Awards Night

Chloe was sure there had to be more boring ways to spend a Saturday evening, but at the moment she couldn't think of any. Covering the Chamber of Commerce's annual Businessmen (or women) of the Year Award dinner--what had she done to deserve this Hell? Oh, right--she wasn't Lois Lane. Not for the first time, Chloe considered moving out of the city and finding another job at a paper that had nothing to do with Superman.

She looked up at the table of award recipients--five men, two women. Five were white, one was black, and one was Hispanic, although both women were white. None of them was younger than forty-five, with one notable exception, who was five years older than Chloe's twenty-four.

Said exception was currently listening, with every outward sign of interest, to the woman next to him babble on about something or other. However, Chloe would have bet her life savings (not that they amounted to much) that he was as bored as she was, maybe more. Whatever held Lex Luthor's interest wasn't likely to be found at a stuffy awards dinner. Chloe glanced down at her program and saw that the woman monopolizing his ear was being given the award for establishing her own line of--oh, talk about irony--hair care products.

She nearly had to fake a coughing fit before getting her laughter under control.

At long last, dinner was over, the awards had been presented, the recipients had made their polite speeches, and she was free to go. Chloe nearly tripped in her eagerness to get out the door--only to discover that her car, which had been protesting all week, had staged a rebellion and would not start no matter what she did. It was too late to call a tow truck; she'd have to take a cab home and come back for it in the morning. "Fuck," she muttered, kicking a tire. It didn't do anything, but it made her feel better in a petty sort of way.

"Need a lift?" a voice said out of the darkness. Chloe jumped before turning around.

"How could you tell?" she asked, seeing Lex standing there with his hands in his pockets.

He shrugged. "You're still here."

"So are you," Chloe pointed out. She wiped her hands on a spare rag and tossed it back in the trunk, slamming it harder than the trunk probably deserved.

"I got waylaid as I was trying to make my escape. What's your excuse?"

"I think my car died," she admitted ruefully. "I was really hoping it could wait another week to get fixed, but..." She shrugged.

One corner of Lex's mouth quirked in a smile. "Do you want a ride home?"

"Either home or the nearest bar will do."

"That bad of a week?" Lex nodded in the direction of his car.

"Try month." Chloe fell into step next to him, walking around the corner to his car. He'd driven the BMW tonight, she noticed.

"Sorry to hear it." Lex thumbed his keyring and the car chirped, lights going on inside. "Hop in."

"Lex--I really appreciate this." Chloe opened the door and slid inside; Lex closed it for her and walked around to his side.

"Least I can do for an old friend," he said dismissively. "Where do you live?"

"Ah--Washington Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenue. Number 209."

He nodded and started the car. Chloe leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, mentally trying to juggle credit card bills and bank accounts to come up with the $400 or so it would take to get her car fixed. As she was coming to the conclusion that she'd be eating a lot of macaroni and cheese for the next few weeks, the car stopped. "We're here," Lex said unnecessarily.

Chloe opened her eyes and looked, seeing not her familiar street but what appeared to be a basement parking garage. "Um--last time I checked, I didn't live in a parking garage," she pointed out.

"You said either your place or the nearest bar. It's ten o'clock on a Saturday night, and while I'm sure there are plenty of bars open, I thought you might want to come up for a quiet drink instead." Lex shrugged.

"Rather presumptuous of you, I think."

"If you'd rather not, say the word and I'll take you home."

"No, that's--" Chloe sighed. "Actually, it sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Come on up, then." Lex slid out of the car gracefully; Chloe followed with a little less ease.

Lex lived in the penthouse, which didn't surprise Chloe in the least. She set her bag and her jacket down by the door, following Lex into a room with a long bar against one wall. "What's your pleasure?" he asked, crossing over to it.

"I don't suppose you have something in there to get rid of dark-haired reporters with the initials L.L., do you?"

"Trust me--if I did I'd have used it by now." Lex took out a crystal decanter of something amber and poured himself a glass. "She's got it in for me almost as much as her red-and-blue leading man does."

"Damn." Chloe grinned. "In that case, I'll have a Scotch, neat."

"A woman after my own tastes," Lex murmured. He poured her a glass and handed her the tumbler. Their fingers brushed as she took it, and although Chloe didn't read romance novels (well, except when she was sick and that didn't count), she could have sworn she felt a spark.

"Do I look like the frothy frou-frou drink type?" she asked wryly.

He smirked, taking a sip of his drink beore answering. "I'd have pegged you as a wine drinker, actually."

"I like wine, occasionally. Reds, mostly--my favorite is merlot. But for hard stuff--it's either Scotch or vodka and I wasn't in the mood for vodka tonight." She sipped. "Damn, this is good. Just what I needed--thank you."

"My pleasure." Lex gestured toward the couch. "Have a seat."

Chloe sank down on the couch, kicking off her shoes and tucking one leg under her. Lex sat at the other end of the couch, facing her. "So what were you doing at the dinner tonight?"

"Supposedly covering it. As my name isn't Lane, I get the boring assignments." Chloe took another swallow of Scotch. "I have got to find another job."

"As a reporter?"

"It's what I'm good at."

"I'm sure it's not the only thing you're good at," Lex said lightly. Chloe sipped her drink, hoping the alcohol would explain away her flushed cheeks. Lex couldn't be flirting with her--could he?

"It's my best marketable talent," she qualified.

"I see." Lex smiled a little. "Now I'm intrigued."

"Well, I somehow doubt I can get a job based on my ability to quote the entire original Star Wars trilogy," Chloe said dryly. "Or my knowledge of 80's song lyrics."

"Hmm. No, you're probably right on that one." Lex smiled again. "Although I don't know if I'd call the 80's song lyrics a skill or a curse."

Chloe laughed. "I'm not sure either, sometimes."

"Would you like another drink?" Lex asked. Chloe looked at her glass and realized it was mostly empty.

"No--probably not a good idea," she said reluctantly. "I should get home at some point."

"If that's what you want." Something in Lex's tone conveyed that while he'd drive her home, it wasn't his first choice.

"What do you want?" Chloe asked impulsively. Her voice of caution was jumping up and down screaming "This is a Very Bad Idea, idiot!" but she ignored it and set her glass down, leaning forward.

"That's a rather open-ended question." Lex looked at his drink contemplatively.

"You know what I meant."

"Mmm." Lex tossed back the rest of his drink and set the glass down. "Sure you want the answer to that?"

Okay. He definitely wanted her, but--"Only if it comes with an explanation."

"There isn't much of one. You're a very attractive woman with a brain that you actually use unlike most women I know, and you're not afraid of me or in awe of me." Lex shrugged. "Good enough?"

He hadn't answered her question directly; then again, with the explanation, he didn'tneed to.

"Depends on whether we're talking about a one-night stand or something more...involved." Chloe's inner voice was all but clobbering her over the head by this point; fortunately, she had years of practice at ignoring it.

"Let's start with tonight and see where it takes us."

Slowly, Chloe nodded. "I can do that." She smiled. "You haven't asked me what my reasons are."

"Should I?"

Chloe slid off the couch and stood, looking down at Lex. "Probably not." She held out her hand, amazed to see that it wasn't shaking.

"This way." Lex took her hand and rose, leading her down the hall, into the bedroom.

As he turned on the bedside lamps, Chloe thought back to the last time she'd had sex with anyone. She was a little startled to realize it had been almost a year and a half ago. "Talk about out of practice," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" Lex turned to face her.

"Nothing--just talking to myself."

He smiled a little and brushed a thumb over her cheek. "You can still change your mind."

"I can. But I don't want to." Chloe put both hands flat on his stomach and slid her hands up to his shoulders. "Kiss me?"

He tasted a little like Scotch and a little like mint and a lot like something she couldn't identify because her brain had stopped analyzing. Damn but he was good at this. Chloe ran her hands down his chest, frustrated to feel crisp fabric instead of warm skin, and broke the kiss.

"Problem?" Lex asked.

"Yes." Chloe grinned and reached for his tie. "You're dressed." She yanked it loose and let it slither to the floor. The shirt buttons came next. "Wow," she said when his shirt was unbuttoned but still on.

Lex smiled a little and shrugged his shirt off, letting it fall to the floor. Chloe's mouth went dry at the sight of him. "Wow," she said again, reaching out for him.

"Not so fast," Lex said, catching her wrists. "My turn." He kissed the inside of each wrist before letting her hands go. "Turn around."

She heard the whisper of fabric and the distinctive sound of her zipper coming undone. Lex kissed the nape of her neck and hooked his fingers under the neckline of her dress, pushing it down until it fell the rest of the way and puddled around her feet. Before she could step out of it, she felt him unfastening her bra, sliding the straps off her arms. It too fell to the floor, leaving her nude from the waist up.

"Better?" she asked, stepping out of the dress and turning around.

"Much." Lex cupped one of her breasts in his hand, running his thumb over her nipple; Chloe shivered and looked down, seeing it harden under his touch. Lex released her breast, only to slide his hand around her back and up into her hair, pulling her head back for his kiss.

She reached out for him, her arms going around his neck in an attempt to pull him closer. He must have gotten the idea; his other arm settled firmly around her waist, holding her against him. "Relax," he said when they finally came up for air. "We've got all night."

"And were you planning to do anything with it?" Chloe retorted. Unfortunately, it came out more breathless and less sarcastic than she'd hoped.

Lex smiled slowly--Chloe recognized the predatory look and a shudder ran down her spine. "Oh, yes," he said softly. The hand still twined in her hair tightened a little, tilting her head back. Lex bent his head and nipped her neck, hard enough that it stung a little. Chloe gasped, unsure if it hurt or felt good. She didn't get a chance to decide before he bit her again, this time on the other side.

"Don't--leave marks," she gasped, clinging to his arms. "Please."

"Don't worry," Lex murmured against her throat. "I won't." He released her hair then, turning the movement into a caress down her back that ended with his hands cupping her ass. "Pantyhose--the bane of my existence," he commented, tugging lightly at the waistband.

"Let me go and I'll take them off."

He stepped back, watching her peel the offending item down her legs and kick it aside. "There's something incredibly sexy about a woman wearing lace panties and nothing else," Lex said huskily. "In some ways it's more of a turn-on than a woman who's completely naked."

Chloe smiled a little and sat down on the bed, leaning back on her hands. "I'll leave them on, then. As long as you get rid of the rest of your clothes."

"A fair trade."

She couldn't look away from his hands--long, slender, and graceful, even in such prosaic tasks as taking off his pants. Chloe wondered what his hands would feel like on her--or inside her. She bit her lip at the thought. And then he was completely nude and she moved back on the bed to give him room. He crawled onto the bed, settling himself between her legs. His erection pressed against the thin lace barrier of her underwear; she whimpered a little at the feel, so good and yet so far away from what she really wanted.

"You have beautiful breasts," Lex said matter-of-factly. Chloe blushed at the compliment.

"Um--thanks," she said, feeling awkward.

He smiled. "Embarrassed?"

"I've never had anyone compliment my chest before."

"Pity. It deserves compliments." Lex lowered his head and drew one of her nipples into his mouth, swirling circles around it with his tongue. Chloe made a soft noise in the back of her throat, her head falling back. She whimpered in protest when he released it, but protest changed to pleasure when he turned his attention to the other nipple. He blew gently across her breasts, making her shiver and her nipples harden more from the cool air. "You're soaked, just from this," Lex murmured, toying with her nipples. "I think you don't even need me to touch you to come--if I just move like this--" His hips began circling gently against hers, thrusting against her panties. "Come for me, Chloe," he whispered, moving a little harder, a little faster. "I can feel it in you, dying to get out--come for me, sweet." He grazed her nipple with his teeth, rubbing the other one with his thumb, and Chloe moaned and arched her hips against his. She was almost there, she just needed a little more of that delicious friction--

"Oh!" Slowly, Chloe relaxed, feeling aftershocks jolt through her.

"Beautiful," Lex whispered. "Now let's get these panties off."

She raised her hips, letting him pull them down and off, tossing them carelessly on the floor. But instead of settling himself on top of her again, he stretched out next to her, propped up on an elbow. "That wasn't enough for you, was it?" he asked, almost telling her instead.

"Are you going to talk to me all night or are we actually--oh!" Chloe gasped in surprise when his finger entered her, his thumb on her clit.

"God, you're tight." Lex paused, not moving his hand. "You have done this before, right?"

"Just not in a while. Damnit, Lex, are you going to fuck me or not?" Chloe demanded breathlessly.

"Oh, I am." She heard the laughter in his voice. "Do you want my hand, my mouth, or my cock?" He could have been asking her what color shirt she preferred.

"I want your cock inside me, now," Chloe said, her teeth clenched. "And you can drop the disinterested act--your body's saying something else."

Slowly, Lex removed his hand, turning away from her to get something--a condom, she realized, hearing the plastic tear open. "Would you like to do the honors?" he asked, holding out the open packet.

"With pleasure." Chloe sat up, taking it from him. She wrapped her hand around him first, squeezing gently. There was nothing, but nothing, in the world like holding a guy's erection in her hand, she thought, smiling to herself. Even Lex's eyes half-closed and his breathing came a little faster when she had him in the circle of her fingers. Chloe leaned forward, licking up the drop of pre-come that had welled up from her touch. Lex didn't make a sound, but his body tensed.

"If you keep doing that, you won't get what you want," Lex warned her.

"Can't have that, now," Chloe said, sitting back. She rolled the condom down over him, smoothing it perhaps a bit more than was necessary. "There we--hey!" Lex had flipped her onto her back, bracing himself over her.

"Chloe?"

"Yes?"

"You can stop talking now." Lex shifted, positioning himself between her thighs. Before she could respond to that, he was fully sheathed in her and all coherency had flown out the window. Chloe cried out, bringing her legs up a little. "Wrap your legs around me," Lex said, his voice tight.

She did, muscles tensing from the strain, but she didn't care because he was moving and it was so good, so right, that she shuddered and came with his third stroke into her. "Oh, God, Chloe--" Lex groaned as her muscles clenched around him.

"Yes," she managed, running her nails over his back. "Oh, yes--" She was moving with him, her body sheened with sweat and her breasts sliding against his chest; if she opened her eyes she saw his face, tight with passion and need, and that was so intense that she had to close them.

Chloe lost track of time; all that mattered was the now of passion, the way he felt inside her, how when he shifted his angle slightly he brushed against something and she cried out and came again. It could have been minutes, or hours, before she felt Lex's back tense and heard the change in his breathing. "Close--" he got out, and she clenched around him and he groaned and came inside her.

After a little while, Lex left her, carefully taking off the condom and throwing it away. Chloe shivered, realizing that the sweat was drying on her body and she was starting to get chilled now that she didn't have Lex's body warming her. "Here," Lex said, pulling back the covers so she could crawl under them.

"Mmm. Thanks." Chloe turned on her side, facing Lex. "That was...amazing."

Lex smiled and kissed her gently. "Are you staying?"

"Do you want me to?" she asked, suddenly shy.

"I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

"Oh." Chloe stretched and cuddled up to Lex, resting her head on his chest. "Then I'll stay."

"Good." He kissed the top of her head, his arms around her. "Because I'm not nearly done with you yet."