"I wish I could talk to Lois…"
Oliver brought the fingers he was playing with to his mouth for a kiss before he turned his head on the pillow to stare at the blonde beauty beside him. Her cats' eyes glowed in the semi-darkness, sleepy and dreamy, oh so beguiling… Discussing her crazy cousin or the risks about talking to her was not what he wanted to do… Oliver turned fully on his side to brush a kiss on her shoulder. She was soft and warm, so he nuzzled her neck, tugging at the sheet she'd wrapped around herself to bare more skin to enjoy. Chloe sighed softly. He tilted her head to the side for a better access to her neck. He wondered if a lifetime would be enough to discover all the ways he could make her sound like that. "Talk to Lois about… how amazing your boyfriend is in bed?"
Chloe's hand stilled on his arm. He lifted his head to catch her eyes again, holding his breath. Her smile was tender and uncertain. The same edgy emotions bounced inside his chest like pinball balls. "I mean… We don't have to define…"
He should have shut his big mouth. Distract her with kisses and caresses and another bout of love-making. Not push labels on her so soon, when his feelings were so new, and things were already so complicated and would likely get worse…
Her hand resumed its trail up his biceps, her leg brushing up his thigh and hip as she tried to push him on his back. "Maybe we can negotiate."
Oliver swallowed as a different tension flared in his body. His mouth curved as he allowed her to reverse their positions.
"I'm listening."
"You're Chloe's boyfriend. Not Dorothy's."
Oliver flapped them around so fast she lost her breath. His nose bumped into hers, teasing an Eskimo kiss out of her.
"Exclusivity. Hum… You see, that might be a tad difficult…" Her instantaneous sour expression made her look like a frustrated rabbit. She was adorable. He hurried with his teasing before she started thinking he was serious. "I kind of live a double life and my alter-ego is very, very fond of his sidekick…"
"Take it or leave it, Hero."
Chloe looped both arms around his shoulders. His smile turned wolfish as her luscious body invited him closer. "If I take it, will I be allowed to do this…"
Oliver touched his mouth to the hollow in her throat. Chloe shivered. "And this…" He pressed a second kiss there, which she rewarded with another gasp. Oliver shifted to press his mouth further down, until he reached the gentle swell at the top of her breast. "Or this..."
His free hand grazed the delicate skin inside her knee, moved higher. "Oliver..."
"Shush. Weighing options is one of the most important things in business."
She was hot and pliant beneath him, so welcoming it cost him not to rush—
"Oh, shit, sorry! Sorry! I— Sorry!" The intruder rushed out of the room as fast as he had entered it.
"Hal!" Oliver screamed in frustration, slumped on the pillow, Chloe a blushing mess burrowed under the sheet.
"What is he doing here?"
"I have no idea. But he's better have a real good explanation."
Chloe dashed to his bathroom, the sheet trailing after her like an oversize toga. He grabbed his boxers and jeans on the floor.
Oliver marched into the living-room, barefoot, shirtless and pissed as hell. "What the fuck, Hal?!"
His friend was dressed as a civilian again, and shifted from foot to foot, very clearly ill-at-ease. He accepted the shove back with a guilty face.
"You're welcome here, but never, ever enter my bedroom without knocking ever again, is that clear?"
"You bet. That was embarrassing for the two of us, man."
"The three of us, you mean."
Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, dwarfed in one of his shirts. By the look of it, she wore little else. Her legs seemed to go on for miles. He clearly hadn't paid enough attention to them yet… "Hum hum."
Oliver glared at the brunette standing in the middle of them. He would remedy his momentary lapse of judgment about her mouthwatering legs. Right after he'd punched Hal's appreciative smirk off his face and thrown him out of the penthouse. Preferably through the window. Though he'd used the elevator, this time, apparently.
"Nice to see you in the flesh, Watchtower."
Oliver growled and put himself between the two to block her from view.
"You're a real comedian, Hal." Chloe's annoyed voice made the untamed beast inside Oliver preened. "Now, would you be so kind as to explain yourself?"
She sat on the couch and awarded Hal with an aloof glare, as if she were wearing ermine and royal garments rather than a man's wrinkled shirt. She was something else, his Chloe. Oliver came to seat near her before he turned his head to glower at his former best-friend.
The brunette scratched his jaw, avoiding eye contact. "Huh… I have it."
"You do?"
Chloe's squeal like a school girl. At a loss, Oliver spun toward her. "Have what? Chloe?"
Hal spoke before she could. "Yeah. But… It's messing with the ring. Something's not right with this stuff."
"Of course… I should have thought about that…"
Oliver's head ricocheted back and forth between the two. "Anyone mind to explaining to me what the hell you two are talking about?"
Hal extracted a syringe from a pocket of his leather jacket to put it on the coffee table in front of her. "Here."
Oliver's face drained of color. His grip on Chloe's knee tightened to being painful.
"Is that—"
Chloe ran her fingertips over his knuckles, soothing. He linked their fingers together as she answered his unfinished question. "A fresh sample of the drug. Yes."
"How—"
"We need a lead box."
"But—"
"Or iron. But lead is more effective, I th—"
"CHLOE!"
She turned big, surprised eyes at him at the outburst. Oliver pointed at the syringe. "Explain. Please." He added as an afterthought when she started to pull her hand away from his. He latched on it like a lifeline.
She offered a small smile. "The lab's location fell through, and I couldn't get information from the priest, so I just thought about what we discussed on Thanksgiving… You know, going to the source…"
Hal jumped in. "I wasn't going to let her anywhere near Evgeni, but we talked to Tess, and—"
"You involved Tess?" Oliver almost roared.
"Calm down. I just told her you and I are helping Chloe with an article about a new drug that had started circulating in town. One of the neighbors, Harper Crombie or something, works as a barman in the hot district. He tipped me about some under the table deals he'd heard about and it was simple enough after that. You owed me fifty, but that's it."
Hal stepped away from the table. As soon as he did, the opalescent shine on his ring darkened, until an emerald flame licked the metal. Hal stretched his arms wide and his Green Lantern costume appeared with a flash. "Ah! That feels good…"
Oliver rubbed one hand all over his face. "Unbelievable." He stood to grab the syringe. "I'll find your box."
Two weeks. He'd been gone two weeks, talk to her every day, with Hal once in a while, and neither had bothered to let him into their back-up plan. Oliver wondered if he should laugh or break something.
"Oliver?"
He wiped his head to the side to look at the beautiful blonde on the threshold. His shirt sleeves were too long and swallowed half her hands even if she'd rolled up the sleeves a few times. The tail covered her more than some of her boy shorts did. She took another step into his office and the fabric slipped to bare one round, creamy shoulder. Even from a distance, he could smell her light perfume, almond and orange blossom. So damned sweet he couldn't wait to bury his nose in her neck. He salivated at the idea of nipping the expanse of skin she was showing.
Oliver blinked a couple of times to focus on the task at hand. She was making it hard to concentrate. He enjoyed seeing her bright green eyes clouded when he— "I'm pretty sure I have that box you want. Does it have to be lead?"
"Yes… That's the only thing that will stop the radiation."
Radiation.
He dropped the syringe to the floor. Thankfully, it bounced on the thick carpet without breaking. "Fuck. Sorry."
When Chloe bent down to retrieve it, Oliver banded one arm around her waist and physically moved her away while he bent down to snatch the drug up and quickly closed the lid of a small dark box over it. Chess pieces littered the surface of his desk. "I hope you're right about the lead, Sidekick."
"It affects you."
"Yes. No, it's you— Just…"
Her lips twitched as she rose on her tiptoes to peck the corner of his mouth. He turned his head to capture her lips, already deepening the kiss to stop her from babbling about meteor rocks.
Hal's voice echoed from the other room. "Huh, guys… You might want to see this…"
