(no subject)

[grown_up_wrong]

Chloe was taking a bath when Lex got home that evening. He’d worked late, and the girls were already in bed.

Chloe hadn’t known when to expect him home, so-after she put the girls to bed-she’d drawn herself a hot bath, poured herself a glass of Chardonnay, lit some candles, turned on some music, and lowered herself into the bubbly, cucumber-scented water to soak.

She’d been in the bath for about ten minutes when she heard Lex enter the bedroom. At least, she assumed it was Lex, or else she was about to be outraged when the person pushed his way into the bathroom.

It was Lex. He looked tired, and he’d already removed his jacket, tie, shoes, and socks. He gave her a drained half-smile as he approached, and then he lowered himself to sit on the edge of the tub.

“Hey,” she said drowsily, feeling too warm and relaxed to be very annoyed by his late arrival.

“Sorry I’m so late,” he murmured, trailing his hand in the water, which was churning pleasantly from the tub’s jets. “Were the girls upset?”

Chloe shook her head. “They were fine. They know you have to work late sometimes. And you’ve been home every evening for a week.”

Lex’s hand moved through the water until it reached the side of her face. Then he brushed back a few strands of hair, which had escaped the clip on the top of her head. “And you?”

Smiling again, Chloe turned her head so she could glance a kiss against the side of his hand. “I wasn’t upset either.” Opening her eyes all the way, she added, “I just wish you would have let me know why you were going to be late.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t Carlotta tell you?” Lex inquired, his forehead wrinkling into four horizontal lines.

Carlotta. A snotty name for a snotty receptionist.

With an ironic curl of her lips, Chloe muttered, “She said that something came up, so you wouldn’t be home until late.”

Lex was frowning now, and he was peering into her face, as if checking for her reactions. “I assumed she’d tell you. There was an accident at the Smallville plant this afternoon, and I had to get out there to right away. I would have called you myself, but I was on the phone the whole way there. Everything was chaotic.”

Chloe forgot her catty resentment of the receptionist at this piece of news. Straightening up a little, she prompted, “An accident? Was it serious? What happened?”

“An explosion,” Lex explained. At the shocked noise Chloe made in response, Lex hurried on, “A minor one, but even a minor one can be serious.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Yes,” Lex admitted, rubbing his face and slouching against the wall. “Nothing critical, just some burns, and one man got a concussion. But still . . .”

Chloe’s heart lurched as she gazed up at him. No wonder he looked so tired and stressed.

“If you still needed to be there,” Chloe said sincerely, “Then of course we would have understood. You didn’t need to come home so soon if . . .”

He shook his head. “Everything’s in order now. And there was nothing else for me to do there anyway.” He reached over to trail his fingers down her cheek, which was damp from the bubbly water. “I’m sorry you didn’t know until now. I’d assumed that Carlotta would have explained the situation when I asked her to call and let you know.”

Chloe cleared her throat. Murmured wryly, “Carlotta doesn’t tend to be particularly forthcoming with me.”

After she’d said the words, she wished she hadn’t. Lex was stressed enough, and she didn’t need to go whining to him about this as well. She should have known how he’d react, even to this vague hint.

His body tensed, and he jerked his hand back to his lap. “What do you mean?” he demanded.

She sighed and shook his head. “Nothing. It’s nothing important.”

Lex clearly disagreed with this assessment. He cupped her jaw with his hand and tilted it up to look at him. “Tell me what you meant, Chloe. If Carlotta has ever been rude or disrespectful to you . . .”

“No,” Chloe insisted. “She’s always been perfectly polite.” It was true. All of the receptionist’s bitchiness had been purely implied. “It’s no big deal. I’d just be acting petty and vindictive.”

Lex now appeared to be simmering. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were cold and determined. He gritted out, “Chloe, what has she done that would make you feel petty and vindictive. You’re my wife, and I’m not about to let anyone treat you . . .”

Chloe groaned. Cursed herself for her own stupidity. “Lex, I can take care of myself. She sometimes acts like . . . she’d rather not hear from me or like I’m interrupting your big important life.” Brushing her hair back impatiently, she continued, “But women deal with that kind of thing from other women all the time. So she acts snotty with me? It’s nothing for you to . . .”

Lex actually jerked to his feet. “I’ll be right back.”

“Lex,” Chloe snapped. “Don’t you dare go and fire her.”

Turning back toward her with an annoyed expression, Lex replied, “Of course, I’m going to fire her. She doesn’t get to treat you like that.”

“I don’t want you to fire her,” Chloe groaned. “I told you; I can take care of myself. If she does her job well, then I don’t want you to fire her.”

Lex came back over to the tub, and this time he lowered himself to his knees beside it. Leaned toward Chloe and murmured, “Chloe, respecting my wife is part of her job. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

“Because,” Chloe mumbled. “It was none of your business.”

Lex’s mouth actually dropped open at this.

Unable to repress a chuckle, Chloe explained, “I mean that it can be dealt with between me and her. If you fire her for something like this, then I’ll feel like a vindictive bitch who has to whine to her husband every time someone looks at her funny.” Before Lex could object, Chloe pressed on, “I should have dealt with it head-on before, but I didn’t because . . . well, because I was acting like a wimp. I’ll take care of it.” She gave Lex a steady, significant look. “I’m serious about this, Lex. I want to deal with it myself. I’m not a helpless waif who has to be protected from every minor inconvenience. I don’t need to be catered to.”

Lex’s body had relaxed again, and he now was giving her a very particular smile. Dipping his hand into the water again, he slid his fingertips from her knee up her thigh. “But I like to cater to you,” he drawled.

Chloe smiled back at him. “Tough.”

By mutual consent, they dropped the subject of the snotty receptionist, and Chloe was absurdly pleased by the outcome. While she knew Lex would likely make a few cutting, indirect remarks to his employee, she was pretty sure she could trust him not to fire her. Which was good. Since Chloe wanted to take care of things herself.

And about time too.

They talked about random things for a few minutes, while Lex kept getting touchier and touchier. While Chloe had no objections to such touchiness tonight--she knew that, when Lex faced a certain kind of stress at work, he needed to be dominant with her, and she'd already decided she was going to let him have a little caveman-fun this evening--there was no sense in getting excited about it while she was in the bathtub.

Water sports weren’t really her thing.

So when Lex’s hand strayed to one of her breasts, she playfully batted it away. He frowned indignantly and pretended like he hadn’t been trying anything in the first place.

To keep up his ruse of disinterest, Lex started inspecting the basket she had placed on the side of the tub. “What’s this?” he asked idly.

She gave him an impatient look. “That’s all my bath stuff. What do you think it is?”

He started rooting around in all of the bottles and jars. “You sure have collected a lot of it. What is all this stuff?”

“Bubble bath, bath salts, bath oil, bath cream, salt scrub . . . all kinds of stuff. Maybe I got a little carried away, but I’ve been taking a lot of baths lately, whenever I’ve needed to relax.”

Then, suddenly, Chloe remembered one particular item she kept in the basket. She jerked in the scented water and said hurriedly, “It’s just a lot of junk. No need to waste your time . . .”

It was too late.

Lex pulled out the round, yellow vibrating sponge that she kept at the bottom of the basket.

“What is this?” he murmured, his lips twitching a little.

“It’s just a sponge,” Chloe explained in a rush, feeling herself actually starting to blush, as ridiculous as that reaction was. The sponge turned on by twisting the plastic knob on the top, which looked more like a hook than an on switch. Maybe Lex wouldn’t realize what he’d found. “You know, just for . . .”

Lex deftly twisted the top, causing the sponge to start vibrating steadily.

Lex’s eyebrows shot sky-high.

“Give me that,” Chloe mumbled, snatching the vibrator away from him. Her natural humor was starting to vie with her embarrassment, however, as she recognized the silliness of the situation and her own response to it.

Lex was giving her a very naughty look, and his mouth curled up in an uncharacteristically mischievous smile. “And what exactly do you do with that?” he inquired dryly.

Clearing her throat again, Chloe managed to give him a smug look. “It’s advertised as a vibrating sponge massager, to help with sore muscles and tense knots and that sort of thing.”

“I see,” he drawled, trying unsuccessfully to claim the sponge in question again. “And have you been suffering from . . . sore muscles that have needed this sort of . . . relief?”

Chloe stuck out her chin and held the sponge underwater, out of his reach. “As a matter of fact,” she pronounced, “I have. A lot.”

Suddenly, Lex’s rare playfulness faded. His teasing smile changed into a regretful frown. “And I haven’t been around to help take care of them.”

Chloe shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Don’t get all guilty on me,” she told him. “You’re here now, aren’t you? So I won’t have as much need for this kind of . . . massage.”

Lex’s momentary surge of regret faded, and he smiled at her again. Leaned over the side of the tub to kiss her gently on the lips.

Then, while she was distracted by the sweetness, he shamelessly reached down and snatched the vibrating sponge from her unsuspecting grip.

“Hey!” she cried in outrage, trying to grab it back from him. “You big cheater! That was cheap trick.”

Lex laughed huskily and held her off, his hands slipping against her wet skin.

She finally gave up and sank back into the water, scowling at him malevolently but without much heat. She was actually feeling warm and affectionate, and it didn’t help that Lex was looking adorably rumpled in his damp, wrinkled dress shirt and bare feet.

“So how is it?” Lex asked, his voice growing thicker, as if he’d been able to read her mind behind her sour expression. “Does it work well on . . . sore muscles?”

Chloe snickered. “Sore muscles? Not so much. But on other kinds of tension, it works quite well, I’ll have you know.”

Something hot flickering in his gaze now, Lex handed her the vibrating sponge. “Show me.”

Chloe swallowed. “Um, what?”

He gave her a seductive smile and settled himself more comfortably on his knees beside the tub. “Show me. Show me how well it works.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she countered, “I thought the point of your being here more was that I wouldn’t need to use it as much as I used to.”

“True,” he acknowledged, his eyes moving slowly over her naked body beneath the scented bubbles, in what almost felt like an erotic caress. “But I want to watch you. So I’ll have something to envision the next time I’m out of town and I'm thinking about you.”

Despite her lingering, dry amusement, Chloe was starting to feel a kind of thrill tighten low in her belly. “It’s not very sexy,” she admitted. “I don’t make it a big, elaborate process. It’s mostly just for efficiency’s sake.”

Lex didn’t look discouraged at all. His eyes were smoldering again as he said, “Don’t put on a show for me. Just show me what you do when you’re alone.”

Already feeling tingles between her legs, and her body already relaxed and content from the warm bath, Chloe saw no reason to object to this plan, other than the brief flare of self-consciousness. “All right,” she agreed, taking the sponge and turning it on. “But I’m warning you. It’s not going to be anything like watching porn.”

Lex huffed out an appreciative laugh and raised his eyebrows as he waited, the dominance he needed taking an unusual form this evening.

With a half-shrug, she sank lower into the fragrant bathwater and brought the sponge to her belly. Although she’d told him she wasn’t going to try to turn him on, she did stroke the pleasantly vibrating sponge up her belly to her breasts. Arching her back a little, she circled her wet nipples, which had tightened into hard, rosy peaks.

Glancing over at Lex to check his reactions, she saw that-although there was still a flicker of amusement in his eyes-most of his expression was engulfed by pure, primal heat.

It made Chloe even hotter than she already was.

So she lowered the sponge down her body and between her legs, turning it on to its highest setting. It was strong enough and she was sensitive enough that she didn’t need to bring it into direct contact with her clit. Instead, she pushed it gently against her wet, intimate curls, rubbing until she found the spot with the best stimulation.

Sighing in pleasure, she closed her eyes, so she wouldn’t get too self-conscious with Lex watching her get herself off. Then she started to rub the sponge in little circles, causing tight, tingles of pleasure to pulse through her center.

It didn’t take as long as normal for the vibrations to coalesce into a swelling pressure between her legs. Chloe could feel her orgasm take shape faster than usual, and she realized that her eyes had already tightened and she was starting to pant in loud, choppy huffs.

“Hmmnn,” she whimpered, stretching her legs out until she could push against the opposite side of the slick tub. The muscles in her belly and thigh had tightened dramatically, and the rich vibrations were now sending jolts of lush sensation toward the power of her growing orgasm. Her neck twitched, and she could feel the warm water moving against every part of her sensitive skin. “Hmn nyeh,” she whimpered again, her belly so tight it was starting to shudder.

“Are you going to come?” Lex asked thickly.

At his voice, she opened her eyes enough to see him. He looked almost as tight as she felt, and his hands were gripping the side of the tub as his hot, hungry eyes devoured her.

The sight of his obvious lust built up the momentum of her orgasm even more. She was pushing the sponge even harder against her intimate flesh and rubbing it in fast, clumsy circles to get as much sensation as she could.

“Yeah,” she gasped, in answer to his question. Her eyes fell closed again, and she jerked her head to the side, until her cheek was nearly touching her shoulder. “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah,” she mumbled urgently, the breathless words spilling out against her will.

Her climax was going to be stronger than usual, and she knew it was because Lex was watching her so possessively. Her leg jerked up a little, out of the water, and she slammed her foot against the tub, pushing against the solid surface as hard as she could, feeling her body tighten like a coil.

Then the pressure released itself in delicious spasms. Her back arched up from the water, and her mouth fell open in a silent cry of pleasure.

She was gasping as she came down, and with a sated smile on her face, she switched the vibrator off. It had been an excellent orgasm, but nothing overwhelming or unusual. “And there you have it,” she breathed. “Pretty thrilling, wasn’t it?”

When her eyes focused on Lex’s face, she realized that he was already pretty far gone. While her performance hadn’t seemed particularly sexy to her, he clearly had had a different reaction.

His face was flushed, and his knuckles had whitened from gripping the tub.

Before she could say anything else, he had taken the sponge from her hand. Switched it on again and moved it back to where she’d been holding it before.

She gasped at the renewed stimulation against her sensitized flesh, and her hands flew out to hang onto the sides of the tub. “Lex,” she panted, “I usually only go for one.”

Lex had raised himself up on his knees and was leaning over the bathtub so he could get into a better position to pleasure her. At her comment, he asked hoarsely, “Why only one?”

Chloe arched up again as she felt another swelling pressure start to coalesce below her belly from the new vibrations. “Never seemed . . . worth the . . . trouble,” she gasped, adjusting her legs so that she could push against the far side of the tub again.

Lex must have been paying attention earlier because he was rubbing the sponge in little circles against her pulsing flesh-just the way she did herself. “Ah!” she cried, trying to swallow over the involuntary sound. “Oh, God!”

She was already sensitive from her first orgasm, and-since Lex was the one with the vibrator-Chloe felt far more out of control than she normally did. Her muscles were starting to tense up again, and she was clutching the sides of the tub for dear life.

She was going to come again. Come even harder than before.

Lex altered the rhythm of the circling of the sponge, and Chloe actually had to stifle a loud cry of pleasure. She bit her lip hard and couldn’t help but squirm, the vibrations were so agonizingly rich against her throbbing arousal.

Her eyes squeezing shut in what felt like desperation, she felt her orgasm mounting with even more power. She was writhing in the tub now, and it felt like something had changed. Her skin was swallowed by a different kind of stimulation, but one she was too far gone to identify.

Whimpering helplessly and twisting in need, she let the uncontrollable vibrations finally push her over the edge again.

She choked out frantic cry of relief-one that sounded like “Eheheh”-and she felt the orgasm overtake her, pulsing from her center and then through all of the tense muscles of her body.

She was twitching a little when she came down from this one, and desperately gasping for air. She groaned in relief when Lex turned off the vibrator, and then suddenly she realized that she was a little bit chilly.

And that she was no longer soaking in water.

Lex must have drained the water out of the tub while she was otherwise occupied.

“Wha-“ she mumbled, her eyes popping open, just in time to see Lex climbing into the tub in his clothes.

Then Lex was gathering her wet body into his arms. Then she was clinging to his hard, familiar form. Then they were kissing hungrily, urgently-Lex positioned over her in the mostly empty bathtub.

When she finally broke out of the kiss, she was shaking and no longer chilly. “God, Lex,” she gasped. “That was good.”

He was rubbing his body against her, as much as he could in this position. “The kiss or the orgasm?”

“Both.” She was about to kiss him again when she realized that she was wet and naked, both of them were covered by the remaining, cucumber-scented bubbles, and Lex’s trousers from the knee down and the front of his dress shirt were now soaking wet. “Maybe we should head for the bed so we can finish this,” she suggested, feeling the hard bulge of his arousal beneath his pants.

“No need for the bed,” he replied, his voice and his gaze hot and needy.

“But you’re wet,” she objected. “And your clothes . . .”

“What’s your point?”

She felt thrilled and newly aroused again and a little bewildered. “In the empty bathtub?” she breathed.

Despite his obvious urgency, Lex’s lips twitched a little. “Why not?”

She certainly didn’t have a good answer to that one.

The fire smoldering back up in his eyes, Lex rasped, “Turn around.”

Chloe just blinked at him.

“On your hands and knees.”

His rough, commanding voice sent a jolt of hot lust to her throbbing center. Giving him a slanting, ironic look-to make it clear she was only doing it because she wanted to-she turned over and positioned herself on her hands and knees in the tub, bubbles clinging resiliently to her damp skin.

She was silently grateful they had such a large tub, since she wasn’t sure they could have done this in a normal-sized one.

When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that Lex was already unfastening his pants. He didn’t even try to get the damp trousers off of his legs completely. Just pushed them down to his knees and left them bunched there as he put his hands on her hips and pulled her backward into position.

“Are you wet enough?” he asked, his fingers stroking down the crease of her ass and then between her legs until he found what he was looking for.

“Yeah,” she admitted, a little surprised since the water usually washed most of her natural lubrication away. She must have gotten aroused enough after the water had drained out of the tub. “I think I’m good.”

He slid his finger inside her, apparently satisfying himself that she was wet and ready for him.

Then he lined his hard cock up at her entrance and drove it into her, causing her to cry out in pleasure at the sudden, tight fullness.

He pulled back and gave a couple of short, experimental thrusts-as if he were checking to make sure she was comfortable. “All right?” he verified hoarsely.

“Yeah,” she whimpered, squirming her ass against the sensations. “Yeah, it’s good.” She adjusted her hands, feeling them slip a little on the slick surface of the tub. “Just trying not to fall on my face.”

Lex had been thrusting again, his motion matching the rhythm of his hot panting. But at this he paused. “If it isn’t good, we can . . .”

Chloe huffed out a brief laugh. “God, no, Lex. It’s good. Just don’t push me forward too hard.”

“Agreed.” Lex gripped the soft flesh of her ass and started stroking into her again, until he’d connected with the spot inside her that sent out shudders of pleasure when he pushed against it.

“Oh!” Chloe gasped, bringing her arms up so she could support herself on the side of the tub and get more stability. Bumping her ass back against Lex’s pushes, she mumbled, “Oh, fuck, right there. Right there.”

She thought she might even be able to come again, even though her clit was still throbbing numbly from the stimulation of the vibrator.

But then Lex moved unexpectedly behind her. And then she felt him bring his arm around to her front. And before she realized what he was doing, she heard the vibrating sponge switch back on.

The powerful sensations slammed into her as he held the vibrator against her clit once more, getting it in position and then starting to thrust into her again in hard, little pushes against her g-spot.

“Ah!” she cried out, far too loudly, since their daughters were sleeping down the hallway, but unable to suppress the sound of her suddenly overwhelming pleasure. “Ah, ah, ah!” Her vision was starting to blur, and she had to readjust her arms to keep from falling over as the sensations overtook her.

Lex was managing pretty well-leaning forward a little to hold the vibrator in place and bracing himself with one hand on the rim of the tub. He was grunting now, making erotic, primitive sounds as he rocked his cock against her g-spot.

The multiple sensations from his thrusts and vibrator were making Chloe’s head spin with pleasure. She had managed to stifle her screams, but she was still whimpering helplessly as she bit down hard on her lower lip.

“Chloe,” Lex rasped. “Chloe, baby, can you come again?”

“Mmm hmm,” she choked, pushing hard against the tub with her arms and hard against Lex with her ass. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, gonna come.”

“Yes,” Lex hissed, his hips jerking a little faster. “Yes, baby, come. Come for me.”

The sound of his thick, hoarse voice was another wave of stimulation. Chloe was breathing urgently through her nose as she tried to subdue the sound of her rising orgasm.

Her body grew tenser and tenser, the pressure swelling up inside her until it was almost unbearable.

“That’s right,” Lex murmured breathlessly, hovering over her and making it feel like there was scorching heat radiating from his tight body. “Come for me. Come now.”

With a frantic sob, Chloe came again, convulsing in helpless shudders as the spasms of pleasure pulsed over her.

“Fuck,” Lex gritted out, trying to push against her clenching channel. “Ah, fuck.”

“Oh, God!” she gasped as she started to come down from her dizzying high. “Oh, God, Lex!”

But Lex didn’t lower the vibrating sponge. He still held it against her, the vibrations now almost torturous in their lush stimulation. And he kept up his thrusts against her g-spot, although his motion wasn’t nearly as controlled as it had been before.

Before Chloe had even come down all the way, she felt another orgasm swelling up out of nowhere, slamming into her ridiculously fast.

“Lex!” she choked. “Fuck, Lex, again!” Her body was shaking desperately as her muscles started to tighten again. Her knees were pressing uncomfortably against the hard surface of the tub, but at this point she couldn’t even feel them.

“Yes,” Lex muttered. “Yes, Chloe. Come again. Come for me again.”

She was coming before she even knew to expect it, crying out in a broken voice and trying to hold herself up against the side of the tub.

There were a couple of tears streaming down her face as the orgasm pulsed through her body, and Lex let out a muffled roar of effort as her channel contracted ruthlessly around his cock again.

His hand dropped, lowering the vibrator, giving Chloe a moment of relief as the last of the spasms washed over her.

But Lex had managed to hold on, and he was still hard and erect, his cock sliding slickly inside her drenched passage.

Chloe was almost wheezing, and she was only holding her head up by resting it against her forearm on the side of the tub. But, when Lex raised the sponge to her clit again, she sobbed as her vision almost whited out with the pleasure.

“Lex,” she gasped. “Lex, oh, God, again.” Her body had seemed to lose its connection with her mind, and-despite the blurred chaos of her thoughts-her body knew what it still wanted.

Her body was still squirming, still rocking back against Lex’s thrusts, and working her up into a frenzy again, caught between the vibrations of the sponge and the primal rhythm of Lex’s cock.

“Yes,” Lex bit out, clearly on the edge of his control. “Yes. One more, baby. Come for me once more.”

She was going to. It was happening even now.

Chloe was sobbing with pleasure and effort and need, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle the overwhelming sensations. Her breasts were swinging wildly with their primitive motion, and she’d tossed her head so much that her damp hair was covering her face.

As the final orgasm build up inside her, she kept sobbing louder and louder. Tried to stifle the sounds. Couldn’t. Felt the world start to shudder all around her.

Then she was coming once more, her body jerking in clumsy desperation as she tried to hold herself upright on trembling limbs.

Wheezing painfully in her throat, Chloe managed to push the vibrator away when the spasms faded. “No more,” she pleaded. “God, Lex, no more.” Finding enough energy to turn to look back at him over her shoulder, she whimpered, “You come now.”

The wild, possessive look in his eyes gave her a different kind of thrill, and she kept watching as he twisted his face in effort and unleashed his brutally tense body. He gripped her hard by the flesh of her ass, and then slammed into her with a couple of hard thrusts.

Then his head twitched backward, his back arched slightly, and he froze as he roared out in final relief. She could feel his cock pulse as he released himself inside her. Could hear his desperate panting behind her, matching her own.

They both seemed trapped temporarily in that moment of visceral relief. As their muscle contractions died down, they stayed in position, letting the satisfaction wash over them.

Then Lex seemed to lose it completely. He nearly collapsed on top of her. And Chloe collapsed with him. Until the two of them had ended up in a tangled, wet heap on the bottom of the slick, empty tub.

“You okay?” Lex managed to ask, one of his legs draped over hers and his head resting on one of his arms.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “Although I think I nearly concussed myself on the side of the tub.”

Lex still had most of his clothes on, since his trousers were still tangled at his feet. His shirt was so wet it was transparent, however, and the damp fabric wasn’t entirely comfortable against Chloe’s heated skin.

But she wasn’t about to complain. Not after that.

“That was,” she mumbled, trying to adjust so she could look him in the eyes and so her head wasn’t resting against the hard tub. “That was . . . unbelievable. We should be adventurous more often. I think I lost count of . . .”

“I counted five,” Lex informed her, a familiar, fond, self-satisfied glimmer awakening in his eyes despite his obvious fatigue.

Chloe sniffed. “Yeah, well, if you count the first one, which I gave to myself. Plus, you had a lot of help with them.” She glanced down at the yellow vibrating sponge that had somehow prompted this whole interlude. “So don’t get smug.”

He did look smug, and possessive, and warm, and affectionate, and dryly amused.

And Chloe loved him so much, for all of those things.

“I love you, Chloe,” he murmured unexpectedly, giving her a kiss on the corner of her mouth.

His expression was soft and almost sweet, despite the wild passion of their coupling. And something about the surprising incongruity of it-while they lay wetly and uncomfortably in a damp, empty tub-made Chloe’s heart swell up with something like joy.

She smiled at him. Leaned over to kiss him softly, tugging gently on his lower lip. Whispered, “Believe it or not, Lex Luthor, I love you too.”