HOTLINE: Chapter 6 (NC-17)

Lucas glared at his cell phone as if it were the most evil of enemies. After hearing the annoying busy signal indicating that he had no service, he threw the useless piece of technology on the passenger seat. He also cursed the string of cars in front of him that seemed to have not advanced an inch in the past hour. His eyes kept getting drawn towards the same funny looking tree to the left side of his car. It had strands of flowers hanging off of one branch for some odd reason.

He looked at the clock on his dashboard which unfortunately for him, read 7:32. Sami was going to kill himor in the very least, she would refuse to ever meet up with him again. That thought sent an instant panic through him as he had been looking forward to seeing her all day.

She was probably sitting at the bar in the Pub stewing because he hadn't called to tell her that he was going to be late. To her credit, she was probably a little worried too but right now, he was sure there were all sorts of angry doubts running through her mind and none of it boded well for him.

In order to free up some of his time for next week, he had gone over to the next town in order to check on a property that Tony wanted to acquire. He had left Salem at about 1:30 and thought he had plenty of time to check it out and get back before his dinner date. What he hadn't counted on was running into a representative from a competitor's company and having to sweet talk himself out of the situation without giving away any of his hand. That had taken a couple of hours which included a telephone conversation explaining the whole thing to Tony.

By the time he had gotten back on the road, it was 5:30, yet he still thought he had plenty of time to make it back before 7:00. Of course, that was before he knew about the 8 car pileup on the freeway that completely blocked the route back to Salem. The detour arranged by the highway patrol took him two towns and 2 hours out of the way. Conceding defeat, he reasoned that the detour would still make him that late for his dinner with Sami but now he needed to explain it all to her over the phone.

His bad luck wasn't over since wherever their detour had taken them, it apparently didn't get cell phone service. All of this led to his fruitless efforts over the past hour to get a message to Sami that he would be late. By the time he was headed back in the direction of Salem, there was a traffic jam that seemed to be a million miles long and no sign of his cell phone working in the near future. If things kept going in this fashion, there was no way he would be able to get home before midnight.

After moving forward about 2 feet, Lucas slammed his fist against the steering wheel and cursed loudly into the empty confines of his car. This was supposed to be the night that he and Sami were going to get things right and then this had to happen. Fate really was cruel.

He turned on the radio and after flipping through various stations, he stopped on something that wouldn't entirely grate on his nerves. As he sat there staring at the annoying headlights of the car in front of him, he let his mind wander to the possibilities that were rapidly disappearing at this very moment.

He and Sami were approaching their apartment door walking shoulder to shoulder as they slowly strolled down the hall. Neither wanted their lovely evening to end. Dinner at the Pub had been fun even if it seemed like the entire restaurant was staring at them waiting for some kind of drama to unfold. Sami and Lucas just tried to ignore them and carry on with their meal. They had both wondered if the ease of their phone conversations would translate into a face to face encounter but they found that they had plenty to talk about. After all, despite their tumultuous past, they had once been very good friends with a lot in common other than their wonderful son.

When they reached Sami's door, they stopped reluctantly both trying to think of something that would prolong the encounter. Lucas had been fighting the impulse to kiss her since before they had left the restaurant but he knew that probably wouldn't go over well with her. That didn't stop him from staring longingly at her delectable lips every now and then, the most recent occurrence being right this very second.

Sami leaned into her door and dropped her head to the side. "So do you want to come in for some tea or something?" she asked barely above a whisper.

"Sure," he answered quickly with a shy smile and followed her inside the apartment. He closed the door behind him and when he turned around to return his full attention back to his pretty blonde date, she was moving towards him to capture his mouth in a hot, wet kiss.

Her efforts had caused them to slam against the now closed door but neither noticed so focused on probing the other's mouth with their tongues. Lucas didn't miss a beat in responding to her, pulling her against him and plunging his fingers into her free-flowing hair. His groan of approval was enough to have her tearing his shirt off, struggling with each button so as not to rip them off completely.

Lucas broke away from her mouth long enough to lift her shirt up and over her head. But he quickly reattached himself to her lips now the he could feel the softness of her skin on his fingers. After Sami had shed him of his shirt and thrown it across the room, she grabbed the edge of his pants and began walking them towards her bedroom. They clumsily stumbled around hitting the couch and taking a wrong turn into the kitchen. Sami's sexy giggling over their detour made him more committed to getting them into her bed.

Sami yelped in surprise as Lucas picked her up and guided her legs around his waist. With a purposeful stride, he turned them towards the bedroom, continuing to kiss her senseless until he reached his destination. Sami pulled away from him and fixed him with a serious look as he lowered her carefully onto the bed. "I didn't mean to attack you. I guess I couldn't help myself." She said this with a small smile yet didn't look the least bit apologetic. "I hope I'm not going to fast for you," she muttered bashfully.

When he had finally placed her onto her back, he climbed on top of her and stroked her face softly. Feeling her silky skin against his bare chest made him want to melt right into her. "I think I want this just as badly as you do, baby." She beamed at his endearment and reached up to trace the line of his chin.

"I do, Lucas. I do want you so badly." His heart burned with passion and affection but he didn't have time to think too much about it as she reached behind his neck to pull him back to her lips. She whimpered in desire when he pushed his arousal against her.

Hearing her verbally expressing her pleasure encouraged him to pull away from her mouth and concentrate on other parts of her body. He pulled each strap of her bra from her shoulders, caressing her skin sensuously. She lifted up so that he could unhook the satiny barrier and throw it aside. Now having her exposed before him, he wasted no time in tasting the creamy flesh and licking at her hardened nipples. Sami moaned and undulated underneath him prompting him to grow harder against her.

Sami placed her palm against his chest encouraging him to pull back and when she leaned up, with him straddling her, she moved to unzip his pants and push them down off his hips. She delicately pulled his now throbbing member from his pants stroking him easily before retreating to completely remove his pants and boxers. She never broke eye contact with him, hypnotizing him with her needy gaze. She placed her hands back on his chest and pushed him towards the bed and onto his back. She shed her skirt, which had been completely hiked up thanks to his exploring hands and removed her panties along with it.

When she went to remove her shiny black knee high boots, he firmly grasped her wrists and shook his head. He had always loved those boots on her and couldn't imagine a better way for her to display them. Sami attacked his mouth with a hot, quick kiss before looking devilishly into his eyes. "Aren't we feeling naughty tonight," she purred. She nipped him on his chin and on his shoulder before he pulled her down flush against him.

"We certainly are. What can I say? You inspire the kinky side of me." Lucas could feel how ready she was for him. He was suffocating with desire at the sensation of her slick sex against his. When she grasped his cock, he thought he would die of pleasure until she guided it expertly to precisely the place he wanted to be. With the greatest of anticipation, he surrendered to her as she plunged..."

"Beeeeeep, Beeeeep!"

"What!" Lucas screamed as he jumped in his seat. He looked around him in a daze and saw that the car in front of him had moved a record five feet in the last five minutes. Apparenyly, he car behind him, was more anxious to get moving than even he was. Still, an burning rage built inside Lucas as he contemplated shooting the finger at the person behind him.

He couldn't believe that someone had interrupted what had to have been the hottest erotic daydream ever. And over what? The chance to move a whopping five feet towards town? His face reddened when he looked down to see a throbbing erection visible through his slacks. Maybe the interruption had been a good thing because the way that fantasy had been heading, he couldn't be trusted not to embarrass himself out here on the highway. He turned the air conditioner up hoping that would cool his raging libido and curb the arousal still coursing through his body. That he had been entertaining such sinfully delicious sexual scenarios about Sami did not sit well with him. They were just starting to re-build their relationship and he couldn't risk messing it up by letting his hormones dictate his behavior. Yet again, he wondered how exactly she managed to sneak her way back into his system.

Lucas rested his head on the steering wheel, succumbing to despair. When he heard another annoying honk from the person behind him, he impulsively flashed his middle finger having had enough of the driver's impatience. They all wanted to get home faster so why not take it easy? When he checked the driver's response in his rearview mirror, he was greeted with the sight of a very shocked middle-aged woman with a toddler in the front seat and a baby in the back seat. He groaned and leaned back onto his headrest wondering if the day could get any worse.

By the time he dragged himself down the hallway towards his apartment, it was half past midnight. The rest of his ride home had been excruciatingly frustrating since he didn't get phone service back until about 10 minutes ago. Wallowing in his bad fortune, he had checked his message and although he didn't think it was possible, they made him feel even worse than he had before.

Stopping in front of Sami's door, he recalled the messages she had left for him. The first one had been from around 7:40 and it sounded like she had been sitting in the Pub for some time. Her angry tone wasn't lost on him.

"Hey Lucas, it's Sami. I was just wondering where you are. Your cell phone keeps going straight to voicemail. I don't know if you forgot about tonight or if something came up but just give me a call back and let me know if you made other plans. It's not a big deal or anything since I was going to come here to see Grandpa Shawn anyway, but I'd like to know if I should waste any more of my precious time waiting around for you. Okay, bye."

Lucas cringed at the vulnerability in her voice. He knew that she rarely went over to the Brady Pub on Saturday nights because they were usually busy and she didn't want to bother or distract her grandfather. She had said as much on many occasions when picking up Will. No, she was feeling hurt and in typical Sami fashion, she was lashing out angrily. However, her second message at about 20 minutes past 8:00 had an entirely different tone.

"Um, hi Lucas. I don't know if you got my first message but I just wanted to check in with you again. I don't know what came up but could you just call me and let me know that you're on your way." He could tell that she was trying to keep the worry out of her voice but failing miserably. "I'm leaving the Pub and heading home so if you get this message, I wanted to let you know that I won't be there. I don't care or anything, I mean, I'm not mad but maybe we could touch base and you can beg for my forgiveness for standing me up." Her joke sounded like it fell flat even to her ears. "Um...call me, I guess. Bye."

Lucas erased that message and tried to go a little bit faster towards home. If her first two messages hadn't convinced him that he needed to talk to her, her last message at 11:45 surely did the trick.

"It's Sami again. So you win! You've succeeded in making me worry. So why don't you do us both a favor and give me a call when you get in. I know you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to aggravate me in a public place so I just wanted to make sure that you're alive and in one piece for me to yell at in the morning. Anyway, it doesn't matter how late it is, just knock on my door or give me a call. I'm sure you're perfectly fine and you're laughing at me right now but humor me, okay? Talk to you soon. Bye."

Recalling her last frantic message, he couldn't hold himself back and knocked lightly on her door. He could hear the television on inside so he knew that she was home and not wandering the streets looking for him. He knocked again a little louder still receiving no answer.

He went towards his apartment to grab his extra key when he heard Bruce from next door shuffling out of his apartment followed by his two little dogs. Lucas looked down at his watch again before sending a distracted greeting to his neighbor.

"Good evening, neighboror should I say good morning. Whatever the proper greeting, I know it's late. But, these two little guys don't know the difference one way or another when nature calls." The dogs were looking up at Bruce expectantly obviously trying to hurry their owner along.

"Have you seen Sami this evening by any chance," Lucas asked cutting to the chase. "She's not answering her door."

Bruce chuckled as his dogs pulled him rather insistently towards the elevator. "I suspect she's inside all tired out from worrying about you. She must have knocked on your door about 50 times tonight. Don't be surprised if her hands are swollen tomorrow." The elevator door opened and he led the dogs inside. "I even saw her coming out of your place once," he yelled while retreating down the hall. "She looked pretty concerned when she asked if I had seen you. You might want to drop in and let her know you haven't been chopped up into a dozen pieces. Good luck." The elevator doors closed with the older man smiling and waving goodbye. That did it for Lucas. He opened the door and rushed into his apartment to get his extra key to her place.

To his shock, right next to the tray where he kept the key, Sami had written him a note. It simply said, "Call me ASAP!" The whole thing was underlined twice and she had scrawled her name at the bottom. He smiled thinking about how worried she was about him but soon got back on track and grabbed the extra key.

He crept into Sami's apartment as quietly as he could manage not wanting to wake her too quickly. The scene that greeted him melted his heart.

Sami was curled up on the couch in her cute pajamas. She had one hand beneath her head and the other curled into her chest. Her steady breaths were coming out of her adorably puckered lips and blowing a stray tendril of hair away from her face. His eyes picked up the empty carton of ice cream on the table and he grinned to himself thinking of the chocolate syrup and sprinkles he knew he would find on her counter.

When he walked closer and kneeled down in front of her, he noticed that nestled tightly in her hand was her cell phone. Lucas' affection reached new heights and he had a hard time quashing the love that had crept into his body at her gesture.

He shook her shoulder gently and called out her name. It was nearly impossible to wake her up in the middle of the night unless it had something to do with Will but he tried nonetheless. "Sami, wake up. It's Lucas."

She opened her eyes and stared at him with a bleary expression. "Lucas," she whispered sleepily. "You need to clean the kitchen counter before Will gets back from Jason's."

"What?" he responded, clearly confused.

She became a little more oriented and focused intently on his face. "Where have you been?"

He stroked her hair with affection hoping not to startle her. "I'm so sorry, Sami. I wanted to be with you tonight but I got caught on the highway. There was this bad accident and"

"You were in that accident," Sami said with alarm.

"No, no," he assured her in a soothing tone. "I just got caught in the traffic jam. I tried to call but my cell phone was dead."

"Oh," she said simply, slipping back into slumber. "So you're not dead in some ditch?" He chuckled at her irrational and sleepy response.

He caressed her cheek needing to feel her soft skin against his. "No, I'm fine, Sami. Thanks for worrying about me." He pried the cell phone from her tight hold and placed it on the coffee table next to the empty ice cream carton. "I hope we can reschedule?" he whispered hopefully.

"Okay." Having been assured on some level that he was alive and well, she was quickly falling back into a deep sleep. "I was worried about you Lucas. Don't scare me like that again or I'm going to have to kill you."

Lucas laughed softly and kissed the hand that had been holding the phone. "I'll try my best. Now get some sleep." He stood up reluctantly and covered her in the blanket that had fallen onto the floor. Before he lost his nerve, he leaned down and placed a long soft kiss on her cheek. The feel of her smile against his lips sent waves of affection and arousal through him.

He stepped back and wrote her a note explaining what had happened in case she didn't remember his visit in the morning. He apologized profusely and offered to buy her dinner the next night at the restaurant of her choice to make it up to her. He placed the note underneath her cell phone on the table. He returned to his apartment full of regret and practically fell into bed, both physically and emotionally exhausted from the day.

When he woke up in the morning and walked to his kitchen for a glass of juice, he notice a piece of paper sitting underneath his cell phone. It was the note he had written to Sami last night but there was an additional message underneath the one he had written. After reading the message penned in Sami's handwriting his face broke out in a wide grin. Suddenly his day was looking like a very good one. He set the note back on the counter and headed to the bathroom for a shower with her written words still running through his mind.

You're on General. Call me.

Sami