.

Together

They no longer spoke. They just lazily watched the fire throbbing, sometimes feeling the heat through closed eyelids, sometimes settling under the thick blanket.

They were really close. She because the alcohol had completely knocked down her defenses. He because he didn't have them from the beginning.

We should have gone to bed an hour ago, Clark thought, but said nothing. Lois had rejected that idea the first time, mumbling something about stairs and a cold bed, and the truth was Clark couldn't blame her, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so comfortable with someone so close to him.

Just one more time, he said to himself. The last one and that's it.

He slowly tilted his head back and exhaled a breath of icy air toward the ceiling. It took a while to come down, but feeling Lois's tender figure nestling in the hollow between his jaw and neck was completely worth it.

"Clark," she called out in a hoarse voice.

"Yes?"

Lois's feet sought his under the fur coat, hesitant, nervous, but devilishly soft, as was everything about her.

"I think I'm pretty drunk now," she whispered.

Clark glanced down at the only four beers that had been finished between the two of them, and leaning back slightly, he let Lois' body sink gently into his arms.

Maybe it's not too wrong to kiss her. Just a little, just to remember how this feels. I'm not going to take advantage of her.

He lowered his head, attracted by those beautiful brown eyes and the delicious scent of liquor and wildflowers emanating from her mouth.

Oh my... he exclaimed, at last reaching for her.

Her lips had returned to the refreshing strawberries of the early days in the Fortress, so different from the bruised peach skin that had managed to invade his dreams. But it also reminded him of the ease with which he could hurt her, and the vast difference between a tentative kiss and having caught her tongue with his.

Gently, so she doesn't feel slighted, he thought, looking for the best way to separate himself from her.

But Lois had other plans. Her arms reached up, stealthy as only a fierce beast could, and lazily encircled his neck, trapping him in a hungry kiss.

Maybe it's enough not to be too rough.

He lifted her up by her hips and sat her down on top of him, promising himself over and over again that he would not take things too far.

Lois fidgeted at the movement, and for an instant Clark feared he had startled her. But then she relaxed her body and her breasts flattened against his torso.

Devilishly smooth...

How stupid he had been to think himself capable of remembering her kisses perfectly. Now he realized that he would not be able to unravel all its subtleties even if he devoted his whole life to the task. Everything, from the taste and tenderness of her lips, to the brazenness and stubbornness of her tongue, everything, absolutely everything, was so extremely stimulating that he already felt unable to tear himself away from her.

Just a little while longer, he said to himself, reading in Lois's heartbeat an outbreak of common sense. He brought his hands to her lower back and pressed her venus dimples, Lois moaned faintly and sank back into the kiss.

But of course, the distractions that could draw her away from the small world formed by their bodies came not only from within. First it was the lamps, which he turned off with a brief blast of heat on its wires. Then Lois' shirt, tearing the fabric viciously, and finally her bra, which fell uselessly to the side, unable to protect her most sensitive spots any longer.

"No Clark, stop..." she moaned against his mouth, feeling him kneading her beautiful breasts. "Ah, yes, just like that."

This is wrong, she's not in her five senses, Clark mused, trying to awaken in him the slightest trace of morality. Lois had invited a small advance, a ten or fifteen second kiss, perhaps a fleeting brush. But he had dragged her to the bottom of the abyss. Every caress on her back had every intention of stoking her fire, taking advantage of her and his perfect knowledge of her body.

Lois shifted uncomfortably and rested both hands on top of his chest, pushing almost limply, but pulling away nonetheless.

And suddenly Clark felt as if someone had just ripped out a part of him.

He gently brushed her nipples with his thumbs, causing her to startle a little and a delicious friction between their sexes.

"You... you remember, don't you?"

He wanted to deny it, to tell her that his desires had been born this very night, but he didn't know how much Chloe had told her. He wasn't going to take any chances.

"Yes," he said, his fingers fiddling with those tiny, barely dark little buttons.

"It must have been extraordinarily good for you to ignore all your righteousness and force me to this point," Lois gasped, and Clark knew she'd had her own internal struggle. "I can't believe I'm saying this, Clark, but I wish I could remember. I feel so envious."

She approached his ear with the lightness and sensuality that only a woman could demonstrate. Her breath was moist, hot and fucking intoxicating.

"Make love to me," she said, in that raspy voice he loved so much.

Clark felt a fire running through his veins, and suddenly the darkness he himself had created played a trick on him, because now Lois was illuminated only from behind by the fire from the fireplace, giving her a divine aura and highlighting her beautiful attributes even more.

Had her breasts always looked so firm, her hips so fertile, her lips so red, or was it a mirage because he hadn't tasted her flesh for so long?

"I could hurt you," he said.

Lois smiled mischievously.

"I want you to hurt me."

How could he contradict her? He let his instincts rule him and wanted to claim her on the floor, but Lois stopped him with another smile.

"Not here. Upstairs," she said, enjoying his caresses. "The bed will be much more comfortable."

Lois stood up, took his hand and led him up the stairs.