Chapter 79 Rosalie
SEVENTY-NINE
ROSALIE
“Which do you like more? Chocolate or vanilla?” I asked as I leaned into Klaus at our booth at The Falcon House.
“Vanilla.”
“That says a lot about you.”
He snorted. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Vanilla is just so… Klaus.”
He laughed and shook his head. “You’re a handful, aren’t you?”
“Looks like yours are empty,” I teased, nodding to his hands.
In a flash, he ran his knuckles along my jaw before he gripped my chin.
“I know you think I’m one thing, but I assure you, I’m not.”
“Wow. Get a little alcohol in you and you start telling the truth,” I said thickly.
“You’re maddening.” His blue eyes skirted my face.
“Do you like it?” I asked. I was feeling some kind of way. Maybe angry. Vengeful. Crazy. Klaus did say I was crazy. Alcohol turned me into a completely different person. Truth be told, I really enjoyed being with Klaus. He was… interesting.
And god, was he hot.
I tabled that thought, feeling wrong for having it. He was a lot older than I was, but he was… different. I liked that he was. He didn’t seem to care and just took things in stride. Maybe he was only different with me, though, because I certainly wasn’t this girl with anyone else.
“I find it intriguing,” he murmured.
I wiggled in my seat, noting he was a breath away from me, his warm, hard body brushing against mine.
“How old are you?” I asked.
He smirked. “I’m forty-one.”
“Not too old.”
He chuckled at that, reaching out and tucking a curl behind my ear. I shifted closer to him, inhaling his rich scent.
“What happened between you and Alessandro?” he asked, breaking the spell.
I glanced away from him, my good mood dissipating.
“Nothing.”
“Lies. What do I have to do to you to get you to tell me?”
I looked back at him, my heart skipping. I was tired of playing the good girl. The nice girl. I needed to let loose and experience life. Every crazy moment, I wanted it all. It was my fuck you to Enzo and Cole.
“What do you want to do?” I challenged.
Flirting.
I was flirting with him.
I really had lost my damn mind.
“Don’t tempt a sinner, little hummingbird,” he murmured in a silky voice. “I’m not a boy. I’m a man, and I know ways to make you scream.”
“You’re drunk,” I said nervously. Something between us had changed since the tire-slashing incident and this moment.
“A little.”
“Won’t you get into trouble for drinking on the job?”
“It’s part of the job description.” He twirled one of my curls around his finger. “Besides, I’m done for the night.”
“So this is fun Klaus?” I reached out with a trembling hand and smoothed down his black shirt. The first few buttons were undone, and my fingers brushed his warm, tatted skin.
He released my curl and gripped my hand, forcing my gaze to his.
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” he murmured.
“I’m not playing,” I rasped, locking my eyes on his.
He lifted my hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across my knuckles. Butterflies tumbled to life in my stomach.
“Do you believe in fate?” I asked.
“I believe we control it. That we create it,” he replied, his hand still wrapped around mine. His thumb traced gentle circles on it as he stared into my eyes.
“Do you believe I’m supposed to be here with you right now?”
“I believe whatever you choose is fate. Do you want to be here with me right now?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Then fate is doing its job, no?”
I nodded.
“Do you believe in magic?” he asked.
It seemed a funny question coming from him, but I nodded. “I think so.”
He smiled, released my hand, and ran his knuckles along my jaw for a moment before raking his fingers gently through my curls. I closed my eyes and parted my lips. His touch was gentle, which seemed out of character with his personality.
I opened my eyes to find him holding a red rose in front of me.
“How?” I asked, staring from the rose to him.
“Magic.” He smiled.
I took the bloom he offered and smelled it.
“I love roses,” I said, giving him a bashful smile.
“I assumed.”
“Mr. Seeley?” A man stopped at our booth.
Klaus tore his gaze away from me and looked at the man, his entire demeanor shifting back to the growly, violent asshole I’d come to know.
I frowned. I thought mobsters didn’t own this place.
“Jeremy,” Klaus rumbled in that voice that terrified people.
The man visibly shook as he cleared his throat. “Mr. Clemons, the owner, sends his regards and wants you to know he is pleased you stopped in. He said all your drinks are free.”
“Tell Mr. Clemons I send my gratitude,” Klaus replied. “Bring me a sealed bottle of whiskey and two glasses.”
“Of course, sir.” The man scurried off.
I raised my brows at Klaus.
“Whenever we enter an establishment like this, people want to please us in the hopes we don’t burn their business down. Or kill everyone inside.”
“Have you done that before?”
“How do you think we acquire many of these places?”
“Um, real estate sales?” I winced at my words.
He chuckled. “You’re such a sweet, innocent girl. That’s dangerous in our world. The devils seek the pure. You’re a moving target.”
“So I’ve been told.” I settled back in my seat; whatever moment there had been between us was gone.
Jeremy returned with the alcohol, and Klaus took it wordlessly. The man rushed away again as Klause opened the bottle and poured us some.
I took the glass and downed it, letting out a hiss of discontent, which only made Klaus chuckle.
“I would order you something more to your liking, but I do not trust people outside our clubs. Too many enemies.”
“Hence the sealed bottle,” I said as he poured me another glass.
He winked at me as I drank more slowly this time.
“Is there anywhere else we could go? This place is kinda lame.”
He studied me for a moment as if he were carefully considering his answer. “My place.”
“Your place? Do you have better alcohol there?”
“Infinitely.” He kept his blue eyes trained on me.
I licked my lips. “What will we do while we’re there?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Anything I want?”
“Within reason.” His lips twitched in the corners.
“O-OK. Let’s go.”
He stood and offered me his hand. I took it and allowed him to lead me out of our booth.
“Mr. Seeley,” Jeremy rushed forward. “Is there anything wrong? We can offer more alcohol. Perhaps a room in the back for you and your lady—”
Jeremy’s words were cut off as Klaus’s hand moved lightning fast and wrapped around his throat. The man’s eyes widened, and his face turned a brilliant shade of red.
“Does my lady look like the type who fucks in a backroom at a mediocre establishment?” he snarled.
“S-Sorry,” Jeremy rasped, gripping desperately at Klaus’s wrist as he continued to hold him in place.
“This place is now mine,” Klaus continued.
I didn’t like this. We were having a nice evening, mostly, and this wasn’t what I wanted to witness.
I inserted myself between Klaus and Jeremy.
“Klaus?” I called out.
His attention snapped down to me.
“Can we maybe not kill people tonight? I-I want to go to your place. We could play Monopoly since you like taking establishments. I-I’ll let you have Park Place.”
He released Jeremy, who stumbled back, sputtering and clutching at his throat. Klaus’s hands landed on my waist, a look in his eyes that made my heart jump.
“You’re trouble,” he murmured, shaking his head.
“I’m not the one choking people,” I replied.
“You were slashing tires and threatening to stab a mafia don earlier.”
“Guess we’re both trouble, then, aren’t we?”
He let out a soft chuckle. “Come. Let’s play Monopoly and drink fruity drinks.”
And with those words, he forgot about Jeremy and taking the club and led me out into the cool night air.
“Woo! You owe me…” I counted out my hotels. “Fourteen hundred. Pay up, money bags.”
Klaus grumbled as he fumbled with the tiny Monopoly bills. It was comical in his massive hands.
“I don’t have that much.” He looked at me.
I shrugged. “Mortgage.”
He frowned, looking flustered.
“I don’t like this game,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“What was your major in college when you were at Mayfair?” I asked.
“Finance,” he said, pushing what cash he did have at me.
“Good thing you didn’t pursue that career option. You’d be living in the bad neighborhood with Tommy Two Toes and splitting rent.” I reached for the money, but he wrapped his hands around my wrists, stopping me in my tracks.
I swallowed hard as the air shifted.
A yelp left my mouth as he tugged me across the table, knocking the Monopoly board aside, the hotels and money flying. He didn’t stop pulling on me until I was seated on his lap.
“What just happened?” I asked, my heart in my throat.
“Hurricane,” he murmured, gripping my chin tightly. “Shouldn’t have built your hotels on the ocean.”
Butterflies tickled my guts as I stared into his eyes.
“What are we doing?” I whispered, my pulse thundering in my ears.
“Whatever you want,” he replied, thumbing my bottom lip.
“I’m scared.”
“Of what?” His voice was like silk, doing something to my insides.
“I-I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie,” he murmured, tilting my chin up. “Tell me what you’re afraid of.”
“I-I don’t know what to do,” I said thickly.
“What are your options?”
“Um, I-I could run,” I replied.
“I don’t think you’d get far. What’s your other option?”
I bit my bottom lip nervously. “I-I could kiss you.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
I nodded, my heart thrumming hard.
“One of those options is infinitely more fun than the other.”
He was right.
I darted off his lap and ran to the door, my heart in my throat. I got my hand on the doorknob before he was on me, turning me so I was facing him as he pushed my back to the door.
Wordlessly, he surged forward and crushed his lips against mine in a claiming, bruising kiss.
I parted my lips for him, allowing him to take control as my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
Oh god, what am I doing? Why am I doing it? I’ve lost my mind.