Title: Casual Deception
Author: Superag
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Smallville; if I did, I would cancel it.
Synopsis: Also fell on the 'fake romance' bandwagon for Valentine's Wkd.
Chloe looked around at the stark white columns that almost seem to shine in the lights. The museum was apparently a hit according to the oohhs and ahhhs that people audibly let out as they strolled from strange sculpture to sculpture. Then there were the occasional mmm's that she appreciated as men would pass by.
Some men had women on their arms and just glanced, others made a point for her to hear them before they crossed the room to meet whatever date they had actually come with. Feeling satisfied with her appearance, she strolled through the first gallery and pulled out her phone.
"The rooms here are a stark contrast to museums of the past. White walls lead to mostly white sculpture and painting while the blue room is mainly blue tints of art. A new perception on presentation makes the art almost not as interesting as the arrangement itself."
"I think the idea is fantastic, especially with the frames separating the wall and art colors." Chloe dropped her phone into her small clutch and was greeted with a glass of champagne in front of her. "No one knows you, or your age."
Looking up behind her, Lex Luthor looked and smelled stunning as always. Clinking the glass against his, she smiled in his direction. "So what's your favorite room?"
Without saying a word, Lex nodded for her to follow until they made their way to the end of the foyer. The red on the wall was powerful and not at all what she pictured Lex to choose. He stopped and watched as Chloe moved in front of him to eye the paintings on either side of an open door to a veranda.
"The veranda is actually part of the series. The color is not exactly my taste but the representation of what the paintings mean with the open veranda is very ... moving."
Chloe felt Lex's body slide past hers slightly as he stared at the picture on the right. The left one contained brush strokes that looked almost of sheets, two people, possibly making love. Covering her chest with one hand, she gulped the champagne down and tried to calm the warmth the thought caused. She glanced over at Lex as he eyed the second painting. "What draws you to this one?"
Lex glanced over at Chloe and turned his head noticing her flushed cheeks. He wondered if the drink might have done too much. Seeing her smile as she questioned him, he motioned for her to look from his perspective.
"It's the opposite of the one on the left. There's blood, hate, tears. Look right there, you can see the use of the veranda. The woman's naked form leaning over the banister watching."
Chloe swallowed at the thought of what he saw, what she could now see as well. "You see yourself on that street." Chloe grabbed Lex by the arm. "Why can't you see the left painting for what it is?"
He looked down and sadly smirked. "Because Chloe, as we both know, the left is just something written in romance novels or seedy movie scripts. Real life, that's what the painter is giving. Out there," Lex motioned. "The point where the couple decides their fate."
Chloe felt for the man. He had been married and subsequently attacked numerous times, and yet he seemed to ache for the same mistakes to teach him some kind of painful life lesson. Seeing the good in people was not easy for him. He trusted more than he would like to admit, at least in the fairer sex. Lowering her head, she whispered, "And what is your fate Mr. Luthor?"
Lex looked over at Chloe as he took another sip of his champagne. The two had seen each other in town off and on since her move to Metropolis, often in passing as she interviewed lower end executives at Luthorcorp. The two had lunch two weeks prior out of the blue when both ended up at the same restaurant. Neither talked about the past anymore. It was not that far behind them but close enough to avoid.
Smallville had become too small for either of them. He had left first, right before her high school graduation. She followed suit soon after Lana left and Clark went on some soul searching mission that Chloe knew he had to do. Enrolling at Met University, she landed a small reporter gig for the Metropolis Star, the baby sister of the Daily Planet. That led her to the gallery opening, the one story that she hoped her ass of an editor would finally publish.
Lex had wandered off to a small corner of the red gallery. She watched from a distance as he looked at the red painted wood carving that looked like random tree branches. She really need to pick his brain for the article. Walking over beside him, she met his small glance with a smile. "How many men have fainted tonight Chloe?"
Chloe glanced over at Lex and shook her head. "You never had to be one to flatter me and you know that I don't work like that."
"But you have to admit, you wouldn't wear a virgin white slip of a dress that only hung off a jewelry clasp around your neck if you didn't want to get noticed."
Proud that in some way Lex Luthor was complimenting her, she beamed as a waiter offered her another drink. "No, but is it working?"
Lex looked around at the others that had made their way down to the red gallery now. People seemed to stop and stare at the blonde in heavenly white that lit the room to an almost rose hue. Looking squarely at the back of her neck, he gently pulled one strand of hair out. "Now, you are truly a Greek goddess," he whispered as he watched the strand fall right to her eye.
Chloe warmed again at the attention. She watched as a couple passed, the woman visibly angry as the man continued to stare. Shaking her head slightly, she returned to the other conversation. "You didn't answer me about before?"
"I didn't know I had to," he smirked and chuckled at her eyes rolling. Glancing over his shoulder, he closed his eyes. "Besides, my fate just walked into this room. Come on."
Chloe didn't have time to argue as Lex tugged on Chloe's hand slightly, making sure she didn't drop her purse from under her arm. Pulling her onto the veranda, he moved her to side of the door and leaned over. "You see the woman in the gold lamae? We went out last week and although I do have a track record of date, bed, quietly reject, I was good last week. I took her home, I said I'd call, which I fully intended but was extremely out of pocket this last week. I get back from London yesterday and my secretary says she had called three times each day demanding to be connected to me. Said that she was my fiancée."
Chloe's eyes widened at the thought that Lex was finally the one running from the women instead of toward them. "Then now you can clear the air."
Lex nodded as he pulled Chloe further out on the balcony. "I don't think you get it. Remember the women who tried to kill me after I trusted them? I sincerely believe I would end up tied to the bedposts and left there after she was done, taking pictures."
Chloe glanced back into the gallery and caught the eye of the woman. From her perspective she couldn't see how the woman with the typical long auburn hair would be any more dangerous than the other women he had left. Still something that shook Lex as much as that was not something to take lightly. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him closer into her. "Go with it," she whispered.
As the woman appeared on the veranda and immediately set her eyes on the bald billionaire, her face said it all. Chloe pulled Lex into her body and ran her hand along the back of his neck before feeling his lips finally connect with hers.
Lex moaned quietly into Chloe's mouth as he felt her lips part and her tongue run along the inside of his mouth. His hand found a comfortable place as his fingers ran the length of her neck and down her bare back. Slipping his leg in between hers slightly, he pulled from the kiss and let her head fall into his hand as he continued lightly kissing her neck. He could feel her breathing hitch as he hit one particular spot. Backing out of the kiss completely, he held her body in his arm until she stood up under her own power.
Without missing a beat, Chloe ran her hand down Lex's chest and straightened his coat. "Honey, it's a little stuffy out here." Chloe smiled up at Lex as he straightened up and glanced over in the other woman's direction. Watching Chloe smoothly move past the woman, he followed until the two were both leaning on the bar set up in the middle of the gallery.
"That was incredible," Lex smiled as he watched Chloe pop the top from a water and start drinking.
Chloe laughed out loud and ran her hand along his chest again. "Which part? Did you see her face? That was completely priceless."
Lex moved closer and pushed the one errant curl behind her ear and whispered, "Everything." Picking up his own bottle, he looked over at the woman coming back toward them again. "But for her, it wasn't enough."
Chloe glanced around Lex's body and rolled her eyes. "I see what you mean. Just speak to her and close this whole book."
Lex nodded and took Chloe's arm in his before heading across the floor. Stopping within a few feet, he smiled at the woman. "Miranda, how are you tonight?"
"Good, I tried calling you," the woman answered in what Chloe could only describe as someone with severe throat trauma.
"I know, and I also saw where you tried to become my bride to be. Did you think that would actually get me on the phone faster?" Lex stiffened in Chloe's touch.
Chloe knew that Lex had tried to repair his image once he returned to Metropolis and had buried his father. The woman was coming dangerously close to pushing him to the brink where he either would call his minions to kill her or simply make her disappear. Running her hand along his arm to calm him, she smiled at the woman and then up at Lex.
"I thought we had hit if off on the first date. Then you leave town and come back with ..."
Chloe leaned over and smiled as she extended her hand. Miranda looked at her hand, hesitated and then finally shook it. "Chloe."
Miranda simply turned up her nose and quickly slipped her hand from Chloe's.
Lex looked down at Chloe and saw her face glowing, partly because she simply was loving the attention. "Good seeing you Miranda."
Lex placed his hand on the bare part of Chloe's back as he gently moved her toward the door. Silently, he took the coat check ticket from her hand and held out her wrap as she took it from him.
"Would you like a ride?" Lex asked as his car appeared in front of the stairs of the building.
Chloe looked up and down the street and then at the woman standing on the top stairs, "Sure, that would be nice." Climbing into the limo carefully she smiled when Lex sat next to her.
Lex leaned back in the seat and glanced at the window as Miranda disappeared back into the museum. When the limo took off finally, he glanced over at Chloe who just smiled back with almost devilish grin. "Thank you again. And we can get together tomorrow for lunch if you need some insight into the other rooms in the gallery from an art perspective."
Chloe nodded silently and leaned her head against Lex's shoulder. He watched as her soft smile never faded from her face. Tempted, he continued to avert his eyes from the drooping slip in the front that revealed no bra of any kind. Slipping his hand into hers, le leaned against the window.
Chloe watched the exchange of finding a place to put his hand and wanted to giggle. Had the king of smooth finally lost his charm? It was a strange awkward move for someone like Lex, who could have easily slipped his hand in the slit of her dress. Chloe stopped as her hips moved up once and jostled Lex out of his thoughts.
"So what do you think will happen to Miranda?"
Lex turned and looked down at their fingers intertwined. Chloe turned into him and ran her hand down his arm before it landed squarely on his stomach to slight gasp. "She'll probably continue to call until I eventually send her the earrings that all the other women get. It's a bad pattern I started."
Chloe giggled as the driver turned onto her street. Turning to Lex, she watched his eyes as they fell to below her neck and knew he had a square shot of her breast that seemed to pop out of the dress. "It certainly is. I guess some habits are hard to break."
Chloe watched door open in front of her place and smiled, knowing that Lex had to have given the driver directions earlier. Getting out of the car and taking her hand, Chloe watched Lex's breathing hitch again as she knew she just flashed her white, voluptuous breasts at both the driver and him. She didn't care; it was fun finally messing with Lex.
"Goodnight, I'll call you tomorrow," Chloe said as she pulled Lex into another deep hug before reaching up to him. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips firmly to his once more. Not much more than a strong peck, she knew it probably would stick in his mind, or somewhere else, at least for the night.
She waited until he got back into the car and then knocked on the window. As the window rolled down, she leaned against the car, now only allowing Lex to see what he had been missing all those years. "Again, I had a really good time tonight running into you." She stopped and leaned in closer, "But you don't have to conjure up the fake romance ploy to get me. Just call me."
Pleased with herself, Chloe walked up the few steps and unlocked the apartment's front door. Lex watched as her strap fell from her shoulder before she waved good night and closed the door behind her. Silly girl, she knew the ploy from the beginning and played right along with it, playing him as well. As the car pulled away, he knew he would be in pain the rest of the night, but she was his starting tomorrow.
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