13Author's Note: This is Rated M for a reason, so if that's not your thing, cool, but I just wanted to give fair warning. Also, this is angsty in the beginning. It's taken me a while to post this, even though my awesome beta, Tracgyrl, has been so patient with with me, going back and forth, revision after revision. I spent a lot of time on it, so I hope you guys like it.
"Chlo... Chlo... CHLOE? Are you OK?" Chloe is startled out of her pensiveness by her cousin and she can imagine Lois walking inside their Talon apartment intent on stripping off her binding work clothes and channel surfing until she finds some mindless TV to doze off to. And instead she finds Chloe sitting on the couch in the dead silence looking disturbingly despondent; her eyes puffy and her cheeks tear streaked.
Chloe wipes her eyes absently. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. What are you doing here? I thought you had plans with Clark..." She attempts to lighten her voice and crinkle her eyes at Lois trying to disguise how she's feeling.
"Tentative plans, but Smallville's playing ambassador tonight and helping out some immigrants." Lois' narrowed eyes tell Chloe she isn't going to let it go.
"I'm sorry... Lo-" Chloe starts to change the subject by trying to offer a better explanation for Clark's time consuming Kandorian activities.
"Now tell me what's bothering you." Lois sits next to Chloe and grips her hand.
"I'm fine, Lo. Just tired, it's been a long day." Chloe purses her lips and tries to look Lois in the eyes.
"You're not fine. You're sitting here drinking tea, your eyes are puffy and... you got a haircut. I love the new layers, they're really subtle and pretty." Lois fingers Chloe's newly sheared locks, her powers of observation seem to always be keenest when it comes to her cousin.
Just the thought of how fast Lois' powers of deduction work, help enough to put a small smile on Chloe's face. She puts her hand in her hair letting the crisp ends float through her fingers. "It was just a trim but... thanks. The tea is for my throat. I told you that I'm tired, so that must be why my eyes are puffy and what does my hair have to do with anything?"
Lois cocks her head to the side, "Chloe, you never drink tea, until you're really worried about something and you need to calm your stomach. The tiredness doesn't explain the tear streaks that accompany the puffiness and cutting your hair is the one thing that makes you feel in control. So spill it..." She really isn't letting up.
"Lois... I..." Chloe actually does feel like talking about things with Lois might help to lessen the ache in her chest that has spread since she last saw Oliver a week ago.
"Is it Oliver?" Lois really is too keen for Chloe's own good.
"Why would you ask that... what would Oliver have to do with anything?" Now Chloe isn't too sure she should be talking about anything, panicking over what might make Lois suspect Oliver being at the root of her troubles.
"Well I saw his car outside last week when I was going to come kidnap you for lunch, but I know that you're working on a project with him and he can be intense when it comes to business, so I didn't want to interrupt. If he's giving you a hard time... I'll be happy to give him some hard words on your behalf." Lois' grip on Chloe's hand tightens as she threatens Oliver.
"That won't be necessary Lois, but thanks for the offer." Chloe lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as Lois relayed how her diverted lunch plans led her to believe she was upset about Oliver.
"Well did he do something else? Did he hurt you?" Lois seems to be on the trail of something and grasping at her natural intuition of reading Chloe.
So before Lois can make her own conclusions, Chloe feels the nagging need to be honest with her. "Lois... Oliver and I... we've been... not that I'm even certain about it anymore but... well, we had been-"
Clark's ringtone chimes on Lois' cell and both of them turn toward her purse. "Hang on Chlo let me grab my phone. It's Clark, can you hold that thought?"
"Yeah..." It really isn't the right time, Chloe tells herself. What is she going to say anyway, Oliver's her fuck buddy now? They've been hooking up for weeks and Chloe's been lying to her about it, because part of her is a little scared that she'll be judged because it's just sex? And maybe it's premature anyway, since she hasn't seen him in a week. She's had several awkward conversations with him about Watchtower/Green Arrow business, over the phone, that he's initiated, but their sexual relationship has come to a stand still, so why even bring it up to Lois when it's probably over. And just the thought of anything with Oliver being over causes a sharp unacknowledged pain to manifest in her side. No, thank god for Clark's timely interruption, because this conversation can definitely wait.
"He wants to see me... but I don't want to leave you, so-" Lois starts back toward Chloe on the couch.
"No. It's fine Lois, I'll be here when you get back, if you come back..." Chloe tries to lighten the somber mood, by teasing the Clark-sex Lois hasn't really admitted to Chloe that she's hot for.
Lois actually blushes a little at the prospect and bites her bottom lip. "Are you sure, Chloe? You looked so lost when I walked in... I'm still worried about you."
Reaching up from the couch and grabbing Lois' hand, Chloe takes a deep breath and makes her voice as steady as possible before answering, "I'm sure. I promise that I'm just tired, that's all."
Lois looks at Chloe for a long moment and then bends down and kisses her cheek before grabbing her purse off of the table. "OK, then, I'm going to head out. Get some rest."
Lois opens the door to their apartment and is startled by Oliver who Chloe assumes had been standing there with his fist poised to knock. "Oliver?"
Chloe watches as Lois puts her hand over her heart, taken aback by his sudden presence.
She can hear Oliver's voice in the doorway, timbered slightly with impatience, "Lois... is Chloe... in?"
"I hope this is considered overtime. She's off of the clock, so whatever business demands you have can wait until after 8am, buddy." Lois folds her arms across her chest and silently dares Oliver to oppose her.
Chloe approaches the doorway, a little apprehensive at Oliver's unexpected arrival. "Ollie... It's OK Lois, I can... I can take it from here."
"She better be smiling the next time I see her Oliver, or you'll be on my list." Lois walks right up to him and enunciates her words by poking him in the shoulder.
"Noted." Oliver holds his hands up in surrender before Lois, but keeps his eyes trained on Chloe.
"Chlo, I might not be back tonight so... breakfast?" Lois keeps her eyes suspiciously on Oliver as she moves past him.
"Sure, I'll meet you at the bagel shop on Wright street." Chloe tries to keep her voice light although her insides are knotting up nervously at the prospect of being alone with Oliver for the first time since he found out about her back up plan to protect the planet.
After Lois leaves, Oliver locks the door behind her and then leans against it. His long jean clad legs crossing at the ankles and his leather jacket sliding against the wood of the door, making a squeaking sound.
"What are you doing here?" Chloe's voice comes out a little breathlessly to her dismay.
"I wanted... I needed to see you." Oliver's eyes are dark and dangerous, his full lips compress into a thin, grim line.
Closing her eyes, Chloe nearly sways with emotional exhaustion. She doesn't have the energy for this; doesn't have the strength right now to keep up the facade she's spent months cultivating. Chloe turns away from Oliver needing to put some distance between them. She walks over to the coffee table and grabs her cooling tea as she sits.
Oliver's brow furrows as he walks over to the couch and sits next to her. He lifts his hand to the tag of the tea bag and flicks it calling her attention to it. "You're drinking tea." He states obviously. "Are you feeling OK?" His voice sounds pained and concerned and he lifts a finger to delicately smooth under the puffiness of her eyes attempting to question her further, "Is this why I haven't seen you? Are you sick?"
Chloe leans her head back and then standing again, she backs away from him dodging his caress. She does't feel like she can stand for him to touch her or she might crumble. "I'm fine. Just... just tired."
A low growl rumbles from Oliver's chest, making her eyes widen and her heart beat faster. He rises from the couch and stalks toward her, a gorgeous tiger of a man – all long limbs and careless grace with the most intense brown eyes.
Standing her ground in the face of his aggressiveness is one of the hardest things she's ever done. But Chloe plants her bunny-clad feet and refuses to budge this time, even when he gets so close that she can feel his breath on her forehead.
His eyes roam her entire being and she watches as he processes her every change since he saw her the week before. Her face, scrubbed of all makeup; her power clothes discarded and traded for soft gray pajama shorts and light pink tank-top; her heels replaced with fuzzy white bunny eared bedroom slippers. He seems to be cataloguing everything about her and even being naked and writhing beneath his body hasn't made her feel so bare.
"Are. You. OK?" He repeats the question, his voice lower than she's ever heard it, and a shiver of uncertainty- and god help her, arousal- shoots up her spine before she can stop it causing her to close her sleeveless wrap sweater protectively around her.
Chloe breathes a deep sigh and assures him again, "Yes, Oliver... I'm fine."
Oliver seems completely aware of her body's acute, involuntary reactions to his nearness and he takes full advantage. Reaching his hand to rub against her exposed shoulder, she flinches under his caress and then it seems he notices a slight difference to her when he furrows his brow again.
"You cut your hair." His obvious statements continue. "Were you that anxious about what happened, about... what I'd do?" Oliver's soft voice seems to mock her and his knowledge of her motives makes her defensive.
"I wasn't anxious at all Oliver." Chloe gives him her most disdainful look and she starts past him. She almost makes it to reclaim her cup of tea when he grabs her wrist and spins her around, pulling her against him. He lets out a long shaky breath, his tanned skin paling considerably. But those watchful brown eyes continue to study her for a moment before closing as he bends his head and rests it against hers.
"So much bravado and posturing isn't necessary with me. Don't you know that?" He's growing frustrated. She can tell by the vein that starts to pulse at his temple and the way he clenches his jaw.
"Isn't it?" Chloe pulls away from his embrace and walks over to the sofa, grabbing her tea a little forcefully and taking a sip of the cooled liquid. She puts her mug down on the table and her mind flashes back to the glass of single malt that ignited this... this... whatever she wants to call it, between them.
Oliver seems compelled to follow her and he reclaims his seat next to her. His long legs stretch out, so close, beside her and his arm extends behind her along the back of the couch. He sits, just staring at her as she nurses her tea for a moment, a look of determination descending his features and then she feels him running his fingers along the freshly razored ends of her hair. Letting his hand cup the back of her neck, he finally speaks causing the flesh along her hairline to tingle, "I like it, your haircut."
Chloe is way past worrying how altering her appearance will merit with anyone except her, but she acknowledges the compliment anyway. "Thank you, although... I didn't do it because I thought you'd like it. I did it because it's what I needed."
And all of a sudden they're not talking about hair cuts and have switched back to what they've been attempting to discuss since he was last here, her perceived betrayal.
"I know it's what you needed to do and I know you didn't consider me, at first, but I'd like to think you knew I'd like it." He seems to slide even closer to her as he whispers the words against the side of her neck.
"Yeah, I knew." His proximity is affecting her ability to breathe normally and there goes that drumming thing that her heart does whenever he's around lately.
"Chloe..." He says her name so reverently against her ear that her insides quiver. "Come here..."
She hesitates and he grabs her hand imploring her toward him. She obliges him and straddles his lap. Oliver lightly touches the delicate skin underneath each of her eyes and then before she can stop him he leans forward and kisses the puffy circles sweetly. When he pulls back, he rests his forehead against hers and whispers "I missed you... I... I couldn't stay away any longer."
Chloe's breath catches at the tender gesture and his admission and she momentarily allows the ache of his absence to blossom inside of her heart. She's really missed him too.
Oliver's lips trail gently across her face until he reaches her lips and then his mouth is devouring hers, his tongue teasing and tasting; thrusting and stroking; until her eyes are crossed. His hands delving in her hair and tilting her head back. He tastes like he always does, like a raging inferno that's threatening to burn her alive. But he tastes sweet too. The mixture of something that's come to be familiar and the new that's nearly driven her over the edge.
Her hands reach up and push his jacket from his arms and then tangle in the thin silk of his dress shirt before sliding over his chest, caressing him firmly. Chloe loves the feel of him; the hardness of his muscles; the roughness of his hands; the surprising softness of his skin everywhere else.
Oliver moans low in his throat, as his hands push her sweater from her shoulders and then move across her bare thighs. His fingertips find their way beneath her pajama shorts before sliding around to her ass, gripping her firmly and pulling her even closer into the shelter of his body.
Breaking away from his kiss, Chloe's fingers scramble frantically at the buttons of his shirt, but he stills her. His hands finding hers, his thumb stroking the urgency of her fingers, he tells her softly, "I just want to take care of you this time." Guiding his hands underneath her thighs and lifting her effortlessly causing her slippers to slide from her feet, Oliver slowly carries her toward her bed.
Unexpected tears sting her eyes, but Chloe bats them determinedly away. This is no different than all the other times, she tells herself. It's just sex; just scratching an itch.
But as he lowers her to the bed, she sees a conviction in his eyes, a resolve that unnerves her and chips away at her armor until she feels a crack. This is everything she's been determined to avoid with him. Everything she thought she'd hidden from when she took solace in the arms of a friend. She knows that she should protest, that she should push him away. But she simply doesn't have the energy to do so, or if she's completely honest with herself, the desire.
Oliver stretches out beside her, elbow bent, head resting on his upturned palm as he studies her. Those wonderful brown eyes have gone completely black, an intense heat burning deep inside of them. His desire for her is palpable and a shiver of excitement skitters up her spine. Chloe licks her lips, and even she doesn't know if she does it to be provocative or because it is suddenly necessary.
"I need you, Chloe." His voice is soft, seductive. A silken whisper stroking along her skin. A velvet caress igniting every nerve ending in her body. "I need you to go all in with me Chloe."
"Yes." It's a whisper, as confusion and excitement surge through her with every breath. His face is so serious, focused exclusively on her. His body is hard, completely unyielding against the softness of her own. But it's his eyes, so full of hunger and desire and need for her -and her alone- that makes her pulse quicken and her inner thighs grow wet. It's that hunger that begins the slow, inexorable task of hammering through the cinderblock walls around her heart.
Oliver reaches out, grasping the bottom of her tank top and pulls it over her head. Then he cups her breasts in his strong hands. Lets his thumbs run light, seductive circles over the already aroused nipples. Chloe arches against his hands, increasing the pressure and she can swear she hears electricity crackle around them. That one simple touch sears through her, through her veins and muscles and organs until she begins to fear spontaneous combustion.
She moans low in her throat and reaches for Oliver, pulling him over her, onto her, wanting to feel every inch of his body pressing against every inch of hers. He stares at her out of eyes burning with need; studies her; watches her; waits for her.
Cupping his face in her hands she looks deep into his eyes and silently pleads with him. Please. She arches her back; spreads her legs; tugs at him until the hardest part of him is pressing against her.
"I need you, Chloe. I need... I need you to go all in with me." Oliver struggles to get the words out, biting his bottom lip and clenching his eyes shut before asking her, "Can you do that, baby? Will you... do that? Will you go all in with me, Chloe?"
Chloe assesses him silently for a minute. Oliver is so vulnerable in this moment, practically begging her to consent to end this charade of friends with benefits, of just sex between friends and make them more. He finally opens his eyes and they are shining for her, bright and liquid and swimming with some powerful emotion and she can't deny him. She can no longer deny herself. "Yes, Ollie. I need you too. Please..."
She sees the moment he slips the restraints he's placed on himself; sees the lust, raw and needy, explode within him at her words. Grasping the waist band of her pajama shorts in his strong hands, he practically rips them from her body with one downward tug along with her panties. She gasps as the cool air hits her fevered body, arching her back, and he takes one of her ripe pebbled nipples in his mouth.
She screams then, her hips moving restlessly against his, the muscles of her center contracting again and again. It's only been a week, but it feels like an eternity since he's touched her. She wants more, needs more, but he holds her there, pinned by his delicious weight and suckles her while her body catches fire. Each swipe of his tongue makes her moan, each graze of his teeth takes her higher until she can think of nothing but him, desire nothing but this hot possession. Forever.
She is wet and slick, her thighs are drenched and the aching nub at her center longs for his touch. He grinds his hardness exquisitely, skillfully, purposefully against her, once, twice, and she comes apart – her body burns through the atmosphere of their passion like a meteor shower.
Chloe opens her eyes after her climax roars through her, wave after wave, gradually slowing to low rumbles and zings and gentle shudders that get fainter and fainter, fading to soft laps of pleasure.
Oliver's arms are tight around her and she can feel his heart pounding as hard and his breath coming as raggedly as her own. His eyes are smiling lazily down at her. "I love watching you orgasm, love being the cause of such pleasure for you." His voice is so reverent it makes her gasp.
"Oliver..." All she can say is his name and he trembles at the sound of it.
Running his palms along her thighs and massaging tenderly, he admits softly, "I wish I'd been inside you to feel it."
"Me, too," She whispers huskily. "That's where I want you right now."
Oliver's body begins to shake, which only implores her. She wants more, needs him to give her more. As if Oliver can read the plea she's making with her body, he pulls his shirt over his head impatiently and rids himself of the rest of his clothes hurriedly.
Chloe doesn't resist running her fingers across his bare chest, when he returns to cover her. His skin so warm, it's like toasting her fingers before a friendly fire. This time when Oliver kisses her body, he seems to take possession of each part, her mouth, her throat, her breasts. His mouth descends on her nipples, sucking them deeply, tonguing them rapidly. She arches into the wet suction of his mouth, rocking her hips against his. She moves her hands down between their bodies and wraps her fingers around him.
Oliver sucks in a breath and he clenches his eyes shut in reaction to her touch, "Don't tease baby,"
Chloe bites her bottom lip and considers continuing with the torture, giving his girth one last squeeze she positions him at her center. He eases into her body with slow care and when he looks at her, a familiar sensation shoots through her.
"Chloe..." Oliver breathes, his voice full of wonder. "Chloe..." He sighs again and pushes deeply into her, her walls gripping him fiercely and he seems to take her and give himself at the same time.
He places his mouth against her ear and crowds her body fully with his, spreading her legs further apart with his thighs causing her to moan loudly, he whispers hotly, "You feel, so damn good..."
"You're so wet... so tight... so hot," He strokes into her with a little more force, making her back arch and her hips grind wildly.
"Ollie... hmmm... yes," His strokes begin to coax her upward, higher. Tight, then tighter. She lifts her hips, welcoming every inch, taking and giving, too. She's never felt this way before, never been so consumed by desire, so sure this is where she belongs.
She loves the rush and burn, the sweet ache of their bodies combining, separating, finding each other again and again in this most ancient, most intimate act. She closes her eyes, focusing on the smoothness of Oliver's skin, his deep groan of pleasure, his power and grace, the way her own body tightens. She lifts her hips even more to meet each demanding thrust wanting more, needing more.
Again as if he's reading her body's needs, Oliver's moves intensify. He bends his head to her breasts and begins to worship her with his mouth again. His lips and tongue go back and forth licking and sucking each nipple before he begins a suckling that seems to simultaneously pull at the very apex of her core.
His hands grab her ass pulling her even closer and the upstroke grazes the sweetest spot inside of her, causing a loud moan to escape her and her center to clench him even tighter.
Oliver lets out a hiss as he releases her nipple, and his hips begin to work even faster. His hands grip her ass even tighter and then all of a sudden he slows down, stroking all the way out of her body only to stroke slowly back in. The tip of him grazes the now raised ridge of her sweet spot deliberately.
She's creaming around him and pulling his body tighter to her with her legs around his waist, closing her eyes tightly, "Yes... yes.. right there... don't stop..." Chloe's entire body begins to coil like a tightly wound spring.
Oliver begins to pick up the pace again leaning back down to cover her body again as he takes her earlobe into his mouth and declares, "I'll never stop, Chloe... I'll never... ahh I'll never stop."
There, right there, his declaration, his voice... his body inside of hers, does it. And she's off, riding through space and time, holding on to Oliver, feeling connected to him somewhere deep. She's having her "wow moment" meeting him for the first time at the Kent farm. She's discovering his alter ego. She's sitting across from him clutching the white Queen in her hand as he tells her that she saved him. She's having her first archery lesson and right there between the beats, she let's go... "OH. God. Ollie... Oh my... Oh... ahhh..."
"Chloe," He breathes and surges inside her body, holding her so tightly as she ripples around him. He can't withstand the gripping pressure of her flesh around him and he erupts inside of her with his heart pounding so hard against her own. He kisses her hair, breathing hard and fast. She buries her face in his neck, feeling so close to him, feeling like a part of him.
Gradually, gradually they settle down, calmed. Oliver looks down at Chloe, smiling softly. He kisses her lips lightly and rolls to the side of her bringing her with him. Pulling the comforter up and over their cooling bodies and tangling his long legs with her shorter ones. There isn't anything left for either of them to say. They've agreed to go all in and the rest they'll figure out together.
afterthought: Leave me a review and let me know if it was worth the read.