Restraint and Strategy- Chapter 8
Lex leaned in and kissed her against the glass of the building. Slipping his tongue past Chloe's nervous and confused lips as he pulled her closer into him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and moved her away from the window.
Feeling the sudden rush of emotions and confusion, Chloe relaxed into the kiss and let herself enjoy it. Wrapping her arm around his neck, this time he didn't pull from her embrace, but instead ran his hand through her hair.
Long, deep moments later, the two pulled from the kiss and stared at each other. Lex was taken with this little girl from above the garage more than any other woman he had ever met. She complimented him in a way he didn't understand and he loved her fight and constant no nonsense attitude toward him.
Chloe backed away from Lex, still her hand somewhat draped around his side. Staring up at him, she tried to regulate her breathing. He was fascinating and conniving and difficult to read, and she loved every minute of it. If the man was truly making this a ploy to get rid of her, he was slowly causing her to stick around, for him.
Almost instinctively, she covered her mouth apologized for her actions. "I'm so sorry; we should really be getting back." She dropped her hand from his waist and pulled from his hand's grip that she hadn't even realized was there until that moment. Taking several quick steps in front of him, she walked back to the car and stared into space. She was running like a little girl from something intriguingly feared.
Lex stood on the sidewalk and watched her near sprint in the direction of the car and rubbed his hand over his head. He was still trying to clear the fog from his head feeling the kiss radiate through his body and knowing leaving her now would probably end up hurting him more than her. But the good of the company was at stake and he would be the ringleader. There was no time for loose ends.
The car ride home was an eerie silence. Chloe sat and stared out the window wondering what strange move, if any, that Lex would try on her when they returned. She eyed Lex out of the corner of her eye and saw his features return to the very cold business man that was buried in there before she got to know him. Wanting to reach over and brush his hand as he drove, she thought better of it, knowing that could only signal that her strange little girl crush may have readjusted its sights, but she knew what would happen in the end.
Lex twisted his head as he watched the road, keeping his eyes firmly from Chloe's direction. He wanted to caress her arm, just touch her once to tell her, to show her, he wasn't the bastard he was now feeling he was. As far his hand got was the center console. He couldn't bring himself to lead her on anymore. The game had to played out the rest of the way, and she would be the tens of millions dollar casualty.
Pulling into the driveway, he noticed a wobbly figure in the driveway sitting in the guard's box. "It's Lucas," he heard Chloe say shakily. She didn't sound excited or nervous, just making a statement.
Stopping the car, he watched as Chloe walked calmly over to Lucas and wrapped her arm around him gently. "Hey there, I heard that you came to visit me. I was dreaming with the Sesame Street gang. So you guys went to the theatre?" Lucas immediately wrapped his arm around Chloe and drew her into him, partially to help him continue to stand on his still wobbly legs.
"Just dinner. What's the news from the doctor?" Lex tried to move the conversation to a neutral location.
"Healing fast, just not able to sit at a table and eat yet." Lucas drolly answered, taking Chloe's hand in his and ignoring Lex there completely. "You heading back tonight?"
Lex looked up and saw the way Lucas swung Chloe's hand in his and exhaled, "No, I think I might stay here tonight since it is so late. Goodnight," Lex stated in Chloe's direction before turning for the house.
Turning back around, he saw the strange sad look on Chloe's face and wondered if her mind had been changed. He was definitely not God's gift to women, that was Lucas, but she watched him even as Lucas continued to prattle on about his accident.
"Goodnight. Thanks for dinner," she said softly, almost inaudible. Lex nodded and disappeared around the hedge as Lucas turned to her and smiled and strange partially still drug induced grin.
"So? Dinner? I think Lex is making up for my stupid mistake a little too well. But, how about a good nightcap? I scared us up some champagne, a few Dixie cups, and a radio from somewhere. You still look as beautiful as ever."
Chloe smiled at Lucas in his bathrobe and t-shirt. He was sweet. Lucas was sweet and innocent and childlike. He was what she was before her leaving, before her meeting Lex in the airport, before the kisses. She hated to think that her infatuation for the man had dwindled so quickly for reasons even hard for her to understand. She smiled and slipped her hand into his, "I really think you ought to take a break. You're still injured. We can catch up tomorrow."
"Hey, I owe you."
"Lucas, what's going to happen? Really. After the solarium, where is this going?" Chloe couldn't look at him. She continually turned and glanced in the direction of where Lex left to and wondered if he was still there. "Maybe you should rest," she tried again.
"But love," Lucas prompted as he kissed her cheek and pulled her closer to him, "I got up and made my way just for you. One dance – I never let a date down." Chloe smiled, giving in and followed him into the solarium where as he said, he had set up a makeshift evening, complete with champagne.
"Thank you, this is completely lovely and not needed." Lucas waved a finger at her and handed her a cup as he turned on the CD. It still played the song that she had requested just a few days ago.
"To new beginnings," Lucas chimed as the two clicked the paper cups together and Lucas took her in his arms. "So, how did you enjoy dinner with my brother? He is unfortunately incredibly dull at times."
"Not at all; he was …" she couldn't find her words. She wanted to declare he was perfect in every way, laughed at every joke, understood each innuendo, revelled in each of her stories as if he was truly interested. "Nice and gentlemanly." She gave in.
"Nice, now there's a word you wouldn't hear from anyone in a boardroom." Lucas looked over at his dancing partner's face and she seemed far away. It was strange; he had left her almost completely flushed the night of the party and now there was nothing. Her mind had changed in a few days. He had to know what had gone on; he was smitten with her.
"Again, where is this going?" Chloe asked as she leaned back to meet Lucas' gaze.
Smiling and kissing her cheek, her arms felt good around his body. "I don't know; we'll make it up as it comes." Chloe sighed and wondered what Lucas was actually thinking. She was infatuated with him; he smelled good, his voice was sinfully nice, and yet he wasn't comfortable.
"We can pick the rest of this up tomorrow." Lucas in return whispered something in Chloe's ear in response and got her to twirl once more slowly in his arms.
Lex caught her eye quickly before Lucas turned her from the window. Lex couldn't tell if the anger inside of him was from the need to step up his efforts since obviously she was still taken to Lucas or whether pure jealousy was finally showing what it could do to his impermeable emotional barrier. Either way, Chloe in Lucas' arms was something he loathed more than before.
Turning, he caught her glance and saw her gasp at his leaving, right before Lucas ran his hands through her hair and kissed her.
************
Gabe sat in his room and stared blankly at one of his many books and couldn't get the words to come off the page. His only daughter was being played by both of the family sharks, and he didn't like it. To speak up would threaten his job he had for decades. He knew both Lucas and Lex better than their own father in some regards. To have his own daughter in the mix, he wished he could send her away to save her.
"She can handle herself you know. She's not a little girl anymore," the housewoman added as she came in absently tidied up the room.
"She seems so out of place here. Her place isn't in that mansion or above the garage." He turned and looked at the woman. "And I have no place to say. She my little girl, but she not little anymore."
The woman walked toward the door and smiled, "Most people live in between. Chloe will make the right decision. Have your tea and try to sleep." Gabe stared at the doorway as his friend who started working with him decades ago left. She was smart, but Chloe on her own was something he wasn't ready for, especially among the sharks.
************
Lex leaned against the wall in the parlor, downing more alcohol than was normally necessary as Lucas walked by. "Goodnight brother," he causally added as he passed the door.
"Lucas?" The younger brother, still hobbling with a cane and dressed in his bathrobe, walked into the parlor and leaned against the opposite wall as Lex lined up a shot on the pool table. "What's going on? Really?"
"Why do people keep asking me that? I was in the accident and suddenly I come out and everyone is confused. I like Chloe, that's pretty much the bottom line."
Lex, without looking up from the next lined up shot drolls, "And what after Chloe. Who did you dream about all the time you were asleep?" Lex threw the cue stick across the felt table and pointed at his brother. "You are engaged to a perfectly wonderful woman. Helen has done nothing but check up on you every moment she has had free from the hospital. You meet us at the end of the driveway, but please, for my sanity, tell me you have talked to Helen tonight as well."
Lucas crossed his arms and stared accusingly at his brother, "Yes, I called Helen back but she has been busy since I woke up. Anyway…"
Lex walked over and put a finger up in front of him, "No anyway. Helen is your fiancée and Chloe is just a girl from above the garage. Helen is the best thing you have ever had and will have." Lex turned and stomped down to his room and slammed the door. Lucas stared at the chalk line across the maroon felt of the pool table and smiled. There's a development I would have never pictured, he thought to himself.
*************
"Good morning sir. How was the theatre?" Mac asked as Lex stomped through the lobby right outside his office.
"Come." Lex ordered as he flung the door to his office open and threw his briefcase down.
"That good sir?"
"I need two tickets to on Air France to Paris. One in my name and one in the name of Chloe Sullivan. We will be flying tomorrow." Mac stared at him as she jotted down the information and watched Lex's moves. He was determined and back to his old self. She was a good professional and tried not to pry.
"Oh, the Bryce's are here." Mac turned and let Lex know.
"Did they have an appointment?"
"No, they just showed up. I put them in Lucas' office." Lex looked at the pile of work that had accrued on his desk over the last few days of him playing and sighed. The meeting with the Bryce family at this point couldn't be a good sign.
Lex marched out of his office and headed to Lucas's office to see what the trouble was. He was working as well as he could on Chloe and trying to convince Lucas he was being an ass. There were only so many things that a man could do in order to make a merger work.
Stanley made small talk as Lex stood and observed his behavior. When arriving at Lucas's office, he saw his father trying to hold a meaningless conversation about the reason for Lucas's lack of interest in the company. Lionel was going down quickly.
Trying to change the subject to more personal business, Helen's mother pulled the lid off a box and pulled out one of the small cards and showed one to both Lex and Lionel. "These are the invitations; we thought we should use recycled paper."
Lionel turned his nose up and smelled one of the invitations. "Isn't that nice. I wonder when the companies will finally find a way to lose the incredibly ugly gray color."
Lex saw through the guise of the visit and approached Stanley. "What the real problem? This visit."
Stanley acknowledged Lex's irritated look and returned with one of his own. He knew when he was being duped. They were both business men and saw the dollars signs that either followed or didn't follow this merger. Either way, Bryce Industries would make a fortune. "No problem from our point of view. I feel like when a lot of guys are after you."
Lex stopped and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Hoar." Lionel looked up and over at Helen's mother and quietly apologized for Lex's rude behavior in front of the woman.
Stanley turned and stared at Lex. He knew Lex could see the next phrase before he delivered it, but the turn of knife would just be the same. "I was thinking more like debutante. Someone else would like to be in bed with Bryce Industries. You know Intermedia? Impressive proposal – cash, stock, and they don't want to tell me how to run my business."
Lionel looked over at Stanley and glared. "How flattering for you."
"So, how did you leave it with them?" Lex asked. Intermedia was a nervous name to deal with. A good company that could not only take Bryce Industries but could eventually cause LuthorCorp issues as well.
"I told them we were practically family you and I, aren't we? I couldn't possibly entertain their offer knowing that. At this time." Stanley puffed on his cigar once more as Lex nodded his head without saying anymore. "But, Helen came home last night and called Lucas and we got the impression that he was not as anxious as he should be to see her."
"But he's been injured and drugged Stanley. He's not himself," Lionel almost pleaded as Lex glanced at his father to stop his remarks before he sounded desperate. "He just wants to be perfect for her before he sees her again."
"That's what I thought," Stanley puffed on his cigar and smiled.
************
Chloe sat on her bed and stared at the pictures of Europe and the outfit from the night before. For years, she had gone without one man in her life and now she had two. One was unavailable and the other unattainable. She couldn't decide what or who she wanted to hear from. Confused, she laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, woken only from the phone ringing.
"Hello?"
"Good morning," was all she heard. It was all she needed to hear.
"Lex." A smile grew across her face as her body became warm with excitement. Maybe she didn't have to make her mind up after all. He would do it for her.
"Listen, would you mind another trip into the city? I have some business I need to discuss with you."
Chloe felt empty. "Business. Sure," she dropped blandly. Hanging up the phone she stared at the outfit from last night and shirked off the idea that it had been anymore than overindulgence of wine and romanticism. Unattainable.
**********
"That little weasel was making a veiled threat," Lionel announced walking into Lex's office.
"There was no veil. Look, everything is being taken care of and the merger will take place as planned. Do not worry dad." Lex sat down at his desk and tried to stretch. The stress of making all the pieces fit was starting to take its toll.
"What are you planning son?"
"I'm flying to Paris tomorrow."
"What?" Lionel sat down in the chair in front of Lex's desk and waited.
"It's a long story."
"Enlighten me." Lex looked over and saw the concentration and concern on his father's face. He had learned everything about business from him, how to be a kiss up to how to be an ass. To know when to turn it on and off.
"Things have been progressing with Chloe. We've bonded and we've been confiding in each other. And could perhaps say she actually likes me." Lionel smirked at the idea that Lex finally found someone by mistake. "Last night over dinner I told her my life needed some radical changes. Moving overseas. She loved the idea – practically was hers."
"And she believed you?"
"More than that – I think she wants to go with me." Lex turned and stared at his father. He knew Lionel was questioning how Lex could come to such a conclusion from one dinner with the young lady. It was unthinkable. "Dad, don't look at me like that. You said take care of the situation. That is what intend to do. Chloe and I will go to Paris. A wiser Lucas will return to Helen and I will come back from Paris and sign the papers. This merger will close. Make a large sum of money and buy a house in Tuscany."
"I have a house in Tuscany." Lionel stopped and thought about the return of his son. "You're going to leave her there, aren't you?" Lex said nothing as his father rose from the chair and headed for the door. "What about Chloe?"
"She grows up. It's the best way to make this work. How did you think it was going to work dad? I was just going to forbid her. Come on dad, you taught me everything I know." Lex leaned over on t the desk and watched as his dad stopped and turned to look at his son.
Reaching for the door, Lionel shook his head and glanced at Lex angrily, "I didn't teach you this." Slamming the door, he left Lex as he stared at the plans for the merger on his desk and rubbed his temples. Leaving Chloe would be harder than he thought.
TBC