When Ordinary Isn't Ch. 04

"Peggy, I can't figure out what you've done to me."

His voice wasn't relaxed and soothed. It sounded like the timid voice she'd heard the first time she'd spoken with him. It was Ordinary Eric's.

She gently palmed his temples and brought him to her waiting mouth.

Their kiss was soft. It was gentle. It was a kiss of reassurance. It lacked the fire of raw passion and smoke because it wasn't necessary in a moment which began dilating time.

Two ingredients had been in every kiss they'd shared, but in barely detected proportions. The one they shared in that moment contained only those two. It consisted of pure, unadulterated, unfiltered tenderness and heart-warming affection. Peggy's mind was ablaze. The remaining threads completely burned away. Her soul was bared.

"Eric, I need to say something. I need to say it right now, but I'm scared shitless because I've never... I've never been the first one to say it, and I have nowhere to run unless I can find a parachute hidden somewhere on this plane."

She pierced his eyes with her gaze. "I think... no. I'm sure. I've... fallen in love with you."

She watched his face in some fear of what he would think of her confession. Time slowed. Every second seemed to linger for ten. She felt her heart thump. She saw his eyebrows slowly arch upward. His neck rippled with a swallow. She saw his eyelids blink, then again, then open widely. Another pulse. She felt with her fingertips a beat of his temporal arteries and the muscles near his ears change from slightly clenched to a state where his jaw slackened. His mouth went very slowly agape.

She peered into his eyes and saw glistens the size of salt grains appear in the corners of both. She watched them grow, very slowly, to the size of sesame seeds, coalescing into drops which fell from his long, thick, gorgeous lashes onto his upturned cheeks as if suspended from invisible parachutes.

In her mind, it took an exorbitant amount of time before she saw his own lips begin to move, for her eardrums to resonate with the sound of his voice. The words seemed spoken as if he was moving away from her at a hundred miles per hour, the Doppler effect slowing their cadence.

"I'm in love with you, too," he'd whispered.

His lips had stilled before the words registered. Time snapped back to the moment. She heard her heart thrumming in her ears over the white noise of the engines. She clutched his vulnerable body to her own and embraced him so tightly his lungs strained to inhale.

"Say it again," she begged.

Pushing gently away from her so he could see her eyes, he said, "My god . I'm in love with you. I love you, Peggy."

The look of joy in his expression bore stronger witness than any she'd ever seen before on anyone. She wiped the tears from his cheeks, grasped for him and drew him to her again.

"Please, Eric. Say it one more time?"

"I've never felt this way before, Peg, I've never felt this before. I've never felt like this before. I am so in love with you that if I die right now, I won't give a crap."

"Don't!" she laughed. "Holy cow, baby. Is there something wrong with the cabin pressure? Are we like hypoxic or something?"

"No, I'm pretty sure we're good, or you're dreaming," he said as he reached out and playfully pinched her arm.

"Oochie!" She laughed.

He saw tears on her cheeks and leaned forward to kiss them away. He felt her eyelashes flutter against his nose in the softest of butterfly kisses when his lips were against her soft skin. Their next kiss contained perfect proportions of love, affection, tenderness, and yes, a smolder with the smoke of passion.

They settled back into their seats, grinning wildly at each other.

"God, Peggy. What the hell?" He chuckled. "You just... Holy crap. How the hell can this be happening?"

His face expressed an odd mixture of glee and puzzlement.

"I know, right? I mean, I've only known you for a few weeks. Less if we subtract the mystery-gap."

"Yeah, exactly! I don't get it! There's just something about you that's totally set my hair on fire, and I can't figure it out."

"Why question it?" she asked, stroking his knee.

"Because I'm a nerd. I'm a geek. I question everything."

"I don't know how to answer you." She smiled sweetly. "But I can tell you what, as you say, has set my hair on fire."

"Please do."

"You're like... normal. You're just... I know this sounds mean, but it isn't. You're just ordinary . You're not a scalpel-jockey. You're not egocentric. You're not maniacally controlling. You're in the moment with me. You're like the total opposite of all the things which turned me away from the other guys I've dated."

"Yeah. Same with you." He paused, "Well, sorta. You're gorgeous, obviously, but you're so reserved and guarded about it. When I'm with you, it seems like you're happy to let it show. You're so freaking brilliant it kind of hurts my brain. Your passion for what you do is contagious. You're nothing like the... You're unlike anyone I've ever had the chance to get close to."

Her heart was warmed by his words.

"Hey," she said.

"Yeah?"

"I love you." She winked.

"I love you, too." He smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm getting out of this suit."

She stood with him, grasped his shoulders, and held him in place. "Wait here, please?"

She took the few short steps to the stern of the plane. pulled his suitcase out and brought it back with her. She lowered the slipknot of his necktie and eased it from underneath his collar then over his head. She untied it and smoothed the silk where the knot had been, then folded it neatly.

She unbuckled his belt, removed it from the loops of his trousers, and placed it next to the tie. She then, starting at the top, began to unbutton his shirt, kissing him. She ran her hands over his chest, tousling its hair. She wetted the tip of her finger in her iced whiskey then ran it gently across one of his nipples. She felt it harden quickly under the cold. She pulled his shirt off his shoulders, bent forward, and warmed his nipple with her tongue before she suckled it for a few seconds.

Eric had to fight the urge to moan out loud at the pleasure she gave him.

She pulled his shirt from the waist of his pants and removed it from his body. She watched his fiery eyes as she smoothed and folded it carefully.

She knelt in front of him, unbuttoned his pants, and slowly lowered the zipper. She could feel his raging erection underneath the Merino wool fabric and was careful not to catch his flesh in the zipper. She saw his penis at what appeared to be an uncomfortable angle, so she nuzzled it with her cheeks and nose to reposition it inside his boxers. She caught his scent.

She stepped to the galley, fetched several napkins, then knelt again and lowered his boxers slowly, teasingly, tenderly kissing his penis as it was bared to her. She nuzzled into his mat, breathing the scent of his masculinity deeply into her lungs. She kissed his scrotum very delicately, feeling his testicles move in response to the stimulation of his sac. He groaned softly.

She looked into his eyes, opened her mouth, and enveloped his glans. Her eyes rolled back and closed when she tasted his essence which had begun to seep from him. She slowly caressed his shaft, licking his length and kissing the tip of his swollen head softly.

"Tell me when you're close, okay?" she said and smiled sweetly at him.

He nodded.

She fellated him tenderly. He held a hand over his mouth. He wanted to shout her name so loudly that pilots in other planes might hear him through the rarefied air. He was in exquisite bliss.

"Oh god," he groaned. "The way you're sucking my dick feels so fucking good."

It took mere minutes for her to bring him to the brink.

"Peggy--" he stammered.

She removed his cock from her watering mouth, wrapped its head in the napkins, and pumped his long, hard shaft with her hand. He emptied himself into the paper as he gasped for air. She gently cleansed the end of his dick with her mouth and tongue. The heat and weight of his semen was evident in the mat of napkins. She felt it soaking into the paper at her fingertips as she folded and dropped it into the wastebasket.

As he watched her, she wordlessly opened his bag and looked inside. She pulled out a pair of khaki golf shorts and a simple sport shirt. His loafers were at the bottom. She handed the items to him and watched him dress. She placed his folded shirt and tie in the bag, then fetched his suitcoat from the closet. She placed the pants on the hanger with the coat and looped the belt over the hook then placed them in the closet.

He laughed easily.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's funny how I told you I loved you like barely ten minutes ago and now you're dressing me."

She blushed. "Oh, my god, Eric. I'm so sorry! I didn't think about it like that. I wasn't intending to be controlling. Please. I'm really sorry!"

"No, no! It's okay! I'm not upset or anything, I just thought it was funny," he said, pulling her close to him. "Heck. I suggested the suit you wore today, right?"

"Yeah, but I asked you to. I'm a moron."

"Peggy," he said before he kissed her. "Stop. It's absolutely okay."

"You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, but I do need you to do me a big favor," he said.

"Anything."

"I want you to sit in your seat and do what you did when you were wearing your skirt."

"What?" she laughed.

"Please?"

She watched him curiously but acquiesced.

She opened her thighs. She wasn't expecting him to drop to the floor between them, or when he placed his nose against her crotch and deeply inhaled. She was momentarily frightened he'd be repelled considering she hadn't showered in close to twelve hours, but he did it again and again, smelling her genitals through the cloth.

"Mercy . The smell of your pussy is so fucking sexy," he said. Its scent was rich and full. "Can I lick it?"

Her answer was in her actions as she unbuttoned her shorts and pushed them, along with her paisley panties to her ankles and gave him exactly what he wanted.

Eric licked slowly, deeply between her folds from the base of her vagina, into and through its entrance, then over her clitoris. He quivered at her flavor and began licking her engorged nub.

"Oh, god !" she squeaked. She panted through clenched teeth. "Yes yes yes yes,"

He lapped into her swollen parts, drew every drop of her moisture into his mouth, and relished her savory flavor.

"Let your gorgeous little pussy cum for me, Peggy. I want your body to feel how much I love you," he hissed.

She reached between her legs with both hands and separated her folds, revealing the dewy pink flesh of her opening.

"Right there , right under there," she sighed as the tip of his tongue flicked her meatus and drew upward to the underside of her nubbin.

"Fuuuuu--more more more more," she mewled.

He found the perfect rhythm. His stimulation began pushing her overboard.

"I'm so close, baby. I'm so... yessss," she hissed as her orgasm arrived.

"Oh, god yes!" she rasped and grasped at his hair.

He slowed his pace, feeling her bottom quiver in his hands. Her breathing settled. She was feeling extraordinarily pleasant and relaxed. He kissed the inside of both her thighs, then the groove between them and her vulva.

"Goodness gracious, Peggy. I love how you tell me what you like, and your puss is so delicious," he smiled, licking his lips.

She trotted back to the hold behind the lav, shucked her panties and put on fresh ones after she realized her sodden ones were made cold and uncomfortable.

Both satisfied, they returned to their seats.

Eric took a deep drink of water and looked at the LCD. It showed a time remaining in flight of just over an hour.

"Oh, wow ," he said with a little giggle.

"What is it?"

"We're now members of an even more exclusive club."

"How so?"

"Look at our altitude," he said, pointing at his display.

"Fifty-one thousand?"

He grinned. "Yeah."

She shrugged.

"There are very few passenger planes on this planet which can fly this high. No commercial airliners can."

"We're in the ten-mile-high club?"

"Even if astronauts have been doing things NASA doesn't talk about, I don't think there are many of us," he said with a chuckle. "Come to think of it, since it's so much smaller, it should be called the ten-mile-high cadre, not club."

He refilled both glasses with ice and added an additional whiskey mini to each. Peggy had changed seats and was sitting on the starboard side.

"Look at the sunset. It's so beautiful from up here," she said in childlike glee.

Eric smiled. He was familiar with what she was seeing, and was glad to be giving her the opportunity to see such a marvel herself. Peggy rejoined him a few minutes after the vestiges of the sun had slipped below the horizon.

"Before I forget, can I say something?"

"Of course."

"It's about your dirty talk--"

Eric gasped. "Oh god--Peggy, I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking--"

"Of course you weren't thinking. You were in the moment with me, and that's why I love it," she whispered with a wry smile.

The cockpit door was soon opened and secured. Monica announced they were on approach to the airport. Peggy peered into the flight deck and watched the pilots fiddle with knobs and buttons on their instruments.

"When we land, I'll go check into a hotel. We'll meet up somewhere tomorrow or something," Eric said.

"No."

"No?"

Peggy chuckled. "Hotel? Have I given you the wrong idea? I'd much prefer it if you stay with me at my house."

"Your house? Really?" he asked.

"It's part of the reason I wanted you to come back to Orlando with me. There's something there I want you to see," she said as the landing gear unfurled.

"Okay, you've really got my curiosity piqued now."

A few minutes later, the airplane was on the ground and taxiing to the same hangar from where Peggy had departed the previous morning. When the engines shut down, the copilot extended the airstairs and went to speak with the marshal outside. They followed him.

The two collected their bags from a crewman. Eric placed their suitcases in the trunk of Peggy's car. They were on the road mere minutes after the aircraft parked.

As they neared her residence, she tentatively pulled Eric's hand into her own and held it nervously.

"Nice scenery around here," Eric said as she drove among some very expansive properties. Most were difficult to see fully in the darkness, but several homes glowed with rich architectural exterior lighting.

One drew into view with a driveway lined with lush up-lit palms for its entire hundred-yard length. A wrought iron gate at the entrance from the street began to swing open when she pushed a button on the overhead console. Eric's jaw visibly slackened when Peggy turned onto that very drive and slowed as they approached a structure for which he couldn't find words to describe.

He looked at her and saw she was studying his reaction very closely.

"Where are we?" he asked in wonderment.

"This is my home."

"Your--What? You own this?"

Her reply was only a subtle nod. Eric stepped out of the vehicle onto the well-lit patterned concrete driveway.

"Holy cow," he said after a few moments of observation.

"Come inside." She took his hand in hers and led him through heavy oak doors.

She pushed a button on a backlit panel, and lights began to brighten.

"Whoa ," Eric gasped and laughed nervously when he saw the lavishly appointed foyer into which they'd stepped.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, even though she knew what he was thinking.

"I understand this is none of my business, but... I don't know too many young doctors who could--"

"--afford a place like this?"

"Yeah."

"You're right. Not many retired doctors could, either," she said. "My parents bought it a while back. They've both since passed away. This was their winter home, and I took it over when they died. I've updated it a little."

Eric swallowed the lump in his throat. "Oh, Peggy, I'm so sorry."

"I appreciate your condolences, but there's no reason to be sorry, baby. My mother passed away about six years ago. My dad, bless his soul, followed about three months later.

"She died of natural causes. She was 87 and he was 84. I guess he just kind of drifted away after she died. He passed in his sleep. I can tell you this. Other than the last three months of Dad's life, they were very happy and healthy."

"That's so sweet," Eric earnestly offered.

"They were so good to each other. I poked fun at them because they were constantly showing affection. Stealing kisses and holding hands... they adored each other. They were married for sixty-five years."

"Does that mean your mom gave birth to you when she was almost fifty?"

Peggy chuckled. "No, my birth mother had me when she was seventeen. It's the only thing I ever knew about her. I was adopted.

"My adoptive parents, God bless them, were never able to conceive children of their own, but... yeah. They adopted me when they were getting up there in years.

"Kinda strange, I know. My parents looked more like most of my friends' grandparents because of the age gap, but I can also say they were able to keep up with me just fine. They were very much full of pep and vinegar."

"So you were raised like this, huh?"

"Hardly. My parents lived paycheck to paycheck for a long time. Mom was an actress, so I spent most of my life in California where she fought for any job she could get. Needless to say, she never became hugely famous, but she did a lot of commercials and a few recurring roles on television shows or as a five-words-of-dialogue kind of character in a handful of movies. They had enough to get by. It was... comfortable.

"Dad, on the other hand, hated California. He humored Mom, though, because, even though she struggled to find it, she adored her work. Dad was a rancher. He had cattleman's blood."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. It goes all the way back to his great-grandfather, at least.

"We spent much of each year on the west coast, and a lot of summers on the ranch. Mom retired eventually, so they split their time between here and the ranch until Dad finally retired."

He listened intently to her history.

"That's incredible," Eric said. He found it inspiring to hear how such diverse careers could meld into such happy coexistence.

"Come here. I want to show you something."

They crossed through a spacious great-room, through some French doors, into an office.

"Take a look around and see if anything catches your eye."

He stood still in the doorway, letting his eyes scan the surroundings. The room was very comfortably furnished with a leather couch and a pair of matching chairs. There was a cherry wood desk in the corner and an executive chair behind it. There were papers on the desk.

He stepped to it and looked through several pieces of mail bearing recent postmarks. It quickly became clear to him it wasn't her father's time capsule, as he expected. One of the envelopes was familiar to him. On its corner was a logo he recognized. The piece was from Bangor Energy Exploration, a company from which he also received mail. Its logo was a drilling platform colored with black and yellow stripes, a play on the company name's acronym.

"Peggy, do you have gas?" He chuckled, playfully waving the envelope at her like a fan.

"Yeah, and an awful lot of it," she said with a funny grin, then gestured to a wall. "Keep looking."

On it, he saw three wall-hangings. Two were photographs of thoroughbred horses, a breed he recognized immediately. The pair on display were stunning specimens. He noted the gold tags on the frames. "General Clout, 2006," one read, and the other was tagged "Two Nickel Ante, 2008".