She kissed his mouth first, a gentle pressure of lips that left her wanting. She loved Oliver's mouth. Whenever he laughed or scolded, his mouth conveyed the message. She liked his smirks, the forbidding moues, the pouts, and the tease of dimples when he was amused. His full-blown smiles rendered her absolutely helpless. And when he kissed her… Chloe moaned softly, seeking another kiss while the rest of her body turned toward his for more contact.
Oliver opened his mouth for her to deepen the kiss, but made no other move to install her on his lap. Chloe took matters in her own hands, first flinging one leg over him then pressing both knees into the couch to press fully against him from the hips up. Oliver groaned, his hands finally moving from the cushions to her thighs and up dragging the material of her skirt up while she rocked gently on the top of him.
"Ollie…"
She was so turned on by their slow kiss she barely recognized her voice when she begged. His own rumbled against her breast, low and just as desperate. "Take what you need, Chloe…"
Acknowledging what she wanted and taking it was not something Chloe was accustomed to or at ease with. A small part of her wished Oliver put her out of her misery and reversed their roles, but he seemed content to let her take the lead.
Her fingers fumbled with the button of his jeans. Oliver gripped her hips harder, pulling her off him just long enough for her to lower his zipper and freed his erection from its confinement. She hesitated only long enough to take a fractured breath before she lowered herself on him. Her head fell back in pleasure.
Her hands dropped to his forearms for support, before she rose tentatively up then allowed him to slide back in. Oliver hissed, the fingers caging her waist almost rough.
"Chloe…"
She opened her eyes at the pleasure-plea in his voice. His dark pupils were blown like never before, the heat in them burning everything in its wake, begging her, urging her on. She was doing this to him. Her. Her train of thoughts scattered when Oliver wrapped his arms around her, forcing her to take more of him inside her.
"Oh. God!"
She cried out, unable to stop the whimper which tumbled from her lips when he did it again. Her voice rose crescendo each time he thrusted up, a steady rhythm that made her head spin and everything inside her throb. Without warning, Oliver surged upward when she pressed down and her heart clenched so hard she couldn't breathe anymore. Her eyes widened in panic and ectasy. Chloe clawed at Oliver's shoulders, her lips parted around a soundless scream. Then the bow snapped. Air rushed in, and she fell over the edge into the unknown, taking Oliver with her.
Boneless and sated, she nestled on his chest until her heartbeat slowed to a somewhat recognizable beat. Oliver rested his forehead in the crook of her neck, equally content to hold her. She stirred when she felt him placed a quick kiss in her hair.
"Are you falling asleep on me?"
"Mmmmm…"
"If you are, I'll have to resort to plan B…"
Chloe lifted her head a fraction to see the corner of his mouth curled up. If he meant for her to move with that smile, his plan was failing miserably. "What's plan A?"
"Diner, and a movie…"
"And plan B?"
"Same, except we'll stay in."
Oliver ran his fingers through her tresses while she considered. The gentle stroking made deciding hard. She'd enjoyed going out with Oliver in Turkey and also in London—even though that one date was completely over the top. Staying in curled with him on the couch, without anyone to see if they skipped half the movie for other things was incredibly appealing too.
"You choose." Chloe leaned back just enough to catch his eye, already knowing he was going to push the choice back to her. "What would you like to do, Oliver?"
"Hal mentioned they have a Robert Zemeckis retrospective at the Metro Scope."
Out it was, then. Chloe chuckled. "Please tell me they are not showing Romancing the Stone…"
Oliver rose a teasing eyebrow at her. "What, you don't want to watch some relic hunting extravaganza and pointed out at all the traps and drama when all we faced where a couple of dead rats and too much dust?"
She pocked at his arm. He laughed, "no, tonight they play the Back to the Future trilogy."
"Cool. You, me, and Marty McFly have a date." Chloe scrambled to get up, failed and flushed beat red when Oliver just lifted her up to put her on her feet and readjusted himself. "Give me fifteen minutes to clean up."
With that Oliver winked at her, and disappeared in the direction of their bedroom.
Chloe forfeited after the second feature. She liked the third movie best, but she'd spent the last half-hour lusting after coffee and fighting yawns while Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd tried to fix the timeline. After years of burning the candle at both ends, she should have been used to functioning on little energy, but apparently, one week off with Oliver had been enough to remind her how pleasant a good night rest was. Not that they generally slept through the entire night… Chloe blushed slightly at the thought.
Their cab left them in front of the Clock Tower around midnight. Chloe accepted the hand Oliver offered to get out of the car with a small smile.
"Thanks for tonight, Ollie, I had fun."
"The pleasure was all mine. Who knew strawberry milkshakes were the go-to for jalapeno cheese fries…"
"I'm not the one who scared the waitress ordering a salad to go with my burger," she countered.
"You growled at her when she came back with her pad."
"I did not!"
So maybe she had cleared her throat loudly to signal she was ready to order. That didn't account for a growl. Oliver had that twinkle in his eyes again, so she pouted. "You're not any better, Mr. Keep-your-hands-off-my-girlfriend. If you were the one with heat vision, Clark and Hal would be ash scattered in the wind by now."
Oliver flung an arm around her shoulder, laughing. "They would, wouldn't they?"
His demeanor turned serious again when they exited the elevator. "Are you awake enough to be my eyes in the sky or do you prefer I call it in?"
"No, I'm good." Bantering with him had chased away sleep away, at least for now. "I want to see if Victor made any progress with the communication system anyway."
He pecked her lips quickly. "I'll stay far away from big bad buildings, promise."
Half an hour later, Oliver was perched on his favorite rooftop near the Little Bohemia district surveying the area, and she was knee-deep into Vic's report. Cyborg had examined every piece of information available in the server, and according to his analysis, the signal must have been blocked. Of course, he couldn't exclude a problem from the devices themselves, but she agreed with his conclusion that wasn't the case. First, because Queen Industries was the best on the market apart maybe Wayne Enterprise, so a malfunction was highly improbable. And second, because every single piece of electronics they used in the field were regularly tuned up by both Victor or herself and if they had doubts they discarded the material automatically.
Victor's report also supported her own hypothesis about the role of the Brimstone Building on blocking the radiation from the nth metal. If only Carter was there to enlighten her about the metal's properties…
Chloe reached for her glass of sparkling water, scrunching her nose at the taste. She'd forgone coffee because her stomach was heavy from their meal and the ginormous bag of popcorn she'd indulged in at the cinema. Now she regretted both the popcorn and not going for her beverage of choice, or at least tea. Anything with bubbles tasted better with either sugar or alcohol in it. She called the location map on screen to check Oliver's position.
"Report, Arrow. What's your status?"
"About time you joined me, Tower, I'm bored out of my skull. What did they do to the villains of Metropolis in my absence? Scared them to death? Two slow nights in a row, that must be a first."
"You're the only one I know who would consider stopping three mugging and a tentative burglary a slow night, Hero."
"Just a remark, Tower… Anything interesting in Cyborg's report?"
Chloe automatically scanned the police report to confirm he wasn't needed somewhere, but apparently, it was a slow night. "His conclusion matched mine about the building blocking electromagnetic fields somehow."
"Goo—Wow! What did you see that?"
"See what, Arrow?"
They really needed to add a camera to his gear. Chloe's fingers flew on the keyboard to try and hack into any cameras located in his vicinity but he was still on a rooftop and the cameras pointed downward to the street.
"Damnit! Put me down, you oversized chick—"
Chloe didn't need to hear the last of Oliver's insult to know what or rather who is it. She rushed to the double glass windows leading to the balcony and yanked them open just in time for Oliver's irate form break his fall with a roll that ended up against the bar.
"Ow…"
Chloe rushed toward Oliver's prone form to kneel before him. "Oliver!"
She checked every exposed part of him she could looking for cuts or bruises. Oliver gave her a reassuring smile as he tucked a curl of blonde hair behind her ear. "I'm okay, Chloe. You?"
She realized her hipbone throbbed a little. "I'm fine."
She lifted angry eyes at the man who loomed a few inches above the terrasse. "Why did you do that!"
Heavy booted feet touched the tiles and Carter stepped into the light. The massive wings that cut shadows against the stary night retracted. He lifted the beaked mask which covered his upper face. For once, his haunted gaze didn't soften when it landed on her. "Where is it?"
Chloe ignored him to help Oliver to his feet. Fingers hard as steel dug into her biceps to spin her around.
"Where is it! Give it to me!"
"Hey! Hands off!"
"I'm not giving you anything until you calmed down and you apologize."
Chloe glowered. She tried to pull away. Carter's grip tightened past the point of pain. She grimaced, but bit back a cry. Oliver reached for his crossbow.
"Oliver, no. Carter, let me go. Now."
The blue eyes strained on her sent a shiver of fear down her spine. Carter Hall was a wolf, not a lap dog. Chloe snuffed the feeling out. Slowly, calmly, she rose one hand to the wrist holding her. Her thumb found the never between the tendons just above his glove. "I said, unhand me."
She pressed hard. The bruising grip fell down at once. Carter stepped down with a pained snarl. One hand still on Oliver to stop him from attacking, she addressed the other man. "You ever touch me, or Oliver, like this again, and I'll make sure you can't use your hand ever again. Seat down."
"I want that dagger."
"Seat down!" Chloe bellowed.
Carter backed from her toward a chair to lean a hip against it. When he did, she released Oliver and nodded. Her archer searched her eyes then mimicked Carter's position to a T, arms crossed over his large chest. Men.
"Can I at least see it?"
"Are you going to attack us again?" Chloe countered.
"No."
This was as good an apology as they were ever going to get. He flexed his hand against his forearm to get rid of the irritating sensation she knew pulled at his tendon. She guessed numb fingers were punishment enough.
Chloe tilted her head toward Oliver who pushed upright a tad too stiffly for her taste. He opened the secret room when he held his gear and worked on unlocking the safe there. Carter watched him like a hawk.
Chloe decided to rein in her temper for the time being. She could accept that he'd lost his head. It didn't excuse the attitude. They were allies, not enemies. Her cat ears caught the faint click of the safe opening. She kept her eyes on Carter's face, curious to see when or if he'd notice the meteoritic blade.
A milli-second later, the heraldry on his chest glowed red. Carter jumped to his feet as if he'd been tasered. Oliver came back with the weapon they had rewrapped in the old corduroy they had found it in. With a glance toward Chloe, he handed the package to Carter, who seemed rooted on the spot.
"Happy belated birthday, Hawkman."
