A/N
It really has been a while now, huh? Well, the flu (yes, THE flu) and me arranging a PR conference (yes, I gave a lecture in crisis communications haha), just stole all my time. I`m sorry!
I really appreciated all the reviews you gave the last chapter. And it warmed my heart that this story attracted new subscribers every day in my hiatus. It pulled me back to my laptop!
Thank you very much to Rascalthemutant for reading this, correcting my mistakes AND pointing out that a certain couple forgot to put on a condom. *rolls eyes at herself* Well, they are wearing a condom now, Rascal. *goes to sit in the corner*
Eric`s mother looked great and definitely knew it too. She could thank her dentist for her great teeth and her hairdresser for her beautiful hair, but the rest was a mixture of great DNA, high self-esteem and a commitment to the art of looking her best.
Sophie Anne Northman-Ravenscroft owned the television screen from the moment she walked onto it. All the reporters had goofy smiles plastered on their faces and none of them managed to ask her any tough questions. Unless being asked about the name of your dress designer is considered a tough question.
“Wow, you mother is an extraordinary woman, Eric,” I said with my eyes focused on the television screen. It wasn`t until I heard a sneer, I looked at him and understood that Eric wasn`t one of Sophie Anne Northman-Ravenscroft`s admirers.
Eric stood up, got dressed and before I knew what he was doing, he was out the door.
You can say a lot of great things about snow and freezing temperatures, but it is definitely not weather for running out in your t-shirt and panties, even if your lover is distressed and sad.
It took me a good ten minutes to get dressed. I`m not used to wearing long underwear, scarf and woolen hat. When I got out, I could follow Eric`s footprints down to the road, but after that, he was gone.
“Shit,” I said loudly to myself and the moose, wolves and mice out on nocturnal business. Or maybe moose, wolves and mice were asleep? I felt utterly alone.
It was dark, but when I looked up, I could see all the stars. The Milky Way was a white band of little dots up there and made me feel even smaller. I hadn`t seen that amount of stars since I had been at Gran`s place in Bon Temps and it seemed like ages ago now.
I went inside and dialed up Pam.
Xxxx
Eric was back inside when Pam came to the cabin. He didn`t speak much and I didn`t make him. Pam of course was made of a different material than me. She didn`t let Eric off that easy,
“I hear that you saw Mommy Dearest?” Pam made a wave towards the television.
Eric grunted.
“Yeah well, that`s how I feel about her too. And if you don`t remember the last 20 years of her, you haven`t missed much.” Pam`s usual carefree voice had an edge of bitterness. And love. She gave Eric`s shoulder a quick stroke. Then she looked at me.
“Our relationships with our mother is … troubled, Sookie. Just when we think she has accepted that we are adults, she is back trying to run our lives for us. She is like a queen and we are her little subjects.”
Eric nodded and I couldn`t help wondering what he could remember of his mother in his current state.
“She has been especially hard on big bro-` here,” Pam patted Eric`s back. “Seeing him as the heir to the throne and all.”
Eric`s shoulders caved in on him and I just wanted to go over and give him a hug. For some reason I didn`t. Instead my inner PR-person checked in.
“Your mother seems to hold some special power over the media here. Can we use it to our advantage? Can we make her play on our team, I mean really be a team player?” I asked.
Eric and Pam were siblings and their pattern of reactions were usually pretty alike, but not now. Where Pam sported a shit-eating grin, Eric looked like he was being forced to eat shit.
“You can talk her into it, Eric. You are her golden boy.” Pam was excited. Eric was not.
It took Pam and me almost an hour to talk Eric into asking his mother to help him save Viking Games. In the end Eric just resigned, sitting down with his head in his palms. I felt bad for him and if it hadn`t been because I thought this idea could be the much needed turn-around for Eric`s company, I would never have forced him to do something he so clearly hated doing.
Eric sighed and looked at me with a blank stare. Then he got up.
“I suppose there isn`t much point in staying at the cabin if I am going to talk to mother tomorrow.”
“Chow is going to report to me tomorrow morning and I suppose all three of us might as well listen to him.” Pam got up too.
I looked at Pam and realized that it hadn`t been a walk in the park handling the problems in Viking Games all alone. I suddenly felt bad about having had fun with her brother. I blushed slightly at the thought of some of the `fun` we had had, while Pam had had to face the media alone.
I went to my room and started to pack. I couldn`t help staring at the bed where Eric and I had made love. I wondered what would happen to Eric and me when we got back to Oslo. I wondered if there even was an `Eric and me`.
Xxx
I could see Pam`s tail lights when I started the car that had brought Eric and me to the cabin. Eric sat in the passenger`s seat, staring out the window.
We drove in silence for an hour. Then Eric took my hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed it. I looked over at him and smiled. After Eric had thoroughly kissed every finger, my hand found a nice, warm spot on his thigh and felt very much at home there.
When we came to the Oslo city limits, Eric`s body tensed visibly and I wasn`t feeling too good myself. We had left the easy fun at the cabin and now we had to start fighting.
When I parked the car outside Eric`s house, he looked at me for the first time since we had left the mountains.
“We could go back,” he said. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone. “We could go back to the cabin. I could stay with you always. We could know each other’s bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you.” His nostrils flared, and he looked suddenly proud. “We could find something to do. Maybe even go back to your country. We could live together, be together.”
“Sounds like a marriage,” I said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. But my voice was too shaky.
“Yes,” he said.
And he would never be the president of Viking Games. He would be a false version of Eric, an Eric cheated out of his true life. Providing our relationship (such as it was) lasted, he would come to resent me for making him give up his life.
Enough with the negative thinking, Sookie, I told myself. I would be a total idiot to pass up living with this gorgeous man for however long. We actually had a good time together, and I enjoyed Eric’s sense of humor and his company, to say nothing of his lovemaking. Now that he’d lost his memory, he was lots of uncomplicated fun.
And that was the fly in the ointment. We would have a counterfeit relationship, because this was the counterfeit Eric. I’d come full loop.
I slid out of the car with a sigh. “I’m a total idiot,” I said as he came around the back of the car to walk with me to the house.
Eric didn’t say anything. I guess he agreed with me.
Xxxx
We went into the house, keeping the lights turned off as Pam had suggested. No need to advertise Eric`s homecoming to the reporters.
I looked at my watch and found out it was 2 in the morning and my yawning seemed well justified.
“I`m going to bed, Eric,” I announced and quickly brushed my teeth, put on my night gown and climbed under the covers. Before my head hit the pillow, I was out.
Xxx
I woke up with a startle. Someone was in my room, on his way into my bed. Memories of Bill`s rape clouded my vision and I started screaming.
Lights were turned on and a familiar voice tried to calm me down.
“I`m sorry, Sookie. I thought this was my room. I didn`t know you were sleeping here.”
I looked at Eric and then I remembered that this actually used to be his room.
“No, Eric. I`m sorry. You gave me your room when … something happened in my own room. Something that made me uncomfortable sleeping there. You took the room at the other end of the hallway.”
Eric started walking out of my room, but he looked as if he was walking in something sticky. And that there were magnets in the bed and in his butt. He didn`t want to leave.
“Do you want to sleep here tonight, Eric?
I didn`t have to ask twice before he jumped into bed.
I rolled over on my side, turning my back to Eric. Eric took the hint pretty quickly and scooped over and spooned me. I sighed. Having someone to spoon me every night would be more than enough reason for me to marry. Spooning was heaven.
I relaxed into Eric`s chest and was halfway to Dreamland when I felt something familiar stirring against my thigh.
The Gracious Plenty.
It was strange what great sex did to you. It could be in the middle of the night, you could be tired enough to pass out, but when the scent of great sex hit your nose, you were fit for fight.
I couldn`t help moving my butt and thigh to meet his pulsing length, which was all the encouragement Eric needed. Soon I had his lips on my neck, his hands on my breasts and his Gracious Plenty being pushed into my thigh in rhythmic movements.
I let out a moan, knowing where this was going. I knew I was on Orgasm Road, on Thrill Way, on Enjoyment Avenue. I was just buying a one-way ticket to Paradise on Earth.
I ground my butt into Eric, rewarding me with a moan into my neck, a moan that made my hair stand up and my nipples harden. Oh, I had it bad when just a moan could get that kind of reaction from my body.
After some grounding and neck-kissing, I found out that I wanted more personal sex than back-to-chest. I wanted to look Eric in the eyes. I had no idea what tomorrow would bring and I wanted to make sure I got to enjoy every minute of today. Even if today technically was tomorrow since it was past midnight. Arrgh, never mind. I had a sexy Viking to pillage.
Eric and I kissed deeply, then even deeper and finally I was afraid we would be switching tongues. Our hands roamed frantically through each other`s hair, down each other`s backs and trying to remove each other`s clothes.
It was a pretty easy task for me since Eric was only wearing his boxers, but I had to make a long cotton night gown disappear. After some tugging and pulling, I sat up and pulled it over my head.
When my nightgown was covering my face, Eric launched himself on my breasts. He sucked one and caressed the other and as soon as the nightgown was on the floor, he pushed me down on my back, got in between my thighs with his knees and kissed my breasts even more intensely.
Eric was sweet and intense at the same time. It felt as if he also wanted to make a lasting impression. And he certainly managed.
Soon he was kissing my lips, and I don`t mean the ones on my face. I arched my back at the intense pleasure he was building. He sucked, licked and nibbled with his lips in a speed that pushed me uphill to Grand Orgasm Canyon. Before I knew it, I was standing on the edge of a very deep free fall. An extra suck and I was flowing out in the air, screaming Eric`s name so loudly and for such a long time, the letter E was becoming threatened by extinction because of my overuse.
I was just about to land from my orgasm, when I felt someone knocking at my door. My legs knew what was coming and spread out wide and tucked the ankles around Eric`s waist. Eric pulled back a little and whispered “condom?” I cursed loudly because I didn`t have any, but Eric jumped out of the bed, ran out of my room and came back sporting a huge grin – and a latex covered Gracious Plenty.
I couldn`t help laughing and Eric jumped back into bed with me.
Eric stretched out over my body, kissing my mouth deeply and entering me slowly and with a deep moan from the both of us.
Eric was not in a hurry. It was obvious that he wanted to save every taste, sound and smell tonight. I also had my mental scrap book out, taking mental pictures and making fun little notes. This was definitely something to remember on a rainy day.
My orgasm jar was filled that night.
Tomorrow we would hear what Chow had to say and we would plan a counterattack involving Eric`s mother – against Eric`s will.
A/N:
I know, I know, I`m keeping you at the edge of your seat for the action, but as you can see – I prefer to write the Eric-Sookie part. I hope you don`t mind 😉