Jill Shalvis - Luke

Faith listened to Shelby's heels clicking as she walked off into the night, her heart starting a heavy beat of anticipation.

"That smells good," Luke said into the silence, gesturing to the casserole she held. "You going to share?"

She eyed him. "You didn't come over here to eat."

"No, but we're going to."

"My blood sugar is fine at the moment."

"Good. After we eat, I'm going to remove every stitch of clothing you're wearing."

He said it so conversationally, it took the words a moment to sink in. Once they did, her heart kicked into an even higher gear.

"And then… I'm going to make you wild."

"Awfully cocky," she managed evenly though her thighs tightened. So did her nipples.

"Yeah. I'm going to make you scream, too," He said this softly, silkily, and stepped even closer, still not touching her in any way.

And still her pulse doubled.

Tripled.

"I'm, um, not really much of a screamer," she said, quite proud of the fact her voice hardly quivered at all, though she was having a huge amount of trouble breathing and her knees had liquefied.

Holding her gaze prisoner, he took advantage of the fact that her hands were full of the hot casserole dish and tugged on her robe, completely exposing one bare breast.

Her gasp echoed around them.

"Mmm," rumbled from his throat. Then one big warm hand cupped the fullness, plumping it up for his seeking mouth, which was warm and greedy.

Staggering back a step, she hit the doorway.

"Hold on to our dinner now," he said around his mouthful, and using his teeth, gently plucked at her nipple. "Still got a grip on it, Faith?"

She whimpered and locked her knees together to keep from falling.

"Faith?"

"Y-yes."

"That's a girl."

And he locked the door behind them, after which he proceeded to make good on his promise to remove every stitch she wore, make her wild… and make her scream.

For the next few weeks Luke raced through his days at the hospital, enjoying his work as much as ever.

And enjoying his time off more than ever.

In the physicians' lounge after a particularly long shift, he gathered his things, shoveling them into his duffel bag, his mind already racing to the night ahead.

He thought he'd take Faith out for dinner, then planned on a delectable dessert by moonlight-Faith by moonlight.

"You out of here, Dr. Walker?"

Luke shouldered his bag and turned to face Dr. Nicole Mann, one of the youngest and most acclaimed new doctors they had. "That I am."

She was dark-haired and petite, and incredibly dedicated to her job at the hospital, specifically working for him in the E.R. The day Luke had been "sentenced" to work at the clinic, she'd come by his office-the only one to do so-offering her sympathy. She, more than anyone here on staff, understood his passion, and felt it as her own.

"You seem… lighter on your feet these days." She tilted her head, studying him for a moment with a little smile touching her mouth. "And, dare I say it, even happy. You get another promotion I didn't hear about?"

"No."

"You done working at Healing Waters?"

"No."

"Well, then." She smiled expectantly. "What's your secret?"

Faith, he nearly said, and bit his tongue. She wasn't what was making him feel like dancing down the hospital hallways. Nope, it was…

Ah, hell.

It was Faith.

"Maybe it's because you have only three weeks left at the clinic."

Three weeks and then no more steaming hot, unbearably erotic rendezvous with Faith?

And suddenly he wondered why he'd ever agreed to that stupid time line. Why had he ever imagined it would be enough?

"I bet you'll be thrilled to get away from all those froufrou oils and self-healing crap, and come back to the scientific basics."

"Actually, the alternative therapies Healing Waters utilizes have been around for centuries," he said. "Longer than our scientific methods-" He broke off and stared at her, horrified at himself.

Had he just… defended alternative healing practices?

Dr. Mann looked just as shocked. "Yes… well, good night, Dr. Walker." Fast as she could, she hightailed it away from him.

Because, clearly, he was crazy. He'd have hightailed it away from himself, too.

Good God, what was happening to him? All his sexual affairs ended sooner or later, and he'd always been fine with that.

Maybe it was because they were impatiently waiting for Faith to get her period. She claimed to be completely irregular, often going two months in between, but he wanted to be sure. He couldn't just walk away until he was certain that there were no ramifications from their oversight. Surely Faith would know before his time was up.

Then, definitely then, he'd be ready to move on.

He left the hospital. And though he'd been looking forward to dragging Faith into his arms, he turned toward the beach instead, and went home. He didn't need to see her every single day. Nope, he sure didn't.

Undoubtedly she'd be grateful for the night off. After all, soon enough-in three weeks-they wouldn't be seeing each other at all.

* * *

Luke didn't come to her that night. Or the next.

And by Saturday, Faith wasn't sure what to think, except that she'd gotten way too dependent on his warm, strong arms, his melting smile, the way he made her feel.

She'd made a deal with him, a deal that was nearly over, and given his lack of appearances this week, it might already be over, and she would live with it.

Immersing herself in opening the clinic for the day, she was behind her desk going over the schedule when Luke walked in.

"Morning," he said.

Her heart had taken off before she even lifted her head from the schedule. He stood in the doorway already wearing his white coat over dark blue trousers that fit his long, powerful legs. Her head swam at just the sight of him, so she hoped he'd stay far, far out of her way for the day or surely she'd give herself away by drooling.

"Morning." Scooping up the schedule, she rose and walked around her desk, figuring she'd just walk right on by-without looking directly at him, because it was like looking directly into the sun, it was hazardous to her health-and go on with her day. Only she would know everything within her trembled to reach out for him. Only she would know she strained her nose to catch at least a little scent of him-

"Hey." His big, warm hand settled gently on her arm, stalling her retreat.

She studied his shoes. Nice ones. She wondered if his socks matched. Probably they did, since he was always so organized-

"Faith?" Bending slightly, he tried to peer into her eyes, and when she wouldn't let him, he captured her chin and slowly raised her face. "You're not okay."

He could see that? Well, wasn't that just fine and dandy. She spent a lot of effort trying to look like she felt perfectly fine even if her heart hurt. Come to think of it, her head hurt too. And damn if she wasn't just the slightest bit light-headed. "Of course I'm okay. We're busy today, so I'll just-"

"Did you eat breakfast?"

"I've told you, I can handle this thing."

"You need a snack?"

"I have a bagel on my desk. I'm going to get to it, I-"

"Get to it now." His thumb rasped over her lower lip, setting off a whole set of reactions in her body.

"You're pale."

"Fine." Tossing the schedule down, she picked up the bagel and stuffed a bite in her month. "Happy?"

"I will be." He waited until she'd swallowed. "More." He looked at his watch. After sixty seconds, he lifted his head. "Feel better?"

"Yes," she admitted, and found her throat tight.

"Faith, sometimes you'll be off just because. It's not your fault."

At the sympathy in his gaze, she nearly burst into tears.

"I want you to go on insulin."

That dried her up. "No." She was standing her ground on this. "Insulin isn't the answer for me."

"Because it's conventional?"

"I'm going to overlook that sarcastic and uncalled-for comment because I can see you're worried about me, but-"

"Damn-A-straight I'm worried about you." He pulled her close. "I think about you all the time."

"Really?" Because she couldn't handle the heat, the concern, the devastating affection in his gaze, she turned her back to him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Because you didn't come over last night. Or the night before." Or the night before, but who was counting?

"Faith-"

"Forget it." She covered her eyes with her fingers. "I didn't mean to say that, didn't mean to sound like a nagging wife. We talked about this, it's a casual sex thing, nothing else-" She gasped when he whipped her around.

She expected anger, or more frustration, not the sadness. "I stayed away from you," he said, "because yes, we agreed this was a casual thing, a weekend thing, an over-in-a-few months thing, and while I said it, agreed to it, I found myself…" He grimaced. "Look, just know that you're not the only one having trouble with this, okay? But it's all I have to offer you for now." His eyes were devastatingly regretful.

She swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. "I knew that up front."

"I don't do hard-core relationships, I-"

"I understand, Luke."

"I give everything to my work, which leaves nothing else-"

"I said I understand," she repeated softly.

He stared at her, then winced and closed his eyes. "But how can you, when I don't?"

"I just do. We're really very much the same. I give everything to my work, too, and often." She lifted a shoulder. "There's nothing left. In the long run, you and I would burn out, I know that much. We wouldn't give enough to each other, we couldn't give it, that's just a fact."

Eyes solemn, mouth grim, he reached out and stroked her jaw. "Only a few weeks left," he whispered.

Unable to talk, she turned her cheek into his palm and sighed. "So maybe we should make the most of it."

"Yeah." His mouth came down on hers, and because her eyes were still closed, it made her dizzy, a good dizzy this time, so she flung her arms around his neck and let it take her.

"Tonight?" she gasped when they came up for air.

His hair was wild from her fingers, his eyes, hot, hot, hot. "Tonight." Lowering his mouth, he feasted on her throat, her shoulder.

At a knock on her office door, they breathlessly broke apart.

"Faith?" called Shelby. "Is Dr. Walker in there with you? We could use him in room three."

Faith looked at Luke. "He's coming."

"Am I?" he murmured with a wicked smile.

"You will tonight," she murmured back, soaking up his low laugh.

Oh, yes, he was going to break her heart, and oh yes, she wanted him anyway. If this was all she could have, well, then, she wasn't going to waste a second of it.

It was a cruel joke that she couldn't seem to get sated, that she always needed more, but she'd deal with that, too, when the time came. But for now, she was going to smile.

"Tonight then," he whispered, and with one last hard kiss, he was gone.

* * *

One day the next week, Luke staggered into the hospital, his body still humming from the night he'd spent with Faith. He'd just had the hottest, steamiest shower of his life, and it had nothing at all to do with the water temperature, but the fact Faith had joined him with a naughty smile and a handful of soap.

He wondered if anyone could read what his idiotic grin meant, and attempted to swipe it off with darker, somber thoughts of work, but he couldn't.

He practically danced down the hospital hallways. Passing the nurses' station, still smiling, he waved.

Clearly still a little cautious of him, they waved back.

One week left.

Ah, there it was. A thought that managed to dim his smile. Only one week.

Briefly he considered making another stupid comment to the press about the clinic, one which would guarantee the need to spend another three months there. But since he couldn't even remember how or why he'd felt so strongly against it in the first place, and since it would only hurt Faith anyway, he wouldn't do it. Couldn't do it.

At least for the next few hours, he was blessedly busy, and didn't have time to think about anything other than what he was doing. There'd been a pileup on the 405, and an odd strain of the flu, which caused appendicitis-like symptoms, so he was completely swamped, up to his eyes in puke and broken bones.

In the midst of the chaos, one of the nurses asked him to check a patient that wasn't his.