Chapter Fourteen

Caroline found it odd, just how easy it was to talk to this stranger.

Four cocktails down, and Caroline found that she was laughing so loudly that the noise echoed in her ears. The dancers soon became peach coloured blurs, and the music drummed like blood in her ears. Mickey was the funniest person in the world, and he was only funnier because Caroline could hardly understand a word he was saying.

The night wore on and on, and Caroline soon found herself talking about Klaus. She felt like she did that crazy day with Kol, except there were no illegal drugs on the premises. Somehow, Mickey made her feel comfortable, open, and able to talk about anything. He listened eagerly as Caroline droned on and on about her recent turns of events, and gave her a friendly slap on the back when she finally reached to the part about Klaus bringing her to Amsterdam, and then collapsed onto the bar.

"So you're in love with this fellow?" he asked her in his thick Irish accent. Caroline shrugged, but then realised just what he'd said. She sat bolt upright, and gave him a wobbly glare.

"No! He's my boss," she hissed.

"Sounds like you say that to everyone," he replied with a cheeky grin, before downing a shot that the barmaid had just placed in front of him. She handed a second one to Caroline, but she held her hand up dismissively.

"No, thank you," she insisted. "I really should…" she squinted at her watch, which read three-thirty. "Oh my God, I should really go back to my hotel…" she stood up, fastening her clutch. "It was nice to meet you," she held her hand out politely. Mickey gave her a wider grin, and grabbed her hand – only he didn't just shake it; he yanked her forward. In her alcohol-fuelled state, she fell towards him, and he caught her around the waist, and pressed his face forward, catching her lips in a swift, sudden kiss.

Caroline was shocked, but didn't try to pull away. Her combination of drunkenness and irritation with Klaus made it easy to succumb to the affections of a new man – especially a man who had listened to her ramble and rave for the last several hours. So she wound her arms around his neck, taking in his beer and stale aftershave smell, and feeling the stubble on his neck against her bare arms. He was rough, and common, and she couldn't understand hardly anything you said. He wasn't like anyone that Caroline had ever been with – she generally preferred to be around typically good looking, muscly men. But it didn't really matter at this present time – he had been nice to her, and that was all that mattered.

"Caroline?" a sharp voice broke her out of her trance. She snapped her eyes open, and pulled her face away. She ought to have been surprised, but she really wasn't. She had been expecting his arrival all night.

"Klaus," she muttered, covering her mouth and turning her head away from him. Mickey was grinning up at Klaus with Caroline's lipstick around his mouth, and his hands clutching her waist.

"You're the famous Klaus, huh?" he asked. "Pleasure to meet ya."

Caroline almost choked with laughter at Mickey's sarcastic attempt at greeting Klaus. When she peered back up at him, he had barely spared Mickey a glance. His glare was fixated on Caroline. "Let's go," he muttered stiffly.

Caroline pried herself out of Mickey's grasp. She was beginning to feel a little stupid. Sure, Klaus had been sulky - but he had been jet-lagged, and she had neglected to speak to him for the entire plane journey, so he was bound to be grumpy when they arrived in Amsterdam. Caroline had bounced straight out of the hotel room the minute they arrived, and now he had caught her making out with a man she'd known less than three hours.

He was bound to be irritable now. Caroline groaned inwardly as she sidestepped away from Mickey, and stood beside Klaus. She had ruined the whole holiday. "It was nice to meet you, Mickey," she mumbled, looking at the floor.

Mickey stood up from his stool with his arms outstretched, and pulled Caroline into a tight hug, staring mischievously over her shoulder at Klaus. Klaus pursed his lips and tapped his foot, and Mickey seemed to get the message. He stepped back from Caroline, but continued to watch Klaus. "Say, I don't like how you're looking at the lady," he told Klaus, and cracked his knuckles threateningly.

Klaus cocked an eyebrow sharply. "I don't think it's any of your business. Caroline, love?" Caroline nodded, and gave Mickey one last apologetic look, before following Klaus out of the sleazy bar. She discovered that he had a cab outside, and he opened the door, letting Caroline slide in. He climbed in beside her, and the cab drove off instantly.

They rode in silence for the first ten minutes, and then Caroline braved a glance at Klaus. Her guilt of her actions was slicing through her drunkenness, so she was beginning to feel slightly sober. "You're angry with me," she commented quietly.

"Yes," Klaus agreed. "And no."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm angry with you. You stormed out of the hotel room and I later caught you snogging some gypsy bloke in a sex club," Klaus replied. "But I'm not completely angry with you. I was worried about you, Caroline."

"Worried about me…but why?"

Klaus shot her a pointed look. "I care about you," he answered quietly.

"You care about me?" Caroline was stunned.

"Will you stop repeating everything I say?" snapped Klaus angrily, crossing his arms over his chest. Caroline noticed that he had changed his clothes since earlier, and was cleanly shaven. "Of course I care about you! I care…for you. So that's why I'm angry! You could have been kidnapped by that bloke."

"Klaus," Caroline started. "I'm really sorry. I was just…excited to be in a new country; I've never been to Europe before. I'm sorry I had loads of sleep and I was energetic…and I'm sorry I got sucked into that guy. He was just really charming and nice and…I'm sorry," Caroline gasped in one breath. She looked at him hopefully. "Have I ruined the whole holiday?"

Klaus looked over at her, and his face cracked into a small smile. "It's forgotten," he finalised.

"Honestly, I didn't mean for any of it to—"

"—it's forgotten," Klaus repeated, a little more hostile than before. The taxi pulled over, and he and Caroline climbed out. When they reached their hotel room, Klaus wandered straight into the bathroom, leaving Caroline in the room alone.

She heard water running, so assumed that Klaus was taking a shower. She took a seat at the dressing table, looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Her lipstick was smeared around her mouth and her bottom lip looked slightly bruised from the force of the kiss. After rubbing the worst of the lipstick off, Caroline proceeded to brush out her hair.

"Caroline, come in here a second," Klaus called from the bathroom. She stood up and walked to the closed door.

"What is it?" she called through the door.

"Come in," he insisted. Caroline rolled her eyes, and shoved the door open – and tried not to splutter with laughter at the sight that preceded her. Klaus was in the large, oval-shaped tub, up to his neck in bubbles. The lights were off, and there were a dozen candles scattered around the bathroom. Caroline snickered, thankful that the bubbles were protecting his modesty.

"You called me in so that you could brag about your fancy bath?"

"Climb in with me," Klaus proposed.

Caroline scoffed. "Seriously? I'm not getting in the bath with you."

"Wasting time talking," Klaus replied with a smirk. Caroline rolled her eyes again, but she was smiling a little. She leaned against the door. "Come on, love. We are supposed to be on our romantic date."

"As friends," Caroline corrected.

"Well, this can be a friendly bath."

"I'm not getting undressed in front of you!"

Klaus raised a brow, but he gave her a long, up-and-down look. "Really, love. It's nothing I haven't already seen."

Caroline flushed, but turned her back to him. "Close your eyes," she muttered, looking over her shoulder at him. Klaus obliged, and shut his eyes automatically. She turned back to the wall, and started pulling her tight-fitting dress over her head.

Klaus's eyes cracked open as soon as Caroline's back was turned, and he watched her as she struggled with the too-tight dress. He drank in her mass of pale limbs, her soft buttocks and the curve of her breast, the way her long hair tumbled over her shoulder blades when it escaped the neck of her dress. He took a shallow breath, and closed his eyes a fraction of a second before she turned back to face him.

She scurried over to the side of the bathtub, and dropped inside, submerging herself protectively underneath the bubbles quickly. The water was blissfully hot; instantly soothing the muscles she wasn't aware ached. The candles smelled flowery, and the dim light from them made her feel a lot more self-confident. Feeling wonderfully comfortable, she found herself leaning back against Klaus.

As soon as the back of her head touched his chest she jolted away, sloshing water over the side of the tub. "Sorry," she apologised quickly, sitting up straight and hugging her arms around her body. Klaus smiled at her back, and then reached out with his hand, caressing the back of her neck softly. She flinched initially at the contact, but soon leaned into his touch, like a cat being stroked. Slowly, Klaus pressed his free hand to her shoulder, and pulled her back down, so that she was leaning against him.

He let his hand creep across her front and his fingers brush her chest softly in an up and down motion between her breasts. She arched her back slightly, and her hair tickled his face, giving him an idea. Trying not to disturb her too much, Klaus reached for an empty plastic jug that was on the side of the bath. He dunked it under the bathwater, and slowly poured the water over Caroline's head.

Once her hair was damp, he took one of the complimentary shampoo bottles that was displayed, and poured a generous amount onto his palm. Carefully, he began to massage the shampoo into Caroline's scalp. "I used to have to wash Rebekah's hair when we were children," Klaus explained. "Secretly I enjoyed it. She had lovely long hair, and I enjoyed combing it out and braiding it afterwards," Klaus replenished the jug with water after he had finished shampooing her hair, and began to wash the soap out. She remained so quiet for the entire procedure, that he almost thought she'd fallen asleep – until she spoke.

"Are you still angry with me?" she asked quietly.

"Not even a little," Klaus replied softly. He was smoothing Caroline's wet hair into a braid, and curling it over her shoulder, exposing the side of her neck. She seemed to be arching into him, pressing closer than was comfortable. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he bent his head into the expanse of her neck, and began pressing delicate, sparse kisses across hr pale skin. A small whimper escaped her throat, and she rolled her head back against his chest.

"What are you doing?" she asked him in a breathy voice, her eyes closed.

"This?" Klaus answered, applying more pressure to his kisses.

"Mmhmm," Caroline murmured in response. "We're just friends, remember," she continued. She sat up and turned around in the bath so she was facing him.

"I wonder if we are sometimes more than friends," he replied with a smirk. "Do friends do this?" he took her face in his hands, and pulled her forward, kissing her softly. She tried to gently push him back, but he caught her wrists and tailed his kisses down her throat. "Or this…?" he reached her breasts and caught her nipple between his teeth, teasing it gently. She gasped slightly, and Klaus released her hands.

He sat up again and pulled her so that she was lying on top of him, with her wet braided hair hanging down in his face. This time it was Caroline who bent down and kissed him, while Klaus began caressing her entire body with his palms. She still felt bad for her behaviour earlier in the day, and right now, while she was still a little bit drunk, she wanted to clear the air. In the only way that seemed necessary, right at that moment. She moved down his body slowly, until her head was vanishing under the bubbles.

It was Klaus's turn to gasp involuntarily when Caroline wrapped her mouth around him. He leaned back in the bath while she gave three long, sensual strokes with her mouth before emerging back up for air. Nearly all of the bubbles were gone with the pair of them moving around so much in the water, and the sight of Caroline climbing back up to faced him, her beautiful body slick with water, made Klaus want her desperately.

He sat up a little, and pulled her onto him so that she was straddling his waist. The water made everything just a little too easy, and it didn't take long for Klaus to position himself against her entrance, before sliding himself inside her quickly.

They both groaned in unison as Klaus buried himself inside her to the hilt, reaching around with both of his hands and clutching her buttocks. Caroline whined as he rocked her backwards and forwards, and nuzzled into her neck, sucking delicately on the sensitive skin there.

Caroline felt amazing as Klaus continued to roll his hips into her in just the right way, alternating speeds until she was almost at the brink of release, and then he would slow down again teasingly. She gripped handfuls of his wavy hair and pressed her chest against his furiously, tipping her head back in euphoria.

Within a few minutes, Klaus was speeding up his ministrations again, but not in a taunting way this time. His jaw was slack, and he was staring at Caroline's face with narrow lidded eyes, refusing to look away from her. He froze suddenly, digging his nails into the flesh of her buttocks. "Caro…line…" he gasped, pouring himself into her.

An hour later, and the sun was starting to come up. Caroline was standing on the balcony in her pyjamas, wondering whether there was any point in going to sleep. Klaus, on the other hand, had dried and fallen into bed the minute they had climbed out of the bath.

She stared determinedly out at the sunrise as it grew over the tops of the buildings. She had assured both herself and Klaus, as soon as she had stepped out of the bath that they weren't going to have sex again. They had made the mistake in the Hamptons, and now it had happened again – already, just a few hours into their holiday. But she supposed, as with the Hamptons: what happened on tour, stayed on tour.

She was trying not to laugh to herself, when she spotted someone emerging from the doors of the reception below. The person looked familiar; with a leather hat, long, light brown hair and wearing a shirt over a pair of blue jeans. He seemed to realise that someone was staring at him, and he turned around, looking upwards. His crinkled eyes made contact with Caroline's, and he grinned, sticking out his tongue, before he rushed off to the cab that was waiting at the side of the road.

It was Mickey, the man with the strange accent from the sex club. Caroline gave him a half-hearted wave as he climbed into his taxi, wondering what on earth he was doing here. She remembered vaguely telling him which hotel they were staying at, but she didn't think he was actually paying attention. A dull knock on the hotel room door yanked her out of her thoughts.

Klaus remained asleep, naturally so, having not slept since before they climbed aboard the plane to Amsterdam, so Caroline hopped over to the door quickly, and answered it. The Dutch receptionist was standing there, immaculately dressed in her sharp white uniform.

"A gentleman left this for Caroline Forbes," she drawled in her heavy accent. She handed Caroline nothing more than a small rectangular card, with a cell phone number scribbled on it. The receptionist flounced away immediately, leaving Caroline standing in the doorway, looking at the card in confusion.

Underneath the number read nothing but two words and an initial – Call me, - M.

At that moment, Klaus murmured in his sleep. Without really thinking properly, Caroline did the first thing she thought of – she buried the cell number to the bottom of her make up bag, where she was sure Klaus wouldn't find it.