Work called them back to Star City two days later.
Oliver chose the scenic route along the coastline so that they could have another hour of wide-open seascape and freedom. He slanted a glance toward Chloe. The dreamy smile on her face did little to hide her enchantment. Guiltily, he wondered how much of California she had seen, before he barged into her life and locked her up in his tower.
"We can stop if you want. There's a point of view a few miles ahead."
"Really?"
"Sure, we have time. My meeting is scheduled at 6 pm."
She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling in joy behind her sunglasses. "Thank you. Who wants to discuss stocks and contracts during the holidays?"
"The Chinese."
"Oh."
She bit her bottom, no doubt feeling a little foolish for asking. Oliver took her hand to drop a kiss on her knuckles. Her ring glittered in the sun.
"It shouldn't take more than two hours. If you can wait until then, I'll take you to diner afterward."
Chloe grinned. "Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Queen?"
"About time I do, don't you think?"
"I suppose I could lodge a few complains about how you've been doing things so far…"
He caught the mischievous reflection of her grin in the mirror just a second before he bit into the bait and asked. Oliver rolled his eyes and shook his head with a chuckle. "Just say yes, Sidekick."
"Yes, Hero, I would love to have dinner with you."
She shifted on her seat, turning her knees left and right, until she decided to seat with her legs tucked under her, her feet hanging off the leather seat.
"You can lean the back if you want, the command is on the armrest."
Chloe sighed as she reached for the button and inclined her seat a notch. "Maybe something light, though, soup, or something. I feel like we've done nothing but eat in the past few days."
"Whatever you want."
"You say that now…" Her voice chimed with teasing disbelief.
Oliver took her hand in his once more to make a show of kissing her palm.
"You know I'm unable to refuse you anything."
"You tell me no all the time!" Chloe scoffed.
He grinned. "I wouldn't dare…"
"What about yesterday afternoon?"
"Emil forbad you to exert yourself."
"I was doing the dishes, Ollie."
"After getting almost zero sleep the night before."
"And whose fault was that?" Chloe quirked an eyebrow.
He had to decency not to argue that one. She crossed her arms over her chest. The gesture stretched the jersey in a fascinating way. He returned his eyes to the road but his gaze drifted to her curves again. Chloe huffed, "What about when I wanted to call Nabokov to get information from him?"
The mention of the Bratva Capitan pulled a stop to him listing the quickest ways he could find skin under her cardigan. They'd cut the head of that particular snake without really finding its nest. The source of the Kryptonite remained a mystery.
Did Chloe catch a glimpse of unease on his face? She squeezed the hand he'd placed on her jeans-clad knee once. Her engagement ring rubbed against his knuckles. His brain did a 180.
"How disappointed would you be if we skipped the sight-seeing part of the program?"
Her porcelain skin pinked at his directness. The tip of her tongue darted out to wet her top lip. Forget about reaching their bed. The luxury SUV had a plush back seat and the fork for the point of view rest area was coming up. Her low-cut jeans were less convenient than a skirt in the tight space, but…
The incoming call jarred him so hard he banged his elbow on the door. "Shit. Oliver Queen?"
"Oliver were are you?"
Barbara's tensed voice filled the car.
"We're driving back from Coast City. What's wrong?"
"There was an incident at Metron Pharmaceutical this morning. The police is on site."
Oliver cursed loudly. Chloe returned his grip as fiercely as she could. He lightened the bone-crushing grasp at once. "Sorry. Sorry, did I hurt you?"
"Oliver?"
"I'm fine Ollie. Barbara, did anyone got hurt?"
No wonder he was head over heels with his little Sidekick. He wanted to kiss her and had to settle for a brief squeeze of her hand.
"Chloe, hi. No, not that I know of. Oliver, I booked a red-eye flight for you and I later this afternoon since the jet was apparently already en route to Kansas. The press conference is scheduled at six, Pacific Time."
Oliver cut in. "I'm meeting with the Chinese at six."
"Not anymore. Walter is taking point on that front. He knows the project almost as well as you do."
The contract with the Chinese was major. The client had been skittish from the start and things had been difficult until Oliver himself got involved. To risk a step back on that one over Metron meant the situation there was bad.
"Barbara, on a scale ranging from tabloids fodder to a Wall Street crash, what are we looking at?"
"Pohnpei."
Wonderful.
Oliver saw Chloe purse her lips. No doubt she was racking that incredible brain of hers to make sense of that single piece of information. He could hear the gears clunk from here.
"We'll be home in about forty minutes."
"Good. I'll meet you there."
So they would discuss how to handle the fact that someone was potentially after him surrounded by garlands and tinsel. Fucking wonderful.
Barbara hanged up, so he switched off the communication. Chloe wasted no time to ask.
"What does Pompei stand for?"
Both concern and irritation at being out of the loop laced her tone. Despite the situation, Oliver chuckled. "Not Pompei Italy, Pohnpei, in Micronesia."
Better to have it out before she made the connection and panicked. "It was my last stop before I got shipwrecked."
And the place where they suspected his felon of a captain had allowed the pirates to board his yacht. Chloe caught up without him saying so.
"Someone attacked Metron Pharmaceutical to get to you? Oliver!"
"We don't know yet what happened. It could be a simple accident."
She glared. "Obviously not. Don't forget who you're talking to."
"I'm not forgetting anything, Watchtower." He tried to reassure her. "And I'm not stupid either. I intend to bring in a private security team for me and Barbara, and one for you as well until I get back here."
He turned his right hand to that he could lace their fingers, palms touching. Chloe opened her mouth.
"You can't come with me, Sidekick. And you're not going to stay cooped up in the penthouse for two days, that's stupid."
"I might." Chloe set her jaw to that stubborn clench he'd learnt meant her mind was set, and good luck to change it. "You'll need me to find whatever information I can put my hands on anyway."
"Yes, I do. Which is why I need a security team here. I need the cover for the information you'll dig out for me."
Chloe mulled over his plan, clearly unhappy to be left behind and unable to find a loophole to jump in. At last, she sighed.
"Two days?"
Oliver released the breath he was holding. "At most. Things with Metron Pharmaceutical are complicated." To say the least. "Lena guilt-tripped me into salvaging the company but when QI finally had access to all their documents, a lot of unsaid appeared, and the board is pushing me to get out of it, but I can't."
"Why not?"
"If QI steps out, LuthorCorp will take control again. Metron had several contracts with the military that I derailed on purpose. Employees of both companies are very worried and my stakeholders are fidgety. Me being there for the press conference is going to quieten things a bit. We'll let the police handle this, just stir them in the right direction if we can."
He had no interest into walking into a trap in Lionel's turf. Nor did he want to be away from her for long.
"All right." She inhaled and let out a calming breath. "But promise me to call Clark if you think something is wrong."
Oliver smirked a little. "I'm pretty sure Lois and Clark will be at the press conference, Chlo."
"You may have a point."
The sound of that he didn't like at all. Oliver frowned. "Meaning?"
"That we can leak our information to them instead."
Dang. She had found a loophole.
"Chloe…"
"It's only two days, Oliver. I'll be working or sleeping, if I want air I can go on the terrace, and if I need anything either I'll have it delivered or I'll take someone with me to get it."
He could tell she'd set her mind on not having anyone shadowing her. He saw her point. And he hated it.
"Ollie, I'll be fine…"
Oliver relaxed her hold on the wheel. "Okay. No bodyguard."
"And…"
"And I'll call Clark if I need back-up."
She rewarded his compromise—was it one, really, when he bowed all of her demands— with a soft smile, the one he remembered his mom offered when she cuddled him after kissing his scratches. With luck, the incident would end up being a simple mistake, and he'd be back the following day. Here's hoping…
