The salty sting of ocean air burned against Sami's cheeks and whipped her hair wildly around her face. She and Lucas had just finished another book signing and were taking a ferry back to their hotel. The wind was icy and cold on the deck of the ferry but neither Lucas or Sami were in the mood to deal with Nicole, so they were hiding from her. Sami nestled closer to Lucas' chest, clutching her sweater tighter around her body. Lucas seemed to feel her shiver beneath his arms and gently pulled her body closer to his. Sami stopped shivering and inhaled deeply, listening to the sound of waves hitting the side of the ferry. Closing her eyes, she let herself absorb the feelings of Lucas holding her. She couldn't get over how good it felt to be in Lucas' arms. Sitting innocently on the deck of the ferry with him, his fingers drawing trails up and down her stomach made her feel peaceful, something she usually didn't feel.
With every rise and fall of his chest, her head moved up and down a little bit more. It was early evening and the entire deck of the ferry was deserted except for her and Lucas. Sami finally looked up and noticed the small half smile on Lucas' face as he looked down at her with amusement.
"What are you smiling at?" she asked, pressing her cheek against his chest.
"You." he responded, the smile on his face widening as she curled her legs around his, "I was just thinking about how cute you are. It's so adorable when you get all snuggly when you're tired."
"Snuggly?" Sami repeated distastefully, hiding a smile of her own with disgust, "Don't start getting all mushy on me, Lucas. I'm too worn out to deal with it."
"You know what else is cute?" Lucas continued pointlessly, ignoring Sami's words, "When you talk in your sleep. Yeah, it's annoying sometimes when it wakes me up but a lot of the time you say the funniest stuff."
Sami exhaled impatiently, "Well, your snoring wakes me up all the time too. You sound like a truck." she fell silent for a few minutes but her curiosity got the better of her, "What kinds of things do I say?"
Lucas smirked at her, "Just... stuff. And sometimes, you start talking about me in your sleep. Sometimes, you confess your undying love for me and once, you even asked me to marry you. Then this other time, you called me your teddy bear."
"That has to be a lie." Sami retorted, her face growing hot, "You're making this all up, aren't you?"
"Nope." Lucas tilted her chin up so she was facing him, "You're also really cute when you blush." suddenly his smile faded and the playful look in his eyes turned serious. Sami frowned slightly, wondering what had caused the sudden change of mood in Lucas.
"Why do you make is so easy?" he asked, his voice filled with awe as he stared at her in a way that made Sami squirm with both pleasure and discomfort at the same time. She shifted uncomfortably but only managed to settle her body even closer to Lucas' in the process.
"Make what so easy?" Sami asked, her voice filled with mild curiosity.
Lucas seemed unsure of how to finish his line of thought and began stammering nervously, "I just mean that you, uh, you know what I mean, you make it easy to-" he took a deep breath, brushing her hair out of her eyes tenderly, "You make it so easy to fall in lo-"
"Lucas!" Sami barely resisted letting out a frustrated scream at the sound of the unfamiliar, high-pitched voice. Assuming it was another fan, she turned her head to see the tall, dark-haired woman standing in front of them. Sami opened her mouth to snap at the woman, then decided against it. But she didn't ever care if the woman was a fan anymore, she was sick of these obsessed woman coming between her and Lucas. First there was that one in the tree and now this. And just when Lucas had come so close to admitting that he really cared about her. Sami hoped the woman wouldn't ask for any autographs because then she would have to use a pen to stab the girl in the forehead.
Lucas had also turned his attention to the woman and he seemed to tense when he saw her. The woman smiled flirtatiously at him before speaking, "I can't believe you're here. It's been such a long time since I've seen you, what are you doing here?"
"I am trying to spend some time alone with my fianc." he said testily. Once Sami heard the abrupt tone of voice he used with the woman, Sami knew that he had to know her from somewhere already. And he obviously didn't like her very much either.
"Oh, that's right, you're engaged." the woman turned her attention to Sami, "I can't remember the last time I have laughed so hard watching the Sharon Osbourne Show. I read your books whenever I get the chance, Lyric. What was your real name again? Sarah or something?"
"Sami." Sami corrected her. The woman looked over at Lucas, as if she was hoping he would introduce her to Sami. But Lucas remained silent, one hand reaching around to squeeze Sami's. The overly sweet smile that had been on the woman's face faded.
"Well, I just saw the two of you out here and I thought I would come over and say hi." she tugged on her hair in agitation, "And, Lucas, I'd ask you to give me a call sometime but I guess that's out of the question now."
Lucas nodded in agreement, "It is out the question. Bye, Linda."
The girl scowled at him, "It's Lindsay." she told him, her eyes flashing indignantly.
"Oh, right, Lindsay. Bye." Lucas waved at her but it was more of a dismissive wave than a polite one that said good-bye. Lindsay turned around and stomped off, leaving Lucas and Sami alone again.
Sami turned to face Lucas, her eyes questioning, "Who was that?"
Lucas dropped his gaze to the floor, "I can't really remember. I think she was one of my..."
"One of your play toys? One of your one-night stands?" Sami finished helpfully.
"Pretty much." he answered, his voice low and filled with shame. Sami sighed and touched his arm gently.
"Why did you do that? Why did you let them use you when you could have had better?" she asked.
Lucas finally looked up, his eyes flaring with mild anger, "I don't remember you caring that much at the time. The only reason you ever said anything about it was because you thought it was bad for Will."
"That's not true." Sami shot back, remembering the insistent and unexplainable feelings of jealousy she felt every time she watched Lucas with another woman, "I just meant, they only wanted one thing from you and that wasn't fair to you." Although I can't really blame them for wanting him, Sami added to herself, It's hard not to, "You deserve to be loved because you're an amazing person, not just because you have the body of a-" she quickly put a stop to her words, knowing there was no reason she should inflate his ego further by finishing that sentence.
Lucas stared at her, his eyes filled with hope and gratitude, "Thank you." he whispered, his face drawing closer to hers. Sami swallowed hard, realizing what she had just said. She tried inching away from him, a feeling of helplessness washing over her. But every time she moved a little bit further away from him, he would move closer to her, constantly refilling the gap between them.
"I wasn't talking about myself." she said, her voice strained with panic, "I just meant you deserve to be loved by someone, not me. Because I don't, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know that." he replied in a husky voice, using one arm to hold Sami by the waist to keep her from moving away again. Sami tried to squirm away from him but Lucas had made doing that almost impossible.
"I mean it. I really don't." Sami repeated, praying her voice didn't betray the fact that she was lying.
"I know." then he fell silent and before Sami had a chance to react, his lips were on hers. He just seemed to let his lips rest on top of hers lightly, as if gauging her reaction. Unable to push him away, Sami parted her lips and pressed back against his mouth, her hands raking through thick, dark hair. Lucas' tongue explored her mouth and her hands left his hair to caress his chest and shoulders. For moment, she let herself get lost in the warm sensations of how he tasted and felt before realizing that she was spinning out of control again. No matter how hard she tried to stop herself, she always seemed to let herself go when he touched her. That scared her immensely but there was no way she could stop herself now, not when his tongue was tracing the insides of her mouth, not when he had gathered her up in his arms and was kissing her with uninhibited passion. Every muscle in her body ached with tension, it was almost as if she needed him to touch her. She would pull away the next time he kissed her. But even as she made the promise to herself, the prospect of their next kiss was so much more welcoming than it should have been.