Chapter Eighteen

Lucas looked over his shoulder for a moment and groaned, "Why are they still here?" he asked, just loud enough for Sami and Jennifer to hear. Brady and Nicole were a few feet behind them, fighting over which llama resembled Lucas the most.

"You've been really grumpy at them all day." Jennifer observed, "What did they do to you?"

Nicole and Brady came up to three of them just in time to hear Jennifer's question, "We did a whole bunch of stuff." Nicole laughed, "Brady and I could probably write a book. A hundred and one ways to annoy Lucas in a moving vehicle."

"It's more like a hundred and one ways to annoy Lucas no matter where you are. And by the way, there's still some powder in your hair." Brady added.

Lucas started trying to fix his hair again and Nicole rolled her eyes, "He's just trying to piss you off, Lucas. There's nothing left in your hair. God, you're gullible. Not to mention vain."

Oh, but he has plenty to be vain about, Sami thought, wondering how he could still look so gorgeous in something as plain as a t-shirt and jeans. To start off with, you had that athletic, tanned body, the one she had recently had the pleasure of exploring as thoroughly as she wanted. Then there was that thick, dark hair, those devilish brown eyes and every well-defined angle of his face. And she really didn't want to start thinking about her favourite part of his anatomy because then she might do something she would regret.

Will and Abby, who had been walking a few feet in front them, turned around and eyed the adults impatiently.

"You guys are so slow." Will complained, "Can we go inside the reptile house next? I heard they have a really excellent snake exhibit." Will watched his parents out of the corner of his eye, gauging their reaction as he remembered how he had put that snake in their tent on the camping trip.

Sami looked unenthusiastic at the prospect, "I think I'll just wait outside for you guys. Those reptile houses always smell really gross. I hope you all have fun though."

"I don't think it has anything to do with the smell." Will grinned knowingly, "I think you just don't like snakes."

Lucas and Sami fell behind the rest of the group and Sami murmured in agreement, "There's only one snake I enjoy spending time with and his name is Goliath." Sami whispered to Lucas, gleefully noting the way he reddened slightly in response.

They reached the reptile house and Lucas cleared his throat loudly, "I think I'll, um, wait outside with Sami. We'll just walk around to the other side and meet you guys at the exit."

"You don't have to do that, Lucas." Sami pretended to be disgusted but her eyes flashed mischievously, "I'm perfectly capable of waiting for you guys by myself."

"I just don't want you to get lost." Lucas shot back, taking hold of her shoulders and steering her around one side of the building, "Come on, let's go to the other side of the building."

"Lucas, don't touch me!" Sami shrieked loud enough for Brady and Nicole to hear. But once they were standing off to the left of the Reptile house's exit, she slid her arms around his shoulders and caressed the nape of his neck, "We're finally alone. How ever are we going to occupy ourselves now?"

Lucas smirked at the playful tone in her voice, "I have a few ideas in mind."

"Me too." Sami whispered, drawing his mouth down to hers. Her lips parted eagerly and Lucas slipped his tongue inside her mouth, savouring the velvety softness he found there. Sami felt her knees weaken under the gentle probing of his tongue and if it hadn't been for the way she was clinging to Lucas, she knew her feet would have given out on her. No matter how many times Lucas kissed her, he always seemed to have this effect on her.

Finally she pulled away, "Lucas, we can't do this here. If we keep going, we're going to end up getting arrested."

Lucas sighed, "I know. I wish we could tell everyone the truth though."

Sami looked up at him nervously, "You know why we can't. Everyone would complicate things for us and we don't need that right now."

"I wouldn't care what anyone else thought." Lucas told her, "This isn't about them. This is about you and it's about me. Does everyone else's opinion really matter to you that much when we feel this way about each other?"

"Yes." Sami said in a small voice, "I know it shouldn't matter but it does. Can we just keep it secret for a little longer?"

"If that's what you want. I just want you to be happy." Lucas told her, pushing his bet with Nicole out of his mind. If he didn't want to lose Sami, he was going to have to be patient.

"In the meantime, I wish it wasn't so hard for me to keep my hands off of you." he added in a low voice. One hand pressed into the small of her back while the other tilted her chin so that he could lean down and kiss her again.

"What the hell?" Sami started when Brady's voice interrupted Lucas' attempt to kiss her. She turned and saw Brady and Nicole looking at her and Lucas in shock. Sami bit her lip to keep from screaming. Lately, Brady never failed to destroy opportunities for romantic moments between her and Lucas and she was getting sick of it. Besides, she didn't know how she was supposed to get out of this one. One of Lucas' hands was resting on her back and the other held her face while her own hands were pressed against his chest.

Thinking quickly, she lifted one foot off the ground and forced herself to look like she was in pain, "I can't believe I'm always so clumsy. I think I just sprained my ankle."

Lucas caught on to what she was doing right away and looked over at Brady and Nicole to see if they believed her, "See, even the idea of snakes gets her so worked up she can't walk straight. Here, Sami, let's take a look." he knelt down and slipped his hands underneath the pant leg of her jeans.

Sami held onto Lucas' shoulders to keep her balance while his fingers massaged her ankle. She faked a moan, "Lucas, ow, that hurts."

Lucas stood up and shook his head, "It's pretty swollen. I don't think you're going to be able to walk on it."

Without another word, he scooped Sami off the ground, ignoring her strangled cry of protest, "Lucas, put me down! I don't need your help!"

"Don't be stubborn, Sami. You know you can't walk and you do need my help, whether you're willing to admit it or not."

"God, you make me sick." Sami glared at him, "Why don't you just throw me over your shoulders and carry me around caveman style?" she saw the devilish look in his eyes and quickly added, "Don't even think about it."

Will, Abby and Jennifer stepped out of the reptile house and noticed Lucas carrying Sami, "Dad, what are you doing to mom?" Will asked.

"She sprained her ankle and she can't walk." Lucas explained.

"So, you're just going to carry her around the zoo for the rest of the day?" Nicole asked in disbelief. But Sami could tell by the looks on their faces that both Brady and Nicole had bought her sprained ankle story. Thank God.

"I guess I don't have any other choice." Lucas replied with fake reluctance as Sami wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Maybe you should take mom home." Will suggested, looking somewhat excited about the idea of his parents leaving the zoo together, "It probably won't be very fun for the two of you now that mom sprained her ankle."

"But, Will, we planned this trip so we could spend time with you." Lucas countered, "I don't think we should leave early."

"I don't mind, dad, honest." Will said quickly, "We can do something else another time, after mom's ankle gets better."

"What do you think, Sami?" Lucas turned to Sami to see what she wanted to do.

"My ankle is really sore." Sami lied, "I think it would be for the best if we just went home."

"As long as you're sure you don't mind, Will." Lucas turned back to his son for confirmation.

"Not at all." Will promised. Lucas and Sami said good-bye to Jennifer, Will and Abby, then Lucas began carrying Sami back over to his car, ignoring Brady and Nicole's complaints about not having a ride.

Once inside the car, Sami sighed with relief, "Faking a sprained ankle is going to suck but at least Brady was too stupid to realize what was going on."

Lucas fell silent as he started the drive back towards their apartment building. He knew Sami wasn't intentionally trying to upset him but she was. She seemed so determined to keep their relationship a secret. And from the sounds of things, she wasn't going to give in and tell everyone what was going on between them anytime soon.

Okay, she was probably still scared. He was even a little bit scared to admit their feelings to everyone. But they could both be very brave when they wanted to be so they could handle that. It was also a very vulnerable position to put themselves in with the people of Salem. But that shouldn't matter because they trusted each other, maybe not everyone in Salem but each other and that's what should have been important. But if Sami didn't want to tell people, then he wouldn't tell anyone, even if it meant not winning the car. Because he knew, no matter how much money that car was worth, Sami was worth more than any car would ever be. Although, it would still be nice if he didn't have to make a choice and could somehow end up with both Sami and the car.

"Lucas?" Lucas turned to look at Sami, who looked concerned, "Are you okay?"

Lucas tried push away his previous thoughts, "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just look upset. Like something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

Sami wasn't buying it, "Did I do something?"

Lucas cradled that back of her neck with his free hand and kissed her reassuringly on the lips, "You didn't do anything. I promise, I'm fine."

"I'm probably just being paranoid. But I still can't help wondering when something's going to go wrong." Sami confessed, "I'm scared that someone is going to mess things up for us. I'm scared that I'm going to lose you."

Lucas eased the hand on Sami's neck down to rub slow, comforting circles on her back, "You won't lose me." he promised, "I would never leave you, not feeling the way I do. You're everything to me, Sami, I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yes." Sami said softly, leaning into Lucas' arm. She wished she could always be so open about her feelings with Lucas. He always had a way of making everything seem so much better. If only she could tell him about the bet she had made with Brady and why no one could know about how they felt. She could tell that was what was bothering him, even if he wouldn't admit it. But she only had just over three weeks of the bet to go. Then she and Lucas could finally reveal their feelings for each other to everyone.