Lucifer's Return

Chapter 3: Keep the Towel On

The kiss they shared was firm and passionate in a way they had never touched before. Lucifer pulled back, taking in Chloe's angular face, her tousled blonde hair, his blue shirt on her, open enough for him to see the subtle curves of her chest, her thighs exposed.

"To say you are a sight for sore eyes would be the understatement of the millennium" he told her, in a deep rumbling tone. She had missed his dark penetrating gaze, his sharp jawline, his sexy accent. He looked down at his suit and told her "I think I may need a shower before this goes any further."

Disappointed, Chloe watched Lucifer stand up and start pulling his jacket off on his way to the bathroom. The words "any further" reverberated in her mind. Once he had left the room she began to believe she really did invent his return in her fantasy. Maybe she is still asleep and her dreams have become shockingly vivid. Suddenly she heard the shower begin to run and she snapped out of her denial. "He's really here."

Chloe leapt out of bed listening to the water hit the floor of the shower. She looked at herself in the full length mirror and said to herself "Oh. Oh no. I'm a fucking mess. I can't believe he came back to me looking like this," she whispered angrily to herself. She pulled the hair tie from her hair and fussed with her golden mane until it cascaded over her shoulders and she combed through the tangles with her fingers. "What do I wear... what I do wear?..." She muttered as she fumbled around the bedroom frantically. She picked up her clothes from the day before but tossed them back down, knowing they were dirty from her work day.

Chloe gave up and looked out the large windows at the sunrise. The sky filled with pinks and yellows. Chloe heard the water turn off and she began to panic again. She went back over to the mirror and tried rubbing the leftover makeup off of her face. Her eyeliner had shifted during the night, Chloe now realizing she never washed her face before passing out in Lucifer's bed.

Lucifer appeared at the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom in nothing but a dark red towel wrapped low around his waist. Chloe took in his muscular form, noticing new scrapes and scars he must have collected in his time away. Steam and water droplets glistened off of his chest and abdominal muscles. His shoulders broad, his waist slim, his arms bulging and toned. The deep grooves near his hip, directing her eyes downward. Chloe could do nothing but stare in awe, allowing herself to look at his body for the first time without bashfully averting her eyes. In this moment they were not work associates, they were not friends. They were two people who confessed they loved each other only a few weeks prior.

"Chloe" he said. She stared at him. "Uh huh" she replied, distracted. He looked down at his feet, unusually shy. "How long was I gone?" Chloe replied "Twenty-eight days." Then corrected herself "No, twenty-nine." "Ah" he said.

Chloe watched as his face contorted. "How... how long was it for you?" she asked, afraid to know the answer. Lucifer looked out the window at the clouds rolling in. "It felt like... 10 years. Maybe more." Chloe felt a lump in her throat. "Lucifer" she said beginning to walk towards him.

"You only saw me a month ago, but for me... our separation felt like an eternity. I thought I'd never see you again." His eyes turned glassy as Chloe reached him and hesitantly pressed her hands to his bare waist. She gazed up at him. "I forgot you were so tall," she said. Lucifer let out a soft chuckle.

"And I forgot you were so beautiful." A pained expression crossed his face. "I was beginning to forget what you looked like," he said, ashamed. He stroked her long silky hair. "Forgive me" he whispered.

Chloe hooked a hand behind Lucifer's neck and lifted her heels off the floor to reach her face to his and kissed him slowly and deeply. Chloe's heels returned to the ground."Maybe I should, you know, freshen up," she said.

"If you must" he said, looking at her hungrily. "But you don't have to."

"No, no, I feel kind of, uh, gross. I drank your rum and passed out in your bed, I'm not feeling fresh as a daisy right now." Lucifer smiled at her, seeing her personality return.

"Alright, Detective Decker. I'll be right here." Lucifer stepped past her into the bedroom.

"But," Chloe started, "keep the towel on."

Lucifer's eyebrows lifted as he looked back at her. Chloe's face softened into a smile as she closed the door behind her.