still back off?