Chapter 15

Lucas Horton stood in front of Sami's door valiantly trying to talk himself out of doing something that was probably incredibly stupid.

He'd waited two days after his mother's henchmen had told him that she was back from her extended tour of self-discovery. He had fought with his son and even sought advice and council from Sami's mother, Marlena.

He wanted her back.

Twenty years of history warned him that their reunion was likely to be bumpy at best and disastrous at worst. They had a remarkable knack of getting so close to making it work and then imploding. But many of those horrible endings had come at the hand of EJ Dimera… Sami had walked away from EJ on her own terms. Surely that meant that Sami was finally free of his demonic spell?

He knocked on the door and waited.

Are my hands actually shaking? He couldn't believe that he was actually nervous. He'd known Sami since they were teenagers. They shared children. This was ridiculous to him.

She threw open the door and yanked his arm, pulling him inside the spacious apartment before he could even say hello.

"Oh my God, Lucas, I am so glad that you are here!"

She turned and walked toward the kitchen and gestured for him to sit at one of the bar stools that lined the island. She poured him a glass of red wine from the counter. From the looks of the bottle, he could tell she'd had quite a bit of it herself.

"I ran into EJ and Abigail…together…in the Horton Town Square," she said quickly. "Did you know about them?"

Lucas' head was spinning. She'd said that so fast and he was still thinking about how he was going to ask her for another chance…what was she talking about with EJ and Abigail? Was she trying to get EJ back? Why would he have heard anything about EJ and his niece?

"What would I have heard about them, Sami? They are friends. I don't know how or why she would choose to associate with that man, but they have always been friendly."

Sami snorted in her glass and took a big gulp.

"Friendly my ass," she said sharply. She grained the glass and put it down beside the bottle. She reached for her tablet that was sitting on the island beside Lucas and pushed it into his face.

The image caused him to spit his wine across the island, splattering Sami's yellow dress.

"What the hell kind of joke is this, Sami?"

Sami was cursing furiously and walking over to the sink to try to wipe the wine from her dress, only smearing it and making an even bigger mess on the once pretty garment.

She tossed Lucas a towel for him to wipe off the island.

"I would have appreciated a slightly less physical reaction, Lucas, but that was my question exactly," she said. She walked back over to him and took the tablet. "I was sent this while I was away. Did you note the winter clothing? Apparently, Perfect Little Abigail and EJ have been 'friendly' for months."

Lucas swore under his breath. This was bad for so many reasons. He wanted to strangle EJ. Abigail was Will's age and a decent girl. He must have taken advantage of her. He couldn't imagine Abigail actually seeking a relationship with that devil…especially when doing so would put her in the crosshairs of Sami Brady.

"I don't know where to start…" he began. He reached over and put his hand over hers. "Are you still in love with this bastard?"

Sami put her other hand over his and smiled. "Thank God, no. I'm not. I really mean that this time, Lucas. You were right. Getting away and actually giving my head a chance to clear was what I needed to make myself realize that our relationship was toxic for our entire family. But that doesn't mean that I'm ok with what he did to me."

She refilled his wine glass and raised a brow.

"Will you please swallow your wine this time?"

He grinned and walked over beside her.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to see a picture of my niece in the arms of Satan. It was a little disturbing."

Sami was so glad that Lucas was here. His steadying presence was exactly what she needed to help her decide what next step to take.

She felt her pulse quicken as he moved closer.

Yes. This was what she wanted. She'd realized it a long time ago.

"Imagine how I felt," she said. "How do we want to deal with it?"

Lucas looked back at the tablet and shook his head.

"We? Why would you think I'd get involved with this? What are you trying to do? If you no longer love EJ, why do you even care?"

She traced her fingers over EJ's face on the screen and thought back to the terrible winter they'd had trying to cover up the botched "murder" of Nick Fallon and the subsequent cover up job EJ had done to ensure that her part in it would never come out. She knew that he had "dealt" with Abigail on her behalf. She had asked him to "shut her up."

She just hadn't thought he would use his penis to do it.

It hurt to think that he had been lying to her the entire time.

"Sami, I thought you went away to get him out of your head and find a new direction in your life? Revenge on EJ is a trick out of your old play book. That isn't a new direction."

Sami sighed and turned away from him. He was right. Truthfully, what good would it do her? She didn't want to be with EJ. She wanted to be with the man standing in front of her. She wanted to make up for all of the time they'd wasted because she'd been obsessed with a man who had only brought out the worst in her.

"I want you," she said softly. "I want to be with you, Lucas. I know that now. I think I've always known it. But doesn't the idea of him with your niece make you crazy? I should be grateful. His distraction allowed me the distance to really think about what I wanted. I realized that what I wanted was the life that we should have had. But I'm still me, Lucas. I still want to see him squirm. I still want to call her out for going after the father of two of my children."

Lucas heard the words coming out of her mouth, but he was still afraid to believe them. If she was consumed by the desire to hurt EJ, how over him was she? He remembered their days of scheming together fondly, but he had no wish to return to them.

"I want you, too," he admitted, pulling her back around to face him. "I love you. You've always been the one for me and you know that. But I worry that your desire for revenge means that you still have feelings for him, Sami. I won't compete with him. I've always lost."

She closed her eyes and sighed. Could she just let this go? Could she just walk away from EJ and Abigail and pretend that she didn't know that they'd betrayed her for months? Could she swallow her wounded pride and close that chapter of her life to start a new one with Lucas?

"I love you, too, Lucas. If you are asking me to forget about them, then I will try to do that. I can't pretend to be happy about it. They betrayed me. Do you really expect me to stand beside them at the Horton Christmas tree and pretend like that's ok?"

He reached up and cupped her cheek.

"Sami, can we table the EJ and Abigail discussion for now? We've finally just admitted that we love each other. I want to enjoy that for a while. We can decide how to deal with your disgusting ex later. Right now, I want to kiss you and finish what we started one your wedding day. Is that ok with you?"

Sami leaned in to his touch and nodded. She kissed his palm.

"I guess I can let the revenge stuff go for a few hours…"

He pulled her close and captured her lips. His arms moved around her and she felt him tug at the zipper on the back of her dress. He nipped at her lower lip playfully as the wine stained garment hit the floor at her feet.

He took in the sight of her standing in a pair of cream lace panties and a lace bra that barely covered her pert nipples. Her body was even more beautiful than it was twenty years ago, toned and firm. Her hours in the gym had definitely paid off. She was sexy as hell and Lucas felt himself growing hard just looking at her.

"What if I want the whole night? It's been a few years, Sami. I think you're selling us a little short. I know I'm not as young as I once was, but I can promise you that I think I can keep you occupied for more than just a few hours."

She gazed into his warm chocolate eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close.

"A challenge, Lucas Horton?" she asked, tilting her head mischievously. "I love a challenge. Bring it on."

He laughed and scooped her into his arms. He strode confidently over to the staircase, but stopped at the base and looked up ominously.

"Seriously, Sami? Stairs?"

She grinned and gripped one of his biceps.

"I think you can handle it."

He tossed her like she weighed nothing and caught her with ease. "I just hope you can handle it when we get up there."