Luke

Chapter 7

Luke didn't know what had driven him back to Faith's. It was late, he was tired, and he had to be at the hospital at the crack of dawn.

Okay, he knew. Faith. She'd driven him here.

Since she simply stood on the other side of the door under the glow of the overhead light, staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights, he had to let out a low laugh directed fully at himself.

She'd changed her mind. Good. Great. At least one of them had come to their senses. But he hadn't taken two steps off the porch, toward his car, when the door whipped open behind him.

"Hi," she said breathlessly, pushing her long, glorious hair out of her face.

"Hi."

"You're just in time. I can't reach the box of checks, could you…?"

Then he was staring at her very fine ass because she'd grabbed his hand and was tugging him down the hall and back into the very storage room in which he'd nearly lost his mind with her earlier that day. "I've got to tell you, Faith, this is becoming my favorite room in the place."

"There," she said, dropping his hand and pointing to a shelf high above him. "Could you…?"

But his gaze was locked on what she wore. Or on what she didn't wear. "Um… huh?"

"Oh, never mind." And right before his eyes, she started climbing the shelves.

Shamefully, it took him a long moment to stop her, but that's because he was busy absorbing the thin T-shirt that came to the tops of her thighs, a shirt that looked as if it had seen better days. The neckline, torn a little, left one creamy shoulder completely bare, the hem allowed him to gaze upon long, long, lean legs, all the way down to… her bunny slippers.

Then she got to his eye level and shot him a jaw-dropping view of white bikini panties with pink hearts on them.

"Forget you saw these," she said, still climbing.

He concentrated on not swallowing his tongue. "The bunny slippers or the hearts?"

"Oh, damn. Close your eyes!"

Yeah, right. He had them wide open. He'd never met a woman like her; so adorable he wanted to gobble her up, and so naturally, wildly sensual at the same time. "Faith, get back down here. I can-"

"Almost got them." She reached out, then her hand wavered, in tune to the utter loss of color from her cheeks. "Oh, damn," she whispered again.

"Faith-" But she wasn't listening and she was going to fall, so he did what any man would have done, he wrapped his arms around her thighs, pressed his face to her butt and pulled her away from the shelves.

The box of checks came tumbling down.

So did the two of them, though Luke managed to cushion her fall for her-with his body.

"Ouch," he said from flat on his back, with her sprawled over top of him.

She turned over to face him. "You didn't have to play He-man. I told you, I almost had them."

"You were going to fall."

"No, I wasn't. At least not until you reminded me I was wearing bunny slippers."

"And panties with hearts on them," he pointed out.

Faith ignored that and wondered why it felt so good to be sprawled over top of him. "I should have just gotten the ladder myself. And worn heels. Then I could have reached the checks."

"What if you'd known I was coming? What would you have worn then?" Visions of lace and silk danced in his head.

"Armor."

Face-to-face, body-to-body, he lifted his head off the floor and searched her expression for a clue to her thoughts. "The bunnies are as much a turn on as the heels would have been."

She eyed him as if he were an alien.

He laughed with the woman he wanted to take to bed-a first. Feeling good, feeling sure of himself, he slid his hands down her body to her hips. "Really."

Her lips quirked as she studied his face. "You're a sick man, Luke Walker."

Tugging her a little off balance so that more of her was sprawled over more of him, he buried his face in her hair. "Did you mean it, Faith?"

"Did I mean what?"

Gently he lifted her head to look into her eyes. "About being together."

She didn't play coy and ask what that meant exactly. She knew. "I, uh, meant it at the time."

"At the time?"

"Yeah." She backed off him, sat cross-legged on the floor and clasped her fingers together, staring down at the chewed-to-the-quick nails. "Ever since I said it, I've been telling myself it was silly, you couldn't really want me. That I'd been too bold, that I'd scared you off. That you were afraid of me. Or didn't know how to reject me kindly. Or maybe-"

He shut her up with his mouth.

With a little squeak of surprise, then a moan of acquiescence that nearly killed him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. "Are we insane?" she asked.

"Without a doubt," he assured her, and leaned in.

Only to jerk back at the pounding on the clinic door. They both leapt to their feet.

"I'll get it," Luke said, pushing her behind him. "You stay here."

"Don't be ridiculous. This is my clinic, I'm going-"

"It's dangerous," he said, thinking of the hospital, and how they'd had a rash of crazy punks trying to get drugs from the lockup late at night. At least there they had an armed guard, but here Faith had no one to protect her. "Just let me go see-"

"No." She grabbed a doctor's white lab coat from a hanger and shrugged into it, covering that hot little bod except for those silly slippers. "Say another word about these slippers and you're dead meat."

And with that, she was gone.

When Faith saw who was at the clinic door, she ran toward it, hauling it open. One of her patients, Ally Freestead, fell into her arms sobbing in relief.

"Oh, thank God," she cried. "I need to sit down."

No wonder, she was nine months pregnant. Faith looked around to grab a chair, but Luke was already there, supporting the now panting Ally.

"How long have you been having pains?" he asked, putting his hand on her big belly and looking at his watch.

"Since the day I slept with the no good son-of-a-bitch who got me this way." Ally scrunched up her face and whimpered through the contraction.

"Hospital?" Luke asked Faith, seating Ally into a chair.

Ally panted. "No! I want Faith to deliver my baby here. Damn, this hurts! Give me a shot or something!"

Faith reached for her hand. "Do you remember the breathing exercises we've been doing?"

"Screw the exercises. I want drugs! Now! Oh God, now my legs are cramping, too!"

Faith dropped to her knees beside Ally and started rubbing her legs.

"Are those… bunny slippers?" Ally panted.

"You're hallucinating. Keep breathing," Faith said.

"Drugs!" Ally screamed.

"Ally, you wanted to do this naturally, remember? Now if we just breathe together-"

"Faith-" Ally grunted through the last of the pain and let out a lusty breath of relief when the contraction passed. "I don't mean to be rude, but this sucks far worse than you said it would."

"I know, but we can do this-"

"Oh, God, here comes another!"

Luke looked at Faith and shook his head. "We need to get her into a room."

"No, don't move me!"

"Ally-"

"I have to push!"

An hour later, Ally was sleeping peacefully, and Luke was holding a squalling, red-faced, furious little boy who'd been brought into the world in less than fifteen minutes and two pushes.

A miracle, he thought, staring raptly down as the infant waved a fist wildly, his lungs in fine and full working order. "Who in the world are you so pissed at already?" he murmured, laughing softly when the infant hushed, startled, at the sound of Luke's voice.

"You okay?"

Turning, he found Faith in the doorway watching him. Was he okay? He'd just watched her, as he had over and over again now, get thoroughly engrossed in her work. She'd panted alongside Ally, sweated and laughed and cried with her as well, giving, as she always did, one hundred and ten percent to every single patient she had.

God, he loved that about her.

"Want me to take him?" she asked, holding her arms out for the baby.

"I'm fine. He just came out hungry."

"Ally wants to try to put him to her breast. I thought I'd check his diaper first-"

"I already did."

She blinked. "Really?"

"Aren't doctors allowed to do that?"

"Well, yes, but-"

He stroked the soft, downy head of the little boy who was slowly winding up for another temper tantrum. "Because in case you haven't noticed, this patient and I are having a deep discussion on life's meaning."

She laughed. "It's just that M.D.s don't usually-" At his raised eyebrow, she stopped. "Okay, I have to admit, you're not the typical doctor."

Now that caught his attention. "There's a 'typical' doctor?"

"Yeah, at least from a nurse's perspective there is. They're egotistical, arrogant, impolite… just to mention a few character flaws."

"I have all those traits," he said quietly. "Just ask anyone I've ever worked with."

"Well, you've worked with me," she said just as quietly, moving closer, her eyes on his face. "And I have to say, I don't see it."

"Are you forgetting what landed me here in the first place?"

He stared at her, almost believing that. He hadn't realized there was anything wrong with his life before. Living for work had been all that mattered. Living for his patients.

But since he'd come here…

"You're the most compassionate man I've ever met," she whispered, putting her hand on his arm. "You're warm and giving, and-"

The infant in his arms let out one sharp howl, his eyes narrowed right on them. Then he opened his mouth, looking for all the world like a baby bird.

Faith laughed, and so did Luke, but his smile faded when he took a good long look at her. She was pale, and when she pushed a strand of hair from her face, her fingers shook slightly. With a frown, he reached out, stroked her jaw, and found her skin damp and clammy. "You okay?"

"Sure." But her smile wobbled and she didn't meet his eyes this time. "Just a long day."

Gently he bounced the baby, who was now crying, trying to soothe him as he kept his concentration on Faith. "After a long day, you yawn. You don't look like you're going to pass out." He stood up. "Sit down. Sit down," he repeated firmly when she weaved, and nudged her into the chair. "Faith-"

"It's probably just that stupid viral thing again," she said, leaning her head back, closing her eyes.

"When was the last time you had a physical?"

Her mouth tightened.

"Quite awhile, huh?"

"I'm fine."

"You're run down and something is off. Let me take a blood test."

"No."

"Faith-"

She curled up in the chair. "You want to be a good doctor? Then go take care of Ally while I catch five."

The next night Faith was actually taking it easy. She wore sweat bottoms, a tank top and her beloved bunny slippers, and sat in front of the television doing as she so rarely did-nothing.

She'd done her accounting, and had shocked herself by being able to pay a few more bills than she'd expected. She'd placed her order for supplies and she'd gone over staff scheduling.

She was, in short, unaccustomedly caught up. At first, she hadn't known what to do with herself, but she'd figured it out soon enough between a bowl of homemade caramelized popcorn and the channel changer.

When the knock came at her door, she nearly leaped out of her skin in surprise. An emergency? No, if it was a clinic emergency, they'd be knocking downstairs, not on her door up here.

Now if she'd ordered that Chinese food she'd wanted…

Padding to the door, wishing she hadn't left her handy dandy baseball bat downstairs, she squinted through the window on the door.

That unbearably familiar shadow spoke for itself. So did the way her insides tingled and her nipples hardened.

Oh God, he'd finally come for that wild, unencumbered, animal sex she'd promised him! At just the thought, her thighs quivered. Damn, when would she learn? She needed to lounge around in silk and lace, not torn cotton.

A single soft, decisive knock sounded. "You going to let me in?"

Was she? A flash of them fulfilling her fantasies came to mind; both of them naked by moonlight, limbs tangled, rolling across her bed, breathless and hungry, devouring each other.

Oh yeah, she was going to let him in. She was going to let him-

"Open the door, Faith."

Yes, open the door, Faith. It took her a moment, mostly because her hands had gone a little slippery at the thought of him naked and willing, but she managed, probably with a far too needy expression on her face because he took one look at her and went utterly still.

Oh yeah, way to go, sexy momma. She patted her hair, which she had clipped up even though most of it had fallen back out. She tugged up the low-slung sweats that kept slipping, tugged down the thin tank top she'd washed so many times the pink had faded to light gray. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Stop." He put a hand on her arm to stop her fussing, then looked into her eyes. "You're so beautiful, Faith. I keep forgetting just how beautiful, then I see you and you take my breath."

By some miracle, she drew in some air. She might have laughed, but he wasn't laughing. Nope, his eyes were hot, hot, hot, and all that air she'd just dragged in got caught in her throat. "I-I didn't know you saw me that way."

"Then you're not paying attention."

"Luke-"

"Are you forgetting what it's like when we kiss?"

"Um… no."

"Good. Remember that, okay?"

Now she realized he was holding something behind his hands, looking at her… as if she was one of his patients.

"Let's sit down," he suggested. "What are you watching?"

He'd never taken an interest in anything as mundane as television, never. He'd certainly never been so… sweet. Narrowing her eyes, she held her ground. "Why are you suddenly using your best bedside manner on me?"

"What are you talking about? I'm always this charming."

When she just looked at him, he sighed. "Okay, truth…" He pulled his hands from behind his back. In them was a blood kit.

"No-"

"Yes." He slipped one of his big, warm hands in hers. "There's nothing to be afraid of, I'm actually really good at drawing blood-"

"I'm not afraid of a needle."

"Well, good, because I suspect you've got a problem with your blood sugar."

"I do not!"

"Look, Faith, humor me, okay? I know you think you've got that lingering flu virus-"

"I do-"

"But I think it's something else, and you can't just keep ignoring it, it's not safe."

What wasn't safe was how she'd actually thought he'd come here for another reason entirely, which was really humiliating when she dwelled on it, which of course she was. "I'll worry about myself."

"But that's silly. I'm right here and perfectly capable of getting those answers we need. We just get a little sample-"

She made an involuntary noise of angst and put her arms behind her back.

"It's just a finger prick."

What she really wanted was for him to vanish, to leave her alone with her fattening caramel popcorn and television set and overactive hormones, leave her alone to her very busy life which didn't have the room for a man. But before she could say so, he had her arm extended and resting on his thigh as he swabbed her finger with an alcohol pad.

"Okay, I lied. I don't like needles," she said, feeling absurdly nervous.

"Really," he said dryly.

Her heart was pounding, her palms sweaty. "Aren't you supposed to be distracting me?"

"If you're good, I'll give you a lollipop."

She tried not to tense. "You have a lollipop?"

"Well, no…" He flashed a grin. "Okay, pick another prize. Anything."

You, she thought inanely. I pick you.

"Can't think of anything?" He stroked her arm. "I've gotta admit, I'm a little surprised, Faith. You always seem to know exactly what you want. Don't hold your breath… Relax, just a small poke-"

"Ouch!" she yelped, but she didn't really mean it, it was more the anticipation that startled her than the actual pain. He was, as he'd promised, good at it.

She had a feeling he was good at everything he set his mind to. He was intent on what he was doing now, squeezing a drop of blood from her finger-

"Ouch!" she complained again.

"Big baby."

"I am not, I-"

"Shh." Head bent to his task, he carefully bandaged her finger, then worked the kit to get her blood sugar count.

If he turned out to be right, and she was hypo- or hyperglycemic, it was going to be more than a little embarrassing. Here she was, a health professional, ignoring her own health.

But of course he was wrong. She just was overly susceptible to the flu, she-

With a sweet gentleness that made her feel more weak than the needle had, he lifted her finger to his lips. "All better?" he murmured silkily, and she melted. Might have melted right into his lap if his kit hadn't suddenly beeped into the air, startling her.

He looked at the little machine and all sexy playfulness left his face as he let out a low, long whistle. "I suppose you're going to tell me it's the flu, not that caramel popcorn that sent your blood sugar rocketing to twice the normal count right?"