Disclaimer: Not mine as much as I wish. A/N: Sexy times ahead. Thank you for reading! x
Bound to You
5.
Caroline opened her eyes, leaning into Stefan as his lips peeled away from hers. She swallowed, aware of how his lips curved into a smile, wanting more. Tender touches, fingers in her blond hair, tilting her head back and kissing her once more. Her breath hitched in her lungs when he caressed her face, eyes full of love. Rain against the window panes made her grateful to be inside. Stefan's warm breath brushed against her cheeks, and his chest hairs tickled her breasts.
She stepped out of her dress, wrapping one arm around his neck, shedding her nerves and smiling into each kiss. It felt good to kiss him. Stefan exhaled, pulling away, only to lift her into his arms, her legs locking themselves around his thighs, where he carried her to his bed. She kissed his shoulder, giggling when he dropped her on his sheets, taking in her beauty with mesmerised blue eyes. Her chest heaved in anticipation, sliding her right hand up his arm, eager to make love to him.
The rain grew heavier, and Caroline moaned against Stefan's gradual thrusts, fingers intertwined upon the mattress while her toes curled, thighs quivering beneath constant touch. Her mouth curved into a smile, gasping beneath his gentle kisses against her collarbone and down her breasts and stomach. "I love you," Caroline whispered, holding his face in her hands and leaning in to kiss him. "I love you too," he grinned, breaking their kiss, and continuing his assault.
Stefan lay back into the pillows, listening to the rain while Caroline rested her chin against his chest, watching rain drops splatter against the glass. "You are definitely not gay," she sighed, still tingling in sensitive areas and remembering how gentle Stefan's kisses had been, and how she had giggled in anticipation for his tongue to sweep along her folds, tightening her grip in his hair to stop him from leaving too soon. Stefan smirked, her shrieks of glee still ringing in his ears.
"Sorry about Ivy," she sighed, knowing how depressing break ups could be. She glanced at his clock and groaned, not wanting to leave the warmth. "I should get ready for work." Stefan pulled her arm back, shaking his head, and as much as she wished she could stay in bed with him, Hayley needed her on stage, and him in the bar, she reminded him. She pulled on her stockings, and Stefan reached over for his SLR camera, his latest hobby.
"You're going the wrong way," he stated. She raised her eyebrow, rolling them back down, and Stefan winked, clicking his camera. She lay on his bed, smirking as Stefan ran his hands up her legs, humming one of his unfinished songs, his fingers playing the piano on her thighs. He grinned, tapping them across her stomach and then, with his eyes locked on hers, he lowered them, and Caroline's breaths raced, mouth ajar, while he teased her beneath the sheets.
Stefan picked up her sailor's hat and slipped it onto his head, while Caroline clipped on her bra, and other clothes. Seeing Stefan, naked, in his bed with only a camera and the hat was making her wet between the thighs again...nope, she had to go to work, or otherwise she'd never leave the house and she was sure by Stefan's continuous smirk, he knew the effect he had on her. She was about to put on her heels when his hands grabbed her around the waist and deposited her back on the bed.
"Stefan, we're so late as it is," she whispered, appreciating his gentle kisses along her cheeks, and feeling her bra release. "Stef-an!" Soon Stefan had one hand inside her and his mouth on her breast. Just one more minute wouldn't hurt, she thought, pulling him on top of her. The door opened and Caroline punched him in the arm, worried it might be his brother Damon, walking in on them.
"Stefan?" It was a girl's voice, and Caroline looked back to Stefan who' reaction to their visitor made everything perfectly clear. Ivy placed her keys in the bowl beside the door, and dragged her suitcase to the middle of the room, where her curious expression turned to shock and then rage. Stefan threw himself half way across the room, pulling on his boxes and profusely shouting at her to get out. Caroline blinked, anger rising in her chest.
"You told me you broke up?!" Caroline left Stefan's bed, pulled up her knickers and waited for his explanation while Ivy glared at him. "I'm his fiancé! I came home because we needed to talk, and you don't break up with somebody over the phone! Who's this slut?"
Caroline shook her head, picking up the rest of her stuff, while it was beyond obvious to her Stefan did need to talk to Ivy, and get the fuck out of her face before she murdered him for lying to her. "Caroline, don't go, don't go! I can explain..." His eyes pleaded for her to stay, but she was late for work but all she wanted was to leave. "No, you're just like all the rest of those assholes. I trusted you. You were my friend, and I'm not going to be the girl you use to get over your fiancé."
Caroline caught the bus to Josh's house, soaked through and hoping for a ride. To be honest, she just needed a friend and hadn't been able to get through to Bonnie, who was probably having sexy times with the hot DJ she'd met at Elena and Damon's wedding. The door opened, and she glanced at the number on the door, worried she'd been standing on the wrong front step for the last twenty minutes.
"Josh?" she queried, making a face.
"Josh? Shit, I've been calling him John!" Caroline seemed confused, but realized as she entered the house, bemused, Josh had also gotten lucky after the wedding. Clothes were strewn all over the hall, in the kitchen and in the main bedroom. A naked Josh lay face down, grey sheets thankfully covering his bottom, while his back lay bare. "Aiden," the stranger said, shaking her hand, and bringing the sheet back around his naked body. Caroline felt like maybe she should have just caught a taxi to work. "
Ahem!" she fake-coughed into her hand, and Josh blinked, bleary-eyed at them. "Caroline, what are you doing here?" he squinted at the clock, groaning. "Why didn't we cancel the show tonight? I've got the worst hangover...is that you Aaron?" Caroline hid a smile behind her hand, while Aiden corrected his name. "Shit! I'm so sorry." Aiden went to his side of the bed. "If it makes you feel any better, I've been calling you John, and you seemed to like it, a lot!" Aiden ran his hand through Josh' hair, and kissed him. Josh deepened the kiss.
"I'll make coffee, carry on!" Caroline ran back into the kitchen and sighed, rubbing her eyes, and wondering whether the night could get any better. Her phone rang, and she picked it up, thinking it might be Stefan. It was Klaus, inviting her to dinner. She sighed, hearing Hayley's voice in her head.
"You have to learn who are the people you can trust, who are the people who like you for you, and who are the people who just want something from you." She had thought she could trust Stefan.
Klaus' cheery voice cut through her depressed mood. She could hear trumpets in the background. Where the hell was he? "Caroline, I'm standing in one of my favourite places in the world, surrounded by food, music, art, culture...and all I can think about is, how much I want to show it to you, maybe one day, you'll let me." She bit her lip, thinking about Stefan. It had been long enough, she wouldn't wait for him to make up his mind.
Josh leaned in for a tender kiss with Aiden, opening his eyes and grinning when the cute caterer straightened his tie and blushed at the thought of Josh's hands pressed against his chest, their bodies had fit together so perfectly, he was sad for the night to be over already. "Take care..."
Josh murmured, smiling when Aiden gave him an awkward wave, and pulled his car keys from his jacket pocket.
A motorbike arrived in the driveway and Josh, who'd heard their fight first hand, yelled at Stefan over the balcony. "She's gone! You waited too late, buckeroo!" Stefan removed his helmet. "Gone where?" he panicked, one foot on the ground while Aiden admired his bike. "Klaus picked her up, and tell Hayley I'll be along after I feed my beau." Aiden looked up, surprised, seeing Josh beckoning him inside. "Good luck, Romeo!" he shook his head, smiling when Aiden's arms wrapped around his.
Hayley paced up and down her office, freaking out, not because half her colleagues hadn't turned up to work, but because it was clear to her there was absolutely no way to fight Klaus on buying her club. He must have known that, and that was why he was so smug all the time. Hayley needed to speak to Josh, but Stefan, who'd arrived only ten minutes ago, told her, he'd rather spend time with his new lover, than help out a friend. Hayley sighed, Josh deserved happiness as much as anyone, perhaps that last though was just her being jealous of the cards he'd been dealt.
Bonnie had called in sick, and it was Elena's honeymoon. Katherine was god knows where, probably in the curb with her bottle of vodka, Hayley thought, collapsing in her chair and staring at her phone. "I will not call my ex-husband for help. He only made matters worse the last time," she hissed to herself, feeling as though she should just bang her head against her desk, maybe then, she'd force herself to think of something. Hayley looked at years of accumulated stuff she'd filled her office and ignored the bangs on the doors of people wondering why they were closed.
Even Caroline was late, and since Stefan was here, doing inventory, she guessed she had chose Klaus. That bastard was buying her club in less than 24 hours and her bank had refused to give her a loan. The manager, with his white hairs and wrinkly forehead, looked at her like she was trash, and kept playing with his long wooden block thingy on his desk... muttering something about how she was 'not a good risk'. Hayley called Josh, needing to speak to her best friend and getting his voicemail for the third time. She complained to him, having a one-sided conversation, until her office door opened and Josh held up his phone.
"Did you listen to them?" Hayley demanded, eyes wide, relaxing when Josh nodded, coming inside.
"The situation is pretty bleak," he said, giving a last look to the newspaper clippings and photographs.
"Says the master of the fucking obvious," Hayley sighed while Josh gave her a hug, telling her she'd find a way, she always did.
Caroline sat in Klaus' BMW regretting her decision to leave Hayley stranded, and listening to Klaus blab about his latest property developments. She thought of Stefan, and had felt her phone buzzing in her jacket pocket continuously since leaving Josh's house. What if it was him? What if he'd followed her, and she'd been wrong all along? Caroline caught the end of Klaus' conversation, realizing something about the both of them.
"It's not personal, it's business," Klaus said. Caroline realized, at the end of the day, Klaus did what was best for him. He wanted the club because he wanted to make better clubs, more clubs. To him, it was a win-win situation. He wanted to give her ample opportunity to be famous, to perform in all these clubs and to network outside of Hayley's club, except like Stefan told her, Hayley's Burlesque club was family, and families stick together, at least that's what her mother used to say.
"It's personal for Hayley," Caroline shot back at him. Klaus sighed. "You don't get it, I'm trying to do something that benefits everyone, how does that make me the bad guy?" His eyes left the road, and Caroline opened her door, sick of the traffic, and seeing Hayley's club in sight. Klaus called after her, and she sighed, replying to his question. "It makes you the wrong guy," and she quickened her pace, beaming, not only because she knew she'd made the right choice, but because she'd finally knew what could save Hayley's club.
"SERIOUSLY? DO YOU EVER LISTEN TO ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE SOUND OF YOUR OWN VOICE!?" Caroline screamed, distracting Hayley from her conversation with Josh. "Air Rights!" Caroline picked up Hayley's bag, taking her car keys from her bag. Josh promised to stall Klaus while they went to buy some air rights, well, convince the billionaire who'd bought condos with a fabulous view, which would disappear if Klaus tore down her club to make them an offer.
With a cheque in hand, and Caroline skipping alongside her, beaming and needing a celebratory drink on the house, Hayley marched up to Jackson, who'd arrived to finish the paperwork, and handed it to him. "What's this?" Jackson stuttered. Hayley saw Klaus lurking in the corner by himself. "I bought you out, it's everything I owe you, I owe the bank, and a little bit more." Jackson stared at the sum, and twisted in his seat, staring over at a depressed Klaus. "Does he know?"
Hayley nodded. "He does now." She kissed Jackson on the cheek, happy to have left their divorce on better terms. Klaus, on the other hand, she gave a smirk, and he left in a huff. She rolled her eyes, turning around to see Katherine, the only show girl apart from Caroline who had turned up.
"I crossed the line, I never slept with Jackson. I want to come home," Katherine said. Hayley nodded. "Someone needs to turn the sign on the door around from closed to open, and since Bonnie and Elena aren't here, then I need all the performers I can get." Katherine ran off to make it happen, while Caroline smirked and Josh stalked by darning something. "I do all the work around here, I quit!" he joked, bumping into Stefan, who'd come back from a bathroom break.
"Thanks Marcel," Caroline left her seat, pushing some money his way. Marcel put her money into the til, glancing at Stefan and then back to Hayley, who shrugged. She went to greet the patrons who hadn't left and apologised for their delay. She ran into Bonnie, dragging who Hayley presumed was her new boyfriend, accompanied by his college friends, thirty of them. Hayley sat them down the front, and saw Elena and Damon sneak in from the back. Elena beamed, one hand on her stomach, and Damon's arms around her waist. "We heard the news from Caroline, and besides, this place is home."
Hayley felt Josh's arm around her neck and she cried against his shoulder, laughing when he made some ridiculous joke, like he always did to make her feel better. "Get up there, and sing that song you've been rehearsing." He slapped her on the arse, and went to find Aiden, who'd he'd left darning costumes backstage. Josh walked passed Caroline putting on her foundation and heard the familiar gossip coming from Elena and Bonnie's news. Damon, he'd seen at the bar with Stefan, and wondered how long before Caroline's sex life circulated through their family. "Mind your own business, Katherine." Caroline saw the former dancer staring at her through her mirror, again.
Caroline put down her brush, and smiled, while Bonnie and Elena argued over Jeremy, and when Josh coughed, nodding to the doorway, she saw Stefan there with a massive bunch of white roses, which Elena and Bonnie whistled at. Katherine busied herself with her mascara. "I've been looking for you," Stefan said, looking sincere. Caroline left the dresser, and folded her arms. "I messed up."
"When you lied to me or kicked me out of your apartment?" she hissed, raising her eyebrows.
"Ivy's gone, for good this time. I never should have let you walk out of that door! I want you back." Stefan's hand found hers, caressing her fingers and she couldn't pretend to be mad at him. She took his flowers, seeing Damon over his shoulder, carrying a bottle of bourbon, and Hayley's voice echoed down from the stage.
"So what's the proposal exactly?" she whispered, hovering her mouth close to his. He grinned.
"Well, I still have that full box of cookies...?" she pictured them, and his naked ass and smirked.
"I want the bedroom!" she kissed him, pulling on his bottom lip, and in-between making out heard him mutter. "Half." Damon coughed, pulling something out of his leather jacket pocket and Stefan checked his own, realization dawning on him.
"So you two finally did it..." Damon said, waving the piece of sheet music around his head.
"Damon!" Elena hissed, failing at covering his mouth and giving up when her back began to hurt.
"Gross," Katherine made a face, leaving the room. Damon laughed, dodging Stefan's attempts. "I know because Stefan finished a song...!" Caroline snatched it from Damon, staring at the song title and then back to Stefan. Damon smirked, passing around his bottle of bourbon.
"Can I hear it?" Caroline asked, while the room fell silent, listening. Stefan looked down at the sheet music, his hands wrapped around hers and he shook his head. "No...but you can sing it," and he grinned, stumbling back a few paces when Caroline's lips crashed against his, and before Hayley yelled at them to get on stage, she ran up to Marcel, telling him of their plan.
"Somebody had to," Damon smirked when they stood by the bar. "Life's too short to not take chances, Stefan. Don't wait and see, seize the moment, and be happy." Stefan saw Hayley and Josh backstage watching their star shine, and felt the same sense of pride surge through his veins. Caroline looked over the sea of faces and found the one who believed in her the most, she smiled, holding the last note, and raised her arm to the stage lights, knowing she'd made her mother proud.
A/N: Please review!