SPOV

Even after we'd asked each other all sorts of questions about our childhoods, I could've sat there and talked to Eric for hours more. I'd never found it so easy to talk to one of my residents. Granted, most of the men I'd worked with weren't as educated, intelligent, and charming as Eric. But, even beyond all of that, there was just something about him. I told him things about me that I hadn't even told Quinn yet!

I finally mentioned that we should call it a night, using everything we had to accomplish the next day as an excuse. But, if I was being truthful with myself, it was really because I knew that if he stayed in my office, I'd continue talking to him until the sun rose, and when the rest of the staff got there, it'd be a little too obvious we had been talking all night. Sure, nothing had happened, but I wanted to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

While I was standing by the door as he left my office, I felt his arm gently brush up against my breasts. I was suddenly glad that he had his back to me. The tight blouse I was wearing was not hiding the fact that as soon as his arm touched me, my nipples had hardened like pebbles. If even the slightest accidental touch of his body against mine set me on fire like this, I was definitely going to have a problem working with him. But, I knew that I couldn't pass him off to another case worker. Not after everything we'd spoken about. I'd had other cases similar to this before. When the sting of a significant loss triggers someone to violence, it's very hard for that person to open up about that loss later down the road. Eric had opened up and allowed me to see inside his battered soul. I didn't want to risk him closing that off if I transferred him to someone else. I'd just have to deal it.

EPOV

I woke the next morning bright and early. It had been so ingrained in my system that wake-up time in prison was 7am; I don't think I could've slept later than that even if I was drugged. I left my room and made my way to the bathroom. I was on my way back to my bedroom when I heard something I hadn't heard that early in the morning in years. The sounds of feminine laughter. My curiosity was piqued, so I followed the sound, soon realizing it was coming from the communal kitchen. The closer I got, I was hit by a wave of the most delicious aroma. I rounded the corner and peeked my head through the kitchen door.

There was a young man sitting on a stool at the island in the middle of the room. In front of him was a plate full of food better looking than any I'd seen since my conviction. My stomach grumbled loudly, and that's when I heard a slight noise to my left, and turning, saw what must have been a vision. It was too beautiful to be real. Miss Stackhouse was sitting on the counter by the stove, nursing a cup of coffee. She was dressed in a blood red sleeveless blouse, tight black dress pants, and red high heeled sandals. Yesterday, she'd had her hair pulled into a pony tail, but today it was loose. It fell in curly waves over her shoulders, down her back and some over her breasts. My God, she was lovely. I mentally made a note that, with the height of the counter, if I walked directly to her and stood between her legs, they were at just the right height to wrap around my waist, and her mouth would have been at the same level as mine. Luckily for me, the excited I felt at that thought went unnoticed, as I was still wearing my baggy cotton lounge pants and black tank top.

"Well good morning! I wasn't expecting to see you quite this early, since you were up so late last night," she said as she hopped down from the counter. She walked to a cupboard and pulled out a coffee mug, poured it full, and offered it to me. I accepted it gratefully. Not that I needed it. After seeing how breathtaking she was this morning, I didn't need caffeine to jumpstart my day. "Are you hungry? I've got a plate ready for you; it's in the oven staying warm." For some reason, I was speechless, and just nodded and smiled. She opened the oven and pulled out a plate then grabbed some silverware from a drawer. She walked to me, and handled me both, offering a smile as she did so. Apparently, she was a morning person.

"You know, you were up just as late as I was last night," I told her as I surveyed the food she'd given me. My appetite must've thought it'd died and gone to heaven. The plate was piled high with country potatoes, bacon, sausage, cheese, green peppers, and onions.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the young man sitting at the island look from Miss Stackhouse to myself, and back again a few times, and then clear his throat. "You must be Eric. I'm Barry." I'd assumed this. I walked over and shook his hand, and mumbled something like 'pleased to meet you,' in between bites.

I turned my attention back to Miss Stackhouse who was now simply leaning against the counter watching the two of us. "This is amazing," I told her, motioning towards the plate of food.

"I'm glad you like it, I made it myself. I like to think of myself as a bit of an amateur chef," she said with a giggle.

"Well, well, well, Miss Stackhouse, I am impressed." And I meant every word of it.

"Well, I don't know about that. And, Eric, please, call me Sookie." I enjoyed the way my name sounded coming from her lips. I think I'd enjoy it even more if she was screaming it, but, that would have to wait.

"Well, boys, I'm off. I need to get some forms faxed to the state office ASAP. Barry, why don't you come by at 9, and we'll have our meeting before you leave for work, and Eric, could you come by at 10?" We both nodded at her, and she turned and left the kitchen.

After I'd watched her leave (and what a nice view it was from the back), I turned and saw Barry silently laughing at me. "What?"

"Dude, you've got it bad," he said and guffawed.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on. I've seen that look before. Let me guess, when she left, you were thinking how nice her ass is, and how you'd love to get your hands on those hips, right?" What the hell, how did this kid know exactly what I'd been thinking?

"What, you can read minds or something?"

"Nah, I can just read people. Well, now I can anyways." I wasn't sure what that meant, but, didn't get the chance to ask. "I've seen just about every guy who comes through here stare at her in pure desire. You'd think that Mr. Merlotte would've pulled his head out of his ass enough to realize that, when you've got this many guys fresh out of prison staying here, you might not want to let her wear tight clothes. She's too desirable for her own good."

I chuckled and nodded. "True enough. It is kind of like dangling a t-bone in front of a bunch of starving pit bulls."

"Well, I've gotta get going so I can get ready to leave for work as soon as I'm done meeting with her. But, let me just fill you in on a few things real quick. I never put a lock on my food cabinet, so if you need something specific and you don't have it, if I do, please feel free to take it, just try to replace it later if you can. I'm not a slob, but, I'm not a clean-freak either. I pick up after myself, but don't be surprised if you find a crumb or two on the counter after I've been in here. I've got a ton of books and magazines in my room, so, if you'd ever like to borrow something to read, please feel free to ask."

"Thanks." I wasn't sure what else to say. Sookie was right, this kid was nice, but obviously naïve.

He walked towards the door of the kitchen as if to leave, but, at the last minute, turned around and looked at me again. "Um, do you mind if I ask you a quick question?" he asked.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Is it true that you shot down the guy who caused your family's deaths?" I had a feeling this was going to come up with him sooner rather than later.

"Yeah, it's true."

"Wow. That sucks, dude. I'm sorry about your family. But, if anyone knows how to help someone recover from loss, it's Sookie. I gotta go, I'll talk to you later." He walked out the door, and I heard him say from down the hallway, "It was nice to have met you."

I mentally wondered what kind of trouble a nice kid like that had gotten himself into to land in here.

I finished my breakfast, got dressed, grabbed a notebook and pen, and headed towards Sookie's office for our meeting. I was a couple of minutes early, but, as I approached, I noticed that her red "I'm busy in here" light wasn't on, so I went ahead and knocked. I heard her say 'come in' through the door, so I opened it, but froze instead of walking. There, just behind her desk, Sookie was bent over looking through her filing cabinet. All I could see was her ripe luscious ass in front of me. It took all I had to walk up and push myself against her. I just had to keep reminding myself that it certainly would not be appropriate. Well, 'Big Eric' understood that, but how in the hell was I going to convince 'Little Eric?'