There were Penthouse suites in the top of each of the four towers at the resort. Tyler and the Salvatores had rented out the one in the East tower for the month. They chose that one in particular, because it was set up nicely for the amount of people in their group, and it allowed a certain amount of privacy for each of the couples. They had decided that they would be meeting the client in the room that night, so the girls needed to be gone. They had rented the two of them a room on the 5th floor, so they could hang out and get a good night's sleep. The client was showing up at 11 and would probably be there late into the night. He was someone big and dangerous, so Caroline was nervous for Tyler, but relieved to be getting away.

"I'm calling room service for dinner." Elena was flipping through the menu. "Think we should get a bottle of Champagne to pre-game before we go out?"

"Where are we going?"

"It's called Heartbeat. Like a ten minute cab ride. Swanky, fancy kind of place, good music, I've heard."

"I'm in."

"Compliments of Damon Salvatore" Elena joked, waving a platinum card.

"Aww, he shouldn't have" Caroline joked. "I want that salad with the chicken and the cranberries and oranges on it. Can you call it in? I'll go get some ice for the champagne."

He was good enough at his job to know not to bug the penthouse. Tyler was a professional, he would check. But when he checked the records to see the second, smaller room, and when he confirmed that it was just the girls staying in it, he slipped in and planted some ears. He had been listening ever since they arrived. He grabbed his ice bucket and walked down the hall.

"Hello. It seems we're neighbors"

Caroline felt a chill when she heard that voice again. She turned around from the ice machine. It was him again.

"No. I mean, just for tonight. Then I'll be back in my regular room with my boyfriend." she stressed the word boyfriend, hoping to make him back off.

"But not tonight? Whats the matter love, trouble in paradise?"

She glared at him. "None of your business."

"Do you have an open relationship or something? Is he in there with another woman?"

He was getting to her and he was enjoying every minute. She was stomping back down the hallway towards her room, and he was casually walking next to her, hoping she wouldn't notice that he never did get his ice.

"No we do not. Ugh! I don't have to explain anything to you."

"Did you see my room number when you were nosing through my wallet? Is that why you're here, hoping to run into me? So much for not interested. All you have to do is ask, sweetheart."

She was steaming. How could he have noticed she saw his room number? She thought she was being so clever.

"I am not-"

Elena flung the door open. "There you are! and.. oh. guy from the pool."

"Nik" he introduced himself and reached out to shake her hand.

"Elena. Do you want to come in, Nik? We're getting ready to go out and just ordered some food and drinks. I always get more than I end up eating so there's plenty to spare."

"No. Elena, he was just leaving. And you shouldn't go around inviting strange men into our room. Damon might get the wrong idea."

She shrugged. "It was nice meeting you, Nik. Maybe we'll see you later tonight at Heartbeat."

Caroline shot her a look and closed the door.

"Elena. What the hell?"

"What, he's hot. And he seems ok."

"I have a boyfriend. You have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, and my boyfriend and I are secure enough in our relationship to be cool with each other hanging out with members of the opposite sex. Even hot ones. We trust each other."

"Tyler doesn't trust. He would throw a fit at the idea of that guy sitting in here with us or going out dancing with us. What if we run into him now?"

"Then we run into him. You can dance with him if you want, or just talk to him and let him buy you drinks. You're not doing anything wrong. You can make a new friend."

"I don't think he's interested in being friends."

"You need to loosen up. And pull the smallest dress and tallest shoes out of your bag, because tonight we're going all out."

The cab door opened and they were on their way to the velvet ropes. Caroline's head was already buzzing from the champagne and she was excited to go dance in her cutest outfit. When they got to the door, the bouncer waved them in without bothering to check their ids. The place was packed, it was dark and the music was loud. They went to the bar and got drinks and then worked their way to the middle of the dance floor.

Elena was looking up at something, a girl drinking straight from a bottle of bourbon up in one of the VIP booths. "Ohmygod. Katherine!" She pulled Caroline's arm and barreled up the stairs.

When they got to the roped off area, Katherine put a hand on the bouncer's shoulder. "They're with me."

He shrugged and let them in.

"Katherine this is my friend Caroline, Caroline this is my.."

"Twin." Caroline finished. It was uncanny. Katherine looked just like her, she just styled her hair different, and she had a few tattoos.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked

"Oh, you know, this guy I was seeing on this traveling Brazilian soccer team and I got into this big fight in South Africa, so I was all alone there for a while until I meet this guy down there who wanted to go here, and he ended up being kinda boring, but his brother was really cute, so now brother #2 and I are staying in Penthouse West over at the resort."

"No way! We're in East."

"Small world" Katherine smiled.

Caroline had gotten bored of all the twin chat and catching up between the sisters, so she excused herself to get some air. She found a quiet balcony and looked out to the stars.

She saw a person come stand next to her, but assuming it was just another person looking at the stars, she didn't bother to turn and look at them.

"Beautiful, aren't they" he said. The voice made her freeze in place.

"Are you following me?"

"I most certainly am not. However it is a wonderful coincidence that I've managed to see you three times in one day."

"Wonderful how? You like me being rude to you?"

"I like you speaking to me at all, even if you are a bit harsh. You're very beautiful, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be able to see you again."

"Ok, dude, what's your deal? I have a boyfriend."

"He can't be a very good one."

"Excuse me?"

"I've seen you this afternoon, this evening and now late at night. And where is he?"

"He's busy."

"Love, If you were with me, I don't think I could ever be busy enough to leave you alone like that."

"You're judging based on one day. Maybe I'll parade him around you tomorrow so you'll leave me alone."

"Well I would like to see what my competition looks like"

"It's not a competition."

"You're right. I'm sure he doesn't quite measure up."

"Right, you're not full of yourself or anything."

"I'm just going by what I see."

"And what's that?"

"The most beautiful girl I've ever seen, spending her days without her so called boyfriend. She looks more afraid or burdened than enamored whenever she mentions him. She's feisty and smart and she stands up for herself. And this morning she was reading a book by my favorite author, so I know we have at least that in common. I've known you for a day. Less than a day. Little snippets of time spread out over a day. And I already see that you're incredible and I can't possibly imagine letting you slip through my fingers without giving it a fair shot."

He had meant all the words he said, surprisingly. He had little speeches and stories he knew worked for jobs like this. He had ways of building up trust quickly. Yet he didn't go for any of that stuff. He just spoke and let what he was thinking came out.

She scrunched her brow. "Ok, so you just said some really nice stuff about me, but that doesn't answer my question. What makes you so sure that my boyfriend does't measure up? That you have something he doesn't?"

He put his hand over hers. She thought about ripping her hand away from him but she way dying to hear the next thing out of his mouth.

"You just showed me he didn't. I told you a few little things I like about you, and I'm convinced that list would only grow if you gave me a chance to really get to know you. And the way you looked when I said those things, it's like no one ever tells you how beautiful and special you are."

She felt like she was going to cry. Who was this strange man to come in and toy with her emotions like this? What was the point of it all? She couldn't leave Tyler even if she wanted to. And why did it matter if he told her how he felt about her all the time or said she was beautiful? That stuff was silly to concern yourself with, life isn't a fairy tale.

He took a step closer. "If you were mine, I would tell you every day. Every time I saw you I would tell you you're beautiful and incredible. Because it would be true every day. Does he even know? Does he see you?"

He was getting closer to her. She had to tilt her head up a bit to look at him. He reached a hand out to touch the side of her face, and she leaned into the touch. He was getting closer. He was going to kiss her.

"No" she whispered, wishing she didn't have to. "Nik, you're probably a great guy. I don't know why you're being so nice to me and saying these things, but I'm not a good person. My boyfriend isn't either. He could seriously hurt you if he knew what you were trying to do."

"I don't think he's going to be your boyfriend much longer" he said, smiling at his private joke. Because I'm going to kill him and collect my money for doing so.

Caroline would never admit it, but in that moment she wished she could just walk away from Tyler. But she couldn't. She knew too much about him, his business. He would never let her leave.

"You just can't" she whispered.

She was backing away, ready to sprint out of there before she could change her mind, but then a familiar face popped in front of them. Elena. No, not Elena. Katherine.

"There you are! Is your phone off or something? Elena's been looking for you for the past hour."

Had she really spent an hour here with him? It felt like a minute.

She was reaching over to introduce herself. "Katherine Gilbert. And I can see from the confused look on your face that you already met my twin sister."

"Nik."

"Well Nik, we're getting out of here, I'd invite everyone to my place,but my boyfriend and his friends took off a half hour ago and they've probably already crashed for the night, so it looks like we're going back to Elena and Caroline's."

"I'm right down the hall from them"

"Of course you are" she said, smiling at Caroline. "So share a cab with us. That is, if you're ready to leave."

"If Caroline's leaving I think I will too." he responded.

Katherine smiled and grabbed both their hands. "It's settled then. Let's go"

Elena was waiting by the bar up front. When she stood up to greet them Caroline could tell she had drank way too much. Katherine looped her sister's arm around her neck and steadied her as she pulled her into the cab. The ride went by quickly, Elena had been giggling and chatting with Katherine in some made up twin language from when they were kids.

Caroline had always wanted siblings. She looked over at Nik who seemed sad as well. Maybe he was an only child too.

When they got out of the cab they started the walk across the hotel to the elevators. Katherine was occupied with keeping Elena upright. Caroline was trying to keep her distance from Nik, whose eyes seemed to follow her every move, when her heel stuck in a crack between the bricks of the walkway.

It sent her flying forward, but luckily she had put her hands out quick enough to keep from falling on her face. Elena screamed. Caroline tried to pop back up quickly, but her heel wouldn't budge. She was so embarrassed, sprawled out on the ground, and her foot was still stuck. Her knee was stinging with pain.

He was there, gently pulling her foot out before she could protest. She awkwardly wiggled around so she was sitting, and pulled at her dress to make sure everything was covered. He reached over to smooth out her hair.

"What did you land on?"

She thought he was going to ask if she was ok. It was her pet peeve, people who would ask if she was ok when she was obviously not. She felt a little disappointed to miss her chance to snap at him again.

"My hands and my left knee."

He pulled her hands towards him, dusting the dirt off her palms. There were a few tiny scratches but no blood. He looked down at her knee. It had caught a corner of one of the bricks and there was a deep gash among the tiny abrasions. A stream of blood was trailing down her leg.

"That looks bad. I have some things upstairs to patch it up."

"It's fine" she protested "It's nothing"

His hand was under her injured knee, his thumb tracing just outside the edge of the injury. "It's not nothing."

Katherine whispered to her sister "Caroline's boyfriend is so adorable. Look at him taking care of her."

"Thats not her boyfriend" Elena replied.

"Well he should be."

Caroline hoped he wasn't listening, but she could tell from the smile on his face that he was. She felt her stomach lurch, and convinced herself it was out of worry for him. This guy is going to get himself killed if he keeps after me like this.

"Stop it, what are you doing?"

He was pulling her up to carry her and she locked her arms around his neck, afraid he would drop her.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm helping you get back to the rooms."

"I can walk. I didn't break my leg or anything."

"Nonsense. You're bleeding, and you'll bleed less if we keep it elevated above your heart. You can't very well do that while you're walking."

She struggled a little bit, trying to break free, but his grip on her was steady. "You have to put me down." What if someone saw? How would it look? Tyler would kill him for touching her like that.

He just shushed her and walked over to the elevators.

He set her down on the bathroom counter and then when back to his room for a first aid kit. What kind of guy brings a first aid kit on vacation with him? Was he a doctor or something?

Katherine made a face when she looked at Caroline's knee. "Blood, yuck."

Elena just leaned on the counter next to her and made a few Dr. McDreamy jokes while he was out of the room. When she heard the soft knock she squealed and gave Caroline an excited smile. Caroline was annoyed with her. Why was she encouraging this?

He had a black canvas bag with him. He pulled a few bottles and cases out and put them on the counter next to her. He was sorry to see her hurt, but he couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. He needed her to trust him enough to bring him up to the penthouse, he wanted to survey the place before the Lockwood job got called in.

He stood in front of her and pulled her leg to his side, looking at the wound. his hand under her knee kept it steady. He could have broken away to grab what he needed from the counter, but where was the fun in that? He leaned into her as he reached across to grab a washcloth, and wet it in the sink.

He was leaning against her to reach the sink, while her leg curled against his side. Oh, god, what would this look like if Tyler stopped by? Caroline thought. Nik seemed occupied by tending to her knee, so she snuck a look at him when he would't notice. She was convinced he could hear her heartbeat slamming through her chest. What is wrong with you, Caroline? she thought. You don't even know him.

He cleaned the wound with the wet cloth first, then peroxide. She dug her nails into his shoulder when the sting of the disinfectant hit her.

"Oh, god! I'm sorry"

He laughed. "Perfectly ok, love. the worst is over now. I'm just going to put some bandages on."

When she was all patched up he helped her get down from the counter. They stood there for a minute. She looked up at him and he was looking back at her with an intensity she wasn't used to. People like this aren't real, she thought, This doesn't really happen.

"Thank you" she whispered.

"Any time."

Elena and Katherine had fallen asleep on one of the beds with their clothes and shoes still on. He was walking out of the room, trying not to push his luck even though all he wanted was to stay with her a little longer. There was something about her he just couldn't shake. He was dying to know more about her. Who was she anyway, and how did she get mixed up in all this?

He kissed the top of her forehead and turned to open the door.

"Make sure you bolt this once I'm gone. Things that go bump in the night and all that."

She nodded and watched him walk out. When he was gone she hobbled over to the door and locked it and turned the deadbolt as well. She shrugged out of her dress and pulled herself under the covers. She touched the place on her forehead he had kissed. She had felt fire where his lips touched. He was going to bring her whole world down, she could feel it. He was going to be the death of her, and she would run to him willingly. It was all going to end in fire and blood.