Over Her Head
Chapter One
Brady and Sami sat at the Java Café in awkward silence. Ever since Belle had broken up with Shawn, she had been eager to spend more time with her brother and sister. She had wanted to have lunch with both Brady and Sami that afternoon and, knowing how upset she was about her break-up with Shawn, neither of them had been able to tell her no. Now they waited for Belle to show up, who was already ten minutes late.
Sami had been in an unusually good mood that week, while Brady was going through one of the hardest weeks of his life. It was weird how the same event had affected both of them so differently. Victor's death was what put Sami in such a good mood and Victor's death was also the thing Brady was having such a hard time dealing with. Sami couldn't believe he was really out of her life and wouldn't be able to make her miserable anymore. Brady just wished he had been able to do something to stop the murder from happening.
Sami looked up at Brady curiously, unable to stay silent any longer, "How much money did Victor leave you with, anyway?" she asked.
Brady's eyes stayed focused on the napkin he was slowly shredding into tiny pieces, "Enough." he mumbled.
"I bet Nicole didn't get a cent." Sami smirked at the idea of Nicole being left penny-less after the long-awaited death of her husband.
Brady finally seemed to snap out of his impassive state, "It's funny you should bring that up. Victor had made a new will, one that would have probably cut Nicole out of the picture completely. But it was locked up in a safe, one that was so secure that even a locksmith couldn't get it open. He wanted to make a safe Nicole could never get into but he ended up leaving a safe behind that no one could get into. So they had to use his old will and Nicole ended up with fifty percent of his money."
"Lucky her." Sami commented, a tinge of envy in her voice. Nicole would probably never have to work again, while Sami was still stuck working at Basic Black and still barely making enough money. It would have been great to get even a small percentage of Victor Kiriakas' fortune.
"Not really." Brady's voice was bitter and angry, "She didn't deserve any money. I don't want to believe she had anything to do with my grandfather's murder but everything seems to point to her. She's the one who really benefited from this and she's not going through any pain at all."
"You really sound like you mean all that." Sami remarked, "How do you pull it off? The way you're talking, a stranger wouldn't even be able to guess that this is woman you've been lusting after for the past few months."
Brady glared at Sami, "I have not been lusting after Nicole. You're the one that's been drooling over Lucas so I wouldn't talk!"
Sami's mouth dropped open in shock, "I don't drool over Lucas Roberts! The very idea of drooling over that man is enough to make me throw up. I heard all about the half-naked bedroom games you were playing while you were handcuffed to Nicole, you....... hypocrite."
"You're getting awfully defensive." Brady noted with a little sneer, "Are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Lucas?"
"Of course I'm sure." Sami declared, tossing her hair over her shoulder, "I would never fall for Lucas. Ever. I mean, I'm not even slightly attracted to him and the idea of me ever wanting to be with him is insane."
She knew that she was a good liar. The only way anyone would be able to tell she was lying was by the way her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. But Brady couldn't see that so it was okay. She pushed all thoughts of camping trips, caves and 'snakes' out of her mind, wanting to be as convincing as possible.
"I bet you could fall for him." Brady predicted, "If you haven't already, I mean."
"I have not!" Sami screeched, then lowered her voice when one of the nearby waitresses turned to look at her, "I would die before falling in love with Lucas. I can prove it too."
"Really?" Brady raised his eyebrows, "Then why don't we make a little bet?"
"What kind of a bet?"
"You have to get Lucas to move into your apartment for," Brady thought about it for a moment, "Two months. That way, the bet will be over by, let's say, May 1st. If you can go two months living with the guy without falling for him, then I'll give you half of the money Victor left me."
"How much is that?" Sami inquired.
"Enough that you'll never have to work for my dad, Kate, or anyone else, ever again." Brady told her.
"How are you going to be able to tell if I've fallen in love with him or not?"
"It won't be hard. You're very transparent about those things, Sami."
"Really?" Sami almost laughed. Brady had no idea how good she had gotten at hiding her attraction to Lucas. So she could fake it. What was another two months? And after those two months, she would be rich, "It's a deal."
"I didn't even tell you what you have to do if you lose." Brady reminded her.
"Fine, what do I have to do if I lose?" Sami humoured him, taking a drink of her water. She knew that it didn't matter what he had planned for her if she lost because she was not going to lose.
"You have to marry me." Sami almost choked on the water. She slammed the glass down on the table and stared at him in horror.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't get so excited. It's not that I want to marry you but I think it's the only way I'll be able to get Nicole to stop bothering me." Brady explained, "Once I marry you, then she'll decide to go after someone else. And once she does, then we can divorce. But if we do get married, there will be a pre-nuptial agreement stating that I keep all of my money."
"Nicole went after you when she was married to Victor." Sami responded, still in shock over Brady's request, "What makes you think she'll leave you alone if you marry me?"
"It's completely different." Brady assured Sami, sounding incredibly confident, "We'll make her believe we're madly in love and eventually she will give up. Nicole doesn't have very much patience."
"Fine." Sami muttered, knowing she was going to do everything in her power to win this bet, "But what about Chloe? You're still dating that girl, aren't you?"
"Nope." Brady shook his head, "I broke up with her a few days ago. The strain of the long-distance relationship was really getting to me. I was sick of going long periods of time without getting any. That's probably why all Nicole had to do was come within two feet of me and I would end up getting........excited."
"That's a little too much information." Sami responded, a devious smile on her face, "And now that you've mentioned Nicole, I think you should be part of this bet too."
"What do you mean?" Brady asked suspiciously.
"You have to go the same period of time living in an apartment with Nicole without sleeping with her. If you haven't already, I mean." Sami mimicked his tone from earlier that afternoon.
"I can do that." Brady shot back easily, "How can I sleep with someone who is probably somewhat responsible for my grandfather's death?"
"How can you get excited over someone who your grandfather was married to?" Sami countered, momentarily silencing Brady, "So, if we both can go the two months without you sleeping with Nicole or me falling for Lucas, we call it even. But if we both end up losing, which won't happen because there's no way I can lose this bet, I marry you but when we divorce, I still get half of what Victor left you."
"Sounds good." Brady agreed, "But I think Nicole and I should be staying at an apartment near your apartment. So I can be there when you end up falling in love with Lucas." he finished quickly.
"We can work on that." Sami replied, extending her hand, "Do we have a deal, then?"
Brady nodded, his mouth set in a grim determined line. Not sleeping with Nicole wasn't going to be hard, he had been doing that for months. He just had to make sure Sami fell for Lucas, "Yes."
Belle chose that moment to hurry over and sit down at their table, "I am so sorry I'm late." she said breathlessly, "I was window shopping with Mimi and I got side-tracked. But that's okay because you two looked like you weren't that bored. What were you talking about anyway?"
"Nothing." Sami smiled innocently at her little sister, "Nothing at all."
She, Belle and Brady were soon engaged in conversation but Sami couldn't stop thinking about the bet she had made. Living with Lucas for two months without falling for him. Actually, she could fall for him, she just couldn't let anyone know she had fallen for him. And considering she already had this feeling that she was in love with Lucas, she knew that this might be a challenge. But Sami had always loved challenges.