Can't wait until teh next post, this one was great.
Can't wait until teh next post, this one was great.
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so it keeps getting better and better!
and that last line...WOW! that was a doozie!!
k, i gotta go...so more soon. and i mean soon!
awesome as always
randa
I love this story, and love it even more everytime I read it. I can't wait to see what is going to happen. And what was up with that last line? please come back and update again soon.
AT
Loved the updatesI really can't wait till the next one is uplooaded
A/N:Sabby: So this is a monster because yea, there was really no other way to stop it...you'll see. But it should be fun. There's also the answer to "Who the hell is it?" and some more stuff. Also: Beware of the french! And leave feedback *G*
A/N: Blue: You know you've done a good job when you have readers asking who a tongue belongs to. That answer, and much more, awaits you in this next chapter.
She pushed away from him, which was made a little difficult being that he was currently on top of her but she persisted and he rolled away from her.
“What’s wrong,” he asked, a little out of breath. Chloe looked over at Gregory and started to shake her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said. And she really was. They’d had a lovely conversation down at the bar. After her presentation, which had gone so well that she’d gotten a standing ovation, she’d been beating the men away with a stick.
When she had seen the tall, well dressed man approach her, she knew that he was the one who she’d be taking back up to her room.
They’d made the perfunctory small talk and done the required amount of flirting before she had leaned into him, run her fingers over the back of his hand and then motioned that he should follow her. She liked being back in control. It suited her.
Even knowing that there were cameras all over the hotel didn’t deter either of them from getting started as soon as they were in the elevator. Gregory’s hands were making all of the right moves but Chloe found that she wasn’t getting all that aroused.
Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she had unbuttoned his shirt and her hand had encountered a thick mat of hair. But she had dated guys like that before so it didn’t make much sense that she would be repulsed by it.
She dragged him to the door of her room, fumbled with the key card and then yanked him in after her. Maybe if she did things quickly it would make it easier.
They stumbled over to the bed and he started to kiss her neck. She moved under him, trying to get comfortable but could only feel the kisses on her neck that made her skin feel as if it was trying to detach itself from the rest of her body.
When he had moved on top of her she had frozen for a moment. After calming herself down, she had taken his head in her hands and drawn him in for a kiss.
That was when her body had started to let her know that this was not what it wanted.
“Chloe, what’s wrong,” Gregory repeated the question. He looked confused and Chloe couldn’t blame him for it. She didn’t even know what was going on with her.
“I..I..,”she stammered out. She couldn’t believe that she was going to say this. “I just can’t.”
He looked over at her as if she had lost her mind. “Really, cause you seemed very into it downstairs.” He ran one of his hands over her arm. “Maybe it would help if we went slower?”
It was all Chloe could do not to slap his hand away. She shook her head. “That’s not going to help.” He looked very disappointed. “I’m sure if you go back downstairs you won’t have any trouble finding another companion for the evening.”
He rolled away from her, mumbling something under his breath, and then stood up. He glanced down at her. “I wanted you,” he stated clearly.
“It’s not going to happen,” she said. When she looked up at him she really couldn’t believe that she was turning him down.
“I could have you coming in three minutes flat and then again two minutes after that,” he stated matter of factly.
A phrase like that should have done something to Chloe….but she didn’t feel a thing. When she didn’t say anything, Gregory said, “No? Ok, well, it was good to meet you Chloe. And congratulations on presentation.”
With that, he walked towards the door and out of the room.
Chloe flopped back on the bed and wondered what in the hell was wrong with her.
~~~~
He hadn't seen Chloe again before she'd gone off for Chicago which had probably been a good thing. Still he'd been preoccupied the first two days after their evening at Chloe's new apartment. Too preoccupied to go out and follow through with his plan.
Tonight however he'd made a conscious effort. He'd gone to one of the clubs and things had worked out smoothly as expected. At first.
There had been a slew of women to choose from on the dance floor and up on the balcony and Lex had let his gaze roam over the crowd seeking specifically for a blonde. It hadn't taken long to find one. He'd approached her with a cosmopolitan and introduced himself.
Predictably, her eyes widened at the name and she gave him an appreciative once over. A predatory smirk curled his lips as he returned the favor. She was tall, maybe a bit too much so, with long, slim legs that ended in high heels.
Her cleavage was not to be missed in the almost indecently cut dress she was wearing and the rest of her figure shapely, if not overly toned.
They engaged in some trite conversation for a while, heavily underlayed with innuendo. Some of which seemed to fly right over her head, a fact that didn't exactly please him but didn't really deter him much either.
Soon enough the touching started and he found himself with her chest pressed against his arm and her eyelashes batting prettily, if not effectively, up at him. Her lips were a stained red smear over uneven teeth. Lex turned his gaze away from her mouth, determined to ignore that little tidbit.
When she suggested, predictably, that they leave for some place more quiet he agreed readily enough and led her out of the club and to his Porsche. She goggled at the car for a moment before settling in the passenger seat. She fiddled with the bottom of it for a moment, obviously trying to adjust it and failing. Lex stifled a sneer. He reminded himself that intelligence was not prerogative in a one night stand.
They reached the next hotel soon enough and as soon as the elevator doors slid shut behind them, she was on him. Long arms slung around his neck in a deadlock and her lips crushed against his as she plastered herself to his front.
He brought his arms up around her waist to brace himself, noticing that the flesh under the dress gave softly under his touch. He opened his mouth to the kiss, and let her tongue invade his mouth. She started exploring with a ruthlessly intensity.
This was good. One of her hands made its way down his back to settle on his ass. Okay, not good exactly, decent enough. The other one started slightly scritching at the back of his neck with long tapered nails. Well decent wasn't actually the right word. Passable? She pressed her pelvis into his with maybe a bit too much force. Not quite. The hand on the back of his neck went up to cradle his naked scalp. Oh bollocks, this was bloody awful!
He used his hands on her waist to push her away, releasing a gasp as she was finally forced to break the extensive lip lock. Lex nervously licked his lips and shook his head, forcing himself to not look at the mouth that he'd just been kissing.
”Listen, I...”
He didn't know how to say this. He'd never been in a situation like this before. He had turned down countless women, yes. But this was the first time that he'd taken a woman out of a club with every intention to fuck her and then changed his mind in the damn elevator on the way to the hotel room.
“This isn't going to work,” he said decisively.
It just wasn't doing anything for him and just the thought of sleeping with this woman seemed wrong on some really basic level. He had no idea why he hadn't seen it before.
“What,” her voice had a really annoying shriek to it, now that it wasn't underlayed with the noise of pounding club music. “You're kidding, right?”
He looked into her eyes and could see that she was more disbelieving than anything. Did he look like he was kidding?
“I assure you, I'm not,” he answered without inflection.
The arms around his neck released as she stepped back and stared at him with wide brown eyes. He hadn't even noticed the color before. His gaze flew up to her hairline for a moment and sure enough she wasn't a natural blonde. For some reason, that annoyed him.
“Listen, I'm sorry,” he trailed off as he realized that he didn't even remember her name. “You can keep the hotel room for tonight. Order whatever you want.”
He stepped around her and pressed a button for the floor after the next. “But I'm not coming with you.”
“What?” She shrieked and Lex had to stifle a wince. “You can't do this to me! What the hell is wrong with you?” Her gaze slid down to his beltline and she looked up with a cruel glint in her eyes. “Can't get it up, is that it?”
Lex just shook his head and looked at her without emotion. “Not for you,” he said coldly as his gaze slid over her calculatingly. “Not for this.”
She was still goggling at him with wide, disbelieving eyes as the doors slid open with a soft 'ding' and he stepped outside the elevator.
“Goodnight,” he said to the closing doors.
~~~
Chloe had taken a shower and tried to puzzle things out. It just didn’t make any sense, her turning away such a delectable man. Especially after the dry spell that she had had. Her body was more tense than it had been in the past few years.
She continued to think about why it had happened as she put on her pajamas. She had hoped that some time away from Metropolis would give her the freedom to do what she had wanted to but she hadn’t been able to go through with it.
She’d just have to try again tomorrow then. Maybe drink a little more and psych herself up for it. If she didn’t get laid out here things would get worse when she got back home and around Lex. Chloe had attributed her reactions to him on the fact that she hadn’t gotten any attention in far too long. So, something needed to be done about that.
Frankly, she was too exhausted to get herself off so she just padded over to the bed and slipped between the sheets. She saw that the red light was blinking on her phone and she picked it up to get her messages.
One from her dad and three hang-ups. She’d call her dad in the morning and tell him how it went. Then, tomorrow night she was going to get lucky.
~~~
Lex had returned home on a direct route, his mind working frantically all the way. He slammed the door closed behind him and stalked straight through into the kitchen to pour himself a large drink. Water, ironically enough. Not that he didn't long for something stronger, but he'd tried his best not to act compulsively about alcohol after Smallville.
He flopped down on his couch and stared into the empty fireplace. What had happened to him? He'd been dying to get laid for several weeks now and he was convinced that it was pretty much the only cure to the tension between himself and Chloe. Yet, he had passed on a perfectly good chance not an hour ago.
Granted, the woman hadn't been flawless, but damnit since when did a casual fuck need to be without flaw for him to take her to his bed. None of the women he'd fucked had been perfect. It had never mattered before.
He couldn't fathom why he'd been so repulsed at the idea of sleeping with that woman. What worried him deeply was the fact that the thought of trying again tomorrow night repulsed him even more. He was obviously out of practice. Or something.
He was also full of nervous energy and had no idea what to do about it. Without thinking, he reached for the phone and dialed the number. After two rings the machine clicked in, letting him know that she wasn't there.
He stabbed the disconnect button with a low growl and took another swig from his water. He'd already called her three times that day. If he let himself think about it, it seemed a little weird. Still, he'd gotten the machine every time and was just trying to get through to her personally. No such luck as of yet and Lex Luthor was above talking to answering machines when it wasn't strictly necessary. And it wasn't in this case.
He could feel the need to move like an itch under his skin and Lex got up to pace around his living room. This was stupid. It was absolutely ridiculous and something would have to be done about it.
There was no reason he should be all up in a tiff about the fact that he'd turned down a ditzy fake blonde who had offered herself up like a cheap all-you-can-eat dinner. Casting a glance at his watch, he noticed that it was well past two in the morning.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down and went towards the bathroom. Tension still coiling inside him, he took a short, perfunctory shower and got ready to go to bed.
~~~
The call had been very unexpected but welcome none the less. As soon as the smooth cadence of the voice had filled the other end of the receiver, Jean Pierre had gotten excited. Mr. Luthor had impeccable taste and an unending bank account. An unbeatable combination.
The circumstances of the job were also intriguing. He was to meet Mr. Luthor at the door of an apartment and the two of them would work on the space together. Highly unusual. Jean Pierre was used to being given a key and his space. But he was informed that Mr. Luthor wanted to be involved with all of the details.
The part of town that held the apartment was by no means shabby but he did not see why Mr. Luthor had acquired another space so close to his office which held a living space. He intended to get to the bottom of it.
Mr. Luthor was waiting for him at the specified apartment and led them both inside. Jean Pierre looked at the space with a critical eye.
Lex closed the door behind them and gave Jean Pierre a moment to get 'acquainted with the space' or whatever nonsense it was that the interior decorator did when he first entered an apartment and made weird noises or clucked his tongue.
Chloe would probably kill him for this, but he couldn't help it. He'd gotten the key to her apartment from a reluctant housekeeper after a bit of cajoling, a bit of threatening and quite a bit of money. Lex would make sure the housekeeper was fired and replaced with a trustworthy one after everything was done in the apartment.
It had taken him the better part of the night to mull over his situation and about half an hour to make up his mind what exactly to do to distract himself. He'd called Jean Pierre as soon as he'd gotten the key from the housekeeper.
“This is the apartment of a friend of mine,” he stated smoothly as he stepped further into the living room.
As far as he could see, Chloe hadn't done much of anything after he'd left and before she'd gone off to Chicago.
“She's away on a business trip until next Wednesday and I want this apartment to be ready for her when she returns.”
Jean Pierre listened to Mr. Luthor’s words and nodded along in the appropriate places. He walked around the living room and looked at the copious amounts of pictures that were dotted throughout.
In all there was a small blonde woman. He did not remember blondes being to Mr. Luthor’s tastes so the man had gone through some sort of change since the last time he had needed his services.
She was pretty enough with a dazzling smile. The woman was downright gorgeous in one picture with an older man who was perhaps her father…..or her husband, one could never tell these days.
“Your friend must be very good in bed,” he said, distractedly.
He always spoke his mind and his clients knew that they would have to hear his opinion on every matter as they worked through a design. If not, they were free to go elsewhere. He did not press Mr. Luthor much usually, he had no desire to end up on the business end of a gun, but the one statement needed to be said.
Lex swallowed a shocked noise. He'd not seen that coming and was quite sure he must have misheard.
“Pardon,” he asked sharply, fixing the smaller man with a steely gaze.
Surely, Jean Pierre was pretty outspoken, but he would not have the audacity to suggest such a thing. Only, the man was looking back at him guilelessly.
“I assure you that there is nothing untoward about the relationship. We are very good friends and our relationship is strictly platonic,” he stressed the last word. “So I suggest you refrain from any further such comment.”
Suggestions were all well and good but Jean Pierre did not take to them well. Besides, he did not fear the wrath of Mr. Luthor….just yet. And there was something going on here that was too curious to let drop.
“I apologize,” he said. He was quiet for a beat and then added, under his breath as he left the room, “She must be the best you’ve ever had.”
Lex narrowed his eyes and growled low in his throat. At this point, he had to remind himself that he actually needed the man's help to do this and that the reason he was here in the first place was to distract himself from his failed attempt at getting laid.
“I am not going to repeat myself Jean Pierre,” he raised his voice to let it carry into the kitchen.
Taking another moment to calm himself down, he waited for the French to reappear. He wanted to get started as soon as possible. There were a lot of things to do and if they weren't done by the time Chloe came back from Chicago, they probably never would be.
Jean Pierre had clearly heard Mr. Luthor’s instructions and the man was very serious. But, the tone made him smile to himself. It seemed that the idea of this woman in his bed did something to the man. He would back off a little bit but still not drop the topic altogether.
He scanned the kitchen and opened the drawers, cabinets and even the refrigerator in order to get a better idea of the inhabitant of the apartment. The woman, Mr. Luthor’s ‘friend’, appeared to be very different from the man that he could feel glowering at him from the living room. He wondered how they had met and how the affair had started.
Finally done with the kitchen, Jean Pierre walked back out into the living room. “Could you describe your friend a little please, Mr. Luthor?” The man looked at him dubiously and Jean Pierre said, “I need an idea of what she is like in order to do my job properly.” Plus, it would be interesting to see how the man described the woman.
Lex clamped his mouth shut tight as he thought about this for a moment. How did you properly describe Chloe in a handful of words? There were two or three obvious ones, but they didn't grasp her entire character.
“She's feisty,” he started, “Has her own mind and is used to getting her way.” Looking around his gaze caught on one of the pictures.
Chloe was center spot, wearing a Princeton t-shirt of some sort. Surrounding her was what looked like about half of the football team. He smirked.
“She's a fun-loving person, outgoing, energetic. She's very intelligent, perceptive.” He remembered the night she'd come to him about the article that could have broken his neck, figuratively speaking. “Loyal.”
He took a couple steps around the room and looked out the window, his eyes following the cars lazily going past seventy stories below.
“I don't know what her favorite color is, but it should be something light,” he commented absentmindedly. “And we are going to need to get the original measurements, material and plans for my couch. I promised she’d get one exactly like mine.”
His hands found their way into his pants pockets as he thought a bit more on Chloe. He wanted this apartment to be perfect when she came back from Chicago.
“She works hard, but that doesn't make up her entire life. She takes kick boxing lessons and she's damn good at it. Maybe a work out area in her office would be a good idea,” he mused.
On that note, he turned around, his gaze going back to fix Jean Pierre, “Which reminds me that something needs to be done about the light-switch in that room. It's on the opposite wall from the door, which is unacceptable.”
Cocking his head to the side, he couldn't think of anything else for the moment, not sure how to reveal more about Chloe's character without telling the whole story, which he had no inclination to do.
He didn't think that Jean Pierre needed to know about her preferences when it came to food and drink, either. No wine, no wiggling food. He'd forgotten about that first one when she'd paid him the surprise visit to drop the bomb. He remembered.
“Is there anything else you need to know?”
Jean Pierre had listened to the impromptu speech that Mr. Luthor had made. The man clearly cared a great deal for the woman who inhabited this apartment and had done a fine job of describing her personality to him.
He shook his head and then said, “I think that you’ve done a fine job of describing your,” and here he came dangerously close to uttering the word lover, “friend to me.”
The inclination to squeal and giggle like a school girl at the idea of Lex Luthor in love with this woman was almost overwhelming. Almost. Jean Pierre would handle all of the arrangements himself. He usually farmed out some of the smaller things but not this time.
Keeping his clients happy was of optimal importance, it was what kept them coming back. He had been working for Mr. Luthor for a few years now and had no intention of letting go of this client. Especially since there could be more money to be made once Mr. Luthor let nature take its course and added an heir to his line.
If the man spent so much money on himself and his lover…well, there was no telling what he would do for his children. “I’ve already brought some fabrics for you to look over. Do we have an idea about what type of furniture we’d like in the space?”
Mr. Luthor followed him as he peered into every room. When he got to the office, he said, “Yes, this is not a proper set up. Anyone could be lurking in a dark corner.”
Once in the bedroom, he was pleased at what he saw. “Very impressive bed,” he commented without much inflection. He took a step back, “A little masculine for such an attractive woman but from what I’ve seen she likes her space, no?” He looked over at Mr. Luthor, not really expecting an answer.
Lex looked over the bed, now pristinely made, remembering the last time he'd been in the room. Chloe's clothes had lain on the covers while she'd given him the grand tour. At the mention of space he reminded the things that had happened between them whenever they'd gotten in close quarters.
“She can make do in tight space, but yeah she usually prefers things to be open I'd say,” he commented absently.
Standing in the bedroom he also reminded something else. The reason why Chloe had kept a distance before she'd gone off to Chicago and why he'd tried to get laid before she came back. His eyes widened marginally as Jean Pierre kept stalking through the room. He could only hope she'd put the box out of sight.
The closet was a good size but Pierre thought that they could do better. He had taken the liberty of pulling the blueprints of the apartment and knew that there was a great deal of space behind the closet wall. If Mr. Luthor allowed him to do so, he would knock it down and give his lover a walk in closet.
No woman could resist one and he knew that Mr. Luthor would be thanked mightily for it. Over and over again. He unceremoniously yanked the door to the closet open and stepped inside.
He carefully ran his hands over some of her items of clothing, nodding in approval. The woman had good taste but price tags did not appear to be important to her. It was obvious that she wasn’t a slave to what the trite, glossy magazines told her was in style.
Jean Pierre attempted to continue onwards but his motion was hampered by a closed box on the floor. Annoyed, he pushed the box out of the closet and started to inspect the back wall.
Lex had already opened his mouth to protest when the box came slithering over the floor towards him. Before he said anything, he grabbed the box and picked it up, thinking fast. Since the bed had already been approved of, it was probably the safest place for now.
He pushed the box under the bed and draped the comforter back over it before he followed Jean Pierre into the closet. The man hadn't done this at his house and he damn well wasn't going to go snooping around Chloe's apartment.
“Just what do you think you are doing,” he asked sharply.
Had Jean Pierre not been busy puzzling out the closet he might have been intimidated by Mr. Luthor’s tone of voice. However, his thoughts were occupied with bearing walls and whether they had enough time to give Mr. Luthor’s lover, whose name he would ask for in a moment, the closet that she deserved.
“The plans to this apartment indicate that there is unutilized space behind this wall,” he knocked on it and looked at Mr. Luthor through the clothing, “and I was investigating to see if we could knock it down in order to give,” he paused and then said, “your friend a walk in closet.”
“And, if you don’t mind my asking so, what is your friend’s name?” It wasn’t crucial that he knew but it made things seem less formal to him. He liked to think that he knew the people that he was imbibing with the perfect living space.
Since Lex was already getting a headache from the way Jean Pierre paused every time before he said 'friend', he didn't think it could hurt to let the man know.
“Her name is Chloe,” he said simply, ignoring the man's comment about the closet.
He didn't even know if Chloe really wanted such heavy reconstruction done on the apartment. Added to that, she was only renting it. She hadn't actually bought the place. “And I'm not sure we'll be able to pull down walls or anything that intrusive. She's only a tenant, not the owner.”
Lex supposed he could buy the building himself, but even for him that would take longer than a week and something told him that if he actually went that far and Chloe found out, she'd never speak to him again. Which was not the plan.
Jean Pierre was disappointed by this knowledge. He had been looking forward to a good renovation complete with new racks and a place that would house all of the shoes that Mr. Luthor’s Chloe had.
Shaking his head and clucking his tongue he said, “That is truly a shame, Mr. Luthor.” He turned back to the wall and gave it one last knock. “Please let your Chloe know that I did my best to give her everything the space allowed.”
He made his way out of the closet and looked around for a moment. “Mr. Luthor, the box that was in the closet?” He did not see it anywhere in the room. “I like to leave things the way in which I found them.” Order was very important to Jean Pierre and it distressed him when things were out of place.
“I'll take care of it later,” he stated smoothly, “Don't worry about it.”
Seeing Jean Pierre opening his mouth, he cut the man off before he could get a chance. He walked over and purposefully took the smaller man by the elbow and started leading him back out of the room. “Why don't we go back to the living room. I'm interested to find out what your talented mind has come up with by now, closet space aside.”
There was no chance that he'd let Chloe be embarrassed, even without her knowledge, in front of someone else. Jean Pierre had quite enough nonsense going on in his mind without any further material.
Jean Pierre let himself be manhandled and thrown out into the living room only because it seemed as if he had no other alternative. Mr. Luthor put up with his eccentricities but the line was now drawn.
Once in the living room, he took his arm away from the other man and then turned towards him. “Based on what you’ve told me I want to do a mix of classic good taste with a dash of flamboyance thrown in.” He looked around the room at the number of colors warring for attention.
“Chloe clearly likes some color in her life but I also see hints of neutral tones that are a base that we can work with. A warm, natural color for this room and varying colors for the rest.” When he saw concern flicker over the other man’s face he held up his hands. “Nothing too ostentatious, just something to give the apartment the kick that Chloe possesses. Classy with hints of fire in her.”
He noticed the pictures that were scattered around the room. “I want to integrate the photos in the numerous rooms, anchoring a visual palate along with the colors.”
“For the office, perhaps a heavy bag and mat for her to work with. The kitchen will be outfitted with state of the art chrome and the counter done in marble. I would like to get her new glasses, plates, utensils etc. so that they all match. I know a funky artist who will be more than happy to oblige in that area.”
Jean Pierre knew that this woman would want offbeat things around her apartment while maintaining the class that she also possessed. It was a fine balance and one that he intended to perfect.
“The bedroom will be the oasis in the midst of her apartment. A wall installation for votive candles and new bedding for the bed. I think that darker colors for the sheets and pillows would offset the rest of the light in the room. She needs a bigger mirror for the vanity and I would like to put in a huge chair in which she can relax. I would like your permission to rip out the existing tub and give her a huge, old fashioned clawfoot big enough for two.”
He had noticed that her bathroom had huge fluffy towels and bathmats. This woman wanted to relax in that room and her tub would not do for that. “Also, I would like to be able to enlarge some of the windows, as well. I’m sure that will be fine with those in charge of the building. This beautiful creature,” he said, picking up a picture of Chloe with various other people, “needs light. It radiates out of her.”
Lex had lost track of what the hell Jean Pierre was going on about somewhere around the 'votive candles'. He caught the important bits and pieces though. Bigger windows, clawfoot tub, new sheets. He could deal with that.
“That sounds good,” he stated, already mentally adjusting his schedule to fit in a meeting with the owner of the building. “But remember, everything has to be done by Wednesday morning, next week.”
He had no idea how long some of the things Jean Pierre had suggested would be taking if normal workers were involved. “Money isn't an issue.”
Lex tried to imagine what her apartment would look like when everything was done. Then he tried to imagine the look on Chloe's face when she saw her new and improved apartment. Well, before it turned to murderous rage when she realized what it must've cost. He winced. Best not to think about it.
Another thought occurred to him then. He remembered the phone conversation he'd overheard at the beginning of the evening, before things became extremely awkward.
“Another thing, some things that are already in the office were specifically brought in by her father, those need to stay.”
He realized that moment, that he'd probably have to call Gabe. He didn't know if the man had any other plans for his daughter's apartment and there was a good chance that she'd given him a key. Lex hadn't seen any houseplants, but one could never be sure that Gabe wouldn't pop in to check up on the place. It would be better if he explained his motives to the man beforehand.
Lex couldn't help the automatic sneer that twitched over his lips. Sure, Gabe had been very nice when they'd bumped into each other in China Town and he was good to work with, but how would the man take it that Lex Luthor was taking over the decoration of his only daughter's new apartment?
“I will need a list of the items that are not to be touched as soon as possible,” Jean Pierre said. He could work around the pieces that needed to be kept. He did not usually like to do so but he could do it. Thankfully, Chloe did not have anything that was horribly offensive to him.
“And I will also need to know if it is crucial that they remain where they are currently.” Sometimes just moving a piece changed the way it worked in a space. “All of what I need to be done can be accomplished by Wednesday, Mr. Luthor.”
They had yet to discuss his fee but he did not think that would be a problem. He was pricey but worth it, in his opinion. And unlike a lot of others in his field, he did not gouge his clients while paying his workers nothing. Bad business idea, that was.
“In fact,” he said while looking around, “I believe that it will be done by Monday afternoon or Tuesday. That way you can make any last minute changes that you deem fit.”
Lex's brows rose at that brave statement. Jean Pierre had always worked fast, but an extreme make over in less than a week? That seemed a little out there.
“The couch that I want has to be custom made from scratch, are you sure this won't be a problem,” he confirmed.
If it was, it wouldn't be one for long. He hadn't been kidding when he said money wasn't an issue. Lex wanted to do this for Chloe and partly, or more than partly, he wanted to do this for himself. It gave him an excuse not to be out there and having a repeat performance of the night before. Maybe he'd try again in a few days, if he had the time.
“It shouldn’t be,” Jean Pierre said, honestly. When numerous designers worked together there had to be some sort of understanding between them. “Just put me in contact with the company and we will sort out a schedule so the painting is not going on at the same time as the couch is being moved in. If it is to be a big piece,” and by the look on Mr. Luthor’s face, it was, “we will paint this room first thing and then design around it.”
He got the feeling that this couch was to be the focal point and was very important to his client. “Now, furniture?”
Lex nodded in answer, knowing that the man was only reiterating his first question. “I'll be able to let you know tonight which pieces have to stay or if there's anything else specific that needs to be taken into consideration. Will that be soon enough?”
He had no idea what else, other than the desk Chloe had spoken of on the phone. And he vaguely remembered something about a chair. The rest was anyone’s guess until he'd spoken to Gabe which he wasn't going to do until he was back in the office.
“That will be fine, Mr. Luthor,” Jean Pierre said warmly. He could not wait to get started. This would be a fun project, indeed. It was a welcome change to have a job that wouldn’t be overly stuffy. Most rich people had very pedestrian taste and sometimes it was difficult to tell the jobs apart. This would not be the case here.
“I will get started right away with some of my orders, if you don’t mind.” He took out his cell phone and estimated how many workers he would need, what shift times he should schedule them in and how soon everyone could arrive.
Lex nodded more to himself as he turned around to cast another glance over the apartment. He only hoped that Chloe didn't have anything other than the box lying around that she didn't want to be found.
”I'll leave you to your work, then. I should be back early in the evening.”
Thankfully he knew that he could trust Jean Pierre's discretion. He wouldn't abuse the trust put in him and Lex was pretty sure that when he got back later today a good bit of work would already have been done.
Bracing himself mentally for his next task, he left the man behind in Chloe's apartment and made his way towards LuthorCorp towers. It wasn't a long drive, but it would definitely be a tense one.
LOL!!! Please, please, *please* tell me that you're going to be writing out the conversation between Lex and Gabe! Oooh, and the conversation Gabe has with Lionel, afterwards. *snicker*
:-)
Em
Poor Lex, poor Chloe. no sex for either of them.
Yay! Love Saturday updates from Blue and Sabby.
It's great that Chloe and Lex can't bring themselves to sleep with other people but they need to figure out why that is and soon!
Can't wait for the Gabe and Lionel take on this.
Also, love how Jean Pierre can see quite clearly that Lex is in love with Chloe.
Awesome update!
Jean Pierre is an extremely smart man--he noticed right away that Lex was in love with Chloe
I loved that Lex got Chloe's housekeeper to take a bribe to get the key to her apratment, but now he's going to have the poor woman fired because she isn't trustworthy. How very Luthorian of him.
How is Chloe going to react when she comes home to find her place totally redecorated? I can't wait for that
And just as a side note: I'm glad that you have both Chloe and Lex unable to have sex with other people. They are both affected by the other's presence and the attraction and intense feelings are being played out by both people, and not just Chloe.
Great work!
KATHY
"Don't quote me to me!" Detective Danny "Danno" WIlliams, Hawaii Five-0, episode 1.8 Mana'o
"This could barely fill up Thumbelina!" SALIGIA by westwingwolf
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Wow, Lex is really going all out but getting the much needed distraction is probably worth it
Steph*
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