Winner Takes All
Folc4evernaday
Part 8
***
What had just happened? One minute they had been talking about taking things slow and the next she had thrown her arms around him and kissed him. He needed to stop this. She wasn’t sure what she wanted and he needed to put the brakes on this before things got out of control.
“Lois...” he slowly pulled away. “Slow.” He repeated. He pulled away and kissed her lightly, cupping her cheek for a minute. “Good night.” He then moved towards the couch and began to make himself comfortable. He was unaware of Lois’ gaze on him.
***
Lois watched Clark as he made himself comfortable on the couch. ‘Slow.’ He was taking things slow with her. She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed but liberated at the same time. There was no pressure. No expectation. She still was disappointed at the loss of body contact, but she knew he was right. Slow was the way to go….for now.
***
“Lex Luthor,” Lex answered his phone briskly.
“Mr. Luthor, I’ve just spotted a problem across the street,” Nigel said. “We have a few spies across the street from the office we’re using to organize our first test.”
“Spies? Who do we have, Nigel? James Bond?” Lex asked, half joking.
“No, a couple of reporters,” Nigel said grimly.
“Hmmm…Let me guess, Lois Lane and Clark Kent?” Lex asked.
“Yes.”
“Keep an eye on them, but just be careful. Are you sure, they’re spying?”
“They ARE in the Honeymoon Suite, sir,” Nigel said, slightly amused.
“Hmmm, maybe congratulations are in order?” Lex asked.
“Perhaps, sir.”
“Keep me posted. Are we all set for the first test tomorrow?” Lex asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well,” Lex said, hanging up the phone.
***
Clark lay awake, staring at the ceiling. He was in a living hell right now. Listening to Lois, calling HIS name out and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
“Cl-ark!” Her cry echoed from the bedroom. This was torture. Absolute torture. He waited, listening for any other moans, but it appeared she had stopped. Her breathing had gone back to normal. He sighed in relief.
He rolled over on the couch, trying to readjust the pillows. Now, for some reason, he just couldn’t get comfortable. He grabbed the pillow from behind him and began to fluff it up.
POW
Feathers began to fall all around him. He grimaced. It was going to be a long night.
***
The next morning, Lois awoke to find herself wrapped in the satin sheets completely naked. She recalled the dream she’d had last night and blushed. Hopefully, Clark hadn’t heard her. That would have been embarrassing.
She slipped out of bed and grabbed the silk camisole from the floor and slipped it on. She then wrapped her robe around her and made her way into the main room where Clark was. He lay asleep on the couch. She gasped when she saw him. He lay on the couch with his arms crossed across his chest. His chest…He wasn’t wearing a shirt. He looked….REALLY good. His face looked so relaxed. He had a certain boyish charm about him. Without his glasses, he looked….different…but somewhat familiar.
“Coffee.” She muttered to herself, moving away from Clark’s sleeping figure and headed back towards the bedroom to call room service. She heard a noise out in the main room and went to check on it.
The sight she found wasn’t something she had expected. Clark was on the floor doing push-ups. She watched in rapt attention as his muscles moved up and down in a fluid motion. He seemed to notice her presence and stopped, turning around to face her. He was still in his sleeping shorts, but he had put his glasses on. She blushed slightly, realizing she had been staring. He was staring too. Feeling self-conscious she looked away, “What?”
Clark just stared back at her, “Nothing.
She looked around, trying to see if there was something out of place behind her. Seeing nothing, she crossed her arms across her chest, feeling bashful, “What?”
“Nothing.” He said. “You just look…pretty decent …first thing in the morning.”
“Oh.” She suddenly felt self-conscious. “Well, you’re not so bad yourself.” She caught his gaze a moment then looked away, “Uh, I ordered some coffee.”
“Uh, great,” Clark said, standing up. A knock at the door caught their attention. He smiled at her, “I guess that’s the coffee.”
“Yeah.” Lois smiled back at him. She moved to open the door.
***
Phil, the bellboy pushed the cart of coffee in the room. “Early to bed, early to rise.” He noticed the feathers scattered on the floor and the pillow on the couch. “Whoa! Rough night?”
Clark blushed and hurriedly grabbed his wallet from the side table, pulling out a twenty dollar bill. He hurriedly pushed Phil out the door and handed him the money. Once Phil was out of the room, he turned to face Lois who was looking from him to the feathers on the floor curiously. “Uh…I’m….a heavy sleeper.” He said hurriedly. Not giving her a chance to think too hard about the situation he moved past her to the bathroom to get ready for work.
***
“Attention all units. Code four. Possible jumper, Lexor Hotel. Crowd control and negotiation teams to the Emergency response requested.” The police dispatcher’s voice echoed throughout the newsroom off the police radio.
Perry poked his head out of his office, “Lois! Clark!”
“CK’s down at City Hall, Chief.” Jimmy interrupted.
Lois grabbed her purse and headed towards the elevator. “I’m on it!”
Perry smiled. “That’s my girl.” He then walked out into the bullpen, “All right, we need a photographer down there now! Olsen!”
“I’m on it, Chief!” Jimmy said, approaching Perry with his camera bag in tow.
“No, I’ve got an even bigger project for you.” Perry turned to Myerson, “Myerson, get your butt down to the Lexor Hotel now. I need some page one photos.”
“What about me, Chief?” Jimmy asked.
“Ah, follow me.” Perry wagged his finger at Jimmy to follow. Jimmy closed the door behind him and Perry pulled out what looked like a foot massager. “Mr. Foot.”
“Mr. Foot?” Jimmy asked, confused.
Perry handed the device to Jimmy, “I need it back by five.”
Jimmy sighed and nodded, “Yeah. Sure, Chief.” He gave Perry a weak smile and left.
***
On top of the Lexor Hotel, the police negotiator stood behind Jules who was standing on the ledge. The building was surrounded by police officers and firefighters. “It’s always darkest before the dawn, son.” The police negotiator soothed.
Jules balanced on the narrow parapet, holding onto and drummed idly on the brick chimney beside him. He appeared totally at ease. “Is that so?”
“Come down. We’ll talk it through.”
“I don’t know. I kinda like it up here. Fresh air.” Jules spread his arms out, taking the view in, “Great view.”
“Well, can I get you something?”
Jules grew thoughtful for a moment, “Cappuccino?”
“Whatever you want.” He nodded.
“Make it decaf,” Jules added with a wink. “Caffeine makes me jumpy.”
“Whatever you want.”
Jules took a step away from the chimney and pretended to lose his balance. He teetered on the edge. The negotiator moved to grab him but missed. Jules leaned forward on the rooftop, waving his arms dramatically in the air for the crowd below.
A red and blue streak flashed across the sky. Clark landed behind Jules. “The S-man,” Jules remarked, looking up at Clark.
“You don’t really want to do this.” Superman
Jules contemplated a moment and sighed, “You know, you’re right.” He moved away from the ledge, “I’ve seen the error of my ways.”
Clark was slightly surprised by how easily Jules had given in but didn’t allow Jules to see his surprise. He gave the man a warm smile and helped escort him into police custody to get the help he needed.
***
Lex Luthor sat, watching Jules’ rescue on a video monitor. There were several monitors in front of him, showing different areas of Metropolis. Asabi stood behind Lex, monitoring the electronic timer. Lex was on the phone, “Ready?”
***
Across town, Nigel stood on the top of a skyscraper, holding Monique by the ankle. Monique stood on the ledge, terrified. Nigel was on a cell phone, speaking with Lex. “Confirm.”
“Please, be careful.” Monique pleaded.
“Don’t worry, lovey, I’ve got you.” Nigel grinned at her.
“Execute,” Lex said into the phone.
“Roger that,” Nigel said. “Sorry, lovey.” He let go of Monique’s ankle and pushed her off the ledge with a cane.
“Wha-? No!” Monique screamed as she fell from the skyscraper.
Across town, Clark heard Monique’s screams and moved at super-speed to intercept her mid-air. Monique was clinging to him, crying against his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He reassured her.
***
Lex and Asabi watched as Superman intercepted Monique mid-air. “Mark,” Lex said. Asabi stopped the timer. The digital indicator blinked, 2.1191416 seconds. Lex smiled, impressed, “Faster than a speeding bullet.”
***
Lois made her way through the crowd of media, ambulatory workers, and on-lookers. “Excuse me, Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Can anyone tell me what happened?”
“Lois, you just missed it. Superman caught that woman in midair. She left in an ambulance a minute ago.” Clark said from behind her, “She’s okay. She left in an ambulance a minute ago. I got us the exclusive.” He gave her a megawatt smile.
“That’s great.” She smiled giving him a warm hug. She pulled away and noticed a look of tenderness in his eyes. That spark was still there. She took him by the arm and began to walk towards the next block where the police were at. “Were you able to talk to Superman? Get a quote?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He held up a notebook and gave her another smile. “I may be new, but I do know how to conduct an interview on my own.” He teased.
“Just checking.” Lois teased back. “Let’s have a talk with Henderson and then we’ll head back to the Planet to regroup.”
“We still need to do some more research on Lex Luthor’s man servant,” Clark said.
“Yeah.” Lois said as they rounded the corner, “Hey, how’d you get here so fast? Jimmy said you were at City Hall.”
Clark got a panicked look on his face, “Uh, I was, but, uh…I heard…the …uh, the story…the story on the radio of…one...one of the units at City Hall...and...I...I came here.”
“Oh,” Lois said. There was something off about his story, but she decided not to give it too much thought at the time.
***
Later that afternoon, Lois and Clark sat in the conference room with Jimmy and Cat, going over the research they had come up with on Roarke. Lois began ticking points off on her fingers, “Who’s Roarke? What ‘system’ are they talking about? And what ‘test’?”
“Don’t forget the ‘vote.’ We should get our hands on every available record of every vote taken by Harrington’s committee for the past…”
“Six months?” Jimmy asked, with a smile. “Already on it.”
“It's gotta be something big. Congressmen don’t sell out for less than ‘big’.”
“Well, I ran Roarke…his name and picture…through every program the Daily Planet has access to…the man’s a ghost.” Jimmy said a bit defeated.
Lois noticed Jimmy’s forlorn look. “Jimmy, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just kinda tired. All these assignments the Chief keeps sending me on…I guess it’s just getting to me.”
“Well, Jimmy, we all have to pay our dues in order to move up the ladder.” Cat said.
“Oh, yeah? You had to go on donut runs, fix foot massagers and reorganize Elvis plates?” Jimmy asked. He sighed, “You know, I’m a journalist.”
“Why don’t you talk to him? Let him see that?” Clark asked. “Stand up to him.”
“Stand up to Perry White? No way. I’d be out of a job.” Jimmy said.
“That’s not true, Jimmy, and you know it,” Lois said. “Clark’s right. Stand up to Perry and make him see you’re more than just the Mr. Fix-it of the office. Show him what you’re made of.”
“Yeah right,” Jimmy muttered.
Cat interrupted, “Excuse me, can we get back on track here? I have a luncheon at two.”
Lois rolled her eyes, “So, what about Apocalypse Consulting?”
Jimmy sifted through his notes, “No bank accounts or transactions I can trace. Apocalypse moved in a couple months ago. Paid off a five-year lease on the offices in advance.”
“Business must be good.” Clark mused.
“Yeah, but what business?” Lois asked.
“Thaddeus Roarke. International arms dealer, electronic weapons system analyst, entrepreneur, and general bad boy. Last known base of operations: Beirut.” Perry laid a photo of Roarke and a file folder on the table in front of them.
“How did you?” Lois asked at the same time Clark asked, “Where did you?”
Perry just smiled and gave them a wink, “Sources, boys and girls, sources. The lifeblood of journalism.”
Cat lifted the photo of Roarke and read the copyright stamp on the back, “People Magazine.”
“By the way, great work you two on that double suicide attempt.” Perry interrupted, “You see? I told you, the two of you…we’ve struck gold.”
“Thanks, Perry.” Lois gave him an uneasy smile.
“So, can I assume that ….whatever it was…has been dealt with?” Perry asked. Cat and Jimmy gave both Lois and Clark a curious look.
Clark cleared his throat nervously, “Uh, yeah…” He began sifting through the file in front of him, “Uh, arms dealer, House of Defense Committee. Makes sense.”
Perry realized he wasn’t going to get any further information from them and moved on, “Now team, we should talk about this. A scoop’s a scoop, but if we’re into something that impacts national security, we have to notify the Feds.”
Lois looked at him a bit dismayed, “Now?”
Perry sighed, thinking for a moment, “No. When the time’s right. So far we have more questions than answers. Let’s hear some theories.”
“Okay.” Jimmy began, preparing to make an impression with Perry, “The Defense Department is about to test some new weapons systems and Roarke wants to know about it.”
Perry grew thoughtful a moment, “But why would he bribe Harrington for just information?”
“Well, I…” Jimmy began a bit defeated.
“Big picture. Think. You have to look at this from all angles.” Perry said.
“Harrington’s afraid of Roarke. That begs the question, ‘why?’” Clark said.
“Maybe Harrington’s afraid of what Roarke will do when he gets the information.” Lois shrugged her shoulders.
Perry grew thoughtful, “Hmm, seems to me we still got more questions than answers. Let’s strategize; do some legwork to back up our surveillance. Cat, do you think you can find Congressman Harrington and stick with him?”
“Like super glue.” Cat smiled, intrigued
“Jimmy, next time Roarke shows…” Perry began.
“Got him!” Jimmy said excited at the prospect of a real assignment.
“Aw, now, Jimmy, would you hold your horses and let me finish?” Perry scolded. “I want you to keep track of Roarke’s comings and goings. Take photos. The whole shebang.” He wagged his finger at Jimmy, “This time I want photos I can actually use.”
“Right.” Jimmy nodded.
“You two need any help?” Perry asked, looking towards Lois and Clark.
“No,” Lois said rather quickly. “We’re fine. I mean…”
“Absolutely,” Clark added, equally nervous.
Perry, Cat, and Jimmy looked at them with broad smiles on their faces. “We should get going,” Lois said, standing up from her seat.
“Yeah,” Clark said, following her lead. The duo left the conference room in a hurry, leaving an intrigued Editor in Chief in their wake along with Jimmy and Cat.
“I smell dirt.” Cat whispered conspiratorially.
“What are you talking about?” Jimmy asked, confused.
“Oh, Jimmy, don’t you see it?” Cat asked, pointing at Lois and Clark in the bullpen. “Watch Lois. See how she keeps watching Clark. And there. She just looked away when he turned around.”
“Yeah, so?” Jimmy asked.
“So, somebody has the hots for somebody.” Cat finished.
“No way!” Jimmy said, shaking his head.
“Jimmy, the key to a good newspaperman is he always keeps his mind open.” Perry interrupted.
“Are you saying…?” Jimmy asked.
“I’m not saying anything,” Perry said, yodeling a short tune as he left the office.
***
Lois and Clark sat on the couch, dressed for bed. Lois wore a pink negligee with a matching robe; while Clark wore a pair of sleeping shorts and a gray robe over it. Perry had reiterated with them to keep up appearances and dress as if they were on their honeymoon.
“Okay. Here’s what I’ve got.” Clark opened a file and laid it out for Lois to see. “Nigel St. John. He was an agent with Her Majesty’s Secret Service gone bad.”
“Really?” Lois asked in disbelief, “Is he still wanted? If he is Lex could be charged with harboring a fugitive.”
“No. He already served his time.” Clark said, shaking his head, “But it definitely says a lot about the type of company Luthor keeps around.”
“How is Nigel mixed up in all this?” Lois asked, confused.
“I don’t know,” Clark said. He gestured toward the window. “When do you think they’ll show?”
Lois shrugged, suddenly realizing how intimate the setting was. Clark sat next to her, his leg barely touching hers. The fireplace was lit with a roaring fire. “Yeah.” She said, swallowing hard, “Uh, what should we do to kill time?”
Clark smiled at her a moment and pulled out a deck of cards, “We could play Old Maid.”
Lois couldn’t help but smile at him. Leave it to him to take the stress out of what was a stressful situation. “How about Gin?”
“Loser buys dinner?” He challenged.
She laughed, “You’re on.”
***
The night had been uneventful so far. No sign of Roarke or Harrington across the street. They had played three rounds of Gin so far and Lois had won them all. Lois grinned mischievously as she looked at her cards. “Gin!” she called out.
“No way.” Clark groaned.
“Read ‘em and weep.” She said, showing him her cards. He shook his head and she laughed triumphantly. “Wanna try your hand at something else?” she asked.
“There’s a closet full of games in there.” He pointed at the closet shelf with several board games.
“Hmm, Metropolis?” Lois asked, pulling several games down, “and we also have Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit.”
“We’ll start out with Metropoly and work our way through the rest of the games.”
“Okay, but remember. You lost; so you’re buying dinner.” Lois teased.
“Where’s the dinner menu?” Clark asked looking up from the cards he had just put back in the box.
Lois reached for the menu on the nightstand, “Here.”
“What do you feel like?” he asked.
“Something light…just as long as we get chocolate for dessert,” Lois said.
Clark laughed, “Chocolate it is.”
About an hour later Lois was eating the remnants of her dinner, sitting across from Clark during a game of Metropoly. Clark winced when he moved his piece on the board. “I can’t make the rent.”
Lois held her hand out, “Give me everything you’ve got and go directly to the poor house.”
She couldn’t believe how at ease she felt with Clark. They had built a good repor with one another. After clearing the air with one another they had gone back to joking and teasing one another as they had all week. It felt good to be herself with Clark. After everything they’d gone through in the last week it felt good to relax and have fun.
An hour later, they were playing Scrabble. Clark was proving to be quite the adversary. She placed her word on the board, triumphant at her creativity.
Clark looked at her critically, “What is that?”
“It’s my word.” She said defensively.
Clark shook his head, “There is no such word as ‘chumpy.’”
“Of course there is. Somebody’s a chump. Therefore he’s chumpy.” She reasoned.
“Try again.” He said, narrowing his eyes at her.
“Are you challenging me?” she asked, astonished.
“You bet your sweet little chumpy I am.” He said, leaning over to grab the dictionary. He sifted through it and shook his head. “Told ya.” He handed the dictionary back to her, smiling.
Lois grabbed the dictionary from him and looked for chumpy herself. Unable to find it, she grew indignant. “You call that a dictionary?”
Clark laughed, “Lois, you are the most competitive person I’ve ever met. What is it about you that makes you need to win all the time?”
“I don’t need to win all the time,” Lois argued indignantly.
“Yeah, and I’m the Jolly Green Giant,” Clark said sarcastically. “Face it, Lois, you are a perfectionist.”
“Sometimes that’s a good thing.” She reasoned. “How about Trivial Pursuit?”
“Sure.” He said and pulled out the game, beginning to set the game up.
“This is fun. The Planet should have an hour for just playing games…such a good stress relief.” Lois said, taking a sip of her milkshake.
Clark laughed, “Somehow I don’t think the publishers will see the logic of that.”
Lois gave him a weak smile, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, it’s kinda fun…”
“Yeah.” He agreed. “..and the company’s not that bad either.” He smiled at her, causing her to blush. They turned away for a moment before Clark announced the game was all set-up. They were tied neck and neck. Each was able to answer the question correctly.
“What was the name of Jerry Lewis’ suave alter ego in the Nutty Professor?” Clark read off the question.
Lois couldn’t think of the answer. Jerry Lewis? Nutty Professor? She hadn’t seen that movie in forever…Her mind couldn’t think of the name. She knew this. She knew she knew it…and Clark had such a smug look on his face.
“Time’s up,” Clark said.
“No it's not. Come on; just give it to me again. Just give it to me.” Lois pleaded.
Clark sighed, “The name of Jerry Lewis’ suave alter-ego in the Nutty Professor is…?” Lois still couldn’t think of it. “Tick tock tick tock…” He teased. “Buddy Love.” He said smugly.
“Oh, I knew that.” Lois ranted, “I knew that.”
“Oh, no you didn’t.” He teased. “See, Lois? You’re right. You don’t have to win all the time.” Lois just glared at him and threw a pillow at him.
***
Lois and Clark stood by the window later that night, setting up the spotting scope on a tripod. Tonight had been fun. Clark had enjoyed seeing Lois so relaxed. No pressure. She was just herself. Her humor and gentle bantering with him had been refreshing after last night. He still had to catch himself every once in a while when he would catch her gaze. She would catch him watching her and blush. He was doing his best to take this slow. He couldn’t afford to screw this up. He had to build up a mutual trust with her. She had to know she could count on him. Once he was able to develop a mutual trust between them…then MAYBE…just maybe he could share his secret with her. The idea of leaving himself open to anyone still scared him; especially after the fiasco with Trask.
“It’s a game, Clark. Are you telling me, when you play a game you don’t play to win?” Lois asked.
“I play to play,” Clark said simply.
Lois rolled her eyes at him. “Well, this is just perfect. I win; you lose. We’re both happy.”
Clark was about to retort, but his super hearing picked up the click of the door to the living area. He x-rayed through the wall and saw the maid, carrying an arm full of towels. He panicked a moment, looking around the room he grabbed the surveillance equipment and folded it up then laid it on the bed. He then lifted up the bedding, hiding the equipment.
“Clark, what are you doing? Are you insane?” Lois asked. The door to the bedroom began to open. He quickly grabbed Lois by the waist and flung her on the bed. “Clark, what has gotten into you? This isn’t funny!”
Without a word, he laid on top of her, capturing her mouth and silencing her protests. Immediately, he felt Lois give into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a deeper kiss. He moaned in pleasure as he felt her lift her right leg up, gliding it against his back.
The maid poked her head into the bedroom, “Extra towels, yah?” She noticed Lois and Clark in a steamy embrace and immediately ducked out, “Oops. Sorry.” She apologized, closing the door behind her.
The heat between them was beginning to ignite into a dangerous inferno. He continued to try and keep the kiss slow and sensual, but Lois kept pushing for more, dipping her tongue into his mouth. He moaned in pleasure as he felt her grind her hips against him. He slowly pulled away from her. “I, uh, heard the maid coming.” He tried to explain.
“Doesn’t anyone knock around here?” she muttered. Clark was still lying on top of her. Her leg was still wrapped around him; keeping him from moving.
“I should get up.” He whispered.
“Yeah,” She nodded. He pushed himself up off of her, “but what if I don’t want you to.”
Clark looked at her skeptically, “What?”
Before he could say more she pulled him down into her arms, capturing his mouth. He felt her left leg move up his back, interlocking her ankles against his backside. He moaned in pleasure as he felt her grind her body against his. The slow sensual movements of her tongue against his mouth. He moaned in pleasure when she dipped her tongue inside the crevices of his mouth.
Her hands roamed up and down his back as she devoured his lips. He wanted her. His hands roamed up and down her body, tracing each curve with agile and precision. He traced her hip with his index finger, lightly designing pattern on the silk of her robe.
He groaned against her mouth when his hand reached the hem of her negligee. Her creamy thighs were wrapped tightly around his waist. He felt her tighten her legs around him as he caressed her thighs lightly, inching her negligee up her body.
<<”Slow.”>>
He stilled his ministrations. This was what had gotten them into trouble the last time. Giving into their impulses and not thinking. He pulled back a bit, trying to slow their pace down. “Loi—Lois…we…we need…we need to…slow down…” He said in between short kisses. He lifted himself off of her, standing up and taking a step back.
“You want to stop?” she asked him incredulously. Her face was flushed and she was breathing just as heavily as him.
“No.” he replied honestly, “but we said we were going to take things slow, remember?” he asked between ragged breaths.
***
Lois sat up and looked at him quizzically. It was clear their embrace had had just as much an effect on him as it had her. Slow? Was this how it was going to be every time they kissed? The spark between them was incredible. All it took was a kiss and they both seemed to lose control. She really didn’t want to spend another night dreaming of the idea of being with Clark. She wanted him. They had given up the idea of taking things slow the night they had made love. He’d already proven he wasn’t like Claude. What more did she need?
Clark was leaning against the frame of the window, arms crossed, trying to regain control of his breathing. She smiled inwardly when she noticed the obvious effect she’d had on him beneath his robe that had come undone. Oh, yeah. She wanted this. She wanted him. “What if I don’t want to take this slow?” she asked, trying to keep the pretense of complete innocence in her tone. She stood up from the bed and walked over to him slowly, “I mean, we’re both adults…and we’re both willing…” casting a longing look over him as she stepped closer to him.
“But last time you bolted…I don’t want a repeat of that.” Clark argued.
“Fair enough,” Lois said. “We’ll take this slow…but I can’t help it if every time we….” She closed her eyes a moment trying to calm the fire burning in her abdomen, “...it gets out of control.” She took a step closer to him and linked her arms around his neck. She noticed him swallow hard. “I’ll tell you if I want to stop…” She leaned up to capture his mouth.
He moaned in pleasure as she dipped her tongue into the warm crevices of his mouth, exploring his taste. He pulled away slightly. He was a mere millimeter from her, “Are you sure about this?” She nodded mutely then leaned up to recapture his mouth. He moaned against her lips. She felt his arms encircle her waist and pull her to him. She moaned in pleasure against his mouth; feeling his hard frame press against her. She reached for the knot on the front of his robe and swiftly undid it. She shuddered involuntarily at the sight of him. He was impressive.
***
Her face was flushed and she had a lopsided smile on her face as she leaned against the wall. “Woa…Wow…” she rasped out between heavy breaths.
“I know.” He whispered back. Without losing his grip on her he slowly walked them over to the bed and lay them down.
“Oh, God…” she shivered involuntarily.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“Uh...” she couldn’t finish her thought. She just wrapped her arms around him more tightly.
“Here.” He pulled at the comforter and wrapped it around them. “Better?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She sighed, snuggling up to his chest.
Neither of them noticed the red light blinking on the telescopic camera from the floor where it had landed during Clark’s hurry to hide it from the maid.
***
A knock at the door to their room brought them out of their reverie. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me…” Lois muttered. “Now the staff decides to knock?”
Clark laughed, “Maybe it’s the maid again.”
The knocking was persistent and whoever it was was not going away. Lois groaned against him. “We’re going to have to get that.” He said, slowly pulling out of her.
“Why?” she pouted.
Clark reached for his boxer shorts and pulled them on; hurriedly dressing himself, so he was decent when he answered the door. After making sure everything was covered, he went to go answer the door.
***
Lois grudgingly picked up her negligee from the floor and slipped it back on. She then wrapped herself in the silk robe and followed Clark out into the living area of the suite. Sure enough, it was more hotel staff at the door. Clark was trying to argue with the Phil, the bellboy that they really didn’t need their bed sheets changed.
“Sir, we are a full-service hotel,” Phil argued. “It is our job to make sure our guests have a first class experience!” He made his way into the suite and began to tidy the room.
“It’s really late though and we were in the middle of…” Clark quit trying to argue when he noticed Phil entering the bedroom. “…something.” He sighed and turned toward Lois, “Is the you-know-what covered up?” he whispered in her ear.
Lois nodded. After a few minutes, Phil left the bedroom with a broad smile on his face, “You’re all set. Enjoy your evening.” He winked at them and closed the door behind him.
“That man’s bedside manner is atrocious…” Lois groaned as she walked into the bedroom. “Now, where did I put…?” she looked around the room for the camera.
Clark leaned down and picked up the camera bag that had been strategically placed over the telescopic camera. “That was close.” He muttered.
“Tell me about it,” Lois muttered. She looked at the camera critically, opening the tape deck and finding it empty. “I could have sworn I put a new tape in here. It’s empty.”
***
Clark shrugged and handed her a new tape. “Maybe you forgot. Here.” Lois put the tape in the camera and Clark worked on setting up the tripod. “Okay, we’re all set.” He said, positioning the camera towards the building across the street.
“I guess we just wait,” Lois said.
“Yeah,” Clark said. “We should probably kill the lights so the staff doesn’t get any more bright ideas of stopping in.”
“Good idea.” Lois nodded. Clark shut the lights off in the main room and placed a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door. He then came back to the bedroom and turned the lights off in there as well. Lois was standing at the window with her binoculars out watching the scene across the street.
Roarke’s voice echoed through the room, “…no possible way the test will be postponed?”
Harrington shook his head, “Weather’s clear. Naval monitoring ships are en route. Dawn, day after tomorrow. It’s set.”
“Good and after the test fails, we’ll get my system approved and installed. How soon before you can vote again?”
Harrington sighed, “There’ll be delays of course. Analysis of test results, modification proposals…”
“No.”
“We have to go through the process, Roarke.”
“After what happens at that test, no one will be interested in ‘modification proposals’.”
“What exactly will happen?” Harrington asked, apprehensively.
“Why don’t I show you? We had a video made from the computer model. Bart, get the lights and the shutters.”
A man in a dark green suit moved towards the shutters and closed them.
“Rats!” Lois fumed.
Clark tried to x-ray the shutters but found his vision blocked. The only thing that he couldn’t see through was lead. “Lead-lined…” Clark muttered under his breath.
Lois turned to the microphone behind them. “Lead Lined? Is that what they said? What does that mean?”
Clark shrugged, hoping she wouldn’t realize he was the one that had said it. “Uh, beats me.”
Lois turned back towards the shuttered office window. “Come on, this is torture!”
They both sighed in relief when they saw Bart opening the windows. Harrington’s voice echoed through the room once more, “Roarke, you can’t! Millions of people…”
Roarke just patted Harrington on the back, “In for a penny; in for a pound.”
Harrington continued to struggle to voice his protest as they left the office. Lois turned back towards Clark, “What do you think they just showed him?”
“I don’t know, but whatever it is; it’s bad,” Clark said glumly.
***
The sound of a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. “Great. Now what?”
“What is their deal? Hello? Honeymoon Suite? Do not disturb?” Lois followed Clark out into the living area. Clark flicked the lights on and answered the door.
“Hey, CK!” Jimmy gleamed. He had a huge stack of files in his hand. “Sorry. I know it’s late, but here’s the report on those votes you guys wanted.”
“Uh, thanks, Jimmy.” Clark said, giving the young man a smile.
“So, what’s the deal with the ‘do not disturb’ sign?” Jimmy asked, giving Clark a wink.
“We’ve had the staff here interrupting us every half hour.” Lois answered from behind Clark.
“Oh, hi, Lois. I, uh, didn’t see you there.” Jimmy stammered.
“Uh-huh.” Lois arched her eyebrow at him. “Anything else?”
“Uh, no. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jimmy said, closing the door behind him.
Lois sighed, “I nicknamed him ‘Jimmy Interrupt-us Olsen’ because every time I’m in the middle of putting the pieces to an investigation, talking to a source…there he is!”
Clark laughed, “He means well.”
“I know.” Lois sighed. “Well, we know they’re gone from across the street. Why don’t we go over there and see if we can find that tape?”
“Breaking and entering?” Clark asked, incredulously. “No way.” He shook his head defiantly.
“Come on,” she argued. “Please…” she gave him her best sad puppy dog look. He continued to try and fight.
“No…” he said firmly.
“Pretty...pretty…please…” She leaned in closer, trying to get him to relent. “…it’ll be fun…”
Clark arched an eyebrow at her, “How is breaking and entering fun?” he challenged.
“Come on…” she leaned up to peck him on the mouth, “…please…”
He knew this was a bad idea, but he couldn’t resist her. “Fine.”
“Yes!” she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him then pulled away before he could distract her. She ran into the bedroom to get dressed. “I’ll be out in five.” She called out behind her.
***
TBC...
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