(no subject)
She loved it. And she’d known Gabrielle would love it.
But she really wanted Lex to love it too.
When he’d finished scanning the room, Lex met Chloe’s eyes. Said, “I like it a lot. I really do.”
Chloe let out the breath she’d been holding. “You do? You’re sure?”
He smiled at her with fond impatience. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I? I like the color scheme and choice of furniture, and it doesn’t even feel like it’s out of place with the rest of the home.”
“I tried to make sure of that,” she admitted, able to relax now that she was sure Lex’s reaction was sincere. “Lois wanted me to get a huge denim couch and then add some red plaid throw pillows and an enormous painting of a cowboy.”
Lex made a choking noise. “Thank you for not doing so,” he murmured dryly, sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her against his side.
Chloe gave him a sideways hug and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “So it’s okay?”
“It’s perfect,” Lex assured her. “It’s exactly what I was hoping for.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, “For giving up your other room for us.”
Lex shook his head and looked faintly exasperated. “You don’t seem to understand, Chloe. I want this to be your home too. Yours and Gabrielle’s.”
Chloe was feeling very mushy and very happy when Gabrielle came running over at the sound of her name. “Gab! Gab!” she babbled ecstatically, pointing over to the corner with all of her toys and books.
“That’s right,” Chloe told her. “Those are all yours. All Gabrielle’s.”
Gabrielle squealed in excitement and stumbled back to start pulling out a basket that held some of her oversized LEGO blocks.
“What are you going to put on the wall over there?” Lex asked, gesturing toward an empty space on the wall, next to the entertainment center.
“Oh,” Chloe replied, slightly self-consciously. “I thought maybe you could put a smaller piano there, just so you could still have one in the penthouse. I know it’s not the same as a grand piano, but still . . .”
Lex’s face changed. He didn’t smile. But he murmured, “Thank you.”
“I thought you’d want to pick it out yourself,” Chloe added. “Since I have no idea how to buy a good piano.”
Lex pulled Chloe all the way toward him, until she was pressed up against the front of his body. As he gazed down on her, his eyes were smoldering with a familiar and breathtaking combination of tenderness and passion. “Thank you,” he said again, his voice thicker than it had been.
She sighed contentedly and twined her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I love you. Did you know that?”
His face softened into a half-smile. “I did.” He leaned down to press a soft kiss onto her lips, sliding his mouth against hers deliciously. “I love you too,” he murmured against her mouth.
“And I love living with you,” she added, “And I would, even if you hadn’t given us this room.”
“You can have as many rooms as you want,” Lex breathed, kissing her again, more deeply this time. His tongue stroked along the inside of her lips.
Chloe could feel flutters of feeling: in her heart, her belly, and lower. She pressed herself into the hard, warm strength of his body. “Let’s do the bedroom next.”
“Kss,” Gabrielle exclaimed, extending the hiss of the last consonant and interupting their embrace. “Kss.” She’d come back over to them and was now tugging on the leg of Lex’s trousers.
“Yes,” Lex replied seriously, pulling back from Chloe a little. “I was kissing your mommy.”
Gabrielle kept tugging on his leg. “Kss.” This time, she puffed out her cheeks and held up her mouth toward him, in the silliest, demanding expression.
Lex chuckled and knelt down beside her. “Did you want a kiss too?” He leaned over and gave her a kiss, which made his daughter giggle and hug herself in excitement.
She then demanded a kiss from Chloe as well, and when she’d gotten that, she scampered around the room screaming happily-alternating between her toys, the ottoman for one of the chairs that she evidently decided was hers, and the glass doors onto the wide balcony.
“Do you think she even knows why she should be excited?” Chloe asked wryly, glancing over at Lex and wishing for Gabrielle's naptime-since kissing Lex earlier had given Chloe some very particular ideas.
Lex shook his head. “Of course not. But she knows that we’re excited.”
Chloe’s breath hitched, oddly touched that he’d said “we” instead of just her.
After a lingering look at Lex, Chloe decided that sadly it was too early to put Gabrielle down for her nap yet. So she shook herself off and said, “Pumpkin? Did you want to watch a movie on our new couch?”
Gabrielle definitely understood the word movie. Chloe tried not to let her daughter watch too much TV yet, so the activity remained something special. Gabrielle adored watching the half-hour, toddler DVD’s Chloe had bought her, shows that were ostensibly supposed to teach as well as entertain.
Gabrielle squealed again in delight at this unexpected treat and planted herself squarely in the middle of the floor, her eyes fixed up on the blank TV screen.
Lex chuckled and scooped her up. “We’ll be more comfortable on the couch,” he suggested, carrying her over and setting her up beside him in the middle of the sofa.
All three of them watched one of Gabrielle’s little shows, and Chloe waited impatiently for naptime, during which she was hoping to spend some quality time with Lex alone. It was the first weekend in a month that Lex had been home in the middle of the day on a Saturday, and Chloe was planning to take advantage of it-in every possible way.
Gabrielle watched the television mesmerized, while she ate some little crackers Chloe brought over for her and drank juice from one of her sippy cups.
When the DVD was over, Chloe asked, “Are you ready for your nap, Gabrielle?”
Gabrielle screwed her face into a scowl. “No.”
Chloe nodded at her daughter soberly. “Okay. We can play for ten more minutes. Then it will be nap time.”
Gabrielle half-crawled, half-toppled off of the couch. Then she started wobbling around, trying to sing at the top of her lungs one of the songs from the DVD. She was obviously getting tired, and her excited high was about to wear out. She was going to need her nap very soon.
Chloe was hoping to get her down for her nap before the crabbiness she knew would follow such an overload of exuberance started to emerge.
They talked and played with Gabrielle for nine more minutes, until Chloe stood up and said to Lex, “I’m going to the bathroom. See if she’s done with her crackers. And then it will be naptime.” She looked over at Gabrielle significantly. “Naptime.”
Gabrielle’s red face started to screw up into another scowl.
Chloe left the room to go to the bathroom, fantasizing that Lex would have talked their daughter into peaceful submission before she went back to the room.
Naptime usually wasn't a problem; Gabrielle liked her little routine, and she liked making them happy. But today had included some unusual excitement--plus the added stimulation of Lex's having spent the day with them--so Gabrielle wasn't going to think her nap was as desirable as normal.
No one liked to miss out on the fun.
Chloe didn’t hear any screaming as she made her way back to the family room a few minutes later. She hoped that was a good sign.
Then she heard Lex’s clear voice, as she approached the doorway, “You said you were done with your crackers. So we need to put them up.”
“No!”
Chloe sighed resignedly, preparing herself for the inevitable. Too much stimulation plus too much fatigue were the perfect conditions for a temper fit.
She paused in the doorway. Saw Lex leaning over in front of a very grumpy looking Gabrielle. His hand was extended for the plastic container of crackers she was clinging to stubbornly.
“Gabrielle,” Lex said again-his voice calm and firm. “I didn’t ask you a question. It’s time to give me the crackers.”
“No,” Gabrielle mumbled again, her face getting redder and redder and her little body started to shake.
Even from the doorway, Chloe could see Lex let out a long breath. Then he murmured, “Gabrielle.” With an obvious warning in the one word, he reached for the container of crackers.
Chloe could see what was going to happen, even before it actually occurred. She could see the rebellious intention on her daughter’s face, could see conscious defiance in the set of her tiny jaw. So she knew what was coming next, even before the toddler willfully flung the container on the floor at Lex’s feet, spilling the crackers out onto the floor.
Gabrielle wasn’t crying or screaming, but she was so angry it seemed to be swallowing her childish face. Her little chin was sticking out stubbornly-just like Chloe’s always did.
Chloe was almost holding her breath now, felt like she was watching the most intense kind of movie, as she waited to see what would happen.
As she waited to see what Lex would do.
Lex’s quiet expression didn’t change. He squatted down until he was on Gabrielle’s level. Picked up the empty container she had thrown down and set it neatly on the rug. “Pick up time.”
Gabrielle stared at him with mulish blue-gray eyes, but her mouth was starting to tremble now.
“Pick up time. I’ll help,” Lex continued gravely. He put one cracker in the bowl, dropping it so that it made a loud plunk in the plastic container. Then he picked up another cracker, repeating the same gesture. “Gabrielle, pick up time.”
For a moment, Chloe thought Gabrielle was going to cave. Her little face relaxed a little as curiosity got the better of her in watching Lex drop the crackers in.
But then she saw Chloe standing in the doorway. She whimpered and started stumbling toward her. “Momma,” she mumbled pathetically. “Momma.” When she reached Chloe, she clung to her leg.
Chloe squatted down to return her daughter’s hug briefly, her heart lurching at how soft and tiny the toddler was. But then she stood up. Took Gabrielle by the hand and led her back to Lex, who was still kneeling on the floor.
Instead of snatching her baby up and squeezing her into another hug, which is what she really wanted to do, Chloe released Gabrielle’s hand. “Your daddy said it was pick up time."
Then Chloe backed off. Looked at Lex, who was still watching Gabrielle quietly.
He picked up another cracker and dropped it into the container. "Pick up time."
With a loud sniff, Gabrielle plopped her bottom onto the floor and fisted a cracker with one of her little hands. Then dropped the crumbling cracker into the container, just like Lex had.
“That’s right,” Lex said, nodding at her encouragingly. “Pick up time.”
She picked up another cracker. This one stuck to her hand so she had to wriggle her fingers to get it to fall into the container. One by one, she kept picking them up, a look a trembling concentration on her chubby face. Lex kept picking them up too, so soon all the crackers were back in the container.
Lex snapped the lid onto the container and pulled himself up to his feet. “Very good,” he announced, a warmer edge in his voice. “We picked them all up. Thank you.”
Gabrielle wobbled to her feet and stared up at him. “Kers.”
Lex nodded, smiling a little, although the expression on his face was oddly shaky now. “Yes. We picked up the crackers. Thank you. Good job.”
Gabrielle suddenly crumbled. She burst into tears. Clung to Lex’s leg in a desperate, urgent hug.
Chloe’s face crumpled as she watched, and she saw Lex kneel down again and pull Gabrielle into his arms, holding her tightly, urgently, and then picking her up as he stood. “Good job,” he kept murmuring. “Good job.”
Gabrielle sobbed and clutched at his shirt, until the brief storm had faded into little gurgles and gasps. And Chloe could hear her choking out, “Dada” and “ots.”
Chloe had a little cry herself on the other side of the room, but managed to pull herself together by the time Lex finally released their daughter, telling her “good job” and “thank you” one more time.
Lex’s expression was so tense now that Chloe knew he needed a minute alone, so she wiped Gabrielle’s cheeks and asked, “Are you ready for your nap now?”
Gabrielle bobbed her head several times. “Ess.”
Chloe avoided Lex’s eyes, knowing he didn’t want her to pry right now, but she squeezed his shoulder gently before she left to take Gabrielle into the nursery.
There, instead of putting Gabrielle into the crib immediately, she pulled her baby into her arms and cradled her in her lap in the rocker-just as she’d wanted to do earlier. Stroking the messy red waves of hair, Chloe kissed and cuddled Gabrielle, murmuring out a lot of nonsense that she prayed no one else would ever hear.
Gabrielle babbled incoherently for a while, too tired to make a lot of sense. Until she looked up at Chloe’s face and pronounced distinctly, “Kers.”
Chloe nodded. “Yes. Crackers. You got mad and threw the crackers. So you had to pick them up.” She had absolutely no idea how much her daughter understood. Sometimes, it felt like she didn’t understand very much. But sometimes, like now, she seemed to understand everything.
Nodding subduedly, Gabrielle repeated, “Kers.”
Then she snuggled back against Chloe’s chest. “Momma,” she mumbled.
“Mommy loves you,” Chloe said softly. “Lots and lots.” She squeezed her and kissed one of her cheeks.
“Ots,” Gabrielle repeated happily, trying to squeeze Chloe too.
“Yes,” Chloe murmured. “Lots and lots. Mommy and daddy love you lots and lots.”
Chloe was about to take her to crib when Gabrielle said, “Ots. Dada.” Her eyes looked huge and perfectly round.
It felt like Chloe’s throat closed up temporarily. But she managed to answer what she took to be a question, “Yes. Daddy loves you. Lots and lots and lots.”
Gabrielle mumbled something incoherent and contented. She was about to fall asleep, so Chloe ended the extended hug and lowered her into the crib.
It had only been a little more than an hour since she’d shown Lex their new family room, but it felt to Chloe like she’d been through a war. She was emotional and felt kind of weak, and she really hoped that Lex was all right.
She’d seen his expression when he was holding Gabrielle and telling her she’d done a good job. Chloe had seen his eyes-had known how to read them.
And she wondered-not for the first time-if Lex’s own father had ever told him the same thing. At any age.
It was a heartbreaking thought, and Chloe felt a sudden surge of hatred for Lionel Luthor. Not for the old reasons, but because of the father he'd failed to be to his son.
She hoped it was soon enough to find Lex now, and so she went back through the penthouse, glancing around until she found him still in the family room.
He was slouched on the sofa, his head leaning back against the sofa and his eyes closed.
“Hey,” she murmured, approaching him and doing her best not to pull him into a hug and cradle him the way she’d done with Gabrielle. “Okay?”
“I'm not in danger of having a breakdown, if that's what you mean,” Lex replied, opening his eyes and smiling at her a little dryly.
Chloe was so glad to see that smile. The clench in her stomach relaxed a little.
“Although I wish I hadn’t . . .” he began, frowning and looking exhausted again. “She’s so tiny. And maybe she’s too young to really understand. I shouldn’t have . . .” His voice trailed off and he closed his eyes again, something like guilt on his face.
Deciding she was allowed now to put her arms around him, Chloe did so, kissing him softly on the side of the jaw. “You were great. Perfect. Of course, she’s tiny, but kids mature at different rates. She's pretty smart. I think she understood.”
Lex looked over at her, giving her the opportunity to press a kiss on the side of his mouth. “Do you think so? I thought she knew what she was doing. I can recognize conscious defiance when I see it. But then she started to cry so much, and I thought maybe I’d just scared her and she didn’t understand why.”
“I think she did,” Chloe assured him, pressing up against him. “She was just crying because she was tired and she’d gone through too much emotion. It’s hard to tell exactly how much, but she at least understood some of it. She was telling me about it in the nursery.”
The corner of Lex’s mouth lifted and a warm glint awoke in his eyes. “Was she? What was she saying?”
Chloe grinned at him and massaged the back of his neck with one of her hands. “She was telling me about the crackers. And then she was making sure that you still loved her.”
At this, Lex’s brows drew together. “She was what? You mean she doesn’t know?”
“I’m sure she knows,” Chloe said hurriedly, realizing she’d inadvertently evoked a haunting fear in Lex. “She just likes to hear it. Ots. She was saying it to you when you were hugging her.” Chloe smiled wistfully at the memory. Knew it was one that would never leave her. “That’s what ‘ots’ means.”
Lex stood up abruptly and paced out of the room.
Chloe stared at the empty doorway, rather dumbfounded, blinking and feeling kind of rejected. Until she realized what Lex had gone to do.
He was going to wake Gabrielle up from her nap to tell her that he loved her. To make sure she knew.
Chloe got a little choked up immediately, at what this gesture revealed about the sweetness at the core of Lex's nature. So she expected to wallow in tenderness and sappy feelings until Lex came back.
But then something strange happened. Unexpected. Unpredictable. Utterly shocking.
She felt something. Something different. Something she never expected to feel again. Something she’d resigned herself to living without.
It was rising inside her, fluttering like a living presence.
Something wholly inappropriate. Incongrous. Inexplicable.
Chloe put a hand on her belly, although the sensation wasn’t really centered there.
She didn’t know where it was centered.
But she knew how to recognize it. She'd felt it before. Ages before. In entirely different contexts.
And it had never felt exactly like this.
When Lex returned a few minutes later, Chloe was still stunned and almost dizzy from the intensifying feeling that was whirling somewhere inside of her.
It seemed like the entire universe was whirling with her.
“Chloe?” Lex asked quizzically, looking at her in concern. “Are you all right? Are you sick?”
“I’m not sick,” Chloe answered, her voice faint and unnatural. She was staring at the blank spot on the wall where the piano would later go. "Did you tell her?"
“Yes. What’s wrong?” Lex demanded, holding her by the shoulders and turning her to face him. “What happened? Chloe, tell me.”
The urgency in his voice finally broke through her haze of astonishment. She shook her head. Mumbled, “It’s nothing. Just . . . something . . . random.”
Lex’s eyes had narrowed as he studied her face. “So you’re really not going to tell me?” he asked thickly.
She should. She needed to. She just wasn’t sure how.
It was so new. So totally, unfathomably out of the blue. But she began, “I just felt something . . . strange.”
“Felt something? So you are sick?”
She shook her head again. Then brushed her hair out of her face. “No. It’s just that . . .”
She paused. Tried to figure out how to say this.
She must be insane. To finally be feeling this now. For no reason. After such an insignificant moment.
Although it clearly wasn't insignificant to her.
“I feel . . .” She stopped again. Pushed through the tangled sensations she was experiencing until she closed on the one thread that had changed everything.
It was there. She knew what it was. But it was almost unsayable. Indefinable. Nameless.
Except . . . she'd tried to describe it to Lex before. Maybe she could use those same words.
Maybe then he could understand.
Chloe gulped. Admitted the most unlikely thing, which had finally occurred after two years: “Like I was . . . flying.”
* * *
Lex blinked at her. “You feel like you’re . . .”
“Flying,” Chloe repeated, actually blushing as she admitted it.
It was absurd. Ridiculous. To be feeling this way after so long. Lex would very likely think she was crazy.
She didn’t care. She felt kind of crazy. Like a besotted teenager. And she couldn’t help but giggle helplessly at the blank, dumbstruck look on Lex’s face.
Pulling her legs up onto the couch, she scooted over until she was pressed up against him. Whispered into his ear, “I think I might be falling in love with you.”
Lex made a choking sound that sounded like a surprise laugh. Then he arched one eyebrow and gave her a wry look. “Baby, I believe you’ve gotten things backwards.”
Chloe giggled again and wrapped her arms around his neck. “We’ve been backwards from the very beginning. I’m just saying . . . right now, I feel some definite . . . flying.”
She could see something deep and hot smoldering in Lex’s cool blue eyes. Knew what it meant to him that she’d admitted this. Knew what it meant to him that she’d felt it after so long.
Of course, he didn’t acknowledge his undeniable response. He’d opened up to her over the last year more than she’d ever dreamed possible. But some things still went too deep. Some things would always be unspoken.
All he said was, “And what exactly prompted these flying feelings? The idiot I made of myself with the crackers? My inability to discipline my daughter without turning into a pathetic pile of mush afterwards? Or was it just my selfish need to wake a one-year-old up from her nap?”
Chloe chuckled, feeling ludicrously giddy, and adoring both his self-deprecating humor and the slight twitch at the right corner of his supple lips. “I think it must have been all of the above,” she confessed, pressing a soft, wet kiss onto the side of his head, just above his ear. “It was an irresistible combination.”
Lex turned his face toward her, so she draped herself against him more fully. He buried one hand in the messy waves of her hair until his fingers were curved around her scalp. He said dryly, “One could question your taste and discretion in these matters-if that sort of thing turns you on.”
Taking his lower lip between both of hers, Chloe tugged on it a little. Murmured, “My taste and discretion are just fine. And you do more than just turn me on.” She adjusted her body until she was straddling his lap, hooking her arms around his neck.
Lex’s hands skated over her back and the curve of her ass, something new sparking to life in his eyes. “More?” he queried huskily.
Chloe nuzzled the side of his head. Then took his earlobe between her teeth. “Oh, yeah. A lot more.” She felt intoxicated with the wild whirl of feelings inside her. Felt like she was drunk on this new, inexplicable sensation that filled her. Clinging to Lex, she exulted in it.
Then saw the scene objectively for a surreal moment.
Chloe Sullivan. Perfectly normal. Draped over Lex Luthor suggestively and about to have her way with him. In the middle of their family room, after a very domestic interlude. With their daughter.
Their daughter. Gabrielle Elizabeth Sullivan-Luthor. The daughter of Lex Luthor and Chloe Sullivan.
Chloe giggled again at the absurdity, at the delicious irony of it. The irony of her whole life.
She'd been so sure that having Lex Luthor's baby would have ended far differently than it had.
It was stupid, she decided-stupid and futile-to ever claim that any one thing could never happen.
Inevitably, it always would.
But, despite what she'd used to believe, irony didn't always have to be bitter. For the backwards spin of irony that had shaped the rest of her life had left Chloe--for the moment, at least--unspeakably happy.
“After what happened, I was expecting you’d want to have a deep, intense conversation about our feelings and secret fears,” Lex admitted, his hands cupping her ass in a possessive way that sent tingles of sensation to her center. “I certainly wasn’t expecting for you to jump me.”
Chloe chuckled again, rubbing her breasts against him shamelessly. “Would you rather share our deepest feelings?” she asked. “I’m open to that if you’d rather.”
As it happened, she didn’t really feel like spilling her guts at the moment. But if Lex had something on his mind, then she could certainly contain her intoxicated, giddy lust for a little while.
Lex chuckled too-his amusement throaty and erotic. “I think this is a far better idea,” he concluded. “It will just take me a couple of minutes to shift gears.”
Chloe ran her hands down from his shoulders to stroke over his chest, the fabric of his shirt shifting with her caress. She was already aroused, and she squirmed against him to relieve some of the pressure, staring down at his relaxed face and his slightly tired eyes.
Then she reconsidered. Yes, she had been absurdly moved by these crazy, intense feelings just now.
But Lex had just gone through something with his daughter that she knew had been very difficult. That would have stripped him of a lot of his defenses.
Maybe talking it over would be a better idea than engaging in some wild, passionate fucking.
She pulled back, one of her palms over his heart. “Maybe we shouldn’t,” she said, a note of concern in her voice. “I was just really . . . giddy. But you look tired. And I’m really not so horny that I can’t wait if . . .”
Lex frowned up at her. “And what makes you think that I’m not giddy myself?” His voice was cool and arrogant.
Chloe choked on a burst of laughter at the absolute incongruity of his words. Leaning against him again, she hugged him tightly, adoring the solid feel of his body in her arms. “Are you saying that you’re giddy too? You look rather snotty to be truly giddy.”
“Perhaps you should look beyond the surface,” Lex replied, his tone exaggeratedly defensive. He was teasing her-in an attempt to prove to her that he wanted this as much as she did.
She understood. Curled up the corner of her mouth. “It would be easier to look beyond the surface if a certain person’s surface wasn’t as thick as . . .”
Her words trailed off. She lost the train of her thought.
Found it impossible to taunt him with cool disdain after what she’d just seen in his eyes.
She’d known that her admission of feelings would mean something to Lex. Would mean a lot. She’d known he’d always wanted her to feel . . . everything for him.
But still . . . she’d expected his reaction to be deep and quiet. Lex-like, as far as emotions were always concerned.
She’d never actually expected Lex to be giddy at her revelation.
But he was. Giddy. And she’d just seen the proof in his eyes.
“Thick as what?” Lex demanded, still putting on the show of smug composure. “Similes really shouldn’t be left unfinished.”
Chloe tried to respond in kind. Tried to continue their loving banter. Couldn’t.
It felt like she crumpled completely. With a hoarse sound, she hugged him against her again. Gasped, “God, I’m so in love with you, Lex.”
Lex’s arms tightened around her urgently. So tightly it felt like he might bruise her ribs. She didn’t care. She needed it. Needed to feel as much of him as she could.
After a minute, Lex murmured, “So, if you’re convinced now that I don’t need to brood, maybe we can continue what we’d barely started.”
“Sounds good to me,” Chloe agreed, feeling the ache of arousal deepen between her legs in anticipation.
She slid one hand down to cup his groin. He wasn’t very hard yet, but she could feel his flesh tighten as she massaged him with skilled familiarity. As she did so, she stretched her body up so she could mouth his smooth, bald head, sliding her lips along the taut skin and fluttering her tongue at every tantalizing dip.
Lex groaned beneath her, and she felt him start to harden even more under her hand. He stretched out his legs and pressed his fingers into the flesh of her ass through the denim of her jeans.
The feel of his body tensing up beneath her was nearly as arousing as the touch of his hands. Chloe was breathing faster now, and she could feel a pulsing intensify between her legs.
She trailed a line of kisses down until she met his lips. His mouth opened for hers immediately, and she sucked his tongue into her mouth. As they kissed, she kept squeezing the hardening bulge at the front of his pants, until Lex began to grunt softly into her mouth and slid his hands up to tug at her shirt.
Deciding he had the right idea, Chloe managed to tear her lips away from Lex’s so he could pull her shirt off over her head. Then he unhooked her bra and pulled the fabric away from her breasts, baring them to his hot, intent gaze.
Her breasts were definitely not what they’d been before she’d been pregnant and nursed their daughter, but Lex didn’t seem to mind the difference. His eyes were devouring her naked upper body-wild, primitive, and possessive-causing spiraling need and exhilaration to clash and coalesce in her belly.
“Lex,” she breathed, dropping her head backwards and sliding her hands up to cup her soft breasts.
Lex made a sound in his throat that vaguely resembled a growl, and he pulled on her body until she’d raised herself up enough for him to take one nipple in his mouth.
Chloe shifted her hands to the back of the couch. Clutched at the cushions and moaned low in her throat as Lex’s skillful mouth and tongue suckled, and teased, and stimulated her sensitive flesh.
When she began to squirm her hips, trying to get some friction against her hot arousal, Chloe decided foreplay had gone on long enough.
She pulled her body away from him, causing Lex to make a throaty sound of disappointment. Then she fumbled her way off of him completely, so she could take off her jeans and panties.
Considering something for the first time, she gave Lex a dry smile as she struggled to pull off her jeans. “Why don’t you spread one of those throws out underneath you?” she suggested.
Lex was sprawled in a slouch on the couch, looking rumpled and flushed and irresistible. He blinked at her, still staring at her now naked body in a hot daze. “Why?”
She shrugged sheepishly. “The couch is new.”
It only took a moment for him to understand her point. With a warm chuckle, he agreeably heaved himself up and spread out a fleece throw beneath him before he sat down again. “How much of a mess are you expecting us to make?”
“Well,” Chloe replied defensively, straddling him again. “You never know. I seem to recall an occasion or two where I became unusually . . . wet.”
Lex smiled predatorily at the memory. “I seem to recall that as well,” he drawled, one of his hands slipping between her legs to stroke her intimate flesh. “Any sign of excessive . . . wetness today?”
She huffed at him. Or tried to huff. It came out more as a breathless gasp as his fingers found her wet, swollen channel. “Oh, yeah,” she breathed, arching back as he stroked her. “A little bit wet.”
After a moment, she realized that Lex still had all his clothes on. While she saw no reason for them to waste the time in getting him entirely naked, she didn’t want him totally covered either. So she started to bunch up his gray shirt until he had to free his hand from between her legs in order for her to pull the shirt off over his head.
When his chest was bare, she caressed the hard, smooth lines of his shoulders and ribs. Then reached down to the fastenings of his pants. Unfastened them and then pushed down the fabric until his hard cock was free and accessible.
She rolled her thumb over the tip of his erection, making him grunt and buck up a little into her hand. “Chloe,” he mumbled, the word a hoarse guttural.
She gazed down at his tense face and sprawled body. Felt a surge of love, power, and possessiveness overwhelm her.
She brushed her hand down the hard length of his shaft.
Lex groaned faintly and fisted his hand in the sofa beside him.
She would have loved to draw this out even more-she loved every breathless sound and the tangible evidence of erotic tension in his body. But her own arousal was pushing her into urgency.
Lex had slouched down enough now to make the positioning easier, so she raised herself up on her knees over his lap. He moved a hand to his cock to lift it into position, and, when she could feel the tip of it nudging at her entrance, she lowered herself over him, taking him fully inside.
They both groaned as she sheathed his cock with her body. His hips pumped up a few times against her weight, in three initial, involuntary thrusts.
Chloe hissed out a pleased sound at the tight fullness at her center and wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding him as close as she could.
Lex’s arms were around her too, and they stayed in a deep, intimate embrace for a minute, breathing deeply and holding each other.
Chloe loved it. Loved the quiet urgency of it. Loved how absolutely close she felt to him. How much of him she could feel.
Couldn’t believe she was capable of loving a man this much.
But Lex finally started shifting beneath her. His voice was breathless and right in her ear. “I’m sorry, baby. You’ve got to move.”
She felt another silly wave of giddiness-feeling nearly high on the unfathomable reality that Lex Luthor needed her like this. Needed her in so many ways.
Chloe began to rock over him, causing the substance of his cock to shift inside her clinging channel, with subtle, luscious friction.
Lex hissed in an urgent breath, his expression tight and focused, and his eyes hungry and wild. He moved his arms until his fingers were digging into the flesh of her ass, unconsciously guiding her motion.
All of the gathered urgency at her center was pushing her to ride him for real, to claim the aching orgasm that was waiting for her. But she still kept her motion slow, minimal, increasing their need and extending their pleasure.
“Chloe,” Lex choked, one of his arms flailing out to fumble for purchase on the couch cushion beside him, as he visibly struggled to suppress his drive to thrust, to claim her, to fuck her. His face twisted in concentration, and his pelvis was almost squirming beneath her rocking. “Fuck, Chloe.”
“Yeah,” Chloe breathed, searching out his lips in a hungry, clumsy kiss. Her tongue dipped into his mouth, stroking into it in a rhythmic, instinctive pattern.
Lex grunted, breathing urgently through his nose, as he buried the fingers of one hand in her hair.
She felt another overwhelming surge of feeling. Of intoxicated giddiness. Of tenderness. Of familiarity. Of need. Of primal heat. Of love.
All of it at once.
She had to hold him tighter. Squeezed him with her arms, with her legs, with her inner muscles.
His whole body twitched in response to her tightening around him. His pelvis bucked up and he tore his mouth away from hers. “Chloe, love,” he panted, his head lolling back onto the couch behind him. “Please.”
She released a long, lingering moan and then released the hold she’d had on her weakening control. Started to move over him more rapidly, more urgently-riding him with a fast, satisfying rhythm.
“Yes,” Lex hissed, holding onto her ass and pulling her back onto him more deeply on every down stroke. “Yes.”
Chloe was already panting, her entire body flushed with effort and pleasure. Her motion was slightly limited in her position, straddling him on the couch, but her thighs were working frantically, trying to give them both the friction they needed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she huffed out, her voice choppy as she bounced over him. “God, Lex, God, yeah.”
Lex necked jerked, and he swallowed a loud exclamation of either effort or restraint. His skin was covered in a sheen of sweat, and he was visibly trying to hold himself back.
Chloe knew this afternoon had been emotionally taxing for him. Knew he didn’t have the control he normally had.
She didn’t want him to have to hold back anymore. She could feel her own orgasm swelling up, so she tried to angle her hips to get a little more friction on her clit.
Her whole body was jiggling with her motion-her hair, her breasts, her ass, her thighs-and it sent jolts of lush stimulation shooting back to the ache at her center. She was grunting now as much as Lex was, choking out sounds like, “Hyuh, hyuh, hyuh.”
“Fuck,” Lex gasped, his back arching against the sofa. Then he started bucking his hips up into her bouncing, unable to hold himself back anymore.
His clumsy thrusting intensified the sensations as his cock slid slickly inside her wet channel. She could feel the moisture seeping out from where they were joined. Could hear the wet sound of suction beneath the slapping of their skin together.
His cock was hitting inside her now, and her clit was getting exquisite, indirect stimulation.
Chloe could feel her climax starting to peak. Felt like her entire body was going to burst into flame.
With a desperate sound, she found Lex’s mouth again. Needed to feel him. Love him. Be as close as she could possibly make him.
She was kissing him hungrily, frantically, when her orgasm finally slammed into her. She didn’t pull away from his mouth as her body started to convulse, the spasming beginning with the clamping of her intimate muscles around his cock and spiraling out all the way to her fingers and toes.
She heard Lex make a helpless, choking sound into her mouth as Chloe whimpered with the waves of pleasure. But she kept her arms around him. Kept kissing him.
And was still kissing him when she felt him come.
His hips jerked spasmodically, pushing up into her clenching muscles. And his arms tightened around her so suddenly she grunted in surprise.
Then she felt all the coiled tension in his body release itself. Heard him moan: long, low, and guttural. Felt the pulsing of his cock against the ruthless clasp of her channel. Felt him come in short spasms inside her.
Their mouths finally parted as their bodies began to relax. Both of them were panting desperately. Hot, damp, clinging to each other, their skin sticking resiliently.
“Lex,” Chloe gasped, her head falling forward until it was buried in the space between his head and shoulders. “I love you so much.”
“I know,” Lex replied hoarsely. His body was softening beneath her, and his hands were no longer urgent. Instead, they were stroking her back and hips tenderly. “I love you too.”
They sat like that for a long time, completely absorbed in their silent, lingering embrace.
Until Chloe became aware of a few uncomfortable details. Her back was getting a little chilly. And there was a lot of moisture leaking out from where Lex’s sated cock was still inside her.
But she still didn’t want to move. Said randomly, “Did you ever imagine we would end up here?”
“On the couch?” Lex asked dryly. “I figured we’d have sex here eventually.”
Chloe snorted. “You know what I mean.” She lifted her face so she could look down on him.
There was long pause while Lex watched her deeply, silently. That nameless look was in his eyes again, although she was pretty sure she finally knew its name.
“Yeah,” he admitted at last. “I know what you mean.”
She stupidly got a little choked up. Managed to catch herself before she started to cry. “When did you fall in love with me?” she asked, wondering why she was saying the words, even as they were leaving her mouth.
Lex’s brows drew together as he studied her. Then he smiled and gave a half-shrug. “I don’t know,” he murmured. “But I did.”
She sighed, a final release of something long-held and life-changing. Smiled at him and stroked his damp scalp tenderly.
“When did you fall in love with me?” Lex asked eventually, repeating her question back to her.
She’d thought a lot about that question. Had spent a ludicrous amount of time trying to figure it out. Still didn’t have a good answer.
Didn’t even care anymore.
She grinned down at Lex. As ridiculous as it would have sounded to her two years ago, they were together in every possible way.
She hoped she could spend the rest of her life with him.
Concluded, “I don’t know either. But I did.”