A/N: This story is for my fellow (superior) writer and twitter friend, A Private Trap. Happy Birthday, dear! Hope you enjoy your day and this little love fest I wrote for you. Thank you for your encouragement.
It was going to be one of those days. You know those days when you open your eyes slowly only to realize your damn alarm didn't go off. That little mishap leaving you in an endless cycle trying to catch up with the time lost for the next 12 hours; no matter how fast you get ready, how quickly you try to drink your morning coffee burning your tongue in the process, how fast you run out of the house like a madman.
I had been called to testify on a case that was taking too long for my liking to end. The lawyers kept going back and forth their respective arguments and I had no patience for it today. I had too many thoughts in my head at the moment to even attempt to follow their logistic and just wanted to gulp down a glass of whiskey and take a nap. Never mind that it was only 11 a.m.
By the time I got out of court it was already 4 p.m. I had to stop at the station to get the invitation which I had left there in the haste of the morning and then go get ready. Getting ready only meant taking a quick shower and changing clothes thankfully, which only at this point of this already awful day, I just realized I still had to go home to be able to do.
Of course when I arrived at the station there was chaos, and even though I repeatedly told my deputies I had no time to deal with all of it just now, and after Regina appeared out of nowhere with a million papers that apparently needed my signature today not tomorrow, I sighed in frustration and tried to do my best, and fast. I have to get out of here soon or I will be late, if it was possible, even late than I already was.
The drive to Norma's house would take about 20 minutes more each way, so I called her from the office, and asked her if she could meet me at my house, my old house. Leaving from there was still closer to our destination for the night and will help us save some time, time I had already wasted too much of in these endless tasks.
"Sure, no problem. I'll meet you there. I'm almost ready." She said at the other end of the line.
"Oh and please, don't forget my shoes. I left them next to the tux." I added.
"Right. Because it will never occur to me that you might need shoes to go with your tux." She answered sarcastically.
"I'm sorry. I'm just… it's been a hell of a day, and the last thing I want is one more problem. But you're right." I said while rubbing my temple with my hand. "See you soon. Thanks."
I arrive home and quickly go to take a shower. Home. Is a funny word, since this new house doesn't even feel like home anymore. Home is that old Victorian mansion on top of the little hill. Home is where Norma Bates is. I'm finishing shaving when I hear her.
"Alex?"
"Yes, in here."
She comes into my view fast, says hi and shows me the garment cover holding my tux inside. She has her makeup done but is still dressed in her normal daytime clothes.
"I'm putting this for you on the bedroom." She says as she walks by into what once was in fact my bedroom. I don't think she has ever been there.
I finish shaving and find her laying my tux on the bed. I wrap my arms around her waist and hug her to me. I try to kiss her neck but she quickly pats my hands away. "No, no, no. Don't mess up my hair. It took me forever to get it done." She says while she turns around in my arms and I can see clearly now how different her makeup is at the moment. Her eyelids have more color on them than usual, silvers and blues, which only helps accentuate her gorgeous blue eyes more. She has black eyeliner on and more mascara than usual. Her lips are red. And I've never seen anything more perfect in my entire life.
She smiles and wriggles out of my arms. "I need to put on my dress."
She comes back into the bedroom, where I'm already almost dressed except for my shoes, with her own dress hanging from her arms. She quickly starts taking off her clothes and I can't help but look, and do nothing more, because the fact that she's undressing in front of me, right here in this bedroom where so many lonely nights I longed for her, for her body to be the one enveloping me instead of my own hand, is enough to make me speechless and incapable of movement.
And now she's right here. Taking off her clothes and looking lovelier than ever. And she's my wife. And we're off to Portland for the 17th Annual Under the Stars Gala, which every year I get invited to as Sheriff of White Pine Bay, but I never go because I hate the fact that I had to go by myself. I went once, and I hated it so much I never went back. I would give the invitation to whoever wanted to go in my name. But this year is different. This year I'm taking my wife with me and I can't wait to go and show her off, yeah I know, kind of immature, but I can't help the sense of pride I feel whenever I get to call her mine.
"Alex?" She says looking at me and pulling me out of my reverie. "Would you zip me up?"
I walk over to her and she turns around and offers me her back, holding up her dress with her hands, my own hands shaking when I try to pull her zipper up. The black of her lingerie making such a beautiful contrast to the silky white of her soft skin. I want to be pulling her zipper down and taking off this sweet black torture she has on under her dress. Why are we going to Portland? Oh yes, the Gala. I finish zipping her up and put my hands on her waist and whisper in her ear: "You are so beautiful."
She helps me with my cufflinks and then I ask where my shoes are because I don't see them in the room. She looks at me with such a scared expression and I suddenly start to panic. I can't believe she forgot them. I can't believe we'll have to drive back to the house to get them. We'll never make it to Portland in time. Then I see her wicked smile.
"They're in the living room." She says and I shake my head in disbelief and chuckle.
"I need a drink." I mumble to myself but she hears me.
"Easy there, Sheriff. I'm not driving in this dress and heels." I hear the laugh in her voice.
I finally pour myself a much needed drink as she comes into the living room, where her shoes are lying on the floor too, and she puts them on. I sit on the couch to put on my shoes but I forgot the socks.
Norma goes back into the bedroom in search for some socks for me. "For God's sake, Alex, you must have a pair of socks in one of these drawers. And why didn't you pack them in with the tux?" I hear her yelling from the other room. I look at my watch. We have to leave in 5 minutes if we're to beat the traffic.
I swallow a sip of my drink; pray that it will soothe my crankiness left from the tedious day, and that it ends it in a much better note than how it started. I hear her opening and closing drawers. Then I hear nothing. She doesn't come back. I throw my head back in exasperation and go in search of her.
I find her standing between the chest and the bed, unmoving, her eyes cast to the side to the bed. What's happening? I follow her gaze and see it. A pair of goddamned panties.
She moves her face to look at me and what I see terrifies me. Hurt, anger, jealousy. Or a combination of all.
"Here are your socks." She says while she hands me a pair of black socks and pushes past me out of the bedroom. "Hurry up; we're going to be late." I hear her say from the hallway.
We managed to get on the road barely before the commuters. When I locked up and got out of the house she was already waiting for me inside the SUV. Her face was a complete mask, void of emotion, and there was silence. As soon as I got in the car I tried to give some sort of explanation, but she just said "Not now, Alex." That was the last time she spoke. In fact we've been on the road for all of 15 minutes and she hasn't said a word. This is going to be a long ride.
Forty-five minutes later and we finally arrive at the hotel where the gala is being held tonight. I decide to valet park, and quickly go around her side to open the door for her, but the valet has beat me to it, and is already helping her out of the car. I want to punch him.
I look at her pleading with my eyes and offer her my arm, and thankfully, she takes it. She allows me to guide her through the lobby, up the elevator, until we arrive at the salon and search for our table. My hands are sweating. I need to tell her that what she found means nothing, that it was left behind by some past lover, probably Rebecca (although I won't tell her that part), who means nothing to me anymore. But every time I look at her I see her lips pursed and a little frown above her eyebrow and I think better to wait for the right moment.
She is, not surprisingly, a hit at the party. There are younger women, sure, and some might say, even more beautiful. But for me there is only her. And while we mingle and make small talk with all these people, she is the queen of politeness, smiling and shaking hands with everybody who introduces themselves to us. She's always been a charming woman. I also see a lot of male, and even female, gazes upon her. They all admire her beauty and grace. They're probably also thinking that not only the antisocial sheriff has in fact, gotten married, but that he is attending this year's gala with his beautiful, smart, funny and lovely wife on his arm.
"Norma." I'm trying to talk to her, while the night's speech is being given by somebody I don't know or don't care to know, and when I think that her anger has finally subsided a little.
"Hmm?" She answers absentmindedly.
"It doesn't mean anything. What you found." I start to rationalize with her.
"I said not now, Alex." She doesn't even look at me.
"I don't even know who they belong to." That got her attention. She looked at me furiously straight in the eyes and I realized I said the wrong thing.
"Well, that's even better."
I sighed. "What I meant is, they probably been there for so long, I don't even remember now who they belonged to. I had no idea it was in my drawer. I swear." I said vehemently.
As I wasn't paying any attention to the speech, I had not realized it had come to an end. Norma was, apparently, and was clapping her hands joyously along with the rest of the crowd.
Dinner was served. Drinks were poured. We ate in silence, not uncomfortably, but there was not denying the tension between us. Norma had, of course, made friends with everybody on the table, commenting on the good food and so on.
Then they announced the silent auction, which was the point of the whole evening, as it was the way of raising funds that were destined for the Portland Children's Hospital. It was the most fun part of the evening too, as it included live music, the moment when the paintings were unveiled and when the bar was finally open to everyone.
I ask Norma if she wants to go see the paintings and the rest of the auction and she said yes. As we were admiring the available art I was pulled away by one of the Chiefs, and I dreaded it instantly. I didn't want to leave her behind seeing as she was still mad at me, but I also had to do this. This was the whole reason we were here. After the impromptu meeting with the Portland Chief of Police and some other local and nearby cities' law enforcement people ended, I go looking for Norma.
I find her at the bar, martini in front of her, and of course she was not alone. There were a few men next to her, although to be fair maybe they were just there drinking their drinks, but there was one man that was, very undoubtedly, talking to her. She smiled at him and even though I felt a rush of jealousy that her smile was not meant for me, I was also relieved and happy to see her smile. I can manage her being looked at by other men. She never goes unnoticed.
Instead of going to her and marking my territory like any jealous hot blooded man would do, I simply stared and enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching her from afar. Like I used to do when I lived at the motel, watching her when she didn't know I was watching, studying, memorizing her.
The bar was a stand only bar, so she was resting her elbow delicately on it, and taking small sips from her martini. Her big eyes above the rim of the glass. Her dress is even more beautiful, and dangerous, than what I had noticed back home. After all, I was paying more attention to what was underneath the dress at the time, but now I see it too. How perfectly it hugs all her curves and shows off her pretty shoulders and collarbones perfectly. Her breasts, you can't see even the top of them, the neckline is strapless but modest, but you can tell their enticing outline from underneath where the black fabric covers them. How her ass is tightly hugged and looking like a perfect apple you just want to reach out for. The indent of her slim waist and the swell of her hips. The dress is long, but you can see her high heels, and the curves of her ankles peeking from underneath it. God, she's beautiful.
I'm a patient man, but even patience has its limits, and I want to be with her. To wrangle her from the tentacles of the conversation of this strange man. I walk over to her.
"Hi! There you are!" She says with too much glee and not drunk at all. I thought she might be on her third drink by now.
"This is Robert Almar. He works as a supplier for west coast hotels and was telling me how he can give me great deals for the motel too." He smiles at me and offers me his hand.
"And this is my husband, Alex Romero, Sheriff of White Pine Bay." She says as if she's said it a million times before and I've never felt so proud of my name or my job title ever before.
Turned out the man was decent enough, he was not making any pass at Norma at all, and I sense that's why she was enjoying his company too. We drink some more and then they announce the dance. The main dance of the night which apparently is a big deal as everybody looks excited and expectant. They turn off all the ceiling lamps and instead a million small white lights illuminate the room, it looks like, stars. It also looks like the Winter Lights Festival.
I look over at Norma who is already smiling, looking at the lights and then at me, and when I offer her my hand to lead her to the dance floor, she politely excuses herself to Mr. Almar and accepts my offer to dance. It was like we were back in White Pine Bay.
She comes willingly into my arms; lets me wrap her in a tight embrace as she puts her hands around my neck while we dance. It is all a little too intimate but there are so many people dancing and so many small iridescent lights illuminating the somewhat otherwise darkened room, that I don't care.
"Alex?" I hear her say.
"Yes?"
"Tell me now. Why was that… thing on your drawer?" She said the word 'thing' with so much disgust you would believe she didn't know what it was or didn't wear them every day herself.
"I already told you. Someone must have left it there. And I didn't notice. It means nothing, Norma."
"Did you sleep with her after we were married?" She asks in a low voice but under the soft music and her nearness I could still hear everything she says.
"No. Who would I sleep with anyway after I married you?"
"Any one of those people you used to see. Rebecca… I don't know."
"She… one woman I was seeing before I married you, came to my house recently. She insinuated she wanted to sleep with me. I turned her down. I told her I was married, to you."
"Would you have slept with anyone else if I hadn't … slept with you?" A pause. "I mean, of course you would have, who am I to ask you to stay celibate if I was not sleeping with you either."
She was talking without thinking. I tried to put a stop to this nonsense.
"Norma. I turned her down. You and I were already married, and we had not slept together… yet. I turned her down. It's been only you. It's only you."
"I'm sorry." She says and hugs me tighter.
"For what?"
"For being angry. For being jealous. I mean, you were a single man; of course you had brought women to your house… I just… I was not expecting to find a pair of freaking panties in your drawer…" she was starting to raise her voice and I looked around, she did too, but no one was paying any attention to us. "And it caught me by surprise. I felt cheated on… even though it was probably not that."
"It was not." I said with all seriousness and calm in my voice as I could muster. I needed her to believe me.
"I believe you." She said as if she could hear my thoughts.
"Good." I said.
She moved her head away from where she was resting it against the side of my neck, looked back at me, and I saw so much love in her eyes. I moved one of my hands to the back of her head. My other hand, on its own volition, cradled her ass; I pulled her to me and kissed her.
We only broke our kiss when the music ended and the people around us started clapping. I never knew people at this type of things clapped so damn much.
But Norma seemed to like it. She smiled coyly at me, and a little bit embarrassed at having being so caught up in the heat of the moment, and started clapping herself.
I wanted to go home but Norma was having a good time. I was too in fact. Laughing and dancing with her, now that we've clear the air we could fully enjoy this evening. We couldn't drink much, though, we had to drive back, but we're so giddy I'm pretty sure we look drunk.
At one point I discovered the salon had a door which led to a balcony and I led her out to explore further. The night was cool but not chilly. I offered her my tux jacket but she said no. What she took were my arms and wrapped them around her own shoulders. I held her like this, her back pressed against my chest, her head resting against my shoulder while she looked up at the stars.
"It's such a beautiful night." She said while looking up.
"It is. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
"Aren't you?"
"Yes, yes I am. Surprisingly so, yes."
"Well, I didn't know I was such a bad prospect for a date." I heard her say with a bit of humor.
"I never liked going to these things. I'm only enjoying myself tonight because of you."
"Well, I'm glad."
She turned around. The air was rapidly changing. I looked at her eyes, so beautiful under the natural light of the moon. Her slightly parted red lips. I licked my lips and at that moment I felt her hands grabbing my ass, pulling me to her. I grabbed her neck, kissed her roughly, nipped and licked her red lips until there was no more lipstick on them, just a pink smudge left. She was pressing herself against me. I could hear her moans against my mouth. And this dress of hers wouldn't let me reach more of her, it was too tight, I couldn't pull it up or down, so I settled for kissing her, and feeling her crush her breasts to my chest, grabbing the hair at the back of my neck. She must feel how hard I am against her. I'm rapidly losing control.
"Norma. Please let's go home." I said breathlessly against her mouth.
"Ok." Was her only reply and she left. Leaving me there to regain my ability to walk. Women were so lucky sometimes. I envied that she could go back into the room without any obvious signs of arousal. I take a few deep breaths until finally I am able to be presentable in public and go back in to find her back at the table.
"You left me there." I whispered close to her ear and used the opportunity to run my hand down her bare back, while sitting down next to her.
"Oh, you poor thing." She's mocking me.
"I couldn't even walk, if you know what I mean."
"But you made it back safe and sound." She sounds pleased with herself.
I see her lips are red again. Perfectly applied lipstick back in place. She sees that I'm looking at her mouth and moves closer to my face to speak.
"You messed up my makeup. And you also messed up my underwear… if you know what I mean."
I grab her hand and take her out of there, fast.
We arrive at White Pine Bay less than an hour later. No rush traffic at this time although is still early in the night so we're not tired yet. While the drive up to Portland had been filled with tension, on the way back we rather enjoyed each other's company, talking about the party, the people she had met, how she wanted to get involved in the fundraising activities for next year, and how much fun she, we had.
I take her hand and kiss it, like I have done maybe 10 times during this ride, and she smiles at me like she has done after each kiss I've placed to her hand, somehow managing to give a different smile each time.
"Alex, where are you going?"
"Home."
"No. I need to go back to your place." I look at her confused.
"My car? Remember I drove there to bring you your clothes."
"We can get it tomorrow."
"No. My purse is there too, my cell phone, my keys, everything. I need my purse today."
"You didn't bring your cell phone with you? And I have keys to the house, too."
"Do you see the tiny purse I'm carrying?" She says while showing to me the very small thing she calls a purse, holding it up to me like a caught fish. "Do you think anything more than a lipstick fits in here?"
"Ok, Norma." I say while I change directions to take the right going the way of my old house instead of going left to hers.
I open the door when we arrive and she goes quickly to her purse that's on the chair and checks her cell phone.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes, no messages. Which I guess means everything's okay." She says with a little sadness and I know she's thinking about her sons and I can't see her sad so I go to her and hold her to me and ask her: "Do you want to get drunk?"
She laughs and I consider my job done. I do however go into the kitchen and make us a drink, vodka for her, since that's what she was drinking at the party, a whiskey for me.
"To us." I offer as a toast.
"To us." We clink glasses and her smile is beaming.
"So are we driving back now to your place?" I ask because I really have no idea what she wants to do but I'm already so comfortable I don't want to go out again, but if she wants to leave, I'll go with her.
"Hmm… I don't know… I thought since we're here already, we can finish what we started." Her tone is seductive. I find myself agreeing with her in a second.
"Ok." I finish my drink in a gulp and go to her.
She lets me touch her, down her arms, her neck, her back, while she slowly drinks. She pushes her ass into my groin and I grab her hips.
"Norma, stop teasing."
She finishes her drink dramatically and says "Let's go christen this house."
We kiss all the way up the stairs, down the hallway, walking backwards and laughing, tripping over the pieces of clothing we're leaving behind. My jacket, my bow tie, my shoes which I kick off my feet. She's undoing the buttons of my shirt, I'm undoing the cufflinks while kissing her, until I'm free of it, and it too falls to the floor. We reach the bedroom, she's still fully dressed, and I plan on fixing that very soon. I turn on the light, and we stop dead in our tracks. There, on my old bed, is the offending garment. I sigh in defeat and drop my head to her shoulder. She releases me and moves away. But instead of turning away and leaving me, once again, alone with my desire, she hurriedly and angrily grabs the scrap of fabric and goes into the bathroom and throws it in the toilet and flushes it down. I'm relieved at her action, and for a second, worried that the toilet might overflow, but it doesn't.
She stares down the toilet water draining away with her hands on her hips, defiantly, as if daring the piece of underwear to come back up. When she is completely sure it won't, she triumphantly closes the lid of the toilet and turns around.
"Red. So tacky." She says referring to the red panties she just sent down to White Pine Bay's sewer system. It dawns on me I've never seen Norma wear red underwear. Black, white, beige, blue, purple, pink… but never red.
I wait for her expectantly and she just looks at me and says softly: "You looked very handsome tonight in that tux."
"I did?"
"Yeah."
She closes the distance between us. I can't wait anymore to touch and see more of her. I turn her around so I can undo the zipper of her dress, and she finally steps out of it and turns to face me. There it is, the black lingerie I saw earlier this afternoon. Small, and delicate, and sensual, and covering just the very necessary amount of skin. She reaches behind her and undoes her bra, lets it fall to the floor. I start undoing my fly and take off my pants and my socks. She's standing there in her black lacy panties and high heels. She does a big show of taking off her shoes. Putting one leg at a time on the bed and bending to undo each shoe. She also moves to pull the comforter off the bed. And she does it by crawling onto it, her ass raised for me to see, her panties that do little to cover her beautiful ass, the sexiest thing I've ever seen.
She stretches like a cat on the bed, her nipples pointing to the ceiling, her legs coyly still closed, but the way she's rubbing her thighs together telling me more about her arousal than she would like to admit.
I climb on top of her; she releases a gasp of surprise, but relaxes into my arms instantly. She makes quick use of her hands and feet, hooking her hands on the waistband of my boxers and using her feet to take them down. I kick them all the way and I'm left panting and wanting her, now. I can't take anymore foreplay tonight.
I kiss her long and deep and I'm too eager to comply when she pushes me off her so she can turn us around, her on top. I grab her hips.
She moves to the side of me, though. Raises herself up until she's kneeling next to me. She hooks her thumbs under the waistband of her panties and takes them down, enjoying me watching her. She then straddles me and instead of guiding me into her like I expected, like I want, she leans down, breathes on my neck and bites my earlobe.
"Alex, if I ever find another pair of panties that are not mine, anywhere near you, I will shoot you." She says next to my ear.
I open my eyes that had closed two seconds before, and I find her beautiful eyes looking down on me, a big smug smile on her face.
"Oh yeah?" My hands have found her hips again.
"Yes."
"Deal." I flip us over. She laughs.
"I want to be the last woman who ever came into this house. I want to be the last woman on your bed." That's Norma. Possessive in her love. She's either all in or all out.
She says and her eyes well up with tears. But they are not tears of sadness but of love and devotion and of want and need. And whatever she wants, I give to her. So I push inside of her and hear her soft gasp, and I start moving in and out slowly, but she's so tight, and so wet, and I've been wanting this all night, and she's making such delightful noises, moans and whimpers, and I quickly start losing my rhythm and start slamming into her hard, but she's right there with me, as aroused and on the brink as I am. I don't stop until I hear her cry out in pleasure. And then I come undone too. Pressing my head to the side of her neck and groaning and spilling all my love into her.
After we've regained our breaths, I put the covers over us and wrap myself around her. Her back pressed snugly to my chest. I curve my own body to hers and we fit perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle. She sighs contentedly.
"Alex? Is there food anywhere in this house?"
"I don't think there's much around, no."
"Can you order something in?"
"Yes, I can. What do you want?"
"Nothing. I was just checking. But if I wake up starving tomorrow morning you better hope there's something to eat in that kitchen of yours."
"I doubt it. Ever since I moved in with this woman, she's an amazing cook you see, and she feeds me really well, so I stopped worrying about the contents of my old fridge, not that I ever did."
"Alex, shut up."
"There might be coffee though."
"Coffee's good." I hear her yawn.
"I'll even make you pancakes if you want. I'm magical after all."
"I love you, Alex."
I smile into her hair. The day wasn't so bad after all.