Kol stood under the shower, water streaming down his head and pounding his aching shoulders. Tentatively, he wrapped his palm around his dick and closed his eyes. The water felt great on his skin and his mind wandered off the object of his desire, Bonnie Bennett. He pictured her on the floor of the cottage at the Hamptons, naked; legs spread wide open while he drank champagne from her navel. Kol groaned, throwing his head back when he remembered trailing his tongue down her quivering torso to suck on her clit. As he pounded into his closed palm, he imagined it was Bonnie's mouth around his hard cock, her warm wetness pulsating around his erection.

He rode the tidal wave of his hot, sticky orgasm with a growling groan. After the sensation had rippled through him like wave, he finished his shower and stepped out under the skylight. Rolling his shoulders, Kol stepped closer to the steamed mirror and examined his face. His dishevelled hair was shorter, lighter from the summer sun and his skin visibly darker. He raked a hand through the short, golden tresses and smiled wryly at his reflection.

Three weeks, he told the mirror. Bonnie had left him three weeks ago and he still didn't know how he'd managed to fuck that up. Kol assumed that they were both on the same page, enjoying each other and benefiting from their human connection. Did he get too heavy too soon? Maybe taking Bonnie to the Hamptons had given off bad vibes and she had assumed that he was gunning for a commitment.

He'd lost a good thing because Bonnie was witty, smart and interested in the world around her. She wasn't exactly sexually aggressive but she had begun to open up and was grasping his teachings like a fish to water. He closed his eyes and relaxed his shoulders; he didn't want to think about Bonnie Bennett today because he'd been doing too much of that.

Padding back to his large bedroom, he took in the expansive bed with red tangled sheets and walked into his walk-in closet to pick out an ensemble. He shrugged into a black slim-fit shirt, pausing to watch the bobbing schooners on the Hudson River. He missed the sound of water slapping against the hull, lazy days lying on deck under a buttery sunlight. That was living, not this, not office space and glittering skyscrapers and scheduled Monday Morning meetings. He was now helming Esther Magazine which was housed in the same building where Bonnie worked. It was officially his first day at the office after weeks of back and forth between his father and brothers. Kol still thought the job would be dull and tedious and would rather have spent his time trekking across the Mongolian desert but for the sake of peace he'd agreed to take charge of the magazine while Klaus and Elijah overlooked the rest of the publications.

His father, Mikael had flown back to their villa in Italy reluctantly leaving everything in their capable hands. Rolling his shirt sleeves, he glanced at his watch and grabbed his Tom Ford sunglasses. He may have been turned into a working stiff but he refused to dress like one.

..

It had been three weeks, four days, six hours and thirty two minutes since she'd heard from Kol Mikaelson. Okay, perhaps there was an itsy bitsy teeny weeny lie there, yes he'd called her and twice to be exact but she had chosen not to respond until he realized the error of his ways.

The error of his ways? Maybe it was the error of their ways because she needed to take responsibility for her part in the relationship, if she could even call it that. Casual sex was a minefield she had learned to navigate before but with Kol her emotions had gotten the better of her. She'd even gone as far as using her safe word which it turns out was banana. That seemed to have worked because there had been no further communication between the two of them. She would not miss him; she would not be that girl who slept with that hot, sexy billionaire once only to fall under his spell.

"Must you always wear those jeans?" Bonnie tossed Matt a look as she locked the front door to her apartment. Caroline had already left so that she could meet Katherine for a spinning class and she had a photo-shoot for her new blog.

"They give me a nice basket!" Matt argued, sizing up her dress.

"Is that what you're wearing?" he raised a sceptical eyebrow, pursing his lips.

"Yes, why?" she asked, throwing him a glance as they scurried along the sidewalk, weaving through swarms of people clogging the sidewalk.

Matt hung back while she cut through the crowd before raising a hand to hail down a cab, "Because you look like the before" he yelled with a smirk.

"You're my acting camera man for the vlog and your opinion is null and void" she shrugged cracking open the cab door. The crawled into the backseat, Matt leaning back against the bench with his arm draped across the headrest.

"The dress makes the woman" he said affectionately, examining her features and her new hairstyle, a long wavy bob.

"Hayley's arranged a stylist so I'm sure there'll sort me out" Bonnie informed him airily and opened her tote to search her bag for her trusted tube of peach gloss.

"I deserve your life but minus the love drama" Matt resigned with a heavy sigh and opened his iPad to scroll down its screen.

"Oooh" he suddenly exclaimed, slapping a hand over his mouth. Bonnie paused and took note of the expression on his face, her eyes darted between his eyes and the screen and she scooted closer.

"Let me see that" she cried, snatching the iPad from him. They fought over the device for a while, exchanging words before Matt yelled,

"It's Kol on page six"

"Let me see!" she rushed for the device, choking it with her hands and hurriedly scrolled and clicked until Kol's image came into view. He looked good, hair lighter and shorter and his brown eyes were significantly brighter against his tan skin. Bonnie's stomach sank; he was obviously doing fine without her.

"Why did you break up with him again?" Matt's brows furrowed and he reached out to ruffle her bob with his fingers.

With a scoff, she brushed his hand away and hissed, "You know why…he was all about the sex"

"You meet a guy on a sex website, you go away on a sexy weekend with him where you undoubtedly have lots of sea side sex, you send him a picture of your courageous nipple at three a.m. and complain when he invites you over because he just wants sex with you"

Perhaps Matt had a point, Bonnie frowned but she refused to admit it.

"What were you expecting?" he asked.

"I don't know" she lifted her hair from her neck and fanned her nape uselessly with a vogue magazine pulled out from her bag.

"Do you see how this looks from his point of view?"

"He should've been able to sense that it wasn't enough" she whined, rolling her eyes.

"Because he's a mind reader" Matt drawled, his tone irritating her "Why don't you try telling him?"

"Tell him what?" she turned to him, her eyebrows raised.

"That you're in love with him"

"But I'm not"

"You're such a drama queen"

By the time they reached Esther Magazine's offices, Bonnie was exhausted from her conversation with Matt. He was supposed to be on her side on this matter, he owed her that much. They strolled in with their heels echoing around the vast studio with high industrial ceilings and an exposed brick wall. The place was crawling with people, setting up lights, screens and pushing clothes rails. The photographer stood feet wide apart with a professional camera slung around his neck.

"This is so exciting!" Matt squealed, pinching her arm as the photographer looked up from his camera. He closed the short distance between them and stuck out his hand for a handshake.

"You must be my model" he said with a smile and his strong English accent wasn't lost on her. Why did everything have to remind her of Kol?

She watched as his warm fingers wrapped around her hand and her body tensed to his touch.

"I'm Bonnie" she replied, clearing her throat.

"Enzo" he smirked, the pads of his thumb brushing her forearm, "Why don't you slip out of those clothes, gorgeous?"

"My clothes?"

"The stylist's waiting to work on you" he gestured to a petit redhead next to a chinse print screen and Bonnie cleared her throat, nodding curtly before walking away from him. Enzo turned to watch, a smile teasing his lips as his face colored.

The stylists with corkscrew red curls handed her a filmy black dress that left very little to the imagination.

"That's it?" Bonnie chewed on her lips, giving the woman a quizzical look.

"You write about sex so we're selling sex" she shrugged her shoulders and motioned Bonnie to get behind the screen so that she could change.

"You're not gonna have me posing next to a giant dildo are you?"

"That would be the set designer's job" she sang, her voice laced with spite.

After her change of clothes, they lead her to the front where the camera was set up. Bonnie sat on a swing on set, her fingers nervously plucking the fake vines on the ropes of the swing. She pushed herself off with the balls of her feet, her filmy dress flaring as she swung up with Enzo's camera clicking away. The falling cherry blossoms tickled her nose and following Enzo's direction, she threw her head back and mock laughed because apparently sex was supposed to be fun and floral like a perfume ad. She had just slipped into another tattered chiffon dress that fluttered from the fan-breeze when she spotted Kol with his arms crossed against his chest as he leaned against the door.

Fuck my life, she thought before giving him a small wave with her hand. He didn't respond but he lurked around the fringes of the room, observing her like a predator. When she looked up again, trying to find him over the heads of several people on set, he was gone.

The shoot was over and her cheeks ached from the mock smiling. Bonnie was actually looking forward to getting behind her desk so that she could start planning her assignments for the blog. The photographer was still watching her, sans camera now but she still felt raw and exposed.

"Let me cook you dinner" Enzo said as she brushed past him.

"Come again?" she stopped, eyes wide as she stared at him.

"I make a mean casserole" he leaned closer, his eyes caressing every inch of her face.

..

Katherine was planning to get her feet wet in the new class and the instructor with dark tousled curls and olive skin was just the man for the job. Her imagination had gone into overdrive weeks into starting the class and his yoga moves weren't helping. Markos was tall, limber, toned with a magnetic aura that seemed to draw a bevy of women to his class.

Katherine took a position on the front row right in front of him where she could swoon over his dark facial stubble and the hair peeking over his deep V-neck t-shirt. As she did her downward facing dog with him weaving between them, she wondered if she would pair him with a white wine and sugar-free lube or a chocolate body paint and a lush red wine. It wasn't a question of getting him but more like when? They'd been playing this game of eye-sex and can I help you stretch since her second day in class. Today was no different as he approached Katherine, his face wearing a very subtle I can choke you till your eyes stream blackened tears down your cheeks look. It was a look Katherine had learned to love as he leaned over her and lifted her anxious legs over his shoulders, palming her ass in both hands.

He told the class it was a hamstring stretch and they partnered up to mirror the stretch. He didn't let up on the pose, his bulge brushing up against her clit while his hands massaged her ankles. As he continued to stretch her out like he was stretching out her pussy, Kat's mind toyed with the thought of him entering her from behind and hooking her leg round his thrusting hip while he buried his face against her neck.

"This will really stretch you out, it's nice and deep" he said thickly, his dark eyes fixed on her and she practically came in her yoga pants.

"That was a great class" Katherine told him later when she found him at the front of the room, setting up for his next class.

"Thank you" his lips teased into a smile, his eyes studying her curiously.

"We should grab some green tea sometime" she lifted an eyebrow, testing his response before pulling her card from her oiled chest.

"Yes, I'd like that" his gaze lingered there where she'd pulled the card, memorizing the size of her breasts.

"Call me" she smiled and handed him her business card.

..

Tyler was late; Caroline thought as she took another sip of sparkling water from her steamed glass. The ice had already melted down and shaking it didn't help. She tapped her pencil against the glass and glared at her sketch. The dress didn't look half bad but she knew that she could do better, she just needed to concentrate. Working on her sketches at a bra in Brooklyn at seven in the evening was probably not a good idea but since she didn't have the key to Tyler's apartment, she was forced to wait for him there. Tyler Lockwood would've been quite ideal if he wasn't such a cheater. He would have been similarly a model boyfriend if he gave her a spare key to his apartment or even a drawer. Lugging the things back and forth between the East Village and Brooklyn was becoming exhausting. She squeezed her eyes closed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry I'm late"

Caroline raised her head to the sound of his voice over the cacophony inside the bar.

"Hey, you" the blonde tried to smile but she was still quite irritated by his blatant disregard for her and her time.

"I'm sorry I'm late" he brushed a hair down her hair and perched up on a barstool next to her.

"I'm been seeing here like an idiot"

"I said I was sorry, Care"

"You know this wouldn't happen if I had the key to your apartment" she swung her eyes up at him, checking his reaction but he was unreadable.

"What do we have here?" Tyler evaded her question and gestured to her spilling bag sitting on the floor between them.

"Its champagne, cheese, some strawberries. I just wanted to make tonight beautiful" Caroline said, taking another sip of her luke warm water, even the fizzle had died much like the spark in her relationship with Tyler.

"Let's go home" he said after giving her statement a bit more thought and rubbed her upper arm with his hand.