He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. He liked what he saw. His hair had been extremely cooperative today and had fallen right into place. His new suit fit like a glove. Again Luke smiled at his own image. He couldn’t wait to see Reid’s face. He imagined the fire in the blue eyes and felt his body responding to that thought.
“You look nice, Daddy.”
Danny’s voice pulled Luke back to the present and it worked like a cold shower. After a soft cough, Luke turned to the boy on the threshold.
“You look great too,” he gave Danny the thumbs up. “I’m very glad you and Zoë are joining me.”
“Are you nervous?”
Luke grinned. “A little.”
He was always a bit nervous about speaking in public, but this would be his first speech with Reid there. He knew his man was already proud of him, but there was also a small part that felt the need to prove to the whole town he was worthy of Reid’s love. So no one would have the nerve to refer to him as ‘boy’, after this.
“You’ll do great,” Danny told him with a serious face and Luke kissed the boy’s head.
“Thanks for that vote of confidence. Let’s go.”
When they walked into the hallway, Zoë and Mrs. Graves joined them.
“The puppies are asleep,” the little girl reported and the housekeeper nodded.
“I’ll take good care of them, don’t you worry.”
“I won’t,” Zoë gave a woman a unusually friendly smile. “I know you love them too.”
“I do. But then again…who doesn’t love puppies?”
The children just gave each other a telling look, but didn’t answer and after saying goodbye, they made their way to Luke’s car.
“Daddy Reid will be there, right?”
“If there are no emergencies, he will,” Luke smiled at Danny. “You know he wouldn’t want to miss this, so if he can’t make it, he’ll have a very good reason.”
Danny nodded and Zoë gave the boy an almost blissful smile.
“He helps people.”
“It’s important, I know,” Danny shrugged, “but Daddy Luke helps people too.”
“It’s not a contest, kids,” Luke smiled, as he took a seat behind the wheel. “It’s about support. And I know Reid supports me one hundred percent, even if something happens and he can’t be there.”
But he was there. Already waiting on the building site where they would finally start with the housing project. And Reid wasn’t alone. Most guests had already arrived and Luke enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces. But that one face, that approached him right now, made something in his chest flip.
“You look hot,” Reid whispered, before he kissed Luke firmly on the mouth, “I’m sure you’ll accelerate some heart rates…both male and female.”
It made Luke laugh and he softly slapped Reid on his arm.
“As long as you are one of them,” he whispered back and Reid gave him an intense stare.
“Hell yeah,” Reid softly confided and then licked Luke’s earlobe. “How’s your heart rate doing right now?”
Before Luke could answer – but the flushed face was very telling and not just to Reid – they were both embraced by two strong arms.
“Darlings, as much as I love public displays of affection…you might want to consider you’re on camera right now.”
Lucinda gave both men a kiss on the cheek and then pointed at the WOAK crew right in front of them. Molly’s grin was indisputably wicked as she walked up to them.
“Nothing like a little smooching to lure the viewers in,” she winked and Reid rolled his eyes.
“I’m glad we could be of help. It was my pleasure…”
After another soft slap on his arm from Luke, Reid turned to the kids and squatted to receive his hug. He then pointed at some chairs.
“Come on, Midgets…we have front row seats. Let’s get this show on the road.”
For some reason everybody wanted to shake Luke’s hand before they made their way to their seats, so by the time the guests found a chair, Luke’s right arm was pretty tired. But he didn’t care. This project was very dear to him and he was just extremely happy with all the support.
The platform was ready. He could feel it when he stepped on it and he enjoyed the surprised looks when he took off his coat.
“No, I’m not risking my heath to show off my new suit,” Luke started his speech, grinning at Reid, “but this is one of the many new techniques we’ll implement in this housing project. This platform is heated in a way we will heat the roads and sidewalks, to keep them ice- and snow free as much as possible. And we’re using solar cells to heat them up, so it’s completely ‘green’. And that’s the theme of this new community. Welcome to a new way of thinking.”
Luke managed to capture his audience with his passionate explanation of all the new techniques and a fascinating projection made it look like the buildings were already up. Young and old were impressed by this presentation of a community where environmental thinking and comfortable living made a perfect blend and after the official opening, Luke was immediately flooded with compliments and pride.
One hand on his shoulder made the crowd disappear, though.
“You did an awesome job up here,” the blue eyes were filled with love and respect. “You had everybody mesmerized. I’m so proud of you.”
“I know,” Luke kissed him lovingly, “Your support means the world to me. You mean the world to me.”
“Don’t get me started or I’ll embarrass us both,” Reid whispered and it made Luke laugh out loud.
“You’d better go then,” he whispered, while softly caressing Reid’s behind.
“I’d better,” Reid growled, pulling Luke in for a quick, but firm, kiss and wickedly pushed his groin to Luke’s.
After hugging the children, Reid took the kids with him – what a beautiful sight…the confident doctor with a skipping child at each hand – and after Luke watched them talking to Bob and Kim, he concentrated on the other guests who wanted his attention.
