He had been planning this for weeks, not knowing the timing would be so right. After taking care of horses, dogs and kids, he had gratefully accepted the picnic basket Mrs. Graves had prepared for them, made his way back to their bedroom, locked the door and crawled back to Reid’s warm body.
Luke smiled. As much as he loved the horses, dogs and kids, he had missed this. Having a day off together and spending it together. Just the two of them. So he had planned this tête-à-tête and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Tristan’s accident had upset him deeply and he knew Reid felt the same. He knew how Reid hated to be helpless. How he hated to accept that nothing could be done. Especially when a child was involved.
He closed his eyes, breathing in Reid’s scent. It soothed him, somehow. Knowing that Reid was close, Luke could handle anything. When he put his nose in the curls, he still could smell smoke. Again he smiled. During his walk with Gaia, he’d run into Katie and she told him the whole story, apologizing over and over again.
When Luke had assured her he was just happy she and Jacob were okay, she had started crying.
“You two are such good friends. Such good men.”
Luke had hugged her. He understood she had some issues with moving, with letting go of this cozy set-up.
“And it seems I’ve bought that other house too soon…” she had sniffed, pointing across the street, “because I found out yesterday that they put up that house for sale. Then I could have stayed close and…”
“But you fell in love with the house you bought,” Luke had reminded her.
“That’s true,” she had admitted.
“And it’s just a few miles. We’re still close…”
“I know,” Katie had shrugged. “I just had this great time here… The reason for coming here was horrendous, of course, but having you all nearby…”
“We will miss you too,” Luke had said truthfully. He liked Katie a lot and he always enjoyed the dynamics between her and Reid. Not to mention Reid together with Jacob. That sight always nibbled on his heartstrings.
Luke returned to the present when he felt Reid wake up. He loved this moment where his lover slowly returned to the Land of the Consciousness and that first second when Reid noticed him. As always, the blue eyes started glowing, the lips started to form a smile and long fingers touched his chin.
“Good morning, Beautiful,” Reid whispered and Luke eagerly leaned in for a kiss.
“Hmmm, you smell way more fresh than I feel…you’ve been up already?”
Luke grinned.
“Yep. The horses, dogs and kids don’t feed themselves, you know.”
Reid frowned. “I might have heard someone mention that before. But what time is it, then?”
“It’s half past eight.”
“That late?” Reid’s frown deepened. “But it’s so quiet outside…” Then he visibly remembered the events of the day before.
“They’re not coming in today…”
Luke nodded. “But just for today. Dave assured me that he needs to work to keep his sanity, but he did need a day off to make arrangements and his team decided to take a day off too. Out of loyalty.”
“I understand…loyalty is good,” Reid played with Luke’s locks, “and waking up with you in my arms is even better.”
Before Luke could come even closer, Reid turned and stepped out of bed. When he saw Luke’s face, he chuckled.
“Don’t give me that Snyder pout. I’ll be back soon, but Mother Nature is calling me and she sounds very urgent.”
“You should never keep Mother Nature waiting,” Luke agreed and Reid pointed at him as he walked over to the bathroom.
“Exactly.”
Before he entered the bathroom, Reid was distracted though.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a picnic basket.” Luke grinned.
“Duh. What’s it doing here?”
“I’ll tell you when you come back,” Luke promised and Reid rolled his eyes and hurried off. The thought of food almost made him forget about his aching bladder.
When he returned to the bed, he smiled at the scene. His blond naked angel, in the middle of the bed with the picnic basket between his legs, was an amazing picture. He really pulled it off. After all the doubt and frustration, he had Luke Snyder in his life and in his bed. Somehow he’d even managed to make Luke happy. The beaming smile was telling. With all the craziness around them, he’d never forget the wonder of having Luke Snyder finally completely to himself.
So for a moment he forgot about the picnic basket, but just leaned over and kissed Luke firmly on the mouth.
“I feel extremely lucky to have you here,” he said and Luke smiled his beautiful smile.
“That’s good, because you’re stuck with me,” Luke took Reid’s face between his hands and kissed him lovingly. “I’ve locked you in and you’ll be my sex slave today…”
The blue eyes immediately came alive.
“Sex slave, huh?”
“Uhuh,” Luke nodded, opening the picnic basket, “but I’m a excellent slave driver…I will keep you well nourished.”
Reid put a finger under Luke’s chin and tilted his face a little.
“I love how your mind works.”
“I had a feeling you would,” Luke grinned, taking a thermos bottle from the basket. “Let’s start with coffee, to wake all systems up…”
“I’d love some coffee, but not to waken anything up,” Reid gave a suggestive smile. “It’s all working full speed already…”
“So I’m a better upper than coffee, am I?”
“You’re the best upper there is,” Reid guaranteed him, settling himself next to Luke on the bed. “All you have to do is look at me with those beautiful brown eyes of yours and everything is up and ready to go…”
“So I still have the magic touch, huh?” Luke’s smile was confident. He didn’t question his own attraction for a moment.
“Hell yeah,” Reid sighed, enjoying his coffee and leaning back with his eyes closed. “The moment you smiled at me…I was under your spell.”
“So stupid how we tried to fight it,” Luke shook his head, remembering those confusing times.
“We both had our reasons to battle those feelings,” Reid shrugged, “although mine were significantly more sensible than yours.”
“Of course,” Luke snorted, “Your general dislike of the human race was way more sophisticated.”
They both chuckled.
“I mean…you were fighting me off because of someone like Noah…” Reid teased, putting his mug on the table and accepting a sandwich.
“Yeah… at that time that love felt worth fighting for,” Luke gave Reid a small smile. He was still bothered by Noah’s remarks at Al’s. Even Danny had been outraged, sharing how Noah had grabbed Reid’s arm.
“Did you really love him?” The little boy had asked Luke, pulling a face.
“I did. But he wasn’t like this, back then,” Luke had answered, not entirely sure if that was really the truth or something he just liked to believe.
“He scared me,” Danny had said and Luke had hugged him.
“I’m sorry to hear that, but Daddy told me how you handled yourself and that was very brave.”
Danny had shrugged, smiled and that had been the end of that. For Danny. Not for Luke. It bothered him. Tremendously. But he didn’t want Noah on his mind. There was no room for Noah. Ever.
“I’m so glad that’s all behind me,” he whispered, as he put the basket on the floor and crawled to the still chewing Reid.
“Me too,” the doctor grinned, quickly swallowing the last of his sandwich and embracing his lover.
“Noah will never be able to make me doubt my love for you again,” Luke was still whispering, while he softly caressed Reid’s hair. “You’re it.”
“Yes, Mr. Snyder…I’m all that,” Reid murmured and Luke grinned, his face close to Reid’s.
“And then some.”
