AN: So, many, many months ago when pfloogs72 and seasonblogs so generously bid on me in the Support Stacie auction, I agreed to write NOM outtakes for both of them.

In conversations with Ms. Pfloogs72, we had a good chuckle about a dance-off with Lindsay Lohan, and that's how the Lindsanity outtake was born; however, this is the real outtake that pfloogs72 won. Hope you enjoy it.

EPOV

I eased my car into its designated spot, right next to Sookie's new Altima and our downstairs neighbor's BMW. It had been the same spot that I had been parking my car in for the past ten months since I made the three block move from the house I shared with Pam to the apartment I shared with Sookie.

I had never lived with a girlfriend before; never had a girlfriend I cared to live with before Sookie. There was something that was just so right, so ideal about our relationship. It hadn't even been a month after our return from Stockholm and the subsequent rekindling of our relationship before I was ready to make the move. We spent nearly every night together anyway, and most of them at the apartment since Pam always did her best to keep up her Guinness Book of World Records record for bringing the most dumb club girls home with her and keeping them up screaming until all hours of the morning.

Sookie had been a bit more reluctant about living together, though I was able to wear her down pretty quickly. I can't lie and say I didn't use Pam's nightly proclivities as part of my argument. After Sookie was exposed to the noise three nights, she'd insisted that we stay exclusively at her place, and it was only a few weeks after that that she'd succumbed to the argument that I should move in permanently.

I climbed out of the low seat of my Corvette, patting the cherry red roof with tender care as I turned on the alarm system. There were few things that I'd apply the word "love" to in this world, and the Corvette was one of them. The other was sitting on the couch typing away on her laptop when I unlocked the door to our apartment.

"Hey there," she said, setting the computer on the empty cushion next to her and unfurling her legs from beneath her as she stood up to greet me. She was dressed for bed, wearing a pair of tiny shorts and a tank top, both of which I had plenty of experience removing from her.

I crossed the room in six long strides and pulled her to me. You would think after dating for a little under a year, and living together for ten months that the intensity would have died out a little bit. It hadn't. I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers, feeling them curve against mine with a smile.

"You're home early," she said, pulling back far enough to look me in the eye. I had managed to get out of Ostermalm at eleven, a good three hours earlier than I had the last week. The club had become even more popular after our celebrity run-in, not that I was complaining. More people meant more drinks, and more drinks meant more money. True, it wasn't as if Pam or I needed the money, but it felt good to have created my own success without the help of my father.

"What can I say?" I asked, picking her up. "I couldn't wait to get back to you after that send off you gave me this afternoon."

She giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck. "It was rather magnificent wasn't it?"

"It's always magnificent," I growled, tightening my arms around her and walking purposefully towards the bedroom.

Her mouth latched onto my ear, doing things that should be illegal for as good as they made me feel. We were within two feet of the bed when she pulled back and wiggled out of my arms, placing a good foot of distance between us.

Her lips were plump, a flush covered her entire body and her breathing was ragged at best. I knew she was as turned on as I was. "Are you packed?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"What?" I asked, reaching out to grab her only to have her slap my hands away.

"Are you packed?" she asked again. "Our flight leaves at seven, and I haven't even seen your suitcase."

I groaned and sat down on the bed behind me. "Do we really have to do this now? I can think of much better things to do." I reached out and ghosted my hand down the back of her bare thigh, grinning when I felt her quiver under my fingers.

"Don't you dare try to seduce me now Eric Northman," she commanded. "You know it drives me crazy when you wait until the last minute."

"It always works out Sook," I grinned, wrapping my hand around her thigh and pulling her towards me until she was standing between my knees. "You know it does."

"Eric," she sighed, resting her hands on my shoulders and leaving two of my favorite objects at eye level. It didn't look like she was wearing a bra. One quick movement and I could see for myself. I reached out and caught the hem of her shirt, raising it up slowly only to have her push it down.

"Sookie," I groaned, my fingers dancing lightly on the skin of stomach.

"No," she insisted, though she didn't make a move to step away from me.

"Why not?" I asked, quirking my eyebrow and easing my hands up under her shirt. So she didn't want to take it off, that didn't mean I couldn't do the Lewis and Clark bit underneath her clothes. She sighed as my fingers climbed up her ribcage, whispering my name as they brushed the underside of her very naked breasts. A few more seconds and I would have made her forget any protests she may have formed in her mind; but they were a few more seconds I didn't have.

"Nuh uh," she said, stepping away from me and leaving my hands hanging empty in midair. "You're not a morning person to begin with, and we both know that you're dead on your feet as it is. We can't be late tomorrow. Portia would kill me if I missed the connecting flight."

We were headed to Aspen for Sookie to cover the annual Food and Wine Classic. It was the first time that I was going with her on one of her work trips. She had been traveling a lot for work lately – too much if you ask me. For the past six months, her boss Portia seemed to have a fondness of sending Sookie around the country on a whim to cover this or that. I couldn't even remember the last time she'd been home for more than two weeks at a time. And, yes I knew it sounded like something out of one of those ridiculous romantic comedies that Sookie insisted on watching all the time, but I didn't like when she wasn't here. The apartment felt empty, and I was man enough to admit that I missed her when she was gone.

"I still don't see why the east coast editor is covering something Aspen," I said, leaning back on my arms and surveying her.

"Do we really have to get into this again?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and bringing my attention straight back to what I had been so close to holding only a few seconds ago.

I shrugged, trying to stifle the smile that threatened to spread across my face. I kind of liked when Sookie was frustrated with me; it reminded me of those first few weeks when we were together – of the way I could fluster her and make her blush in an instant. Not that that particular ability had diminished entirely, but it was a lot harder to get a rise out of her when she was naked and in my bed every night; or at least almost every night.

"Because my boss told me too. You know how Portia can be." I hadn't had the fortune to meet Portia, but I imagined she was a real ball buster from the stories Sookie told me. "Besides, it's summer. It's always busier in the summer."

"You weren't traveling last summer," I said. "Or, not for work at least," I added with a smile as I recalled our trip to Stockholm.

"That was different. Besides, technically the trip to Sweden was for work," she pointed out. "Portia was over the moon at the prospect of me covering your father's wedding to Sophie-Anne. True European Aristocracy and all that. She was gaga for thoughts of Disney meets Princess Diana with a flair for the Swedish. And boy was she pissed when that didn't happen, no matter the circumstances that unfolded. So, unless you can plan something else like that, I'm afraid I am going to have to do what she tells me."

"I'm sure we can figure something out," I said, standing up and closing the distance between us. "I have lots of friends that have titles."

"Before tomorrow morning?" she smirked, turning around and walking over to the closet where my suitcase was stored. She pulled it out and unceremoniously dumped it on the bed. "Besides, I thought you were excited to go to Aspen with me."

"I am," I insisted, looking at the small suitcase on the bed. "But you're going to be working the entire time."

"Not the entire time," she said, shaking her head and pointing towards my closet. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for you Northman."

"Like what?" I asked.

"It's a surprise," she insisted. "Something you won't know about until we get there. And we'll never ever get there if you don't start packing. I'm going to go finish up my blog." She began to walk backwards towards the open door that led to the living room. "Come get me when you're done."

It would take me approximately five minutes to fill it with what I needed; part of the glory of being a man was the ability to pack quickly. And, the quicker I packed, the quicker I could get her out of that darned shirt. You would have thought I would have figured that out earlier, but my head wasn't exactly on straight when it came to Sookie Stackhouse.

Seven minutes later (I had a hard time finding my favorite blue shirt) and I was standing in the doorway, watching Sookie as she read something on her computer screen. She had her lower lip caught between her teeth, something she did any time she was mulling something over.

"I'm done," I said, leaning against the doorjamb. Her eyes flew up to meet mine and she smiled.

"See? That wasn't painful, was it?"

I shrugged and remained standing there; there was a certain part of my body was screaming to disagree with her.

She closed her laptop, setting it on the coffee table in front of her before standing up to face me. "Waiting ten minutes was painful?" she asked, raising her eyebrow sardonically.

"Waiting ten seconds for you is painful," I said, holding my breath as she advanced towards me.

"Is that so?" she asked, stopping close enough to me that the cotton of her shirt brushed against my now bare chest.

"Mmm hmm," I nodded.

"Hmm," she said, reaching up and running her fingers down my chest. "Well, we'll have to do something about that now, won't we?"

I groaned when she pulled her hands away from me, my body straining forward for her touch. "Like what?" I asked.

"Like this," she said, reaching down and whipping her shirt off in one fell swoop. She pulled my head down and devoured my mouth with her own, pressing her body against mine.

We were all hands and mouths as we stumbled into the bedroom behind me, tripping over the last bits of clothing as we fell onto the bed with each other. The pillows she'd filled the bed with fell to the floor as we rolled over one another, clasping at every inch of exposed skin.

There were no words exchanged, no noises in the room except the brush of sheets beneath us and the occasional grunt that emitted from our mouths. Her need mirrored my own, her movements matching mine in intensity as we consumed one another. Only when we were both sated, our skin slick from the exertion, did she break the silence.

"Do you think," she started, snuggling into the crook of my arm. "Do you think that it will ever get old between us?"

I brushed my lips across the top of her head, running my hand down her side until it rested on the curve of her hip. "No. Not with us. Never with you."

I insisted on driving the rental car from the airport up the windy roads that led to the house we would be staying at over the next four days. Sookie, while a perfectly accomplished driver, didn't find any thrill in taking a car out for a spin, and undoubtedly wouldn't appreciate the combination of Range Rover and mountain roads as much as I did.

"Where is Copley again?" I asked, turning up the long drive that led to our destination.

"He's visiting Stav and Amelia in London." Stav and Amelia had finally settled down, at least for the time being, in London where Stav was able to continue his work for his father's business.

"And you're sure he's going to be gone the entire time we're here?" I asked skeptically. I didn't think it was very likely that he'd return unannounced, but then again I didn't want to be surprised while I was in the middle of ravishing Sookie in front of some massive fire place that I hoped to find.

Sookie giggled and nodded. "Positive."

"Good," I said, pulling the car to a stop in front of the impressive structure. Secluded from the neighbors by the surrounding trees, the entire north wall of the house looked like a single sheet of glass. The great room was visible from the driveway, with just the kind of fireplace I had hoped would be there.

Sookie pulled the key from her purse – an extra Copley had given to her when she'd last seen him – and proceeded to give me a tour. As massive as the house looked from the outside, it was even larger on the inside, and there were plenty of surfaces that were inviting me to christen them. Sookie left me to wander about by myself as she unpacked in the room she had always stayed in while visiting Copley with Amelia. I was in the middle of an internal debate on which room we should start in when she came around the corner with dripping wet hair.

"Did you shower?" I asked. She nodded and sat down on a chair as she began to brush the knots out of her long hair. "Without me?" I continued, trying not to sound as disappointed as I felt. I'd seen the inside of the en suite bathroom, and had immediately made plans for our first shower together.

"I can shower by myself occasionally," she said. "Besides, Portia is expecting me soon. I didn't want to be distracted and be late. Portia's a real stickler for being on time."

"Am I that much of a distraction?" I grinned, pulling my shirt over my head.

I heard her groan when I was in mid motion and chuckled to myself. "You know you are. Stop taunting me Northman," she said, turning herself so that she wasn't facing me. "And go get ready."

I contemplated pushing the issued, but decided against it when I saw the time on the clock on the wall. We had to be at the tents by one-thirty, and twenty minutes simply wasn't enough time to accomplish what I had in mind.

I had been to Aspen before - it had been one of my favorite stomping grounds when I would come to visit Pam and my Mom in the states during college – but I had never been during the summer. Instead of white covering everything, the only white spots were the food tents that peaked in miniature imitation of the green mountains behind them.

"You ready to meet the beast?" Sookie asked, taking my hand in hers as we walked under the fabric awning of the event.

I chuckled and nodded; Portia Bellefleur wasn't likely to intimidate me, no matter how much she was able to do it to Sookie. I was used to dealing with people from all walks of life; hell, I'd dealt with my father for my entire life. I was sure that Portia would be a piece of cake.

"She's not that easy," Sookie said, tightening her grip on my hand. "She can be rather…demanding," she said after a pause where she was clearly contemplating her word choice.

"Sookie," I said, leaning down to her ear and lowering my voice, "I'm living with you. I know what demanding means."

She laughed, and playfully slapped me on my arm, shaking her head at me. "What am I going to do with you Northman?"

"I have a few things in mind," I said, waggling my eyebrows down at her. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words ever came out since a high pitched "Sookie!" sounded from behind me. I tried not to laugh as her face contorted into anguish before she put on her patented Sookie smile.

Letting go of my hand, she stepped around me and said, "Hello Portia."

I spun around and saw a woman advancing quickly upon us. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect of Portia; from the way Sookie described her I wouldn't have been surprised if she came with an entourage of flying monkeys. What I did see in front of me wasn't the type of woman who would strike fear in many, much less the woman who had stood up to my father before I had the balls to. Portia Bellfleur was rather non-descript. Her shoulder length brown hair blended into the crowd around her, her average height and slightly blocky build nothing that one would remember. The first thing I noticed about her was the way her mouth and jaw were set in a determined frown.

"It's about time you got here," she said, looking at her watch impatiently.

"Portia," Sookie started. I could hear the irritation in her voice. "You said to be here at one-thirty. It is only one-fifteen."

"I've been here for an hour," Portia replied. "One can never be too prepared."

"My first interview is at two," Sookie said, the patience straining in her voice.

"You never know who you will run into Sookie," Portia scolded.

"I'm going to be here all day tomorrow too. I'm sure I can bump into people then."

Portia sighed and shook her head at Sookie, then in an almost comical moment turned her attention to me. Her demeanor immediately changed from disapproving to shocked, and from shocked to girlish. She went from Joan Crawford to Miley Cyrus in the blink of an eye.

"Hello there," she said coyly, the rigid frown softening slightly.

"Hello," I responded with a smirk.

"I'm sorry you had to overhear that. Dedicated employees are so difficult to find these days," she added flirtatiously, flicking her eyes in Sookie's direction.

"Mmm," I said noncommittally. She clearly had no clue who I was, which only served to further amuse me. I glanced at Sookie who looked like steam was about ready to pour out of her ears and smiled in her direction.

"I'm Portia Bellefleur," she said, extending her hand. "Editor in Chief for Palate Magazine."

I looked at her hand for a moment before taking it in mine. "Eric Northman. Boyfriend to your difficult employee." I was enjoying myself far more than I should have, but I felt a smug satisfaction at the look of surprise that crossed her face when she realized who I was.

I heard Sookie groan, but didn't take my eyes off Portia's startled face.

"Oh," she said, looking deliciously panicked, "Mr. Northman. I…I…"

"I've been looking forward to meeting the woman that keeps Sookie so occupied," I interrupted.

"Yes," she said, looking over at Sookie with a beauty pageant-bright smile, "guilty as charged. I, uh, wasn't aware that you would be coming with Sookie."

Now it was my turn to be surprised. I looked over at Sookie, who gave me an innocent shrug. Innocent my ass. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she watched the interaction between us.

"Last minute change of plans," I improvised. "I'm terribly sorry if it's an inconvenience."

"Not at all!" Portia beamed, looking back at me. "Of course you are always welcome at all of our events, not only as Sookie's boyfriend of course, but as an insider of the culinary world."

"I wouldn't say insider exactly," I shrugged, taking Sookie's hand in my own.

"Don't sell yourself short Mr. Northman-"

"Eric," I insisted.

"Eric," she said with a blush. Funny, it wasn't nearly as attractive on her as it was on my girlfriend. "As I was saying, you're very well connected in our world."

"I do know some people, I suppose. But Sookie here is really the one who has the connections."

She mumbled something under her breath as I tugged her forward to stand next to me, but offered Portia a bright smile.

Portia's eyes darted between Sookie and me, resting finally on me. "Sookie is a gem, isn't she?"

I stifled the chuckle that rose in my throat at Portia's about face and nodded. "I certainly think so."

"Yes," Portia said with a nod, "well, as I was saying. Sookie, I spoke with Chef Rasul's assistant and he will be waiting for you in the tent at 1:45. He had to move the interview up. Apparently," she added, leaning in confidentially, "his boyfriend is in town and wants him to leave early."

"Boyfriends can be demanding like that," I said with a smirk, covering the grunt I made when Sookie elbowed me in the ribs with a cough.

"Mmm," Portia said, looking over her shoulder. "Be that as it may, it's a good thing you got here early. Eric, do you mind if I drag Sookie away from you for awhile?"

"Not at all," I responded. "She's very dedicated to what she does. I wouldn't dream of pulling her away," I added, sounding saccharine to myself, not that Portia noticed.

"I'll call you when I'm done," Sookie called over her shoulder as Portia led her away.

When she disappeared into the crowd, I sauntered into the nearest tent and smiled to myself when I reaped the benefits of having a girlfriend that was so well connected.

Sookie completed her last interview for the evening as the sun began to lower over the green mountains around us, leaving the remainder of the evening for the enjoyment of the event and each other. As fascinating as it was to watch Sookie work – and it was fascinating – I wanted nothing more than to have her to myself for the remainder of the night.

I knew almost instantly when Sookie had the glass of wine that finally relaxed her; the muscles in her neck that had been sitting so tensely for the last four hours relaxed, and her first genuine smile of the night crossed her face.

"I love Aspen," she said, with a wistful sigh as we watched the crowds filter out before us. "The first time Amelia brought me up here I was so caught up in how to act that I didn't have fun; but being here with you," she smiled, "I can be myself and just relax and enjoy it."

I felt a lump form in my throat; it was the same lump that formed every time she said she loved me. You would think after hearing it for twelve months that it wouldn't mean as much as it had the first time, but it did. I hadn't expected to fall in love; hadn't wanted to even, but that was before I'd met Sookie and we began down the fateful path that had led us to this moment.

"You're good for me Eric Northman," she said with a sigh, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on my chest.

"You're good for me too Sookie," I replied, reaching down to tip her chin up and brush my lips across hers. The minute I inhaled her scent, the kiss went from brief to consuming. I didn't care that there were hundreds or thousands of people around us. I was there with Sookie; I was kissing Sookie; that's all that mattered. Only when we were jostled by the crowd around us did I finally manage to pull my lips away to ask if she was ready to go back the house.

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"No?" I asked incredulously. "You don't want to go back and erm, pick up where we left off?"

She threw her head back and laughter and took a step away from me, reaching out to clasp my hand. "There's plenty of time for that. It's only seven o'clock."

"What do you want to do then?" I asked, trying not to sound as frustrated as I felt. The woman was able to get a rise out of me with a forty second kiss; I would have thought I could do the same to her. No, scratch that, I knew I could do the same to her. She was just better at controlling her urges than I was.

"Let's go get a drink," she said, walking forward and tugging my hand for me to follow.

"We've been drinking all afternoon," I pointed out.

"We're in Aspen," she said with a chuckle. "It's not every day that we're in a place like this. We might as well go out and enjoy it while we're here."

She had a point, but then again so had that blond guy in the Karate Kid II. Having a point didn't necessarily make you right.

"We can enjoy ourselves at the house. I can guarantee you it'd be more pleasurable than getting a drink."

She shook her head and smiled over her shoulder at me. "You're incorrigible."

"Only when it comes to you."

"Come on," she said, tugging my hand. "One drink. There's a bar up here that Amelia took me to last time we came here before I moved to Shreveport."

I followed behind her reluctantly. One drink wouldn't take long. I could wait for one drink. Plus, it never hurt to go to other bars and see what they were doing, to see if there was anything I could incorporate into Ostermalm SW.

The bar was full when we stepped in, the clientele similar to that of all the clubs back in Stureplan. The young, the rich, the beautiful were all congregated in the open area, perfectly lit by the wall of windows that led out to the hotel's pool. By some stroke of good fortune, Sookie managed to catch the bartender's attention and getting our drinks wasn't too painful.

The music was a tad too loud, I thought; and the wait staff was a bit too standoffish for my taste, but I could see how a place like this would do well with this particular group of people. I spotted an empty table for two across the dance floor, and took Sookie's hand in mine to lead her there. I wasn't particularly interested in partaking in the scene, and I wouldn't lie and say that I wasn't hoping to get Sookie to lower her inhibitions a little bit more in the secluded corner table.

I sat on the long bench, pulling Sookie down next to me. One gin and tonic quickly turned into another and sure enough, Sookie began edging herself closer to me, so close that one more inch and she'd be seated properly on my lap.

"Eric Northman," she said, letting out a sigh.

"Yes?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Do you know what next week is?" she asked, running her fingertips along the rim of her half-empty glass.

"Don't tell me you have to go somewhere next week for Portia. I'm sure I could talk to her about it," I smirked.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "I don't have to go anywhere."

"Then what's next week?"

She turned to face me, a frown marring her face. "Midsommer."

"Oh," I said, letting out breath I didn't realize I was holding. Of course I knew it was Midsommer next week. I had always known when Midsommer was before, but since that fateful night last year, I was unlikely to ever forget it. "That."

"Yes," she said. "That."

"And…" I trailed off, trying to contain my smile as her frown deepened.

"And," she said, "that means it's been twelve months since…"

"Since what?" I asked innocently.

"Since you," she blushed. "Since we…"

"Became lovers?" I asked, quirking my eyebrow in her direction and smiling when I noticed the blush creeping up her neck.

She nodded and quickly took a drink. I watched her for a moment in silence before leaning down and brushing a kiss across her temple.

"Did you think I would forget something like that?" I whispered in her ear.

She stiffened next to me and shook her head.

"Lover," I continued, running my hand up the length of her thigh. "I will never forget that night. I will never forget how you looked bathed in the moonlight and nothing else; never forget the way it felt to finally have you."

She didn't say anything, but I felt the shiver run through her body at my words and smiled against her ear. "I thought I would die if I didn't have you," I whispered. "I still feel that way."

She made a sort of whimpering sound, barely audible over the noise of the music blaring over the speakers, and I knew that she was putty in my hands. There was nothing I enjoyed more than when I could make Sookie speechless, whether it was through words I said, or things I did to her. She didn't do anything to stop me as my hand crept further still up her thigh, tugging the hem of the dress along with it. My fingers brushed against the soft skin of her thigh and I emitted my own low groan when her hand clamped down on mine.

"What?" I asked breathlessly, pulling my head back from its resting position against hers to look at the shocked expression on her face.

"I-" she shook her head and looked up at me. "I think… is that?" she mumbled.

"What?"

She closed her eyes and then reopened them, focusing on a spot in the middle of the crowd. "I think I saw…" she trailed off, biting her lower lip. "Is that?" she pointed.

My eyes followed her finger into the crowd. There were probably two hundred people milling about. Not knowing what I was looking for would make it difficult to find what she was pointing at, or so I thought. I knew who she was pointing to the minute I saw the mop of bleached blonde hair. Without even seeing her face, I knew.

"Madeline," I grumbled, under my breath.

We hadn't seen anyone from our Stockholm adventure in the almost twelve months since we'd returned. Hell, I wasn't planning on seeing any of them ever again if I had my way. Needless to say, it came as a bit of a shock to the system to see the woman who started it all standing not twenty feet in front of us.

"What are the chances?" I mumbled, looking down at Sookie. The look of shock that had covered her face earlier was replaced with a sardonic smile as she watched Madeline flirt with a short, heavyset man twice her age.

"Looks like orange is still in fashion," she said with a smirk, nodding in Madeline's direction.

I chuckled and nodded, reluctantly raising my hand from her bare thigh to take a swig of the beer I had ordered. "Orange will never go out of fashion in Ostermalm," I said. "I wonder what she's doing here."

"Maybe she was exiled from Stureplan," Sookie suggested with a shrug. "Or maybe Andre got the entire family deported with one of his escapades."

I felt my muscles tighten at the mere mention of Andre's name. Sookie had seemingly been able to shrug the incident off, occasionally making jokes about the asshole, but I hadn't. I wasn't one that carried a grudge, never had been. It was much easier to forget and move on than harbor anger, but Andre had changed that. The mere mention of his name and memory of finding Sookie in his clutches brought the feeling of helpless rage I had felt that day back to the surface.

"Eric," I heard Sookie's voice say, as if from a distance. "Eric," she repeated.

I closed my eyes briefly before opening them and looking down at her. "What?"

"Are you okay?" Her eyes were filled with concern as she looked at me.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, shaking my head to clear the memories that were flitting about my mind.

"Look at her," Sookie said, leaning back into the bench against me. "She hasn't changed a bit."

"It's kind of difficult to change when you're full of botox, bleach and silicone. The laws of physics stop applying to you."

We watched as Madeline threw her head back in laughter. "Goodness, everything is fake about that one, isn't it?" Sookie asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Fake hair; fake tan; fake tits; heck, she can't even laugh convincingly. Though, to her credit, it doesn't look like Newman there could make anyone laugh if he tried."

"I'm sure he's got something that appeals to her," I said. Madeline Lundgren never did anything that wasn't to her advantage

"Mmm, I suppose so," Sookie said, taking a long sip of her gin and tonic. "He's not nearly my type though."

"No?" I asked with a chuckle. "Short, old and slimy doesn't do it for you?"

"Nope," she said, shaking her head and turning to face me.

I grinned and encouraged her to continue.

"I'm more of a tall, handsome and decidedly blond kind of girl," she said, running her hand through my hair.

"Phew," I said with a chuckle, "sounds like I make the cut."

"You are the cut," she said, finishing her drink. "Let's go back to the house," she murmured in my ear.

"I thought you wanted to stay out and enjoy Aspen," I replied with a smirk. "Like you said, it's not every day that we're in a place like this. We might as well go out and enjoy it while we're here."

She laughed, standing up and shaking her head at me. "And here I thought you'd want to find out the surprise I had planned for you."

I stood up quickly, all pretense of staying cool quickly thrown out the window at the thought of what she had in store for me. "My surprise?"

"Yep," she said, reaching out to grab my hand. She led me out to the front doors without another word. I willingly followed as she led us through the crowd, purposefully avoiding Madeline and her crew. Only when the cooler night air hit us as we stepped outside did I stop her. I tugged on her hand, pulling her into my arms and capturing her lips with mine. When I had her breathless and panting, I lifted my head.

"What's the surprise?"

She pulled back far enough to look up at me and smiled. "Do you think I'd give it up that easily Northman? Do you know me at all?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Does it involve the hot tub on the deck?"

She brought her hand up to her mouth and made a motion like she was locking it.

"Did you finally get that Princess Leia bikini I wanted you to wear?" I taunted with a smirk, crossing my fingers in an exaggerated motion. She'd mocked my request to wear the infamous outfit for me when I'd suggested it a few months ago, but Sookie was known to change her mind.

"No," she giggled, shaking her head resolutely.

I frowned. "Does it involve a bikini at all?"

"No!" she said, slapping at my arm playfully.

"Will you answer one question?"

"Maybe," she said, with a shrug of her shoulders.

I stepped closer, leaning down to murmur in her ear. "Please tell me that it involves you being naked."

"That's not a question," she said with a resolute nod. "But if it were, I would say yes, yes it does. Now," she continued, walking in front of me, "take me home."

She didn't have to tell me twice.