A/N:

So, I wasn't a fail last chapter, and actually responded to your reviews! Hopefully I can keep that up with this one, because I'm really looking forward to seeing your comments on this new development for Eric and Sookie. Not a lot of plot movement in this chapter, but y'all enjoy light and fluffy, right?

Thank you to my beta, FarDareisMai2, who did this last minute even though she really didn't have to. I love her to pieces.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Chapter 10 - Definitions

"Hello, Sookie," he said. "You look really nice. Were you going somewhere?"

"What are you doing here?" she blurted out, surprised by his sudden appearance, but when she looked behind him she saw his car. She must not have heard him drive up.

"I wanted to come see you, but you look like you're headed out," he said, still trying to get an answer. She didn't have to read his mind to know that he wondered if she had a date with someone else.

"I was headed out to see you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I got some advice from a new friend, and I decided to take the initiative. I was coming to apologize for my behavior. I shouldn't have judged you so harshly. You didn't deserve that. I'm just new to this whole dating thing, and I think … I didn't like the idea of you being with anyone else. I suppose I'm discovering that I'm possessive or—"

"Sookie, it's okay," he interrupted. "Apology accepted, and I'm sorry too. I should have realized just how hard your ability has been for you."

Sookie blushed, and looked down. "You have no reason to apologize."

Eric lifted her chin with his hand until she was looking at him.

"I do, and I am. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," she whispered, and held his gaze for a moment before she realized that their lips were mere inches apart. "So," she laughed, breaking the moment. "I guess getting all dressed up was a bit of a bust."

"Not exactly," he smiled. "Do you like Chinese food?"

An hour later they were back at her house with three bags full of Chinese takeout, laughing at a story Eric was telling her about a nervous delivery boy who brought food to the bar once, and thought Eric really was a vampire.

Sookie helped Eric spread everything out on the living room coffee table, and they each sat on a pillow on either side of it.

"This is a ton of food. I don't know how you talked me into getting so much," Sookie laughed.

"You obviously don't know how much I love Chinese food. I have a bottomless pit for a stomach with this stuff, so I wanted to make sure you would actually get some food."

"How chivalrous of you."

Eric grinned and passed her a set of chopsticks. Sookie loaded her plate up, as did Eric, and an hour later a good percentage of the food was gone. Most had ended up in Eric's bottomless pit, but Sookie had indulged herself in a bit extra since she'd only eaten a salad at lunch.

"Are you full?" Eric asked, patting his flat, muscled stomach.

"Quite," Sookie said from her position on the floor. She'd moved the pillow she had been sitting on, and it was resting under her head. "I don't think I should eat at all tomorrow."

Eric chuckled and crawled around the coffee table with his pillow, which he put next to hers as he lay down beside her. Sookie was suddenly anxious, but she also knew she could be herself with Eric, so she tried to relax.

"This is the most fun I've had in a long time," Eric said, staring at the ceiling.

"Stuffing yourself with Chinese food while sitting on my living room floor? I do not envy your life."

"I don't see why anyone would. It's not really a life. I live it in a fish bowl."

"Can't you quit? Isn't there something else you'd like to do?"

"I love computers. Putting them together, web designing. I made the Fangtasia web site. I love to read. I love architecture. I love history. I love a lot of things, but this is the only way I can make a living."

"But why? I don't understand why you couldn't go into one of those fields."

Eric was quiet for a moment, and then he said, "Because I can't. What about you? Is your only passion for writing?"

"Yes, it is. You're really smart, aren't you? I mean, it's not that I thought you weren't, but you're into a lot of smart things."

"I have a very high IQ," he said, and Sookie sat up.

"So, what? You're smarter than Einstein or something?"

"If you go by numbers, then yes, but I don't think so. I'm not very imaginative."

"If you're into web designing and architecture, then you're imaginative."

Eric shrugged from his position on the floor, causing Sookie to laugh. He smiled, and pulled her back to the floor so that her head was resting on his chest.

"I have something to ask you," he said after a moment of silence.

"Okay."

"Would you like to be my … girlfriend?"

"Why the pause?"

"I don't like the term, that's all."

"Why not?"

"It's so juvenile. I want us to be together like a couple. Go on dates, and see only each other in a romantic way. I want you to only kiss me, and I only want to kiss you. I want to get to know you better and spend a lot of time with you alone. The term for all that would be boyfriend/girlfriend, I suppose."

"We could come up with a different term, as long as all those rules still apply," Sookie suggested.

"Does that mean you want it too?"

"It does," she smiled, and moved to lie on her side, her head propped up on her hand.

"Well then, I could be your gentleman caller, or your lover," Eric said, mimicking Sookie's position.

"No, not lover. We're not in a romance novel, and we're not actually doing any loving."

Eric chuckled. "How about man and woman? I'm your man, you're my woman."

"That sounds a bit primitive, but I'd be willing to try it."

"I think I'll show you just how much primitive can be a good thing," he said suggestively.

"I won't like it if you go all caveman on me, Eric. I'm just warning you now."

"We'll see."

"Oh goodness."

"Right now, I'd really just like to be kissing you again. If that's okay with you, of course," he said, his eyes smoldering at her. She could only nod her permission, and as soon as it was given, Eric had her on her back, one leg between hers as he kissed her lips with enthusiasm.

Sookie ran her hands up his arms and over his back, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles beneath his thin t-shirt. Suddenly, Eric's lips left hers and were making their way down to her neck, sucking and nibbling on the sensitive flesh, causing Sookie to moan. His mouth stayed there for a couple of minutes, and by the time Sookie realized what he was doing it was too late.

"Are you giving me a hickey?" she shrieked as she pushed his head away, and heard him laugh. "Eric! It's not funny."

"Oh, but it is."

"I told you I wouldn't like it if you went caveman, and then you go and mark me?"

"To be fair, I was going to let you mark me right back," he said, and some of the wind went out of her sails at the idea of 'marking' Eric. "Like that idea?"

"Get on your back," she said, suddenly confident. Eric quirked an eyebrow, but did as she asked. Sookie took the same position he had used over her, and started at his lips, working her way slowly to his neck. He groaned as she sucked and nibbled on his skin, and she enjoyed the way his arm tightened around her, and the way his fingers tangled in her hair. She began to suck harder, until Eric let out a loud moan and gently pushed her away.

He captured her swollen lips once more, and rolled her underneath him. Sookie felt the skirt of her dress ride up a bit as his leg once again found a home between her thighs. After a while, a shift in their alignment caused Eric's upper thigh to come into contact with Sookie's heated sex, and she jumped, pushing Eric off of her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, breathless.

"Too much," she panted. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for," he smiled, and pulled her back down to the floor so that they were on their sides facing each other. "We'll just pull the throttle back a bit."

Sookie took a deep breath and smiled. "See, when you do something caveman, and then say something like that, you make up for it."

Eric leaned forward and kissed her very lightly. "Does that mean I can be a caveman when I want as long as I'm sweet later?"

"We'll see," she said, and kissed him just a bit harder than he kissed her. Soon enough they were back at it, though they were much less aggressive than before. When a phone rang, they broke apart, and Eric pulled his cell from his pocket with an apologetic look at Sookie.

"Yes? Get rid of her. Pamela, if you hire her back I will not be pleased. No, I don't care that she gives you good head," he blurted out and then seemed to remember where he was. "If she's not gone by the time I get back, there will be consequences."

Eric hung up, and shook his head.

"You definitely have to explain all that," Sookie said with a smile.

"A year ago we tried having an exotic dancing night Fangtasia. One of our dancers and Pam got along very well, but we found out that she was stealing alcohol. I fired her, and ended the exotic night since it was getting some negative attention from the community anyway. She's back though, and asking for a waitress job. I don't like her, and I never have. She's proven that she's not trustworthy, and we don't need another Ginger situation."

"I suppose you have to go then," she said, frowning slightly.

"I do, but I don't want to," he said, kissing her again.

"If you start that, you won't leave," Sookie giggled as his kisses trailed down her neck to kiss the spot he'd left a hickey on.

"You're probably correct."

"I'm coming to the bar in two nights to do your last interview."

"Then I suppose that is when we'll see each other again, but first, where is your cell phone?"

Sookie stood and went to her purse to pull it out. Eric took it from her and pushed some buttons before handing it back, then he picked up his phone, which had just beeped.

"You have mine, and now I have yours," he grinned, and got up from the floor.

Sookie looked at her phone and checked her outgoing texts.

"Man. You put yourself in here as man?"

"And you're in mine as woman," he said, smiling. "I considered 'lover' but I didn't think you'd appreciate that."

"Yes, thank you for that, but 'man?' I may change it," she warned.

"You can call me whatever you like," he said, as he put his phone back in his pocket. "Would you like me to help clean up?"

"No, it's okay. I can get it," she said.

Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her up against him, before laying one hell of a kiss on her lips.

"I'll see you soon," he whispered once they were both breathless again, and then he was out the door, and Sookie was left in a dazed, dreamy, and happy state.