Bliss – Chapter 8

Lex's body stiffened as he felt Chloe's lips brush against his. Closing his eyes, a thousand thoughts went through his head, including how he could have read her intentions so incredibly wrong. Thankfully, they were the thoughts he had hoped for since he arrived.

Lowering himself back into the seat, he wrapped his arm around her neck and opened his mouth to her tongue, tasting the soft hints of banana rum on her. He pulled back against him in the seat, leaning her against his chest and deepened the kiss. His body warmed hearing the soft moan from her in his mouth.

Chloe could feel his hands trace inside the top of her dress from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, increasing the tenderness of the kiss. He smelled and tasted so good in her mouth as their tongues continued to run past each other, sliding seductively between teeth and lips.

Losing her breath and possibly her mind, Chloe pushed herself back from Lex's chest and whimpered to herself when his warm lips left hers. She closed her eyes and tried to stop breathing in hitched breaths as his hand still trailed up and down her back, almost teasingly pulling on the back of the tube top.

She was nervous, no almost frightened to look in his direction. She was afraid of what he would say. Did he just return the kiss because he felt it was the right thing to do? Did he…

Her question was partially answered by feeling him sit up slightly in her direction, kissing her neck twice behind the ear. "You know how beautiful you are?" he whispered before continuing to explore her body. He felt her shudder and watched a smile break on her otherwise worried face.

Chloe whimpered slightly at the small teasing trail he left going down to her bare shoulder before sitting back in the chair and tracing his fingers over the same place he had kissed. She turned and gazed at him. Running her fingers down his face, she silently thanked whatever meteor shower had taken his need to shave. A soft smile she had never seen before from the man appeared as he half closed his eyes and tried not to giggle.

Chloe stopped and then ran her finger along the underside of his left collarbone again and saw the same smile twinge form at the corner of his mouth as his eyes completely closed and moaned through a chuckle. "You're ticklish there?"

Lex opened his eyes to an ear to ear smile as Chloe's fingers continued teasing him. He rolled his eyes and could only utter, "uh huh," before feeling Chloe's fingers fumble with the top button of the shirt. Sighing, he closed his eyes again, leaning his head all the way back against the cabana chair and stiffened his abs when her fingers grazed him on the last buttons of his shirt.

"There." Chloe stopped and grazed her hands back up his bare chest. He had played with her skin all night and teased her. Now, to get the incredibly handsome tone man to walk back to the hotel like that.

Opening his eyes, he took one of her hands and kissed the inside of the palm which caused her to jump. "We really should get back now."

"Ok," she whispered as he leaned forward and pulled her into another kiss, not as deep but meant just as much. After writing her for weeks, he had never once believed that where they were at that moment was feasible. Confused, he didn't know where they were or where she wanted to be.

Chloe stood up from the end of the chair and caught the end of it with her foot when she saw Lex's end dip with him in it. Reaching quickly for his arm, she girlishly screamed, "Oh shit," as Lex ended up rolling off the end of the chair and into the sand with Chloe flopped next to him in the sand. "Sorry," she whispered as she brushed the sand off his face and kissed the edge of his lips.

Hearing him grunt unapprovingly, she backed off and took his hand, trying to pull him to his feet. He uprighted the chair on its legs and laughed as he continued to dust him and Chloe off. "Now I see why that one was left here. They hoped it would be taken by the surf," he laughed as he wrapped his arm around Chloe and started the beach to the hotel.

She reached up for another kiss, now having found the taste of Lex Luthor to be her personal number one reason for keeping him around. They could have bonfires with piles of his money and she would still keep him for just his taste and his feel. Her face curled in concern when Lex turned his chin away from her.

He felt her loosen her grip and pulled her into him more, "Come here." He stopped and glanced at her contorted face and smirked, "No offense, but trading wet sand that already is crunching in my teeth, not sensually appealing." He waited for her to process the information, remembering he had met the beach face first just a few minutes earlier. He grabbed her around the shoulders and kissed her cheek.

Chloe smiled up, finally understanding it had nothing to do with her per se, just he wanted the moment to be perfect. "Have you ever…on the beach?"

She pulled from his grip and took his hand in hers as he stopped and looked at something strange that had washed up on the shore. He glanced over his shoulder and laughed at her. "Yes." He pulled on her gently as they continued to walk. "You get sand in places you are sure you will never get it out of."

"Oh."

"I know what you mean by that look, but I was talking more like ear canals and arm pits. You have this constant need to shower afterward. It's not worth it unless you drag the whole bed out to the shore. And then, it's just easier to leave the window open where you can hear the waves."

Chloe nodded her head and said nothing. She had honestly not expected him to be completely honest with her. Or maybe he was making it up, she didn't know. She truthfully couldn't remember the whole answer. Concentrating on his shirt blowing open in the breeze, exposing his chest seemed to occupy her thoughts. "You ok?"

Chloe noticed he turned to look at her staring blankly at his chest. "Yeah, I was just thinking." He nodded and trudged through the thicker dune sand up to the staircase to the hotel, never releasing his grip on her hand. He smirked to himself realizing that he caught her in a private moment between her eyes and his body. Dropping their shoes, he took her elbow to steady her while she got them back on. "Thank you."

Chloe watched Lex slip his shoes back on and lean against the barrier of the boardwalk to the hotel. He pulled her closer to him and smiled down at her. "This is one of the best nights I have had in a long time," he whispered.

"Me too." She wanted to kiss him right there desperately. It was the moment, and yet she remembered he had said no earlier.

Running his hand down the side of her face, he tucked one of the wild strands of her hair behind her ear, he cupped her chin and smiled at her. She felt his other arm slip around her waist as she could feel her leaning into his body, her chest barely brushing against his exposed chest. "It's after nine. There's no ferries until the morning." Chloe stopped breathing when he kissed her neck. "Stay tonight." He felt her stiffen in his arms. "No expectations," he whispered as he pulled back to see her face.

Chloe smiled up at him and pulled away from his grip gently as they made their way up to the room.

*************

"Thank you." Lex closed the door and handed the small bag to Chloe and disappeared into the bathroom where she heard the shower start. Opening the bag, she saw a small comb and toothbrush in it. She hopped up and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Decent?"

"No, but you can come in." Chloe's eyes widened as a small whimper came out that she thought he couldn't hear. "It's fine. The shower curtain is like a lead curtain." She cautiously leaned around the edge of the door and immediately stared at the shower. He was right, there was no way she could even see his form. Feeling somewhat disappointed, she brushed her teeth, leaving the door open as she went from the bathroom to the television.

Appearing back in the bathroom a few minutes later, she almost missed the basin when he stepped out with only the towel around him. "Spit Chloe. Your turn," he smirked and popped her with one of the smaller towels before closing the door behind her. Popping his head in a few seconds later, he shoved a tshirt through the crack in the door. "To sleep in. The bottoms are drawstring."

Chloe held the strange gray and blue striped windshorts up to her and wriggled up her face. "So much for sexy."

When she appeared from the bathroom, she saw the room was already dark except for the CNBC channel going and a strange light from the bed. "You cheat. You have a laptop. Mine got stolen."

"Oh? So that's why the emails stopped. I was wondering if you had run off and gotten married or something and had forgotten about me." He looked up at her in his workout clothes and tried hard not to giggle. "Nice outfit."

He shut the computer screen and placed it on the side table. Pulling the sheets back on the bed, he turned the television off and felt the bed barely dip when Chloe curled up at the other end of it. Putting his arm out in the dark, he felt for her form and pulled her across to the middle.

She felt his arm snake around her and wondered if the statement about expectations was for real. "Lex?" she whispered in the dark while turning. She felt warm breath on her cheek and turned a little more.

"Good night Chloe." Lex ran his hand as well as he could in the dark against her face. Finding her lips, he causally traced them with his fingers until his lips found hers. Running his hand through her still somewhat matted wet hair, he brushed his tongue past hers and released her.

Turning back over, Chloe sighed before closing her eyes. She was a little disappointed in his exploration of her body simply stopping at her hand, his fingers entwined in hers as she could feel his deep breaths against the base of her neck. Closing her eyes, she matched his breathing and fell into a deep sleep.

************

"Good morning." Chloe stretched and felt the rest of the bed was empty. Opening her eyes, she squinted at Lex in white pants and light blue shirt. She glanced over at the clock and saw it only read 8 AM. "Are you nuts?"

Rubbing his head he looked at her and laughed , he sat on the edge of the bed and handed her a cup of coffee. "You know, I turned that pot on about 5 minutes ago. I was somewhat disappointed that the aroma didn't have you stirred in the first 60 seconds."

Chloe downed the first cup and silently handed it back to him and watch him fill it again. "And I'm not nuts. I slept until 7:30, which is about 3 hours late for me." Chloe stopped mid-drink and stared at him.

"You are nuts." She handed the cup back to him and forced herself into the bathroom. "What do you want to do today? You're the guest," she called from the bathroom.

Lex sat on the bed and flipped mindlessly through the little information books. "I don't know. I thought we would go back to your place after breakfast where you can get situated and then go from there." He saw Chloe re-emerge from the bathroom with her dress over one arm and his clothes over the other.

"Thanks for the clothes, and for folding my other ones." Chloe stopped and looked back at Lex as he put his wallet in his pocket. "Are you really that anal?"

Lex looked back in her direction and smiled. "Yes. Shall we?" Lex opened the door and snuck a kiss from Chloe's lip as she passed him leaving the hotel room. To think she was partially afraid that overnight he had forgotten what had happened yesterday she thought. Her thoughts eased feeling his hand run from her lower back and grip her hand.

***********

Chloe sat on the end of the large sailboat and let the wind catch her hair as her face caught some of the spray coming off the front of the boat. Her bright blue bikini almost matched the hue of the water as Lex watched from the back of the boat.

She had finally convinced him to wear the silly hat. He held it on with one hand and watched Chloe over the top of his sunglasses. She turned around and smiled as he nodded to her.

"We're at the stop." The captain of the sailboat cut the engine and threw out the anchor in the location over the crystal blue water. Chloe looked over the side of the sailboat and wondered how far down they could go. "How deep is it?"

"About 25 feet; you can go to about 20 feet deep with the equipment before the pressure starts to build. You'll know when you feel it." Jake eyed Lex and disappeared down below quickly. He had been well compensated, for all three outings he would miss that day and then some.

Lex walked up to the front of the sailboat and sat down on the extra large towel that Chloe had stretched out on the top. "Hey, how about a little mimosa to get the morning going?" She turned and took the glass from his hand. He sat down and set the small tray of fruit down that Jake handed him earlier. "And breakfast."

He didn't know exactly how long Chloe would want to float; the previous 'boyfriend' seemed to be long gone from her mind and Lex hoped he didn't bring up old memories. "I never pictured you like this," Chloe said casually, tugging at his thin white pants.

Lex leaned over closer to her, balancing on one hand while kissing her neck. She tasted salty, but still smelled like flowers. "What do you mean?"

Chloe turned and maneuvered her shoulder up into his chin. His lips gave her goosebumps against the slight breeze. "This. You in linen pants and a shirt flapping in the breeze. I mean even the sunglasses here look less … intimidating." She turned and ran her hand down the button side of the shirt, barely touching his chest. "I guess I honestly couldn't picture you ever doing this with someone like …" She trailed off.

"Helen?" Chloe's face popped up and her mouth opened. "Don't say it. Don't worry about it." Taking her empty glass, he set it behind them and continued on his exploration of her warm shoulder. "I…" One kiss. "am…" Another. "here…" Another. "with…" Another. "you." Chloe stopped and felt his breath on her neck and turned, just in time to get a mouth full of chocolate strawberry.

Seeing her shock and watching the juice dribble down her chin, Lex couldn't help the chuckle. "You were so expecting my mouth?" Chloe held the rest of the strawberry and bit it off as she shook her head up and down. She picked up a piece of pineapple and returned the favor.

Jake returned an hour later and quietly interrupted the two, removing the food and drink while pointing Chloe in the direction of the latrine. Jake watched her carefully disappear below deck and then had to ask, "Newlyweds?"

Lex turned and glared at the man, who obviously didn't know who Lex was, first, and didn't mind being personal, second. "No, we're friends."

Jake rolled out the tubing for the equipment and attached the mask while pulling out the brand new fins and other gear Lex had bought for them. He could adjust to some things, like touching ocean water, after knowing what bacteria lingered in it, but would not wear rental equipment of any type.

"She's a darling girl. You two actually look really good together." Jake looked oblivious to the death stare he was getting from Lex as he continued to fix up the equipment.

"I'll keep that in mind. Do you dive with us?"

"Only if you want to have me. Otherwise, I just sit up here and watch the gauges. When you get to about 10 minutes of air, I tug on the harness twice." He helped Chloe up the stairs of the underbelly as Lex met her at the back of the boat. "Ya'll ready? You get about an hour down there and then we pull anchor and go one other location before lunch."

"Come here," Lex grabbed Chloe's hand and pulled her into his lap on the side seat of the boat. Hearing something pop, she turned as his palm hit her warm back with ice cold sunscreen. As she tried to loosen up, his fingers slid in and out of her strings on the bikini and narrowly down into her bottoms. Thinking of turning around and correcting him, she realized when his hands came around her shoulders with more of the lotion, he was simply being helpful. Still watching the tips of his fingers disappear into the cups on her bikini top, she wondered if there was more to it.

"Now you." She turned and watched him easily pull his shirt and pants off, revealing a simple pair of probably overpriced board shorts. "Nice, but I was expecting something shorter." Lex rolled his eyes and smirked at her secret hope there was more to reveal. He closed his eyes, feeling the motion of her fingers against his skin, first his bare back and then his chest.

Chloe eyed his look and could feel the deep breaths that overtook his body as she circled and recircled until the lotion was rubbed in well. "Ready?" she whispered before catching a quick peck on his lips while his eyes were still closed. Jake caught a glimpse and instantly knew at least one of them were not playing friends.

Jake explained all the equipment and Chloe continued to keep her giggling perfectly bottled up watching Lex get his equipment fitted. Shaking her head, she honestly wondered what kind of money she could garner from picture of Lex Luthor in a snorkel mask and flippers. Eat your heart out Britney Spears – I have the picture of the decade, she thought.

The two dropped into the warm water together and stayed close by as the small, brightly colored fish surrounded them. Jake handed both a small baggie that had compacted fish food in chunks. He explained that the other charters were slowly killing fish by feeding them dog biscuits and other non-marine food.

The two couldn't speak to each other through the tubes but pointed at the strange bright fish and the stingrays that glided easily through the sand. She glanced over more than once and caught Lex's face even through the mask. He studied everything as if there was a quiz at the end.

Feeling the tug on the tubes, the two smiled and headed back to the surface. Pulling her mouth piece out, Chloe flung her mask up on the boat the same time as Lex. "You know there were perfectly beautiful fish down there to look at," he chided.

"Yeah, but your species down there was…rare." Chloe jumped feeling his foot lightly swat at her. Taking one hand to the back end of the boat, he glanced up to see Jake rolling hose.

He wrapped his arm around Chloe's waist and pulled her very light body into his, for the first time feeling mostly skin to skin. "This has been incredible. Thank you." He gazed at her and brushed the wet hair sticking to her face out of the way as his lips searched for hers. Feeling the hitch of her breath, he increased the kiss while wrapping his other hand around her waist.

Choking, the two bobbed back to the surface and shook their heads before breaking into laughter. "Next time, one of us has to continue to hold on," Chloe stated before taking Jake's hand and exiting the water.

Lex laid next to Chloe on the front of the boat as they slowly made their way to the next location per his request. Partially, he hoped that if the boat moved slower so would the day. He had one botched honeymoon and countless rendezvous that he had tried to recreate what came so naturally right then.

Chloe leaned up on one hand and looked over him, his chest now comfortably open to the sky and to her. She gazed at his face and couldn't remember the calm that seemed to take over his features. She almost thought there was hint of a smile creeping out of the corner of his mouth. "Whatcha thinking?"

Lex opened one eye in her direction as she giggled. "How gorgeous your hair is all matted." She sneered at him and slapped him across the chest before feeling his head lift up to meet her lips quickly, knowing he could sneak a kiss while she tried to think of a snarky remark. "Really? Contemplating how I could run LuthorCorp from this boat."

Chloe covered her face and shook her head. "Seriously?"

"No," he answered, "but it sure would be nice." She smiled at him as he closed his eyes and pulled the stupid hat over his face. She continued leaning on one arm as Lex lifted the corner of the hat to see her face. Circling his arm around her body, he pulled her down into him.

The two spent the rest of the day sailing and eating between verbal judo practice and making out. Jake resisted questioning Chloe; he felt they both were trying to play the friends card.

Jake came up from the inside of the boat and felt strange having to disrupt them. "Sir, there's signs of a front blowing in over the outer waters and we need to turn back." Lex looked over his shoulder and nodded as Chloe readjusted in his arm. He couldn't remember exactly when she had fallen asleep there, but didn't mind.

When the boat finally docked around sunset, Lex helped Chloe onto the marina pier and walked back toward the hotel.

"I really enjoyed today. I have to admit that I never pictured myself doing any of that either." Lex uncharacteristically swung Chloe's hand in his as they reached the ferry dock for her home, and secretly his. He wasn't quite ready to explain that to her, knowing that would come with a lot of other questions.

"I can't wait to get the pictures of you in a snorkel mask back."

"You do realize if they ever make ANY magazine, paper, or tabloid, I am coming after you." Chloe reached up and kissed but he didn't move from his position.

"Fine." They stood with their arms wrapped around each other on the dock as the wind picked up. "I guess Jake knew what he was talking about," Chloe added as she caught Lex's hat before it blew away. Handing it back to him, she smiled. "I have to go."

He let her go after kissing her once more. He liked the banana taste on her better than the mango, but she was still soft. "I'll meet you at your place tomorrow morning." Pulling her into a longer kiss, he quickly debated inviting himself back to her place for the night. In the end, he shoved his hands in his pockets and watched the ferry pull away.

TBC