Turnpike

What If you never thought you would find the man of your dreams? Do you ever get a second chance?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, Charlaine Harris does and I am just playing with them for a bit and bringing in a few new friends.

Author's comments: While writing this story I wanted to give some of the characters their chance to talk. When I change from Sookie's POV to another I will let you know. The story is mainly written in her point of view but it will change from time to time.

Chapter 1- LUST

Lust, it is just a four letter word.

Have you ever saw someone and thought damn he is HOT!

Have you seen someone everyday but don't know his name?

Have you ever thought you connected with someone across the room by just looking into their eyes?

Have you ever had such lust for someone after the first glance, second glance, etc and it made your panties all wet.

Well I have.

Every day I travel the same road to work and every day I go through the same construction zone on the turnpike and every day I see the same gorgeous man and every day I say damn I wish he was mine.

Sigh

I have to be nuts if I think he actually can see me in the parking lot of cars progressing ever so slowly through the construction zone in the pretzel like loop connecting two major highways here in Ft Lauderdale.

I have lived here all my life and I have never once seen a man as gorgeous as him working on a construction crew.

It has to be a mistake, maybe he is an office person and he is visiting the site or maybe he is an actor getting hands on experience for a part. Whatever he is I cannot take my eyes off of him every morning as I pass the section he is usually working in.

Sigh, what is wrong with me.

It all started about two months ago. I was stuck in traffic for a lot longer than usual and my car was stopped in the same space for so long you think I parked it, so needless to say I was singing along with my radio and daydreaming … when I snap out of my haze I see this man, this Adonis, sitting on a girder on the side of the road right next to my car. He is staring into my car and just looking at me with this wide smile on his face. The smile literally goes from ear to ear and brightens up his face.

Damn, how long has he been there watching me? Was he there when the traffic stopped?

Shit, I am starting to freak out a bit.

I decide my best course of action is to ignore him because how often will I actually see him right. It's not like we know one another and it is probably just a fluke that he is there. So I face forward and continue to sing along with my song and wait for the cars in front of me to move. It feels like forever that he is next to me and just as he gets off the girder and heads towards me the cars ahead of me start to move.

My first thought was he coming over to talk to me?

Silly me, yeah it what millennium will that happen, right…. Then I think he just has to get back to work since the traffic is starting to move forward… But as I look in my side mirror I see him frown a bit.

I wonder what that was all about.

I guess I will never know because I do not know him or his name and this is a once in a life time sighting, right.

Now here is the odd thing, every day after that first day I see this same man…. Some days I only see his back side and what a glorious back side it is…. Some days I see him looking out at the slow moving traffic, like he is searching for something… sometimes I see him sitting in one of the construction trucks, you know the ones with the annoying blinking lights on the tail gate, there must be fifteen lights on it all flashing at different speeds.

My sighting as you can call them happen almost every day for the next two months. It's like having a Big Foot/ Sasquatch sighting… I know bad analogy but seriously I feel like he is lurking behind something and then BAM he is out in the open; only for me to have to move on and he disappears again for another day.

I started seeing him back at the end of July when the construction kicked into high gear and now two months later as Fall is upon us it is time for me to go on vacation. I have grown accustomed to seeing him every day that I think it is going to be difficult for me to go the next two weeks without seeing him at all.

I don't understand why he is affecting me so, it's not like I know him or that we are in a relationship or anything. Hell, I haven't dated in over two years since I broke it off with my fiancée, whose name I will not say since the day I found in MY BED with his ex-girlfriend.

Nope that name and that man are dead to me.

So here I am waiting to catch my last glance of him before my vacation starts tomorrow. But so far no luck, there is only a little bit more of the construction zone left before I am free and clear and I have yet to catch a glance.

I am starting to muse about my vacation time, where I will be going, what I won't be doing and the peace and quiet I will have that I almost miss him.

As I come out of my little dream muse I see someone on the side of the road to my left. I have to look a couple of times because I think I have literally dropped off the deep end. But no, there he is, freaking shirtless and pouring water over his head to cool himself off. I have to jar myself out of myself induce coma so that I don't get into an accident as I stare him down.

How the hell can someone affect me that way and I don't even know him?

I am sure if there are any other women watching him right now they are thinking the same thing as me.

Was this show for me? Of course it was!

I can feel the smile on my face.

The kicker is that I have stopped my car in the middle of the fucking road and just staring at his tan, well built body with abs to die for. I can feel the drool rolling down my chin and I feel my panties getting wetter by the minute.

I am brought out of my haze by a tap on my window by one of the construction workers on the right side of my car; he asks me if everything is okay. I nod and then put my car in drive and get the hell out of there.

I was fifty shades of red by the time I got to work. What the hell was I thinking stopping my car like that and just staring at my man?

OH yeah that's right he not mine, just an imaginary boy friend for me. But that little display from him will be a reoccurring thought in my dreams. Look out purple rabbit you are going to get a work out while I'm on vacation.

The day goes by quickly since I have everything lined up to be on vacation and I didn't want to leave any surprises for my team mate… I was even able to finalize a couple of my plans for my vacation instead of waiting until I get there tomorrow.

I usually go to the same place every year to unwind from the previous year and relax.

My destination is the west coast of Florida to a small city called Sanibel Island which is attached to Captiva; it is so quiet there after the kids go back to school. The months of October and November are the best months to visit families are usually not on vacation during this time. Going now is right before the Gulf gets too cold to swim in, plus it is the perfect time to see the dolphins close up to the shore.

I know I should travel and see new places but I would rather travel with someone if I was going to go so far away from home plus I just need the quiet and this place is my heaven.

I always drive over so that I can have my car to go into Naples and Marco Island; I found that I tend to get bored just sitting on the beach and soaking up the rays day after day and god forbid it rains.

It takes me about 3 hours in travel time to get over there since I take my time and enjoy the solitude.

Even though I live by myself and my only companion is my cat Tina, I am happy. I didn't think I would be happy after my break up but it has taken me a little bit of time to realize he who shall not be named brought me down into a place I should have never went. I lost contact with my closest friends and ignored my family. I wasn't in a good place so the breakup served two purposes.

It freed me from an asshole and I gained control of my life.

I needed to be Sookie Stackhouse again.

Yeah I have dated since then but nothing worth mentioning. Until the Adonis came into my life, but who am I kidding that will never happen he doesn't know I exist.

I finally reach my hotel, 'Tween Waters Inn Island Resort, I love this place I have been coming back for years and I always get the same room on the first floor since I am considered a regular.

Plus the beach is not that far away so I can walk.

I quickly get unpacked and sit on my balcony, it's a nice day with a bit of a breeze so I get my book and settle down in the chaise lounge for a good relaxing read. My night is pretty much spent the same way but I am here to relax and unwind. I am not much of a drinker so going to the bars and clubbing is not my thing. If I want to drink I will go to a liquor store and buy what I need, mix my own drinks in my own room and if I do get a bit drunk I can just stagger over to my bed and pass out..

I know boring but I learned after my first year here. A tipsy Sookie is not a good thing, I lose my better judgment and I am afraid I become a bit brazen with the opposite sex. I have no problems with people having one night stands and such but I am not one of those people, I think I would feel too weird doing it and sneaking out of their room… I did it once and my inner demons killed the rest of my holiday for me so much so that I left early so I could get checked out at the doctor to may sure I wasn't given any diseases. I know paranoid but I had never done that before and vowed I would never do it again.

I guess you can say it's not my cup of tea. Yeah I am a bit old fashioned I guess but better safe than sorry.

The next day was by far the best day of my life, I was in awe as it unfolded and I still can't believe it happened.

I left the hotel early and got a nice spot on the beach. I sat up my beach chair and towel, lathered on some sunscreen and just sat there watching the dolphins play off the shoreline. I had been there for about a half hour when I noticed a tall blond man out of the corner of my right eye…. He looked so familiar but I didn't know from where… I stared at him for a few minutes that the man caught me staring at him.

Just a little embarrassing, don't ya think.

So what did I do, I turned toward the shoreline and ignored him.

I decided it was best for me to watch the dolphins instead of the man that had set up his chair about 50ft away from me.

I did not know what I was going to do next, the man intrigued me and I caught myself looking his was every so often. I did not notice him staring back at me until I turned my head to the north to see people walking down the beach towards us.

I figured that was my cue to go back to the hotel or sunbathe and read a book or play catch with the dolphins.

So what do you think I did?

Yup, I blew up my beach ball and walked toward the shoreline. I went in calf deep so that I could move around a bit. I had been able to do this every year so I knew as long as I could catch the attention of one of the dolphins I could play catch with them for a bit and I also knew not to go in past waist deep because I always missed the ball when it was thrown back to me. I had face planted one too many times in the past by going into deep and trying to jump up out of the water.

What's the saying, white woman can't jump, LOL… I prove that every time I try while I am in a bikini.

I know legally we are not supposed to play with the dolphins but I am usually by myself so I do what feels right. I almost forgot the man was there until he yelled out to me to stop or I would get hurt by them.

So what do I do, I ignore him and continue to play with my new friends.

There is a pod of five dolphins in the surf with me, four adults and a young calf. I throw the ball and one automatically throws it back. He must have played catch before. I can't be sure but I am pretty sure it's the same pod of dolphins I play with every year but I don't ever get close to them to see markings to find out.

They never get more than 10 feet away from me and I am having a great time until I get hit by a wave and it sucks me down into the undertow.

Let me tell you that is some scary ass shit.

I fight my way back up and I realize one of the dolphins has come to my aid. I feel him nudge me a bit and I relax a bit. I feel for his dorsal fin and he brings me back up. I cough a little and swim back toward the shoreline and get my bearings.

I push my hair out of my face, right my bikini top and look for the ball.

I look around in the water but all I see are the dolphins and no ball. I turn toward the beach and see the beach ball in the hands of the man that sat down near me on the beach.

As he walks towards me, shirtless and in board shorts, I realize who this man is coming towards me.

FUCK ME sideways it's my Adonis from the turnpike crew, Oh shit.