"Wow, I feel really sick." Jan moaned, holding one hand against her forehead, "My head feels all numb and tingly. It's all your fault, Nicole. Why did you make us get popsicles? I think the popsicles are out to get me."
Nicole watched Jan with a deprecating look on her face, "No, Jan, it's your fault. Anyone who eats a popsicle in under two minutes is going to feel sick afterwards." Nicole turned to Sami with the same disapproving look on her face, "You two need to learn how to eat popsicles properly. You can lick them, you can suck them, you can even nibble them if that's your forte but you do not bite popsicles."
"I only bit the popsicle once." Sami shot back defensively, "And that was only so I could suck the cream out of the middle. Besides, you have no business telling me how to eat popsicles when you eat the gross kind! The only kind that actually tastes good is the kind with cream in the middle."
"Hm, I'm not sure if I want to know what you three are talking about." Lucas spoke up, sitting down on the edge of Sami's lounge chair. His eyes moved up the length of her slender legs, then passed over her taut stomach before stalling at her chest. Hey, he was human and that white bikini top was serious wet dream material. For a moment, he began picturing himself taking Sami back to their room on the cruise ship, kissing her senseless and removing her bathing suit with his teeth. Then, Sami's half-amused, half-annoyed voice cut into his incredibly vivid fantasy.
"Lucas, my face is up here." she reminded him, causing him to pull his eyes up to watch her continue to lick the popsicle. Her pink tongue darted out to lap up an excess bit of juice off the popsicle and he felt his own mouth begin to water. He would do anything to be in that popsicle's place at that moment. Trying to push those thoughts aside, he looked at her apologetically.
"Sorry." he muttered, trying to keep his thoughts G-rated. But no matter how hard he tried, his thoughts kept drifting back to his X-rated fantasies about himself and Sami.
Nicole watched the exchange and almost felt sorry for Lucas. She decided it was time to change the subject, "Oh, Lucas, I almost forgot to tell you. Your mom called you on your cell phone the other day but you were gone, so I answered it."
"You what?" Lucas immediately forgot about his fantasies, "What did she say?"
"Well, she asked where you were and I told her you were in the middle of something, literally, involving Sami. She got pretty mad and demanded to know who I was. I told her I was your publicist, Olga Steinhilber, and there was a lot of static so I don't think she recognized my voice. Then she started screaming at me and I told her I'd address her concerns when I had the time. I told her not to call me and that I'd call her and then I hung up." Nicole grinned at Sami, "It might have just been the static but if I'm not mistaken, I think she said you acted like a dog in heat around Lucas."
"How dare she?" Sami fumed angrily, "I never acted like that, she is such a lying bitch!"
"But isn't that what you wanted to do?" Jan spoke up, "You wanted people to think you were crazy about Lucas and obviously you've succeeded. You should be happy."
"They haven't done a good enough job of it yet." Nicole countered, "They were totally luke-warm and boring at that book signing back in South Carolina. If you two don't crank up the heat, I'm going to have to take drastic measures. And if that means ramming aphrodisiacs down your throats, then I will do it."
"What do you want? Do you want us to have wild monkey sex on live television or something? Or maybe we should just have a big naked party." Lucas suggested sarcastically.
"You don't need to go that far." Nicole responded, "Just act... hornier. It isn't hard, cop more feels, steal some more kisses, don't take your hands off each other at all. Just act like you're dying to tear off each other's clothes right then and there."
"I'll try my best." Lucas responded, turning to Sami, "What about you, Sami? Think you can handle it?"
Sami just stared at him, encircling the popsicle in her mouth, not speaking.
Nicole rolled her eyes, "That's what I thought. Lucas is more than ready to do this but Sami isn't going to cooperate. Because Sami is a freeze."
Sami's eyes widened, "What did you just call me?"
"A freeze." Nicole repeated, "You're a total freeze. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were afraid of Lucas. Or at least, afraid of letting yourself go too far with him. But you keep acting like you belong to a nunnery, Sami. You're going to ruin my publicity campaign and someone else is going to end up taking Lucas from you. If it's not some tree-climbing stalker, it's going to be some other woman. Even Jan could be competition if you don't watch you back."
"Why Jan?" Lucas interjected, looking at the brunette cautiously.
Before Jan could protest, Nicole rushed ahead, "She has a crush on you. Just before you came back from the bathroom, she was talking about how incredibly hot you looked in those swimming trunks."
"Nicole!" Jan yelped, "I can't believe you!" she then turned to Lucas, "Don't worry, it's completely harmless. I'm still madly in love with Shawn, I just need a little distraction while I'm here. I'm not going to tie you up and drag you back to my overgrown hamster cage or anything."
"Let's hope not." Lucas responded, moving a little bit farther away from Jan's lounge chair.
"Yeah, well, I'm not a freeze." Sami spoke up, glaring at Nicole, "But then again, compared to you, most people would be a considered a freeze, wouldn't they, Ms. Peanut-Butter-Legs. You'd spread for anyone, wouldn't you?"
Nicole didn't seem insulted at all by her comment, "Whatever you say, Sami. But you can't change the truth and the truth is, you are as frozen as that popsicle."
"I am not." Sami retorted hotly, "You are completely wrong about me and I can prove it."
Nicole raised her eyebrows, "How?"
Lucas spoke up, "I know you're not a freeze, Sami. Why don't you let me help you prove to Nicole how wrong she is? I'd be glad to help you out." he smiled slyly at her. Sami smiled back at him, both of them on the same line of thought. Sami swung her legs off the lounge chair so she was sitting next to him.
"Thanks, I really appreciate this." she murmured. Throwing a defiant look at Nicole, she let Lucas use his thumb to turn her head towards him. His first touch was a fleeting brush with his lips. His lips adored her gently, cupping her cheeks in his hands, waiting to see if she would pull away. He didn't know if she really wanted to do this right here, even if Nicole had gotten her pretty imitated. He was careful at first, then his eyes flickered shut as Sami fastened her mouth to his bottom lip, caressing it with her tongue and nipping lightly at it with her teeth. The kiss deepened as Sami pushed her hips against him boldly, their bodies melding together. Lucas dropped one hand to graze the silky, soft flesh of one of her legs while Sami's tongue plunged recklessly into the depths of his mouth.
After kissing for several minutes, Sami pulled away. Lucas thought she had proved her point so he opened his mouth to say something to Nicole. But before saying anything, he watched Sami take the last bite of her quickly-melting popsicle. Their mouths collided again and she transferred the popsicle into his mouth. The remains of the popsicle began melting in his mouth as her tongue blended with his. The juice left from the popsicle felt incredibly cool in comparison to the heat that the kisses he had exchanged with Sami had ignited.
"I take it back, I take it back!" Nicole shrieked, flinging the rest of her popsicle at them. Lucas and Sami pulled apart just in time for the popsicle to hit Lucas square in the chest, "You're not a freeze, just please stop it right now."
Sami turned to smile wickedly at Nicole, "Look, now you've made Lucas all sticky. I guess I'll have to clean him up." she lowered her head to his chest and Lucas exhaled sharply when she began licking the juice off of his chest in slow, languid strokes.
"Sami!" Nicole squeezed her eyes shut, "I took it back already, you don't need to prove your point anymore. Ew, I seriously don't want to look at you two doing that anymore."
"I thought this is how you wanted us to act, Nicole." Lucas retorted.
"Not for my benefit. I only want you all over each other when you're trying to impress my fans. Or, you could always act like that in private if that's what you want." Nicole stood up, "I think I'm going for a swim now." she walked across the deck of the cruise ship and then dived into the swimming pool. Jan stared at Lucas and Sami in silence for a few seconds.
"And suddenly, I'm really craving another popsicle. Of course, I'll eat this one a lot slower. Because that clearly has definite advantages." she winked at Sami before leaving the Lucas and Sami alone. Sami shifted away from Lucas nervously.
"I'm sorry about making you do that." she muttered, "Nicole was just really pissing me off and I wanted to prove her wrong."
"You didn't make me do anything." Lucas assured her, "And I didn't mind a bit. If you ever want to... prove Nicole wrong or practice ever again, I'll be more than willing."
A small smile curved the corners of her lips and her eyes glittered with an emotion Lucas couldn't quite distinguish. This was one of those rare moments when he had no idea what was going through her mind.
"Thanks, Lucas but I don't think that's going to happen." she responded quickly, then stood up, "You know, Nicole had a good idea when she decided to go jump in the pool. I think I'll join her."
"What's the matter, Sami? Did I get you too hot or something?" Lucas asked, smirking at her.
Sami scoffed, "Don't flatter yourself." turning her back to him, she began walking over to the pool, leaving Lucas staring after her.