A/N Thanks to everyone for the reviews and alerts. Also, please thank ggvmfan for picking up that I hadn't mentioned where Eric went to university... hence the EPOV chapter :)

Chapter 3 - SPOV

I woke the next morning with a smile on my face and the impression of my cell phone on my cheek. I couldn't believe how sweet he was, reading me a bed time story.

"So… does that smile mean I'm forgiven?" I heard Amelia ask from the doorway.

"Yes Meals" I said rolling out of bed and hugging her "Definitely forgiven. He read to me until I fell asleep"

"Oh swoon!" she said, hand to heart and fluttering her eyelashes.

We gabbed about Eric and how I felt and how he said he felt. She was always good with advice, so wanted to know how to proceed.

"So…you like him and he likes you, what's the problem?"

"Well, for a start he's in New York and I'm in Louisiana. He's so gorgeous it's almost sinful and he's really really smart" I said ticking things off on my fingers.

"Oh so… nothing then" she said with a laugh

I hit her with a pillow and laughed myself "He lives in California when he's not at university so he's surrounded by beautiful people" I added "As rude as it is to mention… he is well off, what if he thinks I'm a gold digger? And…he's well… he's 'experienced'…" I used my fingers to do air quotes "more so than I am…what would he see in someone like me?" I finished staring at my bedspread in embarrassment. Wanting to talk about this stuff with her didn't make it any easier.

She patted my knee and gave me a sympathetic smile… then hit me with the pillow until I started laughing.

"Planes take care of the first problem" she said with a smirk, also ticking things off on her fingers. "Beauty is a gift, Sookie, not a sin. You're not even remotely close to being the Creature from the Black Lagoon, so don't even start with the 'I'm not worthy' stuff…" she slapped my knee.

I blushed and gently shoved her shoulder. She was all about telling it how it is.

"You're studying to be a psychologist so you're just as smart as he is." She continued "He's obviously not interested in anyone he might have access to in Cali or he wouldn't have been on the watch for you. He obviously doesn't think his money is a problem, and doesn't think you're a gold digger, so why bother about anyone else?"

She was really getting riled up now and was making huge hand gestures, I had a feeling this had been building for a while "Not to mention you were falling in love with each other before you even knew about his financial situation"

"You know why I'm worried about someone thinking I'm a gold digger Amelia… Remember Alcide?" I said, remembering with a dull ache "I thought he loved me, but his family… and in the end he… thought I was just in the relationship for the money… and I never was."

"I'm sorry honey" Amelia said soothingly, hugging me close and rubbing circles on my back "I'm sorry about Alcide… but not everyone with money is like him… Eric is not like him… Lastly…" she said, gently "Experience isn't everything, despite what people say. If there is no emotion behind the sex it's just sex, if there is emotion, it's making love and it makes all the difference."

I nodded, I had only ever slept with Alcide, but toward the end of our relationship he had taught me the difference between making love and sex.

I went to the bathroom to get ready for my classes, letting the hot water sooth my nerves and taut muscles. Eric was not like Alcide… Eric was special… Eric knew me.

I got back to my room and grabbed my backpack while unplugging my cell and checking it out of habit before putting it in my bag. I had a message…weird… I called my voicemail and nearly cried with happiness. Eric had called me… squee!

"Hi Angel, it's me… I just woke up and I know you're getting ready for you classes, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you. I hope you have a great day and I can't wait to talk to you tonight. Puss puss."

Eric had been teaching me a few basic things in Swedish because he spoke it a lot at home. Knowing this made me happy, and fantasize that he was teaching me so I could meet his family one day. Puss puss meant kiss kiss… he was so sweet, and he was thinking of me.

I floated through the day and couldn't wait to talk to him again. I made myself concentrate on my lectures and managed to make it through classes without being a complete waste of space.

I logged into my email as soon as I got home – of course there was another email from Eric – it came with about six attachments so I knew I was in for a happy afternoon.

My Sookie,

Thank you again for sending those pictures through, I especially liked the comic book store lol… you know me so well. I'll have to show my friend Trey, he is almost as big a geek as I am with the comics… I still can't believe you don't tease me about that sometimes :o) even Pam teases me about it and she's related to me!

I know you were a little embarrassed about Amelia sending me that photo of you under your tree, but please don't be mad at her. It was my favorite one… I could almost imagine sitting there with you, playing with your hair and reading to you in the sunshine… hehe… one day.

I hope my message this morning made you smile. I can't stop thinking about you, so I figured I might as well let you know how much you were on my mind. You're my first thought in the morning, and you already know you're my last thought at night. I'm really glad you called me a snob that day so long ago, I'm glad I met you.

Here are some more pictures as my lady requested. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed mine.

E.

I melted into a big puddle of goo and re-read his email 6 times before I opened up the attachments; His favorite hangout on campus was a sunny stretch of grass near a pond or lake of some kind surrounded by trees, His favorite off campus hang out turned out to be the balcony of his apartment building. He had it set up with a little bistro table and chairs and when I zoomed in a little I saw a bag labeled 'Insomnia Cookies'… I'd have to check that out later…

His room was interesting with a huge bed that hadn't been made – typical boy – and books shelved all over the walls with a collectors poster print of Thor above his desk … I had to laugh at that, he was such a dork… his comic collection made me laugh even harder as it was all covered in protective plastic and in issue order with a readable copy next to it, the pages looked well worn on the reading copies and some of them even had tape lapping the stapled edge to stop it from being worn away… I shook my head… my Eric, the uber geek.

He sent a few photos of his apartment, it was a nice space, a little sparse, but again, he was a boy and probably spent most of his time in his room anyway. The picture that really shocked my socks off was the one of his car – it was a cherry red corvette that was amazing in on it's own, but leaning against it with his ankles crossed and a smirk on his face was a lithe, muscular, beautiful blonde man clad in tight dark wash jeans and a black tee. Eric had been holding out on me! Not only was he funny, kind and the biggest geek I'd ever met, he was tall, muscled and sexy as all hell! He had told me he was tall and decent looking, but shit! He could easily be a male model!

I closed my mouth and the picture before I was sucked into it again…holy crap… how in heavens name was someone like that falling for someone like me! Shaking the bad thoughts out of my head, I resolved to talk to him about it tonight… I had spoken with Amelia about it and I would talk to Eric about it too.

I opened up a browser window and googled the cookie place. How awesome! You can order online and they were open until midnight. He would appreciate that kind of thing being up late with his astronomy work and all, I doubt a guy living on his own would do any baking so it was cool that he had this available. I laughed when I saw that the only beverages they offered was a choice of milk, chocolate milk, Pepsi or Mountain Dew… it was a really clever idea, I wished there was one near LSU.

Amelia knocked softly on my door and wandered in with a smile.

"Hey Sook" she said giving me a hug "what did loverboy send you today?"

I smirked a little and started with the tame photos and explained the cookie place when we got to that one… she snickered over the Thor poster and laughed loudly at his comic collection. I almost wanted to keep the one of him and his car to myself, but it was too hard to keep from bragging just a little.

I opened it up and was immediately drawn to his eyes again… even though there were so many other things that were great about him; his eyes were the most important part, to my way of thinking anyway. It was often said that the eyes are the window to the soul, and I loved the soul that was shining through his… wow… loved?... huh… yup loved… I…love… Eric Northman. Cool!

I heard a thump after a minute or so and turned around to see Amelia sitting on the floor gaping at me.

"What are you doing down there?" I asked; a little confused that she decided to sit on the floor. The bed wasn't far away and I know it would definitely be more comfortable.

"Sookie…you are the luckiest woman on the planet" she gasped "I have never seen someone that sexy in my life, and I know your brother! He literally made me weak at the knees. Aren't you glad I made you wear those stilettos now? Wow."

I laughed so hard tears started coming out of my eyes, I finally had something to embarrass Amelia with. She wandered back out of my room, shaking her head in disbelief at my good fortune… This was going to give me ammo on her for an absolute age.

I got myself ready for bed in record time, it was so much nicer to speak to Eric over the phone and hear his reactions rather than see the edited version that he would have put in the chat window. I still can't believe how much he downplayed the way he looked! I knew he was sick of being chased because of it, so I could understand him being a little overly modest, but wow…

I settled into bed and got comfy; my phone was already connected to the charge cord, so no chance of it going flat this time! I was just about to bring up Eric's number and call him when it started ringing in my hand.

"I guess it's true when they say 'great minds think alike' huh?" I answered

"Sorry?" he laughed

"I was just about to call you and the phone started ringing in my hand" I giggled, feeling like a complete dork.

He laughed again… I could listen to that all day long…sigh.

"How was your day, dear one?" he asked softly

"Fine, honey" I said with a smile "how was yours?"

"Lonely" he said "Is it stupid that I miss you when we've never met face to face?"

My heart jumped at his tone and the sentiment behind it… if I wasn't so comfy I'd jump out of bed and do a happy dance.

"No honey," I said soothingly "I missed you too"

"Good." He whispered, pleased with my confession.

We babbled about our day and I mentioned that the insomnia cookies place was a really great idea… which bought me to his car photo.

"Speaking of great ideas Mr. Northman" I said in a school teacher-ish tone "When were you going to tell me about the part where you are sexy enough to work as an underwear model?"

He laughed loudly at that and it took him a few seconds to calm down "Underwear model huh?" he asked with a chuckle "Glad to know you think I'm sexy." He teased gently.

"Pfft… you knew you were already" I scoffed "You told me yourself you were chased all over campus by bimbos who thought you were hot… what difference does my opinion make?" I laughed

"It's the only one that matters" he said, his voice deepening with sincerity, his tone so silky and seductive it made my skin tingle.

"Now Eric," I said, sounding a little sultry through no fault of my own "You'd better stop using that tone with me or there's going to be trouble."

"What kind of tone?" he asked, his voice deepening again and making me shiver all over…

"That kind of tone" I gasped… shit, he had only said 5 words and I was already wishing the distance between us was non existent… what I wouldn't give to have his arms wrapped around me right now.

"I like trouble." He said, using the same tone "If I was with you, you would probably like it too, min kära en" he said with a sexy little chuckle.

"Hush you" I scolded "you know what your accent does to me"

"If you want me to go, I can hang up" he offered, knowing I didn't want him to.

"No… I don't want you to go… I want you to be here…with me" I admitted, snuggling further into my pillow.

"I wish I was" he agreed with a little groan.

"Hey, Eric?" I asked blushing, even though he couldn't see me.

"Mmm?"

"I love you." I whispered, burying my face in my pillow for a second before continuing with my thought. "Not just because you're the most beautiful man I've ever seen. I love you because you're so funny and smart and sweet, you're kind and you are the biggest dork ever but you don't care…you're gentle and honest and I just had to tell you… you don't have to say it back… I know it's a little weird, considering we haven't exactly met yet, but I…"

"I love you too, Sookie" he interrupted my babbling with the sweetest thing I had ever heard. "You're so different to everyone else I know, so sweet, that I couldn't help, but love you."

I giggled gently and sighed "I really wish I could at least hug you right now"

"Me too my love" he said gently "me too…"

We chatted over silly things for another hour or so, sharing secrets and telling each other the different reactions we had to each others photos. When I told him about Amelia falling down when he saw him with his car, he laughed so hard he started choking, which of course only made us laugh harder.

"I'd better get to sleep" I said after a while

"Me too" he agreed sadly.

"I love you Eric Northman" I said with a soft smile

"I love you Sookie Stackhouse" He said, the smile in his voice making me smile harder, knowing that I had put it there.

After we said our goodbyes and hung up, I pulled a spare pillow into my arms and hugged it tight, wishing it was the tall, Swedish uber geek that I had fallen in love with.

Puss puss – kiss kiss

min kära en – my dear one.