Chloe rolled on her stomach. Her body felt comfortably warm and heavy, the kind that came with a good night's rest. She reached to press her palms on the wall to stretch the way she liked on those lazy mornings when she had time to wake up. And found a cushiony headboard instead of her bare wall. Chloe frowned in the plump pillow. The mattress wasn't giving under her arching back the way it should either, now she was a little more awake to notice. The high-count sheets felt like silk under her palm.

Oliver. She flipped on her back as everything flooded back in. She was in one of Oliver's guest rooms. They'd dined on Italian food while laughing at reruns of the Golden Girls, before Oliver decided she had to watch "Troy" since they were going to Turkey. She remembered yawning repeatedly while Greeks and Trojans fought in the sand and Brad Pitt proved fifty was the new twenty. Her mind drew a blank after that. Oliver must have carried her to bed after she'd fallen asleep.

Her bra' strap dug in the meat of her upper arm. Chloe fumbled with the bedding to arrange the culprit. And found herself in her camisole and undergarment, and nothing else. Chloe pressed the palms of her hands on her forehead. Oliver had undressed her while she slept like a log too. Fantastic.

With a groan, Chloe stood and looked around for her clothes. She found her skirt and cardigan draped on the back of a chair and slipped them on. One look in the mirror confirmed her hair weren't a complete disaster. She ran her fingers through them quickly while she gathered her courage and exited the bedroom.

Her host was seated on the balcony reading the paper, hair still wet from the shower. He looked much more relaxed than when she'd walked on him the day before.

"Hi…"

"Hello there. Slept okay?" The easy expression alleviated some of her awkwardness. Chloe tried for a firm nod. "Yes, thank you."

Thanks for taking me to bed. And getting me out of my clothes. She felt her cheeks grow hot and answered his beam the best she could. It probably looked like a mortified grimace. Oliver stood, and she had to crane her neck back to keep basking in his smile's beauty.

"Excellent. Coffee's ready in the kitchen. What do you want for breakfast? I'll cook."

Chloe resisted the need to press her hands to her cheeks to cool them while he brushed the small of her back as he more or less propelled her inside. "I'm good with coffee…"

"Omelet and fresh fruits it is then. And if you're a good girl, I'll let you have whipped cream."

Chloe flushed for good. He was goading her on purpose. She made a beeline toward the coffee maker, annoyed by her reaction to the man's antics. "Someone's awfully chirpy this morning."

Oliver set eggs, cream and a fresh carton of mixed berries on the counter. In under a minute, he had their omelet cooking. Was there anything he couldn't do perfectly? "I slept in my own bed for the first time in weeks and I'm about to have breakfast with the lovely woman who spent the night. What's not to like?"

His playful grin tugged at the happy strings she seemed to always grow around him. The man was too handsome and too good a flirt for her peace of mind.

"You think yourself that charming, Queen?"

He laughed and she busied herself with fixing her coffee.

"I know I am. Here. Eat your breakfast." Oliver placed a plate in front of her. Chloe licked her lips at the sight of perfect golden eggs and red berries with a small croissant on the side. "Thank you."

Oliver shrugged. "It's my pleasure."

He sat, eyeing his own plate with gusto. "Lois called earlier. She said, "to enjoy the morning after while she took care of the packing" her words, not mine. She also threatened me to bodily harm if I didn't treat you like a queen."

Her bite of eggs went down the wrong pipe. Chloe coughed. Embarrass the baby cousin, why don't you? They always bantered while she guided the team through patrol, but Oliver was taking the flirting to another level this morning.

"Just Lois being Lois."

Chloe swallowed some more coffee to ease the aching in her throat, unable to read the twinkle in his dark eyes. What sort of look was that? Amused? Puzzled? Intrigued? All of the above?

She would have called him on it if he'd been blatantly checking her out. But he was just staring at her face and the undivided attention of those dark chocolate eyes was… unnerving. And flattering, even if he meant nothing by it. If it was a game they were playing, she was losing, fast. Chloe scrambled for the few brain cells still under her control. "Isn't flustering your guest against the etiquette for playboy billionaires?"

Oliver looked away to sample his tea. His smile was still firmly in place, if a bit less magnetic. Chloe ducked her head toward her plate. "Sorry. That was uncalled for. I know most of it is just publicity stunts. You're not a—"

She clamped her mouth shut before she called him a man-whore on the top of it.

"I'm not insulted Chloe. More coffee?"

"Yes, thank you."

Chloe handed him her mug for a refill, mortified. She had insulted him. He'd been nothing but attentive since she'd invaded his privacy, understanding and supportive and she was letting her mouth run before her brain. She risked a glimpse in his direction. Oliver was busying himself with their mugs. Even with his back to her, the economic, tense movements betrayed his hurt.

Chloe frowned. She wasn't aware she could do that to him. He seemed to always roll so well with the punches… Maybe she didn't know Oliver all that well. They were friends, good friends even, and they worked well together, but last night was probably the first time they had hanged out, just the two of them, without the League, Lois, or Clark around. She'd enjoyed the evening a lot more she thought she would when she'd walked in.

The beautiful blonde looked for something to say to cut through the sudden heaviness in the air and came up short. Save for apologizing—which she'd done with no effect— or wrapping her arms around him for a hug—and potentially make things even worse— she didn't know how to pull them out of the awkward corner she'd involuntarily backed then into.

Olive did so with a social grace she envied as he placed her refilled coffee in front of her then sat back down. "I have a few things to organize at the office if I'm away for some time. Our flight leaves at 8 p.m. Does that work for you?"

"Tonight? Don't you need more time to- Oliver, are you sure you—"

"Don't worry about me. If I'm really needed at QI, I have a phone and a laptop. I do run a technology company you know."

"Our visas—"

"Will be ready for us when we arrive."

"But—"

"Chloe."

She clamped her mouth shut at once. Then she thought better of it. "Is the commandeering tone how you have people jump into loops at QI?"

Oliver's grin hinted at dimples. "Sometimes."

Why did he have to have dimples? And when had she started to be affected by the Queen Charm? Oh right. The first time they'd met. Oliver watched her like a cat who just caught the canary. "Why? Does it work for you, Watchtower?"

The double entendre was really too much. Chloe pushed to her feet before she melted into a puddle. "Sometimes. And sometimes, the smile works too."

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before she could talk herself out of it. "Thank for breakfast. I'll hop in the shower then get out of your hair. I don't trust my cousin when it comes to my wardrobe."

Oliver laughed. "Oh I don't know… Lois does have a certain sense of style."

Lois' sense of style when male prospects were concerned toyed with inappropriate. Not that Oliver was a prospect. She really needed to talk to her cousin. It was one thing to tease her, but to get Oliver on board…

Chloe escaped the kitchen with her coffee and a quick wave. Oliver waved back with such a smirk on his face she started to worry she'd just issued an even bigger challenge than her cousin with her blatant matchmaking.

"Oliver is only making me a favor, Lois."

"He's a good boy…"

"He's not a dog, Lo," Chloe chastised while she rummaged through her drawers. "Have you seen my cargo shorts?"

"The green ones? I threw them in your suitcase already. He's a man, same difference."

Throw was a good description for Lois' organizing skills. Chloe found the shorts, folded them properly and put them back in. "What did Clark do this time?"

"Why is it every single time I'm in a mood you think it has to do with Smallville?"

"Because it usually does."

A pair of socks zoomed into the suitcase right under her nose. Then a pack of… "Lois!"

"What? Always have a back-up plan, that's the General's motto."

Chloe deciphered the scribbled on the package, caught between mortification and laughter. "I highly doubt the General includes cocktail flavored condoms in his planning, Lo. How did you even get those?"

The brunette smirked. "He would if he'd seen the adorable blonde couple you and Oliver make."

Chloe put the box away, scowling. "I wish you stop saying things like that. Or baiting Oliver. He doesn't need you to champion his cause."

"So there is a cause… I knew it!"

"No! There is nothing, no cause, nothing. We're friends." One look at her cousin confirmed nothing short of witnessing the blond billionaire tying the knot with an heiress would convince her otherwise. And even then, Lois probably would declare that in the world Oliver lived in, divorces were even more frequent than scandals. Chloe resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. "We're friends and we work together. That's it. That's all."

Lois opened her mouth to argue. Chloe lifted a warning finger then moved to the bathroom to gather her toiletries before the taller woman could utter a word. She debated about taking her shampoo or not.

"Do you think it's a bad idea to go there?"

The question been on her mind since she'd put her plan into motion.

"No, you deserve answers. You can hang up on a phone call, but it's harder to slam a door in someone's face. Especially if that person comes to you with Oliver Queen in tow."

Chloe dropped the bottle to hug her cousin. Behind the teases and incessant innuendos, Lois had arranged for her baby cousin to walk into the lion's den with someone whose patronage was one of the most coveted in the Art World. Back-up planning, indeed. "I love you, Lo."

"I love you too, Pumpkin. Besides, if his fame and fortune are not enough, Ollie has other… I'll go with pointy, arguments he can use."

"Lois…" Chloe let the name hang in the air while she went through her mental check-list. Clothes, toiletries, laptop, charger… "I need my passport."

"Here. And here."

Lois handed her the paperwork on the top of an all too familiar pink and black box. "What's that?"

"Your birthday's next week. You won't be here. So I am giving you your present now. You'll need it."

"Please tell me it's not lingerie."

"It's a swimsuit."

Chloe glared.

"Fine, it's a bikini. Which is still a swimsuit. But it's not bad, I promise! Even Clark said it was tasteful and very much your style."

"Clark?!" Any good thoughts she had about her cousin the past ten minutes went out the window. "You asked Clark's opinion before you bought me underwear?"

"Swimwear," Lois corrected before she extracted the box from Chloe's clutches and placed it on the top of her suitcase, zipping it shut for good measure. "Here. You're all set."

Chloe opened and closed her mouth, unable to decide if she wanted to scream or to laugh. The latter won when a sudden image crept into her mind. "Please tell me you dragged Clark into the boutique with you."

Lois snorted. "You wish… He refused to come. I had to show him on the VS website."

The brunette looked almost affronted. Which brought back her previous remark about men… Chloe decided she had time for a little pay-back… She lifted her eyebrows with an innocent smile. "Oh? Must have been a sight…"

Her cousin said nothing for a long second. The she threw her hands in air. "Farmboy has an eye for the squirrel-like type, that's for sure."

Chloe immediately regretted teasing her. She knew very well how it felt to be ignored by Clark Kent while he salivated after the slim and delicate Lana Lang. She wrapped both arms around Lois. "You could come with us…"

Lois returned the quick hug. "Ah, no thank you. Being the third wheel sucks. I've set you up, now it's your turn to shine." The denial was on the tip of her tongue. Lois didn't give her the time to spit it. "Besides, Tess and I have plans for the weekend. You're ready to go? I'll drive."