I am apparently experiencing some writer's block with NaNoWriMo, so I was hoping a few reviews would throw me out of the funk. This is a piece I wrote ages ago but was never ultimately satisfied with. I think initially I intended to add a little more "landscape" to it, so to speak, but...well, the best laid plans and all that.
I know I haven't gotten up a review for the recent episode, and hopefully I will get caught up on that, but I can't promise it will be up this week. I know. You're all crying miserably over the loss. ;)
Either way, Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the holiday, and if you're not American, then just a general Happy Holidays to you!
BlueSuedeShoes
"I love you."
Chloe looked up, startled, and then laughed. "What?" she asked, her face wrought with amusement, but blushing nonetheless.
Oliver shrugged. He had just arrived at Watchtower with the intention of dragging her away from her computers if it killed him. He had plans for them that night, and they did not involve police reports. "You looked like you needed to hear someone to say that to you." He grinned at her, daring her to challenge him.
She quirked an eyebrow, her lips fighting a smile before she turned back to her work. "Uh huh."
"So what are you working on?" he asked, walking around the corner to see the computer screen.
"Dirty cop."
Oliver had a sudden entertaining and extremely hot image of Chloe in a tiny police officer costume, playing cops and robbers with him in the bedroom. He tugged at his collar. "Oh? Who?"
"That's what I'm working on," she chuckled, but Oliver saw through it. She didn't find it comical at all.
"How long have you been working on it?"
"Three days."
And that was why she didn't find it humorous. "That long? Normally these things don't take you more than a couple of hours."
She shot a quick glare at him.
"Right. Sorry." He surveyed the area around her. There were several empty cups of coffee from the vendor down the street, along with some empty cartons of chinese food. "Chloe..." he said slowly. "When was the last time you took a break?" He paused. "Or slept?"
She chuckled. "Sleep is for mortals," she joked.
Oliver didn't laugh. He stepped between her and the monitor.
"Hey!" she protested, irritated at being interrupted.
"Chloe, as your friend, I'm holding an intervention. Is there any reason to believe that someone will die if you don't figure this out in the next twenty-four hours?"
"Well no, but-"
"Good. I'm cutting you off, then. You can pick this back up tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Oliver!" Chloe frowned, shocked. She was thinking for a minute that he was going to force her to take maybe an hour break or something, but he was cutting her off for the rest of the day? It was only three in the afternoon.
"You need to take a night off, Chloe."
At this she raised an eyebrow at him. "Said the hypocrite. When was the last time you took a night off?" She glared at him, waiting. When he didn't have an answer, she looked at him smugly. "I thought so." She started to maneuver around him to get back to her work.
Oliver stopped her easily, wrapping his arm across her stomach and guiding her back a few steps. "No way, Sidekick. If it makes you happy, then I'll take a night off, too."
She stared blankly at him. "Is this a joke?"
He rolled his eyes. "Why would taking a night off be a joke to you? Hmm? Why can't it be 'Gosh, I have the greatest boss in the world. He's so concerned for my personal happiness and sanity that he's insisting I take a break from work. Gosh he's so wonderful.' Huh? Why not that, I ask you?"
Chloe snorted, detangling herself from his hold on her. "Because you are not that wonderful," she said, slipping back to her computer. "Despite what the tabloids say," she couldn't help adding.
Five seconds later the screen went black and Chloe gasped. She looked up to see Oliver holding a large black plug in his hand.
"Oliver! I might have lost all my data!"
He scoffed. "If you lost so much as a comma, then I'm paying too much money for these computers."
"Oliver, plug the computer back in and go to a bar if you're so eager to take the night off. Just leave me out of it," she said irritably, walking over to try to snatch the cord from him. He held it aloft, far out of her reach.
"Make me."
She rolled her eyes. "What are you, five?"
"I like to think I'm at least mature enough for an eight year old, thanks."
Chloe tried not to laugh, making another grab for the cord, which he promptly tugged around behind his back.
"You are not getting on any of these computers until at least 10:00 AM tomorrow."
"Ten A-Ollie! What is this really about?"
"You need some fun in your life. I happen to be fun. It works out perfectly. Now surrender and agree to take the night off."
"No!" she said stubbornly, this time reaching all the way around him. She forced back all ideas of what 'fun' with Oliver could entail. There were so many possibilities.
He switched the hand holding the cord, forcing her to chase it around him, laughing as she did. He kept his chest to her, purposefully turning to keep his body between her and the cable.
"Yes," he insisted. "You really won't even take one night off? This is just unhealthy, Sidekick."
"You're just mad I said you weren't as wonderful as you think you are."
"And you're just in denial if you believe yourself when you say that."
Chloe scoffed. Then she stopped, a devious look in her eyes. Oliver noted the change warily. She looked him up and down blatantly, before taunting, "Or maybe you thought I was implying you were less than wonderful for other reasons." She smirked. "I'm sorry," she moved a little closer to him, dangerously close, "did I injure your male pride?"
He glared at her, trying to anticipate what she was going to do next.
"So sensitive," she mocked, running a hand up his chest, leaving a burning trail beneath his black T. "You'd think you would be more confident than that," she added, pressing still closer to him and causing Oliver's pulse to pick up.
Hold on just one blasted second. This is me. I'm not letting her play that card on me.
Just as Chloe was about to use her proximity to grab the cable from him, Oliver dropped it and kicked it behind him, sending it skidding across the floor. He snatched her hand and pulled her whole body sharply against his own. "Oh, I'm confident," he said arrogantly. "You're the one who's too scared to find out what about."
Chloe's breathing hiked. What was he doing? Sure they flirted. It was second nature to him, and her using what he called her 'feminine wiles' on him as a joke was far from out of the ordinary, but they never...he never...She tried to ignore the heat coursing through her body at so much contact with his entire body. She couldn't help but notice, if she didn't consciously admit it, that his body was hard in all the right places. There was just...so much muscle.
"What's the matter, Chloe?" he teased darkly. "No witty retort?"
Out of her comfort zone, Chloe pulled away and went to move past him to plug the computers back in, but Oliver once again caught her around the waist, swinging her back around. "I told you," he said seriously. "I'm making you take the night off with me, one way or another."
She pressed her lips together, displeased. "The whole night, Oliver?" she laughed dryly, trying to lighten the increasing tension from being held against him like that. "What exactly do you want me to do for the rest of the day?"
"Spend some quality time with your favorite bow-and-arrow-toting hero, of course."
She laughed again. "And what exactly are you going to do with me for an entire night, Archer?" she asked jokingly.
He raised an eyebrow at her. Was she serious? If she didn't get it by now, he seriously needed to rack it up a couple of notches.
He slid his hands low around the small of her back and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, his hot breath sending a sudden wave of something Chloe refused to name through her whole body.
"What do you want me to do with you?"
Okay. Mayday. Mayday. Panties are about to drop of their own accord, Chloe thought wildly. This was Oliver. This was...this was not happening.
But based on the rather hard arousal pressed against her stomach, the physical evidence begged to differ.
Before she had a chance to panic any further than that, Oliver swooped in and kissed her, setting her entire body aflame with desire.
From one kiss, she scoffed disparagingly at herself. This is pathetic.
His hands slid over her back, dragging her roughly against his body and tilting her head back further until her lips parted, allowing his tongue to delve inside her mouth, where he caressed her own seductively.
Chloe released an involuntary groan. Hundreds of repressed sex dreams regarding Oliver were flooding to the forefront of her mind. He was only kissing her and this was already so much better.
The sound of Chloe's low moan nearly had Oliver losing control. He pulled back from the kiss, biting down on her bottom lip and smirking as she whimpered in response. He kissed her softly, once, twice, then brought his lips over to her cheek and then dragged them down and back up her jaw before sucking on her earlobe.
"I repeat," he said against her ear. "What do you want me to do with you, Chloe? Like I said," he nibbled the shell of her ear gently for a moment. "We've got the whole night."
Chloe shuddered, unable to control herself.
When she didn't answer him, Oliver pressed on. "No ideas, Sidekick? That's all right, I've got a few."
His hand slid down her thigh and then back up, dragging her skirt with it and grazing her thigh.
"Like what?" she managed to choke out.
"I was thinking I'd make you scream," he said cockily, before his hand skimmed over her panties. Chloe's entire body convulsed at the sudden awakening her body had just received and she sucked in a feminine gasp of shock. Oliver bit her ear again in amusement and tugged gently on it. "All night long," he added.