Written for Klaroline Valentine's Day Bingo 2020 kcvalentinesbingo

Prompt: "The candles caught what on fire?"

Warning: Smut. Angst.


It was shameful how quickly Caroline's heart dropped when she spied the delicate vintage earrings in the black velvet box Klaus gave her. There's no reason to be disappointed, she chastised herself. The diamond and pearl chandelier earrings clearly had been chosen based on her tastes, and knowing her boyfriend, he spared no expense. Except she'd briefly thought it could be an engagement ring.

It had been more than a year since they started seeing each other, and it seemed as though they'd been moving toward a bigger commitment over the past few months. They'd even discussed the possibility of finding a place together when Caroline's lease was up later that year. Maybe they weren't ready. "Klaus, these are beautiful. Thank you," she quickly told him, reaching up to give him a soft kiss.

Klaus pulled her close, deepening the kiss with a low growl of approval. "You are beautiful," he murmured, playfully nibbling on her ear. She felt the hard line of his cock through his trousers, and suddenly didn't care that they were in his office where anyone could interrupt. "You'll have to be quiet, sweetheart. I can't recall if I locked the door." Roughly pushing up her skirt to cup her mound, his smirk was delightfully wicked. "And it seems my fingers are quite busy."

She spread her thighs, inviting him to play. He loved to play. There was a sweetness to his movements, and the way he curled his fingers inside left her panting for more. "Just a bit more," he urged, increasing the pressure until she bit down on his shoulder, leaving a rosy lipstick smear on his charcoal pinstriped dress shirt.

As Caroline came down from her high, she attacked his zipper, anxious to feel all of him. "Fuck me, Klaus," she panted against his lips. This. Just this. His naughty grin, the heat in his gaze — it was all for her. She wrapped him up in her fist, taking her time with those smooth, hot strokes that made him grunt and sigh into her neck.

Klaus lifted her against the tall book case, driving into her as she clung to the top. His guttural moan lit a fire inside and she already could feel her thighs shake with need. "Caroline," he gasped, gripping her thighs until they bruised, riding them both to completion.

While she couldn't deny the sex was explosive, it was the moments immediately following that felt the most intimate. He gathered her up in his arms, settling them both into his enormous chair and pressing a gentle kiss to her temple. "New Orleans." At her questioning eyebrow, he explained, "Let's take a long weekend. I'll have Greta book us a suite at the Hotel Monteleone."

"I was supposed to write a brand analysis brief and review the product team's competitor playbook strategies," Caroline commented with a sigh of regret. At his shameless puppy dog eyes, she lightly brushed back the damp curls from his forehead, telling him, "You are a terrible influence. And I love you for that."

Dropping a kiss to her nose, he promised, "By this time tomorrow, we'll be drinking Armand de Brignac with raspberries."

The last time they'd gone to New Orleans, they only left the room to visit an art gallery opening. The time before that, they didn't leave the room at all. Caroline fought down a blush when she started thinking of all the delicious moments in their future. "Then I should race home to pack after my last meeting."

Her phone interrupted them, forcing her to break off their celebratory kiss with a groan of frustration. The screeching in her ear was so garbled, she only caught a few disconcerting words, prompting her to yell, "Wait — the candles caught what on fire? Seriously?!" Hearing mostly muffled cursing and random crashes in the background, she quickly said, "Never mind — just try to keep everyone calm until I get there." She ended the call with an irritated huff, explaining to a confused Klaus, "That was Rebekah. Apparently, Kol got drunk at the reception and knocked over several candle centerpieces, catching the stage on fire right before the keynote speaker's address."

"Was anyone hurt," Klaus asked sharply, pulling out his phone to start engaging the correct combination of security, maintenance, and lawyers to handle yet another one of his idiot brother's fuck-ups.

Caroline shook her head, straightening her clothes as she headed toward the door. "Just Kol's ego. I'll head over there and get the situation under control."

"Honestly, it's moments like these that I truly question the 'family above all' motto my siblings and I share." With a frustrated sigh, he blinked at his phone, adding, "I'll be right behind you — Enzo wants me to stop by legal to discuss something urgent."

"What's more urgent than your brother setting a fire at our quarterly sales meeting?"

Running his fingers through his disheveled curls, he replied tiredly, "I'll let you know, sweetheart."


She'd expected a stampede of angry, hysterical people, but Caroline had overlooked one indisputable truth: The sales department never attended a quarterly meeting sober. Instead, she was greeted by boisterous laughter as several groups decided to head down the street to a karaoke bar while the company sorted out the mess Kol had made. Kol had the audacity to grin cheekily at her as he slipped out with the crowd before Rebekah could chase after him.

She loved Klaus and admired his business savvy, but his inability to recognize that nepotism was running Mikaelson Inc. right into the ground would be his downfall. Their downfall unless she ever found the courage to tell him.

"Finally," Rebekah called out when she spied Caroline. "I've no time to handle this absolute rubbish."

She eyed Klaus' sister critically, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Why not? Hot date?"

Stumbling in her heels, the woman scoffed. "You know as well as I that my brother's bumbling mishap wasn't the worst thing to happen to our organization today. Salvatech's unexpected product announcement couldn't have come at a worse time."

Pausing to give instructions to security to finish locking down the area while waiting on maintenance to begin cleanup, she considered Rebekah's words. She wasn't wrong — Salvatech, their biggest competitor, had announced earlier that day their plans to unveil a new product six weeks ahead of schedule, which meant that Mikaelson Inc. would be scrambling to get their latest release ready in time for the global tech conference. She could picture the Salvatore brothers' slimy grins they no doubt wore when they gave that interview, pointedly giving the reporter soundbites that were subtle digs at Mikaelson Inc.

She'd already pulled most of her team to start working on their own press release, something to pacify their stakeholders while also energizing the market base. No way was she letting those sleazy Salvatores have the last word. "Tell me your plan," she asked Rebekah, thinking it was time they set aside their petty differences and get their teams working together to salvage this latest media mishap.

Green eyes widened in alarm as she whirled around to face Caroline. "My plan?"

"Seriously?! Rebekah, you're the creative director for external marketing. If you don't have a plan to fight the Salvatores' latest bullshit, then you should march your skinny ass down to HR and resign. We only can handle one incompetent Mikaelson at a time, and it's apparently Kol's turn. Again."

Rebekah seemed to visibly relax at her words, her lightly condescending tone returning to normal as she scoffed, "Of course I do. My staff is finalizing our verbiage now. They like to deliver a flawless marketing plan. Unlike others I could name."

She refused to take the bait. Klaus' sister clearly was referencing the time Caroline had allowed Elena the intern to write a section of web content only to learn after it was posted that she'd pulled stats from their archives rather than the latest projections. "Good. Then my team will need less overtime than usual to make your team's messaging coherent."

Before she could trade more barbs, she received a text message from Klaus. "My office. Now." Taken aback, she frowned, wondering what could've happened with legal that he'd be so abrupt with her. She took a quick glance around the room, somewhat satisfied that the workers had Kol's mess under control, and then she left, not bothering to give Rebekah an explanation.

Before she pushed open Klaus' door, a part of her wondered if they'd continue what they started earlier. They tried to keep office trysts to a minimum, but the temptation to be a bit naughty in such a buttoned-up environment was too hard to resist. Unfortunately, the smile dropped from her face as soon as she saw him. She'd witnessed his fury during meetings, and always tried to smooth over the rough edges of his temper with his subordinates when she could. But she'd never been on the receiving end before.

"What's wrong," she asked tentatively, instinctively taking a step toward him because he'd never seemed so far away.

Fists curled at his sides, the look he threw her was pure loathing. "What's wrong is that legal just told me the most peculiar tale. About you. Perhaps you'd like to hear it, love?"

"What are you — I don't understand."

"The Salvatores' new product is suspiciously similar to our microchip prototype. In fact, it's so similar that our legal department is convinced they only could've built it if they first acquired our product schematics," Klaus seethed, his voice barely above a whisper. "After a bit of digging, it appears that you've been emailing Stefan Salvatore for quite some time." At her astonished expression, he chuckled darkly, adding, "How long has this been going on, hmm? Tell, me what dirty little deeds did that talentless wanker have to perform to get you to betray this company? To betray me?!"

Caroline shook her head, trying to make sense of Klaus' accusations. She'd only seen Stefan across crowded venues at tech conventions, but had never spoken to him, much less engaged in corporate espionage or something more intimate. She'd been set up. "Klaus, I would never, ever betray you or this company. I don't even know Stefan! Clearly, my emails were hacked; someone's setting me up!"

"A likely story," he replied, storming over to his wall safe and angrily spinning the dial. "I keep the USBs of all prototypes in here as a security measure. None of our staff has access until the plans have been finalized. But you've been in here numerous times when I've opened the safe. It's not much of a leap to imagine you've manipulated countless interactions with me to gain access to the combination."

"You don't put much stock in my loyalty, do you?! First I'm a thief and then I'm a whore? Fuck you, Klaus! I don't steal and I certainly don't whore myself out for the sake of my career," she spat, just barely fighting back angry tears. How could he turn on her like this? How could he think so little of her?

Klaus pounded his fists onto the top of his desk, pushing off everything in a furious swipe. Over the flat beeping noise of his phone knocked off its hook, he raged, "You knew you were about to be exposed! It's why you acted so peculiar earlier when I gave you the earrings! I imagine you and Stefan had quite the laugh about how you scored yet another fancy bauble from me!"

"Stop it! None of this is true! I've never cheated on you and I didn't steal company secrets," Caroline yelled, her heart little more than a painful, cold little lump as the truth sunk in — Klaus didn't trust her. He never did.

Her voice was a harsh whisper as she revealed, "And the reason I was acting weird when you gave me the earrings is because I thought you were going to propose." She angrily wiped away tears as she flatly said, "Obviously, that was stupid."

Klaus looked momentarily stricken, but quickly masked his expression, running a hand across his jaw. In a hollow voice, he said, "Miss Forbes, you're on administrative leave pending a formal review of the allegations. Security has cleared your office of all Mikaelson Inc. property and will escort you downstairs once you've gathered your personal belongings."

Caroline couldn't stop staring at the rosy lipstick smear she'd left on his dress shirt. Only hours ago they'd been so happy. It was a careless, giddy moment immortalized in that lipstick smear and undoubtedly he'd have his assistant take that suit to the cleaners as soon as possible. Or, he'd just toss it out. Like he did to her. She managed to march out of his office with her head high, pausing at the threshold to tell him coldly, "Go to hell, Mr. Mikaelson."


So much for that suite in New Orleans.

Despite the photographs and colorful art on the walls, her office had never seemed more cold and impersonal. Maybe it was the fact that her laptop was missing, or the fact that she knew security had been in there without her permission. She hastily started packing up her items, not wanting to be there any longer than necessary. Caroline allowed herself a final look out her window, the soft glow of the security lamps outside illuminating the landscape enough for her to see the centuries-old rock bridge that curved across the White Oak River. When she'd first been promoted, it had been quite the ego trip to move into this corner office with its impressive views, and she'd felt a sense of accomplishment that nearly rivaled when she first received her degree. Now what?

A sudden movement caught her eye, and she noticed two figures holding hands as they walked along the bridge. They paused briefly to share a kiss, and Caroline let out a gasp of surprise when she realized it was Rebekah and Stefan.

So much for family above all.