Chapter Eighteen
Chloe snuck into the mansion. Well, snuck might be a bit of an overstatement as the Luthor security was rather tight, what she had actually done was sweet talk the guards into letting her passed without telling Lex – not that she couldn't have got passed them if she had wanted to. Still, she had no desire to scale a wall at 8:00am on Saturday morning, that wouldn't suit her purpose at all.
As she was scurrying along the corridors towards the office, she grinned with glee; Lex wasn't going to know what had hit him.
Slowly she opened the office door and peered around it to see Lex lying face down on the massage table. Perfect. Chloe sauntered into the room and heard him mumble something that sounded vaguely like a greeting.
It just went to show that it always paid to be friendly, Chloe thought as she made her way over to him and opened her bag, thanks to her budding connection with the kitchen staff she had found out all about Lex's plans for the day. He had had several calls to make that morning, starting at a shocking 4:00am but by 8:00 he was supposed to be finished and his masseur was coming. Or at least that's what he thought.
Chloe admired the man lying at her mercy, and unconsciously licked her lips. His long, lean form was spread out before her in a most appetizing manner. She had known that he had broad shoulders but had never seen them in their full glory before, his back also looked strong as well. Chloe shook herself, how on earth could a back look strong? She was going funny in the head, but being an investigative reporter she didn't let one little diversion stop her from exploring.
From what she could make out through the thin sheet covering his posterior it wasn't just the cut of his trousers that had been making him look good. His legs were also nicely toned; she liked that in a man. She really wasn't sure why he had such a hard time during High School – according to Clark – because she wouldn't imagine anyone not being impressed with him, maybe it had been jealousy on the other boys' part, she pondered.
Apparently she had mused on this point for a little too long as she noticed Lex putting his hands on the side of the table and bracing as if to lift himself and see what was going on. Oops! She didn't want him to know that it was her and cotton on to her plan so she grabbed one of the bottles off the side. Hearing her begin to move again, Lex settled back down.
Chloe poured a small amount of the oil into the palm and warmed it in her hands before as she moved back to Lex's side. It smelled very nice and she realised that that was what extra smell Lex always had was, it wasn't cologne it was soap and this. No wonder she had never been able to find out what scent it was … in earlier years she had been planning to buy some for Clark for his birthday. She had noticed that Lex had smelled very nice the first time that she had met him, although she also liked the fact that only people that he allowed really close to him would ever know that, it was a bit like being let into a secret. Oh no, she thought to herself, she was pontificating on his smell, she really was getting sappy. She would have to get a hold on herself.
Deciding that the best way to distract herself was to get on with the task at hand she finally decided that the oil was warm enough and began to glide her hands across his skin to spread the liquid. She delighted in the way that his muscles jumped a little at her touch initially and as she heard his sigh. She had always known that he was well made and kept in shape but it was strange to think that such power could be contained in such soft skin and designer clothes.
Her hands travelled down his back, and then back up, over his shoulders and down his toned arms as she tried to make sure that the oil was evenly distributed and that he was warm enough. The research that she had done earlier that morning had assured her that this was very important.
She knew that he got a massage every day so she was surprised that he was quite as tense as he seemed to be. She wasn't entirely sure that she was doing this correctly, as she had never given a massage before, but tried to remember the instructions as best as she could and follow them. As she got to work on the various knots she heard him moan again, so she assumed that she was doing it correctly.
As she continued Lex seemed to become more and more relaxed and finally Chloe thought that it would be safe to progress to part two of her plan. She moved to the top of the table to massage his scalp, as she did so she was standing right next to his pile of clothes, she smirked. She knew that he would never leave sensitive information far away from him, she had seen him slip a USB pen into his trouser pocket many times in the past. She had deduced that that was where any information such as that picture would be. The problem had been getting to it. This had been the only way to get to his clothes without him noticing; it was easier than trying to break into his safe at night.
She continued to stoke his head, just to keep his relaxed of course, not because she enjoyed the feel of his soft, smooth skin under her finger tips or because she loved the slightly noises he sometimes made in the back of his throat. She briefly considered not steeling the information, this really wasn't the right thing to do but even as she thought this, her fingers found their way into the in the pocket of his trousers.
"Wrong pocket darling", Lex's voice reached her ears.
Chloe closed her eyes. She had turned to reach the clothes and now her back was to him, she could hear him getting up. This was embarrassing.
"Come on Chloe", she could practically hear the smirk in his voice, "If you are going to steal from me then you should at least be able to look me in the face".
"You knew all the time?" She asked, still frozen in position.
"Of course". She could hear the sound of the sheet being pulled around his midriff. "I guessed that you would be up to something, you don't take defeat lying down … a quality that I normally admire, I must add. Besides, I could smell your perfume, hear your gasp, plus that isn't the normal way of giving a massage."
"Right. And I wasn't stealing", she said, still not facing him.
"You can turn around now, I promise that I am covered", he reached out and pulled her gently towards him by the belt as that was the only part of her he could reach. When she was closer he grasped her by the hips and spun her around. Chloe allowed him to do this, still too shocked to let go of his clothes.
Lex gently prised the clothes from her hands and put them on the side.
"See what I meant about the Pandora and the Box?" He smiled at her. "Don't worry about it", he said, as he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, "It happens to everyone. Guess we know what your obsession is."
"You really aren't angry?" She checked, scolding herself for still avoiding his gaze. For some reason, his fury was always easier to deal with than his understanding.
"No, just frustrated that you won't actually look at me", he ran his hand down her arm before holding her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it, snaking the other arm around her.
She bit her lip, her cheeks flushed. How had she got herself into the mess?
"Chloe", his voice was low and commanding. She was not going to get out of eye contact, he had worked out that she did this when really put in a bind. Well, there was one sure fire way to get a reaction with Chloe: shock or anger.
He swatted her bottom.
"Lex", she squeaked and finally made eye contact.
"Want me to kiss it better?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No", she stuck her bottom lip out in a mock pout as she rubbed the area as if he had put a lot force behind it than he really had.
He grinned and pulled her into his lap and kissed her lower lip, gently teasing her. "I told you not to worry about it, but if you want to go play with my stick go right ahead"
Chloe went distinctly pinker and unconsciously shifted against him; she could feel him through the material of the sheet.
Lex smirked, "Dirty minded girl", he got hold of the pen and gave it to her. "Here you go. If you use my computer you are completely safe, you cannot be tracked", he informed her.
She looked him quizzically, was this some sort of test?
"I'm not trying to trick you darling, if you really can't control your nosey inclinations go for it. If this is what it takes to get it out of your system", he coaxed her. "What are you afraid of?"
"Nothing", Chloe said. She looked at the pen, then at him, then at the pen again and then … she was off. A smile tugged at the side of Lex's mouth, he had known that she would not be able to resist. He took a minute to admire the view before slipping his boxers and then jeans on. He didn't want to make Chloe uncomfortable; although he was under no misconception that she was some blushing virgin as pure as driven snow – she had had a relationship with Jimmy and clearly had a healthy drive and curiosity – he knew that she was not as experienced as she had made out to him. She had only done that because she tended to over exaggerate when nervous. He could take things slow with her, or at least he would try to.
Chloe was typing away on his laptop and almost shaking with excitement as the image loaded.
Lex got up and moved around the table so that he could witness her reaction to the photo. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"You bastard", Chloe exploded.
"You don't like it?" He tried to look innocent. "I thought that it was sweet".
"Don't even try it", Chloe glared at him.
"How does it feel to be outmanoeuvred for once?" He inquired.
"For once? You are always one step ahead", she exclaimed in exasperation.
"Just trying to keep you with you", Lex closed the laptop.
Chloe looked at him incredulously. "So basically, we are spurring each other on to outdo the other? Imagine what we could achieve if we teamed up", she suggested, before basically undoing the idea by adding, "I'm not going to give up you know".
"I had figured that out", Lex pulled her to her feet, "and I'm sorry to have to say that this the one thing that I will continue to thwart you on"
Chloe shook slightly for a few seconds as she went through a hundred possible retorts and the possible reactions that they would elicit. Any one of them would be good, but would probably end with them getting into a fight and that was certainly not what Chloe wanted at that moment, she was not unaffected by the fact that she was standing this close to a shirtless Lex and had a different perspective from the front. Very nice, very little, if any, hair which led her to believe that maybe the nice always cleanly shaved appearance she liked about him was in fact because he shaved a lot or whether he had lost all of the hair from his chin when he had lost the hair on his scalp during the meteor attacks.
Wait, she was supposed to be thinking of a response, damn it Lex was distracting standing there with his sexy chest and expectant expression. Oh great, now her brain wasn't working on responses so much as positioning. So Chloe went with the default, she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Minx", he growled and leant in to kiss her but only got her cheek as she turned her head at the last minute as an idea occurred to her.
"Are you really sure that you can thwart me?" She asked as she trailed her hand down his chest, "I bet that I can find it very easily".
Lex couldn't help but moan as she slipped her hand into his front pocket.
"Nothing else of value in there love", he said as her fingers wriggled around. She should not have been able to have such a strong effect on him.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that", she said before slipping her hand into his other pocket and pulling something else out. "What's this?" She asked.
"If you don't know, I think that we need to have a conversation very soon", Lex looked at the packet of condoms – for that larger man, of course.
"Very soon? Rather over confident aren't we?" She inquired, once she had actually looked at the item she was holding and realised what it was.
"I like to think of it as just being prepared", he shrugged trying to see if she was really angry about this.
"Such a boy scout", she quipped, "Always this prepared?" She teased, trying to work out if this was something new or whether he always carried protection. She knew that he had had more experience than she did, and didn't want to hold it against him, but couldn't help but wonder.
"I try to be", he stroked the side of her face and looked deep into her eyes. "Chloe, I don't want you ever feel like there are things that you can't tell me, or ask me if you need to".
"Right back at you".
"Okay, well there is nothing that I need to ask you right now, what's passed is passed", he didn't add that it had better be passed because he had come quite close to ordering a hit on Jimmy Olsen before she had admitted that she loved him. Now he considered himself to have carte blanche.
"But", he continued, "you should know that I get regular check-ups so can be sure that I am STD free and I haven't had a sexual relationship since my last one, and I don't intend to be in one with anyone but you … ever again". He couldn't blame her for wondering, it was just good sense to check.
"Ah … so you know that I am going to rock your world", Chloe tried to joke, neither of them were particularly good at the really emotional stuff. It was sweet of him to reassure her, but now she wanted to push passed it.
"Is that a promise?"
"Yep", she pulled him down and kissed him senseless. They acted on instinct, Chloe's hands running over Lex's torso and his trying to get her out of her jacket before splaying her against the wall.
"Oh Lex", she moaned as he kissed his way down her neck.
"No", Lex pulled back from her.
"Did I do something wrong?" She looked genuinely concerned.
"No sweetheart, nothing", Lex assured her as he grabbed her and lifted her into his arms bridal style.
"Lex", she giggled, "what are you doing?"
"I am taking you to my bedroom", he told her.
"I can walk you know."
"I know, Chloe and I know that this isn't your first time but it is our first time together and I don't know … I have a lot of experience and I mean a LOT of experience but I have never really been in love before, not even with Helena. Now as happy as I will be to fuck you senseless in every room, every position and do everything that our combined twisted minds can come up with, just this once I want to make sure that it is everything that is should be", he tried to explain himself. God, this had to Alexander speaking because Lex (and little Lex) were screaming at him take her against the wall.
"Aww … who would have thought that Lex Luthor would be such a sap", Chloe cooed, just to get a rise out of him. It worked; he let out a low growl which just made her giggle more as he carried her to out into the hallway.
"I'll show you how much of a sap I am", he somehow made it sound like a threat.
"Oh, I'm going to be ravished by a sap", Chloe wound him up as she ran her hands over him as they made their way into his bedroom.
"Damn right you are", he said as he threw her onto the bed, which was scattered with rose petals and surrounded by lit candles.
"Wow, you were really sure that you were going to score today! I'm not sure whether to be flattered that you went to all of this trouble or insulted that you think that I am so easy".
"I would never make the mistake of thinking that you are easy", Lex assured her as climbed up onto the bed with a predatory grace that Chloe was sure had to be practiced. Once they were face to face, he ran his hand down her side and felt something strangely shaped in her pocket. "What's this?"
"If you don't know that Lex, I think that we are going to have a conversation", she tried to quip at him and not become at all flustered as his fingers slipped inside her pocket.
He laughed. "You really thought that I was that easy?"
"Yeah. Well partially that you are easy, partially me being irresistible", Chloe took the packet off him and tore it open, she hated getting worked up and then having to work out how to open the bloody thing. As she did this, she continued to speak, "But mostly it was Lois wanting to make sure that I was safe and prove that she was a better, more understanding friend than Lana".
Lex laughed again at that - surely this wasn't right; no woman had ever laughed in his bedroom before, and they certainly hadn't made him do so. "
Yeah, I cannot see Lana providing you with protection".
"Lois also took it upon herself to have the conversation with me and add in her own helpful hints about what men like", she gave him an all too innocent look as her hand travelled lower, "Do you like this Lex?"
"Yes", his voice grew horse.
"Enough to give in to me?" Her expression grew even more innocent yet seductive.
"On anything except the picture", he wasn't falling for that look.
"Well that's a shame as I really want the one I saw today for my screensaver", she couldn't keep up the studied innocence and her face broke into a grin.
Lex chuckled against her neck, which he had resumed kissing. "I think that I can manage that, as long as it remains private".
"Oh it will, I don't want anyone else seeing you … in that way".