ruafair
19th April 2003, 00:03
This one is for you Jules...Fiona
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On The Trail Of A Thief
Author: RuaFair (AKA Fiona)
Email: redwitchire@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: R/NC17
Spoilers: None – This is totally AU.
Disclaimer: Smallville and its characters belong to someone else. (Sigh) I’m just borrowing them.
Dedication: To Hope, thanks for the great idea.
Feedback: Please, let me know what you think, the muse craves it.
Summery: Chloe is a cat burglar and a very good one at that. It had made her very rich, she can be hired to carry out jobs if the price is right. Pete works for her. Lana and Clark are investigators. Lex is as well; he gets brought in when the others can’t solve the crimes. He is still very rich, having inherited a fortune from his parents, both of whom are dead.
Chapter One – The Prey
“Easy does it Sullivan,” she whispered as she tugged on the straps of her harness, checking their tension, before lowering herself down until she was hanging over the glass case. She put on her infrared goggles and the criss-cross of the alarmed red laser beams were made visible to her.
‘Good ole reliable laser alarm systems,’ she thought, ‘piece of cake.’
“Pete,” she said into her radio, “time to work your magic.”
A few moments passed before his voice came over the radio again.
“Ok my dear, you’ll have 30 seconds to get the piece and be out of the way of the beams before the alarm comes back online,” came the reply, “and your time starts… now.”
‘30, 29, 28,’ Chloe began counting in her head as she did a flip in her harness and lowered further down so that she was face to face with the casing. ’21, 19’ she continued to count. Using a laser glasscutter she made a hole big enough for her hand. ’12, 11, 10’, reaching in she grabbed the small solid gold statue, put it in the pocket of her cat suit and began pulling herself up. ‘3, 2, 1’ Just as she was out of the way the red laser beams came on again.
In the van parked outside Pete Ross breathed a sigh of relief. “Cut that a little fine Chloe.” Even through her earpiece she could hear the very evident relief in his voice
“It adds to the excitement, you know a job isn’t complete for you if I haven’t nearly given you a heart attack.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“You love it Pete. See you in five.”
She pulled herself up through the hole in the ceiling and put the tile back in place. She made her way through the lattice of tunnels till she got to the service elevator and travelled in that to the top and crawled through the air vent onto the roof of the museum.
After packing up all her gear, and putting it in a backpack she checked and secured the statue in her pocket. Moving over to the side of the building, she abseiled down the side using the rope she’d left there from earlier. Reaching the bottom she tugged on the rope till it came down; gathered it in her arms and ran across the street to the waiting van, as soon as she was in; the van sped off.
Settling in the back of the van, she made herself comfortable, and then Chloe took the small gold statue from her pocket and held it up, admiring it.
“All that for a statue of a cat,” said Pete over his shoulder.
“It’s Bast,” said Chloe, “she was the goddess of family and life and took the form of a cat. That is why cats were revered in Ancient Egypt; they believed they were incarnations of Bast.
Beautiful isn’t it.”
The statue stood 6 inches high, pure gold, the eyes were sapphires and around its neck was a collar of diamonds.
“It’s just a *cat* Chloe and if some collector wants to pay you *$750,000* for it then they are the bigger fool.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, “it’s a work of art Pete, that’s worth about $2m and you’re just a cultural retard.” She laughed at her best friend, they had been working together for five years, she loved him like a brother but he didn’t have any appreciation for art, just the money.
For her the thrill of the robbery made it all worth the while. The money was good, it had made her a millionaire in the process, but nothing could beat the adrenalin rush she felt when she was breaking in. Even the planning had a rush of it’s own, and her line of *work* had made her famous. Every paper carried stories about the cat burglar who couldn’t be caught. Added to the fact she was an art lover, this was the *perfect* job for her.
“When do you get the money?”
“Desperate for your cut Pete?” He just made a face at her in the mirror.
“The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow evening 8.30pm, the exchange will be made then.”
“Chloe, I don’t think you should take on anymore jobs for awhile.”
“Why not?”
“Well you have been pretty busy lately, in fact all the newspapers are about your *exploits*. It might be worthwhile laying low for a bit. The police haven’t been able to come with anything on you, so it’s only a matter of time before they bring the specialist investigators in.”
“Pete, don’t worry I’m not going to get caught. They haven’t been able to catch me yet,” she said with a grin. “And I fully intend to keep it that way.”
“Very true. But you might be pushing your luck and…”
“Ok, ok I have a meeting in a couple of days about one more job and if the price is right I’ll do that one and then lay low for a while. How does that sound?”
“That will do I suppose,” he replied with a smile.
Chloe just rolled her eyes at him again and settled back in her seat, as the van got closer to their apartments.
They lived in an apartment block up town, and although she was richer than anyone around her, they didn’t live in a place too upmarket as to draw attention to themselves. She had the penthouse apartment and Pete the one below her.
Parking the van in their private car park they made their way to Chloe’s apartment.
“Get the drinks Pete, I wanna get changed.”
Pete made his way over to the fridge for the customary bottle of expensive champagne they always shared after a robbery.
He was just pouring Chloe’s glass when she re-entered the room, looking so much different in a pair of baggy sweats and a t-shirt.
She put the statue in her safe for settling down on the couch beside Pete. They clinked their glasses together in a toast and spent the night in reminiscence mode.
Chapter Two - The Predator
“KENT, LANG, GET IN HERE.” The voice boomed around the office.
Clark Kent and Lana Lang both jumped up from their seats almost ran to their captain’s office.
“Sir,” they both said, a little out of breath.
“Close the door and sit down.” He held up a copy of the local newspaper, and began reading from the story on the front page:
{Cat burglar strikes again at Metropolis museum:
Another work of art was stolen from the museum last night. A 6-inch solid gold statue of the Egyptian goddess Bast was the item in question. It’s reputedly worth in the region of $2 million.
This is the fourth such robbery in as many weeks and as yet our local police department are to find a single lead. The burglar leaves no clues, and Captain Steven Hamilton of the ‘special unit’; supposedly the ‘experts’ in robberies such as this, has been left to try and explain their lack of progress in these cases, which they believe is the work of one person. As a result of their ineptitude many art galleries and museums are reluctant to put on new displays for fear of being robbed, which is causing embarrassment for the city, and this isn’t looking good for Mayor Kwan’s re-election campaign…
Story by Whitney Fordman, continued on page 2...}
“He continues on about how this thief is giving us the run around, and to top my bad morning, I’ve just had my ass chewed off by the mayor’s office. So you know what this means?”
“It means we’re in for it,” said Lana.
“Very good Lang, that’s exactly what it means. You two have been on this case since the very first robbery and so far, nothing, not a goddamn thing. You are my best investigators, what the hell has happened on this case?”
“Sir, we have absolutely nothing to go on. There are no clues, the items that are stolen haven’t appeared anywhere- so we don’t know if he keeps them or is selling them on the black market. None of our usual informants know anything or if they do our threats aren’t working on them. There is no pattern other than every art gallery, jewellery shop and museum isn’t safe, and all the items stolen are very rare and worth an absolute fortune.” Clark finished by throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.
“This thief is different from any other we’ve dealt with, this one is very intelligent and everything is planned to perfection. And it’s only ever one item at a time, I mean they can break in anywhere, disable every alarm system, so pretty much everything is there for the taking, but nothing else is touched. Whatever they are breaking in for is all that is taken,” added Lana.
“This is making us look very, very bad,” said Hamilton, “and the word from up on high is that we need help.”
“What does that mean?” asked Clark. “Are we been taken of the case?” asked Lana.
“No, you’re both staying on the case, but there is another coming in to head up the investigation.”
“Who? Someone else from the department?”
“No. Any of you heard of Lex Luthor?”
Both Lana and Clark shook their heads.
Hamilton sat down behind his desk, “Lex Luthor,” he began, “is a specialist, he usually works for the FBI but has been known to help out the police every now and then. He has *no* unsolved cases to his name.”
“What’s he like?” asked Lana.
“I personally have never met the man, but from what I’ve heard he’s exceedingly intelligent, can be quite arrogant, does not like to proven wrong, and is always in control. Nobody quite knows why he has a job considering he’s a millionaire; apparently he inherited a fortune from his parents when they died. So instead of living the playboy lifestyle most people expected him to do, he decided to become an investigator, and a damn good one at that.”
“So Lana and I are going to be working with him?”
“No Kent, you and Lang are going to be working *for* him.”
“But sir…” began Clark.
“But nothing, this has come directly from the chief and the mayor’s office, Luthor is actually upstairs in the chief’s office and will be on his way down as soon as possible, and the two of you will start working for him immediately. He’s taking over the office beside your desks, it has already been set up for him.”
Hamilton’s phone rang and he answered it immediately, “yes sir, they have, he is, ok.” He hung up the phone and looked at Clark and Lana again. “He’s on his way down, you two are dismissed.”
Both detectives knew better than to question their captain about this anymore, well not until he had calmed down a bit, and left the office and went over to their own desks.
“Wow, did that just happen?” asked Lana, taking her seat.
“I think it did,” replied an equally confused Clark, “wonder what this Luthor guy will be like.”
“I guess we’re going to find out, right?”
Just then the elevator doors opened and out stepped a very handsome man, completely bald and dressed in a very expensive black Armani suit with a grey silk shirt underneath. He strode across the office like he already *owned* it, completely ignoring the stares from everyone.
“Clark Kent and Lana Lang I presume,” his carefully modulated voice spoke, “Lex Luthor,” holding out his hand.
First Lana then Clark shook it, “Mr. Luthor…” Clark started.
“Call me *Lex*.”
“Lex, is there anything we can get for you?”
“I want everything you have on the cat burglar, the crime scenes, what was stolen, witness statements, forensic data, every microscopic detail the two of you have gathered, and I want it all in my office as soon as it’s humanly possible.”
He turned and went into his office, but before closing the door he spoke again, “Oh and one more thing, cancel any plans the two of you might have had for this evening, this will more than likely be an all-nighter.” He smirked at them briefly before closing the door.
Lana and Clark stared open-mouthed at the closed door for a minute, before turning to stare at each other, both wearing a look of shock on their faces. They stood like that for a moment till the office door opened and Lex stuck his head out, “Miss Lang, Mr. Clark do you need me to explain my request to you again?”
“No, no, not at all,” stammered Clark.
Lex said nothing and closed the door again.
Lang sighed deeply and took Clark’s arm dragging him over to where the files were kept.
Chapter Three – First Contact
“That better not be someone banging on my door at,” muttered a very sleepy Chloe as she turned to look at the clock, “10.00am. Maybe if I ignore them they will go away.” She buried deeper under the covers and pulled a pillow over her head to try and muffle out the noise. But still the banging continued. She crawled out of her bed and dragged herself out to open the door, “this better be the end of the world,” she said as she pulled the door open to find Pete standing there.
“Did I get you out of bed Chloe?” a big grin on his face.
“Pete, how long have we known each other?”
“Almost 6 years now,” he replied, wondering where she was going with this.
“And *when* in all that time have you known me to get up this early, I’m not a morning person, you know that, it’s the vampire blood in me. So whatever news you have had better be earth-shattering.”
“Well can I at least come in first?”
Chloe stood back and let Pete in before closing the door behind him, they made their way to the kitchen. “So spill it.”
“They’ve hired an expert investigator.”
“Who, the police?”
“Yes Chloe, they’ve brought in some hotshot FBI guy to head up the investigation into all the robberies, which in turn means you. Apparently they’re holding a press conference today to introduce this guy.”
“And this is why you woke me at 10.00am.”
“Chloe this is serious. I think you should cancel this latest job and lay really low for the next while.”
“No Pete. So they’ve brought in an *expert*. So what? All the experts so far haven’t caught me, what’s so special about this one?”
“I just have a bad feeling about it.”
Chloe sighed, “Pete, you’re my best friend and I love you, but you have got to lay off all the worrying it’s making you old before your time. I told you after the last job that I’d lay low after this one and I intend to stick to that.”
Pete still didn’t look too happy.
“It’s $2million for this job. Think about it, $2million think of all you could do with your cut of that.”
Pete sat silent for a moment, it was a lot of money, and in fact it was their biggest pay out yet. Some South American billionaire wanted Chloe to steal the breastplate of some general; the thing was probably priceless.
He looked at Chloe and saw her grinning at him, and he couldn’t help but grin back.
“Ok,” he conceded, “after this one.”
“So where’s this press conference being held?” asked Chloe as she set about making coffee.
“Oh you’re not going to believe this, but they’re holding it in the museum right in front of the display where what-his-name’s thingy is.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed, “It’s a breastplate Pete, and it belonged to Alexander the Great, it’s priceless and I’m just wasting my time trying to explain this to you aren’t I? I think we should go and check this new guy out.”
“Oh no, I don’t think so Chloe.”
“Oh yes I think so Pete,” she mimicked. “We’ll go along, hear what they have to say find out who this guy is and then you can work the great Ross magic and get all the information you can on him. What time does it start at?”
Pete skimmed through the article in the paper, “It starts at 1.00pm.”
“Ok you go and get ready and meet me here at 12.30pm and we’ll make our way.”
‘This is not good,’ thought Pete as he made his way out of Chloe’s apartment and down to his own, ‘not good at all.’
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Clark Kent yawned as he stood outside the Metropolis Museum, since Lex had arrived three days ago he had got about 5 hours sleep. They had gone through every piece of evidence they had with a fine toothcomb, and then went through it all again. He had to admit Lex was very good, he had given all the evidence a different perspective and at the end they felt like they had achieved something.
“Hey Clark.”
“Hi Lana, all ready for this?”
Lana smiled at him, “as ready as I’m going to be. We’d better head on in.”
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Lex stood to the side watching as the press, people from the mayor’s office, police department, museum officials as well as people just in from the street sat in the room waiting for the press conference to begin. ‘Waste of time,’ he thought.
He looked around the room and suddenly locked eyes with a very attractive blonde woman, ‘wow,’ he thought as she smiled at him and he found himself returning her smile.
‘Oh hell-o,’ thought Chloe as the bald man she’d been checking out smiled back at her, ‘he is *hot*. Wonder who he is?’
“Chloe,” whispered Pete beside her, “stop making goo-goo eyes.”
She reluctantly turned away from Lex and glared at her friend. “Peter Ross, I do not, nor have I *ever* made goo-goo eyes at anyone,” she hissed at him.
Pete just started laughing, “Chloe you were checking that guy out.”
“Yes Pete, I was *checking* him out, I was *not* making goo-goo eyes at him.”
“What-ever,” said Pete.
She was about to answer him back when the mayor stepped up to the podium and began to speak.
“I want to thank everyone for coming here today. As you are all aware there have been a number of robberies in the recent weeks of precious works of art from this very museum. And as a result of this art galleries and museums are reluctant to have any new exhibitions. Well we are delighted to announce that this museum is not going to let this thief win. They are going to have on display for the next month the breastplate of Alexander the Great. This work of art is priceless and we are very lucky to have it here…”
‘Well for the time being,’ thought Chloe with a smile, as she listened to the mayor drone on and on.
Lex had switched off to what the mayor was saying from the minute he opened his mouth and he had been watching the blonde who had smiled at him. She sat looking at the mayor with a look of boredom on her face and every now and then would make a comment to the man sitting beside her; which would cause her to laugh, lighting up her face.
‘And I thought my stay here would be all work and no play,’ he thought as she caught his eye again.
He was about to quietly make his way over too her when the mayor’s speech turned to the investigation.
“…And so to help us catch this thief we have appointed a specialist investigator to head up the task force, so ladies and gentlemen let me introduce Mr. Lex Luthor…”
Lex stepped up the podium and thought he saw a strange look grace the blonde’s face before it disappeared. He winked at her briefly and began to speak.
“Thank you Mayor Kwan. My appointment here is not a reflection on the police department, I am just here to offer another perspective and to help them catch this thief. And I want to say now that there will be no more robberies, this thief will be caught, and soon…”
A number of reporters started firing questions at him after his statement and he handled every one of them without losing his composure.
“Let’s get out of here,” whispered Chloe to Pete, after listening to Lex for a while, and they made their way outside.
“That’s the guy,” said Pete, “and you, Chloe Sullivan, were giving him the come on.”
“Shut up Pete,” said Chloe, ‘great,’ she thought, ‘first guy in ages that did anything for me and he’s the guy who has been assigned to try and catch me.’
“Let’s get back Pete, I want you to find out everything you can about *Lex Luthor*.”
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After Lex had fielded all the questions he vainly tried to find the mystery woman, ‘oh well, maybe some other time,’ and headed over to Clark and Lana to head back to the station.
Chapter Four – An Auspicious Meeting
“Here you go Pete,” said Chloe, handing him a coffee.
“Thanks.” It had been three days since the press conference, and despite Pete’s objections, the plan to steal the breastplate was still very much on.
“Ok Chloe, here’s what I found out about Lex Luthor,” Pete settled himself before continuing.
“Alexander Joseph Luthor, age 27, born in Metropolis, parents Lionel and Lillian, both deceased. His father was a big shot in the business world, and Lex had a rather tumultuous relationship with him. His mother died when he was quite young, the father passed away 3 years ago, the family were multi-millionaires, and Lex inherited everything. He has a genius IQ and has degrees in science, chemistry and forensic science. The FBI have been using him for the last 4 years, and in the last 18 months police departments have been availing of his services. He always gives the impression of being in total control and I’ve heard he can come across quite arrogant, likes giving orders, although he’s not very good at taking them. His baldness was caused by some childhood accident, which I couldn’t get more information on, but I’m working on it. He is single; never been married, but has been spotted in various society pages always with some beautiful woman on his arm, but doesn’t seem to have had a serious girlfriend.
Oh and the one other very important thing I discovered about him is that he has no unsolved cases to his name, every one that he has worked on he has solved, and he won’t quit the case until it has.”
Pete took a large gulp of coffee after speaking and looked at Chloe.
“We are *not* cancelling the job Pete,” she said when she noticed the look on his face, “I don’t care if this guy is Batman it’s about time he had a case he couldn’t solve and *I* intend to be that case.”
“But Chloe…” began Pete.
“No Pete, no buts, this job is going ahead and if you don’t want to be part of it then tell me now, but if you are part of it stop all this talking about quitting. So what’s it going to be?”
Pete sighed, “of course I want to be part of it, it’s just that I think this Lex guy is going to cause us problems.”
“You just leave Mr. Lex Luthor to me,” she said, ‘I’ll take care of him,’ she added silently to herself.
“Ok Chloe, you’re the boss,” he smiled.
“Right, I’m going to the museum now, I want to take a quick look around, and yes I know the place is crawling with police but I’m just going as a museum visitor to look at the new exhibition.”
“So what cover are you going to use if you run into Luthor?”
“I’ll be Chloe Sullivan, photographer extraordinaire, we haven’t used that one in a while.”
Pete laughed, “Ok, I’ll put the necessary information up should anyone decide to do a check on you.”
“Oh Pete, the museum will have, of course, completely changed their entire security system and have probably installed one recommended by the lovely Mr. Luthor.”
“Way ahead of you Chloe, I’ve already started looking into what they have and how to get around it.”
Chloe smiled, delighted that Pete was in research mode for the new job, she grabbed her coat and bag, dropped a quick kiss on Pete’s forehead, “see you later.”
Pete just grinned back at her, “have fun Chloe.”
‘Oh I will if Lex Luthor is there,’ she thought as she made her way down to the car park and got into her Ferrari and headed for the museum.
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Lex had spotted her the minute she had walked into the museum. He was in the security office when she appeared on the security camera. He watched as she walked around, sometimes on her own, sometimes with the various groups of visitors.
He continued watching her on the monitor till she stopped in front of the display case hosting the breastplate of Alexander; then he left the security office and made his way over to her.
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Chloe stood admiring the item. ‘Incredible,’ she thought, ‘I could retire after stealing this. Granted I could of retired a long time ago, but stealing this would be the crowning glory.’
“Magnificent isn’t it?”
Chloe didn’t need to turn around to see who it was, she recognised the voice immediately. “It’s an amazing piece,” she replied, “it seems to have a power all it’s own.”
Lex moved from behind to stand beside her, and studied her profile.
“To think something this beautiful was used for leading men into battle,” she continued and Lex’s eyes were focused on her mouth. “But still you could stare at its beauty for hours.”
“Definitely,” replied Lex still staring at her.
Chloe turned from the case to stare at him, “Lex Luthor, taking to staying at the museum on a permanent basis to catch your thief.”
Lex just smirked at her. ‘Boy he looks sexy when he does that,’ she thought.
“No I’m just here, like yourself, on a visit.”
“So Lex, do really think the thief will try and steal this,” indicating to the breastplate with her head, “after your little press conference.”
“Of course they will, how could they resist it now?”
“Oh silly me,” said Chloe, “I thought it was a press conference to introduce you and to try and make the mayor look less of an idiot than normal. Not a publicity stunt for you to lay down a challenge to the thief.”
“Is that what you really thought?”
Chloe just smiled.
“So why were you at the press conference Miss…”
“Plain old curiosity,” she replied, still not telling him her name.
Lex smirked at her aversion to giving him her name. “Curious about the breastplate, curious about what the mayor was going to say, or was it something else?”
“I was curious to see the guy they were *hiring* to catch the thief, that’s what really *peaked* my curiosity.”
Lex moved slightly closer to her, “I see, and did I suitably *peak* that curiosity for you?”
“Well I came close to complete peak-ness.” Each was affected by the nearness of the other.
“Oh I don’t like to see a woman left *unsatisfied*, how about you let me buy you dinner to make up for it.”
“Let me check my schedule and get back to you,” replied a coy Chloe as she turned to leave.
He had to ask, “I didn’t get you name.”
“I didn’t give it,” she smirked, then after a moment, “it’s Chloe.”
“Chloe what?” he asked.
“Just Chloe,” and with that she left the room.
Chapter Five – Dilemmas
Chloe stood looking over Pete’s shoulder as he explained the Metropolis Museum’s new alarm system.
She tried to pay attention to what he was saying, she knew it was important, but her mind kept drifting back to her meeting with Lex. ‘Damn infuriatingly sexy man,’ she thought. Since meeting him two days ago she had picked up the phone at least fifty times to ring him and take him up on his offer of dinner but always backed out at the last minute.
Pete looked at Chloe and knew she wasn’t listening to him. “And then Chloe all you have to do is dance a little jig across the room and the alarm will be disabled.”
“Cool Pete, that sounds fine,” she replied.
“Did you even *hear* a word I said?”
“Of course I did, you said something about the…alarm,” she offered hopefully. Pete rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air. “Christ Chlo what is with you? I’ve never seen you like this where a job was concerned. And might I add you’re the one who insisted that we go ahead with it.”
“I’m sorry Pete it’s just that, and I know I’ve only met him, but this Lex Luthor, he’s gotten under my skin, and I’m not quite sure what to do about it.”
“Chloe, whatever you do, *don’t* get involved with him. Jesus of all the people to go and fall for.”
“*I* have not fallen for him, for your information, he just…intrigues me.”
“Whatever, just forget about him and concentrate on the job. This alarm system is incredible.”
“I was thinking about it last night,” said Chloe, glad Pete had dropped the subject of Lex for the moment.
“Wow actually *thinking* about the job in hand, will wonders never cease.”
“Ha. Bloody. Ha Pete. Remember that art forger guy we worked with a couple of years ago in Chicago, what was his name again?”
“Justin,” said Pete, “Justin Gaines, what about him?”
“See if you can track him down. And when you do ask him if he wants in on the job.”
“What are you up too?”
“I’m still working on it, just see if you can get him, oh and try to track down Kyle Tippet as well.”
“That old safecracker, Chloe what’s going on?”
“I told you, it’s still just the semblance of an idea, but I’ll let you know soon, I just need to get a few things straight in my head.”
“Ok you’re the boss. I’ll make a few calls,” said Pete, slightly baffled at her requests, but she’d never come up with a bad plan yet.
“Just trust me Pete,” she said, noticing the look on his face. He just shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
“Right let’s go through the timers on this alarm system one more time, you have my undivided attention,” she grinned.
-----------------------------------
Lex was in his office, the blue prints of the museum tacked to the wall, and he was trying to concentrate on them.
‘Just Chloe,’ kept running through his head. He smirked to himself at the coyness of some of her answers.
She was a distraction he kept telling himself, he was here to catch a thief, not to flirt with the locals. Well at least he thought she was a local, actually when he dwelled on it he really knew nothing about her other than her first name.
“Get a grip Luthor,” he murmured to himself, “you’d swear you’d never seen a beautiful woman before.” But it wasn’t just that she was beautiful, it was everything else about her. She was alluring, mysterious, intelligent and as sexy as sin and he was intrigued.
Needing to clear his head of all things Chloe he decided to go for a walk. He left his office and got the elevator to the ground floor.
When the doors opened he was shocked to see Chloe standing there. People filed into the elevator and Lex hadn’t a chance to get out. The next thing he knew the doors had closed, the elevator was packed and Chloe was pressed up against him.
“Mr. Luthor, fancy meeting you here,” she said softly, a smile on her face as she looked up at him. Chloe had told Pete she was going for a walk, and suddenly found herself at the police station and before she chickened out again, decided to see if Lex was around and now here they were, thanks to the amount of people around them, pressed very close together.
“Chloe,” Lex said, not bothering to hide the surprise in his voice or on his face, “what are you doing here?”
Somebody behind Chloe pushed against her and she placed her hands on Lex’s silk covered chest to steady herself, while he placed his hands on her hips to stop her from falling.
“I came to see if your offer of dinner was still open,” she said. Lex could feel her breath on his face, her warm hands through his shirt. And even though during the elevator’s journey to the top the number of people in it had dwindled they still remained in the same position.
He contemplated teasing her but decided against it, there were plenty of other ways to *tease* her. “Oh the offer is still there. Did you managed to work me into your schedule?”
“Yes,” she replied with a smirk of her own, enjoying the feeling of his body against hers, ‘damn clothes in the way,’ she thought. “I managed to find an opening for this evening. Does that suit you?”
“Shall we say 8.00pm at La Finesse,” he said, knowing that if he had other plans, they would of been cancelled.
“Perfect, I’ll meeting you there.”
The elevator had reached the top floor again. “Well I’d better head back to the ground floor again,” she sighed and stepped away from him, removing her hands from his chest.
Let me go *down* o…with you,” he smirked and leaned over the push the ground floor button, letting his body brush hers again. The trip back down was a nightmare for both. The air around them felt charged in the confined space. It took every ounce of Lex’s control to keep himself from taking her then and there. Chloe was battling with similar ideas herself.
Both breathed a sigh of relief when the doors opened once again, this time on the ground floor. Chloe stepped out and turned to face Lex again. “See you tonight Lex.”
“Looking forward to it Chloe,” he replied and he watched her hips sway as she walked away.
“Definitely looking forward to it,” he said to himself as his took out his cell-phone to make the reservations.
Chapter Six – Dessert
Chloe stood in front of her mirror. “Ok,” she said to her reflection, “this is *not* a date. Its just dinner, that’s all.”
‘So your rule about not sleeping with a guy on a first date doesn’t really count in this case,’ the voice in her head said.
“No, it doesn’t,” she replied absently. “Oh God, what am I doing?” She sat on the edge of her bed; she had said nothing to Pete about the dinner. She really hated keeping things from him, but the way he’d been acting lately about Lex, telling him about dinner wouldn’t of been such a good idea. As fate would have it, Pete had gotten on lead on Kyle Tippet and had gone to check it out.
Chloe stood up again and checked her outfit. She was wearing a deep-red silk dress that fell mid-thigh. It had spaghetti straps and was low-cut enough to give a hint of her cleavage, which had been enhanced from the half-cut bra she was wearing. Barely black sheer stockings and black heels completed the ensemble. Her make-up was subtle and her hair was wispy around her face.
‘I see, if this is the outfit you wear to go out with a guy you have no intention of sleeping with, I’d hate to see what you wear when you do,’ her inner voice piped up again.
“Shut-up,” Chloe said at her reflection. Her phone rang, informing her that the cab was downstairs waiting for her. She grabbed her wrap and purse and headed down to the waiting cab.
“La Finesse,” she told the driver as she settled back in the seat.
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Lex sat the table and ordered a scotch from the maitre d that had appeared the minute he sat down. He glanced at his watch, 8.00pm. Lex couldn’t believe he was actually a little nervous about this dinner date. ‘It’s not a date,’ he thought, ‘its just dinner with a women that I am incredibly attracted too.’ A waitress placing his drink on the table interrupted Lex’s musings; Lex waved her away with his hand.
A minute later, Lex’s breath caught as Chloe was led to the table, the red silk clung to her in all the right places. He stood up, “wow, you look beautiful,” as his eyes travelled the length of her body before resting on her eyes.
“Thanks,” she replied a faint blush on her cheeks, “you look pretty good yourself.” He was dressed in a black suit that fit just perfecting, a pale purple silk shirt, opened at the neck, completed the outfit. ‘Down girl,’ ran through her head as she took her seat.
“Can I get you a drink?” the waitress asked. “I’ll have a scotch and water, thank you,” said Chloe.
“Very well madam,” she said before handing both of them a menu.
Chloe turned back to face Lex and he smiled at him, ‘God he looks even better smiling.’
“Glad you’d made it,” he said as her drink appeared. Chloe picked it up and held it out. “So am I,” she replied. They clinked glasses and their eyes remained locked as they took a sip of their drinks.
They chatted over the menus before a dark-haired waitress came over. “Hi, my name is Victoria and I’ll be your waitress this evening,” she said in a clipped British accent. “Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?”
“I’m ready,” said Lex. “So am I,” said Chloe. And they gave the waitress their order.
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They made small talk over their starters. Halfway through their main course, Lex asked the question Chloe knew was coming.
“Chloe what do you do?”
She groaned inwardly. “I’m a photographer,” she said, “I’ve done some work for various newspapers, but mostly I work free-lance.” It was a story she’d used before. “So, how’s the investigation going Lex? Or are you not allowed to talk about it?” she asked, steering the conversation away from herself.
Lex was a little confused at her change in the conversation. “It’s progressing along nicely,” he smirked, “it’s just a matter of time before the thief makes a move.”
The waitress came over and took away their empty plates. “Thank you,” said Chloe to her. “You seem very *sure* about that,” directing the conversation back to Lex.
“This thief is very good and they know that. And as you said in the museum this is a challenge to some degree that I’ve laid down and they won’t be able to resist it.”
“I’ve noticed when you talk about the thief Lex you never assign a gender.”
“That’s because I don’t know yet whether it’s a man or woman and to make that assumption now would be, well, unprofessional.”
“Not to mention sexist,” added Chloe. Lex raised an eyebrow at her comment. “The papers seem to think the thief is a man,” she clarified.
Before Lex could respond the waitress brought over Chloe her dessert and he watched as her eyes grew wide as the plump strawberries and cream were placed in front of her. Chloe caught him looking at her, “hey, I enjoy the *sinful* pleasures of life,” she said with a grin.
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‘She’s trying to kill me,’ he thought as he watched her stretch her lips over the cream covered fruit. As he watched her tongue lick the remnants of the cream from her lips he felt himself get hard.
Chloe knew she was treading on dangerous ground as she watched him lick his lips as she ate the dessert.
She picked up another large strawberry, dipped it in the cream and held it out towards Lex. “Want a taste?” she asked in a low voice.
‘No,’ his mind screamed, unfortunately the rest of his body was screaming, ‘YES.’ He leaned forward almost involuntary.
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The waitress, Victoria, stood at the bar watching the two of them. “They are going to need a fire extinguisher soon,” her colleague said.
“Bet you fifty bucks they kiss before getting up from the table Carrie,” she said turning to her workmate.
Carrie looked over at them, “you’re on Vicky, and I’d say they wait till they get outside.”
Both girls shook hands and watched Lex and Chloe intently.
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Chloe’s mouth became dry as Lex bit into the fruit. He pulled back a little to chew and swallow the piece.
“Aren’t you going to finish it,” she asked, her voice husky.
He closed the short distance again and took the rest of the berry and in turn began licking the cream from her fingers. He sucked her finger into his mouth, his eyes locked on hers as his tongue ran over her fingers.
Chloe was breathing heavily and she felt herself lean forward. She pulled her hand away and pressed her lips to his. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip and Lex groaned softly when they parted for him. He slipped his tongue inside as hers found it’s way into his mouth. Both shuddered as the kiss intensified.
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Victoria turned smugly to her friend and held out her hand. Carrie muttered to herself as she handed over the fifty dollars. “Better get their bill ready,” said Vicky, “I think they’ll be needing it *very* soon.”
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Their tongues duelled for a moment before Chloe pulled back. Her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath. Lex shifted in his seat as his pants became far too tight.
“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered. Chloe nodded. Lex looked away from Chloe and caught the waitress’ eye; she was over immediately with the bill. Lex glanced at it before pulling a wad of notes from his wallet and throwing them on the table. He stood up and took Chloe’s hand and both almost ran out of the restaurant.
The moment they got outside Lex covered her mouth with his own again, his hands slid down her back and Chloe wrapped hers around his waist. He could feel her lips swell from the kiss and he moaned softly.
He released her mouth when he heard his limo pull up behind them. “Your place or mine?” he whispered.
“Yours,” she breathed.
Chapter Seven – Never Mix Pleasure With Business
During the short drive from the restaurant to his apartment Lex just couldn’t keep his hands off Chloe. Granted her curling up beside him the minute they got into the limo didn’t help matters. No sooner had the car taken off than Lex’s lips were on hers again. Chloe’s hands worked his shirt out of his pants and they were now gently skimming up and down his back. Chloe moaned into his mouth when his hand rested on her thigh, and he began rubbing it gently.
Lex was about to move his hand higher when the car stopped. ‘About time,’ he thought, even though the entire journey only took about five minutes.
They managed to make it from the car to his apartment without giving anyone else a show, although it had been a close call in the elevator. They were only in the door of his apartment when Chloe found herself pressed up against it by Lex’s body. She couldn’t believe what was happening, she had *never* wanted someone as much as she wanted Lex.
She pulled his mouth down to hers again and as they kissed she unbuttoned his shirt. Lex helped her and within seconds his jacket and shirt were on the ground. Chloe began placing wet kisses on his neck and chest, while he found the zipper to her dress. He took a step back from her and hooked his hands under the straps of her dress and slowly pulled the dress down. “God you’re beautiful,” he murmured as her skin was revealed. The dress ended up in a pool on the floor and Chloe stood in just her lacy bra, matching panties and stockings.
Lex placed kisses on her stomach as he knelt, his eyes looking up at her. She looked down at him through half closed eyes
He lifted one of her legs up a little and took of her shoe, and then slowly slid his hand up her leg and on it’s journey back down he pulled off her stocking. He repeated the process with the other leg. Lex had never been so hard in his life and the thought of being inside her was driving him crazy.
He lifted one leg over his shoulder and licked and kissed her inner thigh, causing her to moan his name. ‘I’m going to explode,’ she thought. As she felt his tongue get closer to her centre, she grabbed his head, directing him where she most wanted him to go. When he kissed her through her panties, Chloe’s legs almost gave out.
“Bedroom,” whispered Lex as he stood up and they managed to make it to his room still wrapped around each other.
Chloe moved back from him once they were in his room and slowly unhooked her bra and let it drop to the ground. Lex groaned and reached his hands out to cup her breasts, running his thumb over her nipples.
He kissed her hard, his tongue laving the inside of her mouth and pushed her back gently against the bed. When Chloe felt the back of her knees against the bed she sat down on the edge and Lex reached for her.
“Not yet,” she said with a wicked grin and Lex stood back, a confused look on his face.
“Chloe…” he began.
“Shush,” she said and began opening his pants, and then pushed them down, Lex stepped out of them and kicked of his shoes and socks. She began stroking him hard through his boxers.
“Chloe,” he moaned, “not like that, not just now, I *need* to be inside you.”
She moved up on the bed, slipped her underwear off and laid back, her legs slightly spread. Lex’s boxers fell to the floor and he crawled onto the bed, settling between her legs.
He shifted against her and slowly pressed forward, both groaned at the sensation of their bodies joining. Chloe adjusted her legs and wrapped them loosely around Lex’s hips and he began to move.
At this moment Chloe didn’t care what Pete thought, she didn’t care what Lex was or what she was and that tomorrow morning reality would raise its head again. All that mattered was how he was making her feel, nothing else.
For the next few hours the only sounds in the room were from the two lovers until they both collapsed exhausted and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
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Chloe woke up and it took her a moment to realise where she was. She turned slightly and looked up into Lex’s sleeping face. ‘Oh crap,’ she thought. She extracted herself from him and padded naked out of his room, found his shirt on the floor outside and put it on. Roaming around for a few minutes she eventually found the bathroom. She turned on the light and locked the door behind her.
She stood looking at herself in the mirror; her hair was all mussed, her lips still slightly swollen. “Oh you’ve done it this time Sullivan,” she whispered, “Dinner wasn’t enough for you, oh no you had to have dessert, strawberries should be made illegal.”
She splashed some water on her face and headed back to the bedroom. She stopped to pick up her clothes along the way. On a table there were a number of files, and the top one read, ‘Codes for Museum Alarm System’. Chloe stopped in her tracks and stared at the file, she glanced towards the bedroom and then turned her attention back to the file.
‘It would be so easy,’ she thought and began to reach out her hand.
“Chloe,” Lex’s voice rang out from the bedroom. She turned away from the files and picked up the rest of her clothes and made her way back into the bedroom.
“Hey,” she said as she walked in. Lex smirked when he saw her wearing his shirt.
Pushing all thoughts of the file out of her mind, Chloe dropped her clothes on a chair and crawled onto the bed and kissed him. Lex deepened the kiss and slipped his hands under the shirt. “Lex,” she groaned, “I really have to go.”
Lex said nothing and just pulled her on top of him. “I really, really have to go.”
Lex sighed and looked like a kid who had his favourite toy taken away from him. Chloe slid off the bed. “Don’t sulk Lex,” she said with a smile.
“*I* do not sulk,” he replied.
Chloe began dressing, Lex got out of the bed and pulled a pair of boxers on. He moved behind Chloe and drew the zipper of her dress up, kissing her neck. He turned her around in his arms, “you do realise that this is *not* a one-night stand?”
Chloe looked at him slightly confused. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you walk out of here and never see you again after last night?” he clarified, “I never planned for it to end up the way it did, I’m not complaining mind you, it was *incredible* but there’s no way I’m letting you go.”
She didn’t know what to say in answer to that so she just kissed him hard and pulled away when he tried to deepen it.
“My limo is downstairs, it will take you home.”
“There’s no need for that Lex, I’ll just get a cab.”
“Chloe…” “Fine, fine,” she said, “I’ll take the limo.”
Twenty minutes later they managed to prise their mouths apart for Chloe to get into the limo. “I’ll call you later,” she said.
Lex stood at the main door watching the limo pull off before heading back upstairs to get ready for work.
“Montrose apartments,” she told the driver, and leaned back in the seat trying to banish all thoughts of the file out of her mind, and also try to come up with a story for Pete.
Chapter Eight – To Steal or not To Steal, That is the Question
“Lana,” whispered Clark, trying not to raise his voice too high. She didn’t acknowledge him. “Lana,” he said a little louder. She raised her head, “what?”
“Is it my imagination or is that a *smile* on Lex’s face as opposed to the usual smirk?” he asked.
Lana glanced over at her boss, who was looking through some files in his office, and Clark was right he was smiling. “Wonder what’s going on?” she said.
Clark just shrugged his shoulders.
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Try as he might Lex just couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face. Any time he let his mind wander from the job in hand he saw Chloe, or more specifically he saw how she looked under him and over him, how she felt around him. His back and shoulders still bore the marks of her nails and there were bite marks on his chest. ‘No more thoughts like that,’ he said to himself. Picking up his phone he rang his chauffeur, after a couple of rings the phone was answered. “Andrew, where did you drop the young woman off this morning?”
“Montrose apartments Mr. Luthor.”
“Ok thank you Andrew,” and Lex hung up the phone. ‘Montrose,’ he thought, ‘very *nice* neighbourhood.’ He reached for his phone again and began making a few calls.
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Chloe felt much better after her relaxing bath, it had done wonders for her aching muscles. ‘What a night,’ she thought. She glanced down her body, as she got dressed, there were faint bite marks and bruises on her breasts and thighs, her hips bore fingertip shaped bruises from Lex. She shivered as she remembered the events of the night before.
She had just finished dressing when she heard Pete at the door. “Where were you last night?” he said, just as she had gotten the door opened.
“Oh and good morning to you Pete.” She closed the door.
“Well.”
“Well what?” she said, knowing where this conversation was going.
“Chloe, I left about 10 messages, where did you get too?”
Chloe sighed and sat down, “I went out for dinner…with Lex Luthor.”
“Oh I see,” said Pete, “Chloe I don’t know how to ask you this but did you…did you sleep with him?”
“I don’t see how that is any of your business Pete. Do I ask you questions like that?”
“No, but I’m not jeopardising a job by getting involved with the person who has been hired by the mayor to catch me. Did you Chloe?”
“There wasn’t much *sleeping* involved,” she said, a faint blush on her cheeks.
“Ok, slightly more information than I needed,” said Pete, trying to lighten the mood, he hated arguing with her. He sat down beside her, sighed and put an arm around her. Chloe rested her head on his shoulder. “What am I going to do with you? You’re my best friend Chloe and I love you, but this *thing* or whatever you call it with Lex Luthor is only going to cause trouble, especially for you and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know it will Pete, but there’s just something about him, I’ve never felt this way before. I didn’t plan to sleep with him but it’s happened. We have a robbery to plan, and I’ll take care of Lex, ok?”
Knowing he wasn’t going to get anymore out of her on the subject of Lex, Pete decided to drop it for the time being. “I got a call back from Justin this morning, he sounds very interested and will be in Metropolis in a couple of days. Kyle Tippet wants in as well, he’ll be in town tomorrow.”
Chloe smiled at him. “Ok set up a meeting with the two of them for Saturday morning, we’ll use the apartment on the other side of town for it.”
“Will your *great* and so far extremely secretive plan be revealed?” asked Pete.
“I don’t know about great plan, but a plan will be revealed. Oh how are you getting on with the alarm system?”
“It’s a bitch Chloe, the codes seem to change every 6 hours, and they also have added an extra alarm that gets triggered if the temperature drops. That’s some system your *boyfriend* has recommended.”
“He is not my *boyfriend*,” she glared. “Pete, if you had master codes would that help?”
“Would it ever, I could overwrite all others with a set of master codes. Why do you ask?”
Chloe bit her lip for a moment, “when I was at Lex’s place I saw a bunch of files and the top one said something about alarm codes, I didn’t get a chance to look at it.”
“Think you could get a look at it if you went back?”
“Well there are two ways I could do this, break in and steal them or see Lex again, go back to his place, have sex and then steal them. I don’t know about you, but option number two sounds *way* better,” she grinned.
Pete just rolled his eyes, “you really like this guy don’t you?”
Chloe just nodded, “but don’t worry *mother Ross* it’s not like I’m going to fall in love with him or anything.”
Just then there was a knock on her door, she got up to answer it.
“Miss Sullivan?” the deliveryman said. “Yes that’s me,” she replied.
“Can you sign here?”
Chloe signed the board and he handed her over a huge bouquet of orchids and a white box with a ribbon around it. She shut the door and headed back over to Pete. “Wow they are amazing,” he said, pointing at the flowers, “What’s in the box?”
She opened the box and burst out laughing when she saw the basket of strawberries inside. “It’s a private joke,” she told a bewildered Pete. She pulled out the small white card:
{Dinner at my place, tonight at 7.30pm. I’ll cook and you bring the *dessert*.
Lex}
She smiled as she read it; underneath his name was a number.
“Perfect,” said Pete, “you can get a look at the codes tonight.”
“Excuse me Mr Ross I am not *prostituting* myself to get codes, that ok I did tell you about originally, because *you* can’t break the system by yourself.”
Both of them started laughing. “See what you can find out, ok?” He said.
“I will Pete. Now you go ahead and organise the meeting with the others. And also get all the information you can on the breastplate, things like weight, height, exact colour, how many of each jewel etc is on it. I want pictures from every angle and a detailed breakdown of what exactly makes up the breastplate of Alexander the Great.”
“You’re the boss,” he said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow and you can tell me how your night went and no I don’t want all the gory details.” He managed to get out the door before the pillow she had thrown reached him.
As soon as he was gone Chloe picked up the phone and rang Lex’s number.
“Lex Luthor.” He answered in a very business-like manner.
Chloe suppressed a shiver at the sound of his voice. “Hi, it’s Chloe.”
“Hi,” his voice softening immediately, “I take it you got my invite.”
“I did and I was wondering if this was going to be a formal dinner, I need to know how to dress.”
“Doesn’t matter, it’s not like your clothes will be staying on for long,” his voice getting husky.
“Is that a promise Lex?” she replied, her own voice now betraying her desire.
“Most definitely.”
She closed her eyes briefly and tried to get her body under control, “I’ll let you get back to work, I need to get a dessert for later.”
‘You are the dessert,’ he thought, “Ok bye Chloe I’ll see you later.”
After hanging up the phone, Chloe leaned back on the couch, “I need a cold shower,” she murmured.
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THAT EVENING
Lex opened the door of his apartment to find Chloe standing there. She was wearing a dark green wrap-around skirt, that gave a hint of her thigh when she moved and a silk shirt of the same colour, she carried a large white box in her hand.
She stepped inside, “I brought dessert,” she said. Lex leaned forward and kissed her, which soon became passionate.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he said, when they broke for air. He led her into the sitting room and both sat down on the couch.
“You should put that in a cool place,” she said handing him the box, “the frosting will melt.”
Lex opened the box and saw a chocolate cake covered in frosting, and strawberries around the edge. He smirked at her, “you really are a dessert girl aren’t you?”
He ran his finger through the frosting, reached out and ran it along her lips then leaned forward and licked it off. Chloe moaned. He got more of the frosting and rubbed on her neck then licked and sucked it off. “Lex, I thought I came here for dinner.”
“I thought we’d skip dinner and head straight for dessert,” he said before kissing her and pushing her back on the couch. He started unbuttoning her blouse, “got to love those sinfully pleasurable desserts,” she said before pulling his mouth back down to hers.
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HOURS LATER
Chloe lay with her head on Lex’s chest; the remnants of the chocolate cake were on the floor of his bedroom.
She sighed, her body completely sated from their lovemaking, she could hear Lex’s steady breathing indicating he was asleep. ‘The codes,’ she thought, ‘it’s now or never.’ Taking a deep breath Chloe got up carefully and went out to the front room, she grabbed her digital camera from her bag and found the file in question still in it’s spot on the table. Opening it she took pictures of the first few pages before returning it to its original position and putting her camera back in her back. She tiptoed back into the bedroom, climbed in beside Lex wrapping her arms around him and tried ignore the slight ache in her heart over what she had just done.
Chapter Nine – Letting Down Her Guard
Chloe woke up alone. She sat up in the bed, “Lex,” she called. Wrapping a sheet around her she got up only to be greeted by Lex walking back into the room. “That’s a good look for you,” he said with a smirk, looking her up and down as he handed her a coffee.
“Well I had to improvise, I’m not sure where my *clothes* are,” she replied, sitting back down on the bed. Lex sat down beside her and they kissed gently. “I’ll never be able to look at chocolate or strawberries in the same way again,” he said with a laugh. “You should see what I can do with a tub of ice cream and some hot chocolate sauce,” she replied with a grin.
Lex almost choked on his coffee at the thoughts of what they could get up to with those desserts. “Evil woman,” he whispered, kissing her bare shoulders.
Setting his coffee on the table Lex lay back on the bed, Chloe did the same and lay back beside him, propping herself up on one hand she turned to her side to look down at him. She placed her hand on his chest, stroking it gently. “Lex?”
“MMMMM,” he replied absently. “Don’t you think it’s a little weird, this, well, *thing* between us?”
“We have a *thing*,” he said with a smile. Chloe slapped his chest gently, “you know what I mean.”
Lex slipped an arm around her waist pulling her closer, “you mean how fast things have moved considering we know nothing about each other.”
“Exactly,” she said, “I know a bit about you from your bio in the paper. And I also know that if I kiss you here,” she bent down and kissed the hollow of his throat, causing him to groan, “you groan,” she pulled back, a smug look on her face.
“And I know,” he said, slipping his hand under the sheet she was wearing and stroking her gently between the legs causing her to shudder, “how to make you shudder and that your surname is Sullivan.”
Chloe pulled his hand away, “I can’t think straight when you do that,” she said, “and how did you find out my surname?”
“I asked my chauffeur where he dropped you off yesterday, and then I managed to get a list of residents, where I noticed one *C. Sullivan*, and seeing there were no other names beginning with a C; I concurred that your name was Chloe Sullivan”
“I can see why the FBI want to hold onto you, quite the little detective aren’t we?”
“Well I try to be,” he said with false modesty. “But that’s all I know.”
“And what else do you want to know?” She asked.
“Ok, a question that’s guaranteed to earn me a slap first. How old are you?” Chloe slapped him and grinned, “24, and I know you’re 27 Lex.”
“Any brothers and sisters?”
“No,” she said, “just me. And both my parents are dead,” pre-empting his next question. She took a deep breath and continued, “my mom died when I was 7, cancer, my dad had a massive heart attack and died when I was 19.”
Lex noticed the sadness in her voice, particularly when she spoke of her father. “Where you and your dad close?”
“Yes, it had just been the two of us for so long.”
Lex pulled her close, “sorry for bringing up painful memories.” “It’s ok,” she said, kissing him. “What about you Lex, did you get on with your parents?”
“My mother died when I was young but we did get on, she was an incredible woman. My father and I clashed a lot while I was growing up and my decision not to follow him into the family business didn’t help, but towards the end we had started getting on, he died three years ago. Luthor-Corp is mine and while all business decisions have to be agreed by me, there are others who actually run the company, I’ve no interest in the day-to-day business what I do now I enjoy. “Was your dad a photographer? Is that why you went into it?”
“Oh no, I originally wanted to be a reporter but things didn’t work out. I just sort of…fell into photography. My dad, my dad was a… cop.”
“Didn’t you want to follow in his footsteps and join the force?”
“No, it was never something that interested me,” she said vaguely. “Don’t you have work to go too today?” She asked lightly, changing the subject.
“Clark and Lana, two colleagues, are coming over here, we have a few things to go through,” he said as he began pulling the sheet from her, “they are due in a few hours.” He started kissing his way down her body.
“However will we *pass* the time,” she moaned as his mouth worked it’s magic.
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LATER
Clark and Lana stood outside the apartment block where Lex lived. “Wow,” said Clark, “very nice.”
“It sure is,” agreed Lana. “Now that is what I want,” she said, pointing at the red Ferrari parked outside, as she pictured herself driving around in one.
“Oh to be rich,” sighed Clark as they went inside and got the elevator to the top floor.
“What do you think of him Clark?”
“I suppose he’s ok, but then again we haven’t done anything to piss him off. He can be a bit condescending and arrogant at times, but boy does he know his stuff and if anyone can catch this thief it’s him. Why do you ask?”
“No real reason, I was just curious. I’m, personally, a little scared of him. I’d say he could ruin your career if you gave him a reason too.”
Clark put his arm around her shoulders, “let’s make sure we never give him a reason too Lana.”
The elevator doors opened and both stepped out. They made their way to the door of Lex’s apartment and rang the doorbell.
Lex opened the door almost immediately; Lana and Clark were slightly surprised to see him dressed more casual than usual, they were use to seeing him in a suit.
“Miss Lang, Mr Kent please, come in.”
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On The Trail Of A Thief
Author: RuaFair (AKA Fiona)
Email: redwitchire@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: R/NC17
Spoilers: None – This is totally AU.
Disclaimer: Smallville and its characters belong to someone else. (Sigh) I’m just borrowing them.
Dedication: To Hope, thanks for the great idea.
Feedback: Please, let me know what you think, the muse craves it.
Summery: Chloe is a cat burglar and a very good one at that. It had made her very rich, she can be hired to carry out jobs if the price is right. Pete works for her. Lana and Clark are investigators. Lex is as well; he gets brought in when the others can’t solve the crimes. He is still very rich, having inherited a fortune from his parents, both of whom are dead.
Chapter One – The Prey
“Easy does it Sullivan,” she whispered as she tugged on the straps of her harness, checking their tension, before lowering herself down until she was hanging over the glass case. She put on her infrared goggles and the criss-cross of the alarmed red laser beams were made visible to her.
‘Good ole reliable laser alarm systems,’ she thought, ‘piece of cake.’
“Pete,” she said into her radio, “time to work your magic.”
A few moments passed before his voice came over the radio again.
“Ok my dear, you’ll have 30 seconds to get the piece and be out of the way of the beams before the alarm comes back online,” came the reply, “and your time starts… now.”
‘30, 29, 28,’ Chloe began counting in her head as she did a flip in her harness and lowered further down so that she was face to face with the casing. ’21, 19’ she continued to count. Using a laser glasscutter she made a hole big enough for her hand. ’12, 11, 10’, reaching in she grabbed the small solid gold statue, put it in the pocket of her cat suit and began pulling herself up. ‘3, 2, 1’ Just as she was out of the way the red laser beams came on again.
In the van parked outside Pete Ross breathed a sigh of relief. “Cut that a little fine Chloe.” Even through her earpiece she could hear the very evident relief in his voice
“It adds to the excitement, you know a job isn’t complete for you if I haven’t nearly given you a heart attack.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“You love it Pete. See you in five.”
She pulled herself up through the hole in the ceiling and put the tile back in place. She made her way through the lattice of tunnels till she got to the service elevator and travelled in that to the top and crawled through the air vent onto the roof of the museum.
After packing up all her gear, and putting it in a backpack she checked and secured the statue in her pocket. Moving over to the side of the building, she abseiled down the side using the rope she’d left there from earlier. Reaching the bottom she tugged on the rope till it came down; gathered it in her arms and ran across the street to the waiting van, as soon as she was in; the van sped off.
Settling in the back of the van, she made herself comfortable, and then Chloe took the small gold statue from her pocket and held it up, admiring it.
“All that for a statue of a cat,” said Pete over his shoulder.
“It’s Bast,” said Chloe, “she was the goddess of family and life and took the form of a cat. That is why cats were revered in Ancient Egypt; they believed they were incarnations of Bast.
Beautiful isn’t it.”
The statue stood 6 inches high, pure gold, the eyes were sapphires and around its neck was a collar of diamonds.
“It’s just a *cat* Chloe and if some collector wants to pay you *$750,000* for it then they are the bigger fool.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, “it’s a work of art Pete, that’s worth about $2m and you’re just a cultural retard.” She laughed at her best friend, they had been working together for five years, she loved him like a brother but he didn’t have any appreciation for art, just the money.
For her the thrill of the robbery made it all worth the while. The money was good, it had made her a millionaire in the process, but nothing could beat the adrenalin rush she felt when she was breaking in. Even the planning had a rush of it’s own, and her line of *work* had made her famous. Every paper carried stories about the cat burglar who couldn’t be caught. Added to the fact she was an art lover, this was the *perfect* job for her.
“When do you get the money?”
“Desperate for your cut Pete?” He just made a face at her in the mirror.
“The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow evening 8.30pm, the exchange will be made then.”
“Chloe, I don’t think you should take on anymore jobs for awhile.”
“Why not?”
“Well you have been pretty busy lately, in fact all the newspapers are about your *exploits*. It might be worthwhile laying low for a bit. The police haven’t been able to come with anything on you, so it’s only a matter of time before they bring the specialist investigators in.”
“Pete, don’t worry I’m not going to get caught. They haven’t been able to catch me yet,” she said with a grin. “And I fully intend to keep it that way.”
“Very true. But you might be pushing your luck and…”
“Ok, ok I have a meeting in a couple of days about one more job and if the price is right I’ll do that one and then lay low for a while. How does that sound?”
“That will do I suppose,” he replied with a smile.
Chloe just rolled her eyes at him again and settled back in her seat, as the van got closer to their apartments.
They lived in an apartment block up town, and although she was richer than anyone around her, they didn’t live in a place too upmarket as to draw attention to themselves. She had the penthouse apartment and Pete the one below her.
Parking the van in their private car park they made their way to Chloe’s apartment.
“Get the drinks Pete, I wanna get changed.”
Pete made his way over to the fridge for the customary bottle of expensive champagne they always shared after a robbery.
He was just pouring Chloe’s glass when she re-entered the room, looking so much different in a pair of baggy sweats and a t-shirt.
She put the statue in her safe for settling down on the couch beside Pete. They clinked their glasses together in a toast and spent the night in reminiscence mode.
Chapter Two - The Predator
“KENT, LANG, GET IN HERE.” The voice boomed around the office.
Clark Kent and Lana Lang both jumped up from their seats almost ran to their captain’s office.
“Sir,” they both said, a little out of breath.
“Close the door and sit down.” He held up a copy of the local newspaper, and began reading from the story on the front page:
{Cat burglar strikes again at Metropolis museum:
Another work of art was stolen from the museum last night. A 6-inch solid gold statue of the Egyptian goddess Bast was the item in question. It’s reputedly worth in the region of $2 million.
This is the fourth such robbery in as many weeks and as yet our local police department are to find a single lead. The burglar leaves no clues, and Captain Steven Hamilton of the ‘special unit’; supposedly the ‘experts’ in robberies such as this, has been left to try and explain their lack of progress in these cases, which they believe is the work of one person. As a result of their ineptitude many art galleries and museums are reluctant to put on new displays for fear of being robbed, which is causing embarrassment for the city, and this isn’t looking good for Mayor Kwan’s re-election campaign…
Story by Whitney Fordman, continued on page 2...}
“He continues on about how this thief is giving us the run around, and to top my bad morning, I’ve just had my ass chewed off by the mayor’s office. So you know what this means?”
“It means we’re in for it,” said Lana.
“Very good Lang, that’s exactly what it means. You two have been on this case since the very first robbery and so far, nothing, not a goddamn thing. You are my best investigators, what the hell has happened on this case?”
“Sir, we have absolutely nothing to go on. There are no clues, the items that are stolen haven’t appeared anywhere- so we don’t know if he keeps them or is selling them on the black market. None of our usual informants know anything or if they do our threats aren’t working on them. There is no pattern other than every art gallery, jewellery shop and museum isn’t safe, and all the items stolen are very rare and worth an absolute fortune.” Clark finished by throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.
“This thief is different from any other we’ve dealt with, this one is very intelligent and everything is planned to perfection. And it’s only ever one item at a time, I mean they can break in anywhere, disable every alarm system, so pretty much everything is there for the taking, but nothing else is touched. Whatever they are breaking in for is all that is taken,” added Lana.
“This is making us look very, very bad,” said Hamilton, “and the word from up on high is that we need help.”
“What does that mean?” asked Clark. “Are we been taken of the case?” asked Lana.
“No, you’re both staying on the case, but there is another coming in to head up the investigation.”
“Who? Someone else from the department?”
“No. Any of you heard of Lex Luthor?”
Both Lana and Clark shook their heads.
Hamilton sat down behind his desk, “Lex Luthor,” he began, “is a specialist, he usually works for the FBI but has been known to help out the police every now and then. He has *no* unsolved cases to his name.”
“What’s he like?” asked Lana.
“I personally have never met the man, but from what I’ve heard he’s exceedingly intelligent, can be quite arrogant, does not like to proven wrong, and is always in control. Nobody quite knows why he has a job considering he’s a millionaire; apparently he inherited a fortune from his parents when they died. So instead of living the playboy lifestyle most people expected him to do, he decided to become an investigator, and a damn good one at that.”
“So Lana and I are going to be working with him?”
“No Kent, you and Lang are going to be working *for* him.”
“But sir…” began Clark.
“But nothing, this has come directly from the chief and the mayor’s office, Luthor is actually upstairs in the chief’s office and will be on his way down as soon as possible, and the two of you will start working for him immediately. He’s taking over the office beside your desks, it has already been set up for him.”
Hamilton’s phone rang and he answered it immediately, “yes sir, they have, he is, ok.” He hung up the phone and looked at Clark and Lana again. “He’s on his way down, you two are dismissed.”
Both detectives knew better than to question their captain about this anymore, well not until he had calmed down a bit, and left the office and went over to their own desks.
“Wow, did that just happen?” asked Lana, taking her seat.
“I think it did,” replied an equally confused Clark, “wonder what this Luthor guy will be like.”
“I guess we’re going to find out, right?”
Just then the elevator doors opened and out stepped a very handsome man, completely bald and dressed in a very expensive black Armani suit with a grey silk shirt underneath. He strode across the office like he already *owned* it, completely ignoring the stares from everyone.
“Clark Kent and Lana Lang I presume,” his carefully modulated voice spoke, “Lex Luthor,” holding out his hand.
First Lana then Clark shook it, “Mr. Luthor…” Clark started.
“Call me *Lex*.”
“Lex, is there anything we can get for you?”
“I want everything you have on the cat burglar, the crime scenes, what was stolen, witness statements, forensic data, every microscopic detail the two of you have gathered, and I want it all in my office as soon as it’s humanly possible.”
He turned and went into his office, but before closing the door he spoke again, “Oh and one more thing, cancel any plans the two of you might have had for this evening, this will more than likely be an all-nighter.” He smirked at them briefly before closing the door.
Lana and Clark stared open-mouthed at the closed door for a minute, before turning to stare at each other, both wearing a look of shock on their faces. They stood like that for a moment till the office door opened and Lex stuck his head out, “Miss Lang, Mr. Clark do you need me to explain my request to you again?”
“No, no, not at all,” stammered Clark.
Lex said nothing and closed the door again.
Lang sighed deeply and took Clark’s arm dragging him over to where the files were kept.
Chapter Three – First Contact
“That better not be someone banging on my door at,” muttered a very sleepy Chloe as she turned to look at the clock, “10.00am. Maybe if I ignore them they will go away.” She buried deeper under the covers and pulled a pillow over her head to try and muffle out the noise. But still the banging continued. She crawled out of her bed and dragged herself out to open the door, “this better be the end of the world,” she said as she pulled the door open to find Pete standing there.
“Did I get you out of bed Chloe?” a big grin on his face.
“Pete, how long have we known each other?”
“Almost 6 years now,” he replied, wondering where she was going with this.
“And *when* in all that time have you known me to get up this early, I’m not a morning person, you know that, it’s the vampire blood in me. So whatever news you have had better be earth-shattering.”
“Well can I at least come in first?”
Chloe stood back and let Pete in before closing the door behind him, they made their way to the kitchen. “So spill it.”
“They’ve hired an expert investigator.”
“Who, the police?”
“Yes Chloe, they’ve brought in some hotshot FBI guy to head up the investigation into all the robberies, which in turn means you. Apparently they’re holding a press conference today to introduce this guy.”
“And this is why you woke me at 10.00am.”
“Chloe this is serious. I think you should cancel this latest job and lay really low for the next while.”
“No Pete. So they’ve brought in an *expert*. So what? All the experts so far haven’t caught me, what’s so special about this one?”
“I just have a bad feeling about it.”
Chloe sighed, “Pete, you’re my best friend and I love you, but you have got to lay off all the worrying it’s making you old before your time. I told you after the last job that I’d lay low after this one and I intend to stick to that.”
Pete still didn’t look too happy.
“It’s $2million for this job. Think about it, $2million think of all you could do with your cut of that.”
Pete sat silent for a moment, it was a lot of money, and in fact it was their biggest pay out yet. Some South American billionaire wanted Chloe to steal the breastplate of some general; the thing was probably priceless.
He looked at Chloe and saw her grinning at him, and he couldn’t help but grin back.
“Ok,” he conceded, “after this one.”
“So where’s this press conference being held?” asked Chloe as she set about making coffee.
“Oh you’re not going to believe this, but they’re holding it in the museum right in front of the display where what-his-name’s thingy is.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed, “It’s a breastplate Pete, and it belonged to Alexander the Great, it’s priceless and I’m just wasting my time trying to explain this to you aren’t I? I think we should go and check this new guy out.”
“Oh no, I don’t think so Chloe.”
“Oh yes I think so Pete,” she mimicked. “We’ll go along, hear what they have to say find out who this guy is and then you can work the great Ross magic and get all the information you can on him. What time does it start at?”
Pete skimmed through the article in the paper, “It starts at 1.00pm.”
“Ok you go and get ready and meet me here at 12.30pm and we’ll make our way.”
‘This is not good,’ thought Pete as he made his way out of Chloe’s apartment and down to his own, ‘not good at all.’
-----------------------------------
Clark Kent yawned as he stood outside the Metropolis Museum, since Lex had arrived three days ago he had got about 5 hours sleep. They had gone through every piece of evidence they had with a fine toothcomb, and then went through it all again. He had to admit Lex was very good, he had given all the evidence a different perspective and at the end they felt like they had achieved something.
“Hey Clark.”
“Hi Lana, all ready for this?”
Lana smiled at him, “as ready as I’m going to be. We’d better head on in.”
-----------------------------------
Lex stood to the side watching as the press, people from the mayor’s office, police department, museum officials as well as people just in from the street sat in the room waiting for the press conference to begin. ‘Waste of time,’ he thought.
He looked around the room and suddenly locked eyes with a very attractive blonde woman, ‘wow,’ he thought as she smiled at him and he found himself returning her smile.
‘Oh hell-o,’ thought Chloe as the bald man she’d been checking out smiled back at her, ‘he is *hot*. Wonder who he is?’
“Chloe,” whispered Pete beside her, “stop making goo-goo eyes.”
She reluctantly turned away from Lex and glared at her friend. “Peter Ross, I do not, nor have I *ever* made goo-goo eyes at anyone,” she hissed at him.
Pete just started laughing, “Chloe you were checking that guy out.”
“Yes Pete, I was *checking* him out, I was *not* making goo-goo eyes at him.”
“What-ever,” said Pete.
She was about to answer him back when the mayor stepped up to the podium and began to speak.
“I want to thank everyone for coming here today. As you are all aware there have been a number of robberies in the recent weeks of precious works of art from this very museum. And as a result of this art galleries and museums are reluctant to have any new exhibitions. Well we are delighted to announce that this museum is not going to let this thief win. They are going to have on display for the next month the breastplate of Alexander the Great. This work of art is priceless and we are very lucky to have it here…”
‘Well for the time being,’ thought Chloe with a smile, as she listened to the mayor drone on and on.
Lex had switched off to what the mayor was saying from the minute he opened his mouth and he had been watching the blonde who had smiled at him. She sat looking at the mayor with a look of boredom on her face and every now and then would make a comment to the man sitting beside her; which would cause her to laugh, lighting up her face.
‘And I thought my stay here would be all work and no play,’ he thought as she caught his eye again.
He was about to quietly make his way over too her when the mayor’s speech turned to the investigation.
“…And so to help us catch this thief we have appointed a specialist investigator to head up the task force, so ladies and gentlemen let me introduce Mr. Lex Luthor…”
Lex stepped up the podium and thought he saw a strange look grace the blonde’s face before it disappeared. He winked at her briefly and began to speak.
“Thank you Mayor Kwan. My appointment here is not a reflection on the police department, I am just here to offer another perspective and to help them catch this thief. And I want to say now that there will be no more robberies, this thief will be caught, and soon…”
A number of reporters started firing questions at him after his statement and he handled every one of them without losing his composure.
“Let’s get out of here,” whispered Chloe to Pete, after listening to Lex for a while, and they made their way outside.
“That’s the guy,” said Pete, “and you, Chloe Sullivan, were giving him the come on.”
“Shut up Pete,” said Chloe, ‘great,’ she thought, ‘first guy in ages that did anything for me and he’s the guy who has been assigned to try and catch me.’
“Let’s get back Pete, I want you to find out everything you can about *Lex Luthor*.”
-----------------------------------
After Lex had fielded all the questions he vainly tried to find the mystery woman, ‘oh well, maybe some other time,’ and headed over to Clark and Lana to head back to the station.
Chapter Four – An Auspicious Meeting
“Here you go Pete,” said Chloe, handing him a coffee.
“Thanks.” It had been three days since the press conference, and despite Pete’s objections, the plan to steal the breastplate was still very much on.
“Ok Chloe, here’s what I found out about Lex Luthor,” Pete settled himself before continuing.
“Alexander Joseph Luthor, age 27, born in Metropolis, parents Lionel and Lillian, both deceased. His father was a big shot in the business world, and Lex had a rather tumultuous relationship with him. His mother died when he was quite young, the father passed away 3 years ago, the family were multi-millionaires, and Lex inherited everything. He has a genius IQ and has degrees in science, chemistry and forensic science. The FBI have been using him for the last 4 years, and in the last 18 months police departments have been availing of his services. He always gives the impression of being in total control and I’ve heard he can come across quite arrogant, likes giving orders, although he’s not very good at taking them. His baldness was caused by some childhood accident, which I couldn’t get more information on, but I’m working on it. He is single; never been married, but has been spotted in various society pages always with some beautiful woman on his arm, but doesn’t seem to have had a serious girlfriend.
Oh and the one other very important thing I discovered about him is that he has no unsolved cases to his name, every one that he has worked on he has solved, and he won’t quit the case until it has.”
Pete took a large gulp of coffee after speaking and looked at Chloe.
“We are *not* cancelling the job Pete,” she said when she noticed the look on his face, “I don’t care if this guy is Batman it’s about time he had a case he couldn’t solve and *I* intend to be that case.”
“But Chloe…” began Pete.
“No Pete, no buts, this job is going ahead and if you don’t want to be part of it then tell me now, but if you are part of it stop all this talking about quitting. So what’s it going to be?”
Pete sighed, “of course I want to be part of it, it’s just that I think this Lex guy is going to cause us problems.”
“You just leave Mr. Lex Luthor to me,” she said, ‘I’ll take care of him,’ she added silently to herself.
“Ok Chloe, you’re the boss,” he smiled.
“Right, I’m going to the museum now, I want to take a quick look around, and yes I know the place is crawling with police but I’m just going as a museum visitor to look at the new exhibition.”
“So what cover are you going to use if you run into Luthor?”
“I’ll be Chloe Sullivan, photographer extraordinaire, we haven’t used that one in a while.”
Pete laughed, “Ok, I’ll put the necessary information up should anyone decide to do a check on you.”
“Oh Pete, the museum will have, of course, completely changed their entire security system and have probably installed one recommended by the lovely Mr. Luthor.”
“Way ahead of you Chloe, I’ve already started looking into what they have and how to get around it.”
Chloe smiled, delighted that Pete was in research mode for the new job, she grabbed her coat and bag, dropped a quick kiss on Pete’s forehead, “see you later.”
Pete just grinned back at her, “have fun Chloe.”
‘Oh I will if Lex Luthor is there,’ she thought as she made her way down to the car park and got into her Ferrari and headed for the museum.
-----------------------------------
Lex had spotted her the minute she had walked into the museum. He was in the security office when she appeared on the security camera. He watched as she walked around, sometimes on her own, sometimes with the various groups of visitors.
He continued watching her on the monitor till she stopped in front of the display case hosting the breastplate of Alexander; then he left the security office and made his way over to her.
-----------------------------------
Chloe stood admiring the item. ‘Incredible,’ she thought, ‘I could retire after stealing this. Granted I could of retired a long time ago, but stealing this would be the crowning glory.’
“Magnificent isn’t it?”
Chloe didn’t need to turn around to see who it was, she recognised the voice immediately. “It’s an amazing piece,” she replied, “it seems to have a power all it’s own.”
Lex moved from behind to stand beside her, and studied her profile.
“To think something this beautiful was used for leading men into battle,” she continued and Lex’s eyes were focused on her mouth. “But still you could stare at its beauty for hours.”
“Definitely,” replied Lex still staring at her.
Chloe turned from the case to stare at him, “Lex Luthor, taking to staying at the museum on a permanent basis to catch your thief.”
Lex just smirked at her. ‘Boy he looks sexy when he does that,’ she thought.
“No I’m just here, like yourself, on a visit.”
“So Lex, do really think the thief will try and steal this,” indicating to the breastplate with her head, “after your little press conference.”
“Of course they will, how could they resist it now?”
“Oh silly me,” said Chloe, “I thought it was a press conference to introduce you and to try and make the mayor look less of an idiot than normal. Not a publicity stunt for you to lay down a challenge to the thief.”
“Is that what you really thought?”
Chloe just smiled.
“So why were you at the press conference Miss…”
“Plain old curiosity,” she replied, still not telling him her name.
Lex smirked at her aversion to giving him her name. “Curious about the breastplate, curious about what the mayor was going to say, or was it something else?”
“I was curious to see the guy they were *hiring* to catch the thief, that’s what really *peaked* my curiosity.”
Lex moved slightly closer to her, “I see, and did I suitably *peak* that curiosity for you?”
“Well I came close to complete peak-ness.” Each was affected by the nearness of the other.
“Oh I don’t like to see a woman left *unsatisfied*, how about you let me buy you dinner to make up for it.”
“Let me check my schedule and get back to you,” replied a coy Chloe as she turned to leave.
He had to ask, “I didn’t get you name.”
“I didn’t give it,” she smirked, then after a moment, “it’s Chloe.”
“Chloe what?” he asked.
“Just Chloe,” and with that she left the room.
Chapter Five – Dilemmas
Chloe stood looking over Pete’s shoulder as he explained the Metropolis Museum’s new alarm system.
She tried to pay attention to what he was saying, she knew it was important, but her mind kept drifting back to her meeting with Lex. ‘Damn infuriatingly sexy man,’ she thought. Since meeting him two days ago she had picked up the phone at least fifty times to ring him and take him up on his offer of dinner but always backed out at the last minute.
Pete looked at Chloe and knew she wasn’t listening to him. “And then Chloe all you have to do is dance a little jig across the room and the alarm will be disabled.”
“Cool Pete, that sounds fine,” she replied.
“Did you even *hear* a word I said?”
“Of course I did, you said something about the…alarm,” she offered hopefully. Pete rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air. “Christ Chlo what is with you? I’ve never seen you like this where a job was concerned. And might I add you’re the one who insisted that we go ahead with it.”
“I’m sorry Pete it’s just that, and I know I’ve only met him, but this Lex Luthor, he’s gotten under my skin, and I’m not quite sure what to do about it.”
“Chloe, whatever you do, *don’t* get involved with him. Jesus of all the people to go and fall for.”
“*I* have not fallen for him, for your information, he just…intrigues me.”
“Whatever, just forget about him and concentrate on the job. This alarm system is incredible.”
“I was thinking about it last night,” said Chloe, glad Pete had dropped the subject of Lex for the moment.
“Wow actually *thinking* about the job in hand, will wonders never cease.”
“Ha. Bloody. Ha Pete. Remember that art forger guy we worked with a couple of years ago in Chicago, what was his name again?”
“Justin,” said Pete, “Justin Gaines, what about him?”
“See if you can track him down. And when you do ask him if he wants in on the job.”
“What are you up too?”
“I’m still working on it, just see if you can get him, oh and try to track down Kyle Tippet as well.”
“That old safecracker, Chloe what’s going on?”
“I told you, it’s still just the semblance of an idea, but I’ll let you know soon, I just need to get a few things straight in my head.”
“Ok you’re the boss. I’ll make a few calls,” said Pete, slightly baffled at her requests, but she’d never come up with a bad plan yet.
“Just trust me Pete,” she said, noticing the look on his face. He just shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
“Right let’s go through the timers on this alarm system one more time, you have my undivided attention,” she grinned.
-----------------------------------
Lex was in his office, the blue prints of the museum tacked to the wall, and he was trying to concentrate on them.
‘Just Chloe,’ kept running through his head. He smirked to himself at the coyness of some of her answers.
She was a distraction he kept telling himself, he was here to catch a thief, not to flirt with the locals. Well at least he thought she was a local, actually when he dwelled on it he really knew nothing about her other than her first name.
“Get a grip Luthor,” he murmured to himself, “you’d swear you’d never seen a beautiful woman before.” But it wasn’t just that she was beautiful, it was everything else about her. She was alluring, mysterious, intelligent and as sexy as sin and he was intrigued.
Needing to clear his head of all things Chloe he decided to go for a walk. He left his office and got the elevator to the ground floor.
When the doors opened he was shocked to see Chloe standing there. People filed into the elevator and Lex hadn’t a chance to get out. The next thing he knew the doors had closed, the elevator was packed and Chloe was pressed up against him.
“Mr. Luthor, fancy meeting you here,” she said softly, a smile on her face as she looked up at him. Chloe had told Pete she was going for a walk, and suddenly found herself at the police station and before she chickened out again, decided to see if Lex was around and now here they were, thanks to the amount of people around them, pressed very close together.
“Chloe,” Lex said, not bothering to hide the surprise in his voice or on his face, “what are you doing here?”
Somebody behind Chloe pushed against her and she placed her hands on Lex’s silk covered chest to steady herself, while he placed his hands on her hips to stop her from falling.
“I came to see if your offer of dinner was still open,” she said. Lex could feel her breath on his face, her warm hands through his shirt. And even though during the elevator’s journey to the top the number of people in it had dwindled they still remained in the same position.
He contemplated teasing her but decided against it, there were plenty of other ways to *tease* her. “Oh the offer is still there. Did you managed to work me into your schedule?”
“Yes,” she replied with a smirk of her own, enjoying the feeling of his body against hers, ‘damn clothes in the way,’ she thought. “I managed to find an opening for this evening. Does that suit you?”
“Shall we say 8.00pm at La Finesse,” he said, knowing that if he had other plans, they would of been cancelled.
“Perfect, I’ll meeting you there.”
The elevator had reached the top floor again. “Well I’d better head back to the ground floor again,” she sighed and stepped away from him, removing her hands from his chest.
Let me go *down* o…with you,” he smirked and leaned over the push the ground floor button, letting his body brush hers again. The trip back down was a nightmare for both. The air around them felt charged in the confined space. It took every ounce of Lex’s control to keep himself from taking her then and there. Chloe was battling with similar ideas herself.
Both breathed a sigh of relief when the doors opened once again, this time on the ground floor. Chloe stepped out and turned to face Lex again. “See you tonight Lex.”
“Looking forward to it Chloe,” he replied and he watched her hips sway as she walked away.
“Definitely looking forward to it,” he said to himself as his took out his cell-phone to make the reservations.
Chapter Six – Dessert
Chloe stood in front of her mirror. “Ok,” she said to her reflection, “this is *not* a date. Its just dinner, that’s all.”
‘So your rule about not sleeping with a guy on a first date doesn’t really count in this case,’ the voice in her head said.
“No, it doesn’t,” she replied absently. “Oh God, what am I doing?” She sat on the edge of her bed; she had said nothing to Pete about the dinner. She really hated keeping things from him, but the way he’d been acting lately about Lex, telling him about dinner wouldn’t of been such a good idea. As fate would have it, Pete had gotten on lead on Kyle Tippet and had gone to check it out.
Chloe stood up again and checked her outfit. She was wearing a deep-red silk dress that fell mid-thigh. It had spaghetti straps and was low-cut enough to give a hint of her cleavage, which had been enhanced from the half-cut bra she was wearing. Barely black sheer stockings and black heels completed the ensemble. Her make-up was subtle and her hair was wispy around her face.
‘I see, if this is the outfit you wear to go out with a guy you have no intention of sleeping with, I’d hate to see what you wear when you do,’ her inner voice piped up again.
“Shut-up,” Chloe said at her reflection. Her phone rang, informing her that the cab was downstairs waiting for her. She grabbed her wrap and purse and headed down to the waiting cab.
“La Finesse,” she told the driver as she settled back in the seat.
-----------------------------------
Lex sat the table and ordered a scotch from the maitre d that had appeared the minute he sat down. He glanced at his watch, 8.00pm. Lex couldn’t believe he was actually a little nervous about this dinner date. ‘It’s not a date,’ he thought, ‘its just dinner with a women that I am incredibly attracted too.’ A waitress placing his drink on the table interrupted Lex’s musings; Lex waved her away with his hand.
A minute later, Lex’s breath caught as Chloe was led to the table, the red silk clung to her in all the right places. He stood up, “wow, you look beautiful,” as his eyes travelled the length of her body before resting on her eyes.
“Thanks,” she replied a faint blush on her cheeks, “you look pretty good yourself.” He was dressed in a black suit that fit just perfecting, a pale purple silk shirt, opened at the neck, completed the outfit. ‘Down girl,’ ran through her head as she took her seat.
“Can I get you a drink?” the waitress asked. “I’ll have a scotch and water, thank you,” said Chloe.
“Very well madam,” she said before handing both of them a menu.
Chloe turned back to face Lex and he smiled at him, ‘God he looks even better smiling.’
“Glad you’d made it,” he said as her drink appeared. Chloe picked it up and held it out. “So am I,” she replied. They clinked glasses and their eyes remained locked as they took a sip of their drinks.
They chatted over the menus before a dark-haired waitress came over. “Hi, my name is Victoria and I’ll be your waitress this evening,” she said in a clipped British accent. “Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?”
“I’m ready,” said Lex. “So am I,” said Chloe. And they gave the waitress their order.
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They made small talk over their starters. Halfway through their main course, Lex asked the question Chloe knew was coming.
“Chloe what do you do?”
She groaned inwardly. “I’m a photographer,” she said, “I’ve done some work for various newspapers, but mostly I work free-lance.” It was a story she’d used before. “So, how’s the investigation going Lex? Or are you not allowed to talk about it?” she asked, steering the conversation away from herself.
Lex was a little confused at her change in the conversation. “It’s progressing along nicely,” he smirked, “it’s just a matter of time before the thief makes a move.”
The waitress came over and took away their empty plates. “Thank you,” said Chloe to her. “You seem very *sure* about that,” directing the conversation back to Lex.
“This thief is very good and they know that. And as you said in the museum this is a challenge to some degree that I’ve laid down and they won’t be able to resist it.”
“I’ve noticed when you talk about the thief Lex you never assign a gender.”
“That’s because I don’t know yet whether it’s a man or woman and to make that assumption now would be, well, unprofessional.”
“Not to mention sexist,” added Chloe. Lex raised an eyebrow at her comment. “The papers seem to think the thief is a man,” she clarified.
Before Lex could respond the waitress brought over Chloe her dessert and he watched as her eyes grew wide as the plump strawberries and cream were placed in front of her. Chloe caught him looking at her, “hey, I enjoy the *sinful* pleasures of life,” she said with a grin.
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‘She’s trying to kill me,’ he thought as he watched her stretch her lips over the cream covered fruit. As he watched her tongue lick the remnants of the cream from her lips he felt himself get hard.
Chloe knew she was treading on dangerous ground as she watched him lick his lips as she ate the dessert.
She picked up another large strawberry, dipped it in the cream and held it out towards Lex. “Want a taste?” she asked in a low voice.
‘No,’ his mind screamed, unfortunately the rest of his body was screaming, ‘YES.’ He leaned forward almost involuntary.
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The waitress, Victoria, stood at the bar watching the two of them. “They are going to need a fire extinguisher soon,” her colleague said.
“Bet you fifty bucks they kiss before getting up from the table Carrie,” she said turning to her workmate.
Carrie looked over at them, “you’re on Vicky, and I’d say they wait till they get outside.”
Both girls shook hands and watched Lex and Chloe intently.
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Chloe’s mouth became dry as Lex bit into the fruit. He pulled back a little to chew and swallow the piece.
“Aren’t you going to finish it,” she asked, her voice husky.
He closed the short distance again and took the rest of the berry and in turn began licking the cream from her fingers. He sucked her finger into his mouth, his eyes locked on hers as his tongue ran over her fingers.
Chloe was breathing heavily and she felt herself lean forward. She pulled her hand away and pressed her lips to his. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip and Lex groaned softly when they parted for him. He slipped his tongue inside as hers found it’s way into his mouth. Both shuddered as the kiss intensified.
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Victoria turned smugly to her friend and held out her hand. Carrie muttered to herself as she handed over the fifty dollars. “Better get their bill ready,” said Vicky, “I think they’ll be needing it *very* soon.”
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Their tongues duelled for a moment before Chloe pulled back. Her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath. Lex shifted in his seat as his pants became far too tight.
“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered. Chloe nodded. Lex looked away from Chloe and caught the waitress’ eye; she was over immediately with the bill. Lex glanced at it before pulling a wad of notes from his wallet and throwing them on the table. He stood up and took Chloe’s hand and both almost ran out of the restaurant.
The moment they got outside Lex covered her mouth with his own again, his hands slid down her back and Chloe wrapped hers around his waist. He could feel her lips swell from the kiss and he moaned softly.
He released her mouth when he heard his limo pull up behind them. “Your place or mine?” he whispered.
“Yours,” she breathed.
Chapter Seven – Never Mix Pleasure With Business
During the short drive from the restaurant to his apartment Lex just couldn’t keep his hands off Chloe. Granted her curling up beside him the minute they got into the limo didn’t help matters. No sooner had the car taken off than Lex’s lips were on hers again. Chloe’s hands worked his shirt out of his pants and they were now gently skimming up and down his back. Chloe moaned into his mouth when his hand rested on her thigh, and he began rubbing it gently.
Lex was about to move his hand higher when the car stopped. ‘About time,’ he thought, even though the entire journey only took about five minutes.
They managed to make it from the car to his apartment without giving anyone else a show, although it had been a close call in the elevator. They were only in the door of his apartment when Chloe found herself pressed up against it by Lex’s body. She couldn’t believe what was happening, she had *never* wanted someone as much as she wanted Lex.
She pulled his mouth down to hers again and as they kissed she unbuttoned his shirt. Lex helped her and within seconds his jacket and shirt were on the ground. Chloe began placing wet kisses on his neck and chest, while he found the zipper to her dress. He took a step back from her and hooked his hands under the straps of her dress and slowly pulled the dress down. “God you’re beautiful,” he murmured as her skin was revealed. The dress ended up in a pool on the floor and Chloe stood in just her lacy bra, matching panties and stockings.
Lex placed kisses on her stomach as he knelt, his eyes looking up at her. She looked down at him through half closed eyes
He lifted one of her legs up a little and took of her shoe, and then slowly slid his hand up her leg and on it’s journey back down he pulled off her stocking. He repeated the process with the other leg. Lex had never been so hard in his life and the thought of being inside her was driving him crazy.
He lifted one leg over his shoulder and licked and kissed her inner thigh, causing her to moan his name. ‘I’m going to explode,’ she thought. As she felt his tongue get closer to her centre, she grabbed his head, directing him where she most wanted him to go. When he kissed her through her panties, Chloe’s legs almost gave out.
“Bedroom,” whispered Lex as he stood up and they managed to make it to his room still wrapped around each other.
Chloe moved back from him once they were in his room and slowly unhooked her bra and let it drop to the ground. Lex groaned and reached his hands out to cup her breasts, running his thumb over her nipples.
He kissed her hard, his tongue laving the inside of her mouth and pushed her back gently against the bed. When Chloe felt the back of her knees against the bed she sat down on the edge and Lex reached for her.
“Not yet,” she said with a wicked grin and Lex stood back, a confused look on his face.
“Chloe…” he began.
“Shush,” she said and began opening his pants, and then pushed them down, Lex stepped out of them and kicked of his shoes and socks. She began stroking him hard through his boxers.
“Chloe,” he moaned, “not like that, not just now, I *need* to be inside you.”
She moved up on the bed, slipped her underwear off and laid back, her legs slightly spread. Lex’s boxers fell to the floor and he crawled onto the bed, settling between her legs.
He shifted against her and slowly pressed forward, both groaned at the sensation of their bodies joining. Chloe adjusted her legs and wrapped them loosely around Lex’s hips and he began to move.
At this moment Chloe didn’t care what Pete thought, she didn’t care what Lex was or what she was and that tomorrow morning reality would raise its head again. All that mattered was how he was making her feel, nothing else.
For the next few hours the only sounds in the room were from the two lovers until they both collapsed exhausted and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
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Chloe woke up and it took her a moment to realise where she was. She turned slightly and looked up into Lex’s sleeping face. ‘Oh crap,’ she thought. She extracted herself from him and padded naked out of his room, found his shirt on the floor outside and put it on. Roaming around for a few minutes she eventually found the bathroom. She turned on the light and locked the door behind her.
She stood looking at herself in the mirror; her hair was all mussed, her lips still slightly swollen. “Oh you’ve done it this time Sullivan,” she whispered, “Dinner wasn’t enough for you, oh no you had to have dessert, strawberries should be made illegal.”
She splashed some water on her face and headed back to the bedroom. She stopped to pick up her clothes along the way. On a table there were a number of files, and the top one read, ‘Codes for Museum Alarm System’. Chloe stopped in her tracks and stared at the file, she glanced towards the bedroom and then turned her attention back to the file.
‘It would be so easy,’ she thought and began to reach out her hand.
“Chloe,” Lex’s voice rang out from the bedroom. She turned away from the files and picked up the rest of her clothes and made her way back into the bedroom.
“Hey,” she said as she walked in. Lex smirked when he saw her wearing his shirt.
Pushing all thoughts of the file out of her mind, Chloe dropped her clothes on a chair and crawled onto the bed and kissed him. Lex deepened the kiss and slipped his hands under the shirt. “Lex,” she groaned, “I really have to go.”
Lex said nothing and just pulled her on top of him. “I really, really have to go.”
Lex sighed and looked like a kid who had his favourite toy taken away from him. Chloe slid off the bed. “Don’t sulk Lex,” she said with a smile.
“*I* do not sulk,” he replied.
Chloe began dressing, Lex got out of the bed and pulled a pair of boxers on. He moved behind Chloe and drew the zipper of her dress up, kissing her neck. He turned her around in his arms, “you do realise that this is *not* a one-night stand?”
Chloe looked at him slightly confused. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you walk out of here and never see you again after last night?” he clarified, “I never planned for it to end up the way it did, I’m not complaining mind you, it was *incredible* but there’s no way I’m letting you go.”
She didn’t know what to say in answer to that so she just kissed him hard and pulled away when he tried to deepen it.
“My limo is downstairs, it will take you home.”
“There’s no need for that Lex, I’ll just get a cab.”
“Chloe…” “Fine, fine,” she said, “I’ll take the limo.”
Twenty minutes later they managed to prise their mouths apart for Chloe to get into the limo. “I’ll call you later,” she said.
Lex stood at the main door watching the limo pull off before heading back upstairs to get ready for work.
“Montrose apartments,” she told the driver, and leaned back in the seat trying to banish all thoughts of the file out of her mind, and also try to come up with a story for Pete.
Chapter Eight – To Steal or not To Steal, That is the Question
“Lana,” whispered Clark, trying not to raise his voice too high. She didn’t acknowledge him. “Lana,” he said a little louder. She raised her head, “what?”
“Is it my imagination or is that a *smile* on Lex’s face as opposed to the usual smirk?” he asked.
Lana glanced over at her boss, who was looking through some files in his office, and Clark was right he was smiling. “Wonder what’s going on?” she said.
Clark just shrugged his shoulders.
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Try as he might Lex just couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face. Any time he let his mind wander from the job in hand he saw Chloe, or more specifically he saw how she looked under him and over him, how she felt around him. His back and shoulders still bore the marks of her nails and there were bite marks on his chest. ‘No more thoughts like that,’ he said to himself. Picking up his phone he rang his chauffeur, after a couple of rings the phone was answered. “Andrew, where did you drop the young woman off this morning?”
“Montrose apartments Mr. Luthor.”
“Ok thank you Andrew,” and Lex hung up the phone. ‘Montrose,’ he thought, ‘very *nice* neighbourhood.’ He reached for his phone again and began making a few calls.
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Chloe felt much better after her relaxing bath, it had done wonders for her aching muscles. ‘What a night,’ she thought. She glanced down her body, as she got dressed, there were faint bite marks and bruises on her breasts and thighs, her hips bore fingertip shaped bruises from Lex. She shivered as she remembered the events of the night before.
She had just finished dressing when she heard Pete at the door. “Where were you last night?” he said, just as she had gotten the door opened.
“Oh and good morning to you Pete.” She closed the door.
“Well.”
“Well what?” she said, knowing where this conversation was going.
“Chloe, I left about 10 messages, where did you get too?”
Chloe sighed and sat down, “I went out for dinner…with Lex Luthor.”
“Oh I see,” said Pete, “Chloe I don’t know how to ask you this but did you…did you sleep with him?”
“I don’t see how that is any of your business Pete. Do I ask you questions like that?”
“No, but I’m not jeopardising a job by getting involved with the person who has been hired by the mayor to catch me. Did you Chloe?”
“There wasn’t much *sleeping* involved,” she said, a faint blush on her cheeks.
“Ok, slightly more information than I needed,” said Pete, trying to lighten the mood, he hated arguing with her. He sat down beside her, sighed and put an arm around her. Chloe rested her head on his shoulder. “What am I going to do with you? You’re my best friend Chloe and I love you, but this *thing* or whatever you call it with Lex Luthor is only going to cause trouble, especially for you and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know it will Pete, but there’s just something about him, I’ve never felt this way before. I didn’t plan to sleep with him but it’s happened. We have a robbery to plan, and I’ll take care of Lex, ok?”
Knowing he wasn’t going to get anymore out of her on the subject of Lex, Pete decided to drop it for the time being. “I got a call back from Justin this morning, he sounds very interested and will be in Metropolis in a couple of days. Kyle Tippet wants in as well, he’ll be in town tomorrow.”
Chloe smiled at him. “Ok set up a meeting with the two of them for Saturday morning, we’ll use the apartment on the other side of town for it.”
“Will your *great* and so far extremely secretive plan be revealed?” asked Pete.
“I don’t know about great plan, but a plan will be revealed. Oh how are you getting on with the alarm system?”
“It’s a bitch Chloe, the codes seem to change every 6 hours, and they also have added an extra alarm that gets triggered if the temperature drops. That’s some system your *boyfriend* has recommended.”
“He is not my *boyfriend*,” she glared. “Pete, if you had master codes would that help?”
“Would it ever, I could overwrite all others with a set of master codes. Why do you ask?”
Chloe bit her lip for a moment, “when I was at Lex’s place I saw a bunch of files and the top one said something about alarm codes, I didn’t get a chance to look at it.”
“Think you could get a look at it if you went back?”
“Well there are two ways I could do this, break in and steal them or see Lex again, go back to his place, have sex and then steal them. I don’t know about you, but option number two sounds *way* better,” she grinned.
Pete just rolled his eyes, “you really like this guy don’t you?”
Chloe just nodded, “but don’t worry *mother Ross* it’s not like I’m going to fall in love with him or anything.”
Just then there was a knock on her door, she got up to answer it.
“Miss Sullivan?” the deliveryman said. “Yes that’s me,” she replied.
“Can you sign here?”
Chloe signed the board and he handed her over a huge bouquet of orchids and a white box with a ribbon around it. She shut the door and headed back over to Pete. “Wow they are amazing,” he said, pointing at the flowers, “What’s in the box?”
She opened the box and burst out laughing when she saw the basket of strawberries inside. “It’s a private joke,” she told a bewildered Pete. She pulled out the small white card:
{Dinner at my place, tonight at 7.30pm. I’ll cook and you bring the *dessert*.
Lex}
She smiled as she read it; underneath his name was a number.
“Perfect,” said Pete, “you can get a look at the codes tonight.”
“Excuse me Mr Ross I am not *prostituting* myself to get codes, that ok I did tell you about originally, because *you* can’t break the system by yourself.”
Both of them started laughing. “See what you can find out, ok?” He said.
“I will Pete. Now you go ahead and organise the meeting with the others. And also get all the information you can on the breastplate, things like weight, height, exact colour, how many of each jewel etc is on it. I want pictures from every angle and a detailed breakdown of what exactly makes up the breastplate of Alexander the Great.”
“You’re the boss,” he said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow and you can tell me how your night went and no I don’t want all the gory details.” He managed to get out the door before the pillow she had thrown reached him.
As soon as he was gone Chloe picked up the phone and rang Lex’s number.
“Lex Luthor.” He answered in a very business-like manner.
Chloe suppressed a shiver at the sound of his voice. “Hi, it’s Chloe.”
“Hi,” his voice softening immediately, “I take it you got my invite.”
“I did and I was wondering if this was going to be a formal dinner, I need to know how to dress.”
“Doesn’t matter, it’s not like your clothes will be staying on for long,” his voice getting husky.
“Is that a promise Lex?” she replied, her own voice now betraying her desire.
“Most definitely.”
She closed her eyes briefly and tried to get her body under control, “I’ll let you get back to work, I need to get a dessert for later.”
‘You are the dessert,’ he thought, “Ok bye Chloe I’ll see you later.”
After hanging up the phone, Chloe leaned back on the couch, “I need a cold shower,” she murmured.
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THAT EVENING
Lex opened the door of his apartment to find Chloe standing there. She was wearing a dark green wrap-around skirt, that gave a hint of her thigh when she moved and a silk shirt of the same colour, she carried a large white box in her hand.
She stepped inside, “I brought dessert,” she said. Lex leaned forward and kissed her, which soon became passionate.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he said, when they broke for air. He led her into the sitting room and both sat down on the couch.
“You should put that in a cool place,” she said handing him the box, “the frosting will melt.”
Lex opened the box and saw a chocolate cake covered in frosting, and strawberries around the edge. He smirked at her, “you really are a dessert girl aren’t you?”
He ran his finger through the frosting, reached out and ran it along her lips then leaned forward and licked it off. Chloe moaned. He got more of the frosting and rubbed on her neck then licked and sucked it off. “Lex, I thought I came here for dinner.”
“I thought we’d skip dinner and head straight for dessert,” he said before kissing her and pushing her back on the couch. He started unbuttoning her blouse, “got to love those sinfully pleasurable desserts,” she said before pulling his mouth back down to hers.
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HOURS LATER
Chloe lay with her head on Lex’s chest; the remnants of the chocolate cake were on the floor of his bedroom.
She sighed, her body completely sated from their lovemaking, she could hear Lex’s steady breathing indicating he was asleep. ‘The codes,’ she thought, ‘it’s now or never.’ Taking a deep breath Chloe got up carefully and went out to the front room, she grabbed her digital camera from her bag and found the file in question still in it’s spot on the table. Opening it she took pictures of the first few pages before returning it to its original position and putting her camera back in her back. She tiptoed back into the bedroom, climbed in beside Lex wrapping her arms around him and tried ignore the slight ache in her heart over what she had just done.
Chapter Nine – Letting Down Her Guard
Chloe woke up alone. She sat up in the bed, “Lex,” she called. Wrapping a sheet around her she got up only to be greeted by Lex walking back into the room. “That’s a good look for you,” he said with a smirk, looking her up and down as he handed her a coffee.
“Well I had to improvise, I’m not sure where my *clothes* are,” she replied, sitting back down on the bed. Lex sat down beside her and they kissed gently. “I’ll never be able to look at chocolate or strawberries in the same way again,” he said with a laugh. “You should see what I can do with a tub of ice cream and some hot chocolate sauce,” she replied with a grin.
Lex almost choked on his coffee at the thoughts of what they could get up to with those desserts. “Evil woman,” he whispered, kissing her bare shoulders.
Setting his coffee on the table Lex lay back on the bed, Chloe did the same and lay back beside him, propping herself up on one hand she turned to her side to look down at him. She placed her hand on his chest, stroking it gently. “Lex?”
“MMMMM,” he replied absently. “Don’t you think it’s a little weird, this, well, *thing* between us?”
“We have a *thing*,” he said with a smile. Chloe slapped his chest gently, “you know what I mean.”
Lex slipped an arm around her waist pulling her closer, “you mean how fast things have moved considering we know nothing about each other.”
“Exactly,” she said, “I know a bit about you from your bio in the paper. And I also know that if I kiss you here,” she bent down and kissed the hollow of his throat, causing him to groan, “you groan,” she pulled back, a smug look on her face.
“And I know,” he said, slipping his hand under the sheet she was wearing and stroking her gently between the legs causing her to shudder, “how to make you shudder and that your surname is Sullivan.”
Chloe pulled his hand away, “I can’t think straight when you do that,” she said, “and how did you find out my surname?”
“I asked my chauffeur where he dropped you off yesterday, and then I managed to get a list of residents, where I noticed one *C. Sullivan*, and seeing there were no other names beginning with a C; I concurred that your name was Chloe Sullivan”
“I can see why the FBI want to hold onto you, quite the little detective aren’t we?”
“Well I try to be,” he said with false modesty. “But that’s all I know.”
“And what else do you want to know?” She asked.
“Ok, a question that’s guaranteed to earn me a slap first. How old are you?” Chloe slapped him and grinned, “24, and I know you’re 27 Lex.”
“Any brothers and sisters?”
“No,” she said, “just me. And both my parents are dead,” pre-empting his next question. She took a deep breath and continued, “my mom died when I was 7, cancer, my dad had a massive heart attack and died when I was 19.”
Lex noticed the sadness in her voice, particularly when she spoke of her father. “Where you and your dad close?”
“Yes, it had just been the two of us for so long.”
Lex pulled her close, “sorry for bringing up painful memories.” “It’s ok,” she said, kissing him. “What about you Lex, did you get on with your parents?”
“My mother died when I was young but we did get on, she was an incredible woman. My father and I clashed a lot while I was growing up and my decision not to follow him into the family business didn’t help, but towards the end we had started getting on, he died three years ago. Luthor-Corp is mine and while all business decisions have to be agreed by me, there are others who actually run the company, I’ve no interest in the day-to-day business what I do now I enjoy. “Was your dad a photographer? Is that why you went into it?”
“Oh no, I originally wanted to be a reporter but things didn’t work out. I just sort of…fell into photography. My dad, my dad was a… cop.”
“Didn’t you want to follow in his footsteps and join the force?”
“No, it was never something that interested me,” she said vaguely. “Don’t you have work to go too today?” She asked lightly, changing the subject.
“Clark and Lana, two colleagues, are coming over here, we have a few things to go through,” he said as he began pulling the sheet from her, “they are due in a few hours.” He started kissing his way down her body.
“However will we *pass* the time,” she moaned as his mouth worked it’s magic.
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LATER
Clark and Lana stood outside the apartment block where Lex lived. “Wow,” said Clark, “very nice.”
“It sure is,” agreed Lana. “Now that is what I want,” she said, pointing at the red Ferrari parked outside, as she pictured herself driving around in one.
“Oh to be rich,” sighed Clark as they went inside and got the elevator to the top floor.
“What do you think of him Clark?”
“I suppose he’s ok, but then again we haven’t done anything to piss him off. He can be a bit condescending and arrogant at times, but boy does he know his stuff and if anyone can catch this thief it’s him. Why do you ask?”
“No real reason, I was just curious. I’m, personally, a little scared of him. I’d say he could ruin your career if you gave him a reason too.”
Clark put his arm around her shoulders, “let’s make sure we never give him a reason too Lana.”
The elevator doors opened and both stepped out. They made their way to the door of Lex’s apartment and rang the doorbell.
Lex opened the door almost immediately; Lana and Clark were slightly surprised to see him dressed more casual than usual, they were use to seeing him in a suit.
“Miss Lang, Mr Kent please, come in.”
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