A/N: Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad you're liking these stories so far! I realize I probably should have written this as one big story with multiple chapters, but I wanted each story to be readable by its own merit. Hopefully it's working out okay. Hope you like this one!
Luke awoke to a tiny sliver of light scratching from behind his eyelid. He slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the morning sun peeking through the curtains of the window.
The window.
Of room 406.
In the Lakeview.
Luke opened his eyes wider and raised his head from the pillow. The memory of last night came flooding back to him. He had asked Dr. Oliver to meet him at the Lakeview to talk about their . . . what was it? Relationship? Rendezvous? The fact that every time they met in private, Reid ended up shoving his tongue down Luke's throat?
Luke turned over, expecting to see the doctor in question lying next to him, but the other side of the bed was empty. Luke looked at the indention of the pillow and saw a note lying across it. He plucked it from the pillowcase and read, Had surgery. Didn't want to wake you. Tip the cleaning lady generously. Reid.
A small smile formed onLuke's face. He read the note again, the scrawling letters of Dr. Oliver's sloppy handwriting giving him a comforting feeling. At least he cared enough to write a note. At least there was that.
Luke looked at the clock on the nightstand and felt his heart stop. 10:22 am. He threw his covers off and found his jeans on the floor, pulling them on hastily. He took his cell phone from his pocket and checked the inbox. Three messages. All of them from his mother. Luke dialed her number and looked around the floor for his shirt. After the second ring, she picked up.
"Luke, where are you? I've been calling you for hours—"
"Sorry, Mom, I lost track of time." Luke spotted his shirt on the chair by the TV and threw it around his shoulders.
"Where have you been?" Lily asked, her voice tinged with worry.
"Uh . . . I went for a walk last night, couldn't sleep." Luke searched the room for his shoes. "I went to Casey's and, uh, crashed on the couch."
"You could've called."
Luke sighed, frustrated. "Sorry."
"Well, Dr. Porter has been asking about you," Lily said. "He wants to meet at the hospital to talk about staffing for the neurological wing."
"Okay, I'll uh—I'll come home and get ready."
"Are you okay, sweetie?"
Luke stopped. "Huh?"
"You sound a little—"
"I'm fine. Tired. I'll see you in a bit." Luke snapped his phone shut and buttoned up his shirt. He looked around the disheveled room, embarrassed and yet amused at how crazy he and Dr. Oliver had gotten last night when they had made—
No, not love. When they had wild sex for the second time.
Luke flipped his phone open again and dialed Casey's number. His friend answered after the fourth ring, his throat gravelly.
"Casey, it's Luke."
"Dude, it's not even noon yet." Casey must still have been in bed, Luke could tell from his voice. He could practically see his friend's face half-buried in the pillow, hair a mess and a fleck of drool on the side of his mouth.
"If my mom asks, I spent the night at your place."
"Whoa, dude." Casey's voice rose in alarm. "I like you as a friend and everything, but—"
"Not like that," Luke sighed. "I told her I crashed at your place last night."
"And obviously you didn't," Casey said, a smile in his voice. "What've you been up to Luciano?"
"None of your business."
"Uh-oh. Someone got lucky last night!"
Luke paused as he made the bed. Was it so obvious? Was there something about the tone of his voice that gave away the fact that he and Dr. Oliver had—?
"So who's the lucky bastard, Snyder?"
"Shut up."
"Did you and Noah get back together?"
"No," Luke said, clenching his jaw.
"Ooh. Is it a girl?"
"This conversation is over, Casey."
"Oh, come on, I was just—"
Luke flipped his phone shut, ending their tête-à-tête. He finished making the bed and pulled his jacket on. Luke took the note Dr. Oliver had written from the nightstand and read it again.
Reid.
He had used his first name.
Luke smiled, stuffed the note in his pocket, and left a twenty for the cleaning lady.
0000000
After the meeting, Luke walked to the break room, confident he had made a good impression on Dr. Porter. He dodged his mother's inquiries after returning home and got ready in record time to make it to the meeting. As far as Luke could tell, no one was any the wiser about his affair with Dr. Oliver.
Luke grinned as he walked down the corridor. Affair. The word sounded so ridiculous, reserved for soap operas and sleuth films, not a wise-cracking doctor and a spoiled little rich kid. And yet here he was, the secret quite literally under his belt that he and Reid had had sex not once but twice.
And it was good.
Pretty damn good, Luke thought.
Luke entered the break room and stopped in the doorway when he saw Dr. Oliver pouring himself a cup of coffee. Alone. Luke released his tight grip on the door handle and entered the room carefully.
Dr. Oliver turned his head and did a double-take at Luke. He went back to pouring his coffee and set the pot down. Luke stood next to Reid and got himself a mug from the cabinet. The rules of this game were all-too easy to follow.
"Hello, Dr. Oliver."
"Mr. Snyder."
Luke couldn't help but smile. "How was your surgery this morning? Was it . . . quick and dirty? Just the way you like it?"
Reid fumbled with the pitcher of creamer and almost dropped it on the countertop. He regained his composure and cleared his throat. "It went very well, thank you."
Luke beamed and added sugar to his coffee. He loved getting the man all worked up. It reminded him of when they had gotten stuck in the elevator together those few weeks ago, how nervous and tense Dr. Oliver had been. Nothing gave Luke more pleasure than watching the man sweat. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming.
"I had fun last night."
A smile crept across the doctor's face. An honest-to-God smile.
"I'll admit, it wasn't entirely un-enjoyable."
Luke chuckled. He glanced at the doctor, and Reid stared back. For a moment, they were silent, smiling as the secret they kept between themselves danced before them like invisible butterflies. It seemed to lift the men up, brightening their faces to the point where Luke wanted to reach out and brush his fingers along Reid's cheek.
The door opened, and instantly both men looked away. A female nurse entered and went to the fridge to retrieve an apple. Reid stirred his coffee with a spoon and tossed it in the nearby sink. He was halfway out the door when he stopped, turned, and said,
"Mr. Snyder."
Luke looked at him.
"I need to go over that grant proposal with you about those extra rooms for the patients' families."
Luke glanced at the nurse as the woman washed her fruit in the sink. "Okay," he said.
"Good. I'll call you later when I'm done with rounds. Think you can manage to remember?"
Luke's eyes narrowed and he suppressed a smile. Bastard. Every word from his mouth was code. "Whatever you say, Dr. Oliver."
0000000
As it turned out, Dr. Oliver was only half-lying when he said he needed to talk to Luke about the grant proposal. When the day was done and the doctor called Luke at 7:15 to ask to meet in the lobby of the Lakeview, it was all Luke could do to keep from breaking the speed limit on his way to the hotel. He told his mother we would be working late at the foundation, another half-lie Luke suspected he would become an expert at telling down the road.
When he saw Dr. Oliver sitting in the lobby of the hotel with a beer, Luke felt his heart race. It was all so secretive, so daring to meet in public like this. He approached the man with his hands in his pockets, desperately trying to look cool and collected when he was sure he looked more like a kid playing James Bond.
"Dr. Oliver," Luke said, standing before the man.
Reid looked up from where he sat and set his beer down. "Mr. Snyder. You're late."
Late?
Luke had practically run every red light in town to get to the Lakeview in less than ten minutes. Was this another ruse from the doctor? Another way of keeping up appearances for the sake of their reputations?
Two could play at that game.
"Well, I was going to take my private jet and cut my commute by a few minutes, but I had a feeling Greenpeace would put a hit out on me."
"So you decided to take that gas-guzzling death trap you call a car?"
Luke smiled slowly. "Did you get a room?"
It was Reid's turn to grin. Slowly. Mischievously.
0000000
An hour and a half later, Luke found himself in bed of room 406 with Reid, curled against the man's naked chest as they read the grant proposal like a married couple sharing a paperback.
"The project description needs work," Luke said.
"What? Why?"
"The desired outcome isn't fleshed-out enough. There's not enough motive for them to want to give us money."
"What better motive can they need?" Reid asked, unconsciously stroking Luke's hair. "You said it yourself, if we add more rooms to the wing, it'll provide the families of the patients with a place to stay."
"Yeah, but that's not implied in the description."
Reid peered down at the top of Luke's head. "Where'd you learn about grant proposals, anyway?"
"Well, I did go to college, Dr. Oliver," Luke said, taking the project description from Reid's hand and studying it.
"Before or after you got kicked out for rigging the student election?"
Luke gave him a playful poke. "Shut up."
"I'm serious. You'd make an excellent GOP candidate."
Luke tilted his head upwards to catch the doctor's eyes. "Would you vote for me?"
"I wouldn't have to," Reid said, setting the proposal on the end table, "you'd live up to the Grimaldi name and manipulate the results."
"Ho-ho, you're very funny, doctor."
"They say laughter is the best medicine."
"If that were the case," Luke said, grinning, "half of your patients would be dead."
"You think I can't be funny?"
Luke laughed. "I think you had your sense of humor surgically removed."
"Really?" Reid turned over and got on top of Luke, tickling his sides. "Is this funny?" He poked Mr. Snyder in the rubs. "How about this?"
Luke howled with laughter and squirmed under the doctor. "Stop!" he giggled.
Reid placed his hands on the headboard, hovering over Luke, straddling the man's hips. He studied Mr. Snyder's face, a small, curious smile on his face.
"What?" Luke asked.
"You have a freckle. Right here," Reid touched the very corner of Luke's right eye. "I never noticed before."
Luke chuckled. "Dr. Oliver, you're making me blush."
"Reid. Call me Reid."
Luke blinked, his smile fading ever-so-slightly. The man's face was serious, a glint of friendliness in his eye, as though he were welcoming Luke somehow.
"Reid."
At that, the doctor leaned in and closed his mouth over Luke's, kissing him deeply. Luke tilted his head to capture more of the man's lips, moaning lowly. He felt Reid slowly trail his hand down his chest and under the sheets where Luke's member perked in interest. Luke grabbed the doctor's wrist and stopped him, parting from his lips.
"What wrong?" Reid asked, scrunching his eyebrows.
Luke suddenly felt embarrassed. He lowered his eyes, lips parted to speak but no words to express. He looked at the doctor. "What're we doing?"
"Well . . . I was hoping we were going to have sex again, but if you'd rather play Scrabble—"
"No, I mean us. What do you call this? Are we . . . friends with benefits? Lovers?"
Reid gave a short sigh and removed his hand from under Luke's sheet. "Why do we have to give it a name?"
Luke shrugged and looked at the man sheepishly. "I don't know. It'd be nice to know where we stand."
Reid chewed his bottom lip. "I'm not so great at this whole . . . you know. Emotional thing. But I'm having fun. Aren't you having fun?"
Luke nodded and slowly raised his hooded gaze. "Yeah." He laughed softly. "More than fun, actually."
Reid nodded. "Good. Why does it have to be anything else?"
Again Luke shrugged. "It's just . . . I want to know that I mean something. Anything."
Reid stared at the young man for a moment, then leaned in closer, almost enough for their noses to touch. "Would it help if I told you that I thought you were incredibly sexy—" he leaned in and kissed the nape of Luke's neck, "and good-natured—" he moved his lips to Luke's brow, "and endearingly stubborn?"
Luke smiled as Reid kissed his forehead. "Well, you always said that arrogance appeals to you."
Reid pulled back and held up a finger. "Arrogance! That was the other one. Thank you for reminding me."
Luke beamed. Though it wasn't the type of affirmation he wanted, at least Reid was willing to attempt to make him feel better. And maybe, after everything, the man was simply telling the truth. Maybe he, himself, didn't know what to call this affair.
Reid raised his eyebrows. "Wanna play Scrabble?"
Luke laughed. "Shut up." He pushed the man over and switched positions until he was on top of the doctor, kissing and groping and ripping the bed sheets away from their naked bodies.