Happy New Year one and all!! Thank you for continuing to read and comment on my story. I hope you enjoy my next chapter…Colleen Joy

Chapter 11

Clark looked into her loving brown eyes and swallowed hard past the lump in his throat. There were no words to say how her trust, her acceptance and her love made him feel. He gently cupped her cheek with his hand and slid his other hand into her hair. Tilting her head back he leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips, putting all the emotions he was feeling into the gentleness of his touch and the softness of his kiss.

Clark felt her melt in his arms and heard the sound she made, something between a moan and a soft whimper. He felt his heart speed up and a wave of heat washed over him in response.

Leaning into him Maria surrendered to his kiss, smoothing her hands up his chest to wrap her arms around his neck. He felt so warm and smelled like soap and the sun on fresh hay and a smell she simply thought of as Clark. Her body was responding to him, her heart pounding and her knees going loose. She tightened her grip to keep from falling and kissed him back with growing passion.

Clark barely allowed them a moment for breath before he kissed her again, more insistently now. Keeping one hand in her hair he moved his other from her face to clutch her waist, pulling her body tight against his.

She was intoxicating; he felt he never wanted to stop kissing her, the rest of the world ceased to exist and all he could think of was how her lips felt, warm and velvety under his, and her hair ran over his hands like cool silk. The feel of her body against his was wonderful and he longed to be even closer to her. Desire for her shot through him in another wave of white heat and he felt his eyes begin to burn.

Suddenly Clark pushed her away from him. His eyes were shut tight and he was gasping for breath as he turned. When he opened his eyes a patch of grass nearby burst into flames.

Maria stared in amazement as he apparently lit a fire with a glance. He remained with his back to her as his breathing slowed. "Clark, are you okay?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Oh yeah, just fine." he said, and the frustration in his voice made her wince in sympathy. "I thought I had my heat vision under control a long time ago but apparently it still needs a little work." He turned around but still avoided looking at her. As he turned she saw a flicker of light in his eyes and then it was gone.

"So… you lit that fire with your eyes…on accident?" Maria asked. "What made you…ohhhh." And she stammered to a halt as a blush spread up his face. "Oh, dear, this could make life interesting." and she giggled nervously. "Please tell me there's a way for us to work on this so we can kiss without igniting Smallville because that kiss was, um… well, I don't want to give up kissing you like that so maybe we should just keep a hose handy."

Suddenly Clark laughed. "So you liked that?" he asked, arching one eyebrow wickedly and smiling. He moved close to Maria again and wrapped her in a hug, kissing her on the forehead before resting his cheek against it. "Thank you for not freaking out." he said quietly. "I'm sure with a little practice I can get things back under control."

"If practice is what you need then count me in." she said, snuggling up against him. "Hey, maybe we should try it in the shower." Maria watched happily as Clark's jaw dropped and his cheeks turned red again. He was so cute when he blushed.

"Um, Clark I think the fire might be spreading." said Maria, looking over his shoulder at the still burning patch of grass.

"Oh, right." said Clark calmly as he turned his head, blew gently at the flames and nodded with satisfaction as the fire puffed out.

"Wow!" said Maria looking at Clark in amazement and admiration. "What else can you do?"

"Have you had breakfast?" Clark asked. My Mom is in Washington but I can make a pretty good omelet." He smiled at Maria hopefully.

Dear God, could he get any better, thought Maria. On top of everything else, he cooks! "I'd love to have breakfast with you Clark." She said with a grin.

Suddenly Clark picked her up and with a mischievous smile he said "Hang on." and their trip to the Kent house took Maria's breath away.

"Woo hoo!" she said enthusiastically when he set her down on the porch. "That was fun!" and patting Shelby on the head she followed Clark inside for breakfast.

Lex was having a bad morning. He'd been up late with Deirdre, or was it Debbie? Anyhow, they had stayed up late and drank way too much champagne and now his head hurt like a drummer was using it for practice and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton. It hadn't helped to be dragged up from his few hours sleep to find out Project Generation had been sabotaged.

He poured some coffee from the silver pot on his desk and took a sip. Grimacing at the taste in his mouth he added some whiskey and then took a longer gulp. Better. No one seemed to know who did it but from the description of one of his guards the Desantis girl had been involved. Along with a tall man with dark hair that sounded amazingly like Clark Kent. The guard had only seen him from the back so that could be wrong but he had seen the girl up close and there was no mistaking her. It was a shame really, Lex thought, a waste of beauty, but her mother had been warned.

He opened his laptop to find he had an email.

Dear Mr. Luthor,

Enclosed is a copy of a video I have made from the archives of 33.1 and my own footage of the lab. Please pay special attention to the segments where it is clearly shown that you planned to experiment on children.

I have sent copies of this video, to many people whose names I will not discuss. Suffice it to say that if any harm befalls me or mine this video will not only be handed to the proper authorities, who may or may not be in your pocket, but copies will also be posted on You-tube and other internet sites. In other words Luthorcorps' real soul will be very publicly displayed and your stock will drop like a meteor.

If I ever hear you are endeavoring to collect these children or imprisoning others be assured you will be hearing from me in a very public way.

Dr. Katherine Desantis

Lex choked on his coffee. Then he watched the copy of the video with growing rage tinged with fear. She was right; this would destroy his company if it got out. It was intolerable that this woman should threaten him! He could not let her get away with this. There had to be a way to get all the copies, or to threaten her or…Lex was at a loss, each option led to consequences he found unacceptable. Rage washed over him and he threw his cup at the wall where it shattered, shards of porcelain raining down on the rug.

To be continued…