A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. The are the property and creation of the wonderful Charlaine Harris.

I hadn't seen my best friend Pam in over a year. She'd decided after we went on vacation to Sweden our senior year of college, that she wanted to move there–permanently. I would miss my best friend but I didn't have a problem with her moving because I would now have a cool place to visit. We had such a great time in Sweden that I couldn't wait to go back. The more I thought about it, the more excited I got and planned to visit Pam her first month there. Except that I wasn't able to visit like I wanted and we kind of lost touch for a few months.

I had gotten so busy at my job that I didn't have time to talk to my Gran, much less anyone else. Gran and I lived together and I hardly got to see her. We would have dinner together every night but other than that, we had a 'hi and bye' relationship. I felt bad about it but my career was important and the one thing I could call my own. Gran understood that and didn't hold it against me.

The reason Gran doesn't hold it against me is that I've taken over for her at our family bakery. Adele's Sweet Shop has been in our family since I can remember. Gran's actually the person that got me into baking. She'd let me help her in the kitchen at home when I was four, then when I was old enough she took me to the bakery with her. I loved sitting on the countertop mixing ingredients to make cookies or pies. She was always so patient when teaching me something new. She thought I was a natural and worked with me to harness my talent.

So, every day I open the shop at six and close at five. Good thing I'm a morning person otherwise I'd never be able to get out of bed at the butt crack of dawn to bake for anyone. I do have some regulars at the shop considering the small town we live in, but for the most part we get people from as far as Monroe. I love going into work every day but didn't realize how much work Gran put into running the bakery on a daily basis.

Baking is stressful. Well, only when there's a rush order put through for one of our biggest clients like the Bellefleurs. I may loathe Portia Bellefleur but her grandmother Caroline orders a fresh pie from us every day. She also orders a plethora of breakfast confections for her weekly bridge club–Danish, croissants, scones, turnovers. The woman has very particular tastes and can piss me off to no end when she gets a bug up her butt. But she's a regular customer and that's what I need to stay in business.

When I wasn't baking I was in bed. I was so wiped out that after I ate dinner at six I went straight to bed. Except, I didn't sleep much. My mind was always filled with new recipe ideas. I have some of Gran's old recipes memorized but I try to come up with something new at least every two weeks. Talk about not having a life. My old high school friend, Tara, would call me up every Saturday night looking to drag me out to Merlotte's. I just couldn't do it. I always plan to spend my Saturday's in bed, sleeping. You never realize how much of a luxury sleep is until you've deprived yourself of it for days at a time.

This vacation was well needed and long overdue. I could not wait to get on that plane to Stockholm. I booked my flight just after talking to Pam and told Gran of my plans. She would have pushed me out the door right then if I hadn't been across the room from her. She knew how hard I worked and thought it was time I took a break. It wasn't my fault people loved my sweets. Heck, who doesn't love a fresh baked apple pie?

Gran assured me she could handle the bakery for the week I would be gone. If nothing else, she'd get Mrs. Fortenberry to help her out. That old woman loved to bake. I never thought she was any good at it but Gran was too kind to turn her away if she wanted to help. She'd just go behind her back and fix whatever it was she ruined, which usually turned out to be anything she touched.

I'd gotten up extra early the day of my flight. I wanted to get to Stockholm before the sun went down. I wasn't sure how I'd be able to do that considering the six-hour time difference (they were ahead) and the long ass flight. I managed to make it to the airport on time and kissed Gran goodbye. She insisted on seeing me off. I told her I would call her when I arrived, although it may be late. I boarded the plane and sank into my seat, prepared to get some shut-eye. Boy was I wrong.

There was no way I could sleep once I saw the guy that was sitting across from me. He was tall, dark and handsome. He had the most exuberant green eyes I'd ever seen on a person. His dark hair was tousled wildly as if he couldn't keep his hands out of it. I know I licked my lips when I looked at him, but if he noticed he didn't make it known. I smiled when he glanced up at me and sighed when he looked away. Damn it, I needed to get laid. Here I am checking out a hot guy on a plane and all I can think of is joining the mile-high club.

I settled back into my seat again, pulled my notebook from my purse and began to doodle. I was determined to come up with a new recipe to try when I got back and hadn't had any thoughts until looking at the guy sitting across the way. Dark chocolate, whipped cream, banana, walnuts. I started listing ingredients before thinking of combining them into a cake–a tall, dark, banana nut cake. Mmm…I could feel my mouth watering just thinking about it. I must have moaned out loud as the stranger cleared his throat. I opened my eyes and looked over at him.

"You must be writing something very delicious over there to have you moaning and licking your lips. Can I ask what it is?"

"Sure, I was just coming up with a new cake recipe."

"Oh. I love cake. I'm Alcide by the way."

"Sookie, Sookie Stackhouse. It's nice to meet you, Alcide."

"Not as nice as it is to meet you, Sookie." He licked his lips that time. My, what beautiful lips they were. Pink, full, hiding a set of gleaming white teeth. Unh!

We spent the rest of the flight to New York talking about what he does (writer) where he's headed (home to New York) and what he was doing in Louisiana (visiting family). There was no mention of a girlfriend and I have to say the smile on my face was a permanent one. I couldn't help it. He was like a breath of fresh air compared to the guys I was used to dealing with day in and day out. He was charming, sophisticated and sexy as hell. We parted ways at the airport but not before he gave me his card and asked me to contact him when I got back from vacation. I could not wait for this week to be over.

Seeing Pam again was like we'd never been apart. We hugged and chatted as if we'd been together the past year. She stood out very little amongst the other tall, gorgeous, blondes walking around the airport. What I wasn't expecting was the surprise Pam had brought with her. She had a new boyfriend and she thought that he could be the one. We always interviewed our prospective "soul mates" for one another. It became a sort of ritual with us, so I wasn't surprised she wanted me to meet him to see what I thought. I was so caught off guard by her news that I forgot to mention meeting Alcide on the plane. She would tell me I should have "hit that" and to give him a booty call when I get back to the States.

I didn't want to interrupt her enthusiasm so I let her prattle on about her guy. She'd sent him off to get my luggage so I hadn't glimpsed him yet. We walked out to her car in the underground garage. She managed to send him a text in between sentences, telling him where we'd be so he could find us. We'd been there about five minutes before he walked over to the car. As soon as I saw him I think my heart stopped. He was the most beautiful man I'd ever laid eyes on.

He had to be at least 6'4" tall, with shoulder length blonde hair, (almost the same shade as mine I'd noticed) with the deepest shade of blue for eyes that I'd ever seen. He looked as if he had sapphires in place of his irises. They were breathtaking. His hair cascaded over his shoulders as he placed my bag in the trunk of the car before standing up to his full height. The day old stubble on his dimpled chin was just delectable. I caught myself thinking about running my tongue up and down that dimple while sucking on his chin. But this couldn't be Pam's boyfriend, could it?

The sound of the trunk lid slamming into place made me jump and brought me out of my blatantly opened mouth gape, which was just plain embarrassing. Pam smiled over at me shaking her head. She's such a bitch.

I knew that I'd already met him during our Swedish vacation. We'd had a one-night stand which turned into a few days–a few mind-blowing, earth shattering, left me walking funny–days. Pam was off on some of her typical exploits so she hadn't noticed my absence every night during that week. To be honest, she probably never returned to our hotel until the day we left to return home.

"Sookie, this is Eric. Eric, this is my best friend Sookie." Wow, was all I could think. I stood gaping for another minute before Pam nudged me and I offered my hand for him to shake.

"N-nice to meet you. Eric?" When I'd met him it was Leif.

"Nice to meet you too, Sookie." So, we're playing that game are we?

This was going to be a fun week.

The drive to Pam's house was interesting, to say the least. She talked non-stop while Eric drove. I sat in the back seat smiling, nodding and adding my two cents when necessary. There was so much to catch up on and Pam apparently wanted to make sure I knew everything there was to know about the last year in the half hour it took us to drive to her place. Or was it their place? She hadn't said they lived together. If they did, things would be really awkward. There's no way I could sleep under the same roof with Eric.

He would sneak a glance back at me in the rearview mirror every so often. That shit was making me nervous. His dark blue orbs were glowing under the overhead lights that shone into the car. I tried not to look up at his reflection but something drew me to his gaze. He would look at me for a few seconds before watching the road again. I wanted to hide my face in my palm but Pam would notice something was up.

"And we'll have to go shopping while you're here because it's obvious you didn't take into account the weather would be cooler here. I'm sure you don't have a jacket or a coat do you?"

"No, I uh."

"It's okay, we'll go out first thing tomorrow morning. For now we'll get you settled in so you can get a little beauty rest before I take you out on the town. You know this will not be a relaxing vacation. I haven't seen you in so long that we have to spend every waking second together. As a matter of fact we should have a slumber party."

"Pam, we're not teenagers for crying out loud. What, are we going to do each other's hair and gossip?"

"Exactly. Maybe I'll do your nails too because they look horrid Sookie. What have you been doing with yourself in Bon Temps?"

"Working for a living. We're not all privileged like you Pamela." She hated when I called her Pamela. I only did it to annoy her. She usually left me alone after that.

"Fuck you, Stackhouse. It's not my fault my father is rich."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't trade places with anyone else now would you? You snobby bitch!" She laughed.

"Just be glad I've lowered my standards when accepting you as a friend. You know how it would look for me to be seen with common folk such as yourself."

"Ouch! You've wounded my pride. Now I'll be depressed the rest of my stay. Seriously, I'm sorry I've been so busy. You know I would have come sooner if I could, right?"

"Yes my love, I know. Don't worry about it. You're here now and you can make it up to me."

We pulled up to her flat and Eric went to the rear of the car to retrieve my bag. Pam ran to the front door being greeted by her doorman and led the way to the elevator. We didn't have to wait long as the doors opened as soon as I approached. Eric being as tall as he is took three steps to catch up to Pam. I had to jog to keep up. We filed into the elevator, Pam and I on either side of Eric. His fingers grazed mine as he moved to allow us to exit the elevator. I felt a jolt pass through us and dropped my head to hide my shame. I cannot have feelings for some guy I had a fling with over a year ago. But I think I did.

Pam is going to kill me.

We enter the flat and Eric hands me my bag. I try to keep our fingers from touching again and manage to clumsily drop the bag onto my foot.

"Ow! Way to go Stackhouse." I chided myself.

"Are you all right Sookie?" Eric looked concerned.

"I'm fine just klutzy is all. Uh, Pam, where am I sleeping?"

"Right this way." She led me back to a bedroom that was bigger than my little hole I called a room at Gran's.

"Wow, this place is beautiful Pammy. How long have you been here?"

"Oh, um, just a little over six months. I just talked Eric into moving in with me. He didn't want to but I always get my way."

Eric appeared out of the blue as if he'd heard his name being called. He stood in the doorway watching me for a second before he got Pam's attention.

"Pam, your phone. It's your father."

"Oh, thanks. Sookie I have to take this, I'll be right back."

I wanted to beg her, no, plead with her to not leave me alone but she was gone in a flash. I was left in a bedroom with Eric staring down at me like a ravenous vampire. I had to think fast so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"So, Leif?"

"It's my middle name."

"Right?"

"No, it is. I'm Eric L. Northman. You can check my license if you don't believe me." He pulled it out to show to me. Eric L. Northman. Damn!

"Why isn't your accent as pronounced? When I met you, you sounded more…"

"Swedish? I lay the accent on a little thick when I meet American girls. They seem to like it. Gives them a more authentic experience." I was getting pissed.

"Oh, so you typically have flings with American girls who are on vacation?"

"No, not flings. Not usually. You and I, it wasn't a fling for me." I shivered as his breath ghosted across my skin. He leaned in closer to my ear and I could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Well, that's um. Yeah. How did you meet Pam?"I had to change the subject. Just thinking about what he said made me ache for him. Yes, I still remembered how he felt moving in me, hovering over me, giving me pleasure. If I remembered, I'm sure he did too.

"When she first moved here, we bumped into one another and just hit it off. She kind of reminded me of you–blonde hair, blue eyes, beautiful. I still think about you, you know."

"Eric, you can't say things like that to me. You're with Pam and she's my best friend."I backed away needing to put space between us. His scent was intoxicating and making me crazy.

"I know that but I still want you. The way you left, Sookie, I didn't want it to end." Pam came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"So what are you two talking about?"

"Um, just the scenery. I love your place Pam. I can't wait to come back and visit again." That was lame. She'll know I'm covering. Shit.

"Unh, huh. You could have come to visit anytime you wanted Sook, you know that."

"Yeah well…"

"If you ladies would excuse me, I think I'll leave you two to catch up. Pam, I'll see you later." He leaned in to kiss her. She offered him her cheek. I wondered where he was going since he lived here now.

"Bye," we said in unison.

"So, Miss Stackhouse, you care to tell me what I really walked in on?"

Shit. Damn. Motherfucker!

A/N: Thanks to my lovely, wonderful beta hearttorn who convinced me to post this now instead of later. Let me know what you think. Review!