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KLAUS

S he talks about angels like she isn’t one herself.

I place my hand over her belly. She’s carrying my child. It feels a little surreal every time I think about it.

Emma is giving me a chance at a new life, and I won’t take a single day for granted now. I’ll be a man who’s worthy of her love.

She’s still asleep in my arms.

It’s late in the evening now. I slept for a few hours and woke up with this glowing feeling in my chest. It’s the opposite of the dread I usually feel when I wake up.

I want to stay in this bed with my sleeping angel forever, but there are some things I need to deal with. I press a soft kiss on her forehead and push the covers off me.

“Where are you going?” she whispers, reaching for my hand.

The simple contact makes my heart pound. God, I love this woman.

“I need to see Alaric for a bit,” I say. “Are you hungry? I can have some food sent over.”

She shakes her head and throws her hair behind her shoulder. I watch in fascination as her curls spill out on the pillow. Her beauty feels like a knife to the chest sometimes.

“I had a dream about you,” she says.

Her soft, husky voice makes my cock instantly hard.

“Did you?” I ask.

“Mm-hmm,” she says, biting down on her lower lip in a way that tells me exactly what her dream was about. Her gaze dips to my lips. “You kissed me so hard that I got dizzy. It was rough and sweet and perfect.”

My cock pulses with need. I’ll never be able to get enough of this girl.

“God, baby,” I say, tugging her closer until she’s trapped beneath me with her thighs spread wide open. “You drive me insane. Do you have any idea how crazy I am about you?”

“I’m crazy about you, too,” she says, arching into my touch. Her soft curves mold so perfectly against my hard body. “I think about you all the time, Klaus. All the fucking time. Even when you’re right next to me, I still miss you.”

It’s madness. Obsession. Lust. Love.

It’s everything with Emma.

I press my mouth against hers. She parts her lips for me, gasping as I deepen the kiss. There are no words to describe how much I adore this woman. And I’ve never been the best with words anyway, so I show her how much she means to me through the kiss.

“You taste like honeysuckle, babe,” I say. “So sweet and pure, and it’s all for me. You’re all for me.”

She shifts her hips underneath mine, showing me how wet she is for my cock. I fist my cock in my hand and guide it toward her entrance. I press my forehead against hers as I push inside her wet heat.

She arches into me, pressing her soft tits against my chest.

I kiss her jaw and move down to her neck. She’s breathless as she digs her fingernails into my back, moaning softly as I thrust inside her. I take my time with her, making sure she can feel every inch of me as I fill her with my cock over and over again.

My chest tightens when I see her flushed cheeks and glazed eyes.

I can’t believe I found a love like this.

I can’t believe I’m capable of loving someone like this.

She blinks up at me, touching my face and tugging on my beard. She wants to be kissed while I fuck her.

I grab the back of her neck as I oblige, crushing my lips against hers. She moans into my mouth as I give it to her rougher.

“Do you want to come all over my cock now, princess?” I say, bottoming out inside her with every thrust. “Go ahead. Make a mess for me. Come undone.”

Her thighs shake with the force of her orgasm. I kiss her neck as she shatters.

And then I pound into her harder, using her like she’s a toy designed to satiate my needs.

“You look prettiest when you’re taking my come, little girl,” I say. “You look so innocent even when you’re being corrupted.”

All I have to do is look into her pretty eyes. All she needs to do is give me that slow blink.

My orgasm hits me like a grenade.

I bury my face against her neck as I empty inside her, giving it to her even when I feel boneless. Satisfaction surges through my veins when she moans and sinks her teeth into my shoulder, coming for a second time.

I take her to the shower to clean her up.

I give her orgasm three and four until she’s limp in my arms. It’s like we’re trying to make up for the time we lost even though we have the rest of our lives to spend together.

I push her against the wall, kissing her like I’m starving, and she’s the only thing that can satiate me. She rises on her tiptoes. She’s a little heathen. She gives as good as she gets, and it drives me wild.

She looks a little dazed when I pull away.

“I never want this to end.” She sighs against me.

“It’s not going to, baby,” I say. “You’re stuck with me for life.”

She grins up at me. The sight of it makes my heart pound every time. I don’t know how I’ve become so fortunate in life. I have the most wonderful woman in my arms, and she loves me back.

“Was it as good as your dream?” I ask her.

“This is better than any dream I’ve ever had,” she says. “Thank you, Klaus.”

“For what?” I ask.

“For everything,” she says. “I can’t believe it’s finally over. All those years of living in fear and doubt... it’s all over now.”

“How do you feel?” I ask.

She takes a shaky breath.

“Honestly, I thought I would be more relieved about the fact that mystalker is dead,” she says. “But I don’t feel any different. I don’t feel anyjoy about it.”

“He might be dead, but your memories of him are still very much alive,” I say. “It will take some time to process everything that happened.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she says, nibbling on her bottom lip. She looks lost in thought.

“What’s on your mind?” I slip my hand into her damp hair.

She shakes her head. “It’s not important.”

“I want to hear it anyway.”

“Didn’t you have to meet Alaric?” she says, stillavoiding my gaze.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”

She lifts her eyes to my face.

“I feel responsible,” she says.

“For what?” I ask, grabbing a cotton robe and wrapping it around her. I tie her sash and tug her closer to me.

“It’s all my fault,” she says. “Your mansion was burned down because of my stalker. If I never entered your life, none of this would have happened. And I’m really grateful nobody got hurt, but it could have gone so differently, Klaus. People could have been hurt because of me.”

I cup her face in my hands and make her look at me. Tears immediately spill down her cheeks.

“You can’t possibly think that,” I say. “I wouldn’t even have a life if it wasn’t for you. You were the light we needed, Emma. You brought joy and love back into our lives. You showed us how to be a family.”

I kiss her before she can overthink this any further.

Like me, she has a racing mind. She needs peace and reassurance. I try to give it to her through that kiss.

“Thank you,” she whispers against my lips.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?” I ask, wiping her tears away. Her lashes are wet from crying, and there are splotches of red on her cheeks. It breaks my heart to see her upset over something.

“Thank you, but I’m good,” she says, kissing the inside of my palm. “I want to go see the kids.”

After we get dressed, I take her to the backyard, where the kids are playing, before I go back upstairs to Alaric’s room.

I find him wearing a giant pair of black headphones.

“Hey,” I say.

“I can’t even look at you right now.” He says, shaking his head.

“Why?”

“You know we have adjoining rooms, right?” he asks. “I can hear every little thing that goes on in the guest bedroom.”

I grin and sit down in a lounge chair.

“That’s what you get for building a house made mostly of glass,” I say. “I told you not to do it.”

“I’m just glad the children’s room was far away,” he says. “They would have been traumatized.”

“I thought you wanted Emma and me to patch things up,” I say.

“You were at it for hours ,” he says. “ Hours .”

“I missed her, man,” I say. “We were apart for too long.”

He sighs.”Fine. I forgive you for all the grunting and dirty talk.”

“I never apologized,” I say.

“I don’t know why I even put up with you.” He sighs.

“Any updates on Richard?” I ask.

“He didn’t die, so there’s that,” he says.

“Of course, he didn’t die,” I say. “If I wanted to kill him, I would have.”

“He’s in a conscious state, so wecan try talking to him again,” Alaric says. “Maybe we can do things my way this time. Also, we’re having a party tonight.”

“Your way?” I ask.

“The truth serum,” he says. “I don’t care about the theatrics anymore. I just want to know if he’s hiding something or not. After we get that information, you can skinhim alive or carve out his heart or whatever it is that you want to do.”

“Yeah, that sounds fine,” I say. “Also, what party?”

“Emma’s friends are joining us for dinner,” Alaric says. “I also invited a few other people.”

“Really?” I ask. “Right now, when we’re in the middle of all this?”

“I can’t think of a better time,” he says. “You and Emma are back together and expecting a baby. Everyone’s safe from the fire. The psycho stalker is dead. We have so many reasons to celebrate.”

“But this isn’t over, Alaric,” I say. “There’s still so much to figure out.”

“That’s the thing,” he says. “There’s always going to be something for us to worry about. That doesn’t mean that we should postpone enjoying life.”

“When are the guests arriving?” I ask.

“We have an hour,” he says, glancing at his watch.

“Okay, we’ll deal with Richard after everyone leaves then,” I say.

There’s other work for me to catch up on as well.

I borrow Alaric’s laptop and go through some of my emails. I get in touch with the estate team to inquire about the damage. My stomach drops when I hear about how much was lost in the fire. But the most important thing is that nobody was harmed.That’s all that really matters.

“You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need,” Alaric says. “It would actually be really nice to have more people around.”

“Thank you,” I say. “It looks like you’re going to be stuck with us for a couple of months.”