Heart's Desire Ch 20

Chapter 20

SPOV

I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a moment of concern when she made her request, but I seriously doubted that she had the ovaries to come to Eric’s house and cause a scene with his girlfriend, at least that what I was hoping. I glanced over at Eric and the look on his face, a mix of shock and fear, almost made me laugh out loud. I smiled at him and gave him a reassuring nod as I stood up to walk with her.

I felt the heat from the sun as soon as we walked out on the front steps and I was suddenly motivated to get this conversation over with so that we could get out to the pool.

“Sookie, I would like to apologize for my actions the day we first met at the hospital. I was out of line and I am sorry. I don’t have an excuse, but I would like to try to explain why I did it.”

She paused and looked at me as if she were asking permission to continue. I didn’t say anything but I nodded my head for her to continue.

“I have worked for Eric for quite a while now and over the years have seen literally hundreds of women throw themselves at him and more than once have had to initiate restraining orders.” I was definitely unprepared for that little revelation, but I let her continue.

“While I had no reason to believe you were just another skirt after Eric and his money, I really had no reason to believe you weren’t.” OK, she had a point there, but damn. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that I haven’t had a fantasy or two about him, but I’m not blind, I see how he looks at you and in all the years I’ve known him, I have never seen him look at another woman like that and most certainly not me.” Her eyes began pool at her confession as she seemed to be gathering her thoughts.

“Look I’m not stupid; I know my continued employment with Eric is in your hands but I want you to know I need my job and I am damn good at it. I don’t expect you to consider me your friend, but I do hope you will give me another chance to at least prove I am your ally.”

“Ally? Do I need an ally?” I asked, surprised by her choice of wording.

“Sookie, I will admit I am protective of Eric, but there are those in the company that are downright possessive of him, hell some are clinically delusional. I just want you to know that I will do anything possible to squelch it where I can.”

As I considered her words, I contemplated that this could just be an elaborate scheme to endear herself to me, you know ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’, but I had dealt with mean girls all my life, thanks Jason, and although I may proven to be wrong later, I felt she was sincere.

I didn’t feel any need to defend myself to her or explain the fact that I could hardly be considered a skirt chasing his money when I didn’t even know the boy had any. But somehow, oddly enough, I did believe that she respected the relationship and I would get no further grief from her.

“Selah, I appreciate your apology, I‘m sure this wasn’t an easy thing to do. And honestly I’m glad you’ve been there to look out for him in the past.” I’ll take it from here thank you. “And I want you to know I have no intentions of doing anything to jeopardize your job. Eric speaks highly of you and I know he would suffer without you. So please don’t worry about that.” Her body visibly relaxed and a smile returned to her face.

“As far as friends or allies go, I consider everyone a friend until they do something to prove otherwise. Let’s just take our first encounter and chalk it up to a misunderstanding and go from there ok?”

“Thank you Sookie, I appreciate this. Well, I better get going and let you get back to Eric, I’m sure he’s a little more than curious about what we’ve been discussing.” She said with a small laugh.

“No doubt.” I laughed as well. “I’ll see you later Selah.” I said as she got in her car and drove away.

I was turning to go back in to the house when my cell phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hey Sook, how is life in the big city?”

“Hey Roomie, the ‘big city’ is more like home on the range. Amelia you would not believe this place if I told you. Did you have any idea Eric was loaded?”

“Uh yeah...Sookie...its Eric Northman! He’s been considered one of America’s most eligible bachelors for several years now.”

“Well thanks for cluing a sister in, Amelia. I could have avoided hours of culture shock when I got here if you had just divulged that little tidbit of information.”

“Sorry Sook, by the time I realized you were unaware I decided it was up to Eric to tell you at that point. Besides I knew you well enough to know that his money didn’t matter and there was a good chance that if you did know, you might not have gone with him. And frankly I thought you owed it to yourself to go. Forgive me?”

“Yes, I forgive you and you’re right, had I known I probably would not have come. So thank you. Though I tell ya, it’s going to be hard as hell to leave here in two weeks. But anyway…what’s up, did you just call to check up on me?”

“Well that was part of it but I also called to ask you if you remembered this weekend was Jason’s birthday and I was just wondering what you planned to do about his cook out?”

“Oh shit, Amelia. I completely forgot. Crap!...ok…let me see what I can work out and I will call you back. We may just have to do it when I get back home, but let me talk to Eric and get back with you.”

“OK chic, don’t stress. I’m sure he will be fine with whatever, just let me know and I will pass the word along. Call me if you need anything and Sookie?”

“Yes?”

“Be safe.”

“I will. Thanks Roomie, I’ll talk to you soon.”

Evidently curiosity had gotten the best of him and I found Eric sitting in the living room when I came back into the house.

“God you were out there forever…is everything ok? You look worried; did she say anything to upset you?” Eric obviously misreading my sober expression from Amelia’s phone call as fallout from my conversation with Selah.

“No, Eric. Everything’s fine. I had a very nice conversation with Selah. She apologized for her behavior when we first met, so we are all good.”

“Really?”

“Yep. But don’t get too excited. I doubt we’ll get together for sleepovers and braid each other’s hair, but we found we have something in common, so I think we will be ok.”

“May I ask what you found that you have in common?” Damn this boy was inquisitive.

“We both care about you.” A huge grin broke out across his face.

“Well, I admit it would make my life a lot easier if the two of you got along, but I want it clear, history be damned, if someone has to leave, I will help her pack.” God I love this man.

Shit! Did I say love?

“Duly noted.” I said as he pulled me down to my familiar spot on his lap. “So, how do you feel about getting wet with me?”

He raised his eyebrow and smirked.

“I think that may be the best offer I have ever had.”

I got up and although he didn’t need the help I grabbed his hands and helped pull him off the couch.

“Your things have already been moved to our room downstairs.” He said as we reached the staircase. I smiled at his choice of adjectives but knowing it was just a slip of the lip, I chose not to mention it.

“Uh… Eric, where is my stuff?” I asked as I came in the room expecting to see my suitcases on the bench at the foot of the bed or in the chair.

“Mrs. Hadley has unpacked your things and they are in these drawers here,” he said with a big smile pointing to one side of the dresser. “And the rest is in the closet, you have the section on the left, closest to the door. We’ll make more room as we need to but you really didn’t bring that much with you.”

I walked in to the closet and sure enough, there they were…all my Target and TJ Maxx sundresses were there…hanging…right by his Armani and other designers I couldn’t pronounce, suits. Down below, alongside his no doubt Italian shoes, sat my white sandals, my perfectly broken in chucks and my favorite Wal-Mart flip flops. Oh my God! What the hell am I doing here?

I hadn’t notice him come up behind me until I felt his arms wrap around my middle.

“What’s the matter Love, you look panicked? Should I not have had Mrs. Hadley unpack for you?”

“No it’s not that.”

“Then what has you spooked all of a sudden?”

“Look at this.” I said waving an arm in front of the clothes. “These things don’t belong in here with those things.”

He spun me around so that I was facing him while keeping his arms around me holding me close.

“Sookie Stackhouse, you know I no more give a flying fuck about these labels than you do. Now, I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, but stop it! You and your things, no matter what name is on the tag, belong here! Right here…With me…Are we clear?”

“But…”

“Damn it, No buts Sookie! You are what I care about, not all this and I’m not willing to allow something as stupid as brand names to screw this up. Agreed?” He asked while wrapping his arms still tighter around me.

“Agreed.” He smiled and kissed me on my forehead.

“Good. Now, I think you said something about getting wet?” He said with an evil grin.

We changed quickly, made our way out to the pool and I was struck by the progress Eric was making in his recovery. All morning he had managed to make his way around the house walking by stopping periodically to steady himself on strategically placed furniture. Maneuvering around outside proved to be little more difficult so he had to lean on me a little for support until we finally reached the pool chairs.

Eric leaned on the back of one of the teak chairs and waited as I spread the towels out on one of the double lounges close to the edge of the pool. I was hoping the pool would relax him some, I could see the toil the increased activity was having on his body. He joined me on the chaise and we sat there for several minutes in silence and it dawned on me just how much I had missed having my solar worship services.

“Hey Eric…how would you feel about spending this weekend with me in Bon Temps?” I felt him stiffen a little at my request.

“Sookie, you’ve only been here one night, are you missing home already?”

“Not hardly.” I said giving him a playful nudge. “Seriously, I’ve kinda made a boo boo?”

“A boo boo? What are you three?”

“Ok smartass, I fucked up!” This time my nudge was more of a punch.

“That’s better. So what’s the problem?” He said chuckling.

“Well for the last several years my brother and I have celebrated each other’s birthdays with a cookout for all of our friends. And with everything that has gone on recently it completely slipped my mind that this weekend was Jason’s birthday. So I was thinking if you were willing to come home with me we could have the cook out and I could introduce you to my brother and some of my friends. The only problem is that in my house all the bedrooms and showers are on the second floor and I know you can’t do steps just yet so we would have to work that out. I don’t want you to feel pressure to do anything you’re not ready for so if I need to put it off until I get back home, that’s fine. I know Jason will understand.”

I was nervously waiting for his response. I knew he would have to meet my friends and family at some point but whether he was ready to do it right now was the question.

“Why don’t you just have them come here? We have the pool and plenty of room; could we not just have the cookout here?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, why not?”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated to offer your home just because I am staying here.”

“Sookie, don’t be ridiculous. I am offering my home because I want you to feel just as comfortable here as you do in your own home. I want you to act and do just as you would at your house.”

“Eric, that is so sweet. But I’m a little uncomfortable with asking everyone to drive this far when drinking is involved. And trust me when I say drinking is always involved with these cookouts.”

“Not a problem, we’ll just have Clancy pick everyone up, they can stay the night here or the weekend for that matter and he'll take them back whenever they are ready to go.”

“Do we have room; I mean I think they will all fit in the limo but...” He silenced my rambling, I guess the excitement was getting the best of me.

“Love, calm down. We have the four rooms upstairs and there are two rooms in guest house. Do we need more room than that?”

“No that’s plenty of room…wait, guest house?”

“Well, guest house, pool house, I don’t know what you want to call it, but it’s a fully furnished two bedroom apartment, so there is room out there as well. So, is it settled? Are we having a party?”

“Yes! Thank you! Thank you!” I said while planting kisses all over his face.

“No problem Love. Now, let’s go swimming.”

He got up and walked to the deep end of the pool and I marveled at beauty that was before me. Even in his recuperative state, his body was that of perfection, each muscle clearly defined. He stood at the edge of the pool and dove in with hardly a splash and swam to the other end of the pool before coming up to take a breath.

I walked over to the side of the pool and took a seat on the edge. Eric stood up, the water level hitting him low on his hips leaving an unobstructed view of his now glistening abdominal muscles that created a perfect “v” that seemed to point the way to the good stuff below. He walked over to the spot where I was sitting and I opened my legs to allow him to get closer. Softly he began kissing my neck working his way down my collar bone at a painfully slow pace. As he reached my chest his finger looped around the tie on my suit moving it so that my breast was now exposed.

“Eric…your staff!” I warned through clenched teeth.

“I’ve sent them all home for the weekend.” He mumbled as he began licking my now hard nipple.

“Really, why?”

“Because I thought you might be a little self conscience facing Mrs. Hadley in the morning after screaming my name so loudly later tonight.”

“Well, thank you for looking out for me.” I said in between the moans.

“Certainly.” He said as he pulled away from me slightly but his hands continuing to roam around my thighs and hips and I saw his eyes dip lower.

“Ms. Stackhouse, could you please explain how you are wet and you’ve not even gotten in the pool yet?”

“Well Mr. Northman, that would be your fault.”

“My fault?” He said as he slid the tiny piece of material that was hiding my slit over to one side.

“Yessir.”

“My apologies, what can I do to make it up to you?” He said as his finger glazed my clit.

“Well…” I could hardly form the words as his finger continued strumming my nub.

“…You could start by cleaning it up.”

“My pleasure.” Were the last words I heard before his face disappeared between my thighs.

Nope, it’s definitely my pleasure!

TBC