Mortal Beloved, Chapter 4

Clark/Chloe
Season 5, during "Mortal"
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

As things heated up between them, Chloe had half expected Clark to come to his senses and pull away from her, but instead his hands slid to her waist and started tugging at her shirt. She was a bit surprised, but she didn't object, not even when he pulled her shirt off and tossed it aside.

Clad only in a bra and jeans, she put her arms around him again and pulled him closer, feeling the powerful muscles of his back undulating under her palms as his spine flexed and bowed. She could feel the heat of his body against hers, feel the dampness of his skin, and it made the ache between her thighs intensify almost to the point of pain. She could tell he was pretty close to losing control, too, because his hips were moving faster, grinding against hers almost desperately, and he was all but gasping for breath.

We're approaching meltdown here.

She loved hearing his soft, resonant moans, loved feeling the wild movements of his body, loved knowing that she'd brought him to this point. But beneath the ache of sheer physical need that filled her, a little sanity was beginning to rear its ugly head.

Clark was in love with Lana. For all she knew, he'd already made love to Lana. And just because Chloe managed to seduce him didn't mean he'd fall for her instead. In fact, he might resent the hell out of her afterward. She thought about their friendship falling apart, about the possibility that he might start avoiding her entirely, and her heart went cold in her chest.

She loved Clark far too much to risk losing his friendship.

She could feel Clark's hands wandering. He was getting bolder, and his hand slid lightly over the side of her lace-covered breast. Fire exploded through her, and she whimpered softly, turning her head and brushing kisses over his ear. She wanted to feel his big hand cupping her breast, caressing her nipple, more than she'd ever wanted anything. But she had a feeling that they were approaching the point of no return. And if she let things go forward, their friendship might never be the same.

She took a deep breath, struggling to steady her voice, trying to steel herself to say what needed to be said.

"Clark," she murmured at last. "We need to stop."

*****

Clark dropped his head against Chloe's shoulder again and struggled to get himself under control. He'd never force himself on a woman, but stopping was about the last thing he wanted to do at this point. All he could think about was stripping off her clothes and sinking deep into her warmth.

He'd never been with a woman before, but he could imagine it well enough. In fact, he had imagined it, any number of times, because even though he'd been born on a distant planet, he was pretty much like humans as far as sexuality was concerned. He had the normal teenage male interest in sex. And although he didn't like to admit it, even to himself, he'd envisioned doing it with Chloe fairly frequently. Okay, a little more than fairly frequently. He'd fantasized about her a hell of a lot in the past few years.

And right now, all he wanted was to find out if she felt as good as he'd always imagined.

"Chlo," he muttered hoarsely. His voice didn't sound at all normal, but at least he was able to form words. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"It's all right," she said briskly. "I guess things got a little out of hand."

A little out of hand. Yeah, you could say that. Things had gotten a just a tiny bit out of hand. Or more accurately, completely, totally and wildly out of hand. His body was still throbbing with a frantic need, and he knew all he had to do was move against her a little, and he'd...

He cut that thought off and forced himself to remain perfectly still. "Chloe," he said again. "Are you really sure you want to stop?"

She turned her head and looked at him, her eyes shadowed with sorrow. "Not really," she admitted. "But I think you do."

He wondered where the hell she'd gotten that idea, since he was uncomfortably aware that he hadn't exactly been pulling away from her. "Uh, no."

"Yes, Clark, you do." She lifted her hands, cradling his face between her palms, and looked deeply into his eyes. "You're in love with Lana, Clark. Not me. Things got a little crazy between us just now, but I'm not the one you want."

"Chloe..."

"I'm not talking about right now," she said impatiently. "I mean, obviously you want me right now, sort of. But the rest of the time, it's Lana you want."

He looked down into her wide, anxious eyes, seeing the concern there, and beneath it, the affection. He'd always known Chloe had a bit of a crush on him, but looking into her eyes, all of a sudden he realized it was more than that. A lot more. She loved him, enough that she'd rather let him go to Lana and maintain the status quo of their relationship than make love to him and put a strain on their friendship.

He could understand that, because their friendship was important to him, too. In fact, it was one of the most important things in his life.

If not the most important.

He thought about that for a moment. He couldn't imagine his world without Chloe Sullivan in it. He depended on her, more than he depended on anyone. If he didn't get together and hang out with her three or four times a week, he grew unhappy, and he called her all the time. He couldn't make it through a day without calling and talking to her at least a few minutes, and he couldn't think of the last time he'd even tried.

Whenever he had a problem, or good news, or just needed someone to talk to, it was Chloe he called. Not Lana. Chloe.

"I thought it was Lana I wanted," he said softly. "But now I'm not so sure."

Her eyes widened, and then she gave him a wry, sad smile.

"No offense, Clark, but I don't believe you're thinking with your brain right now."

"Maybe that's a good thing. I'm starting to think my brain's been stuck on autopilot for a while now."

A corner of her mouth quirked up in a more genuine smile. "Well, you know, the rest of us have always known that."

"Thanks so much." He yanked gently on her blonde hair. "Remind me why I hang around with you again?"

"Because someone needs to keep your superego cut down to bearable levels."

"I'm not super anymore," he reminded her.

She grinned. "That's your opinion."

The idea that she still thought of him as super, even when he was just a regular human, touched him deeply, at the same time it turned him on. He grinned back, then lowered his head and bit her earlobe.

It was nice to not have to be so damn careful how he touched other people. Yeah, he kind of missed his abilities. Getting around the human way was so excruciatingly slow, and having to use a jack to lift the tractor when it needed repair, instead of just picking it up with his hands, was pretty tedious, too. But this made it all worthwhile. He could touch a woman without having to worry about shattering her bones. He could bite her without having to worry about accidentally slicing through her skin like a razor, and kiss her hard without having to worry about knocking her teeth out.

And he could do other stuff without having to worry he might crush her to bits when he got... distracted.

He was seriously distracted right now, because that "other stuff" was still very much on his mind. His tongue slid over the curve of her ear, and she shivered.

"Clark," she said softly. "Are you sure this is really what you want to do? Because I'm not going to stop you again."

"Is that a promise?"

"Yeah," she whispered. "It's a promise."

"Good." He blew gently into her ear. She shuddered beneath him, and every muscle in his body tightened in an automatic response. "Because this is really what I want to do."

Read Chapter 5 here.