Chapter Two

"You want them to what?" Lucas asked, positive he had heard her wrong. There was no way Sami would ask him to do this. It was Brady and Nicole for Christ's sake.

Sami turned away from him, "I want you to let them move into your apartment for two months." she murmured, looking up at Brady pleadingly.

"No way." Lucas clenched his jaw stubbornly, "I am not letting her live with me. I would go insane if I had to stay in that apartment with Nicole for two months."

"That wasn't what we were planning on doing." Brady spoke up, "While Nicole and I lived in your apartment, you would be living with Sami."

Lucas' forehead crinkled in confusion. Ever since they got back from the camping trip, Sami had been acting really distant and uncomfortable whenever she was around him. Then, the past two or three days she had acted like she had something important on her mind. And now she wanted him to move in with her. She was confusing the hell out of him lately. But if she wanted him to live with her, it had to mean something.

"Why?" Lucas asked, his dark eyes burning into Sami suspiciously.

"We're, um, doing an experiment." Brady answered. Sami almost cringed. An experiment? He couldn't have come up with a lamer explanation.

Nicole suddenly broke into the conversation, "I personally love experiments." she giggled and held on to Brady's arm, "I can't wait to see what experiments you have planned for me and you to do together, sugar."

"I am not your sugar." Brady pushed her away, making sure not to make eye contact with Sami. Nicole just laughed and grabbed onto his arm again, "I guess this is what I get when I take you somewhere after you've spent the entire morning next to the liquor cabinet." Brady grumbled.

Lucas looked horrified, "Hey, if you two want to do those things, you go right ahead. But you're not going to do them in my apartment!"

Sami quickly jumped in, "Not those kind of experiments. We can't really explain what kind of experiment but I'm sure they'll be on their best behaviour. I know Brady will do his best." Sami arched on eyebrow suggestively at Brady. She and Brady had agreed that Lucas and Nicole were never going to find out about the bet and if either she or Brady slipped and told one of them, they would automatically lose the bet.

Lucas sighed. He could handle the moving in with Sami part, in fact, that wouldn't bother him at all. It was the idea of letting Nicole and Brady live in his apartment. He looked over at Sami, whose eyes were pleading with him to agree to the proposal.

He started a little bit when he felt her fingers slip underneath his shirt from behind and slowly slide up his back. They were facing Brady and Nicole so Brady couldn't see what was going on so Sami continued running her fingers up his back. He barely resisted shuddering as she leaned closer to him.

"For me?" she whispered in his ear, sensing that she had won. She knew Lucas well enough to know he was going to give in.

"Okay." Lucas managed to say in an almost normal tone. Brady watched the exchange with interest. Sami saw the look on Brady's face and casually took her hand out from under Lucas' shirt, letting it rest at her side. Brady stared at Sami for a few moments, then seemed to shrug off Lucas' quick change of heart and turned back to Nicole.

"Great, I guess we should go get our things." Brady took Nicole by the arm and steered her out of Sami's apartment, leaving Lucas and Sami alone in the apartment. Lucas turned to Sami, looking almost amused now.

"Is this another one of your schemes, Sami?" he asked, "If you really wanted me to move in with you, you could have tried asking first."

Sami felt her face heating up at his words, "That is not what this is about at all. You're crazy to even suggest that. I don't even like you. You're conceited and you're irritating-"

"You don't seem to mind any of that when I kiss you." Lucas cut her off, smiling smugly at her, "I think you like me a lot more than you're letting on. That's why you want to move in with me. So you can try and seduce me."

"That is disgusting." Sami replied, her anger increasing, "You think you're so irresistible that every woman in the world wants you and you are so wrong."

"Not every woman. Just the smart ones." Lucas shot back. He fell into silence and cocked his head to one side, watching Sami attentively. His gaze was so calculating and so prolonged that Sami stopped being angry and ended up feeling very uncomfortable.

"What?" Sami finally demanded, shifting uneasily.

"Are you sure you don't want me?" he asked, running his tongue over his lower lip insinuatingly, "Because if do you, it's okay, I promise."

"I'm positive." Sami responded hastily. Too hastily. Like she had something to hide. But it wasn't her fault, Lucas was making her awkward with his little lip movements and piercing stare. She hoped he wasn't going to act like this for the entire two months because if he did, her chances of winning the bet would become even slimmer.

Lucas almost laughed at her evident discomfort. He knew it wasn't very nice to play mind games with her but she had it coming. He really hadn't wanted to let Brady and Nicole stay at his apartment and hadn't been planning on letting them. Then Sami had to go and do that thing with her hand on his back. He was aware of his feelings for Sami and hated how she could probably get him to do anything if she tried hard enough.

"I take it you're not going to tell me what is going on with this whole thing you and Brady are doing then." Lucas said in a more neutral tone.

Sami sighed with relief, glad he had dropped the question of whether or not she wanted him, "No, I'm not. But it is not because I want you." she added.

"Okay." Lucas accepted her answer, at least for the time being, "Do you want to come over to my apartment and help me get my stuff?" he asked her. She nodded, suddenly aware of how close they were standing and eager to have an excuse to move away from him.

The two of them went across the hall and into Lucas' apartment. Sami followed Lucas into his bedroom, where Lucas was already tearing his blankets and sheets off his head.

"What are you doing?" Sami asked him as he wadded all of his sheets into a ball and tossed them over to Sami.

"If Brady and Nicole are going to end up doing things in my apartment, I don't want it done on my sheets." Lucas explained, "It's bad enough they're probably going to start doing things on my mattress."

Sami laughed, "You could always take that too." she suggested.

Lucas grinned at Sami, "You have a point. I think I will take the mattress."

Lucas picked up the mattress and the two of them left Lucas' apartment just as Brady and Nicole were returning with their suitcases. Brady noticed Sami and Lucas carrying out Lucas' entire bed and frowned.

"What the hell?" Brady said as Nicole tripped over Brady's suitcase and fell into his arms. She was obviously still pretty drunk.

Sami smiled knowingly at her step-brother, "Lucas wants you to find your own bed to bang Nicole on." she stated, "We all know it's going to happen. You can't control yourself."

"I'm a lot better at controlling myself than you are and you know it!" Brady glared at Sami.

"We'll see about that!" Sami retorted, storming back into her own apartment and Brady grabbed his suitcase and rushed into Lucas' apartment without another word, leaving Lucas and Nicole staring after them.