Moonlit Wishes
Book II, Part XXXVIII

Sami curled her fingers into EJ's hair without even realizing it, and in turn pulling him closer as their lips melded together in this very unexpected kiss she was receiving from him. His kisses were as awesome as she remembered, not that she would ever admit to him that his kisses were awesome since she knew the knowledge would make EJ's ego grow exponentially.

She arched against him, pressing her body to his as the gentle kiss of their lips grew in intensity. EJ shifted slightly wanting her even closer to him as they lost themselves within the kiss as everyone and everything else in the room seem to fade to oblivion beyond this sudden connection they were sharing.

Finally it hit them exactly where they were and more importantly what they were doing when Johnny ran up beside them in a sing song voice proclaiming his mommy and daddy were kissing. Hearing Johnny made Sami tear her mouth away from EJ, although somehow it was like she was in a pit of quicksand when she couldn't pull herself out of his arms as she held on tightly to him waiting for his reaction to what had just happened.

EJ didn't make a move to extricate himself either, he simply watched her amazed she hadn't instantly pulled away from him over his impromptu gesture like she had so many times before in the past. Usually Samantha treated his attempts at closeness with something akin to catching a plague of some sort.

Why doesn't he say something?Sami thought EJ always had some kind of reasoning of why he kissed her when he did all those times before, yet this time he was mum, looking as uncertain as she was in how it had all happened in the first place. He searched her face making her heart rate increase and jump erratically as she returned his gaze in anxious anticipation.

Before they could say anything to one another though Brady shattered the mood when he decided to question his step sister in front of everyone, "Sami I thought you told me you and EJ were just friends."

"Friends with benefits maybe," Nicole interjected snidely as Sydney was holding out her hands for John to get her, the exchange between her parents unfazing her unlike Johnny, Allie and even Will as she giggled when John swept her up in his arms taking her from the clutches of Nicole.

Marlena was still standing there with her mouth agape, for once at a loss for words when usually she had an opinion for any and everything under the sun, while Carrie and Austin had ambled into the living room wondering what the commotion was all about. Carrie stopping as soon as she saw Sami, her eyes narrowing as she deduced of course it would be the arrival of her sister who always managed to cause a scene no matter where she went. Austin just had the dazed look on his face he usually wore, his expression never changing much unless it was to amp up his complete adoration for his wife Carrie.

Then to top it off, the doorbell was ringing again and they all turned slightly as none other than Belle with Claire in tow came bustling through the front door.

For once, Sami was grateful to her younger sister for stealing the spotlight as cries of welcome surprise burst forth from Marlena and John and the rest of the family over Belle's arrival. Sami used this much appreciated diversion to her advantage.

She grabbed EJ's hand and ushered him out in the hallway.

As soon as they were out in the hallway alone with the door shut as the commotion of Belle being home allowed her a chance to speak with EJ because she had some questions for him, namely this first question she asked him.

"EJ, what in the hell was that?" Sami asked vaguely of him in an exaggerated whisper.

"What was what?" EJ apparently decided to play dumb with her, knowing there was no need to get into some philosophical explanation of why he was such a complete and utter idiot when it came to this woman who was standing in front of him with a perplexed look upon her face.

Sami waved her hands in the air between them in a swirling motion as her voice became louder, "You know."

EJ acted like he was just catching on to exactly what Samantha meant, "Oh the kiss?"

"Yes, the kiss. Why did you kiss me?"

"Look it didn't mean anything, I was just trying to diffuse the situation I knew was about to erupt when Nicole grabbed up Sydney into her arms." EJ explained in all seriousness, he knew better than to make this into something more than it needed to be. He learned long ago not to read more into anything that happened between them because when he had it usually meant those actions gave Samantha complete access to stomp on his heart and he decided to strengthen his resolve not to let his heart get engaged with feelings for this woman again.

"It meant nothing? It was just something to do to distract me?" Sami asked trying not to sound hurt, but she couldn't help the feeling from creeping into her being.

"Of course," EJ immediately answered, "I didn't think we needed to start World War III in your mother's living room."

"Silly me, Nicole only stole my baby from me and kept that knowledge hidden from me for almost a year, but hey no big deal right?" Sami switched her disappointment over to anger in a flash, it would be better to be pissed at EJ anyway. She'd been a fool to expect anything else from him. He'd made it clear since he had returned to Salem that he wasn't interested in her anymore.

Sami turned on her heel away from EJ and brushed a hand under her eyes which for some odd reason decided to turn traitor on her and fill with unneeded tears. She wanted to run away, escape from this hellish day, but if she did it was going to cause even more tension within her family and probably with her and EJ also.

EJ was at a loss, he didn't understand why Samantha was so upset over his words, and it wasn't like she cared for him, cared what he thought of her, did she? He tentatively reached out a hand to turn her back around to face him which she resisted at first, until she blinked her eyes trying to dispel any tears that might be lingering in her eyes.

"You know things are never going to be easy with Nicole around," EJ began only to have Sami snort and roll her eyes in response.

"She stole our baby EJ," Sami blurted out the hurt apparent in her voice along with her features. If anyone knew how badly she'd felt over the entire Sydney situation by what that whore had done to her it was EJ.

The look on her face when she spoke those words should have been enough for EJ to pull her back into his arms, but those haunting memories of all that Samantha had done to him too were screaming inside his head to not further engage in this matter with her at least not now out in the hallway while part of her family was probably waiting for them to come back inside, not to mention their children were in there.

So he decided the comfort route with her wasn't going to be the wise one in which his heart could take, at least not at this moment.

"We've all done bad things Samantha," he began only to have her cut him off before he could finish his entire sentence.

"You think?" Sami narrowed her eyes and EJ could visibly see her start to shut down, the change in her entire stance and tone of voice was like seeing a complete transformation. The vulnerability she had just given him a glimpse of was erased as she turned away from him.

For a brief moment EJ wanted to reach out and grab her arm once more so that she would turn back and face him, but he let that temptation pass. It was better for Samantha to be disappointed in him than for her to expect him to be some kind of knight in shining armor, riding to her rescue. No, that role was for others to play in her life.

Not him, never him.

So he let her go back into the apartment, saw her paste a false smile on her face as she faced her family with her head held high and hoped he could make it through the rest of the evening without wanting to kiss her again and tell her things were going to be all right. He couldn't tell her he was here with her because he wanted to be here with her, that he was proud to be here with her, that he always wanted to be where she was because she was the only woman he ever wanted to be with from now on.

He guessed some things were better left unsaid, after all writing those letters to her should have been enough for her to know how much he still loved her even though he had proclaimed to her that romantic fool which resided in him had died. Somehow he was afraid that fool for love was being resurrected no matter how hard he was trying to fight against it.

And that thought scared him more than he wanted to admit, so he pushed it aside and played along with Samantha as the evening began. They were both so good at pretending and tonight would be no exception.