SPOV

"Sookie, can you stop by my office before you leave?"

"Sure thing, boss." I made my way across the room to deliver a tray of margheritas to a group of women celebrating a bachelorette party. The bride was wearing a shirt covered with condoms and a penis necklace. Original? Hardly. Getting drunk off of their asses? Absolutely.

I'd worked here at Heat, the most successful bar in Shreveport, for a little over a year now. The pay was pretty good, the tips were great, and I had health insurance for the first time ever. I was easily making twice what I had at Merlottes while I worked my way through junior college. Now I was one year away from receiving my accounting degree from LSU. One more year and I was through delivering beers to drunks while wearing a short black skirt and a red halter top (the $60 bra I wore underneath was worth every penny to hold my DDs in place). One more hour and I could go home to the apartment I shared with Tara, pull on a soft night gown, and curl up with the romance novel I started yesterday.

EPOV

I watched Sookie deliver her tray to the obnoxious bachelorettes. ' I am going to spend the rest of my life screwing the same man and washing his underwear in my high efficiency washing machine with environmentally friendly detergent and making his dinner of organic grass fed beef and eggs from free range chickens with my ridiculously expensive cookware. Someday I will even spawn his little brats and dress them in T-shirts that cost $40 each. Let's celebrate!' If bachelorette parties weren't so profitable, I would have them banned.

Still, I enjoyed watching Sookie walk across the room. I'd wanted her since the first day I interviewed her.

"So, Miss Stackhouse, why should I hire you to work here at Heat?"I asked in my smoothest voice, leaning back in my office chair, feet propped up on my desk.

"I've been working at Merlotte's in Bon Temps since high school. I'm real friendly and I'm not afraid to work hard," she responded with a thousand watt smile. She would pull in good tips with that smile and those big knockers.

"You have a good reference from Sam. I notice that you graduated early from high school and then waited a year and a half to start college. May I ask why?" Yes, I realized this was just a waitress job, but the last single mom I hired had so many child care issues I had to fire her.

"I had some family issues to attend to," she answered stiffly.

"Are you a single mom, Sookie?"

"What if I am? What if the very first time I slept with a boy (who swore he would love me forever) he dumped me two weeks later for a girl who played the flute in the marching band. And when I found out I was pregnant he swore it couldn't be his – until my daddy made him take the paternity test. And he went off to college out of state and left me with a little boy to raise on my own. Does that make me a bad girl? Does that make me someone you wouldn't want to hire to carry beers around on a tray?" There was fire in her eyes, that was for sure. I almost felt like I owed her an apology.

"Um…" I responded sitting up in my chair. Sookie glared at me.

"Actually that happened to my friend Arlene, not me. My gran was diagnosed with ovarian cancer the summer before my senior year." She swallowed and looked away for a moment. "I was able to graduate early and I took care of her until we called hospice in. I still miss her every day." Her eyes were damp with tears. "I'm sorry, " she said as I handed her box of tissues.

"Don't be. " I was impressed. The last woman to impress me was Pam – if she hadn't decided she was a lesbian I would have married her by now. "There was no one else to take care of her?"

"She raised my brother and I after our parents died. Jason would come and sit with her a few evenings a week so I could work and he'd stop by on his lunch hour to eat with her. He was real good with her, but I did most of the work. I didn't mind. She was the best person I've ever known. I would do it again in a heartbeat."

I had hired Sookie hoping to have more than a professional relationship with her, but so far I was just her boss. Well, maybe she considered me her friend too. When she started working here she was dating Bill. He stopped by the bar a few times. I just couldn't understand what Sookie saw in him. He was polite and well groomed, but that is about all I could say for him. He was very dull and somewhat controlling. They began dating shortly before her gran died and I wondered if that didn't somehow contribute to their romance – Sookie was vulnerable and he was around. Thankfully she broke up with him after working here a few months. I thought then would be a good time to make my move.

"Sookie, I heard you are no longer seeing Compton."

"All torn up about that, are you?" she asked. I hadn't hidden my dislike of him.

"You can do much better," I responded with a smirk.

"Yes, I am sure I can. Actually, one of the bartenders asked me out for this weekend." Crap!

"Dating again so soon?" Maybe I could convince her not to go out with him. Sookie just rolled her eyes.

"I told him I didn't date people I worked with. The whole 'don't shit where you eat principle'. Besides, Chow isn't really my type."

"What if the person you worked with was your type?"

"I'd still say no." She looked me straight in the eye as she answered. I got the message. Don't date the boss. Don't date employees that you would mind losing. Always good rules to follow. Dammit.

She dated a big, hairy guy who worked construction for a little while. I heard her telling Dawn she couldn't keep seeing a man who wasn't completely over his ex-girlfriend. We had live bands on weekends. John Quinn, who was the lead singer in a local band, caught her eye (bald head and purple eyes – what the attraction was I had no idea). They were pretty hot and heavy for a while until his band took off and he began traveling. She just couldn't deal with a man who was gone more than he was home. So…she was single once again.

SPOV

As I made my last rounds I wondered why Eric wanted to see me in his office. He had attempted to ask me out after Bill and I broke up, but I was pretty sure he had gotten the 'I'm not dating my boss' message. Dammit. He was a beautiful man – there is just no other way to describe him. His stunning blue eyes, wicked smile, and that body….. The first time I saw him without his shirt on I had to wipe drool off my chin.

"Hey Eric," I said knocking lightly on the door to his office and pushing it open.

"Yes," he answered pulling off his shirt. I just stared at him. What sculptor carved those muscles? His abs were rock hard and that smattering of blond hair that led down… "Did you need something or did you just come in to ogle me?"

"Um…" My face turned beat red and I tried to look anywhere but at Eric. He busted out laughing.

"I don't mind," he smirked. "Shall I do some poses for you?" He flexed each bicep and then did what I can only describe as a Hulk Hogan pose. By then I was laughing too.

"Pam wanted me to ask if you had the attendance numbers for last week." Pam. She must have known Eric was back here changing.

"Some idiot spilled a whole beer down my back. Tell her I'll look up those numbers after I put on a dry shirt. " He paused and raised an eyebrow at me. "You can stay and watch if you like." I skadoodled out of there before I gave in to temptation. Maybe I could bribe patrons to spill their drinks on Eric?

Eric was unbelievably handsome and he knew it. Women flocked to him and he wasn't above taking advantage of their admiration. I knew for a fact that Ginger and Dawn, two of the other waitresses, stayed after work on occasion to have sex with him in his office. Ew. I'd never known Eric to have a girlfriend. As far as I knew he is a one night stand kind of guy. He was my boss and a male whore. Two very good reasons to keep my distance.

"Enter," he said when I knocked on his office door. "Sookie, have a seat. I want to talk to you about a couple of things."

"OK."

"Pam and I have been talking about opening another, smaller bar in Bossier City. We have purchased some property and have plans drawn up."

"Really?" They had been talking about ideas for a new place for awhile now. I was glad to hear they were making progress.

"Yes. The new bar is going to be Pam's pet project. She has already talked to our suppliers about furniture, glassware, and the like. I expect it will keep her very busy, which means I will be looking for a new assistant manager. Are you interested in the job?" I am ashamed to say I just stared at him for a moment. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"How much of a pay increase will I see? What kind of hours will you need me to work?" Eric smiled. Could I be an assistant manager and carry a full load at LSU?

"You could have Pam's office and spend your time doing desk work instead of serving margheritas to drunk women wearing penis necklaces. I might even throw a little accounting at you. You are learning something at that college aren't you?" Now it was my turn to smile.

"Does that mean I can ditch this uniform?" Filter, oh where have you gone? There was no way Eric would let that go without a comment. He didn't disappoint.

"I would like nothing more than for you to 'ditch' your uniform," he smirked, looking me up and down. I rolled my eyes.

"Was there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes," Eric answered still smirking. "I have a favor to ask you."