Sookie Stackhouse 8-copy Boxed Set (179 page)

I didn’t get many invitations, so receiving it added to my sense of well-being. Three other teachers were giving the shower, and the invitation designated kitchen gifts. How timely, since I was on my way to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Clarice.

After a lot of thought, I bought a two-quart Corning Ware casserole dish. Those were always handy. (I also got fruit juice, sharp cheddar, bacon, gift paper, and a really pretty blue bra and matching panties, but that’s beside the point.)

After I’d gotten home and unloaded my purchases, I wrapped the boxed casserole dish in some silvery paper and stuck a big white bow on it. I wrote the date and time of the shower on my calendar, and I put the invitation on top of the present. I was on top of the shower situation.

Riding high on a crest of virtue, I wiped down the inside and outside of my new refrigerator after I’d eaten lunch. I washed a load of clothes in my new washer, wishing for the hundredth time that my cabinets were in place since I was tired of looking for things in the clutter on the floor.

I walked through the house to make sure it looked nice, since Quinn was picking me up. Not even letting myself think, I changed my sheets and cleaned my bathroom—not that I had any intention of falling into bed with Quinn, but it’s better to be prepared than not, right? Besides, it just made me feel good, knowing that everything was clean and nice. Fresh towels in both bathrooms, a light dusting around the living room and bedroom, a quick circuit with the vacuum. Before I got in the shower, I even swept the porches, though I knew they would be covered again in a yellow haze before I got back from my date.

I let the sun dry my hair, probably getting it full of pollen, too. I put on my makeup carefully; I didn’t wear a lot, but it was fun to apply it for something more interesting than work. A little eye shadow, a lot of mascara, some powder and lipstick. Then I put on my new date underwear. It made me feel special from the skin on out: midnight blue lace. I looked in the full-length mirror to check out the effect. I gave myself a thumbs-up. You have to cheer for yourself, right?

The outfit I’d bought from Tara’s Togs was royal blue and made out of some heavy knit that hung beautifully. I zipped up the pants and put on the top. It was sleeveless and it wrapped across my breasts and tied. I experimented with the depth of cleavage, at last picking a degree of revelation I was sure toed the line between sexy and cheap.

I got my black wrap out of the closet, the one Alcide had given me to replace one Debbie Pelt had vandalized. I’d need it later in the evening. I slipped into my black sandals. I experimented with jewelry, finally settling on a plain gold chain (it had been my grandmother’s) and plain ball earrings.

Hah!

There was a knock on the front door, and I glanced at the clock, a bit surprised that Quinn was fifteen minutes early. I hadn’t heard his truck, either. I opened the door to find not Quinn, but Eric, standing there.

I am sure he enjoyed my gasp of surprise.

Never open your door without checking. Never assume you know who’s on the other side. That’s why I’d gotten the peepholes! Stupid me. Eric must have flown, since I couldn’t see a car anywhere.

“May I come in?” Eric asked politely. He had looked me over. After appreciating the view, he realized it hadn’t been designed with him in mind. He wasn’t happy. “I suppose you’re expecting company?”

“As a matter of fact I am, and actually, I’d rather you stayed on that side of the doorsill,” I said. I stepped back so he couldn’t reach me.

“You told Pam that you didn’t want to come to Shreveport,” he said. Oh yes, he was angry. “So here I am, to find out why you don’t answer my call.” Usually, his accent was very slight, but tonight I noticed that it was pronounced.

“I didn’t have time,” I said. “I’m going out tonight.”

“So I see,” he said, more quietly. “Who are you going out with?”

“Is that really any of your business?” I met his eyes, challengingly.

“Of course it is,” he said.

I was disconcerted. “And that would be why?” I rallied a little.

“You should be mine. I have slept with you, I have cared for you, I have . . . assisted you financially.”

“You paid me money you owed me, for services rendered,” I answered. “You may have slept with me, but not recently, and you’ve shown no signs of wanting to do so again. If you care for me, you’re showing it in a mighty strange way. I never heard that ‘total avoidance aside from orders coming from flunkies’ was a valid way to show caring.” This was a jumbled sentence, okay, but I knew he got it.

“You’re calling Pam a flunky?” He had a ghost of smile on his lips. Then he got back to being miffed. I could tell because he began dropping his contractions. “I do not have to hang around you to show you. I am sheriff. You . . . you are in my retinue.”

I knew my mouth was hanging open, but I couldn’t help it. “Catching flies,” my grandmother had called that expression, and I felt like I was catching plenty of them. “Your retinue?” I managed to splutter. “Well,
up
you and your retinue. You don’t tell me what to do!”

“You are obliged to go with me to the conference,” Eric said, his mouth tense and his eyes blazing. “That was why I called you to Shreveport, to talk to you about travel time and arrangements.”

“I’m not obliged to go anywhere with you. You got outranked, buddy.”

“Buddy?
Buddy
?”

And it would have degenerated from there, if Quinn hadn’t pulled up. Instead of arriving in his truck, Quinn was in a Lincoln Continental. I felt a moment of sheer snobbish pleasure at the thought of riding in it. I’d selected the pants outfit at least partly because I thought I’d be scrambling up into a pickup, but I was just as pleased to slither into a luxurious car. Quinn came across the lawn and mounted the porch with an understated speed. He didn’t look as though he was hurrying, but suddenly he was there, and I was smiling at him, and he looked wonderful. He was wearing a dark gray suit, a dark purple shirt, and a tie that blended the two colors in a paisley pattern. He was wearing one earring, a simple gold hoop.

Eric had fang showing.

“Hello, Eric,” Quinn said calmly. His deep voice rumbled along my spine. “Sookie, you look good enough to eat.” He smiled at me, and the tremors along my spine spread into another area entirely. I would never have believed that in Eric’s presence I could think another man was attractive. I’d have been wrong to think so.

“You look very nice, too,” I said, trying not to beam like an idiot. It was not cool to drool.

Eric said, “What have you been telling Sookie, Quinn?”

The two tall men looked at each other. I didn’t believe I was the source of their animosity. I was a symptom, not the disease. Something lay underneath this.

“I’ve been telling Sookie that the queen requires Sookie’s presence at the conference as part of her party, and that the queen’s summons supercedes yours,” Quinn said flatly.

“Since when has the queen given orders through a shifter?” Eric said, contempt flattening his voice.

“Since this shifter performed a valuable service for her in the line of business,” Quinn answered, with no hesitation. “Mr. Cataliades suggested to Her Majesty that I might be helpful in a diplomatic capacity, and my partners were glad to give me extra time to perform any duties she might give me.”

I wasn’t totally sure I was following this, but I got the gist of it.

Eric was incensed, to use a good entry from my Word of the Day calendar. In fact, his eyes were almost throwing sparks, he was so angry. “This woman has been mine, and she will be mine,” he said, in tones so definite I thought about checking my rear end for a brand.

Quinn shifted his gaze to me. “Babe, are you his, or not?” he asked.

“Not,” I said.

“Then let’s go enjoy the show,” Quinn said. He didn’t seem frightened, or even concerned. Was this his true reaction, or was he presenting a façade? Either way, it was pretty impressive.

I had to pass by Eric on my way to Quinn’s car. I looked up at him, because I couldn’t help it. Being close to him while he was this angry was not a safe thing, and I needed to be on my guard. Eric was seldom crossed in serious matters, and my annexation by the Queen of Louisiana—his queen—was a serious matter. My date with Quinn was sticking in his throat, too. Eric was just going to have to swallow.

Then we were both in the car, belted in, and Quinn did an expert backing maneuver to point the Lincoln back to Hummingbird Road. I breathed out, slowly and carefully. It took a few quiet moments for me to feel calm again. Gradually my hands relaxed. I realized the silence had been building. I gave myself a mental shake. “Do you go to the theater often, as you’re traveling around?” I asked socially.

He laughed, and the deep, rich sound of it filled up the car. “Yes,” he said. “I go to the movies and the theater and any sporting event that’s going on. I like to see people do things. I don’t watch much television. I like to get out of my hotel room or my apartment and watch things happen or make them happen myself.”

“So do you dance?”

He gave me a quick glance. “I do.”

I smiled. “I like to dance.” And I was actually pretty good at dancing, not that I got many chances to practice. “I’m no good at singing,” I admitted, “but I really, really enjoy dancing.”

“That sounds promising.”

I thought we’d have to see how this evening went before we made any dancing dates, but at least we knew there was something we both liked to do. “I like movies,” I said. “But I don’t think I’ve ever been to any live sports besides high school games. But those, I do attend. Football, basketball, baseball . . . I go to ’em all, when my job will let me.”

“Did you play a sport in school?” Quinn asked. I confessed that I’d played softball, and he told me he’d played basketball, which, considering his height, was no surprise at all.

Quinn was easy to talk to. He listened when I spoke. He drove well; at least he didn’t curse at the other drivers, like Jason did. My brother tended to be on the impatient side when he drove.

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was waiting for that moment—you know the one I mean—the moment when your date suddenly confesses to something you just can’t stomach: he reveals himself as a racist or homophobe, admits he’d never marry anyone but another Baptist (Southerner, brunette, marathon runner, whatever), tells you about his children by his first three wives, describes his fondness for being paddled, or relates his youthful experiences in blowing up frogs or torturing cats. After that moment, no matter how much fun you have, you know it’s not going anywhere. And I didn’t even have to wait for a guy to tell me this stuff verbally; I could read it right out of his head before we even dated.

Never popular with the regular guys, me. Whether they admitted it or not, they couldn’t stand the idea of going out with a girl who knew exactly how often they jacked off, had a lusty thought about another woman, or wondered how their teacher looked with her clothes off.

Quinn came around and opened my door when we parked across the street from the Strand, and he took my hand as we crossed the street. I enjoyed the courtesy.

There were lots of people going into the theater, and they all seemed to look at Quinn. Of course, a bald guy as tall as Quinn is going to get some stares. I was trying not to think about his hand; it was very large and very warm and very dry.

“They’re all looking at you,” he said, as he pulled the tickets from his pocket, and I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” I said.

“Why else would they be staring?”

“At you,” I said, amazed.

He laughed out loud, that deep laugh that made me vibrate inside.

We had very good seats, right in the middle and toward the front of the theater. Quinn filled up his seat, no doubt about it, and I wondered if the people behind him could see. I looked at my program with some curiosity, found I didn’t recognize the names of the any of the actors in the production, and decided I didn’t care at all. I glanced up to find that Quinn was staring at me. I felt my face flood with color. I’d folded my black wrap and placed it in my lap, and I had the abrupt desire to pull my top higher to cover every inch of my cleavage.

“Definitely looking at you,” he said, and smiled. I ducked my head, pleased but self-conscious.

Lots of people have seen
The Producers.
I don’t need to describe the plot, except to say it’s about gullible people and lovable rascals, and it’s very funny. I enjoyed every minute. It was marvelous to watch people performing right in front of me on such a professional level. The guest star, the one whom the older people in the audience seemed to recognize, swashed through the lead role with this amazing assurance. Quinn laughed too, and after the intermission he took my hand again. My fingers closed around his quite naturally, and I didn’t feel self-conscious about the contact.

Suddenly it was an hour later, and the play was over. We stood up along with everyone else, though we could tell it would take a while for the theater to clear out. Quinn took my wrap and held it for me, and I threw it around me. He was sorry I was covering myself up—I got that directly from his brain.

“Thank you,” I said, tugging on his sleeve to make sure he was looking at me. I wanted him to know how much I meant it. “That was just great.”

“I enjoyed it, too. You want to go get something to eat?”

“Okay,” I said, after a moment.

“You had to think about it?”

I had actually sort of flash-thought about several different items. If I’d enumerated them, it’d have run something like,
He must be having a good time or he wouldn’t suggest more of the evening. I have to get up and go to work tomorrow but I don’t want to miss this opportunity. If we go to eat I have to be careful not to spill anything on my new clothes. Will it be okay to spend even more of his money, since the tickets cost so much?