“Will you just admit that your dog keeps breaking into my house because you trained him to?!”
Thanks, Julie @supremeuppityone for all the awesome prompts you sent. Here is one of them I did, hope you like it : )
Caroline Forbes considered herself a helpful and tolerant neighbour.
She was happy to bake cookies for Mrs Goldberg in number 13 next door because her family was out of state and she was lonely.
She was happy to help Mr Harrison from number 19 garden and plant his flower beds before spring arrived.
She was also more than happy to babysit for the Jacobs family at number 18 across the street when they wanted a date night away from their excitable triplets (all boys).
The only time she didn’t consider herself welcome or neighbourly was when Klaus Mikaelson decided to move into number 17, directly to the left of her house.
Mrs Fraser in number 23 said he was a police officer recently new to town. Mr James in number 28 mentioned that he was divorced and Ms Field in number 22 mentioned that he worked out regularly on the street and had a body built for sin. Caroline decided to put that down to the fact that she was recently divorced and way too immersed in those paperback, erotic novels.
Although, he did look good in pretty much everything he wore. Police uniform, running attire, jeans; you name it. He also had this pair of crimson lips that seemed to darken when he smirked and a rogue set of dimples that had a mind of their own. How did she know this?
As embarrassing as it was to admit, Caroline had observed all of these things from spying through her window blinds and over the backyard fence. Maybe in some states that would be considered stalking and being a police officer Klaus Mikaelson no doubt knew the law off by heart. But Caroline had no other choice.
Unfortunately, when they’d first been introduced Caroline hadn’t been as nice as she’d like. She decided to blame it on the fact that he was all sorts of delicious looking in jeans and a white Henley and his accent had thrown her off, so too the aforementioned dimples and lips.
It also didn’t help that he was delivering a freshly baked batch of chocolate chip cookies to Mrs Goldberg and the Jacobs triplets were following him up the street clearly impressed by the new neighbourhood cop.
She’d muddled through the initial introductions, unable to stop herself from reminding him that Mrs Goldberg had a nut allergy. He’d proceeded to tell her that he was aware because they shared that particular trait. Caroline had excused herself as soon as possible wondering if there was anything this guy couldn’t do?
It was a Tuesday and Caroline had been out in her garden. She was a freelance journalist so worked from home but liked to get outside for some fresh air every now and again.
As she walked inside she heard a loud scratching noise followed by an energetic woof. Upon entering the front hall she noticed her front door slightly ajar and her next door neighbour’s golden retriever Tully. She’d seen and heard a lot of her since he moved in and had to admit she had a soft spot for the dog, until she just witnessed her trying to dig a hole in her floorboards.
“Is this yours?’ She asked after knocking on his door and waiting for him to open it.
“Well, hello to you too, love,” he smiled, those dimples practically blinding her as he leaned against the door jamb, his arms crossed over his chest. Obviously, he’d just finished work as his navy shirt was half unbuttoned at the neck, his toned chest on show. “Nice day isn’t it?”
“Well, I suppose yes it is,” she faltered. Caroline was always so confident, but this guy seemed to make her forget what she was saying and given just how well his uniform matched his eyes she was struggling. “You realise this is the third time this week?”
“That you’ve come knocking on my door, yes I’ve noticed.”
“That I’ve come knocking on your day to return this,” she gestured to Tully who was happily distracted by a passing butterfly in the garden.
“She has a name you know. Actually, so do I, it’s Klaus, you know in case you’d ever like to use it. Or talk to me for more than five seconds about anything other than my dog.”
“Did you ever think that I don’t want to do that? Nor am I interested in having to return Tully every time she breaks into my property?”
“Well, she seems to like you,” he said, nodding to his dog who was now happily rubbing against her leg.
“And my house apparently,” she replied, softening slightly. She really did love this gorgeous but naughty canine. “How she manages to keep getting into my house though is a mystery, unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“She’s extremely gifted,” he boasted, clearly avoiding the question. “Now, would you like to come inside for a cup of tea and some biscuits, they’re baked fresh today.”
“Of course they are,” she muttered. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“I’m sure we can come up with something, I’ll even let you help me if you come inside?"
“Gorgeous, intelligent, no I know, charming?”
“I was thinking more like a smug smart ass with a dog that commits break and enter on a regular basis. You know as a police officer I would have assumed you’d take breaches like this seriously.”
“We aren’t usually in the practice of arresting canines or animals in general,” he smiled. “How about if you come in for tea I’ll let you in on a little secret?”
“How about if you tell me one thing and then I’ll decide whether or not I’ll have tea with you?”
“Fine, I might have, sort of,” he fumbled, blushing slightly and Caroline couldn’t help but swoon on the inside. He was even more attractive when shy. “Let my dog go onto your property...”
“So, the upstanding policeman is not so upstanding?” She said, hands on hips. “Tell me why I shouldn’t report you to your superior?”
“I like you but you didn’t seem to like me all that much,” he began. “And, in my defence, it was actually Tully that found her way inside I just didn’t discourage her habit. Turns out she can’t get enough of your house or the owner.”
Caroline really should have been freaked out that some guy, who she barely knew, was kind of using his dog to break into her house because apparently he liked her. But for some reason she wasn’t.
“Well, I like her too,” she admitted, patting her on the head affectionately. “And I don’t not like you, I was just a little..”
“Maybe I need that tea, you know as long as you haven’t laced it with anything.”
“I’m never going to live this down, am I?”
Caroline admitted, albeit after a healthy handful of cookies that she was jealous of all the attention he was garnering in the neighbourhood. Klaus said he was more than happy to share the baking, babysitting and gardening if she agreed to go out with him.
Tully couldn’t have been happier when she had her two favourite humans under the same roof not long after. Turns out she was one hell of a matchmaker.
