A/N: You guys are truly awesome; you know how to make a girl feel good. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I can't express how much of a joy to me it is to read them.
Disclaimer: I own none of these wonderful characters; they belong to the brilliant Charlaine Harris.
I strut out of the bathroom with my head held high, practically feeling like a goof for running scared. I am nothing if not brave. I don't like the abnormal reaction I have to this man. I take a look around and said man in question is nowhere in sight so I make my way back to the kitchen.
Just as I go to push the door open, someone else comes through the other side whacking me right in the head. With a "Whoomp," escaping my lungs I fall right down on my backside.
I reach to palm my forehead as I mumble, "Ouch," and look around to see who the guilty party is. He is squatting down over me as his hand reaches to brush my cheek, leaving a trail of molten lava along with it. I feel my skin flush pink from the contact, and immediately try to push myself off the ground.
Just as I start to lift he scoops an arm around my waist and lifts my arm around his neck to help me stand. His lips are mere centimeters from my face and I can feel his warm breath fan across my neck. This is not helping my current situation and I immediately feel heat rising in another region of my body, just a bit south of my belly-button. He whispers against my skin, "Are you okay?"
This sends shivers down my spine and I can only hum "Mmm Hmm."
As soon as I am on my feet I shove away from him, there seems to be no oxygen around this man, and I can't breathe. Two steps back, and my vision starts to blur around the edges just before it goes completely black.
When I regain my consciousness, it seems sorta confusing for a minute as I take in my surroundings. First thing I notice is the cool, damp cloth brushing across my forehead and down my cheek. I moan a little cause it feel good on my now throbbing head. Next thing I notice is the warm, strong arms surrounding me and the fact that my cheek is flush against a very muscular chest. I squirm a little as I try to focus a bit more, effectively rubbing myself against his body. His body tenses and I hear a deep growl in his chest as he stops his gentle caressing of my face. I look up into his beautiful blue eyes a half a second before I feel it. Something firming up against the small of my back. Is that his…. Holy cow!
I jump out of his lap so fast you woulda thought there was a fire in my pants. I push my body down into the leather sofa as far away from him as I can get. I close my eyes for a moment and try to find my lungs again. I force myself to think of obese men in Speedos to keep any thoughts of what I just felt in the back of my mind. Very unsuccessfully I might add.
"How long was I out?" I ask in a voice that does not sound like my own.
He shifts in his seat slightly. I force my eyes to focus on the hands in my lap so they are not tempted to stray somewhere else. When he clears his throat as he speaks it almost breaks my concentration.
"Almost five minutes, if you hadn't woke up…" he pauses trying to find his words "…I thought I might have to take you to the hospital. Are you okay?"
"I think I'll be fine, nothing a good ice pack and a nice hot bath won't cure." I regret the statement as soon as it comes out of my mouth, cause my imagination gets the best of me. I start to picture him naked in my tub, water dripping down his… I shake my head like an etch-a sketch trying to remove the thought. "Thank you for taking care of me Mr. F… Northman, but I should probably get back to work."
I get up and head towards the door, just as I am about to open it his hand secures mine in his. Momentarily stunned by the warmth of his skin I look down to his hand then up to his eyes, effectively loosing all coherent thoughts as he speaks again.
"It's Eric, please." He looks at me with pleading eyes and I feel my knees go weak. "I am so sorry, really." Silently begging for my forgiveness, I wanna kiss the little wrinkle between his brows away in comfort.
Instead I pull my hand away from his and wave his concern away as I say, "No little bump on the head is gonna keep Sookie Stackhouse down." I flash him a toothy grin and make my way out to the kitchen.
I make a quick pit-stop in the restroom to survey the damage. A tiny bump just at my hair line, I swoop my bangs down and over a bit to cover the damage. Then I hurry off to the kitchen.
The dining room is feeling up, and I have met several of the regular customers and chatted with them a bit. Completely ignoring the fact that Mr. Concussion has kept his eyes on me every time I enter the dining room. Well I pretend to ignore it anyway.
Lafayette and I seem to work real well together. I can see myself becoming fast friends with him. His flamboyant attitude and feisty personality, keep us talking and laughing through-out the night.
"You should've seen his face girl, he looked like a smitten little kitten." he says while he's garnishing one of our specials. "When you fell, he was over on top of you so fast, I couldn't even register what happened." He passes the plate to the waitress and waves her away with a flick of his wrist before whispering in my ear. "When you fell, he caught you, and I swear I seen Mr. Happy jump up at attention. LUCKY BITCH."
I just look at him with my mouth open catching flies, before he puts his arm around my shoulder, kisses my cheek and swoops off to check with the saucier. Now I know my face is about three shades of red when Pam walks in.
"Sookie, lovely to see you conscious this evening…. Here." She shoves a ticket at me before continuing. "Eric requests you prepare his meal tonight." She says with a wicked little grin. "And by requests, I mean demands."
"So does everyone always do as Eric 'demands'?" I say with a laugh.
"Yes, if they want to keep their job that is." She says matter-of-factly.
"Well you tell him I said to ask nicely and I'll consider his request."
She throws her head back in laughter and turns to walk out the door, I hear her mumble something that sounds kinda like 'met his match' but I can't be sure.
Not even a full minute later Mr. Concussion comes waltzing through the door in all his handsome glory. I can't help but to smile up a bit at him as he grabs my arm and pulls me towards the storage area.
"Hey!" I shout in protest and pull my arm from his grasp as he turns me to him.
"Are you always so difficult, woman?" he spits.
"Me, difficult…" I say with a smirk trying to hide my slightly obvious attempt at flirting. "You are the one being difficult. Is it so hard to ask me to 'prepare your meal' almighty one?"
A small twitch at the corner of his mouth tells me he is fighting a smile. Then he reaches for my arm and grazes the flesh of my elbow with his fingertips. Officially sending my heart into overdrive, and leans down to whisper in my ear, "Please, Sookie."
Now why in the world does his voice have to send my mind off to dreamland and affectively soiling my panties in the process. Sometimes being inexperienced is a major downfall. He is clearly a lot better at this than I am. Damnit! I silently curse myself.
I can't believe I am about to do this, but without giving it too much more thought and loosing my nerve in the process. I grab his shoulder with my free hand and turn my head a smidge in the direction of his affectively putting my mouth centimeters from his ear as I hiss, "Yesss," silent as a whisper. I notice as he stiffens and stops breathing and take my leave back to the kitchen.
I begin preparing his meal and working on a few other tickets and I don't miss it when he heads back out to the dining room a few minutes later, not even looking in my direction.
I silently cheer to myself for getting the last word in and leaving him speechless. Trying not to think about any other affect I might have had on his body with very little success. When Lafayette approaches me I am in my own little world and nearly drop the veal when he speaks
"What the hell did you do to him in that room, little girl?"
"Me? Nothing, just told him if he would like for me to cook for him he would have to ask not demand." I say not able to hide the grin crossing my face.
"You is bad girl, I know you keeping something but I'll let you have your silent party. When you finish his dinner take it to him."
"What? No." I pause trying to think of an excuse. "I… uh… got a…uh… foie gras on for the mayors ticket." I stammer, not real sure if I can face him after what I just did yet.
Lafayette laughs, and when he laughs the whole room knows it, then says "I can handle a foie gras honey, you take care of Mr. Concussion."
What, how did he know I was calling him that, did I say it out loud? I don't remember. Well shit! I just nod in submission, and finish up the 'kings' dinner.
Once I am satisfied with the mushrooms and the sauce, I garnish with a pinch of thyme and a sprig of rosemary and make my way to the booth in the corner.
I nod and smile to the guests as I pass them, just to acknowledge their satisfaction. When I round the last table and he comes in to clear view I have to stifle a laugh. He really does look like a king, with his arms extended across the booth to either side of him, and a rather bored look across his face as he regards the crowd, until his eyes lock with mine.
What the heck, my legs all of a sudden weigh a thousand pounds. I haven't even kissed him yet. Yet? …What the… does that mean I plan on kissing him? Snap out of it Sookie! I silently chide myself and try to recover at least partial brain function. I paste a smile across my face and set his dish in front of him.
"Hmmm… Looks fantastic." He says even though he hasn't taken his eyes off mine. "Have a seat."
I plop down on the booth, still not able to control my legs completely, and signal for him to eat.
He finally breaks the trance and leans down to take a whiff and picks up his cutlery and begins. I watch his face in silence not only in admiration but in desperate need of his approval.
He finishes chewing a few bites of each of the items before speaking again. "The sauce is it right, and the vegetables seem a little crisp."
Well hell, I take a deep breath before I speak keeping my voice as calm and as smooth as possible. "I assure you the sauce is of perfect consistency and the vegetables are perfectly al dente, now if you would like them prepared anything other than perfectly palatable you would just need to specify that with me ahead of time." I rise from my seat and hold my hand out to retrieve his dish.
"Leave it," he says as I see a smile fighting on his lips. The jerk is messing with me. Then he leans down to begin eating again. Well two can play that game.
I sit back down next to him. "Are you always so difficult, boss man?" I spit using his words from earlier.
Eric stifles a laugh before saying, "Have you tasted it? It is actually delicious." I shake my head back and forth, afraid of where this is going all of a sudden. How does he turn the tables on me so fast?
He cuts a tiny piece of veal and drags it through the sauce as he says "A chef who does not eat her own cooking cannot perfect the art." Then holds the fork out and gestures for me to taste.
Oh, crap! Why does him feeding me seem so freaking erotic. My stomach does a little flip-flop in anticipation at what I am about to do. So I speak trying to hide my nerves, "I eat my own dishes, Eric I just haven't tasted yours." Shit, did I really just say that?
I open my mouth and then close my lips dragging the food off with my tongue, keeping my eyes away from his. I can't help it as a little moan hums in my throat in appreciation. The béarnaise is exquisite and the veal is perfectly tender.
As I finish the bite I brave a look in his direction and am confused by the look on his face, it looks almost pained. Hmmm, I don't know what that means but I tell him thanks and get up to leave.
Just as I reach the edge of the table I hear him say "Sookie…" so I turn to look at him. With a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth and an unmistakably mischievous look in his eyes he finishes, "I look forward to tasting something else of yours, very soon," and returns to his meal.
I high-tail it outta there. The double entendre in his words did not escape my attention. Oh Hell!
A/N: Whew, ok I am feeling really generous and am putting up 2 chapters in one day. Now don't cheat me on the reviews cuz I need them like I need air to breathe.
Due to an overwhelming number of requests that I continue Hershey's Kisses the next chapter I am working is for that story, but I will do my very bestest to keep from slacking on this story. I actually typed a bit of it out today, while I was battling with my Kisses muse. So it is actually already in progress.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you … from the bottom of my heart for all you guys' reviews and encouraging words. Many many kisses to you all.