More kudos to AmaZen, my beta. She's the goods.
Amelia sank into her chair, deflated. I looked at Sookie. Sookie looked like the cat that ate the canary. What the fuck does this mean? Suddenly back in Sheriff mode, my senses were on high alert. Amelia was definitely a witch, I can certainly smell it on her now. Something more was at play here. What did that imply?
SPOV
I rolled my eyes, "I'm an adult. I'm not busted on anything." I scoffed at Amelia, in warning.
Amelia narrowed her eyes. "Now would be a good time to bring up the real issues. Screw the mind reading bullshit, Sookie, you're finally interested in someone who is immune to your mind reading. Run with it!"
"Eric, as I'm sure you've noticed, our lil' friend here has some issues with communication." Amelia smirked in triumph. "Nudge, nudge, Girlfriend." Eric huffed, apparently frustrated with us both.
"Not all of us like to speak our thoughts out loud." It was my turn to smirk. Amelia was having none of it though.
"So sorry, Sookie. I forgot that some people like to keep conversations in their head."
"Don't go there, Amelia. I'm not in the mood tonight."
"Go where, Sookie darlin? How long would you stay mad at me, really?" She cocked an eyebrow in challenge.
"Go where?" Eric was enjoying this entirely too much.
"I don't know, Eric, why don't you ask Sookie?" Eric's sparkling eyes waited on me to clarify.
I wasn't having this crap. "Amelia, I love you dearly, but I'm not budging here. Even Eric won't be able to protect you if you keep pushing it."
"Don't be so certain, Sookie," he said while chuckling. He turned to Amelia and she gave him a knowing wink.
I shot him a look, "No one asked you to throw an oar in!"
Amelia sighed as she rose to fetch her purse. "Fine. I'm outtie. But you're going to have to do this at some point. You need this and I'm not letting you give it up because you're stubborn."
I rose to hug her goodbye, whispering, "I know," in her ear, hoping Eric was not eaves dropping. Who am I kidding?
With a last giggle, Amelia waved goodnight to Eric. As she she stepped off of the porch, she pointed into the air and shouted, "Hey, look! No floating ship!" to no one in particular. I shut the door and in turning bumped right into Eric.
"Lover, we clearly need to talk." I groaned.
"No we don't," and I stepped around him to walk into my room. I pulled a pair of socks from the drawer and saw on the edge of my bed to put them on. Eric walked up and resumed his usual stance at the door frame. "Do I need to invite you in here too?"
"No, I'm just wondering what it is that you think you're doing." I went to my closet and pulled out my boots. I slid them on and turned to push him out of the doorway.
"Grab your jacket, we're going out." I walked around him to get my purse and keys.
"Out?"
"Yes, Eric, out." I began locking up the front door. Eric was behind me, pushing against me lightly. His cool breath on my neck tickled as he whispered, "What if what I want more than anything is to stay in?" His voice. It did things. I felt the wave of arousal hit me as my abdomen cramped tight. I groaned and leaned back into his body as his muscular arms criss-crossed over my chest, holding me against him. I thought I could hear him purring.
"In?" I whispered, letting my eyes fall closed. His nose trailed the line of my neck from my collarbone to my jaw. I couldn't catch my breath. I can't do this. I can't do this.
"Yes, Lover. In." His breath gave me goose bumps and I shivered. The jump in my body shook me out of my trance and renewed my resolve.
I stepped forward, flipped the dead bolt and announced, "This is why we are going out!" I spun on my heel and told him to follow me.
Eric's laughter came booming from behind me. "Where?"
"Back door," I snapped.
"But I didn't bring the flowers first!"
"Shut it Northman." He followed me onto the back porch and I locked that door too. I turned around to see Eric looking like he smelled something foul. "What's the problem?" Shit, did I forget a bag of rubbish or something, what the hell? Then I noticed he was looking at my car.
"You want me to get into that?"
"Do you want to ride on the roof?" I didn't bother waiting for him. I went down the steps and stood by the driver's side door. I chirped my key-less and waited. Eric strolled down the steps, his huge feet hanging over the edges. Oh god, stop with the feet, Stackhouse!
I slid into the car and winced when his large frame rocked the car from side to side. Good Lord he's heavy! I started the ignition and put on my seat belt. I glanced at Eric, waiting for him to copy my actions. He snorted. "Sookie, I assure you that in the event of a collision, I'll be fine. Now this thing you call a car? Not so much."
I rolled my eyes and backed out, pulling onto my long drive out to Hummungbird Lane. I could feel my car lagging in my attempts to accelerate. Apparently 4 cylinders were not enough to hastily haul a Viking up to 50 miles per hour. Once at cruising speed, I chanced a glance at Eric. His broad smile made my insides jump. As if catching me ogling him, he looked back at me. "I hope what you have in mind isn't far."
"Why?"
"Because at this rate, it will take all night. As much as I enjoy being in such a confined space with you, I'd prefer that we did something more productive than drive all night."
"What do you mean? I'm doing the speed limit?"
"Is that what this is?" His face was a look of horror. I took the next turn off and Eric groaned.
"Problem with my driving, Northman?" Is he mocking my driving?
He was trying very hard to stifle a laugh. I could tell by the way his muscles twitched in his chest. Oh man. I gave a jolt when I realized I wasn't watching the road and instinctively took my foot off of the accelerator to glance back up at the road.
"Lover, you drive like old people rut."
"Jesus, Eric. Don't hold back now. Let me know how you really feel. Considering you have eternity before you, what's the big hurry?"
He reached over and slowly slid his index finger from my knee to the top of my thigh, just shy of my hip. "What can I say? Some things are meant to be slow, and some things should be done fast." I stared straight ahead and gulped audibly. I was panting.
I slid my hand onto his, still in my lap, and gently removed it. "Tsk, tsk, Northman. I'm a mere human driving a motor vehicle. We don't want to chance an accident." I made the turn into the parking lot and pulled to a stop. I turned off the car and looked at Eric directly. "You need to cut that out. It's not going to work." I hopped out of the car and leaned against it while waiting for Eric to get out.
What am I doing? This is not me. I don't get close to people and I certainly don't let them this close to me. He's playing my strings like a professional musician and instead of nipping it in the bud, I'm taking him out in public. In my home town. At my old hang out! Christ, what if people see us? Who am I kidding, they're going to see us. There will be talk. Since when do you care? Yea, since when do I care? Shit, I'm doing it again.
I broke out of my silent argument with myself to find Eric standing before me with the same puzzled expression he's been stuck wearing all night. Don't kid yourself. You've had his ass all puzzled about you for days now. This whole issue is moot because he thinks you're a mental case and as much as you enjoy his silent company. It won't matter because he'll be gone soon anyway.
I sighed, mentally got myself back in check and went to go into the bar. Eric's hands were on the roof of my car, on either side of me. He'd blocked me in. "Eric, come on. Let's go inside." I went to duck out of my cage, but he brought his arm down and stopped me. I pushed his arm out of the way, but it didn't budge. He lowered his face and met my eyes with his.
"Not yet. You listen, and listen carefully. I don't know why you're holding back from me. We shared something last night, and I'm not giving up on that. You can talk all you want about what will work and what won't. You can even continue to pretend last night didn't happen. As for me cutting it out because it's not working, don't kid yourself." He leaned his face into the crook of my neck and continued against my ear, "I can hear your heart speed up when we're close to one another. I can smell your arousal from across the room. Superior senses, remember?" Oh yea. Those.
"You can run all you want, but as a predator, I enjoy the chase. Some advice? You cut it out. Whatever is going on that is keeping you from yielding to me cannot go on forever. Let's just cut the bullshit and quit acting like that time is not going to come." He pulled back to look in my eyes. I couldn't meet his stare. I closed my eyes and tried to compose myself.
"Eric, not yet." He kissed my cheek and pulled away, grabbing my hand so I would follow him.
"I know not yet. But soon. Just stop pretending that it isn't inevitable."