Sam opened her eyes and frowned. This was a new ceiling. She rolled onto her side but instead of finding more bed, she almost fell off of the leather couch and onto the floor. Reaching out instinctively, she grabbed onto the coffee table that she had pulled closer to the couch and sent two of the many, many beer bottles crashing to the floor.
The sound woke the person who was sitting in the chair next to her. And he groaned. Loudly.
Sam felt exactly the same.
Drawing her hand back to her body, she shuffled further back onto the couch and tucked her face into the leather.
"My heard hurts," she mumbled and peered over the arm and thanked whoever was listening that Luka's lounge was in relative darkness. She saw him looking at her, his cheek nestled against one of his hands, as the light from the television flickered over his face.
He was smiling.
"Yeah," he said and Sam groaned.
Alcohol sure did do wonders to his voice, Sam thought as she heard his thick Croatian accent through that simple word but deeper and more...seductive. She shook her head against the leather.
"Time is it?" She mumbled again then rolled onto her back.
Reaching her hands up behind her head she stretched laggardly but froze momentarily when her hand came into contact with skin. Luka skin. Luka leg skin.
There was a sharp intake of breath and Sam couldn't tell whether it was from her or from him but she quickly withdrew her hand. She pushed herself up and turned her body so she was facing him, her legs crossed in front of her, her hands placed delicately in her lap.
"It's just after three thirty," he answered and Sam kicked herself for making him speak again.
She looked at him again and saw that he was still watching her, his eyes glazed slightly, a small smile on his lips and two fingers curved around said lips. His hair was mussed slightly, sticking out at the back and the side where he had obviously had his hand tucked into it as he slept. She looked away towards the screen but her eyes were still blurry from both alcohol and sleep.
"How much did we have to drink?" She asked as she eyed the number of beer bottles on the table. She counted fifteen on the table, three on the floor and she knew that they had cleared away a few earlier in the night. "In fact, I don't even want to know." There was a silence in which Sam could feel his eyes on her face. She looked around the room again. "I wonder where Abby is," Sam said as she remembered her reason for being there in the first place.
Luka said nothing and Sam was both thankful and regretful.
She cast her eyes in his direction again and saw that he was still looking at her in the same manner, his body not having moved a millimeter. She smiled self-consciously but allowed her eyes to travel down across his impressive chest and abdomen, and then down his long, long legs to his feet which, she noted, were rather large.
She laughed to herself and looked away.
She spotted her bag on the floor at the other end of the sofa and she leaned over to retrieve it.
Luka watched as she stretched her arm out to her bag, coming a few inches short. She lurched herself forward a bit more off of her butt and Luka had to look away. Waking up and hearing her voice had evoked a sense of peace and calm and Luka had been mesmerised by the way in which she tiredly snuck a glance at him over the arm of the chair, only one brown eye visible to him. Another thing that surprised him was his lack of dreams. Not just pleasant dreams (of which there had been few in the years since his family died) but nightmares (of which there had been many).
He heard her grunt in frustration and he let out a laugh.
"You could just stand up and retrieve it," he said tiredly as he leaned his head back against the chair and continued to watch her. He saw her still and turn her face towards him.
"What?"
He frowned at her and smiled slightly.
"Stand up and get it..." he repeated, with a mocking tone.
She lurched again and grabbed the handle, yanking it to her body too hard and hit herself in the chest. She laughed lightly and turned towards him.
"You said it in Croatian the first time," she told him and he widened his eyes in response.
His native language slipping over his lips had caused Sam's heart to beat faster. If she thought his drunken english spoken words were sheer seduction, she didn't even have a word to describe how erotic his drunken Croatian spoken words were.
He had never spoken in his native language in America, except to himself or if he was on the telephone to his family. He frowned at the concept. He'd never even spoken Croatian to Abby.
"Sorry," he whispered and propped his chin on his fist.
"No," she shook her head vehemently and looked up at him. "I like it."
He felt his heart stop.
Finally, after a few moments, he raised his eyebrow to her and smiled cockily.
"Doista?"
He saw her close her eyes and smiled to himself. He liked this reaction. Maybe it was just the alcohol, but Luka could actually see her bosom heaving up and down on her chest. He really liked this reaction.
He heard her clear her throat and he grinned.
Sam fumbled in her bag, looking for her cell-phone. She couldn't breathe properly. She actually couldn't breathe. If she didn't get out of there fast she was going to jump into his lap and tell him not to speak to her in English ever again. Ever. The idea was quite appealing but at the same time she had to think how Weaver would feel if Sam passed out from asphyixiation everytime Luka spoke to her.
She shocked herself with these thoughts as she thought of Abby. Abby was her friend and she was having these thoughts about her man.
But she also knew that he was having 'thoughts' about her. She shook her head again and pulled out her cell phone. She had actually managed to ignore the fact that he was staring at her the whole time, with a sexy as hell grin on his face.
She flipped open the lid to her phone, and saw that she had one new voicemail message. Thinking it would be Steve, Sam called and held the phone up to her ear and turned to Luka and smiled at him.
"Message received yesterday at seven forty four pm. 'Hey Sam it's Abby. Just called to say that I can't make it to the movies tonight - Weaver wants me to do a nursing shift and she couldn't get a hold of you, or something. But I'll see you tomorrow, bye.' End of message."
Sam held the phone away from her and snapped it shut.
"Well, Abby's at the hospital."
She saw Luka tense suddenly and she shook her head quickly.
"She's working, doing a nursing shift," she amended quickly.
Luka suddenly remembered that he knew that Abby was at the hospital. She had left a message on the answering machine and he only received it when he went into his bedroom for a clean T-shirt after spilling beer down himself. Sam had already fallen asleep, curled up on his couch and he didn't have the heart to waken her. Why hadn't he remembered that until now?
He saw Sam flop back down onto his sofa, her legs only just reaching the far end but then sit straight back up again.
"I better go. I have a shift tomorrow."
Luka nodded and noticed that Sam already had her cellphone to her ear and was telling the taxi company his address. He waited until she hung up before he spoke.
"Me too," he announced and then let out an exaggerated sigh. Sam laughed. "At seven."
Sam stopped laughing and drew her lips into a sympathetic 'O', but she couldn't contain her grin any longer and she laughed again.
"Hey!" He yelled as he tossed the cushion he was sitting on at her.
He heard it thump against her chest and laughed himself when he saw her wide eyes stare at him.
From down in the street there sounded a car horn and Sam and Luka looked at each other.
"That was quick."
Sam agreed and stood up.
"Ugh, it's snowing again," she complained as she slung her bag over her shoulder and pulled on the thin jacket she had carried over her arm earlier in the evening when she first arrived.
"I like the snow," Luka told her and she turned to him with a frown on her face.
"You would." She walked to the door and waited for him to pass her and unlock it.
She stepped out into the corridor and turned back towards him, trying to ignore the sense of loss leaving his apartment created in her.
"So, does this mean you won't join in on the bitching sessions the nurses have about me?" He asked innocently as he bit his bottom lip and stared at her with penetrating eyes.
Sam scoffed and looked up at him with a smirk on her face.
"I'm the one who starts them."
They both grinned.
"I'll see you at noon," she told him and he nodded.
"Okay."
Just as she was about to turn to leave she felt Luka's hand on her elbow and then his lips brush against her cheek.
She closed her eyes and waited until he pulled back from her and then looked up to him and smiled.
"See you tomorrow."
Sam managed to make it to the ground floor before she reached up and covered the tingling spot on her cheek and tried to tell herself that it wasn't really there.
TBC