Sookie POV:
"Thank you for calling the Law Offices of Ravencroft, Compton, & Madden, how may I help you today?"
I cheerily greeted the person on the other end of the line, I was interning at the law office and we were short staffed so the other two interns and myself were taking turns covering reception.
It was an honour being accepted for this internship as Ms. Ravencroft is well known for never settling for anything but the best in our class. I had graduated damn near top of my undergraduate class earning a bachelors degree with a major in political science and a minor in psychology.
I was also about to enter my final year of law school at Yale. I hadn't actually intended to move onto law originally. I was initially planning on going into politics when a rather terrifying event occurred leaving me in a bad place both physically and emotionally for a while to say the least. After a few discussions with my academic advisor I found myself more and more interested in different aspects of the law and went ahead and enrolled in a few law electives.
So almost two years into my undergrad studies my career path took an unexpected turn and the rest as they say is history.
"Hi, this is Eric Northman. I have an appointment with Pa…I mean Ms. Ravencroft in about fifteen minutes but I'm running a little late."
Oh god, the man's voice was sexy as hell. Smooth like velvet, I swear he could bring me to orgasm with just the sound of his voice. I don't know what he does for a living but if he is not a phone sex operator then he has most certainly missed his calling. I couldn't help but think that with a voice like his he was most probably lacking in the looks department, nobody can have it all.
"Ok" I stammered "just let me get a quick look at her schedule here…it looks like she is open for the next two hours, how late do you expect to be Mr. Northman?"
"Probably only ten or fifteen minutes but I didn't want to leave her waiting."
"No problem, I'll let her know for you, Mr. Northman." I said. After hanging up the phone I quickly buzzed Ms. Ravencroft and let her know that Mr. Northman was going to be a little late.
Ms. Ravencroft mostly dealt with family law cases, child custody and divorce taking up about 95% of her caseload. She was very good at her job and rarely ever walked away without a victorious outcome for her client. Mr. Northman was in excellent hands regardless of whatever his situation may be.
Thirty minutes later the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on came waltzing through the doors. God he was handsome, almost shoulder length blond hair, the most gorgeous bright blue eyes, he was tall had to be a good six foot two or three easily with strong broad shoulders and muscular arms from what I could see of them. He wore dark jeans, black leather boots, a grey t-shirt that was just snug enough to tell that he was definitely sporting some well defined abs.
"Holy shit" I muttered to myself.
I tried my best to smile normally and not my nervous smile that Amelia likes to call my 'crazy Sookie' smile as I greeted the god before me.
"Hi, how can I help you today?"
"Oh, I am sure there are a number of ways that you could help me" he said as he winked at me. "unfortunately I happen to be running late and have an appointment with Ms. Ravencroft."
Fuck me, I think Mr. Beautiful just propositioned me…sort of. Wait, an appointment with Ms. Ravencroft? He can not seriously be my phone sex guy, there's no way anyone can be so gifted in every department!
"Mr. Northman, I pesume?" I couldn't help the blush that covered my cheeks as he caught me checking him out from head to toe. He smirked at me before responding to my question.
"You presume correctly, Ms…." He was obviously waiting for an introduction, which I gave him.
"Stackhouse, Sookie Stackhouse. If you'd like to take a seat I'll let Ms. Ravencroft know you are here."
He nodded and took a seat in the chair that was closest to my desk and I could feel his eyes on me with every move I made. Including when Mr. fucking Compton approached me.
"Do you think you can get five copies of this to me for my meeting at four o'clock, sweetheart?"
My head snapped up so fast I think I might have whiplash, I was so angry that for once I actually glared at Mr. Compton. When I first started here I thought it was just a part of his southern charm with the nick names but then I noticed that he only used them with certain girls and most definitely never in front of Ms. Ravencroft.
He had even tried a few times to get me to go to dinner with him, which was entirely inappropriate. I guess he felt that it wasn't because technically I was Ms. Ravencroft's intern, therefore, did not work for him.
He seemed to unconsciously take a step back when he saw the look on my face. He actually looked a little fearful of me which caused a small smile to appear on my face. Although my voice was strained I managed to maintain a calm exterior as I gave what was hopefully my last warning.
"No problem, Mr. Compton." He turned to walk away but I stood and placed my hand on his arm and spoke as quietly as possible.
"I am not your sweetheart, Mr. Compton. Not now, not ever. I believe I have made myself very clear during all of your invitations to accompany you outside of work, but just to be on the safe the side I ask that you please hear me this time." I paused to ensure he was actually listening to me and he nodded.
"Your advances are not welcome, I think you're a nice man but not for me. Please refer to me by Sookie or Ms. Stackhouse, nothing else. I was hoping that this would all blow over once you realised that I was not interested but you are either dumber than a box of rocks or intentionally daft, out of respect I will go with the latter not that you deserve it. I prefer to keep this between us so please do not make me have to go to Ms. Ravencroft over something we can settle ourselves right here and now."
I released a long breath not even realising that I hadn't really been breathing through my rant.
"It will not be a problem, I apologize for the misunderstanding, Ms. Stackhouse."
I stood there with my mouth gaping as he walked away. Misunderstanding? He had to be insane, there was no misunderstanding. I was clearly not interested and he was clearly ignoring that fact. I heard the intercom beep on the desk behind me and shook my head bringing myself back to the present.
I glanced over to Mr. Northman hoping he hadn't heard any of our conversation. His small, tight smile and the slight nod of his head told me that he obviously had and was thankfully not going to comment. I blushed and turned to pick up the phone and listened as Ms. Ravencroft stated that I could bring Eric (as she referred to him) back now.
"Cerainly, just give me a moment." I stated before hanging up and turning to Mr. Northman. "Ok, if you'd follow me Mr. Northman, I can take you back now."
He nodded and stood to his full height. God, he was fucking hot. I could feel his eyes more than likely on my ass as I made a point of adding a small sway to my hips as I walked down the hall. As we approached Ms. Ravencroft's closed office door I decided I wanted to quickly apologize before sending him in.
I turned back not expecting him to be so close and ran right into his muscular chest and he held me steady with his hands on my upper arms.
"Umph…god, I'm so sorry. I had just wanted to apologize for you having to witness my earlier conversation with Mr. Compton."
He chuckled at my obvious discomfort before opening his beautiful, arrogant mouth.
"Please I insist you call me Eric, none of this god crap. You haven't earned that right…yet. And please don't apologize for that asshole, Compton hasn't changed one bit since we attended Harvard together."
I didn't have the chance to respond to anything he said as he opened the office door and walked in. I think I stood there catching flies, as gran would say, for a moment as I tried to get past his obviously extremely high opinion of himself. He was perfect in every way and he knew it.
I made quick time of getting Mr. Compton's copies and dropped them off to him. I started a fresh pot of coffee and tidied up the reception area quickly. I buzzed into the office asking Ms. Ravencroft if they were interested in any.
"Yes, please…Eric do you still take your coffee the same…ok…Sookie, please bring two coffees. One with just a little cream and my regular."
"No problem, I'll be right in."
It didn't take me long to prepare their coffee and one for myself to enjoy when I returned to my desk. I walked in and didn't miss the smirk that Mr. Northman threw my way as I passed him.
"Here you are, is there anything else I can get for you?"
"Actually, I'd like you to rush these papers to the court house and get them filed before the deadline please."
"That was fast, you weren't in here together very long." I stated, more than a little surprised.
"Oh I had most of this done already, Eric is one of my oldest and dearest friends so I was aware of the circumstances ahead of time. By the way, Eric this is Sookie and vice versa." She said as she waved her hand between us.
"It's nice to meet you Eric." I said as I stepped forward offering him my hand.
"The pleasure is all mine." He responded, the smirk still displayed on those gorgeous lips.
He had reached out to take my offered hand and I slowly became aware that I had probably been holding on a moment too long but can't seem to relax my hand enough to release his.
I shiver as my body reacts to the warm feeling that seems to begin in my stomach and spread through my entire body and his smirk seems to turn into a confused smile while he looks down at our joined hands.
"Jesus" I mutter and his smug smirk returns full force as he leans down and whispers in my ear.
"What is it with you and all the biblical references directed at me." Oh shit, I said that out loud!
"Sorry" I mutter again as I pull my hand back quickly and turn to my boss who is smiling brightly at us both. "I…ah, I should run before I miss the deadline, Sophie may like me but not enough to squeeze me in if I'm too late."
"Yes, here." She said passing me his paperwork. "File these as is so we're not too late but when you get back I want you to summarize the file so I can find what I need a little faster when we end up in court…well if we end up in court."
"Sure thing, I'll get right on it."
I turned and headed for the door but didn't miss the fact that Mr. Northman was clenching and unclenching his hand as he stood in front of the desk watching me leave. I leaned against the door as I pulled it closed behind me, just glad to be away from him and the unexpectedly tense as hell moment we seemed to share.
I grabbed my purse and headed straight for the court house and was successful in getting Sophie to file the motion in Mr. Northman's case. It wasn't until I got back to the office that I had a chance to look through the file as I sorted through the paperwork and organized it as I was asked.
It turns out that he was filing for divorce from his wife Felicia of five years, though they had been together for another five years previous to that. He was citing adultery as he had walked in on her and not one but two other men and another woman.
I didn't see why she would bother to contest it considering she had signed a pre-nup stating she'd be a rich woman if they ever divorced unless she had had an affair, in which case she would get nothing yet he was leaving her the home they had shared in Massachusetts.
It appears that he picked up and moved a few hours away from her close to six weeks ago. My eyes bulged out of my head as I noticed his financial statements and the thought that crossed my mind was filled with expletives.
Holy fuck, it just can't be possible. Not only is the man so fucking hot that he could quite literally be Adonis himself, his voice alone is enough to make you orgasm on command but he's fucking loaded too! Nobody should be this blessed, not ever!
I know how that sounds but I truly was never one to concern myself with money and that is still the case today. Money is something I've never really had a lot of, I have a trust fund as does my brother that was left to us when our parents passed on but I've pretty much drained mine paying for my education over the last six years and supporting myself.
A/N: Characters belong to Charlaine Harris
