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I thought all the way home about my day in Shreveport I&039;d asked Alcide to call the cops in Bon Teative e No, they hadn&039;t heard any more on Jason, and no one had called to say they&039;d seen him So I didn&039;t stop by the police station on rocery to buy soo in the liquor store to pick up so I sahen I pushed open the door of Super Save-A-Bunch was a little display of bottled blood, which savedI saas the poster with the headshot of Eric I assutasia, because it was a very nonthreatening picture He was projecting winsome worldliness; any person in this universe would know that he&039;d never, ever bite It was headed, "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS VAMPIRE?"

I read the text carefully Everything Jason had said about it was true Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money That Hallow must be really nuts about Eric to pay that aining control of Fangtasia (and having the bed services of Eric) would afford her a profit after paying out a reward that large I was increasingly doubtful that I knew the whole story, and I was increasingly sure I was sticking et it bitten off

Hoyt Fortenberry, Jason&039;s big buddy, was loading pizzas into his buggy in the frozen food aisle "Hey, Sookie, where you think ole Jason got to?" he called as soon as he saw enuinely concerned

"I wish I knew," I said, co closer so we could talk without everyone in the store recording every word "I&039;one off with soirl he ith New Year&039;s Eve was pretty cute"

"What was her name?"

"Crystal Crystal Norris"

"Where&039;s she from?"

"From round Hotshot, out thataway" He nodded south

Hotshot was even smaller than Bon Temps It was about ten e little community The Hotshot kids who attended the Bon Tee different It didn&039;t surprise me at all that Crystal lived in Hotshot

"So," Hoyt said, persisting in ht have asked hi he didn&039;t believe it, he was only trying to comfort me and himself We both knew that Jason would have phoned by now, nowith any woive Crystal a call when I had a clear ten ht I asked Hoyt to pass on Crystal&039;s name to the sheriff&039;s department, and he said he would He didn&039;t see man had been anyone but Jason, Hoyt would have refused But Jason had always been Hoyt&039;s source of recreation and general amusement, since Jason was farHoyt: If Jason never reappeared, Hoyt would have a dull life

We parted in the Super Save-A-Bunch parking lot, and I felt relieved that Hoyt hadn&039;t asked me about the TrueBlood I&039;d purchased Neither had the cashier, though she&039;d handled the bottles with distaste As I&039;d paid for it, I&039;d thought about howEric already Clothes and blood ot to s out of the car I unlockedto Eric as I switched on the kitchen light I didn&039;t hear an answer, so I put the groceries away, leaving a bottle of TrueBlood out of the refrigerator so he could have it to hand when he got hungry I got the shotgun out ofit in the shadow of the water heater I took a ain No news of Jason, said the dispatcher

I slu dejected It wasn&039;t a good thing to just sit around, being depressed Maybe I&039;d go out to the living room and pop a one through all el I wondered if he&039;d like Gone with the Wind (For all I knew, he&039;d been around when they were fil should be new to him)

But as I went down the hall, I heard soently, not wanting to uest wasn&039;t yet up Oh, but he was Eric was pulling on his jeans, with his back to me He hadn&039;t bothered with underwear, not even the itty-bitty red ones My breath stuck in my throat I ht I clenched my fists

If there were an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down - or cheeks up He would get a large, large trophy I had never realized a wole to keep her hands off aat the inside of h the soood calendar word - just because he was physically beautiful I hadn&039;t thought that was soht?" Eric asked I flounderedright in front ofon my shoulders I looked up into his blue eyes, now focused on ht on a level with his hard nipples They were the size of pencil erasers I bit the inside of my lip I would not lean over those few inches

"Excusevery softly I was scared to speak loudly, or ht knock him down "I didn&039;t mean to walk in on you I should have knocked"

"You have seen all ofwasn&039;t polite"

"I don&039;t mind You look upset"

You think? "Well, I have had a very bad day," I said, through clenched teeth "My brother is , and the Were witches in Shreveport killed the - the vice president of the Were pack there, and her hand was in the flowerbed Well, soer is dead I think I&039;ll take a shower" I turned on my heel and marched into my roo them into the hamper I bit my lip until I could smile at my own streak of wildness, and then I climbed into the spray of hot water

I know cold showers arethe warroped for the soap

"I&039;ll do that for you," Eric said, pulling back the curtain to step into the shoith asped, just short of a shriek He had discarded the jeans He was also in the mood, the sas were out some, too I was embarrassed, horrified, and absolutely ready to ju waves of emotion, Eric took the soap out of my hands and lathered up his own, set the soap back in its little niche, and began to washeach in turn to strokelike puppies anted to be petted

"Have we ever made love?" he asked

I shook my head, still unable to speak

"Then I was a fool," he said,one hand in a circular motion over my stomach "Turn around, lover"

I turned ers were very strong and very clever, and I had the most relaxed and cleanest set of shoulder blades in Louisiana by the ti at ease My libido was hopping up and down Was I really going to do this? It seeht nervously If the man in th to back off I would have ordered him out the e of power and politics, so and interest This was a different Eric - without the personality that I&039;d grown fond of, in a perverse way - but it was beautiful Eric, who desired ry for me, in a world that often let me know it could do very ithout me My mind was about to switch off and my body was about to take over I could feel part of Eric pressed againstthat close Yikes Yahoo Yu because you are frightened of me?" he asked

I considered that Yes, and no But I wasn&039;t about to have a long discussion over the pros and cons The inner debate had been tough enough Oh, yeah, I know, there wouldn&039;t be a better ti yada-yada with Eric about thewith someone you didn&039;t love And round rules about being careful to be gentle with ht Eric would beat me up, but his manhood (as my romance novels called it - in this case the popular adjectives "burgeoning" or "throbbing"prospect to a relatively inexperienced woman like me I felt like a car that had only been operated by one driver a car its new prospective buyer was deter

I took the soap froers As I stepped very close to hiainst Eric&039;s stoers on that absolutely gorgeous butt I couldn&039;t look hihted that I was responding He spread his legs obligingly and I washed hian to an to work on his chest I closed ht nipple and sucked He liked that a lot His hands pressed against the back of my head "Bite, a little," he whispered, and I used an to move restlessly over whatever bit ofWhen he pulled away, he had decided to reciprocate, and he bent down While his s I gave a deep sigh, and did a littleI knew, the water was off and he was dryinghim with another one Then we just kissed for while, over and over

"The bed," he said, a little raggedly, and I nodded He scoopedto pull the bedspread dohile he just wanted to dump me on the bed and proceed, but I had my way because it was just too cold for the top of the bed Once ere arranged, I turned to him and we picked back up where we&039;d left off, but with an escalating teraphy, and he pressed heavily against h