Author/pseudonym: Cathy Roberts
Email address: huntersglenn@yahoo.com
Rating: NC-17
Status: Completed
Pairing: John Carter/Luka Kovac
Date: February 22, 2003
Archive: Please ask first
Series: 1/7
Category: "E.R."
Disclaimer: "ER" and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No infringement of their copyright is intended. This story was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and may be downloaded for your own pleasure. I owe a special thanks to Melissa for planting the story idea in my head and being there to look over each bit as it was written.
Summary: It's a slash story, what's to summarize <g>? The song "Grace Is Gone" is by Dave Matthews.
Dr. Kovac, I Presume, Part 1
By Cathy Roberts
Somewhere in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
John Carter smiled as he shook his head, wondering how it all came so easily to Luka Kovac. Chicago, the Congo, it didn't seem to matter where the man was, he had women falling all over him. Not that he could blame, them, John thought. Luka was a good-looking man, and when he wasn't behaving like a complete ass, he was a great guy. Not that John was into guys, but if he was, well, then there was no doubt about it - he'd never kick Luka out of bed for eating crackers. And, it had also been good to have Luka there, despite the horror of the day. While Luka's presence also reinforced the feeling of helpless that John felt due to knowing that the young man could have lived if they had been in Chicago, John had found comfort in having someone there that he knew. When he had first arrived at the clinic and heard that Luka was still around, John had been happy. Strange how going halfway around the world could make you even appreciate those who you weren't close to, John mused, once more regretting the fact that there was such a gulf between the two of them.
And having Luka back to the hospital from the clinic meant that Gillian would quit flirting with him. At least that's what John hoped would happen now that Luka, her earlier conquest, was now headed for her bed once more. It had slightly bothered him, though, when Luka had seemed to imply that John would have bedded Gillian despite Abby. Was Luka's opinion of him so bad as to think he would cheat? Or was screwing around on your girlfriend some European trait that John knew nothing about? Or was Luka just the cheating type in general? Of all of Abby's complaints about Luka when they had been a couple, fidelity hadn't been one of them, so John didn't think that Luka was a cheater.
Thinking about Abby brought a smile to John's face, and he decided it was time to try once more to call and talk with her. He'd only spoken to her once since he arrived in the Congo, the rest of the time when he had called, he'd ended up with the answering machine. While it had been nice to hear Abby's voice, it wasn't as good as talking to her live, and John was hoping that this call would catch her at home.
He made his way to Angelique's office, the only place in the hospital with a reliable phone, hoping to find her still there. After all the surgeries she had performed that day, John was afraid she'd be in bed already, needing the rest. But he wasn't surprised to see the light on and her door open.
"Hey," he greeted her from the doorway.
She looked up from her paperwork, one thing that seemed to be the same the world over, and smiled wearily at him. "Hello," she waved her hand in the general direction of the chairs in front of her desk, all of which were covered with an assortment of books, paperwork and supplies. "Have a seat. Your blood type, O negative, correct?"
John moved a pile from one chair to another and sat down, nodding and already knowing where she was going with her question. "The blood supply is that low?"
Angelique nodded. "Today put a strain on it, yes. Gillian hasn't gotten to you already, has she? She was here earlier, asking if I knew where you were."
"She found me, but I haven't had anything to drink, if that's what you're asking," John replied with a grin as he remembered Gillian's offer of a drink as a way to wash away the memory of the day. And for some reason, he had found himself telling her yes, although even as he watched her pour the vodka and Coke into a cup, he knew he wouldn't drink it. Still, it was interesting to note that while she had offered him a drink, she had pointedly ignored Luka, not that it had seemed to bother the other man much, he had still taken Gillian up on her offer to share her bed. "I was hoping to get to use your phone."
"Again?" she asked with a grin of her own. "Well, I think we can make a deal, Dr. Carter. One pint of your blood for use of my telephone."
John nodded, although they both knew that she'd let him use the phone, even if he had refused to give blood. Not that there was much of a chance of that happening, he thought, knowing the need was so great.
"Let's go. I'm also O negative, so we can keep each other company while being bled dry," Angelique quipped.
John laughed as he followed her from the office, thinking it was a good thing that Angelique was the director and not a nurse or one of his fellow doctors there temporarily. She would have been a far greater temptation than Gillian, even if the younger woman was prettier. But neither woman could hold a candle to what he felt for Abby, and he found himself missing her more than he had thought he would.
An hour later, and only feeling slightly dizzy, John was back at Angelique's, office, and his calling card in hand. Angelique had told him to go on ahead, so he could have some privacy, just in case he reached Abby and not her answering machine, so John had the office all to himself. Smiling wistfully, he picked up the phone, and then dialed the myriad of numbers that would connect him with home. Just as he thought he'd have to leave yet another message, the phone was picked up, and John could hear Abby's laugh in the background, and the clinking of glass upon glass. He scowled as he looked at his watch, wondering just what kind of a party Abby could be having in the afternoon, although it wouldn't be unlike Susan or Deb to be keeping Abby company in his absence.
"Yo, you've reached Abby's place, Hank speaking. What can we do for you?"
John's blood ran cold as he heard the man's voice. A drunken voice no less, and then Abby's giggling nearby. "Give me the phone, Hank...stop that" moaning in the background, Abby's moaning "...oh, God...Hank, yes..."
John ended the call, his eyes closed with an onset of pain that he wasn't sure he could handle. Perhaps he'd called the wrong number? No. It had been Abby's voice he had heard, Abby laughing and happy and moaning from another man's touch. The calling card came back out, and John found himself dialing the number of someone who he trusted wouldn't lie to him while he hoped that Susan was home and not at work.
"Hello?" her voice answered the line, sounding tired.
"Susan, it's John. John Carter."
"Carter? Sorry, I finished a double shift at noon." John heard a rustling and then Susan was back on the line, sounding a bit more coherent. "Is something wrong?" she asked, her voice now sounding wary, no longer tired...or worried.
"I was hoping you'd tell me. What's going on with Abby, Susan? Who's Hank?" He tried to keep the pain from his voice, but knew he was failing. There HAD to be a reasonable explanation and John was counting on Susan to provide it.
Instead, John got a heavy sigh. "Oh, God. Carter..."
"Just tell me," he tersely ordered.
"It was a couple of nights after you left. We all went out, Abby, Jing-Mei, and me, and Abby seemed to be having a really rough time of it, drinking more than usual, and talking about her brother and how she wished you hadn't gone. Hank Parsons from pedes was at the club and he asked her to dance. Jing-Mei and I didn't think much of it at first; we were more or less happy that she was doing something other than sitting there and brooding. But then they left together...and I think they've been together since then." She sighed again. "I'm sorry, Carter. We...Jing-Mei and I, that is, we were planning on talking to Abby before you got back."
"He answered the phone. I obviously was interrupting something. Don't worry about it, Susan. There's no need to talk with her about it. If she now wants this pedes guy..." John couldn't bring himself to say the name, although he could match the name to the face. He'd seen the guy before, in the cafeteria and at Doc Maggoo's, thought the guy was giving Abby the eye, then talked himself out of it. How could he have been so blind? "I'll see you when I get back. Thanks for being honest with me."
John slowly put the receiver down, his mind racing as he contemplated the fact that Abby had found a way to end what he had thought was a good relationship. Granted, she hadn't wanted him to come on the medical missions trip, and, with all that happened, he hadn't really wanted to leave her. But it was too late to back out, and, while he didn't want to leave her, he also wanted to go. It was something John knew he had to do, and not just for the sake of seeing if he could function as a doctor outside the doors of County. Luka had spoken so passionately about the program, and had easily persuaded John that it was very much worthwhile. John gave himself a mental shake, losing the image of Luka going on about how satisfying the volunteering could be and put his thoughts back on the present, where they didn't want to be.
What John wanted to do was to throw the phone across the room, overturn the desk. In short, have an all out tantrum. Let all of his rage out at one time and put Abby behind him. But, God...he had loved her and thought she loved him back. She had never said she didn't. Never gave him any indication that her feelings weren't the same. But so much had happened recently. Things that strained them both. Had it all been too much for Abby? Enough to make her seek comfort in the arms of another man? Okay, John could maybe understand a one-night stand. She'd been lonely, feeling deserted, down, upset. Some comfort wouldn't be unreasonable. Forgivable, even. But to have it continue...to have the man answering her phone...
He didn't want to think about what Abby and Hank were doing when he called. Damn. Abby would unplug the phone when she was with him, or let her machine grab the call. But she let Hank answer the phone. Had she been hoping it was him, calling yet again? Had Abby looked for that as her easy way to tell him it was over, that she never really loved him in the first place? The drink that Gillian had poured for him earlier now seemed attractive, and John left Angelique's office to return to where he had left the cup of vodka and Coke, hoping it was still there.
It was, and seemingly untouched. Disregarding his light-headedness, John reached for it, taking a long swallow and grimacing at a taste that the abstinence of the past few years now made harsh. Another swallow followed, then more, until it was all gone.
And it wasn't enough.
Just one more drink, that was all he needed. How did that one song go?
"Excuse me please one more drink
Could you make it strong cause I don't need to think
She broke my heart my Grace is gone
One more drink and I'll move on"
Damn, but he really needed to be in a bar with a jukebox, so he could drink himself into oblivion while love songs played out around him. Calling up songs in his head just didn't seem the same, but anything was better than the searing pain in his heart and soul.
Had Luka known? Is that why Luka had asked about Abby? Had she cheated on Luka, too? Was that why Luka had seemed surprised that John's feelings for Abby had kept him loyal to her? A wasted loyalty, obviously.
Well, there wasn't a jukebox, and there wasn't a bar. There was however, a nurse with more vodka. And Luka in her bed. While getting more to drink, John could ask Luka if Abby had been faithful to him. It definitely sounded like a plan. Cup in hand, John got to his feet again and headed to Gillian's room, his gait slightly unsteady, his head already starting to float above his body, but the heartache still raw.
"You're not still angry with me, are you?" Luka asked as he bent his head to nuzzle Gillian's neck. He had been in her room for over an hour, and had yet to progress past kissing her skin, despite the fact he was pretty sure she'd had more of the coke and vodka than he had imbibed. God, but the woman could be stubborn at times, and Luka was beginning to wonder if his patience was going to result in anything. Or, if it was all really worth it. Especially when the expressive eyes of John Carter, damn him, were still a fresh memory in his mind. The day had hit Carter hard, even Luka had seen that, yet he had found it much easier to go chasing after Gillian than to sit and talk with Carter until the sadness in those eyes wasn't as pronounced. No, sitting and talking with Carter was something that could lead to something else, friendship. And that wasn't something Luka felt he could risk with the man. Not when there was so much about Carter that attracted him.
"Yes, I am. And my invitation wasn't for you and you know it. You should leave." She said as she pulled her shirt over her head, and then reached for a loose sleep shirt, her breasts high and firm as she moved.
Luka sighed, wondering why it was the woman had to be so difficult? "Listen, Carter has Abby, a girlfriend. A girlfriend that he's completely faithful to. He's not coming to your room, Gillian, or your bed."
"You've been telling me that for the past hour, Luka," Gillian said, her voice softly muffled by the fabric as she pulled the shirt over her head, putting those breasts out of view. "And if he doesn't show up, then I'll go on to bed. I'm not so desperate for a fuck that I'll settle for you when I'm still upset over catching you with that English bitch last week."
"Scottish," Luka said with a sigh, and was rewarded with a glare for his efforts to clarify things. "Look, Gillian, we're not a couple, so I don't see what was so..."
A sudden pounding on Gillian's door and Carter's voice asking to be let into the room cut off Luka's words. He grimaced while Gillian grinned at him, then sauntered over to answer it.
"John. Come on in." Gillian stood aside and Luka frowned as he watched Carter walk, or rather, stumble into the room. It was obvious the man had not only drunk what Gillian had given him, but found more as well. And that worried Luka, since he knew Carter wasn't a drinker in the first place. He still didn't' know why Carter had let Gillian pour the drink for him, except that he figured there was a part of Carter that hated having to explain why he didn't drink, and never felt that just saying 'no' was good enough. 'I should have stayed with him,' Luka thought.
"I can't stay long, I just wanted to see if you had any vodka left, and to ask you a question, Luka." Carter stared at him for a bit, and then shook his head. "Why are you dressed? I thought you were going to spend the night in Gillian's bed?"
"Are you sure you need more vodka?" Gillian asked as she walked over to her nightstand to retrieve the near empty bottle.
"Yes, it appears you've had quite a bit already," Luka said, thinking that he'd never seen Carter drunk, so he had no idea just how drunk Carter was right then. Luka had been there when Gillian had poured the drink for Carter, but had no idea what kind of alcohol tolerance level Carter had.
"Just one cup. I think I'll need ten more before this night is over, thank you, Gillian," John said as she took the cup from him and began to pour a bit of vodka into it. "Luka, was Abby faithful to you when you two were together?"
Gillian's eyebrows rose. "Abby? Abby was your girlfriend, Luka?"
"At one time," Luka tersely replied before returning his attention to Carter. "Aside from you? Yes, she was."
John waved his hand in the air. "We never did anything except talk and you know it. This should make you feel rather victorious then, doesn't it?"
Luka felt more than a little confused, but had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he knew where this was going. Carter drunk and asking if Abby had been faithful...she wouldn't? She loved Carter, right? That's what she had said, anyway. "Carter, perhaps you should go to your room and lie down?"
"Not yet, Luka, not yet. It hurts too much still," John said, his voice trembling as much as his hand as he took the cup back from Gillian. "Thanks." He downed the entire contents in one gulp, making a face as the straight vodka went down his throat.
"Seven days. I've been gone a total of seven days. And guess when she replaced me? About three or four nights after I was gone, that's when...how's that for love?" Carter looked at Gillian. "Do you have any more?"
"It's definitely time to put you to bed, Carter," Luka said as he placed an arm around his shoulder and turned him back toward the door.
"Luka, don't be so hasty. There's a perfectly good bed right here," Gillian said.
"Yes, and it's your bed. He needs his own bed right now, trust me. I know him and you don't." If Carter fell into bed with Gillian and had sex with her while drunk...Luka knew that Carter would despise himself for it, even if it was a somewhat logical reaction to what had happened. Besides which, Luka wanted to get Carter alone so he could find out just what HAD happened and how Carter knew that Abby had been unfaithful. He could have just reached a wild conclusion, and was merely suffering from being so far away from the woman he loved.
"Gillian's right, Luka. There is a perfectly good bed right here," John said as he smiled back at Gillian. "If Abby can have Hank, then there's no need for me to sleep alone, is there?"
"You're probably right, but not tonight. Come on, Carter, let's go." Luka opened the door and steered Carter into the hallway. "Which way is your room?"
"Thatta way," John said, pointing to the left and then to the right. "Or that way. Not sure now. It doesn't matter, Luka. I don't want to sit alone in my room thinking about this."
"It's that way," Gillian said from behind them, her finger pointing to the right. "The fifth door on the left."
"Thank you," Luka said, sending her a quick smile and ignoring Carter's protests over going to bed.
"Yes, thank you very kindly for your assistance," Carter said, also smiling at Gillian. "And for your vodka."
"Think nothing of it," she replied as the two men headed down the hallway. "And feel free to come back if your bed isn't as comfortable as Luka seems to think it will be."
John looked back at her, nearly stumbling over Luka while doing so. He returned her grin. "I'll do that."
"This way," Luka said, his voice stern as he turned Carter around so that they were both going in the same direction. He was tempted to just put the man over his shoulder, but wasn't sure that Carter would be submissive enough to not fight him over doing that.
"Yes, it's this way. It's funny, Luka. Not in a comic, ha-ha, type of way. But that other way. It was the damn monkey pox from here that finally got Abby and I together and now it's the Congo that's torn us apart. She didn't want me to come here, did you know that? She thought it was a bad idea." John said as they came to a stop. "Hey, this is my room." He turned the knob and stepped into the darkness.
Luka followed Carter inside, flipping on the overhead light. The generator wasn't able to put out enough charge for bright lights, so they ended up in a dimly lit room, which was all to the better, Luka thought. God knew the rooms were dismal enough looking in the daylight. The light flickered and Luka knew it would soon be out. There was a candle on the night table, and Luka lit it, although he hoped he'd have Carter in bed before the generator gave out for the night.
"Why did she wait this long?" John said from the other side of the room where he was leaning against the wall. "I told her how I felt about her, told her I wanted to marry her, even. God...she had to have known she didn't feel the same way, right? I mean, you just don't suddenly fall out of love with someone." His body slid down the wall until he was seated on the floor. "As if she was ever in love with me in the first place."
"She told me that she loved you. And that you two were happy." Luka said as he walked over to Carter and knelt in front of him. "I didn't want to believe her, but I saw it in her eyes, Carter. She loves you. I don't know why she's done this, but I don't think she means to hurt you."
John laughed. "Yeah, right. That's why she let good old Hank answer the phone, because she wanted to keep this all a secret so it wouldn't hurt me." John looked away from Luka, his eyes glistening. "You've got me to my room and done your job. You can go now."
"I said I'd put you to bed, and that's what I intend to do. I'm not going to let you end up in Gillian's bed. At least not tonight when you're not thinking clearly. So, up with you." Luka said as he grabbed Carter and stood, bringing the other man up with him. But Luka was either too close to Carter, or else Carter was drunker than he thought, because the man lost his balance and his body slammed against Luka's. In order to keep from falling to the ground with Carter on top of him, Luka had no choice but to wrap his arms around Carter's body, which resulted in their bodies being pressed together.
"Why Luka," John said with a grin, "I didn't know you cared."
"I..." Luka had no idea what to say, mainly because the physical contact HAD caused a reaction in his body. A reaction that he was hoping like Hell that Carter hadn't yet noticed. Although, since Carter was drunk, it was most likely something that the man wouldn't remember come the morning when he was sober.
And then Luka saw those eyes change, the playfulness gone and replaced with something else. But even as Luka gazed into the darker eyes, trying to discern the new look, the light flickered, then went out, and in the light from the one candle, Luka couldn't tell what was going on in Carter's head.
"Do you ever eat crackers?" John suddenly asked.
"Crackers? You mean saltines?" Luka asked.
John nodded. "Yeah, those will do. Do you?"
"Sometimes. Why?"
"Do you ever eat in bed?"
Luka laughed at that. "Sometimes. Why?"
John smiled slowly, a smile that increased Luka's desire and made him wonder why he hadn't yet let Carter go. He really had no reason to keep holding him that way, except that it just felt good.
"I won't kick you out," John said as his arms went around Luka's waist. Before Luka could inquire as to just what Carter meant by that statement, he was surprised by the feeling of Carter's lips upon his own.
And all reason went out the single window of the room.
**********************************************************
Awareness slowly crept up on John. An awareness that brought with it the fact that his head was pounding, his heart was broken, and he was naked in bed...with another body nestled closely behind his, their skin touching enough to let him know they were both naked, but not so much as to enable him to tell if it was a man or a woman spooned behind him. If he was in bed that way, then perhaps his heart wasn't as broken as he had originally thought?
The arm that was draped over his body tightened as the person moved, and John found himself feeling comfortable and safe within that embrace. A strong embrace, he noted as he ran his right hand over the arm. It was hairy.
A man, then.
John's eyebrows rose as he considered that fact. Abby had cheated on him, in front of their friends, no less. He had the right to be upset, angry, hurt. He had the right to seek comfort in the arms of someone else, and Gillian's face and a vague recollection of an offer from her drifted through John's consciousness. She had been flirting with him from the moment they met, and yet John had never taken her up on even so much as a kiss. He had thought it was because he was being faithful to Abby, but now, finding himself in bed with another man, he wondered.
John let his hand come to rest on the arm, wondering if it was safe to open his eyes to try to see whom he was with. A fleeting thought hit him, that it was Luka Kovac, but that thought just kept on going. With all of the bad feelings of the past between them, John was pretty sure that he'd be the last person that Luka would take to bed. As if Luka would ever take another man to bed in the first place.
His eyes slowly opened to find the room dark. Still night, then. The person behind John moved, their arm slipping down John's body until it was draped over his hip. And John found himself responding despite his hangover. Smiling slowly, he began to move to his back, hoping that the arm and hand would stay in place. If he figured it correctly, then...oh, yeah, he grinned broadly as the hand came to rest against his hardening penis. Had they done anything earlier? Hell, if only he could remember...
Well, there was one sure way to find out whom he was with, John told himself. He slowly turned his head in the direction of the other man, his eyes now accustomed to the darkness and able to make out shapes. John also brought his hand into play, running them over the body, assessing his bed partner. Uncircumcised, a bit of hair on the chest, soft hair on his head, narrow nose. That brought his choices down to the white men there.
"If you keep touching me, then be prepared for the consequences," a thickly accented voice said out of the darkness. John's heart jumped, then lodged in his throat.
Luka.
"And what consequences would there be?" he found himself asking as he brought his hand to rest on Luka's hip, temptingly close to his penis.
"Probably everything you intended to have happen last night, or earlier, since it still seems to be night," Luka replied, his fingers curling around John's penis. John's hard penis.
Damn.
John didn't want to think about the implications of him being hard courtesy of Luka Kovac...or any other man, for that matter. But he was. And obviously had intended for something to happen, at least according to Luka he had. Glancing toward his window, John could see the tinge of dawn on the bit of sky he could see.
"It is morning. So...you're saying that nothing happened last night?" John frowned at the note of disappointment he heard in his own voice. He wasn't supposed to be upset about that, was he? He should be glad that nothing had happened. So why wasn't he?
"You say that as if you wish something had happened," Luka said, a chuckle in his voice. The hand moved from John's penis to caress his hip. "Nothing happened, I assure you."
"Then how did we end up here, like this?" John asked, once more getting brave with his own hand and letting it trail over Luka's chest and down toward his groin.
Luka laughed again. "You don't remember? Not too surprising, considering how drunk you were."
"The last thing I remember is Gillian giving me a little bit of vodka in her room...you were there, too. And her offering her bed. Tell me the rest." John's hand stopped as it bumped into something quite hard and he realized he had once again found Luka's penis. His very erect penis. The situation was becoming more interesting, he noted, with both of them unashamedly hard in the presence of one another.
Luka moved onto his back, chuckling once again, and John took advantage of that new body angle to let his hand do a bit more wandering. So unlike a woman's body, he thought as his hand felt the hardness of Luka's muscles just beneath the skin. "I brought you here and we got inside. You were a bit upset about...Abby, and lost your balance, falling against me. You then put your arms around me and started to ask me if I ate crackers, and if I ate in bed. It made me you happy that I admitted to doing so."
John rolled over onto his side, his hand now trailing back up Luka's chest, liking the way the hair felt soft through his fingers. "And then?"
"And then you kissed me," Luka said, his voice sounding less amused and a bit hoarse.
"I kissed you? I see. And then what happened?" John's finger stopped as it encountered a hard node on Luka's chest. But when Luka sucked in a quick breath, John realized it wasn't a node, but a nipple, and he couldn't resist running his finger over and around it even more, liking the way that Luka's breathing grew more rapid with each repetition.
"And then I kissed you back," Luka finally said. "And the next thing I knew, you were undressing me."
"Hmmm...go on." The other nipple was also hard, and John let his finger circle around it as well.
"God...and then I was undressing you..." Luka then muttered something that sounded as if it was Croatian, and John found himself grinning. The room was slowly growing lighter, but John wasn't yet able to look into Luka's eyes. However, he did find himself wanting to look at Luka's body, and he tossed the covers aside, exposing the both of them to the early morning African air.
"And did we like that?" John asked as he looked over Luka's body, admiring the finely muscled limbs, and proud looking erection.
"We did. We made it to your bed, but you don't have any condoms, so I got up to get one from my pants. When I returned, you were asleep." Luka moaned as John's fingers wrapped around his penis.
"So how did you end up sleeping in my bed, Luka?" John asked as he gently squeezed that hardness, then ran his fingers down the shaft, enjoying the velvet smoothness of Luka's skin.
"I...I didn't...I...dammitt, Carter, I wanted you, all right? Is that what you want me to admit?" Luka blurted out, sitting upright as he spoke and reaching down with both hands to cup John's face, forcing the man to his back. "I wanted you then and I want you now, but I wanted you sober, not drunk. And I hoped that once you awoke, you'd still want me." Their lips met roughly, passionately, John's arms wrapping around Luka's body while Luka continued to hold John's head in place.
Luka's tongue ran over John's lower lip, pressing inward, probing. Aside from family members, John had never kissed another man. And he certainly had never kissed his male relatives this way. He liked it. He liked it a lot, and found it easy to part his lips, sucking Luka's tongue into his mouth, dueling with it and trying to get his own tongue into Luka's mouth.
They broke apart, and Luka's hands moved from John's face to his arms, then to his waist and lastly to his hard penis and testicles, fondling them, caressing and eager.
"I do," John said on a sigh. "I don't know why, but I do."
"Say it," Luka demanded as he lowered his mouth to John's chest.
"Say it?" John wasn't sure what Luka meant and he definitely was taken by surprise when Luka's lips and teeth settled over one of nipples. "Jesus!" Want. Luka had meant the want, right? "I want you, Luka. God, I was hard just from waking up next to you."
"Liar," Luka said from around the nipple. "You told me you didn't remember last night, which means you didn't know who you were in bed with. And you were facing away from me, so you didn't see me at all. Not that you could see anything in the dark."
"It's not dark now, is it?" John said, running his hands through Luka's dark hair and not wanting to admit that Luka was correct. Then he grinned. "You were already awake."
"Yes." Luka raised his head and looked John directly in the eyes. "I was awake and waiting to see if you were going to punch my lights out or throw your body on top of mine and beg me to take you."
John laughed, but his laughter was soon replaced by a moan as he felt a warm wetness on his penis. Luka was slowly sucking and licking along his length. Oh, God...
"Luka..."
"Shh...don't be too loud or you'll awaken the entire floor. You don't want to make Gillian jealous, do you?" Luka asked with a small laugh and then he wrapped his lips around the head of John's penis, looking up at John while he slowly sucked the length into his mouth.
Luka couldn't help but smile around that gorgeous cock as he saw the desire wash over Carter's face. His Carter. Oh, yeah, he liked the way that sounded, he thought, chuckling as he turned his full attention to sucking Carter dry. First acquaintances, then enemies, then co-workers who got along, and now - now they had skipped the whole friend part and jumped right to lovers. And all because Abby was a fool. Hell, if Luka had John Carter in love with him, he would never risk losing him by having someone else. Ever.
But Abby? The woman wouldn't know happiness if it kicked her in the head, he mused as his tongue caught a taste of Carter's pre-cum, making him desire even more of Carter. As Luka slowly worked his way over, on and around Carter's cock, the light in the room grew brighter around him. From time to time he'd look up over Carter's body and to his face, the lust and desire there thrilling Luka to the bone. This was going to be good. So very, very good. And then it happened - a faint sound, but one he was used to hearing around the hospital - the ringing of the bell that announced a meal would be served in fifteen minutes. It was up to the staff to make sure the patients were fed, and everyone assisted with that task, from orderlies to doctors, trays were taken from the kitchen, put on rolling carts and delivered, then empty trays picked up. And all before they could eat. Being a doctor didn't gain you any privileges where that was concerned. No one ate until the patients were fed.
"Luka..." John's voice was an odd mixture of husky and disappointed. "We need to go."
Luka's mind and body screamed out 'No!' to that idea, but his head knew that Carter was correct - if they didn't show up, then someone would be around to look for them, he had learned that the first time he had volunteered in the Congo. A string of Croatian curse words came out of Luka's mouth as he let go of Carter's still rigid cock and sat back on his haunches, his hands the only part of him still touching John Carter.
"Later. I promise you that I will make you come later, and then I will fulfill you in a way you never dreamed possible, Carter," Luka vowed as his hand gave Carter's ball sac a gentle squeeze and watch the hard cock twitch and move in response.
"That sounds like one Hell of a promise, Luka," John said and he placed his hand over Luka's, holding it in place while their eyes met. "And one I intend to hold you to."
Hazel eyes gazed deeply into chocolate ones and then each man smiled. Luka leaned forward until their lips were nearly touching. "You better," he said right before closing that gap with a kiss that was in the process of leaving them both breathless even as they heard people moving around in the hallway.
"We'd better go," John said as they pulled apart. "Do you want to walk out of here together or separately?" His eyes seemed to bore into Luka's as the question was asked.
"Together," Luka replied. "And that would be my answer no matter what we had managed to accomplish." He reluctantly moved his hand, and then got to his feet to look for his clothing, tossing various pieces toward the bed and Carter while he sought out his own. "Get dressed. No one will care if you wear the same thing two days in a row."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you want people to think we're together and didn't have time to get clean clothes," John remarked as he too got out of bed and began to dress, his deference for cleanliness showing in the clean boxers he slipped on. He also tossed another pair of them in Luka's direction. "You might as well borrow something of mine. It's not like I can't get it back later."
Luka grinned as he caught the silk underwear. "Perhaps. And maybe you're right about the other as well. And why wouldn't I want everyone here to know that you're now off-limits and mine?"
"Yours?" John stopped dressing with only one leg in his pants. "We haven't done anything yet, Luka."
"No," Luka agreed. "We haven't. But we will." With that, Luka crossed the small space between them and once more captured John's face with his hands before planting a long and lingering kiss on those soft and delicious lips. 'You are already mine, John Carter,' he thought, his heart affirming what his body already knew.
To be continued