Chapter 12
“I met you, dumbass,” Bella let out a snort after seeing the dumbfounded look on Kol’s face. “It hasn’t been two years for me, remember?”
“That’s not funny. For a moment there I thought I had to go and kill someone.”
“No killing,” she replied as she, too, set down the glass of wine and pulled him into her arms, holding him close. “I’m sorry for the last two years, Kol. I’m sorry for what she did to you.”
Alright, this certainly was strange, but he decided to roll with it because it was actually quite nice to be in her arms. Shifting so that he was comfortable too, he sighed as he laid his head on her breasts – comfy pillows. “It’s alright, Bella, you know I’ve been through worse.”
“It’s still not okay,” she replied softly as she ran a hand through his hair. “You were violated and taken advantage of. That’s not alright.”
He let out a huff. “Good thing I killed the bitch, then. I took my revenge, Bella. It’s alright now. Now tell me about your time spent with Hades.”
“Hades had me clean up my own mess, there were thousands of souls that I brought to him – apparently I freaked out that much that I did a very big ghost cleanse,” she said hesitantly, not sure how to explain the experience to him. “It was strange, you know. All these people from different times, different ways that killed them… there were small children… who wants to kill kids, Kol? Who does that?”
He knew damn well that she knew that he once considered killing Marcel when he was still a child. “Very disturbed minds, I suppose.”
“But also happy stories, you know. Like Virginia and Elizabeth. Elizabeth died a long time ago, she was drowned in the water by a very powerful man, and her spirit rested at the banks near the bridge. Virginia wasn’t a witch, but slightly sensitive and a believer of anything supernatural, and she happened upon Elizabeth’s energy one day. And never stopped bringing Elizabeth gifts, even in her old age. Until she died herself; at the same time I freaked out while we were crossing the bridge, Virginia had a massive heart attack and died on the spot she came to to visit Elizabeth. They were both at Hades, and finally able to meet and interact and…. It was so sweet, Kol. And they decided to stay with Hades. I mean… that was beautiful.”
“You’re joking.”
“No, I’m not,” Bella replied, shaking her head. “I even went to visit Virginia’s urn at the Columbarium at Mt. Olivet in Gentilly and she died on the exact date as we crossed that bridge.” She smiled then. “I know she’s not around anymore, but I brought her flowers and a teddy bear anyway, just like she’s done for Elizabeth all these years.”
“You need to start protecting your heart more, Bella,” he looked up to her from his comfortable position, still in her arms, still his head resting on her breasts. How they made it work, was beyond him. “You care too much about people.”
“It’s my caring too much that got you back in the land of the living so don’t even start,” she said with a warning. “Hades dialed down the whole ghost thing for me so I can have a normal life as much as I can. Anytime I want, I could open myself up again, he showed me how, but I am so glad that for the first time since it all started, I can breathe.”
Kol could feel her getting restless, but didn’t move. She was going to have to sit down and deal with whatever was bothering her.
“He also opened up other things for me, such as me being able to turn invisible or to turn into someone else on the surface; it’s all an illusion. If you look real close or if you know; you can see right through it. And other stuff. And stuff I didn’t want. Either never or not yet. I’m not ready for it all and Hades understood that. He was so… understanding and pissed off at the same time. Patronizing. But understanding and kind.”
“When you were Davina… at some point I thought I was seeing things because Davina sounded so unlike herself and more like you, I thought I saw a shimmer of you.”
“Yeah, you could have,” she replied with a smile. “My abilities aren’t fool proof because I’m a demi-Goddess, I’m not a full God. Like… with Henrik? I had to have Hades with us because I can’t do the things he can do. Well, that, and he’s the friggin’ God of the underworld.”
“And I saw your confrontation with Hades in the street,” Kol moved so that he was sitting upright and could pull Bella into his arms. “My little tiny ball of fire.”
“Yeah well, I was angry with Davina and the witches and I would have done something stupid if he hadn’t stopped me.”
“And I would have lost you again. This time for good.”
“Yeah,” she let out a breath as she tried to relax. “Don’t have to worry about that anymore, either. With this apartment came the gift of sense. It’s likely the result of Helios making a bargain with Hades.”
“Just wondering, who made Hades the boss of you? Shouldn’t it be Zeus or someone else?”
Bella shrugged. “According to Hades, Helios fucked up big time with me. Treating me like a grand daughter instead of a human girl who got into her powers and not knowing what to do with them. There’s this whole story to the Battle of the Gods that isn’t in the history books but compared to the Titans, the Olympians are innocents and that’s why Hades and his brothers went after the Titans in the first place. To restore order.”
“And Helios is a Titan.”
“And I’m the daughter of a Titan’s daughter,” Bella nodded and let out a breath. “Everything I do gets scrutinized because I’m the first one in centuries that’s shown promise of being a good girl and not something chaotic or unbalanced. One of the first things Helios said to me was that Psyche said I was a good egg. Promising. And because I said I was afraid of myself and of what I could do, we tested a few of my abilities, and I decided I don’t want them active. Most of them. Jesus, Kol, I could take over the world if I wanted to – cause chaos all over and fuck, I don’t want that.”
“You won’t.”
“No, I know I won’t because I’m in control now. I know what I can do. I just need to manage my anger a little bit so I don’t fuck up and do a lot of damage because in the end, it’ll be me who’s caused harm or mayhem. It’ll be on me and even now that I don’t have a permanent eviction order over my head, it’ll be on me. I’ll have to clean up my own mess – or else.”
Kol let out a snort. “You know what you sound like?”
“A whiner?”
“No,” He kissed the top of her head. “A vampire. Granted, a very souped up vampire who’s more powerful than Niklaus Mikaelson the big bad hybrid, but a vampire nonetheless. We can break someone’s neck with our pinkies. Take over countries by compelling people. Power is all consuming and it’s difficult to find a balance and not let it take you over.”
Bella let out a huff and yawned, the events of the evening finally wearing her down. “I’ve got control over that. Don’t worry, I won’t take over the world or anything.”
“Could be fun.”
“No,” she shook her head, yawning again and shifting to get more comfortable. It didn’t take long for her to doze off completely as Kol remained quiet, knowing that she needed her sleep.
He had to admit, he was loving this. His girl back in his arms where she belonged, happily snoozing away as if nothing was wrong, but then there was her apartment and it was a mess. She was likely dealing with a lot more stuff than she was letting on and he felt like he needed to fix it. Fix her.
After a couple of hours, he carefully brought her to her bedroom and tucked her in. There were even more wayward clothes in the space and he simply couldn’t deal with this himself. Using his speed, he picked everything up and made sure the bedroom was nice and tidy before heading downstairs. Putting a load of laundry in the washing machine and cleaned up the rest of the apartment.
Kol knew that he was risking Bella’s anger, for cleaning up, but he just couldn’t bare to see her like this. Her problem wasn’t her abilities. No, she was emotionally a mess, because of the witches, because because of them, she got hurt. Her heart was broken.
Yeah, he needed to fix that. This wasn’t about him, this was about her.
~o.O.o~
Bella felt slightly disoriented when she woke up to the smell of fresh bagels, coffee and orange juice. While she felt as if she had had a decent sleep, a long sleep, something was off. There was no one else in the house that could have made the— Shit. Bella shot up straight in bed, finding her bedroom clear of her clothes and items. Had she been sleep cleaning? No.
Realizing she was still dressed, she carefully made her way out of the bedroom. Her house smelled of cleaning detergent. Items that were previously on the stairs were now gone, everything looked clean and organized. It didn’t feel like her cozy home anymore. “No,” she said softly as she stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked around, devastated – almost as if someone had kicked a puppy or as if she had lost everything.
“Morning,” Kol greeted her as he walked up to her with a steaming hot cup of coffee.
Right. Kol came home with her last night. Last night had been fun and she had taken him back home with him. They had talked. They had kissed and she had fallen asleep against him. Last night had been the first time she’d been around the family again. Kol was in her house. It had been a spur of the moment thing because she wanted him back and she hadn’t cleaned up her house, which only meant that he cleaned up. “You cleaned up,” it was a statement, not even a question, as she kept looking around. “Why?”
“Well, if I’m going to move in, there needs to be space, right?” He smiled at her as he handed her the mug of coffee. “Are you okay?”
“Waking up, thanks,” she muttered as she forced her head to jolt in gear. It had been difficult lately, sleeping in late, or not leaving bed at all. “You cleaned up my mess.”
“Yes I did. The last load of laundry is currently in the washer as well.”
“But it’s my mess. Not yours to clean up.”
“Oh, but now your mess is my mess too,” he said as he pointed to the coffee. “Drink up and come join me in the kitchen for breakfast, we’re going to have a little chat.”
Right. Kol was moving in, because that was what she wanted last night, what she’d wanted for weeks now, because she loved him. He was hers. But she wasn’t ready. Whatever the alcohol had her think last night, she wasn’t ready for this. Following him to the kitchen, she was amazed by the amount of food for the two of them.
Kol helped her to sit down on one of the bar stools and made her a cream cheese bagel before putting it down on a plate in front of her, carefully watching her as she slowly woke up while sipping her coffee. When she started to nibble on her bagel, curiously eyeing him, he knew she was ready for a conversation. “You do know that I know what it’s like to be taken out of life only to return years later. It sucks. I suppose you’re lucky that it was only nearly two years instead of a hundred,” he said with a slight chuckle, earning him an angry look from his goddess. “It’s alright, Bella. I understand that it’s frightening as well, because you’re in this completely different world where you’re aware of time passing and knowing that down here, it passess differently. And I am sorry, truly, I am. But look at it this way; it’s another part of you that you’ve discovered.”
Bella let out a grunt as she chewed on her delicious bagel. “It’s the stupidest part of being what I am.”
“Yes,” he said wholeheartedly. “But know that I understand how it feels. Besides, two years, no big deal, I’ve done longer!”
“It’s not a joke, Kol,” she said angrily. “What if it happens again?”
“It won’t. And if it does, well, I’ll just have Nik dagger me until you come back so I don’t get into trouble.”
“Don’t you dare,” she told him before she took another bite of her bagel.
He cheekily smiled as he took a sip of his bloodied up coffee. It was the worst mistake he’d ever made, but he was hungry. He’d gone through quite a lot of blood bags during the night while he’d been fretting and cleaning, but it was all out of love, for her. As was him trying to mask the blood by mixing it with coffee. Kol knew that he’d even out again soon, Bella’s presence had always made him feel better and more in control. It’d just take a few days – worst case scenario would be weeks. “We have all missed you very much, despite what happened with the Ancestors. Ever since you freed us all, we have this Bella shaped hole in our lives, so last night was brilliant. It was fun, wasn’t it?”
Bella nodded as she took a sip of her coffee.
“The last thing you should be afraid of is for us to reject you. Myriam, for one, kept texting me all night, seeing if she could break the deal we made last night as to who gets to spend time with you first. Nothing has changed, Bella.”
“But it has.”
“No, it hasn’t. You really need to get that out of your head, darling, because you’re the one who distanced yourself from us, not the other way around. You shouldn’t punish yourself for what happened after Hades took you for some lessons, you shouldn’t. You needed it, even I couldn’t help you with that. We all just wished that he would have said something before taking you away like that. That would have made it a lot better for all of us,” he set down his mug and made his way over to her, kissing her on top of her head. “Hadn’t the Ancestors meddled with our lives, we would have never turned our backs on you. Ever. You’re family, Bella. You’re mine.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I—”
“When you get to live as long as we have, you tend to forget that events like these – attacks like these – can have a big impact on someone who hasn’t. We brushed this off while our hatred towards the witches grew. We know that what made us act differently was beyond our power – of course, then you’ve got Nik, the special snowflake, whom they had a harder time controlling,” he said slightly frustrated, he always hated that special side of his brother. “I understand that it might be a little bit harder for you to trust us again. To allow yourself to be loved and adored as before. So, here’s my proposal to you,” he tucked an unruly strand of her hair behind her ear. “You and I aren’t going to move in together. Not just yet.”
“What?” She nearly dropped her mug of coffee in shock.
He had thought long and hard about this while cleaning up the mess that was her apartment. She needed room to grow. Room to heal. He understood her distancing now. It wasn’t good, but she really needed more time. And he figured the best way to do that was to give her everything she’d never had before; new experiences. Being treated proper. Like the lady she was.
“No, darling,” he smirked as he placed another kiss on top of her head. “Oh, make no mistake, you and I are together. There’s no looking at other guys for you or I will snap their neck or make a meal out of them, but… you see, Bella, your only experiences with men are with boys, high school. No real dates, no real courting… even you and I didn’t quite date. We met and we were together. Just like that. And that’s not going to change. I plan on being here with you as often as you allow me to, but no sleepovers. No. I’m going to court you as well as I can. Treat you to dinners, the cinema, the whole potential eternal and forever love experience before I’m moving in. To show you that it’s possible.”
“You can do that while being here.” Why was she feeling so panicky? She had admitted to herself only moments ago that she wasn’t ready for him yet, and now he was giving her the space that she still needed, and it wasn’t good enough. She wanted him close.
“Oh, there’s nothing more that I’d want, but you are not ready for me yet, for us. Not in that way. I’m going to talk to Elijah to have us swap bedrooms so that all I have to do is jump balconies to be with you, but I’m going to make you feel like the beautiful girl that you are again. Do things proper, like making you breakfast. I’ll do that every morning.”
She couldn’t breathe.
“I’m not rejecting you,” he said, slowly prying her hand off of her coffee mug and put his arms around her. “I am loving you. I’m not moving in, I won’t sleep here, but I will be with you every day to hang out. Or go on silly little dates.”
“What if Myriam wants to hang out?”
“Then you and Myriam hang out and I’ll stay here. Or I’ll be at the compound waiting for you to return so we can watch a movie. Or for me to watch you slave away over that laptop of yours was you type your stories. It’s going to be alright, I’m going to show you that you can trust me. Prove myself to you.”
“But I do!”
“No, not fully, darling, I can feel it,” he sighed as he lifted her chin and softly kissed her lips. “But that’s alright. I can be very patient when it comes to you.” Kol kissed her again and then released her from his arms. “Finish your bagel and go take a shower, freshen up. Oh, wear something pretty. I have the perfect idea for our first date!”
There was something about taking things slow enough. Bella started smiling more as weeks passed, relaxing in Kol’s presence and even coming to the Compound on her own, spending time with Myriam. Girls nights out for Myriam, Rebekah and Bella, spa days – to which Bella reluctantly agreed because she still didn’t like them, romantic dates and mostly spending time in each other’s presence while Kol played video games and Bella wrote.
The idea was to bring Bella back to her humanity, back in touch with her feelings because there were more emotions than anger and the fear of abandonment – while it was different for the Mikaelsons as they were all vampires, Bella was still very much human despite her status as a demi-god. It was what made her human that set her aside from everyone else, it was also what had allowed her to roam the Earth instead of being destroyed or taken back – it wasn’t rocket science. Easy to figure out, but not for her.
And not only did Bella get better, Kol finally evened out again too. Even under Davina’s thumb he had been erratic and more prone to bursts of anger, and in the weeks following that when Bella needed some distance, it only got worse, but he was back to his happy self, and he was itching to get out of New Orleans for a while. Saint-Tropez sounded nice. Hell, the whole French Riviera sounded nice about now. Sun, warmth, water, good food… Bella in a bikini…
They deserved a break.
He had spoken to Nik and Myriam about it and while Myriam wanted to go, Nik wasn’t too keen on leaving New Orleans now that it was back into their hands and peace had once again descended upon their city. However, they both agreed that it would be a good thing for Bella and Kol to travel like they did before all of this. Europe would be a nice change of pace.
“Pack light!” Kol announced as he walked into Bella’s apartment that morning, the thud told him that he had scared her awake and out of bed. He quickly made his way up to her bedroom to make sure she was alright, and all she did was look at him angrily. “Good morning, darling,” he smiled at her and softly kissed her. “Get dressed and grab your essentials, we’re going on a trip.”
“Coffee?”
“We’ll get some on the way.”
“Where we going?” Bella mumbled as she made her way to the bathroom to freshen up and tame her hair that had gotten tangled during her uneasy sleep. When she emerged again, he was holding out one of her summer dresses for her. “No.”
“Yes,” he smirked. “Trust me on this. And pack some comfy slippers. That’s all, the rest we can buy when we get there.”
“Where we going?” She asked again, reluctantly rummaging through her underwear drawer to find matching underwear to wear underneath that dress, deciding to humor him.
“It’s a surprise, but hurry up, there’s a car waiting downstairs,” Kol sat down on the bed and kept his eyes on her, admiring her, as she got changed. It had been a challenge to keep his hands to himself over the last few weeks, but it had also been very exciting. It had been a mess of his own making; he had insisted on taking things slowly with each other. With her. No sleep overs and nothing more than a little snogging and cuddling. But that was going to change.
Bella grabbed her bag and packed her laptop, phone, wallet and digital camera before finding her fluffy pink bunny slippers and putting it in there as well as she decided to humor him even further. “Anything else?” But she really wanted coffee.
“Nah, we’ll buy whatever we need when we arrive at our destination,” Kol smiled at her as he took her hand and started to lead her down the stairs to her front door. “Let’s go, my gorgeous goddess.”
“Where are we going?”
“I applaud you for using complete sentences, but I will not award that with a destination,” he laughed as he closed the door behind her before helping her into the car, crawling in beside her and tapped the driver on his shoulder to drive to the airport. “I know how much you love surprises, but trust it’ll be only you and I going to this destination.”
She cuddled up against him in the car, her arms around his waist, her head against his shoulder. “You still owe me coffee.”
“Don’t worry,” he laughed. Kol blindfolded her before the airport got in sight of them and Bella didn’t like it at all. She was still rolling with it, which was great. He carried her all the way through the building to the private plane waiting for them, ignoring the strange looks he was getting. “Don’t worry, she’s still very much alive and awake, aren’t you darling?”
“Help, I’m being abducted,” she said with a slight giggle. “Can I pull off my blindfold now?”
“No,” he playfully smacked her ass and got her inside the plane. Setting her down with ease, he removed the blindfold and smiled widely. “Tadaa.”
She looked around, unsure where they were and peeked out of the window. “We’re on a plane?” Bella sounded surprised, because she was. She’d never been out of the country before – that is, if they were going out of the country.
“Yes.”
“Where are we going?” Bella then realized that she and him were the only ones on the plane. “Aren’t planes supposed to be like buses instead of mini apartments?”
“Perks of being a Mikaelson, darling,” he fastened her belt before sitting down next to her and doing the same. “We travel in style. We have an amazing car waiting for us when we land in… ohh… twelve hours?”
They were definitely going out of the country. Kol was taking her away from everything. “We’re not going to Greece, are we?”
“Oh, hell no. We’re going to some place much better and comfortable for the both of us,” he smiled as the plane started to move. “But until then, we’re traveling in all the comforts in the world, and you’ll get your coffee as soon as we’re flying.”
~o.O.o~
“France?” Bella was bouncing on her feet after they left the plane. “You took me to France?”
“The best area in France, mind you,” he laughed as he pulled her into his arms, kissing her gently on her lips. “Who needs Paris when you have the French Riviera? Beaches everywhere! Who knows, we might even go on a yacht for a couple of days! Allow me to spoil you rotten, Bella,” he then pointed at the silver Porsche 911 that was waiting for them. “And spoil myself in the process, I couldn’t help myself – don’t worry, it’s a rental, but isn’t it gorgeous?” Kol smirked as he helped Bella into the car. “I love fast cars.”
“I doubt you’re going to hold to the speed limit?”
“Darling, this car is made for speed, don’t worry, I’ll take real good care of you,” he kissed her before going around the car and hopped in. “Saint-Tropez here we come!”
Bella didn’t know what was worse; the plane taking off or landing or Kol skidding away in the car, but she loved the big smile on his face as they raced over the road towards the city. She had already told him that she didn’t need fancy vacations, but Kol had insisted and it wasn’t anything fancy. Well, that was a lie.
Only the best was good for them, there were reservations for them for a large suite in a 19th century castle that was on a hill and close to the sea. Granted, he wanted a hotel at the beach, but sleeping in castles was something Bella had to experience, according to Kol. And it wasn’t as if it wasn’t a great hotel; there were swimming pools, a wellness centre, hot tubs, restaurant, everything they’d ever need.
Kol was saddened by the fact that it hadn’t been a long drive to the castle, but it had been a fun one, seeing Bella look at the scenery in awe, and laugh at him when he was frustrated that inside the city, he had to comply with the speed limit because the alternative was to run everyone over and ruin the car.
Bella was amazed by the size of the suite; it was almost as big as her apartment in New Orleans. There were two bedrooms, a large bathroom with a hot tub and a regular shower/bath combination, a large walk in closet, a living room area and so many extras that it was simply ridiculous. She loved the view they had from their balcony – they could see the sea from where they were at and had a lovely view over the garden. There was a table with two comfortable chairs on their balcony and Bella could see herself write a little there while they enjoyed the sun. It was perfect. Very over the top and likely very costly, but it was perfect.
Since they still had most of the day to be awake, Kol took her into town to shop. They both needed clothes, and he was wondering if he could convince Bella to simply walk around in a bikini all day long – embrace the fact that nobody could care about what she wore, she’d look stunning either way. Much to his surprise, she agreed that with the heat they were experiencing, the less clothes was better, and she picked out a few sets that she liked, accompanied with some skirt item to cover herself up significantly.
And, yes, for appearances sake in case they’d visit a restaurant, they bought a set of normal clothes as well. Kol was happy with a few t-shirts and swimming trunks.
Bella could see why Kol had picked Saint-Tropez as the place to go to; the atmosphere of the city was infectious; everyone seemed to live without a care in the world and the people were friendly. She was surprised to see little shops by the biggest and most expensive brands that you’d normally see in Paris or London or even New York, but Kol explained to her that Saint-Tropez was the world’s worst best secret ever. A lot of billionaires choose the area to spend their holidays because of the scenery and the people.
And should Bella see something she’d like for her own home or maybe as a gift for Myriam or Rebekah, or even Nik, they’d send it home by mail. No expenses spared. Not a care in the world. Just enjoyment and debauchery; something the Mikaelsons were very good at in times of peace.
Oh, Kol knew that he was probably taking things too far; Bella was still looking at the price tags and nearly fainting at some of the prices. Yes, they were ridiculous. Who cares? Only the best for his girl.
They went back to the hotel room where Bella happily changed into one of her new bikinis and joined him on their balcony after room service brought them a bottle of Rosé wine. “Wow,” Kol nearly choked on his glass of wine as she sat down in the lounge chair beside him. “You’re trying to kill me?”
“You wanted me to buy bikini’s,” Bella pointed out cheekily. “I’ll be happy to wear them for you, but just for you. Not in front of the family,” she added quickly. “Hell no.”
He was just happy that she’d taken to the idea so easily and wasn’t shying away from showing off that magnificent body of hers. Kol handed her a glass of wine and sighed happily. “It’ll be quite hard for me to keep my hands off of you now.”
She playfully smirked at him as she sipped her wine. “Thank you for taking us away from New Orleans for a bit.”
He brought his chair closer to hers as he sat down again. “The only reason we remain sane, or at least I do, is to travel after something has happened. Rebekah, Elijah and Nik are always together, now with Myriam thrown into the mix as well, but me? I’ve always gone off on my own because the longer I was away from Nik, the longer I got to live outside of my box. Sunny Europe has always been a favourite of mine – unless they’re all in Europe, then Australia will do,” Kol sighed happily as he took a sip of his wine. “Get used to this, Bella, we’ll be doing this a lot.”
“But what about—”
“Don’t you worry about that, this is all peanuts for us. We live to enjoy ourselves, with the occasional killing, but this is what I like. I loved it when we traveled through the United States, just the two of us. I can give you the world, we can go anywhere,” he raised his glass to her with a smile. “Here’s to never getting bored,” he toasted before he took another sip. “And to you never to bring up the price of anything ever again,” he added with a grin.
“Jerk,” Bella huffed, taking a sip of her drink, really liking the taste of it, but she wanted to taste something else and she hoped that she was going to have a taste of that soon, or else she figured she might burst.
“Ah, but you love me and my handsome face.”
Bella sighed exasperatedly. “Unfortunately, I do.” She then looked at her wrist, as if there was a watch on it. “Hmm, I must say, you have excellent self-control, Kol Mikaelson,” she noted. “Here I am, dressed in almost nothing, still with the glass of wine in my hand… you in that chair next to me…”
He looked like a fish on dry land, gasping for air as he really hadn’t wanted to impose on her, to make it clear that he was that interested. Because he was. And he wanted her now.“Bella, I—”
“It’s about time, isn’t it?” she looked at him before setting her glass down and moving so that she was on her knees in her chair. “For the first few weeks after… I was glad that you left at night, but as weeks progressed… I kinda wanted you to stay…”
“I wanted to stay.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?” she smiled at him, lightly brushing her hand on his cheek. “Were you leaving it up to me? That’s not like you, at all.”
Kol sighed and nodded as he leaned into her hand. “I believed you weren’t completely done healing yet.”
She bit her lip as she carefully looked at him, although she already knew the answer to her question. “Am I now?”
He lifted her out of her chair and into his lap, putting his arms around her. “I don’t know, are you?” Kol asked playfully as Bella’s hands slid underneath his shirt, trying to get him out of it. “Maybe another night in a separate bed…”
“Don’t you dare,” she tugged fiercely on his shirt, causing him to have to give in to her pulling it off of him. “That second bedroom is offensive,” Bella replied happily once she’d discarded his shirt. “Besides… we do need to work up an appetite for dinner…” She pressed her body against his naked torso as she fiercely kissed him, burying her hands in his hair.
“Are you sure?” He muttered through the kiss, earning him a tug on his hair as an answer. Putting his arms around her again, he made sure she could cling on to him as he got up and headed to the bedroom with her, careful not to bump into anything, although the wall sounded pretty good right now. No, they were both still too dressed for that.
Breaking off the kiss, he gently set her down on the ground and undid himself from his shoes and pants before tearing up her new bikini. She had others. This hadn’t even been the prettiest one, who cared? When he looked at her, she appeared to be pouting. Well, Bella obviously cared about that one. “We’ll get you another one tomorrow,” he promised before backing her up against the wall as he kissed her again, hard and hungry.
“Oh,” she let out a moan when she realized what he was going to do, a shiver running over her body in anticipation as she eagerly answered his kiss and jumped up to wrap her legs around him at the moment her back hit the pristine wall.
It was the wall, the bed, the bathtub and the bed again before they both fully had gotten rid of the tension that had built up between them in the past few weeks and before Bella really needed to take a break, unable to feel her legs.
Kol ordered room service and snuggled up to Bella in bed, taking her into his arms, where she belonged. Bella let out a slight giggle, still floating on cloud nine. “You know, you might have to carry me around for the rest of our lives when the feeling in my legs don’t return.”
“Don’t be weird,” he laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Nothing my blood can’t cure, and for God’s sake, Bella, you’re a demi-Goddess, no doubt you have the ability to self-heal.”
Bella huffed. “And here I thought it’d be a romantic thing for you to carry me everywhere.”
“No,” he shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
She stretched herself as if she was a kitten and rolled further into him. “I’m only teasing, don’t worry,” she replied as she drew a circle on his bicep with her finger as she looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“What for now?” Kol laughed as he softly kissed her. “The great sex? That was both of us, darling.”
“No… well, yes, but for not giving up on me.”
“Never,” he kissed her again. “I will always find my way back to you, and if you get lost, I will help you find your way back to me.”
She giggled then. “Good, because I kind of suck at reading maps.”
