Above All Else

Chapter 8

Two hours later a freshly clean and newly invigorated Caroline bounced gracefully down the stairs, her perfectly curled blonde hair waving around her as stepped off the staircase. She was glad she had thought to stop home before coming back to Elena's the other day to grab a few of her things, since nothing of Elena's would have fit her. Her long legs were showcased in a pair of dark blue skinny jeans with knee high black boots, a black and white flowing top reached just to the top of her jeans; the outfit was finished off with a short black faux leather jacket. Caroline always felt better and more in control when she looked her best, and after the crazy of the wall talk she had with herself in the shower she really needed to feel in control.

Confidently she rounded the corner to head into the living room, that is until she saw the sight before her, so much for me feeling in control! Standing in the living room was a half-naked Klaus, wearing only a pair of dark jeans, he was bent half over pulling a new shirt out of his bag as he turned and stood once she entered the room.

Klaus let his gaze roam her from top to bottom trying not to recall his earlier torment as he let his shirt dangle from his fingers. "You look stunning as always Love. I trust your shower and change of clothing helped ease your stress?" He smirked to himself as he watched her eyes roam over his exposed chest down to his low hung jeans. He had decided to test the waters on Caroline's attraction to him. Call him petty but it was also his own form of revenge for her unknowingly temping him while he tried, and failed miserably to block out the sounds of the water cascading over her body in the shower. He was not disappointed by the results.

Caroline was sure she was supposed to say something but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what that something was. All she could do was stare at Klaus's half-naked form, and what a form it is! His upper body was not overly muscled but toned in a way that showed his true strength; Caroline idly wondered what it was he did during his human years to be built like that. Her eyes lowered down to his waistline and a blush rose to her cheeks as she noticed the defined V shape of his lower abs that was partially hidden by his jeans. His upper body is built like a Greek statue, I wonder what the rest...and oh my God! Those necklaces that I could just pull and...Caroline shook the salacious thoughts from her head as her mind finally processed what he asked her.

"Yeah I chest." Mortified she cleared her throat. "I mean I guess...I mean. Why are you standing here half naked anyways?"

Klaus was pleased to say the least by her reaction, Oh yes. She is defiantly attracted. Keeping an innocent look on his face he responded to her, "I figured I would follow your lead Love, while I couldn't very well take a shower," He tilted his head to send her a burning gaze from beneath his full lashes. "You did bring clean clothing for me to change into."

Caroline was still in a daze, this was not what she needed, she had plenty of complicated thoughts about Klaus as it was, she really did not need to add in the additional heat she felt rushing through her veins just by seeing his bare chest.

Klaus knew that if he let this little trick of his go on much longer she would figure out that he could have perfectly heard the exact moment when she was walking down the stairs and avoided this situation completely. So taking advantage of her still lustful fog, Klaus pulled his dark gray long-sleeved Henley over his head voicing out what he knew would distract her. "While you were upstairs your phone went off, I'm not sure who it was since you left it in the kitchen but I figured I'd let you know."

Caroline pulled herself together and worked on pushing all the dirty thoughts running through her head about Klaus away as she walked into the kitchen. "Right, thanks."

Once Caroline had turned around Klaus allowed himself a second to smile in victory and then let out a quiet breath. While he was beyond ecstatic at her reaction to his body, he had not accounted for what her looking at him like that would do to himself. It took every ounce of his thousand years' worth of control to hold back his physical reaction to her eyes burning over him and setting a blazing hot fire in his veins.