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“I’m going to find Vera,” Alaric says. “And for your information, she wasdelightedto see me.”

“So was I,” Klaus says. “Just a little.”

Alaric flips him off without turning around.

It’s just Klaus and me on the dock now. He searches my eyes once again, making sure I’m okay. The concern on his face makes my heart melt into a complete puddle.

“Are you okay?” he asks me.

Out of nowhere, my heart feels heavy. I nod and glance down at my feet, hiding my face from him.

I don’t know if he realizes it, but Klaus gives me the kind of love I always craved as a little girl.

I told myself that I hated my father, but the truth was that I wanted him to care more. I wanted him to be a better man. Iwanted him to come back into my life. I wanted him to love me like a father should.

Those dreams never came true.

But Klaus heals that wound in my heart that was left behind by my father.

He wipes away the first drop of tear that rolls down my cheek.

“Emma,” he says. “What’s wrong?”

I lick my bottom lip. I don’t feel like talking right now. I just want his lips pressed against mine. I just want his body on top of mine.

“Can you...” I don’t finish the question.

I don’t have to.

Klaus scoops me into his arms and walks away from the dock. He takes me to the same groove we found yesterday. It’s a private enclave, and it looks even better in the morning. Everything is a vibrant hue of blue and green and brown. The golden sunshine makes it look like a place where fairies would live.

He presses me up against that same tree where he kissed me yesterday.

“Look at what you turn me into, Emma.” He grabs my throat and snarls the words against my lips. “I have to drag you out into the middle of nowhere just to have my way with you.”

I struggle to breathe underneath the pressure of his grip.

“You breathe when I let you,” he says. “You open these thighs for me when I ask you to. You show me your pretty tits whenever I want to look at them. Because every inch of you belongs to me now.”

My vision swims from the lack of oxygen in my system. At the same time, a primal heat gathers between my thighs. A pulse forms there, beating for his touch.

“Keep those pretty eyes on me,” he says. “I want you to look at me while I corrupt your hot little body.”

He pushes his hard length against my stomach, grinding it against me. I gasp when his shaft brushes against my clit.

“Fuck, you like it, don’t you?” he says. “I bet if I touched you right now, I’d find you dripping wet for my cock.”

He shoves his hand between my thighs, squeezing my flesh hard.

“What a bad, bad girl,” he says. “You’re soaked all the way through your panties for me. Does it make you horny knowing I couldn’t wait to have you? I brought you all the way here so nobody could hear your screams. But you secretly like it, don’t you?”

He can decipher every sigh that leaves my lips. He can read every flicker of emotion in my eyes. He can anticipate the needs of my body before I can even express them.

“You may look like an angel, but you’re a dirty little whore, aren’t you?” He pushes my panties to the side and swipes a thick digit between my folds. “Look how wet this little cunt is for a hard fuck.”

I shift against the tree, but his hold on me is so strong that I can barely move.

His eyes darken.