#pr sure at least one paragraph of this doesn't make sense

[averseunhinged]

ok well we made it. this is more of the porn with feelings that has finally turned into porn. this is not porn, though. it's just kissing and feelings. i totally fucked up the read order last time. all the sorries. i'm pretty sure it's this part, then this week's snippet, then this, and finally this.

“I'm going to kiss you now, Klaus. Is that enough warning? Should I put my hand on your knee for a while? Maybe do the old yawn and stretch maneuver?”

He grinned at her, dimples stretching into deep, grooved lines. It wasn't that Klaus didn't smile often, but for all that he did, he rarely showed his teeth. It was a little bit silly, his big smile, less practiced. Less wary. His teeth weren't perfect or celebrity white, but they were pretty good for a guy who was born before flossing was invented.

Before he could return her volley, she leaned forward and kissed the smile off his mouth. He sucked in a surprised breath through his nose as he returned her kiss, even though she'd warned him. He was a little bit of a sloppy kisser, loose lipped and wet. She might have thought he wasn't interested if it wasn't for the careful, hesitant hands on her waist and thigh.

It had been months since he'd been so hesitant to touch her. Caroline was a touchy, huggy person by nature. It had felt good to not allow him permission at first. Not because she was punishing him -- or not entirely. It let her feel some small amount of control over her own life when she could give him a single glance and he'd obey. By graduation, though, it had stopped feeling quite so satisfying. After he'd returned from New Orleans the second time, his immediate acquiescence, and the disappointed little moue he tried to hide, made her feel downright petty.

He'd taken Rebekah and her to the Outer Banks for a week near the end of August. Caroline was so mad at Tyler and disappointed both Bonnie and Elena had decided not to go to college like they'd all planned; she'd let him take her hand to help her up off the sand and keep it as they'd walked back to the beach house. It wasn't until later, after pitchers of sweet, vivid sangria, after tender Scottadito and fresh, raw oysters with their iodine tang, after Klaus and Rebekah bickered and laughed all evening, the happiest she'd seen either of them, that she'd wondered where her guilt had gone.

She pressed forward harder and angled her head. He'd let his stubble go in the few weeks since she'd left for Whitmore with Rebekah. Other than a couple of day trips to D.C., Klaus didn't seem interested in doing much other than drinking, painting, and reading Jim Thompson novels, one after another. He certainly hadn't made any friends in town, the way Damon had ingratiated himself. She had a feeling he might have been shifting more often, but he hadn't mentioned it, so she hadn't asked. He smelled fresh and clean from the shower and the unscented soaps he preferred, but underneath that were fainter traces of green, summer forest and some raw and bloody and wild.

She scraped her chin along his and liked the way it burned so much, it made her feel wobbly. Her hands moved without her permission, needing the feeling of his skin to ground herself. Her right hand cupped around the side of his neck, her fingers creeping into his hair and up behind his ear. She steadied herself with her other hand on the center of his chest almost below his sternum. His skin shivered beneath her touch and finally came alive.

He'd never really used his strength on her. Even when he was furious, even the one time he'd hurt her, he'd held her. Shook her without squeezing until she bruised. He'd impaled her and bit her and dropped her on the floor like she was nothing, but he'd cradled her, held her like she was something precious he desperately wanted to keep, too. The closest she'd come to understanding was the night Rebekah saved her life. Even with a stake in her shoulder, Rebekah had lifted Caroline like it wasn't any harder to carry her than not to, cracked ribs with the strength of her grip, and moved so quickly, Caroline hadn't had the chance to see what was happening. She'd only heard the screams fading behind them, the squishing and popping of bodies rent, and a rumbling, menacing growl that should have terrified her.

He was gentler now than Rebekah had been, but he pulled Caroline hard enough to overbalance her as he sat up. She collapsed against him, giggling out the butterflies rioting in her stomach, until he settled her in his lap, his right arm coiling around her waist. She didn't need to test his grip to know she wouldn't be able to break it if he didn't allow her to. There was too much need in it, an urgency he'd buried over the summer, while he tried to be her friend. Tried to give her what she wanted, even if it wasn't enough for him. She wondered if anything would ever be enough for him, if he could gorge himself on her until he was satisfied. He took her now in nips and tongue-tip licks until she opened her mouth to him and let him in.