A/N: Thanks for all the amazing comments on my other stories! Writing for Luke/Reid is a blast, and I'm glad you guys enjoy it! This is another continuation-type thingy of my other fics 'Oliver vs. Channing,' 'Kung POW!' and 'Sloppy.' Hope you like it!
Luke was nervous. He tapped his pencil on the table, the thwacking of the eraser against the wood an oddly comforting sound. His eyes scanned across the convoluted lines of the blueprint laid out before him, one plan merging with another until all he could see was pencil marks and numbers.
It had been nearly a week since he and Reid had . . . well, since they had had sex. The memory of their short night was burned into Luke's brain, flashing against the back of his eyelids every time he tried to sleep or nap or even just blink.
The taste of his lips.
The movement on his hands.
Luke tapped the pencil harder, his eyes glazing over at the memory of Reid kissing and licking his way down Luke's—
"Sweetie, what're you still doing up?"
Luke jumped at the sound of his mother's voice. He looked up at the doorway of the kitchen and saw her leaning against the frame in her robe. He tossed the pencil on the table and gave her a shaky smile.
"Hey." Luke cleared his throat. "I couldn't sleep."
Lily entered the kitchen and stood at the other end of the table. "Still looking over those blueprints?"
Luke raked a hand through his hair and nodded. "Yeah." He lowered his head, hoping his mother wouldn't see the flush on his cheeks from his salacious thoughts about a certain doctor who everyone seemed to hate.
"I thought you and Dr. Oliver already went over them together?" Lily asked, moving around the table to her son.
"Yeah, well . . . he's been busy."
"Oh, sweetie." Lily stroked the hair away from her son's eyes. "Is that man still giving you trouble?"
It took all of Luke's energy not to laugh. Like you wouldn't believe, he thought. "No, he's fine—I mean, he-he's okay. He's a doctor, you know, he's always gonna be busy." Luke mumbled the last part, feeling bitter that the man was blowing him off after . . . well, after everything they had been through.
"Well, this is his project, Luke," Lily said. "If he can't make time for it, there's no reason you should wait around for him to make a move."
Luke looked at his mother. He knew she was talking about the neurological wing he had been funding for Reid, but there was a versatility in her advice that made his spirits rise. If Reid wouldn't talk to him, Luke was going to initiate the conversation. One way or another.
"Thanks, Mom," Luke said, a smiling forming on his lips.
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Reid was awoken by a buzzing in his ear, the sound of a thousand bees swarming him at once. In his half-conscious state, he thought he was going deaf, the vibrating noise the last swan song of his eardrums before they burst like soap bubbles—
Reid snapped his eyes open, his face half-buried in the pillow as he lay on his stomach. He looked at the nightstand and saw his cell phone pulsating with every ring. He looked at the clock. 10:30 pm.
"Uggh."
Reid reached his hand over, blindly groping for his cell phone. He looked at the number and felt his heart jump into his throat. Snyder. His fear was quickly replaced with anger. What right did that kid have to call him just as he was falling asleep?
Dr. Oliver flipped his phone open and pressed it to his ear. "Mr. Snyder, unless your brains are leaking from your eye sockets, I'd rather get back to sleep and not bother with you."
"We need to talk," Luke said.
Reid pushed himself up from the bed and turned onto his side. He switched the phone to his other ear. "What part of 'I don't want to talk' do you not understand?"
"Five minutes," Luke said. "That's all I'm asking."
"It's ten-thirty at night, I have an operation to oversee in the morning, and you're delusional. Goodbye."
Reid snapped his phone shut and tossed it back on the nightstand. He pulled the covers around his waist and turned over onto his back.
The phone buzzed again.
Dr. Oliver cracked his eyes open and let out a long sigh. He reached for his phone and opened it again. Before he could yell at Mr. Snyder for stalking, Luke spoke first.
"I'll be in the lobby of the Lakeview. Meet me in ten minutes."
Reid raised a brow. "Or what?"
"Or I'll tell my mother the reason I can't sleep is because I'm too busy thinking about the night we had sex in the office."
Reid closed his gaped mouth. He felt his eyes narrow, fury scratching the spaces in his brain like a long, jagged fingernail. "Are you blackmailing me again, Mr. Snyder? How very last season of you."
"Ten minutes."
The phoned clicked shut and the line went dead. Reid looked at the cell in his hand, his fingers trembling with anger. He threw the phone on his bed and ripped the covers away from his body.
He would meet Mr. Snyder, all right. Then he'd end this sordid thing once and for all.
0000000
For a moment, as Reid walked into the lounge of the Lakeview, he felt as though he were in one of those black-and-white noir movies, where the leggy dame had incriminating evidence about him, and the only way he'd be able to get it back was to seduce the vixen.
Except Dr. Oliver's leggy dame was a stubborn blond named Luke Snyder.
And he was sitting at the bar with a skinny glass of orange juice.
Reid huffed out a sigh and went to the bar. It was nearly empty, with only a few business men having a night cap and a lonely-looking old woman in pearls. Luke turned when he saw Reid and straightened his posture.
"You came," Luke said.
"I didn't have a choice." Reid sat down on a stool next to Mr. Snyder. He held up a finger to the bartender. "Scotch."
"I'm sorry about calling so late."
"No you're not." Reid took a peanut from the bowl and popped it in his mouth. "You're a stubborn little brat, and you knew you'd get your way eventually."
"I'm stubborn?" Luke said.
Reid held up his hand to the bartender again. "Make it a double."
"Look, I'm sorry. I really am. I had no intention of telling my mother or anyone about—" Luke paused as the bartender pushed Reid's drink across the bar. The middle-aged man shuffled away and Luke turned back to Dr. Oliver, lowering his voice. "About us. I don't want to publicize our—whatever you call it—anymore than you do."
"Then why did you ask me to come here?"
"I just . . ." Luke sighed, frustrated, and peered into his glass of OJ. "I need to know why you kissed me that night in the office. And in the hospital earlier this week."
"I told you, I wasn't thinking."
"Oh, that is bull," Luke whispered harshly. "That kind of cop-out may work on others, but you're not fooling me. I know that you wanted to kiss me."
"You don't know anything—"
"Just like I wanted to kiss you."
Luke's words made Reid pause mid-sip. He slowly lowered his glass and looked at the man. Mr. Snyder's face was dead serious, a twinge of hope haloing eyes. "What do you want me to say, Mr. Snyder? Do you want me to buy you flowers and ask you to the spring social? Go steady?"
"No, I just want you to be honest," Luke said. "Just admit that you feel something for me."
"Other than blind hatred?"
A small smile played on Luke's lips. "Other than that, of course."
The grin on Mr. Snyder's face all but softened the wall around his heart. Bricks turned to gravel. Cement turned to mud. He looked into his glass at the amber-colored drink and swirled the ice around. He felt something, all right. And it wasn't just hatred for the man that got his blood boiling—it was the smell of Luke's hair and the way his lips turned up as he smiled and oh, shit, why couldn't the man just leave it alone?
"Okay," Reid said, setting his glass down. "You want the truth?"
Luke nodded.
Dr. Oliver took an unsure breath. Sarcasm couldn't save him now, no matter how badly he wanted to fall back on it. "The truth is, I feel . . . something less than hatred for you."
Luke raised his eyebrows. "That's it?"
"Look, I'm new at this whole 'expressing your feelings' thing, okay?"
"So you don't hate me?" Luke asked, his coy smile growing bigger.
Reid rolled his eyes. Stupid Snyder and his stupid sexy grin. It would be the death of him. "No, I don't hate you, all right? But don't get so full of yourself, I can be very fickle."
"Well, that's for sure," Luke said, chuckling. "And, for what it's worth, I don't hate you, either." He leaned back in his stool. "In fact, I had a pretty good time last week while we were, um . . . 'working' in the office."
It was Reid's turn to smile. "As much as I hate to admit it, it was fun, wasn't it?"
The men exchanged a laugh. For the first time in nearly a week, Luke felt better. He felt as though a veil had been lifted from his eyes, the shadow of doubt hovering over him dissipated. At least he knew where Reid stood now. At least there was that.
Luke lowered his head, the dopey smile stuck on his face. "Well, I better get back." He stood from his seat. "And you need to get back, too. Surgery in the morning, right?" Luke began to back away from the bar, when he felt Reid's hand on his arm. He looked at the man, whose eyes were slightly downcast.
"You don't have to go right away."
Luke blinked. "Are you serious?"
Reid stared at him. Dead serious. There was something in his eyes as he looked at Luke, a fiery undertone he had only seen when the man was about to kiss him. It made Luke's heart pound and a sweat form on his brow. He swallowed hard.
"Don't you have surgery in the morning?" Luke asked, his voice cracking slightly.
Reid stood and faced Luke. "Your mom owns half of this place, right?"
Luke nodded.
Reid's eyes darted to his left as though someone might have been listening, and lowered his voice to a near-whisper. "Can you get us a room?"
0000000
Luke was nervous. He tapped his fingers on the front desk of the hotel clerk, waiting as the woman reserved him a room at a snail's pace. Reid waited nearby around the corner, away from Luke so as not to be seen by someone they might have known.
Crazy.
This was crazy.
How could Luke be doing something like this? He wasn't the type to get a room for a sleazy rendezvous with a hot—albeit obnoxious—doctor. He didn't skulk around hotel bars, flirting with sharp-tongued men who "felt something less than hatred" for him.
What did that even mean?
"Here you go, Mr. Snyder," the clerk said, handing him the room key. "Room 406."
Luke retrieved his key and debit card and gave the woman an unsteady grin. "Thanks." He paused for a bit, waiting for the moment when something would come to ruin his night, something that would knock some sense in him and send him back home where he belonged. But no light shone from the sky. No celestial thunderclaps told him to turn back. He gave the clerk another quick smile and turned on his heels.
Crazy.
When he rounded the corner, Reid appeared from his shady nook and walked with him to the elevators, hands in his pockets. Luke stuffed the room key in his coat pocket, nearly dropping it at he pressed the button for the lift.
"You seem nervous," Reid said.
Luke blew out a sigh and watched the numbers change above the elevator door. Why did the man choose now to be concerned?
"Look, if you don't want to do this—"
"I'm fine," Luke said.
The doors to the elevator opened and he practically stumbled inside. The elevator made him think of their meeting a few weeks ago, made him think of getting stuck, made him think of Reid freaking out, made him think of the doctor getting nervous and sweaty and dead-sexy when he pushed Luke up against the wall for teasing him—
When the doors closed, Reid turned and smashed his lips up against Luke's. The kiss was urgent, heavy, the kiss of a man who had been starving for days, maybe even a week. Luke kissed him back, his fingers going numb with anxiety but his blood rushing straight to his groin. It surprised Luke how quickly he reacted to Reid's tongue and lips and hands as they groped his hair.
When the elevator stopped on the fourth floor, Luke and Reid came up for air and straightened themselves out before stepping into the hallway. Reid looked left and right down the hall to make sure no one was around. Luke found their room and, with a shaking hand, slid the key into the lock. He ignored the sexual innuendo that came with the simple act and opened the door. Reid followed close behind, flipped the light on, and closed the door behind him, locking it.
Luke's eyes instantly went to the bed. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. How did it get so hot in here? And why were his hands so sweaty all of a sudden. Luke wiped his palms on his jeans, conscious of what Dr. Oliver thought.
"You seem nervous," Reid said, shedding his coat.
Luke turned to him, his head low. He offered an unstable grin. Gone was his confidence, gone was his witty comebacks and cocky smile. He felt two feet tall in a room made for giants.
"What's wrong?" Reid asked. "You weren't nervous before."
Luke felt himself blush. He chuckled at the memory, of Reid pushing him against the wall in the office, tearing each other's clothes off as they struggled to keep their mouths on each other. Reid was right—he hadn't been nervous before. But something about the clean emptiness of the hotel room, the build up to it all, made Luke's knees quiver.
"Last time it was . . . you know. Quick."
Reid smiled. Oh, God, that smile was so nice and yet so endangered. He approached Luke. "I can be quick."
Reid leaned in and captured Luke's mouth in a kiss. It was slower this time, still sloppy and passionate, but unhurried. There were no elevators doors to worry about, no janitors knocking to interrupt them. Luke relaxed under Reid's lips, melting away as the man's tongue danced with his.
Reid pulled away suddenly and looked into Luke's eyes. "No one can know about this," he said.
A playful smile tugged Luke's mouth. "Why, are you ashamed of me?"
"I'm serious. If anyone found out we were doing this, they might take me off the project. There would be no new neurological wing and—"
Luke stopped the man's worries with his mouth. He placed his hands on the doctor's hips and pulled him closer. When they parted, he kept his forehead touched to Reid's. "Don't worry," Luke murmured. "I won't tell."
Reid turned his cheek towards Luke, sliding his lips along the man's temple until he reached his ear where he whispered, "Thank you."
The doctor's hot breath against his ear made Luke shudder. His fear and anxiety dissolved, arousal and lust taking over. He hooked his fingers in Reid's belt and slid his hands towards the man's front.
"Turn off the light," Luke said.
Reid reached for the light switch. "You always did like having your way, Mr. Snyder." With a flick of his wrist, he cast the room in darkness. Even in the black, he found Luke's mouth.