Page 119 of Nanny and the Beast

“I’ve seen the chemistry between you two,” he says. “Helena and I thought it would only be a matter of time.”

“You and Helena need to find better things to talk about,” I say.

“What can I say? You’re the glue that holds us together, man.”

“Of course.”

“I notice you haven’t answered my question yet. Did you guys do it yet?”

I close my eyes. She’s right there, like she never left. I see her on my bed, with rosy cheeks and parted lips. I was so close to giving in last night. But some voice told me to hold back.

She deserves so much better than I can ever give her.

And even though I never felt this way about a woman before, I know that if I have sex with Emma, I’ll never let her go again.

“I still stand by what I told you before,” he says. “If the attraction is mutual, I think you should sleep with her and get her out of your system, man. Because you’re making this way more complicated than it has to be.”

I ignore his sage advice.

“Can you just look into the stalker?” I ask. “If we dig up anything on him, we might finally get to the bottom of this.”

“Fine,” Alaric sighs.

I say goodbye and hang up before he can give me another lecture.

There’s a soft knock on my door.

I stare at the door. My heart thrashes wildly in my chest as I think about her standing on the other side.

Alaric has a point. The best thing to do in this situation is to try to talk to her about what happened last night.

“Come in,” I say.

I try to hide my disappointment when I see that it’s Helena. She looks as pale as a ghost.

“What’s wrong?” I ask immediately.

“Klaus, I’m only going to ask you this once, so please be honest with me,” she says. “What happened last night?”

“It doesn’t matter, Helena,” I say. “I’m okay now.”

She still looks pained as she watches me. Tears rush to her eyes.

“Someone called early in the morning,” she says.“It sounded like a prank call at first, because the man’s voice was distorted.”

“What did he say?” I ask through gritted teeth.

Helena takes a deep breath. Seeing her in this frazzled state also puts me on edge.

“He said that he’s going to finish what he started. And that you should watch your back,” she says.

“Anything else?” I ask.

She shakes her head.

“Thank you for informing me, Helena,” I say.

“Who was it?” she asks me.

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