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KLAUS

I flip the ring box open.

The diamond sparkles like a star in the night. I can’t wait to put it on her finger.

It’s Friday evening, which means I’ll have proposed to her by this time tomorrow. I’m going to tell her how I really feel about her. I’m going to tell her that I’m head over heels in love with her. I’ll tell her that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.

My phone rings. It’s Alaric.

“Hey,” I say, picking up.

“Meet me at the club. We need to talk.”

“Right now?” I ask.

“Yes, right now,” he says. “I have something important to tell you.”

I wanted to stay in for the night, but there was an urgency in Alaric’s voice. He sounds worried about something, and he never worries about anything.

“I’ll be there in an hour,” I say.

“Good, I’ll be done with my workout by then,” he says. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

I hesitate for a moment. I want to ask him what’s wrong, but Iknow better than to do it over the phone.

A moment after we hang up, there’s a soft knock on my door. I know it’s her on the other side.

“Come in,” I say.

She opens the door and leans against the doorframe. Her skin is flushed and glowing. Damp strands of hair cling to her temples, still wet from the shower she must have just taken.

“Hey,” she says. “I’m heading out for the night. I wanted to say goodbye.”

A primal part of me wants to keep her chained to my bed. I don’t want to let her out of my sight. But it’s probably too early to let her see the side of me that’s a little unhinged.

I stand and walk toward her. Her breath hitches in her throat. I don’t know if she’s aware of how her pupils grow larger every time she looks at me.

I close the door behind her and push her up against it.

She smells delectable. It makes me want to devour her whole.

“How are you going to say goodbye?” I ask.

She bites the inside of her cheek. “How do you want me to say goodbye?”

“A kiss,” I say.

She gets up on her tiptoes. I shake my head.

“From on your knees,” I say.

Her eyelids instantly turn heavy. She loves it when I tell her what to do. She drops down to her knees and waits.

I unbuckle my belt as I look at her pretty face. I take my hard cock and slide it over her soft lips.

“Give me a kiss goodbye, Emma,” I say.

She parts her lips hesitantly, sucking my head into her mouth like it’s hard candy. Her mouth is hot and velvet soft as I push deeper inside her.

“A gentleman would feel bad for corrupting you like this,” I say. “But I love watching you struggle to fit my cock in your princess mouth. I love watching your pouty lips stretch for my big cock.”

I push deeper inside her, hitting the back of her throat. Her eyes immediately water as she chokes on my cock.

“You’re my pretty little fuck toy, aren’t you?” I say, thrusting inside her slowly. “You’re all mine to use as I please.”

She keeps her eyes on me as I continue fucking her mouth. I grab her hair and go for broke, fucking her like I’m trying to get my money’s worth.

“You might be a pretty little princess, but you’re made to be fucked like a whore,” I say. “It’s a lethal combination, angel. It’s the reason I can’t get enough of you. It’s the reason every time I close my eyes, I have visions of coming inside your tight little pussy.”

Tears slide down her temples as I push her past her limits. Her cheeks turn the prettiest shade of pink.

“Take my come like a good girl now,” I say. “Swallow every drop like you’re grateful for it.”

She moans around my length as I stuff her mouth over and over again, giving her just a little more than she can handle. She keeps those big Bambi eyes on me as I curse her name and empty myself inside her. She tries to swallow all of it, but there’s so much that it spills down her chin and neck.

I pull out of her mouth. Her eyes widen when I continue spilling all over her chest.

When I’m done, I lift her up.

She’s used to me cleaning her up, but this time, I massage my come into her skin.

“Since you’re going out tonight, I want you smelling like me,” I say. “Any man who even breathes in your direction will now know you belong to me.”

I told myself I would behave like a normal man, but I can’t hide the way she makes me feel. I can’t hide the possessive and jealous side of me.

“And it turns you on, doesn’t it?” I ask, leaning down to inhale her scent. Underneath the scent of my own musk, I can detect her own arousal. “You like that I’m obsessed with you.”

She parts her lips, but she has no words.

My phone starts ringing again. I don’t have to look at it to know it’s Alaric. He’s going to want to know if I’ve left the house yet.

“There’s a Porsche waiting for you outside,” I say.

“A Porsche?” she says. “I have my own car.”

“Absolutely not,” I say.

She purses her lips. We’ve already had this conversation. When she told me that she was going out to meet her friends tonight, I told her I would arrange a driver and a bodyguard for her. She refused, saying that she preferred to drive herself.

“Are we really going to do this again?” she asks.

“Let me drop you off, at least.”

“No,” she says.

“Then at least take one of my cars,” I say. “They’re safer.”

“Klaus, I?—”

“Emma, your safety is the one thing I refuse to compromise on,” I say.

She studies me for a moment. She looks like she has something to say, but she only nods.

“Fine, okay,” she says. “I’ll take your car.”

I take a step closer.

Her eyes widen as I close my fingers around her throat. The alarm in her eyes makes me hard again.

It’s established. I’m a sick, sick man.

“Kiss me goodbye,” I say.

“That’s a dangerous game,” she says. “If I give you any more kisses, I’m going to end up passed out on your bed.”

“You say that like it’s such a bad thing,” I say, pressing my nose against her temple.

My fingers tighten over her throat as I inhale her sweet scent. This possessiveness is starting to get out of control. I’m aware that I need to rein it in before I do something stupid.

She thinks that I’m saying things in the heat of the moment. Little does she know, I mean every word.

I brush my lips against hers, making them part open.

“I’m the air you breathe now, angel,” I say. “I’m the only thing you need.”

She melts against me, trusting me so implicitly. She thinks that despite everything, I’m a good man. I wonder if she’d think the same if I told her about all the sick things I’ve done.

If she could hear the twisted thoughts in my head, she might try to escape me.

But I’m not going to let that happen.

She arches into me, hungry for my touch.

“I bet you’re wet from sucking on my cock,” I say. “You like being treated like my little whore, don’t you?”

She bites down on her bottom lip and looks at me with those bedroom eyes.

All I want to do is spend the rest of the night making love to her. I want to enter the paradise that the world turns into when the two of us are lost in each other.

I kiss her again, softly this time.

When I pull away, she looks dazed, like she’s forgotten about her plans for the night.

“Come on, I’ll walk you to the car,” I say, pressing another kiss on top of her head.

There’s so much trust in her eyes when she looks at me. It makes me want to put the whole world at her feet.

As we walk down the staircase together, I scan the surroundings out of habit, making sure everything’s in place.

“Um, do you have any plans for the night?” Emma asks.

I’ll be meeting Alaric for drinks at Elysium. Even though I don’t have anything to hide, something stops me from telling her about it.

“I’ll be waiting for you to come back,” I say instead, squeezing her hand.

I help her into her coat before we step into the night. It’s a quiet night, but the temperature has plummeted. There’s a certain stillness in the air, like everything is holding its breath.

“I’ll never get used to how beautiful the stars look here,” she says, tilting her head up at the sky.

I follow her gaze.

It looks like someone took a paintbrush to the sky and fitted it with more stars than there are supposed to be. Everything twinkles down on us, but it’s the look on her face that I’m enraptured by.

She lights up my entire world just by being herself.

“There’s an observatory nearby,” I say. “I’ll take you and the kids there sometime.”

“Really?” She looks back at me.

Anything for you.

“Yes, really,” I say.

She smiles at me. “When?”

“Whenever you wish,” I say.

She’s looking at me like she knows things about me I don’t know myself.

With an unusual heaviness in my heart, I walk her to the Porsche.

“Are you sure you won’t let me drive you?” I ask.

“That’s kind of you to offer, but it’s not necessary, Klaus,” she says.

She gets inside the driver’s seat. It’s a new car for her, so I show her where everything is.

We look at each other for a moment. I still have my hand on the door, reluctant to shut it. Reluctant to let her go.

This isn’t about tonight.

I don’t understand why, but this moment between us feels significant somehow.

It feels like the calm before a storm.

“Drive safe,” I say, taking a deep breath.

“I will,” she replies.

There’s something heavy in her gaze too, like she can feel everything I’m feeling. This unwelcome feeling climbs up my throat, wrapping around it like a vise until I know I can’t be trusted to say another word.

I close the car door. Emma stares at me for another moment before starting the engine.

Everything about this feels wrong. This restlessness inside me feels like it will stay with me forever now. It’s going to become a part of my being.

I watch her pull out of the circular driveway. I watch until the taillights of the car look as distant as the stars above.

My hands curl into fists, trying to put a name on this emotion coursing through me. It feels like a warning of what’s to come. I want to deny it, but it only grows stronger, making a chasm form in the center of my chest.

I head back inside the mansion.