Foreign Affair

Lana's arms were full to bursting as she stopped in front of her dorm room. She fumbled for her keys and the sketch books, Art history text books and supplies she'd been trying to juggle fell to the floor around her feet. Sighing audibly, she knelt to pick them up and the strap of her backpack broke, sending the rest of her textbooks spilling out behind her.

"Great. Just great," she said angrily and bit back the sob that rose in her throat as she surveyed the mess. It was the perfect end to the worst day in her entire life. Well, maybe not her *entire life* but certainly since she'd come to this god-forsaken art school. Madame Aubert hated the last project she'd handed in for grading. She'd hated the last two, actually. She was having a hard time understanding her teacher half the time. She'd taken--and excelled in--French in Smallville, but she was rapidly learning that there wa s difference between what most American teenagers learned in the classroom and what real French people living in France actually spoke. It was impossible!

And she missed... everyone. The Talon. Lex, Clark, Chloe and Mr. Sullivan, the Kents... even Aunt Nell. She cried herself to sleep at night and her roommate just looked at her like she had never seen anyone as odd Lana Lang.

Well, she wouldn't have to wonder for too much longer if things didn't start picking up, as Lana would fail the semester and have to go home. The Monique would get a new roommate--one she could hold a full conversation with--Lana thought bitterly as she started gathering up her things. She leaned her sketch against the wall as she rose to her feet and tested the doorknob with her now-free hands. It turned, which was both a blessing and a curse, as it meant Monique was back from her classes early. While Lana was thankful she didn't have to rummage through her stuff for her door key, she had wanted to be alone with her failures.

"Bonjour, Lana!" Monique chirped without looking away from the easel she'd set up in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, whatever," Lana mumbled under her breath as she dumped her junk on her bed.

Monique did turn around then and gave Lana a sympathetic--at least Lana thought it was sympathy--look. Then she pointed with her charcoal pencil to Lana's desk. "Un letter est arrivé pour vous. Il vient des États Unis."

Lana didn't have to search her entire French vocabulary to understand the gist of what Monique had just said. A letter from the United States! She literally pounced upon the envelope, hoping it was Chloe with an update on how the Talon's new manager was working out.

Instead, she was surprised to find that the letter was from Lex, whom she had not heard form at all since the day he drove her to the airport in his limousine. The letter was brief; scarcely even a full page long, but what it said put a smile on Lana's face for the first time in days. Lex was coming to Paris on a business trip, and would be "just around the corner from your school. Perhaps we can meet for le petite déjeuner?"

****

Lex sent a car around to pick Lana up at the school and bring to her some restaurant she didn't know the name of--she couldn't pronounce it--at noon on the following Saturday. She hadn't been sure of what to expect: because it was France all the names to event he crummiest dives had fancy sounding names. Instead she tried to look chic in black jeans and a white, sheer peasant blouse. She wore a white silk camisole underneath it so it wouldn't be too revealing. Not that this would be an issue ever, as Lex had never noticed the crush she'd had on him for most of their time as business partners. Or if he had, he hadn't shown her any signs beyond friendliness. So she had to belief he wouldn't notice.

At least, that had been her assumption up until the car pulled up in front of a very fancy restaurant. Really fancy, and not just because of the name. The people who were leaving all wore expensive suits and dresses. Lana squirmed in her seat. Had she really thought she'd fit in here? Ever?

The maître de didn't understand her as she tried to explain that she was here to meet Lex Luthor. He kept making sweeping gestures with his whole arm as he pointed to her outfit and repeating the same phrase over and over again. They probably had a dress code and Lana clearly wasn't filling it. As if to confirm that, the cross man pointed his finger to the front door and commanded her to "Sortez, s'il vous plaît!"

Lana's lip started to quiver and she bit it to stave off the tears that were brimming in her eyes. She was just turning to go when a blissfully familiar voice called out her name.

"Lana!"

When Lana turned back around, Lex was striding towards her with a look on annoyed determination on his face. He was very dashing in his tuxedo, but that thought flickered away as she watched him confront the man who'd just ordered her way. A moment later, the now-humbled man was almost cowering as he apologized to her.

"Lex! Oh my god, thank you so much!" Lana blurted out as she did the only thing she could think of and threw her arms around his neck. His body tensed a little at unexpected contact, but then he hugged in return. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you!"

"I think I have a pretty good idea," he said cryptically. When Lana pulled back a little so she could look at him, cocking her head like a curious puppy, he smirked. "Too many years at boarding school after boarding school," he explained as he escorted her to his table, his hand remaining on the small her of her back as if to prove that she was with him. People stared at Lana's attire, and she felt self-conscious. Lex didn't seem to notice the eyes that followed. "You look great, by the way," he said with an appraising look that was both flattering and genuine Lex.

"Thanks," she said softly as she sat down in the chair he held out for her. "And yeah, I guess you would know something about being away from everything you know."

"You feel like a fish out of water," he commented, commiserating.

"And an utter failure..." This earned Lana a concerned look from Lex, and she found herself unloading all her recent woes on him. His expression grew worried with each word, and he reached across the table to cover her hand with his own.

"I'm sorry, Lana. I had no idea."

Lana shook her head. "I haven't exactly told anyone. I think after all the things I said to them to justify my going... they would laugh," she admitted in a small voice.

Lex seemed to consider this. "Maybe they would," he said in a thoughtful tone. "But if that's the case, then they weren't very good friends in the first place." He gave her hand a squeeze and added. "But I think you put less stock in your friends than you should, Lana."

Lana's reply was interrupted by the waitress who suddenly appeared at Lex's side. As he ordered meals for both of them and a glass of wine for himself, Lana mulled over his words. Had she misjudged them? She knew she and Chloe hadn't exactly been very close, even when she was living with her. She also knew that Chloe and Clark were now dating. After all Lana had done--things she was not proud of now--to keep them apart when she wanted Clark for herself, Lana couldn't imagine her one-time housemate being sympathetic. Still... she did write once a month. Long letters about classes and people they both knew. She'd seen Nell and Dean on a recent trip to Metropolis and recounted that with much humor. On the other hand... she never said 'can't wait 'til you come home, Lana' or 'I really miss having you around.' Clark letters were the opposite. They were post cards with pictures of green fields or the Metropolis skyline on them. The messages were always one paragraph in length and were usually platonically friendly. It all confused Lana so much, and--

"Lana?" Lex's voice cut into her thoughts. He smirked as he got her attention. "What would you like to drink?"

Lana hesitated, knowing full well that they were in a fancy restaurant--in France where the legal drinking age was sixteen--and that she would look out of place ordering a Pepsi. Not that she would know how to order a Pepsi in the first place. "Um, ah..." She blushed.

Lex smiled as if he's just read her mind and suggested, "How about I just have them bring the same wine I'm having?"

"Sure," she responded and sighed, feeling the burden of that lift. "That would be great."

****

Lana felt warm all the down to her toes.

She'd only had one glass of wine in the restaurant, but had indulged in another on the ride back to Lex's hotel--they were going to the hotel because Lana hadn't felt like going back to school just yet. Now they were seated side by side on an antique-looking divan in the seating area of Lex's suite and Lana was sipping on yet another flute of white wine.

"Maybe I should take that," Lex commented when Lana giggled in response to his description of the Talon's new manager. Before she could argue that she was fine... just happy to be with a friend... he reached for the glass and set the glass down on the nearby glass coffee table. His fingers brushed against her hand as he did so, and Lana suddenly felt a whole a lot warmer as a flush of something she wouldn't dare define as friendship coursed through her body.

Lana had never entertained thoughts that Lex thought of her as anything save a little sister before. She was younger than he was by a handful of years, still in high school when they met and innocent in a lot of ways. Well, not *that* way, as she'd lot her virginity to Whitney before he left for the Marines though that was a secret she'd never share. But when it came to the worldliness Lex literally oozed at times, yes, she was innocent still. Here in his hotel room, however, Lana wasn't getting the "kid sister" vibe. Not at all.

"Are you all right, Lana? The wine wasn't too--"

When Lex's mouth puckered around the word 'too,' Lana decided to throw caution to the wind. Or maybe the wine decided for her. Whichever it was, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his clumsily. Then she sprang away form him, startled by what she'd done.

"Lex, I'm sorry. I... I..." She what? She hadn't meant to do it? She had been silently fantasizing about kissing him for three straight years, and now she was just going to apologize for it?

She started to scoot away from him but suddenly found herself enveloped in strong arms that pulled her to him. His body arm hard and muscular inside the softness of his rumpled suit her body fitted against it in a way it hadn't with anyone else. Not Whitney, and certainly not Clark. She was given little time to examine the differences, however, because his lips descended upon hers and all thoughts flew from her brain.

His lips teased hers until they opened in soft sigh and still he kissed, stealing the breath from her lungs. She trembled in his arms like a butterfly caught in a net.

"Don't be sorry," Lex said in a hushed voice as he lifted his mouth from hers.

The room seemed to spinning as Lana tried to process what had happened. She'd kissed Lex, and he'd kissed her back--but what a kiss! Nothing like she'd ever had before nor ever would again. Although, he wasn't discouraging this course of action, now was he? She tested that theory by leaning in and kissing him again, growing bolder still and running her tongue across his lower lips. He groaned in response and pulled her into his lap, and she had to wriggle a little to make it comfortable.

The wiggling made Lana all too aware of the growing hardness between them--one that got more noticeable the more she squirmed against him. Lex, it seemed was also aware of it, and his hands gravitated to her hips. Not to move her off him, but to grip her tighter as she moved against him more deliberately.

"Lana... yes..." he murmured against her kisses and his tongue slid against hers as it teased his lips, then pulled back as if guiding her into his mouth. Lana followed, his whispered prompting all she needed to hear. She acted on one of her old secret fantasies, getting more turned on as Lex whispered what she should do and then moaned or gasped his approval.

She knew--on the vague level that one knows primal things--that he was letting her do this. He could easily have taken control... of her and of the encounter. But he wasn't, and Lana was free to see what happened when she kissed him one way or touched him in another. Free to explore, to feel, to take.

He didn't stop her when she pushed the jacket of his suit off his shoulders and began to work on the buttons of the white shirt. His back arched so she could remove them both and run her fingers across his smooth pale skin. She'd fantasized about Lex's skin before... he looked so slim in the clothes he always wore. What a surprise that hidden underneath layers of crisp cotton, silk or cashmere was well-sculpted muscle! Even more of a surprise that said muscle trembled when she touched it--not out of fear but from barely contained anticipation.

The air between them was thick with desire.

Or at least, that's what Lana thought it was. Desire... and the heady feeling being in control for the first time in her entire life. There were no parents, no teachers, no friends, no customers... nothing but Lex and herself and no rules except the ones he was allowing her to make. And Lana knew what she wanted.

She wanted to touch Lex... everywhere... wanted to feel him. Him. And wanted him to touch her. To feel her. She wanted to feel what it was like to be one with him in the only way two people can be one. Mostly, she wanted to erase her first time with Whitney from her memory--a fumbling awkward moment that hurt in a way no sex ed class had warned her about--and for this to be her first time as a woman with a man.

Maybe it was, as it wasn't a boy who was cupping her breasts through her white peasant blouse. And it certainly wasn't a boy whose hips she was grinding into rhythmically. It was a man; the man she'd thought of every time she picked out what to wear when she went over to the Luthor mansion for the monthly book-keeping session. Was this the outfit that would cause Lex to scatter the budget reports on the floor and take her right there on the rug in front of the fireplace?

But this wasn't some childish fantasy. It was real. Lex's hands on her were real... pulling her blouse over her head and tossing it--and the camisole--somewhere behind them. His breath on her skin was real--hot and heavy as he unclasped her front hooking brassiere with his teeth. His teeth nipping at her sensitive flesh.

Her jeans and his pants came next, though Lana couldn't remember either of them standing up to remove them. That action was lost somewhere in a haze of heated kisses and touches. Lex wasn't wearing underwear at all and Lana's soon joined the rest of her clothes in a pile on the floor.

Without thinking, she pushed Lex back onto the divan and straddled him again. As their hips rocked together, Lana could feel his hard length between her legs... rubbing and sliding. Closer to entering her on each little calculated movement.

"This is what you want." It wasn't a question. It didn't need to be; as Lana body was telling Lex all he needed to know. She was hot everywhere and already so wet. And Lex was hard as he pushed against her.

"Yes!" she answered, and finally let him inside her, joining them both. She sank onto him, and he filled her like nothing else in the world. His fingers dug in to her hips now, and his lips pressed into the curve of her neck. Her hips rocked against his rhythmically, only harder and faster now. He went deeper inside her with each movement of her body, and what started out as little whimpers of pleasure in her throat were now cries of ecstasy.

****

Lex's limo took her back to her dormitory in the morning and then dropped him off at the airport for an emergency flight to England. He'd promised to return.

There were marks on her neck and on her hips, which she discovered during her shower. Lana hadn't thought it then; she was too busy feeling alive for the first time in her entire life.