A/N: Thank you to everyone yet again for the reviews, glad you liked the citrus :P
I'm not sure if I'm really happy with this chapter, so I'm sorry if it's not up to snuff but I was pretty tired when I wrote it.
Charlaine Harris owns everything except Alexis and Trey's family... please don't sue
Chapter 24 – EPOV
I was so nervous when I started speaking that I'm pretty sure I was sweating. I poured my heart out to Sookie and she listened to every word, spellbound, but didn't seem to understand my meaning until I opened the box and showed her the ring.
Her answer showed on her face before it left her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears and love, her cheeks flushed a beautiful pink and she had never looked as beautiful as she did in that moment. She threw herself into my arms and my heart exploded with joy as she finally said the words I needed to hear.
I slipped the ring onto her finger and it looked better than I had imagined, and to top it off it fit like it was made for her alone. My attack of nerves evaporated with a sigh and I collapsed back onto the bed pulling her into my arms. I may have preened a little as I watched her admire her new ring in the light and even more so when she said it was perfect.
Just when I thought the night couldn't get any better she moaned my name and climbed on top of me. My hands reached for her soft skin and we lost ourselves to each other in the most mind blowing sex I'd ever had. I loved the way she looked as she came and wished I could have made it last longer just so I could see her come again.
Sookie fell asleep before I did, considering the list of things she did today to keep her mind off her nerves I couldn't blame her for being tired. She was smiling in her sleep and I loved that it was because of me. I watched her dream for a while until my eyelids became heavy and the last thing I remember before I fell asleep was the profound joy in my heart… she had said yes.
I woke up early the next morning with Sookie still sleeping peacefully in my arms. I had ended up needing some earplugs part way through the night, but she was no-where near as loud as she used to be and I loved waking up with her snuggled against me.
She woke as I left the bed and looked at me with a sleepy smile that made me want to get back in bed and stay there all day just to keep it there. "Good Morning future Mrs. Northman" I said, leaning over to kiss her
"Good Morning my future husband" she chuckled "I can't believe we're engaged!" she squeaked, looking at her ring again.
"I can" I laughed "I was too nervous last night for it not to have been real, I had no idea when I was going to be giving it to you, but after you gave me my ring I knew it was the right time" I confessed
"It was beautiful" she smiled "you couldn't have planned anything better"
"I wouldn't have wanted to" I said softly, kissing her again and finally giving up on staying out of bed, I climbed back in next to her and pulled her into my body again. I buried my nose in her hair and breathed in her warm scent "I don't want to let you out of bed… can we just put life on pause and stay here snuggling?" I chuckled.
"As tempting as that sounds, they still haven't invented a way to do that yet" she laughed, running her hands down my back "Do you want to shower first or shall I?"
"We could always shower together" I suggested with a quirk of my eyebrow, knowing it made her hot and bothered "You wash my back and I'll wash yours"
"I don't think our hot water heater would be able to cope with the length of a shower that nice" she smirked "you know we'd be in there for ages"
"True" I said with a sigh "Something to keep in mind when you come to my place though" I chuckled "mine is tank-less and can go for ever."
"Put that on the list of things to do" she said huskily "maybe after we try out the chocolate body paint?"
"I love the way you think love" I growled, rolling on top of her and pressing my hardness against her centre.
"Eric" she moaned wantonly "everyone will hear us… as much as I want to… we can't."
"Wanna bet?" I smirked, lowering myself to her waist, catching the waistband of her pants in my teeth and laughing as she growled at me. "Do you want me to stop?" I asked, hoping the answer was no.
"Hell no…Don't you dare!" she whispered pulling a pillow across her face and biting into it.
I blew cool air across her heated center, making her buck beneath my hands and moan into the pillow. I lowered my mouth to her clit and set about giving her a very very good morning, she must have been more than ready for a release as it didn't take long at all before she was screaming my name into her pillow and panting for breath.
"Good?" I asked with a laugh, kissing her neck and caressing her face
"Nuh uh… awesome" she moaned, rolling over and pushing against me "Your turn"
"You don't have to Sookie" I said softly "I'm fine"
"I beg to differ" she chuckled, gesturing to my straining seams "Besides, I want to" she said softly, kissing her way down my body and giving me a quick and satisfying release that it seems I was more than ready for myself.
After we had snuggled some more and talked a little, we decided it was time to face the world and stop ignoring our families. "Would you mind emptying the bin while I shower?" she asked "just drop it out the window at the end of the landing and I'll put it in the trash can when we go outside later"
"Not a problem" I said with a smile "do I get a reward?"
"Yup" she grinned "You get to not be caught by our families getting rid of nasty ass tissues"
"Nice." I laughed with a shake of my head, imagining the looks I would have received. I couldn't help watching her flit around the room getting her clothes ready for her shower.
"What are you looking at?" she asked with a smile
"You…you're beautiful" I said frankly and she was, sex hair and all.
"Shush" she said, blushing hotly and running away. I chuckled to myself at her embarrassment from the compliment and made a mental note to do it a lot more.
I came back from my own shower to find her blow drying her hair, her head hanging upside down and her gorgeous ass swaying from side to side as she moved her hair around. My hand seemed to find its own way to her luscious curves, caressing her as I walked past to brush my hair and wishing yet again that we could spend the whole day in bed.
I groaned as she pushed back against my hand and smirked at me from under the curtain of her hair. I may have to keep her in bed for her whole trip to Ithaca; I couldn't get enough of her and one day wasn't going to do it.
We walked downstairs and into the kitchen, the smell of breakfast foods making my mouth water and my stomach grumble painfully. Maybe staying in bed all day wouldn't be a good idea… although we could always bring supplies, and there was the chocolate body paint after all.
I walked into the kitchen with a smile on my face and lost it two seconds later…
"Your toast Pam" said Amelia, handing Pam a plate with a smirk
"Bring it on" Pam replied with a dark chuckle and a wink at me.
Shit…I thought
Sookie blushed bright red and sat at the table, immediately hiding behind her coffee cup… the only thing was, she held it with both hands; the morning sun catching the opals and diamonds causing them to sparkle prettily.
An earsplitting shriek rose from Amelia as she caught the flash and ran around the table to grab Sookie's hand for a better look. Pam, Mom and Adele soon caught on to the fuss and all started talking at once.
Sookie's eyes begged me for help as Adele and Mom started sniffing ominously and all I could do was shrug as Pam and Amelia attacked me with hugs and squeals, jumping up and down like little girls, using my arms for balance.
"Congratulations my darling boy" Mom said softly, pulling me down to place a kiss on my cheek.
"Thank you Mamma" I said, kissing her back and wiping a tear from her cheek.
"You make each other so happy" she said loud enough for everyone to hear, smiling through her tears and hugging me tightly "I expect great things from you both" she added moving to Sookie and hugging her tight.
"Congratulations Eric" Adele said also kissing my cheek "I've never seen her as happy as she has been with you. I know you'll look after each other." she added looking deep into my eyes and after finding what she wanted to see she patted my cheek softly "Now get yourself some breakfast" she said moving away and passing me a plate.
Breakfast was a series of questions, squeals and chuckles as we shared our stories on how I had found the ring, what I had said when I proposed and when we planned on getting married.
"I think we're going to start planning after we graduate…" Sookie said, questioning me with her eyes and smiling as I nodded "but I don't think it'll be too long afterward."
Everyone at the table started shooting around ideas about what we should do, what colors we should use, type of dress, invitations…typical wedding stuff. My brain started to hurt and apparently Sookie's was too because she asked me to go for a walk as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared and put away.
"Wow" she laughed as we walked toward the road "I was not expecting that"
"Me either" I laughed, taking her hand in mine, smiling at the sight of her tiny hand enveloped in mine "I think I might have a burst eardrum"
She laughed again and pulled her hand from my grip to wrap it around my waist instead. "So… soon after graduation?" she asked softly "I don't want anything big and I really don't think I could last too long without you unless I have something to keep me distracted"
"I think I'm going to try and graduate a little early," I said "I'm pretty close to completing everything and I don't really have final exams to complete my doctorate, I just want to start my life with you."
"Do you ever say anything that isn't completely sweet?" she laughed, kissing the arm I had draped over her shoulder.
I just laughed and kissed the top of her head, grinning like a fool.
Our walk only lasted about twenty minutes as it was colder today and we wanted to spend time with everyone else as well. We spent the afternoon going through Adele's photo albums and hearing stories about Sookie growing up.
Our mouths were watering throughout the afternoon as Adele had set a pot of chili to cook in the slow cooker and it made the house smell fantastic. Jason turned up just before nightfall and came straight in to hug Sookie and give me a man hug, it surprised me how much better I felt having the whole family's blessing.
After we had finished dinner I called Trey to let him know the good news…
"You're about ten hours late man" he laughed as I told him "Amelia rang while you were out on your walk this morning."
"I should have known news like that was going to spread fast" I laughed
We chatted for a while, catching up on what had happened over the holidays so far and making plans to catch up when we got back to NY.
"Do you think Amelia would come up when Sookie does?" he asked
"I think you'd know more than I would, but why don't you ask her?" I replied "Or do you want me to ask Sookie first?"
"Would you think I was a complete chicken shit if I said yes?" he laughed
"I'll ask her tonight and let you know" I chuckled
"Thanks Eric, I owe you one" he sighed in relief
"No you don't, you invited me back for Thanksgiving and gave me the chance to meet Sookie, I still owe you" I said with a smile.
We said goodnight and I told him I would contact him as soon as I knew.
"What did he say?" Sookie asked as she came and sat next to me
"He said congratulations, Molly squealed and deafened everyone" I laughed "and I have to ask you about your visit to NY, so remind me later ok?"
Sookie nodded and snuggled into my side as everyone else trooped in from the kitchen, bringing popcorn, s'mores and hot chocolates.
We all settled in to our spots while Jason slipped a movie into the player, we laughed our way through Duck Soup although Amelia wasn't as amused as the rest of us. I guessed the Marx brothers were not for everyone.
Sookie and I got ready for bed and I spooned in behind her.
"What a weird day" she laughed "all anyone would talk about was the wedding, and we only got engaged last night! Now what did you need to ask me about?"
"Huh?" I asked brainlessly, I was kissing her neck and had already lost myself in her scent. How could women concentrate on more than one thing at a time?
"When you were talking to Trey" she laughed as she rolled over to face me "You said you needed to ask me something about my trip to NY and to remind you later…"
"Oh yeah" I sighed, collapsing back onto the bed and pulling her into my side instead. "Trey wants to know if Amelia would be interested in visiting him in NY when you come up, I told him to just ask her, but he wanted me to check with you first"
"Aww that's so cute!" she cooed "he's all nervous"
"Don't tell anyone" I whispered "but men are always nervous when it comes to women, it just depends on the situation as to how bad it gets..."
"Oh I see" she chuckled "So that's why you can only concentrate on one thing at a time? You're too nervous about messing up?"
"Uh huh" I laughed "So what will I tell Trey, do you think Amelia would be interested?"
"Definitely" she said "I was going to ask if you minded her accompanying me actually, but now I won't have to, she can stay with Trey and we can have your place all to ourselves"
"I like the way you think Ms Stackhouse" I said, rolling us over again and kissing my way along her jaw
"My fiancé thinks I'm pretty smart" she said with a smirk
"Oh does he?" I asked "How do you know that?"
"Well, I asked him to grade me on something last night and he gave me an A plus" she boasted pushing her breasts against me and brushing her lips against my neck.
"Oh… an A plus huh?" I asked breathlessly, running my hand down her side and tickling her gently
"Yup" she snickered "an A plus to the power of infinity"
"Wow" I said huskily "I guess I'm really out of my league then."
"Don't worry, I'll teach you" she panted, working her fingers inside the waistband of my pants and gripping my cock with both hands.
"I'm a really quick study" I gasped, pushing her shirt up and flicking a nipple with my tongue while I used my hand to stimulate the other.
That was the last coherent sentence that left either of our mouths for the next twenty minutes as we bought each other to completion. After this mornings embarrassing breakfast we wanted to keep things quick and quiet until we had the house to ourselves, or at least thicker walls between us and everyone else.
"I swear you have magic fingers" Sookie panted as she recovered from our exertions
"You definitely have a talented tongue" I groaned, stretching in the bed and pulling her on top of me
"We should sleep" she said, kissing me softly and running a hand through my hair.
"Mmm" I sighed "but I like us like this"
"Well, at least let me get the covers up here, it'll get cold soon" she snickered, pulling up the covers and climbing back on top of me. "Comfy enough"
"Yup" I smiled, running both hands up and down her back
"Mmm" she sighed, bonelessly collapsing against my chest "I love it when you do that"
"I love doing it" I smiled "your skin is always so soft and warm"
"Is there something I do that you like? Beside the way I can use my tongue…" she said with a snicker
"Besides almost everything else?" I asked with a laugh "I love it when you run your fingers through my hair and scratch your nails against my scalp"
"Hmm" she sighed, moving her hands up to do just that "I like doing that too"
We drifted of to sleep, Sookie using me for a pillow for a while. I regretted moving her when she started snoring, but I knew she would wake up with a sore neck if she didn't sleep properly, so I slid her gently off my chest and after putting in my earplugs I spooned in behind her… I would miss this the most when I went back to NY.
Yes I put Duck Soup in because it's AS's fave movie (apparently) and I have never seen it, so I have no idea if it's actually funny or not :)