"Compromising Circumstances" (Chlex Romance- R): Chapter 7
SUMMARY: Two strangers meet under compromising circumstances; a brief encounter that will affect their lives in more ways than one.
AUTHOR: Lexie aka[info]lillianschild
RATING: R
A/N: For the sake of this story you'll have to imagine that Chloe and Lex have never met. I'm sure you're going to have questions along the way, particularly concerning Lex's past; you'll have to be patient because those details will be revealed little by little.
A/N 2: Sorry for the delay in posting this but RL and my new Richard Armitage obsession is taking most of my time- if you've seen or heard his work, I know you'll find it in your heart to forgive me. And... there's another excuse... LJ's formatting has been driving me nuts!
CHAPTER ONE
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
CHAPTER SEVEN
Chloe and Jason didn’t part on friendly terms and she brooded over his words all through the lavish dinner, charming the Chinese delegation at her table. The catering service was first-class and the wine flowed generously. Chloe had never been too fond of drinking and her experience with Oliver had turned her into a teetotaller as a general rule, but tonight she felt like breaking it and Lex appeared to have gauged her mood correctly. However, discovering him discreetly signalling to the wine waiter to authorise her intake made her furious.
What would he do if she got drunk under his very nose? No, a subtler revenge would be better, one in which she could still retain her dignity and control. Chloe was in a mood to assert herself and decided he deserved to pay for his paternalist attitude. When Lex got up to make his speech she set the plan in motion.
As expected, his speech was witty and articulate but she pretended not to be paying too much attention to what he was saying. Every time their gazes met across the room she made sure to raise her glass and down the contents thirstily; for all he knew she was drinking the most expensive champagne and not the sparkling grape juice she’d had the wine waiter uncork for her and place in the ice-bucket with its label discreetly covered with a napkin.
As soon as Lex resumed his seat at their table, Chloe ordered another bottle of Bollinger and excused herself to go to the toilet- the large quantity of grape juice she’d ingested was putting pressure on her bladder and she was ready to burst. As she hurried to the nearest rest room she shot Lex a glazed smile and a smouldering look that made him tense up imperceptibly.
Back at the table, after retouching her make-up and freshening up, she noticed he’d cancelled the champagne and substituted Tŷ Nant instead. She ignored it and called the waiter over to order a Brandy Manhattan-she didn’t even know what it tasted like but she remembered it was one of the girls’ favourite in Sex and the City, courtesy of the re-runs Lois had submitted her to when she was heavily pregnant with Clarkie and away from the bullpen. While Lex talked smoothly with the Chinese she tried to disrupt his unflappable appearance and his concentration by whispering increasingly sultry asides in his ear and slurring her consonants the way she knew someone intoxicated would. She was subtle enough that a stranger wouldn’t notice anything radically unusual in her behaviour, simply laughed at some lines which weren’t that funny, talked enthusiastically and pretended to appreciate the gestures of flattery she would normally disdain; in other words, enough to taunt Lex, who she could feel growing tenser as the minutes went by.
Shifting her chair closer to him she leant against him and steadied herself on his leg with the excuse of talking across him. She felt the muscles of his lean body grow rigid and then tremble as her hand grazed his inner thigh apparently by accident.
“Is everything OK?” she drawled innocently when she felt his hand clamp down on hers under the tablecloth. “You’ve grown stiff all of a sudden. The stress of the occasion must be catching up with you. Why don’t you have a couple of drinks and relax like me?” she murmured, leaning further over him and pressing the side of her breast against his arm.
“I have a better idea. Let’s relax together,” he told her tightly under his breath. “Would you excuse us, Mr Yang? I promised the lady a dance. It’s been a pleasure to talk with you and your colleagues in this informal setting. We’ll be in touch,” he bid the delegation farewell and marched her off to the dancing floor, which was already crowded. “What’s wrong with you tonight? How much have you drunk?” he asked her in a tight voice as he thrust her into motion.
Chloe knew he was seething under the cold faҫade and that he was kind of… outraged… at her behaviour.
“A few,” she smiled, leaning towards him and feeling him struggle to keep a safe distance between their bodies. “What’s wrong with celebrating life now and then?” she asked, looking at him in the eye with what she hoped was sultry invitation.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, but this is neither the time nor the place to get out of control,” he told her stiffly.
So it was OK for him to taunt and unsettle her with his experience and his sinfully dark looks and double entendres but turn the tables and he wasn’t so poised himself. Chloe felt powerful knowing she could upset his controlled balance.
“Chloe, you’ll regret this tomorrow,” he murmured, tightening his hold on her waist as she pressed the entire length of her body sinuously against him.
Lex’s coldly rigid body seemed to be generating a lot of heat all of a sudden. She felt her tactics start to backfire and her imagined detachment melt. Chloe rested her cheek on his chest and tried to control her trembling response. She could feel the over-sensitised peaks of her breasts pebble in response to the uneven beating of his heart. She’d never been sinful before, at least not without being under the influence of some alien worm, and she couldn’t even blame the Manhattan she’d sipped for her behaviour tonight
“You should have stuck to white wine or spring water instead of mixing drinks. It was a silly thing to do considering Yang was sitting at the table. Queen Industries needs…”
“You mean you need. Relax, Lex, I have the man eating out of my hand. You’re the only one who’s anxious here.”
“You should remember who you are.”
Chloe tried to rein in her temper. Of all the things he could have said…
“I’m a woman too. Jason and you seem to have forgotten that,” she replied huskily, determined not to let him ruin her fun.
“Teague?” he asked grimly.
“He’s too uptight, don’t you think? He too should learn to relax and have fun,” she said in a provocative voice.
“The music’s over. We’d better call it a night before you do something you’ll regret like pulling a Gilda act in front of three hundred people and waking up in the morning without remembering a thing.”
“I would have never guessed you were a wet blanket, Mr Luthor.”
“Don’t call me that,” he hissed.
“It’s your name. You might not like it but you can’t change who you are. The world might know us as Mrs Oliver Queen and Mr Alexander Grierson but Chloe and Lex are who we are. And that’s who I intend to be tonight… Hi, Alden! How about a dance?”
Ten minutes later she was belted roughly into the passenger seat of Lex’s Porsche.
“I’m perfectly fit to drive! I’m as sober as you are,” she raged as he slid behind the wheel and inserted the key in the ignition. “And what about my car?”
“I’ll have someone pick it up for you. For your sake, I hope you haven’t been teasing me deliberately… .”
Chloe swallowed. She could see the tension in his profile and in the way he gripped the steering wheel. She kept her mouth shut; somehow she thought it’d be wiser to let him cool down a little bit. Instinctively she knew he wouldn’t use violence to force her to do anything she wasn’t ready to do willingly. No, he’d just have to take her in his arms again and she’d be putty in his hands. She found that she needed the drive as much as he did to clear her head before her plan for revenge ended backfiring
“This isn’t the way to my apartment,” she broke the tense silence on noticing the unfamiliarity of their route. “I thought you were taking me home.”
He opened the iron gates with the remote and the car rolled up the driveway before coming to a standstill in front of a stone staircase.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking at his shadowed expression. “Lex,” she repeated when he cut the engine.
“I said I was taking you home. I didn’t say I was driving you to your apartment. I’m not drunk, but I wouldn’t risk hitting the highway to Star City and testing positive on the Breathalizer. If I’d known you’d get intoxicated, I would have cut down on the champagne tonight.”
He leant towards her and she flinched, but he was just reaching for the seatbelt to flick it open.
“I’m not Bluebeard, Chloe. I’m not so crude as to take you up on your generous invitation right here in the car like a hormonal adolescent.”
Chloe flushed, her whole body heating at the implication behind his words. She’d been brazen and had enjoyed it far too obviously to try to deny she’d purposefully led him on.
He opened the driver’s door and stepped out, the predatory gleam of his eyes smouldering in the darkness. He was still very angry under the cool and controlled faҫade.
The early nineteenth century mansion seemed huge and as silent and brooding as the explosively primed man beside her. Despite the fact that an inner certainty told her he would never physically hurt her, even in genuine rage, she was aware she’d challenged him in the most elemental way possible and that there would be consequences to her goading him.
Sexual tension flourished in the shrouded silence like a living thing. She started to tremble, not from fear but from helpless desire. Damn, it wasn’t supposed to end up this way! He was the one who should be grovelling to find her unassailable once she’d led him on and slammed the door of her apartment in his face. Why was it she was wishing he took a step and finish what she’d begun back there at the hotel?
“I acted foolishly tonight. I pretended to be drunk to annoy you. It was childish. I'm sorry. Jason’s paternalist attitude and yours made me mad… “ she blurted, unable to put up with the charade anymore as he stood behind her and unhooked the fastenings of her coat with unnerving slowness.
He paused halfway and she held her breath getting ready for his reaction. The simmering explosion wasn’t unleashed the way she’d expected and a sixth sense told her there was a good chance he’d seen through her game on the way to the mansion or maybe even sooner.
“Should I call a cab?” he murmured close to her ear, breaking the pregnant silence before dipping his head to bite her gently on the side of her throat. “Or are you ready to live up to your whispered promises?”
The mouth skimming her throat was having as arousing an effect as his taunting words, stirring deeply buried desires she’d tried to deny for a long time. He’d just offered her a gentlemanly way out- a taxi and a safe trip to her own bed back home- but the pull to stay was just too powerful. The arm around her waist drew her back against his hard and familiar body and she realised he was as affected as her. She lay there for a moment, her head against his shoulder, trembling and breathless, enveloped by the sensually masculine fragrance that was only his.
Her heart thundered in her chest as she turned her head slightly to the left and he brushed her lips with his fingers, inviting her to part her mouth for a kiss and the soft probing of his tongue, which stole her breath away. She moaned as his hand left her face and settled on the firm roundness of her left breast, cupping her and feeling the pounding tumult within.
“Tell me now if this is not what you want, Chloe,” he said in a velvety voice whose impact she felt deep in her feminine core as the hand around her waist strayed and his long fingers splayed wide against her slightly rounded belly, reaching for the ache that was forming in the pit of her stomach.
He inhaled her lemon-scented hair and his mouth sought the sensitive hollows at the nape of her neck. Just like that night in her flat he was also shaking and she felt an overwhelming power at knowing Chloe Sullivan could drive this sophisticated and virtually unflappable man wild with desire.
“Lex…” she moaned a husky plea, torn between her urge to stay and the little voice in her head that told her he was anything but a safe choice.
“God, Chloe, don't say no. Not now,” he said jerkily, spinning her tight in his arms.
He’d taken off his bow tie and jacket and undone the first few buttons of his white shirt as soon as they’d stepped into the living room. Chloe could feel the heavy thumping of his heart against her palm and marvelled at the expanse of satiny and hairless skin and gracefully shapely muscles revealed when she finished unbuttoning his shirt. He was deceptively lean with his clothes on and the power he exuded when dressed in his expensive tailor-made suits could now be perceived rippling beneath his pale skin.
He was hot to the touch and she couldn’t resist nuzzling his chest and brushing her lips against his right nipple to have him tremble under her ministrations; she needed to see him unruffled- it was the one way she could feel she was still in control of the whole situation.
He made a choking sound in his throat which sounded a lot like 'Yes, oh, yes´ to Chloe’s ears as he arched back to give her free access to his upper body and his swollen hardness settled in the juncture of her thighs. He was so responsive to every little movement she made, even to the feel of her breath upon his feverish skin, that she soon got lost in the moment.
It wasn’t until she perceived the cool air on her naked breasts, and saw the molten sensuality of his gaze on her as he steered her into a shaft of light near the window, that she realised he’d undone the halter neck which kept her backless dress on.
“I’ve wanted to untie that strap to see what was underneath ever since you entered the hotel dining room,” he told her thickly, tracing the underside of one of her milky breasts with graceful fingers.
She closed her eyes, gasping as his thumbs found the rigid tips that were evidence of her own desire. He made a sound and she felt him kneel down to pull her red gown over her hips, revealing the matching lace bikini panties and suspender belt she’d bought on impulse the day before. And then, with a deep and guttural sound, his hands ran up the back of her thighs, pulling them closer and parting them.
She opened her eyes at last, clutching at his shoulders when she felt his mouth move hotly against the lacy front panel of her panties and press a string of kisses from the soft skin at the top of her fishnet stockings to the deep, frantic pulse at the hollow of her hip. Seeing his smooth bald head moving against her and experiencing the sensations he was creating made her cry out and he looked up, a possessive and self-satisfied glint in his eyes when he saw her starlit expression.
“Smug,” she gasped when he teased the pulsing bundle of nerves through the now damp fabric of her tiny panties.
He stood and sealed her lips with a hungry kiss she responded to with unbridled passion. She hadn’t known the touch of a man in eighteen months but never, not even with her late husband, had she been this forward or voracious. She told herself it was the natural reaction of a healthy woman after a long fast, and yet a little insistent voice in the back of her mind whispered she was deluding herself, that it was being in this man’s arms that had unleashed the passionate Chloe she used to be a lifetime ago before she smothered her to be what others expected of her.
Both breathless, they broke the kiss reluctantly. Still holding her, he turned her, pressing her hips against the polished mahogany dining table, which dominated the room. Chloe imagined him laying her on its smooth hardness and leaning over her and felt desire pool in her centre. She’d never been terribly adventurous or sexually sophisticated like the women she was sure he had to be used to, never made love on a table before.
Thrusting the jealous thought of Lex with other women- gorgeous long-legged brunettes with shapely curves and flat tummies- she linked her arms around his neck and locked her gaze with his, reminding herself Chloe Sullivan could make him shake with passionate need.
“Maybe on another occasion. Our first time should be in a bed,” he said hoarsely, stooping and sweeping her off her feet.
“I don’t feel like waiting,” she murmured as he began to move with her in his arms and she turned her hot face against his chest.
“You won’t have to,” he promised, crossing another doorway and flipping on the soft light of the nearest bedroom with his left elbow before striding to the king-sized bed, stripping back the burgundy satin bedspread and putting her down on the cool sheets. “Don’t do that,” he told her quietly a few minutes later when, suddenly shy under his scrutiny, she made a move to shield her nakedness with her arms. “You’re beautiful… and real. You’re the one that I want. It’s just you and me here, Chloe. Unless you’re having second thoughts…”
“I’m not,” she said softly, hating her old insecurities and reaching out a hand to touch his stomach, feeling his muscles shift and clench as she stroke him down to the waistband of his expensive trousers. “You’re the one that I want too.”
He caught her exploring hand before she got the chance to touch him intimately and folded her arm back gently into the pillow as he sat down on the side of the bed. Then he leant forward to initiate a languorous kiss meant to put her at ease as he unclasped the suspender belt with deft fingers and invited her to lift her hips to let him remove the tiny scrap of fabric standing in the way.
For once in her life Chloe felt like a precious gift being unwrapped, and she didn’t mind the expression of masculine triumph on his face at his having her in his bed at last because it was her moment too, it was Chloe Sullivan who was making the heart of this beautiful man beat faster. For tonight and maybe for many nights to come she’d allow herself to feel alive, to breathe and forget about the loneliness she’d come to accept as her present destiny.
“Someone’s a little overdressed,” she smiled ruefully, starting to work on his belt.
“I can do it,” he told her, brushing her hand away to unbuckle and take off his trousers and underwear with a fumbling haste that she found inexpressibly exciting, especially in someone as polished and composed at all times like Lex.
Gone was the controlled and disciplined man the minute he covered her body with his and their bare skin touched for the first time. In his place was a greedy, ardent and impetuous lover. Chloe felt his sensual onslaught build towards a fiery climax as he devoured her, alternately biting gently into her soft skin and suckling the sweetness from her achingly swollen breasts while he adjusted her petite and supple body around his, moaning and shuddering even with the slightest caress of her hands.
The moment he made her his would be etched in her memory forever. The overwhelming reality of being intimately joined like two pieces of a puzzle when he sheathed himself in her warm glove with his first stroke stilled them both. She closed her eyes and all the sensations were magnified as her body adjusted to the agonising fullness and he buried his head in the curve of her neck, his breath brushing her skin in short pants as her throbbing centre pulled him even deeper,
“Lex…” she gasped, pulling his head back with both hands to look into his eyes. And what she saw there took her breath away. There was an inner turbulence in his blue-grey eyes which shook her. “Lex,” she repeated, flooded by a wave of intense feeling on seeing the coiled muscles of his neck and upper arms and the clench of his jaw as he fought the primitive urge that was driving him
His pupils contracted and he stiffened, pulling back slightly.
“I’m sorry… I went too fast. I’m hurting you. Damn! Forgot the condom,” he gritted, bracing himself on his arms and starting to withdraw further.
“Contraception’s covered. I’m on the pill to regulate my cycle. I’m clean, are you?”
“Always use protection…”
“We’re OK then.”
“If you want, I can…”
“Later…” she cut him off almost sobbing when he made a move to leave her body.
“Chloe,” he hesitated on seeing what she believed to be pain reflected on her face.
“No. Please, stay,” she moaned in protest.
He watched hotly at her in silence, fascinated by the myriad emotions in the depth of her emerald eyes, and then entwined his fingers with hers on the pillow, giving her something to hold onto as a rosy flush spread up all over her body and her first climax built swiftly. Only when she closed her eyes and turned her face away from him did he move, cupping her face gently with one hand, forcing her to look at him.
“No. Let me see… Open your eyes, Chloe,” he asked her huskily. And she did, too overwhelmed to let her old insecurities rob her of this moment, too stunned by the speed of it all to deny either him or her this miracle.
Her mouth trembled and her lips parted as she began to gasp in light shallow breaths which made her creamy breasts quiver invitingly. It took just a couple of brief tugs made by his expert mouth on one of her stiff rosy peaks for her to find an exquisitely shattering release. He held her steady while she poured herself into him amidst sobs.
“Chloe…” he murmured, wiping a couple of big tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him, hearing the concern in his voice, and egging him on with a tentative rocking of her hips. “Your turn now.”
“Ours,” he corrected her boring his eyes into her, echoing her undulating movements until he established his own powerful rhythm which brought them both to an exuberant completion.
It was ten in the morning when Chloe woke up again to the sound of Lex getting dressed. Muscles she hadn’t known existed in her body ached after the unusually strenuous exercise. She felt as if she’d been battered by a whirlwind, a vortex of which she’d been more than a willing participant… and, yes, instigator. Neither Lex’s passion nor hers had extinguished after their first coming together; their second… and third time- just after waking up at the crack of dawn- had been as intense and gloriously energetic.
Lex was a complex man, a mystery in more ways than one, and too multi-layered to presume to know everything that he felt or thought behind his cool faҫade. Last night he’d let her see several sides of him she suspected very few people had had the privilege of witnessing. She’d had a peek at the man behind the mask and he wasn’t what she’d expected at all. Yes, she’d believed him to be passionate and thorough despite his controlled and reserved persona. And well… she’d heard enough in the powder rooms of several charity balls and banquets to suspect he was more than adequate in bed. However, it was his generosity as a lover that had surprised her. Not only had he made it his mission to discover the spots on her body that were the most sensitive and what moves and touches brought her the most pleasure, he’d rein in his own needs to let her have a moment she could call hers.
Propped on her bent arm she looked at his back as he adjusted his cufflinks and made the knot of his tie. It was a scene she’d witnessed dozens of times during her marriage to Oliver and yet she felt a pang at the memory because it had no place here, not after last night when she’d regained something she’d lost when she had tied her life to her late husband. She wondered if she was being unfair; they’d had a few good moments, especially during the first twelve months… but it’d never been like this between them. Oliver had never really taken the time to know her, Chloe Sullivan, or to cater to both their needs. It had always been about him and she’d allowed it. She wished she could blame Oliver for everything that had gone wrong between them, but the truth was everything had started back in Smallville when she put her life and her happiness on hold for Clark, when she gave up her selfhood.
She promised herself she’d never be with a man that way again. She’d never be or feel like an afterthought again.
“Everything OK?” asked Lex looking at her reflection in the mirror.
“Yes,” she smiled warmly. “Do you have any plans for lunch?”
“Nothing that can’t be postponed,” he replied in a velvety voice. “The menu looks quite tempting from over here,” he smirked as she pulled up the sheet which had ridden down and left one of her breasts uncovered.
“So… is it a plan?” she asked again as he straightened his tie and walked back to her.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said huskily, brushing her lips with his. “You’re making it difficult for me to leave… “
“I bet you say that to every woman the morning after,” she pushed him gently to get out of bed.
“Chloe…” he called her name after a brief silence “I have no regrets. None.”
“Good,” she smiled softly, turning around to look at him on her way to the bathroom. “See you at lunch then.”
TBC
AUTHOR: Lexie aka[info]lillianschild
RATING: R
A/N: For the sake of this story you'll have to imagine that Chloe and Lex have never met. I'm sure you're going to have questions along the way, particularly concerning Lex's past; you'll have to be patient because those details will be revealed little by little.
A/N 2: Sorry for the delay in posting this but RL and my new Richard Armitage obsession is taking most of my time- if you've seen or heard his work, I know you'll find it in your heart to forgive me. And... there's another excuse... LJ's formatting has been driving me nuts!
CHAPTER ONE
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
CHAPTER SEVEN
Chloe and Jason didn’t part on friendly terms and she brooded over his words all through the lavish dinner, charming the Chinese delegation at her table. The catering service was first-class and the wine flowed generously. Chloe had never been too fond of drinking and her experience with Oliver had turned her into a teetotaller as a general rule, but tonight she felt like breaking it and Lex appeared to have gauged her mood correctly. However, discovering him discreetly signalling to the wine waiter to authorise her intake made her furious.
What would he do if she got drunk under his very nose? No, a subtler revenge would be better, one in which she could still retain her dignity and control. Chloe was in a mood to assert herself and decided he deserved to pay for his paternalist attitude. When Lex got up to make his speech she set the plan in motion.
As expected, his speech was witty and articulate but she pretended not to be paying too much attention to what he was saying. Every time their gazes met across the room she made sure to raise her glass and down the contents thirstily; for all he knew she was drinking the most expensive champagne and not the sparkling grape juice she’d had the wine waiter uncork for her and place in the ice-bucket with its label discreetly covered with a napkin.
As soon as Lex resumed his seat at their table, Chloe ordered another bottle of Bollinger and excused herself to go to the toilet- the large quantity of grape juice she’d ingested was putting pressure on her bladder and she was ready to burst. As she hurried to the nearest rest room she shot Lex a glazed smile and a smouldering look that made him tense up imperceptibly.
Back at the table, after retouching her make-up and freshening up, she noticed he’d cancelled the champagne and substituted Tŷ Nant instead. She ignored it and called the waiter over to order a Brandy Manhattan-she didn’t even know what it tasted like but she remembered it was one of the girls’ favourite in Sex and the City, courtesy of the re-runs Lois had submitted her to when she was heavily pregnant with Clarkie and away from the bullpen. While Lex talked smoothly with the Chinese she tried to disrupt his unflappable appearance and his concentration by whispering increasingly sultry asides in his ear and slurring her consonants the way she knew someone intoxicated would. She was subtle enough that a stranger wouldn’t notice anything radically unusual in her behaviour, simply laughed at some lines which weren’t that funny, talked enthusiastically and pretended to appreciate the gestures of flattery she would normally disdain; in other words, enough to taunt Lex, who she could feel growing tenser as the minutes went by.
Shifting her chair closer to him she leant against him and steadied herself on his leg with the excuse of talking across him. She felt the muscles of his lean body grow rigid and then tremble as her hand grazed his inner thigh apparently by accident.
“Is everything OK?” she drawled innocently when she felt his hand clamp down on hers under the tablecloth. “You’ve grown stiff all of a sudden. The stress of the occasion must be catching up with you. Why don’t you have a couple of drinks and relax like me?” she murmured, leaning further over him and pressing the side of her breast against his arm.
“I have a better idea. Let’s relax together,” he told her tightly under his breath. “Would you excuse us, Mr Yang? I promised the lady a dance. It’s been a pleasure to talk with you and your colleagues in this informal setting. We’ll be in touch,” he bid the delegation farewell and marched her off to the dancing floor, which was already crowded. “What’s wrong with you tonight? How much have you drunk?” he asked her in a tight voice as he thrust her into motion.
Chloe knew he was seething under the cold faҫade and that he was kind of… outraged… at her behaviour.
“A few,” she smiled, leaning towards him and feeling him struggle to keep a safe distance between their bodies. “What’s wrong with celebrating life now and then?” she asked, looking at him in the eye with what she hoped was sultry invitation.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, but this is neither the time nor the place to get out of control,” he told her stiffly.
So it was OK for him to taunt and unsettle her with his experience and his sinfully dark looks and double entendres but turn the tables and he wasn’t so poised himself. Chloe felt powerful knowing she could upset his controlled balance.
“Chloe, you’ll regret this tomorrow,” he murmured, tightening his hold on her waist as she pressed the entire length of her body sinuously against him.
Lex’s coldly rigid body seemed to be generating a lot of heat all of a sudden. She felt her tactics start to backfire and her imagined detachment melt. Chloe rested her cheek on his chest and tried to control her trembling response. She could feel the over-sensitised peaks of her breasts pebble in response to the uneven beating of his heart. She’d never been sinful before, at least not without being under the influence of some alien worm, and she couldn’t even blame the Manhattan she’d sipped for her behaviour tonight
“You should have stuck to white wine or spring water instead of mixing drinks. It was a silly thing to do considering Yang was sitting at the table. Queen Industries needs…”
“You mean you need. Relax, Lex, I have the man eating out of my hand. You’re the only one who’s anxious here.”
“You should remember who you are.”
Chloe tried to rein in her temper. Of all the things he could have said…
“I’m a woman too. Jason and you seem to have forgotten that,” she replied huskily, determined not to let him ruin her fun.
“Teague?” he asked grimly.
“He’s too uptight, don’t you think? He too should learn to relax and have fun,” she said in a provocative voice.
“The music’s over. We’d better call it a night before you do something you’ll regret like pulling a Gilda act in front of three hundred people and waking up in the morning without remembering a thing.”
“I would have never guessed you were a wet blanket, Mr Luthor.”
“Don’t call me that,” he hissed.
“It’s your name. You might not like it but you can’t change who you are. The world might know us as Mrs Oliver Queen and Mr Alexander Grierson but Chloe and Lex are who we are. And that’s who I intend to be tonight… Hi, Alden! How about a dance?”
Ten minutes later she was belted roughly into the passenger seat of Lex’s Porsche.
“I’m perfectly fit to drive! I’m as sober as you are,” she raged as he slid behind the wheel and inserted the key in the ignition. “And what about my car?”
“I’ll have someone pick it up for you. For your sake, I hope you haven’t been teasing me deliberately… .”
Chloe swallowed. She could see the tension in his profile and in the way he gripped the steering wheel. She kept her mouth shut; somehow she thought it’d be wiser to let him cool down a little bit. Instinctively she knew he wouldn’t use violence to force her to do anything she wasn’t ready to do willingly. No, he’d just have to take her in his arms again and she’d be putty in his hands. She found that she needed the drive as much as he did to clear her head before her plan for revenge ended backfiring
“This isn’t the way to my apartment,” she broke the tense silence on noticing the unfamiliarity of their route. “I thought you were taking me home.”
He opened the iron gates with the remote and the car rolled up the driveway before coming to a standstill in front of a stone staircase.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking at his shadowed expression. “Lex,” she repeated when he cut the engine.
“I said I was taking you home. I didn’t say I was driving you to your apartment. I’m not drunk, but I wouldn’t risk hitting the highway to Star City and testing positive on the Breathalizer. If I’d known you’d get intoxicated, I would have cut down on the champagne tonight.”
He leant towards her and she flinched, but he was just reaching for the seatbelt to flick it open.
“I’m not Bluebeard, Chloe. I’m not so crude as to take you up on your generous invitation right here in the car like a hormonal adolescent.”
Chloe flushed, her whole body heating at the implication behind his words. She’d been brazen and had enjoyed it far too obviously to try to deny she’d purposefully led him on.
He opened the driver’s door and stepped out, the predatory gleam of his eyes smouldering in the darkness. He was still very angry under the cool and controlled faҫade.
The early nineteenth century mansion seemed huge and as silent and brooding as the explosively primed man beside her. Despite the fact that an inner certainty told her he would never physically hurt her, even in genuine rage, she was aware she’d challenged him in the most elemental way possible and that there would be consequences to her goading him.
Sexual tension flourished in the shrouded silence like a living thing. She started to tremble, not from fear but from helpless desire. Damn, it wasn’t supposed to end up this way! He was the one who should be grovelling to find her unassailable once she’d led him on and slammed the door of her apartment in his face. Why was it she was wishing he took a step and finish what she’d begun back there at the hotel?
“I acted foolishly tonight. I pretended to be drunk to annoy you. It was childish. I'm sorry. Jason’s paternalist attitude and yours made me mad… “ she blurted, unable to put up with the charade anymore as he stood behind her and unhooked the fastenings of her coat with unnerving slowness.
He paused halfway and she held her breath getting ready for his reaction. The simmering explosion wasn’t unleashed the way she’d expected and a sixth sense told her there was a good chance he’d seen through her game on the way to the mansion or maybe even sooner.
“Should I call a cab?” he murmured close to her ear, breaking the pregnant silence before dipping his head to bite her gently on the side of her throat. “Or are you ready to live up to your whispered promises?”
The mouth skimming her throat was having as arousing an effect as his taunting words, stirring deeply buried desires she’d tried to deny for a long time. He’d just offered her a gentlemanly way out- a taxi and a safe trip to her own bed back home- but the pull to stay was just too powerful. The arm around her waist drew her back against his hard and familiar body and she realised he was as affected as her. She lay there for a moment, her head against his shoulder, trembling and breathless, enveloped by the sensually masculine fragrance that was only his.
Her heart thundered in her chest as she turned her head slightly to the left and he brushed her lips with his fingers, inviting her to part her mouth for a kiss and the soft probing of his tongue, which stole her breath away. She moaned as his hand left her face and settled on the firm roundness of her left breast, cupping her and feeling the pounding tumult within.
“Tell me now if this is not what you want, Chloe,” he said in a velvety voice whose impact she felt deep in her feminine core as the hand around her waist strayed and his long fingers splayed wide against her slightly rounded belly, reaching for the ache that was forming in the pit of her stomach.
He inhaled her lemon-scented hair and his mouth sought the sensitive hollows at the nape of her neck. Just like that night in her flat he was also shaking and she felt an overwhelming power at knowing Chloe Sullivan could drive this sophisticated and virtually unflappable man wild with desire.
“Lex…” she moaned a husky plea, torn between her urge to stay and the little voice in her head that told her he was anything but a safe choice.
“God, Chloe, don't say no. Not now,” he said jerkily, spinning her tight in his arms.
He’d taken off his bow tie and jacket and undone the first few buttons of his white shirt as soon as they’d stepped into the living room. Chloe could feel the heavy thumping of his heart against her palm and marvelled at the expanse of satiny and hairless skin and gracefully shapely muscles revealed when she finished unbuttoning his shirt. He was deceptively lean with his clothes on and the power he exuded when dressed in his expensive tailor-made suits could now be perceived rippling beneath his pale skin.
He was hot to the touch and she couldn’t resist nuzzling his chest and brushing her lips against his right nipple to have him tremble under her ministrations; she needed to see him unruffled- it was the one way she could feel she was still in control of the whole situation.
He made a choking sound in his throat which sounded a lot like 'Yes, oh, yes´ to Chloe’s ears as he arched back to give her free access to his upper body and his swollen hardness settled in the juncture of her thighs. He was so responsive to every little movement she made, even to the feel of her breath upon his feverish skin, that she soon got lost in the moment.
It wasn’t until she perceived the cool air on her naked breasts, and saw the molten sensuality of his gaze on her as he steered her into a shaft of light near the window, that she realised he’d undone the halter neck which kept her backless dress on.
“I’ve wanted to untie that strap to see what was underneath ever since you entered the hotel dining room,” he told her thickly, tracing the underside of one of her milky breasts with graceful fingers.
She closed her eyes, gasping as his thumbs found the rigid tips that were evidence of her own desire. He made a sound and she felt him kneel down to pull her red gown over her hips, revealing the matching lace bikini panties and suspender belt she’d bought on impulse the day before. And then, with a deep and guttural sound, his hands ran up the back of her thighs, pulling them closer and parting them.
She opened her eyes at last, clutching at his shoulders when she felt his mouth move hotly against the lacy front panel of her panties and press a string of kisses from the soft skin at the top of her fishnet stockings to the deep, frantic pulse at the hollow of her hip. Seeing his smooth bald head moving against her and experiencing the sensations he was creating made her cry out and he looked up, a possessive and self-satisfied glint in his eyes when he saw her starlit expression.
“Smug,” she gasped when he teased the pulsing bundle of nerves through the now damp fabric of her tiny panties.
He stood and sealed her lips with a hungry kiss she responded to with unbridled passion. She hadn’t known the touch of a man in eighteen months but never, not even with her late husband, had she been this forward or voracious. She told herself it was the natural reaction of a healthy woman after a long fast, and yet a little insistent voice in the back of her mind whispered she was deluding herself, that it was being in this man’s arms that had unleashed the passionate Chloe she used to be a lifetime ago before she smothered her to be what others expected of her.
Both breathless, they broke the kiss reluctantly. Still holding her, he turned her, pressing her hips against the polished mahogany dining table, which dominated the room. Chloe imagined him laying her on its smooth hardness and leaning over her and felt desire pool in her centre. She’d never been terribly adventurous or sexually sophisticated like the women she was sure he had to be used to, never made love on a table before.
Thrusting the jealous thought of Lex with other women- gorgeous long-legged brunettes with shapely curves and flat tummies- she linked her arms around his neck and locked her gaze with his, reminding herself Chloe Sullivan could make him shake with passionate need.
“Maybe on another occasion. Our first time should be in a bed,” he said hoarsely, stooping and sweeping her off her feet.
“I don’t feel like waiting,” she murmured as he began to move with her in his arms and she turned her hot face against his chest.
“You won’t have to,” he promised, crossing another doorway and flipping on the soft light of the nearest bedroom with his left elbow before striding to the king-sized bed, stripping back the burgundy satin bedspread and putting her down on the cool sheets. “Don’t do that,” he told her quietly a few minutes later when, suddenly shy under his scrutiny, she made a move to shield her nakedness with her arms. “You’re beautiful… and real. You’re the one that I want. It’s just you and me here, Chloe. Unless you’re having second thoughts…”
“I’m not,” she said softly, hating her old insecurities and reaching out a hand to touch his stomach, feeling his muscles shift and clench as she stroke him down to the waistband of his expensive trousers. “You’re the one that I want too.”
He caught her exploring hand before she got the chance to touch him intimately and folded her arm back gently into the pillow as he sat down on the side of the bed. Then he leant forward to initiate a languorous kiss meant to put her at ease as he unclasped the suspender belt with deft fingers and invited her to lift her hips to let him remove the tiny scrap of fabric standing in the way.
For once in her life Chloe felt like a precious gift being unwrapped, and she didn’t mind the expression of masculine triumph on his face at his having her in his bed at last because it was her moment too, it was Chloe Sullivan who was making the heart of this beautiful man beat faster. For tonight and maybe for many nights to come she’d allow herself to feel alive, to breathe and forget about the loneliness she’d come to accept as her present destiny.
“Someone’s a little overdressed,” she smiled ruefully, starting to work on his belt.
“I can do it,” he told her, brushing her hand away to unbuckle and take off his trousers and underwear with a fumbling haste that she found inexpressibly exciting, especially in someone as polished and composed at all times like Lex.
Gone was the controlled and disciplined man the minute he covered her body with his and their bare skin touched for the first time. In his place was a greedy, ardent and impetuous lover. Chloe felt his sensual onslaught build towards a fiery climax as he devoured her, alternately biting gently into her soft skin and suckling the sweetness from her achingly swollen breasts while he adjusted her petite and supple body around his, moaning and shuddering even with the slightest caress of her hands.
The moment he made her his would be etched in her memory forever. The overwhelming reality of being intimately joined like two pieces of a puzzle when he sheathed himself in her warm glove with his first stroke stilled them both. She closed her eyes and all the sensations were magnified as her body adjusted to the agonising fullness and he buried his head in the curve of her neck, his breath brushing her skin in short pants as her throbbing centre pulled him even deeper,
“Lex…” she gasped, pulling his head back with both hands to look into his eyes. And what she saw there took her breath away. There was an inner turbulence in his blue-grey eyes which shook her. “Lex,” she repeated, flooded by a wave of intense feeling on seeing the coiled muscles of his neck and upper arms and the clench of his jaw as he fought the primitive urge that was driving him
His pupils contracted and he stiffened, pulling back slightly.
“I’m sorry… I went too fast. I’m hurting you. Damn! Forgot the condom,” he gritted, bracing himself on his arms and starting to withdraw further.
“Contraception’s covered. I’m on the pill to regulate my cycle. I’m clean, are you?”
“Always use protection…”
“We’re OK then.”
“If you want, I can…”
“Later…” she cut him off almost sobbing when he made a move to leave her body.
“Chloe,” he hesitated on seeing what she believed to be pain reflected on her face.
“No. Please, stay,” she moaned in protest.
He watched hotly at her in silence, fascinated by the myriad emotions in the depth of her emerald eyes, and then entwined his fingers with hers on the pillow, giving her something to hold onto as a rosy flush spread up all over her body and her first climax built swiftly. Only when she closed her eyes and turned her face away from him did he move, cupping her face gently with one hand, forcing her to look at him.
“No. Let me see… Open your eyes, Chloe,” he asked her huskily. And she did, too overwhelmed to let her old insecurities rob her of this moment, too stunned by the speed of it all to deny either him or her this miracle.
Her mouth trembled and her lips parted as she began to gasp in light shallow breaths which made her creamy breasts quiver invitingly. It took just a couple of brief tugs made by his expert mouth on one of her stiff rosy peaks for her to find an exquisitely shattering release. He held her steady while she poured herself into him amidst sobs.
“Chloe…” he murmured, wiping a couple of big tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him, hearing the concern in his voice, and egging him on with a tentative rocking of her hips. “Your turn now.”
“Ours,” he corrected her boring his eyes into her, echoing her undulating movements until he established his own powerful rhythm which brought them both to an exuberant completion.
It was ten in the morning when Chloe woke up again to the sound of Lex getting dressed. Muscles she hadn’t known existed in her body ached after the unusually strenuous exercise. She felt as if she’d been battered by a whirlwind, a vortex of which she’d been more than a willing participant… and, yes, instigator. Neither Lex’s passion nor hers had extinguished after their first coming together; their second… and third time- just after waking up at the crack of dawn- had been as intense and gloriously energetic.
Lex was a complex man, a mystery in more ways than one, and too multi-layered to presume to know everything that he felt or thought behind his cool faҫade. Last night he’d let her see several sides of him she suspected very few people had had the privilege of witnessing. She’d had a peek at the man behind the mask and he wasn’t what she’d expected at all. Yes, she’d believed him to be passionate and thorough despite his controlled and reserved persona. And well… she’d heard enough in the powder rooms of several charity balls and banquets to suspect he was more than adequate in bed. However, it was his generosity as a lover that had surprised her. Not only had he made it his mission to discover the spots on her body that were the most sensitive and what moves and touches brought her the most pleasure, he’d rein in his own needs to let her have a moment she could call hers.
Propped on her bent arm she looked at his back as he adjusted his cufflinks and made the knot of his tie. It was a scene she’d witnessed dozens of times during her marriage to Oliver and yet she felt a pang at the memory because it had no place here, not after last night when she’d regained something she’d lost when she had tied her life to her late husband. She wondered if she was being unfair; they’d had a few good moments, especially during the first twelve months… but it’d never been like this between them. Oliver had never really taken the time to know her, Chloe Sullivan, or to cater to both their needs. It had always been about him and she’d allowed it. She wished she could blame Oliver for everything that had gone wrong between them, but the truth was everything had started back in Smallville when she put her life and her happiness on hold for Clark, when she gave up her selfhood.
She promised herself she’d never be with a man that way again. She’d never be or feel like an afterthought again.
“Everything OK?” asked Lex looking at her reflection in the mirror.
“Yes,” she smiled warmly. “Do you have any plans for lunch?”
“Nothing that can’t be postponed,” he replied in a velvety voice. “The menu looks quite tempting from over here,” he smirked as she pulled up the sheet which had ridden down and left one of her breasts uncovered.
“So… is it a plan?” she asked again as he straightened his tie and walked back to her.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said huskily, brushing her lips with his. “You’re making it difficult for me to leave… “
“I bet you say that to every woman the morning after,” she pushed him gently to get out of bed.
“Chloe…” he called her name after a brief silence “I have no regrets. None.”
“Good,” she smiled softly, turning around to look at him on her way to the bathroom. “See you at lunch then.”
TBC