Chapter FOUR

EJ slowly came awake and rolled over onto his side, blinking against the beginnings of the morning light which had already infiltrated the bedroom. There was a pleasurable ache in his muscles, a happy testament to the fact that last night had indeed happened and wasn't just a particularly lucid dream. Unbidden a smile came to his lips at the memory of their heated tryst - sorry, trysts. He'd always known that Samantha was a passionate woman but she redefined his understanding of that word last night. He could barely keep up with her and he'd never considered himself to be a slouch in that area! It was a glorious night of revelations and hot, shameless sex.

EJ put out a hand and touched the empty and now cold side of the bed that no longer contained his lover and gave a little grimace. His eyes flicked up and saw Samantha sitting in a nearby chair, staring sightlessly out the bedroom window. She was dressed in only his dress shirt and he wondered at her choice. They were in her bedroom after all, she could have chosen any number of other things to put on but she'd chosen that. The smile returned to his face.

He knew his Samantha, he knew what was coming. As much as he might dream that he was going to wake up to a woman ready to embrace her what for any other woman would be undeniable feelings for him he knew that wasn't going to happen. She was stubborn and wilful and right now he knew she'd be freaking out about last night which meant she was going to come out all guns blazing. EJ expected her to get a lot more prickly before she finally let herself admit the inevitable - that she loved him as much as he loved her. But not even that thought could dampen his spirits.

Today was a new day, the small flicker of hope that he'd been protecting without him realising it from his depressing pragmatism was now a raging inferno and nothing she could say or do would be able to dampen that hope again. Everything had changed between them after last night and there could be no arguing about that but he knew Samantha would and he loved her even more for it - so feisty, so spirited - his equal in every way.

"Hey," he said softly and her head jerked around at the sound of his voice, startled.

"Hey," she croaked, her hands starting to move nervously.

"The twins up yet?" he asked, carefully choosing a neutral topic to put her at ease.

"No," she replied with a little shrug, "But it's still early."

"They're getting good at sleeping in," observed EJ evenly, still lying in bed and watching her, "It seems like they don't get up not until about 7-730."

"Mm," murmured Sami, wondering about how surreal it was to be having such an easy, mundane conversation while he lay naked in her bed.

Sami had woken up about half an hour ago and had been sitting there ever since trying to work out what had happened last night. She'd broken a promise to Lucas and to herself. She'd let EJ in but then, a little voice in her head argued, she'd let him in a long time ago - last night was just another example of that. She'd been dreading him waking up, having no clue what it was she was going to say to him.

"How are you?" he asked her and she could feel his dark eyes on her.

"Fine," she said hastily, "How are you?"

It sounded oddly stilted and rushed, like a child trying to remember it's manners and EJ smiled to hear her sound so nervous.

"Fine," he repeated back to her and then with an impish grin, "Mind you, I can't feel my legs anymore."

He was just teasing her to lighten the mood but his comment seemed to have the opposite effect. She sprang up from her chair and rushed over to the bed, a look of horror on her face.

"Oh god EJ!" she exclaimed frantically, "Are you alright?! The bullet in your back, did I.. did we… when we were… did the bullet move or something. Should I call 911?!"

Her words came out in a jumble, falling over the top of themselves as she worked herself up into a panic. This would just be her luck to cripple someone with sex! Where do you go from there and why do all of these bizarre things have to happen to her? She just knew that last night had been a mistake and this proved it. If only she hadn't been such a wanton, more of a lady last night then…

"I'm going to call 911!" she announced earnestly, having no idea how she was going to tell people how this happened.

"Samantha!" laughed EJ, grabbing her arm as she made a lunge for the phone, "Sweetheart, calm down, it was just a figure of speech. My legs are fine."

"Wh… what?" she stammered, trying to get her heart to calm down and stop beating so painfully in her chest.

"I was just teasing you," he told her with an amused grin.

Sami gave him an outraged look and smacked at the hand that was holding onto her arm.

"Don't you ever joke about something like that again!" she practically shouted at him and slapped his arm a couple of times for good measure, "That wasn't funny!"

"I'm sorry," he laughed openly at her now whilst rolling over onto his back and warding off her blows easily, "It never occurred to me that you'd take me seriously and to be perfectly honest with you the bullet in my spine was the last thing I was thinking of when I woke up this morning. Do you want to know what was?"

"No!" she said sharply having more than a fair idea what that might have been.

"Okay," he sighed with feigned regret, "Maybe later than."

"No!" she said hotly, "Not later, not ever!"

Good old Samantha, as much as she could be wild and capricious she also had a healthy dose of predictability about her he mused to himself but if he hadn't been convinced of her love for him after last night seeing her panic over the thought he might be hurt again removed any lingering doubts for him. She was going to make the next little while hard for him he could tell but he'd endured a lot worse from her and the prize was so very nearly his, he just had to see this last little bump in the road through until she ran out of reasons not to admit that she loved him too.

"Oh well," he said, "I'll go check on the twins then if you're not interested."

"I'm not!" she said shortly and then her eyes widened in horror as he rolled out of bed and stood up, completely uncaring about his nakedness.

"What are you doing?!" she squeaked, blushing furiously as he turned to face her.

"Checking on the twins," he told her and then there was that roguish little smirk of his again, "I was going to put on pants before I went though."

"Well hurry up then!" said Sami, determinedly looking away from him in all of his naked glory, her facing burning with embarrassment.

"Samantha," said EJ with great affection as he pulled on his jeans and did up the zip, walking over to where she was sitting on the bed, "You can't be serious - you're blushing after what we did last night… really? Sweetheart, there can't be any part of my body that you haven't committed to memory after last nights marathon."

"It wasn't a marathon!" she denied his description heatedly, hating how it made her sound like some kind of wanton.

"Sweetheart we made love four times and that doesn't include the three times we…" he began, sitting down beside her on the bed and looking at her indulgently.

"Alright!" she interrupted him sharply before he could finish, her blush returning in force at his graphic description of last nights events, "I was there, I know what we did."

Sami found it hard to look him in the eye as he sat beside her, twisting around so he could be facing her. She knew her blush was only deepening under such close scrutiny and she cursed her pale skin that gave everything away.

"Samantha," he said softly, "There is no need to be embarrassed, I'm not."

"Nothing seems to embarrass you!" she snapped unhappily, remembering him saying something very similar to her the night before her almost wedding to Austin and feeling very vulnerable all of a sudden.

"Maybe I'm just more accepting of the way things are," he told her with a little shrug.

"Lucky you," she said unhappily.

EJ studied her profile, her cheeks still flushed pink and it reminded him of how she looked in the throes of passion and he couldn't help himself.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, leaning in and pressing his lips to her ear, "I can't bear it sometimes."

"EJ," she protested but his hot breath tickling her ear made her shudder and ruined the effect.

His hand came up and rested itself on her exposed thigh as he began to nuzzle at her neck now and Sami tried to move away but despite her brains best efforts her body remained stubbornly where it was, not willing to give up what he was doing to it just yet. She felt the bed dip a little as he moved closer to her and she could feel the length of him pressed against her side as they both sat on the edge of the bed and her eyes fluttered shut, the now familiar warmth his touch brought with it starting to spread from her core out to the rest of her body.

"I've always wondered exactly how far that enticing blush of yours actually goes," he murmured and she could feel his wicked smile against the sensitive skin of her neck.

The hand on her thigh moved up until his index finger was resting in the little dip at the bottom of her neck, in the middle of her collar bone, feeling the pulse there fluttering erratically against it. He lifted his head from where he'd been working his way down her neck and watched the progress of his finger as he dragged it slowly down her chest now, looking for where the pink of her blushes stopped. Down his fingers trailed until they reached the first button of his shirt that she was wearing. He deftly undid the couple of buttons she'd managed to do up whilst getting dressed in the dark and trying not to disturb him. As soon as he was done his fingers returned to the exact spot they'd left off, obviously not willing to forgo even an inch of the slow discovery of the answer to his question.

The material of the shirt feel open and she was exposed to his enraptured gaze. Ever lower his finger drifted, moving down the valley between her breasts without touching them. With her eyes still closed Sami felt her nipples harden almost painfully, as though they knew what he wanted them to do for him and for the first time his resolve seemed to waver. All thoughts of tracking her blushes appeared to leave him as she heard him groan and then felt his mouth latch onto one tightly beaded nipple and suckled hard. Sami's head fell back at the sensation and her hands immediately went to his head, intent on holding him in place, her back arching to grant him better access.

"Samantha," she heard him say roughly and then he was pushing her backwards onto the bed and she went willingly, wanting more.

The sound of a child's cry broke the heated silence between the two of them and they both blinked, trying to return to the real world.

"Ali," said EJ, looking over at the baby monitor and then back at Sami.

"Yes," agreed Sami, her voice uneven and faint, the after effects of what he'd been doing to her body.

"I'll go," he told her with a little smile and with a final impish nuzzle of her breasts he was lifting himself of her.

EJ looked down at her as she lay on the bed, shirt open to expose those breasts that drove him to distraction, blonde hair framing the face that was looking up at him wide eyed and dazed. He wondered if Ali might settle herself but then the baby's cries grew louder and he knew she was up for the day… which rather ironically was what EJ thought would be his problem too! He wanted more of her, even after last night, particularly after last night. He knew he was insatiable when it came to Samantha and everything about last night seemed to point to her feeling exactly the same way, not that she was going to admit that of course, not yet at least.

"Everyone is going to be up soon," he said regretfully, his eyes hungrily taking in every pale, perfect inch of her.

"Yes," agreed Sami weakly, feeling the aches between her legs growing even more with him looking at her like that.

"I'll get the twins organised then and meet you downstairs for breakfast then," he told her, his eyes finally making their way back to her face, "Don't rush - there is plenty of time."

Sami didn't know if he was just talking about breakfast or something far more specific to their particular situation and she didn't want to know. She had enough to deal with trying to make sense of last night… and this morning. She didn't need his cryptic carrying ons as well! He gave her a little smile and she had no idea if she returned it or not but then he was gone and she was left lying there, trying to work out exactly how things had made such a drastic turn in such a short amount of time between them.

One of the great things about children Sami found herself thinking later as everyone sat around the kitchen table was how distracting they could be. Wrangling two babies into having their breakfast whilst trying to have your own provided plenty of diversions which was exactly what Sami needed right now. After a long shower, getting dressed and doing her hair and makeup she still had no idea about what to think about last night or what she was going to do about it. EJ had already given each twin their bottle and had them sitting up in their new high chairs trying to convince them of the delights of solid foods. Well, as solid as mashed up banana gets that is. It seemed to Sami that there was more banana on the outside of the twins then was making it to the inside! Ali seemed to be enjoying the new sweet food though but Johnny seemed more interested in the spoon then the actual food it was trying to deliver.

"Is any of that actually getting into their mouths?" asked Sami sceptically watching yet another aborted attempt to get food into Johnny's mouth as he grabbed for the spoon, making the mashed banana land on a heap on his bib.

"I'm am going to confidently predict that a good 40% of it is making it," said EJ with a grin, "The other 60% I'm rather hoping for some kind of osmosis effect to just go in via the skin."

"You may be reaching on that one," said Sami with a shake of her head.

It seemed amazing to her that they could just slip back into the comfortable banter that they'd built up after last night. She'd been terrified that it would be awkward and obvious that something had happened last night but it wasn't like that - it was relaxed and well… normal. Sami couldn't work out if that was a good or a bad thing.

"It's always like this in the beginning," smiled Marlena, watching her grandchildren experience their first solids with great affection, "Trying to feed you and Eric in the beginning was like being in the middle of a permanent food fight. In the end I used to feed you in the garden just to make clean up easier. I was just really fortunate that it was summer otherwise I would have had to come up with another solution."

"I didn't' know that," said Sami in surprise, "You've never told me that story before."

"Haven't I?" smiled Marlena and then gave a little shrug, "I guess you forget some things as time goes by. That's why it's been so special having these two little treasures living with us, makes you remember all the little things."

Just then Ali chose that moment to turn her head, grin and EJ and then promptly throw up all over him as he leaned over them trying to get them to eat their banana.

The milky, banana-ery mess slide down his shirt in an ever widening mess before he could grab a towel to wipe it away.

"The kids got good range I'll give her that," commented John and it almost sounded like he was impressed, "And her accuracy is spot on as well."

"She does seem to be particularly talented at hitting her mark," agreed EJ, completely unfazed at being vomited on by this stage of the game.

Rolf suddenly appeared in the kitchen, a basket full of laundry under his arm.

"I am doing the 'vashing of the clothes," he announced to the whole room as though he was proclaiming the cure for cancer.

"Good luck with that," said John flatly, "Let me know how it turns out."

"Does anyvun have any more durtee clothes before I start?" continued on Rolf, ignoring his employers sarcasm.

"EJ?" prompted Marlena, "Maybe you should give him your shirt."

"It's alright," he told her, "I've had worse…"

Just then Johnny decided to join in on the fun and a huge lump of sticky banana that had somehow managed to find it's way onto the end of spoon EJ had given his son to play with flew across the room and landed on EJ's shirt as well.

"Although," said EJ, not skipping a beat, "On second thought Marlena you might be right."

All of the adults smiled at little Johnny's timing, except for John of course but smiling wasn't exactly his thing nowadays.

"Here," said EJ, standing up and walking over to Rolf, pulling his shirt off over his head as he did to hand it to the other man, "Much appreciated Rolf, your timing couldn't have been better."

Sami felt herself get nervous at suddenly having to sit across from a half naked EJ but that became the least of her worries as she and the rest of the adults sitting at the kitchen table saw EJ's naked back.

Oh. My. God.

"What happened to your back nephew?" asked John, characteristically blunt.

EJ turned around with a puzzled look on his face as Rolf left to do the laundry.

"What do you mean?" asked EJ in confusion as he looked over his shoulder trying to see what the other man was referring to.

Oh. My. GOD!

This couldn't be happening!

Sami was just looking in wide eyed terror at the scene unfolding in front of her, horribly aware of her mother and her step father sitting right there, one on either side of her as EJ incriminated them both. She wished the ground would just open her up and swallow her whole!

"Your back," clarified John with a little inclination of his head, "It looks like you've been attacked by a wild animal."

Sami almost whimpered from the embarrassment, praying that the pain in her head was a stroke and it would all be over for her soon.

EJ's eyes widened as the penny finally dropped. He'd left Samantha in that rather wonderful state of undress and had quickly been consumed by the needs of the twins. All he'd done was thrown a t-shirt on and got about the business of getting them organised for the day. He really hadn't had a chance to stop and take stock of too much else but now that John mentioned it his back had felt a little tender. But then so did just about every other body part thanks to the woman that was sitting and looking at him with such a frantic expression on her face that it was all he could do not to burst out laughing.

"So what happened?" pressed John, seeming oblivious to the embarrassment he was causing the others in the room.

"Oh God EJ, harder, don't stop, don't stop!"

The memory of her screaming out her pleasure as he plundered her body, her nails raking his heated flesh came to him with frightening clarity but EJ sensed that the truth was not going to be the way to go with this one if the expression on Sami's face was any indication.

"Ahh…" EJ paused and stumbled about to find a suitable explanation.

Not an easy thing to do, firstly because a great deal of his mental capacity was currently being taken up remembering in excruciatingly vivid detail what exactly had caused the scratches on his back and trying to not look as horny as he suddenly felt. The second being… what other explanation could there be?? Sami was looking at him with a kind of desperate horror for him to find something though so he did his best.

"Allergies," he finally managed, hoping he sounded a lot more convincing then he felt.

"Allergies?" repeated John sceptically.

"Ah yes," said EJ, soldiering on seeing as he had no where to go now but follow it through, "To a cat actually."

"What did you do?" asked John, tilting his head as though trying to work it through in his own mind, "Stick the thing down your shirt?"

"You know John we should start getting ready for work now," interrupted Marlena, speaking for the first time.

"But EJ hasn't finished his story," protested John with a frown.

"Oh I think he has," smiled Marlena and then before John could put any more resistance she'd ushered him from the room.

There was a long silence after they'd left. EJ was reminded of how just before a Tsunami hits everything goes deathly quiet and all of the water is sucked away from the beaches before returning as a tidal wave of death. EJ had the very strong feeling that he was about to get wet… very wet.

"Allergies!" repeated a horrified Sami when she finally managed to recover the power of speech, "That was the best you could come up with - you're a lawyer - aren't you meant to be able to think on your feet?!"

"I'm sorry sweetheart," said EJ with a fair amount of irony in his voice, "But I was away the day they covered what to say when your in-laws catch you with love scratches all over you from your 'fake' wife. In hind sight it was one I should have made more of an effort to catch."

"This is a nightmare!" groaned Sami, hating how unfazed he seemed by this turn of events.

Damn the man, he really didn't embarrass easily!

"No sweetheart," he corrected her with a little smile, "Rolf in a two piece bathing suit is a nightmare - this is just a little hiccup."

"My mother and John think we had sex last night!" said Sami with great agitation, ignoring his humour, "How is that not a nightmare?"

"First of all Samantha we did have sex last night," said EJ in amusement, "And in case you need reminding I can show you my back again if you like where a certain wild cat…"

"Enough!" she snapped, her cheeks burning in embarrassment.

"Of course," said EJ smoothly, a little smirk on his face as seeing her blush so brightly, knowing she was remembering exactly how he got those marks, "As I was saying, secondly we are married Samantha and married people do have sex on occasion - I read that in a book somewhere once. I realise that is setting somewhat of a precedent in this household but still… there it is."

"Maybe they believed your story," said Sami weakly to herself as she slumped down into a kitchen chair, desperately clinging to any hope that there might still be a way out of this.

"Sweetheart," said EJ with great amusement, "Even John isn't that brain damaged and your mother…"

"My Mom!" groaned Sami, dropping her head to the table top and burying her head in her hands, "What am I going to tell my Mom?"

"You're a grown woman Samantha," he told her calmly, "You don't have to tell her anything. This is our business, no one else's."

"But she thinks we had sex!" hissed Sami, trying yet again to convince him of how dire the situation was because he just didn't seem to understand.

"Look if you're so bothered by this why don't you talk to her about it," said EJ, relenting in her teasing of her when he saw that she really was upset, "I don't mind."

"No!" exclaimed Sami, cringing at even the thought of such a conversation.

"Alright then, do you want me to talk to Marlena?" he offered helpfully.

"NO!" she practically screeched the word, "Are you insane?! There is no way in hell I'm going to have you talk to my Mom or anyone else about what happened last night - EVER!"

"So does that mean I need to do some deleting in my MySpace journal for today?" he asked her straight faced.

Sami's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened to the size of saucers at his words and EJ couldn't keep it together any longer.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," he laughed openly at her now, holding up a conciliatory hand, "I'm only teasing you, I don't even have a MySpace journal."

He saw relief, annoyance and frustration fight for a place on her face and he just couldn't help himself.

"It's in Facebook," he continued on blithely, knowing he was taking his life into his own hands.

"Oh my god!" she yelled at him, jumping up at and beginning to smack at his arms in complete agitation, "How can you joke about something like this! You are the most annoying, insensitive, rude man I have ever met!"

EJ was trying not to laugh and fend of her flurry of blows at the same time as she raged at him.

Damn but she was gorgeous when she got her Irish up!

EJ instantly regretted having not rattled her cage more in the last couple of months - how could he have deprived himself of seeing Samantha in full battle mode?! But that was something he was intent on rectify from now on. He captured her arms, long fingers sliding around her little wrists and without hurting her he pulled them behind her back, circling his arms around her and holding her against him. He put his lips to her ear as she struggled against him to get free and spoke softly to her.

"But that's why you love me right?" he breathed into her ear and Sami bit her lip to stop from shuddering at how sexy he sounded right then.

"I have never said I loved you!" she bit out, desperate to get away from the sound of his voice and the feel of his long hard body pressed up against her.

"Actions speak louder than words," he told her, his voice low and velvety and she felt his tongue sneak out and begin to trace along the edge of the delicate skin of her ear.

Sami knew that if she let him continue on for even a second longer that the next person who walked through the kitchen door was most likely going to be treated to the sight of much more than a few scratches. No, a couple of more seconds of his skilful tongue on her body and they were going to get the main event and Sami simply couldn't have that so she did what she always did when backed into a corner - came out fighting.

"OWW!" yelped EJ and jumped back, looking at her with shock and shaking the leg she'd just kicked.

"Hey you're right!" she said sweetly, "Actions do speak louder than words!"

Sami then marched out of the kitchen, triumphant that she'd put a stop to his less than honourable intentions and trying to convince herself that she was happy about that rather than achingly disappointed. EJ watched her go and gave a rueful smile as he rubbed his abused shin. He couldn't love this little prickly creature anymore if he tried he decided. How like her to be so contrary when everyone else knew the truth about what it was she really wanted. EJ wasn't worried though, he had a plan and he was going to set it in motion that very day. Very soon Samantha was going to have no choice but to be honest with herself about what it was that she truly wanted.