My face got hot. "Sam!"

He laughed, and I felt his laugh against my thigh. "Don't be offended," he said. "It's a ... a ... dog thing."

"Sam Merlotte, I am not going to sniff your butt!" I could hardly believe I was saying that.

"No worries," he said, licking the inside of my thigh. "Wasn't going to ask you to." He bit my thigh, very softly. It sent little thrills up my body. "You smell wonderful."

"Yeah, well, it's ... a little embarrassing."

He looked up at that, his blue eyes meeting mine with an intense look. "I would never want to embarrass you," he said quietly. "But this is who I am, Sookie. A man ... and something else, too."

Like you. A woman, and something else. You know what I mean.

I did know what he meant. I know what it meant to feel outcast. To have the simplest things--love, friendship, connection--come at a heavy price. Or not to be available at all. While I was thinking this, he lowered his head and oh my God his tongue was warm and wet and perfect, perfect. I moaned and felt his shoulders shake with a chuckle as he stroked harder, and I felt his erection strong against my leg.

"Let me do this," he said quietly. "Let me make you come, Sookie. I've dreamed of it."

I don't think I'd ever heard anything so erotic in my life. I clutched the bed cover in my fists and arched against him, feeling the warm tension build in me as his tongue moved quick and hot, feeling the coiling energy at the base of my spine, and then I was lost in the surge of orgasm pulsing through me. Even as I crested, I felt Sam's hands on my knees, parting them, felt him settling between them, felt him pushing at me. I moaned, softening all over, and my eyes closed in bliss as he pushed in slowly, carefully.

Don't hurt her don't hurt her god so beautiful she feels so good Sookie Sookie love you

His thoughts in my head were a tide of happiness and love. It felt like falling into a swimming pool full of warm water, immersing myself in that ocean of love that was Sam. I felt him ease into me, stretching nicely, filling me inside my body and inside my head, propped on his elbows above me. I opened my eyes and met his, and his smile was so tender and happy I had to smile back.

"Chere..." he whispered, and thrust gently.

Oh, very good. Very very good indeed.

I trapped his legs under mine, raising my knees, giving him even deeper access. His eyes never left mine as he thrust again.

"Sookie..." He thrust harder, faster, his muscles working. I reached down and grabbed the hard muscles of his butt, working under my hands, driving him deep and strong, and the red flood of sheer passion in Sam crested all at once. He cried out and shifted slightly, and his angle changed, and suddenly my moment was on me again. I cried out and all I could see were Sam's eyes, his human eyes, wide-pupilled, staring down into mine as he came. I felt the hot throb of him, felt the shudder going through him, and felt in my head the hot blaze and sheer joy of his release.

Most of all, strangest of all, was the image I was getting from him. It was me, mirrored back at me, and in Sam's mind I was glowing with energy, infinitely beautiful and desirable. I felt the bedrock of Sam Merlotte then, felt his passion and the depth of his love, and knew that nothing in life would ever mean as much to him as I did. I knew what he wanted--marriage, love, kids, a home. He would be happy running a bar and building a family and growing old and dying. Just an ordinary life, a human life, with the woman he loved. With me.

He was still moving gently in me as I closed my eyes and let the tears come. He said nothing, but lowered himself full length, slid his arms around me, and gathered me tight against him. He rolled us sideways, which detached him from me, and his hand came up to stroke my hair over and over. I had a brief image of me scratching him behind his ears, and my smile broke the moment. I sniffed.

He released me a little and looked down. "Sookie?"

"Sam." I couldn't say more than his name. I don't think I needed to.

We lay like that for a while, our bodies cooling off. I closed my eyes and just sank into the feeling of his arms around me, his body against mine. Ordinary. Human. Normal. I smelled sweat and sex and birthday cake, the detergent he'd used on his sheets, the shampoo he'd used on his hair. I heard rain softly dripping outside his window, and a distant hoot of an owl in the woods. I felt safe and peaceful and happy. It's a rare feeling these days.

Finally, Sam stirred. I started to ask him where he was going, but he silenced me with a kiss. I normally don't like it when someone shuts me up, but that method won me over. Sam padded out of the room (with me watching that marvelously muscular butt in the dim light of the bedside lamp). He came back a minute later with the remains of the birthday cake on its plate. Grinning, he dropped into bed, bouncing us both, but he held the plate steady.

"You didn't bring any forks," I said.

Still grinning, he swirled a finger through the icing and dabbed it on my left breast. "Who needs forks?" His head bent to lick the icing. His tongue was wet and slow.

Sam's trailer needs better shocks; the bobblehead collie and the bobblehead waitress bounced and danced on and off the rest of the night.

THE END