13.

~ Alex was a little annoyed when he saw his clothes neatly washed, sorted and folded on his bed that evening. Such a mysterious phenomenon hadn't occurred since before his mother had died.

It could only mean that Norma had ventured into his bedroom, looked around, saw his clothes on the floor and seen fit to do his laundry without asking or even thinking it would be a rude to invade his privacy like that.

Alex had spent most of his life looking after himself and that included doing his own laundry and clean up. He'd always taken care of himself on his own schedule and it had felt like a sudden intrusion to have her sudden interference. As if a line had been crossed.

Still, his clothes smelled of the expensive fabric softener in the mudroom and she'd even washed his bedding and aired dried them out in the sun so that they felt fresh and good to the touch.

Her neatly folded down bed sheets with it's perfectly smooth bed spread made Alex wonder what her secret was. She was more that just a devotee of Martha Stewart.

He would have a word with her, but then remembered that she would be gone soon. She and Dylan would be driving out of town tonight in fact. Stealing away under the cover of darkness; like criminals.

Alex carefully put away his clean clothes in the dresser, undressed to his underwear, and ripped off Norma's carefully made bed. The sheets making a satisfying snapping sound which probably meant Norma ironed them after letting them dry in the summer sun.

He thought bitterly that it was a nice thing she'd done for him. That no one had ever done anything that nice for him in a long time. Yet, at the same time, it was like a darkness had swept through his mind. A storm sweeping over his thoughts of her and sinking all the happiness he wanted to feel.

It had felt so natural and comfortable having her and Dylan here with him. He'd always had casual relationships of 'your place not mine' and 'I've got to be up early tomorrow, so I need to go' excuses to leave after sex with the women he would see. He never thought about having a life like this. Not a life like he was living now. Not with Norma being almost like a wife and Dylan almost like a son.

It was easy to pretend, but that's all it was. Pretending. That's all it would ever be. He could pretend Norma was his. That she belonged to him and they could live forever in this enchanted bubble of eternal summer. Where they would have cook outs by the pool and Dylan wouldn't grow up to be a rebellious teenager, but stay a the wide eyed optimistic kid he was now.

Alex wasn't even opposed to the idea of Norma's other son. Although the name Norman was horribly old fashioned. He could see himself raising two boys with her easily. Two boys would be too much for a single mother to handle after all. That's why she needed him. She would need him to come home with her and make sure they stayed in line and didn't give their mother too much grief.

That's why they would have to be married and living together. He couldn't leave her alone with two unruly boys to raise.

Yes, they wouldn't be afraid of him. Not like he'd always feared his father. But they would respect him. They would respect him because he wouldn't be cruel to their mother and he wouldn't make her cry or make her upset and that would be enough. That would be more than enough to raise boys. Boys were simple after all. If you fed them and kept them on the right path with the right values, they were fine.

It was girls who were complicated. It was always women who were scary.

After a while, if everything went well, Alex would adopt them legally and the boys would take his name. The Romero boys; that's what people in town would call them. They would always ask Alex how his boys were and say how his pretty wife was.

Alex smiled at the idea. At the little fantasy he could allow himself to enjoy. Norma and her sons would be safe with him and he would have a family. A family to go home to from work each night instead of coming home to an empty house.

Maybe… maybe in time they… maybe they might have a baby of their own. Norma would want a girl of course. A girl all in pink who was all for her and then she would be happy.

A girl would make her happy, he knew that. Knew that she would be fulfilled to have a daughter and a good husband.

Alex felt a sudden sensation in his chest that wasn't unpleasant, but was very painful. It was almost like a hunger or a forgotten sense of longing. Like the feeling a kid has for a toy he knows he can't ever have. Something he could have, but doesn't have the courage to ask for.

He shouldn't play this game. Shouldn't idolize a situation or person that could never be perfect. Norma wasn't perfect. She had framed her estranged husband for her own murder. She was devious and no matter what he'd done to her, he didn't deserve what was happening to him now.

Alex wanted to tell himself that. Wanted to believe that, but Norma didn't strike him as the sinister type. Didn't seem the type of woman who lied easily. Alex knew liars. Knew women who lied with every breath they could summon if it meant they could escape any kind of blame. Women who pointed the finger at anyone else but them.

Norma wasn't like that.

She took responsibility for what she'd done. She willingly admitted to the awful nature of her own crime and refused to apologize for it. Refused to back down and blame someone else. She freely admitted that she staged a crime scene that would get Sam Bates the death penalty and that she wanted him dead.

Alex didn't agree with it, but he found himself respecting her tenacity to fight back and her refusal to play the victim.

He was so wrapped up in his own miserable thoughts that he almost didn't hear the knock on his door.

"Yes." he said dryly and wasn't surprised at all to see Norma slip in. Her Garfield T-shirt doing a poor job of covering her back side. Alex didn't mind though. He was starting to like that faded T-shirt on her. It was too big for how slender she was now, but he could see she was comfortable in it.

"Hi." she whispered in the darkness. The pool lights outside his window illuminated the bedroom and he could see her form float across the room and climb into bed with him. Her body feeling good and perfect curling next to him. As if she belonged there.

Alex didn't question it. Was this a dream?

"Hi." he said back and allowed her to pull the covers over the both of them even though the room wasn't cold at all.

"This doesn't mean anything." she told him harshly.

"Okay." he replied with indifference and kept still. It was as though he was waiting to be attacked by an animal and it didn't take long. He felt her slender, warm body shift. Felt her smooth legs wrap around his waist like a spider catching a fly and Alex gulped slightly in discomfort.

"You did my laundry." he accused dryly.

"Yeah." she sighed and he felt the sharp tingle of an erection at the heat coming between her legs.

Her hands took ahold of his and were guiding him. Instructing him to pull off her T-shirt, which he did. Her body, just as beautiful and formidable as it had been in the pool last night was before him. Only now it was a soft and delicate thing.

Her hands were pulling at his again. Having him push her panties down. His willful Andromeda not satisfied with slaying a sea monster, she had to put her Perseus in his place to. Alex liked this thought so much that no sooner were her panties past her bottom, than he gave her a spiteful slap on the buttocks. Just to remind her to play fair.

Norma's eyes lit up and her breath was shaking. His slap to her butt had made a crack in the air that had surprised them both and they let out nervous laughter together. His hands pulling off her patines entirely, as though they were hated things and she was better off nude.

Her hips moved wickedly, snake like, and Alex pulled her closer. His own need for her growing insistent but she wasn't at all ready for him.

"What changed your mind?" he breathed in her ear before rolling her over and pinning her under him. Norma gasped at the contact of his lips on her flesh and she squirmed in a delightful way. Her legs not wanting to spread wide for him and her eyes not wanting to meet his.

His princess suddenly demure and shy; but all the better for it. He could play these games all night. It was terribly exciting that she knew exactly how to entice him. He gently took hold of her legs and guided her to open for him. His lips on hers so that she wouldn't realize she was giving in so easily. She could tell herself she'd put up some kind of resistance like a proper lady, but in the end, she'd given him everything.

His lips were moving down her neck when her hips bucked rebelliously into him. Her eyes blazing like fire and her skin hotter than any summer sun. He was holding her arms down to keep her from scratching his body to pull down his underwear. He wouldn't allow her to have control of him like that. She'd taken so much control already.

"Stop it." he ordered harshly when she bucked savagely against him again. Her body almost animal like and he wondered when was the last time she'd actually been truly inmate with a man and enjoyed it. From the look on her face, it seemed like she needed this more than wanted this.

He pressed his forehead to hers and could feel her labored breathing. Discovered her breath was hot and her chest heaving.

"Baby." he panted slightly as she greedily ground herself against the hardness that was already becoming too distracting for him.

"Alex…" she moaned helplessly. "Please."

"Why should I?" he asked. Her hips seeming to take advantage of him. Even though he wasn't even penetrating her, she seemed to be enjoying herself. He could feel the heat and wetness from her through his underwear and it was causing his thinking to become fuzzy from blood loss.

Only a once had such a thing happened to him. When he'd been in the Marines and fallen helplessly in love with the sister of his friend. A girl who could turn him on like a light switch. Who's sexual chemistry was so attuned with his, that she could just walk into a room and he would grow hard.

Such a mating had resulted in a hasty marriage and an even hastier divorce. An embarrassing thing Alex never spoke of to anyone. He'd never felt such a powerful attraction before or since; till now. Not with his Andromeda; not with this goddess beneath him.

"Why should I?" he asked again. "When all you'll do is leave me?"

"If I stay?" she asked. Her voice pleading. "If I stay you'll… you want me. I know you want me. I see the way you look at me."

Alex couldn't object or protest anymore. Her legs wrapped powerfully around him and her hands were pushing down the last barrier of clothing. His erection was suddenly freed and belonged to her.

"Norma." he said while her hands, strong and capable, gave him a few satisfactory strokes of approval. Her eyes lit up in excitement.

Disgusted with himself. Angry that his body had overruled his better judgement and that he refused to let a beautiful woman go to waste, Alex reached over her to the nightstand and grabbed his wallet.

Norma looked at him innocently as he pulled free the condom and slipped it on. He'd never been foolish enough to not use protection and never would be. He'd been with enough women to not believe them when they swore they were on the pill or some other nonsense. He'd learned long ago to have trust issues.

Norma said nothing, her expression only accepting the facts of the situation. Her body still poised and ready for him when he slowly and maliciously penetrated her. His focus on her expression as he did so. Daring her to cry out in pain or pleasure.

She gasped slightly and adjusted herself. Her body taking his length and width and he marveled as he always did, seeing himself go inside.

She let out a feral groan of discomfort or joy when he pushed himself in to the hilt.

"Enough?" he whispered and she nodded. He moved slowly out. Respecting her limits and reminding himself he wanted so badly to love her.

She was warm and tight and seemed to hug him perfectly. Like a wet satin glove and he had to remember to breathe to keep from passing out.

Then he couldn't help what happened next. Her inner walls had become slippery and his hips moved without thought. They moved together and she cried and moaned and screamed at him. Her body a riot of fire that he thought would burn him alive.

He knew she came before he did. The way she tensed up and clawed at him and at the sheets she'd so carefully washed. Such a waste.

It seemed almost a punishment that he had to keep going in her when her body was spent after her orgasam. But he didn't make these rules. She looked so relaxed and happy as he moved in and out of her. Her breasts rocking with each thrust and he was jealous that she'd climaxed so easily.

"Next time, we'd doing more foreplay." he breathed before he felt himself slip and fall into his own orgasam.

His body tensing up as he came.

Then, everything seemed so peaceful. Quite and calm. Norma was just Norma again and he was Alex. No more tension and they felt free and relaxed. Although it took him a minute to get his breathing under control.

"I should get back." she whispered and moved away from him. "Dylan might wake up. I don't want him to come to the house looking for me."

"No." Alex said feeling very sleepy all the sudden. Why was it after sex he always felt sleepy? "No, stay."

"I need to go." she said and moved off the bed. Her body looking splendid in the light as she found her discarded panties and slipped them on again. Alex had to appreciate the way she looked with no top on, but naturally, she had to spoil it by pulling on her Garfield T-shirt. A shirt he was growing to hate.

"I'll see you in the morning?" Alex asked weakly.

"Goodnight." Norma said passing out of the light, into the shadows and out the door.