Chapter One

The coffee cup I was holding fell from my hands and smashed onto the floor, my mouth hanging open and a flood of emotions coursing through me. The one that won out was anger. I closed my mouth and narrowed my eyes, with my hand on my hip and stared at the figure standing in my kitchen.

"How dare you enter my home without asking, "I spat at him.

"We need to talk, Lover," he said, slowly making his way over to me, his hand reaching out to mine.

"And you think that coming into my home unannounced and uninvited is the best way to initiate a conversation with me, Eric? There are these fantastic new inventions called 'telephones' that allow you to do the same thing without barging into a person's home without their knowledge," I said as I tried to keep the little spark of happiness of being close to him at bay.

His arm dropped to his side and I saw a flash of annoyance cross his face. I knew that he had let me see it intentionally, because I knew that Eric was a master at controlling his body language.

"You have no right to be annoyed with me, Eric Northman! You're in my house!" I said as I spun around and walked back into the living room. I wished Amelia was at home tonight instead of out of town with Tray for a few days.

Before I had even taken two steps, Eric was already sitting on the couch with a somewhat amused expression on his face.

"You are a stubborn woman, Sookie Stackhouse," he said with a faint smile playing across his kissable lips.

Get a hold of yourself, Sookie! You are not thinking about his lips…or his beautiful face…or… I shook myself and turned around and went back into the kitchen. I bent down to pick up some of the bigger pieces of the broken coffee mug and when I stood up, he was in front of me again. Damn vampires! I put the pieces on the kitchen counter and got out the broom and dustpan and began to sweep up the smaller pieces. Maybe if I just ignored him, he would go away.

No such luck. There was a mischievous glint to his blue eyes as he watched me dispose of the broken cup and then start on the dishes from dinner. I began to wonder how long he would stand and watch me – I was becoming annoyed.

"I can wait all night, Lover," he said, still watching my every move.

I knew if I said anything to him right then, he would think that he was wearing me down and I'd never get rid of him…well, not until dawn at least. But then, I never was one to keep my mouth shut when I should and I thought if he was under the impression that Amelia was due back shortly then he would abandon his plan.

"Amelia will be home any minute, she just popped into town to pick up a movie," I told him, hoping that he would leave and not call my bluff.

"Lover, why do you lie to me? The Witch is out with the Were and will likely not return for a few days, barring some unforeseen catastrophe. You really can be infuriating – all I want to do is talk and I can tell that you are intentionally trying to avoid having a conversation with me. That's hardly what I would expect from such a well-brought up Southern lady," he said with amusement, his deep blue eyes sparkling and a small smile playing on his lips.

Deep breath, Sookie, deep breath. He must have arranged with Tray to take Amelia out of town, he probably even paid for the hotel and dinners all in an attempt to get me alone so that we could have "the talk". Well, I wasn't playing this game. I refused to be coerced (Word of the Day from last week) into a conversation that I simply wasn't prepared to have. Eric had been acting like a jerk to me for weeks – ever since de Castro's take-over and he was not going to sweep in and smile and look amazing…Snap out of it! just because he thought that he could. Granted I hadn't had a lot of experience with men, but I sure knew a lot about courtesy and manners, and right now, it was evident that Eric was falling short. Even if he was well compensated in other areas… Dammit, Sookie!

"So, you arranged for my roommate to be away, did you? Did she know or is it just you and Tray in on this little arrangement?" I asked him, turning once again to go into the living room. Well, if he was going to keep this up, I was just going to go about my evening and try to pretend that he wasn't there.

I had been working a lot at Merlotte's in an effort to get my finances back on track after the Rhodes bombing, knowing that the chances of de Castro paying Sophie-Anne's debt to me was unlikely. It was my first night off in a couple of weeks and I had plans to indulge my girlie side doing things like painting my nails, watching a chick flick and having a long, hot soak in the bath. Flashes of the times I had spent in the bath with Eric littered my brain and I pushed them away. I was angry with him for making the assumption that just because he was ready to talk about things, that I would be too. I didn't want to think about the time that Eric had spent with me while he was under Hallow's curse. I had mourned the loss of my Eric as acutely as I would have the death of any lover.

I was sitting on the couch pretending to examine the colours of the nail polish while listening for Eric. I felt his hand on my shoulder, and while under normal circumstances I would have jumped or been startled, I hadn't moved. His cold hand rested there and instead of my skin cooling to his touch, I could feel my body temperature rising.

He spoke into my ear, barely a whisper, "I am still yours, Lover. I will return to you tomorrow – perhaps you will be better prepared to…discuss…matters."

I could feel shivers running down my spine and I knew without even looking that he was gone. And even though I was furious that he had just appeared in my house, had arranged for Amelia to be away with Tray and no doubt made Sam schedule me for the 1-7 shifts, there was a tiny part of me that wished he was still here. Even though I knew I could rescind his invitation and effectively avoid having any conversations with him that I didn't want to have, I knew I wouldn't. I knew that I was already looking forward to seeing him tomorrow night.