Desk Job

He likes to flirt with Elijah's secretary.

She's a pretty young thing, all blonde curls and porcelain skin and tight pencil skirts. He'd had a cow when Elijah had first hired her. She looked like the typical blonde bimbo. However, he was pleased to learn she was anything but. She was smart and funny and witty, and she'd been running Elijah's office for the past four years.

Klaus, for his part, had spent the better part of those four years trying to get up those tight pencil skirts of hers. But to no avail. She was completely unattainable. He was also completely in love with her.

He's standing in the elevator, anticipation curling in his belly as it always does when he visits his brother's law office. Anticipation because he can't wait to see what Caroline's done with her hair today or what she's wearing or–

The elevator dings and the doors slide open. He straightens his black suit jacket before he exits the elevator. He smiles widely when he sees her. She's sitting at her desk, as usual, and he catches a peak of her legs crossing underneath the desk as he approaches. Her hair is pinned back into a twisty up do, and her lips are painted red.

"You look lovely today, Caroline." Klaus greets, hopping up onto her desk. She doesn't look up from her computer. He waits. Still no acknowledgement. He clears his throat, and she finally looks up.

She lifts a perfect eyebrow. "Oh, you're still here?" She says sweetly.

Klaus makes a face at her, "Oh, you're still denying your undying love for me?" He teases.

Caroline wrinkles her nose. "Don't make me vomit." She says, turning back to her computer.

Her words would hurt him, if he didn't know that she felt something for him too. He catches her sometimes when she thinks he's not looking. She's all lingering stares and teeth digging into her lower lip when his back is to her.

"Will you be joining Elijah and I for lunch today, love? I know a great place." He reaches out, twirling a loose curl from her up do around his index finger. Her bright eyes flicker from his hand in her hair to his face. There's something unreadable there, and he's about to make a sultry comment about them ditching Elijah and having a lunch date of their own, but she pulls away, smoothing her hair back down. He hides his disappointment.

Caroline presses a button on her phone and talks into the Bluetooth earpiece she's wearing. "Mr. Mikaelson, your brother is here. Can I send him in? He's being even more annoying than usual." She gives him a simpering smile.

He puts a hand to his chest, feigning hurt. He gets off of her desk, "I'll win you over someday, Caroline." He calls over his shoulder, walking towards the door to Elijah's office.

He laughs loudly when he hears her snort, followed by, "Unlikely, Mr. Mikaelson."

Elijah is seated at his desk reading the newspaper when Klaus comes in. He falls into the chair across the desk from his brother, sighing. "Turned down again?" Elijah asks without looking up, fighting a smile.

"I don't know why she's being so difficult." Klaus mutters, pulling out his phone. He opens a text message, fingers hovering over the keyboard. He wants to say something to Caroline, but nothing comes to him.

Elijah puts down his paper. "Perhaps you're going about it all wrong, Niklaus. Perhaps Ms. Forbes is the type of woman to not be swayed by your flirting and your money and your expensive suits."

Klaus blinks. Maybe he's right. "She wants to be wooed." He realizes.

Elijah snaps his fingers, "That's the ticket, dear idiotic brother of mine."

Klaus ignores him. "I'm going to have to skip lunch today, Elijah. I need to form a plan of attack." Elijah rolls his eyes and picks his paper back up.

Klaus stands, eager to test his new approach. He leaves Elijah's office, and she's at her desk, typing away.

"Sorry for the trouble earlier, Caroline." Klaus says, smiling politely at her. She blinks in surprise at him. He's never apologized to her in the entire four years they'd known each other. The look of shock on her pretty face is almost comical.

"Oh." She says, not sure what to make of him, "It's okay, Mr. Mikaelson." She waits for a snappy remark, but gets none.

Klaus smiles at her again, "Have a good day now, Caroline." He says, waving at her as he walks down the corridor towards the elevators.

He looks back for a moment just before he steps into the elevator. She's already on her cellphone. "Elena," She's exclaiming, "you will not believe what just happened. Klaus apologized to me for being an ass. Yes, I said apologized. I know! I almost fell out of my chair!"

Klaus smirks to himself and presses the button for the first floor.

He's going over a few files for Elijah's next big case in the library the next time he sees her. She's climbing up the ladder, reaching out as far as she can for a book. Her heels are tall and thin, and he's afraid she's going to fall. Her fingers close around he book, and she grasps it, but not before she loses her balance and falls backwards towards the floor.

Klaus catches her easily, and lowers her safely to the ground. "Thank you, Klaus." She breathes, hand over her heart.

He smiles at her, and her eyes widen, fixed on his lips. He realizes that they're touching still, his arms around her, her hands on his shoulders. They spring apart at the same time.

She smooths her skirt down, coughing awkwardly. "Um, thanks again, Mr. Mikaelson."

He almost tells her that he likes the way she says 'Klaus' better, but then he remembers what Elijah had said about Caroline needing to be wooed.

He hands her the book she had dropped. "You're welcome, love." He says, gently.

She pauses, searches for something to say. She shakes her head, lost for words, and scurries out of the library. She looks back just before she leaves, clear confusion written on her face.

She has no idea what game he's playing.

"Why are you being so nice to me, Mr. Mikaelson?" Caroline asks, crossing her arms over her chest. He'd brought her coffee today and had surprised her at her desk with it. She had been happy at first, but now she was suspicious.

"I'm nice sometimes." Klaus says.

Caroline glares. "You are not."

He rolls his eyes, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, darling." He reaches out, ready to take the coffee from her, "If you don't like the gesture, I can take the coffee back." He says.

She jerks her hand back, protectively holding the coffee cup. "No way."

Klaus grins. He can't help himself with his next comment. "Why don't we just get to root of the problem here and call this what it is." He leans in close to her. Her eyes twinkle and she's fighting a smile.

"Which is?"

He nips at the shell of her ear with his teeth before he whispers, "Foreplay."

Caroline takes a sip of her coffee, which makes him smile. She glares at him, but she doesn't seem annoyed. More amused than anything. "You're an idiot." She tells him point blank.

He would have been angry if it wasn't for the fact that Caroline's bluntness was one of the many reasons he liked her.

Caroline sits down at her desk. "Bring me coffee again tomorrow and we'll talk about foreplay." She says, opening a file.

A few weeks later, Klaus is riding the elevator up to Elijah's office. He's excited to see Caroline. He almost starts whistling.

The elevator dings and he steps out.

And stops short.

There is a bouquet of flowers on Caroline's desk. She's smiling over the flowers, hands clasped to her chest. He frowns, and decides he doesn't like the happy smile on her face, not when it wasn't aimed at him. He stalks towards her.

"Secret admirer, love?" He sneers.

Caroline jumps in surprise when he speaks. "Oh, Mr. Mikaelson. I didn't hear the elevator. Would you like me to call for Elijah? I think he's in a meeting, but I'm sure you can go into his office and wait."

"No. That won't be necessary. I'll wait here." He says. He sits in a chair they have ready for waiting guests. He taps his feet on the ground over and over and usually it would have annoyed her and she would have threatened to call security, but not today.

Today she fawns over her flowers.

He swears mentally. This wooing plan wasn't going well. He tries a different approach. She'd be more akin to tell him who the flowers were from if he was friendly about it. "From your boyfriend?" He asks, nodding towards the flowers.

Caroline shakes her head, "No." She says honestly. He can tell. "Just from a friend." What kind of a friend sends another friend a bouquet of roses?

He wants to rip the roses to shreds and stomp on the petals, but instead, he smoothly says, "Ah, of course. On second thought, Ms. Forbes, I'd like to wait in Elijah's office if you'd be so kind as to unlock the door for me." He just wants to get away from her. From the roses and the smile she's wearing that's not meant for him.

Her forehead wrinkles cutely in confusion. He never called her Ms. Forbes, she was always Caroline or love to him. "Certainly." She says, standing from her desk. Her heels click across the floor as she leads him to Elijah's office and he tries–and fails–to not notice how delicious her legs look today.

She unlocks the door for him and steps aside. He goes into Elijah's office, sits in his usual chair. The door shuts behind him, and his head falls into his hands. "Roses? A "friend" sending her roses? What a load of rubbish. If she could only see how much I –"

"How much you what?" Caroline asks from behind him. His head snaps up. He had thought she'd gone back to her desk, but she'd come into the office with him. She's leaning against the door, curls wild around her shoulders.

"Nothing." He says lamely. He so badly wants to tell her. To tell her how much he enjoys her wit and her smile and her laugh. How he waits all day through boring meeting after boring meeting just for a chance to banter with her at lunchtime. "Nothing." He says again, softer this time.

She glares and stomps towards him. She stops in front of him and kicks her heels off. She pulls her pencil skirt up dangerously high on her thighs. Her hands shove him back in his seat and she sits on his lap. "Tell me." She growls. He's so in shock that he can't even process what's happening. "Tell me what you feel for me."

His heart beats a mile a minute, and she's already on his lap, so he says simply, "I feel everything for you." She gasps lightly at his words. His lifts his hand, cups the side of her face. Her skin is as smooth as he'd thought it would be. Smoother, even. "When I met you, I thought you were going to be an airhead cheerleader, but I was wrong. You're anything but. You're smart and funny and charming and beautiful and I –" He stops himself from saying it.

"Say it." She almost begs, "I've been waiting for you for four years. Please, Klaus, please say it." She says his name and he almost comes undone. He drops his hand from her face and grips her hips. "Please say you love me."

Klaus looks up into her eyes, so hopeful and pleading. "I –I love you, Caroline. I have since you spilt Elijah's coffee on me the first time we met." He smiles at the memory.

"That was an accident!" She defends herself, but she's smiling.

"Right." He says, rolling his eyes.

They fall into silence, just staring at each other. Finally, softly, she says, "I love you too, Klaus."

His breath catches in his throat. He'd been waiting a long time for those words.

Just then, the door opens, and Elijah walks in. "My good god, you two." He wrinkles his nose, and Caroline blushes from her cheeks down to the valley between her breasts. "I'll leave you alone. But next time, for the love of everything, do this somewhere else." He slams the door shut, and they look at each other.

"Well, that was embarrassing." Caroline mutters, attempting to get up. He holds her hips tightly, securing her in place.

He leans up, lips ghosting over hers, "Love, he gave us a free pass. Haven't you ever wanted to have dirty office sex with me on Elijah's desk?"

She lifts a brow, "I don't think that's what he meant, but it did sort of sound like a free pass." She hedges, still unsure.

"So that's a yes, then." And Klaus doesn't give her a moment to argue before he's lifting her and throwing her onto Elijah's desk, her body knocking papers askew.

Later, he's helping her slide back into her shirt when he asks, casually, "Who sent you the flowers?"

Caroline laughs, "Elijah sent them to me. He was hoping you'd get so jealous at the idea of me with someone else that you'd have to do something about it." She grins at him, amused.

Klaus frowns. Elijah had been the mastermind? He was definitely going to have to get his big brother back. He looks around Elijah's office.

He grabs Caroline around the waist, bringing her half naked body tight against his. His nose brushes hers, "Shall we christen Elijah's office again, then? Over and over?"