For days Emma stared at the blank word doc on her laptop screen. Nothing she did could force the words to create themselves in her head and transplant onto the page, despite the fact that in three hours she needed to turn in an article about some unknown musician named Killian Jones.
Normally an article like this would have been finished in twenty minutes, but there was a small problem, Emma knew nothing about him. Regina, her boss, had given her few facts , a flash drive with some of his music and the strict instructions not to Google him. Regina wanted the article solely based on his music. Emma would have been perfectly fine writing the article as Regina asked but the fact that she was banned from using Google as a punishment by Regina, for being late to five of the seven scheduled meetings made everything harder. The joys of being a freelance writer. There was a very good excuse for it though, well in her mind it was a good excuse.
Emma enjoyed working at a coffee shop a few blocks from the office that had the best hot chocolate in the city and outside seating. Every afternoon at about 1:45 while sitting outside, this gorgeous guy would run past her dripping in sweat. He would then stop at the lamp post at the corner across the street, and either go into the store or keeping running. There was one time that he looked back at Emma and smiled.
Even though she had never spoken to him, he somehow had bewitched her. Emma wasn't sure if it was the sex god hair flapping as he ran, the tense calf muscles, the way he mouthed the words to whatever song was playing in his ear buds or the blue eyes that smiled at her that one time. Partially, she blamed the blue since it was at that exact moment Emma hit her writer's wall and this mysterious gorgeous man consumed her attention. It went from simple thoughts of wanting to see him, to being thrown up against that tiny blue car parked outside the coffee shop and kissed like she held his last breath of air.
Her co-worker Ruby said it was a crush, but Emma scoffed at the idea. She was a bill paying, full time job having adult and not some twelve year old girl with a crush on some boy in math class. There was no denying that he was attractive, anyone with eyes could see that. This was not a crush though, it was something else. Whatever it was needed to go away because Emma desperately needed to write the article.
Parked in her usual chair at the coffee shop, she played some of Killian's music and once again stared at the empty doc. In between tapping her fingers on the keys and sipping her hot chocolate she would stare down at the clock. Checking the time did two things. Tell her how long she had until Regina fired her and how long before she was completely screwed over by the gorgeous mystery runner.
Like every afternoon before he was right on time, 1:45. As he jogged by Emma looked up from her laptop and smiled at him. Slowing his pace as he passed Emma, he smiled back and even stalled a little. The mystery jogger bent down and pretended to tie is already tied sneaker. Curious at what he was doing Emma watched for a minute before realizing the time because if she kept looking at him the article was never going to get done. Returning her gaze back to her screen she attempted to write a few lines about Killian's life and how it can be felt in his music. It was horrible and sounded like a twelve year old girl writing for her school newspaper.
Emma laid her head against the table and took a deep breath. This was all the mysterious jogger's fault. This wasn't frustration from forming a crush on him, it was sexually based. Every time he jogged by her heart raced, her stomach fluttered and she squeezed he thighs together. It had been ages since she felt a guy on top of her. This guy was causing so much sexual frustration that it had created the great wall of writers block. She was not going to tolerate it anymore.
Sliding her chair back she quickly got up and strutted over to the mysterious jogger. Caught off guard he stood there and smiled at Emma. His mouth opened slightly to say hi but no words came out. You would think it was because he was awestruck by this tall confident blonde coming his way, but no it was because Emma had grabbed the front of his sweaty shirt and pushed him up against the little blue car. Pushing up on her toes she peered straight into his eyes and kissed him. It was not some quick press on his lips, but time consuming and lip bruising, the type that you feel the gasp of the person caught off guard in the back of your throat. The stiffness in the mystery joggers body from the initial surprise faded as she Emma into the him and their tongues just moved along to the pace of the other. He moved his hands to small of the Emma's back to steady himself and hold on to reality fearing it is all in his head.
The tighter Emma grabbed onto his shirt, the deeper the kiss became. Emma could taste the sweat on his tongue as it mixed in with the traces of hot chocolate on hers. The perfect combination to turn her on as she enjoyed kissing him. It was the pheromones in the sweat and chocolate she told herself. With every move of her tongue against his, she noticed that the writer's wall in her head slowly began to chip away. Out of nowhere she could see the words and the article taking shape on the page. Kissing him freed her mind and caused her to get lost in the way he made her feel and how passionate this silly kiss made her want to write. Underneath all that she got lost in the realization of how passionately she needed to be kissed, maybe she really just needed this very moment in her life.
Convinced that the kiss destroyed the wall, Emma pulled away slowly, taking his bottom lip with her. Opening her eyes Emma covered her mouth with her hand to cover the smile pushing through. No way was she giving this man any satisfaction of knowing he was the best she had ever had. With the same confidence Emma walked up to him with, she walked away. It was all a facade though. Her knees were weak and her breath gone. The air around her felt thin and she couldn't see straight. Grabbing her laptop, she threw it in her bag and began to walk away.
"Now we're even." Emma called out as she walked past him and in the direction of her office.
The moment she was in the tiny cubicle Regina had set aside for her, the words came pouring out. Emma painted a picture of this talented musician who'd been broken as a young child by the death of his mother and the abandonment of his father, then slowly pieced back together by his supportive older brother Liam, who was a captain in the English Royal Navy. Emma pulled the reader in as she wrote about his sound having a sexiness and passion, like a man in love and maybe badly heartbroken.
Emma want into more depth about how if a person listened close enough to the words of the song they could find meaning in them. She exquisitely expressed how the words and music paired well like great lovers, if you close your eyes you could see his fingertips strumming the guitar strings to bring the music notes to life. Emma even went as far as saying after this article and performance, this Friday night he wouldn't be unknown for long. Once the article was done Emma hit send, and off it went to Regina's inbox. She didn't have to worry anymore about the article. Crisis adverted.
"Nice work Swan." Regina walked over with a printed version of the article in her hands. "I don't even think we need any revisions besides simple grammar ones here and there." She enjoyed reminding Emma about her terrible grammar.
"Thanks." Emma said as politely as possible. "It wasn't the easiest of articles to write since I couldn't Google him."
"Regardless of you being able to Google Killian or not, this is your best work. I'd like to reward that with another assignment." Emma stared at Regina with a little bit of fear in her face. "I had planned on giving this to Ruby since she is a more seasoned writer and not free lanced like you. I want you to write an in depth on Killian."
"I don't..."
"Before you say no I want you to stop by a bar downtown. Killian is playing tonight and I want you to meet him. He is a friend of Robin's so you can spend all the time you want getting to know him. Then you can decide if you want to take the job." Regina could see Emma thinking. "Here is the address. Be there by eight, that way you can meet him before he goes on."
Before Emma could respond Regina was walking away.
Needing to make sure next month's rent was secure, Emma showed up at the bar at eight o'clock as Regina instructed. A little nervous about the night, Emma ordered a vodka tonic to calm her nerves. The bar was fairly crowded for eight o' clock at night but Emma figured this was the early crowd before all the young and beautiful hipsters showed up to cover the small tables in the expensive micro brewed beer the bar offered.
"Miss Swan." A familiar arm and voice cut through the air. "Emma. We're over here."
Managing her way through the crowd Emma made her way to a small table near what appeared to be a make shift stage area for performers. Regina was sitting by herself nursing a martini. She was clearly not alone though because there were also two half full pint glasses of beer on the table.
"Robin and Killian went to talk to some record exec that is here tonight." Emma sat in the empty seat next to Regina. "I think his name is Gold or something like that. After days of Robin making phone calls to Gold's office he convinced him to watch Killian perform." Regina took a sip of her drink. "They should be over in a minute. It's good that you decided to take the job. I imagine being a freelance writer is a little nerve racking since you don't know where your next pay check will come from."
"A little." Emma swallowed half of her drink.
"You're a talented writer Emma. If this in depth is just as good as the last article, I would like you to come work for me. I'll pay you more than Nolan does." Emma was shocked. She didn't know that Regina knew about her writing for David Nolan on a competing blog about life in New York. "I know you write for him and you don't need to know how. I also know he has wanted to hire you as a full time writer."
"I've known David for years, so I write for him when he needs an article done. I didn't think..."
"You're not being fired for writing for Nolan. Please, do you think I would invite you and offer you Killian Jones if you were?" There was an amused laughter in her voice. "It's just a possibility of a job offer so relax Miss Swan. Oh look here come Robin and Killian."
As the two men walked over, Emma's cell phone began to ring. Grabbing her purse from the side of the chair she rummaged through it to find her phone. The caller I.D. flashed Mary Margaret before she sent the call to voicemail and put the phone on vibrate.
"Emma, I would like to introduce you to my boyfriend Robin Hood." Emma stretched her hand out to shake his. "And this is his extremely talented friend, and hopefully new client, Killian Jones."
A tall man with sex god floppy hair and deep blue eyes stepped from behind Robin. Unable to speak or breathe Emma sat there speechless. It was as if someone punched her in the gut.
How could this be? How was it even possible? Killian Jones was the mysterious jogger that she had kissed that afternoon. She would have to spend time with the man that just gave her the best kiss of her life; a kiss that Emma felt in her lips once again as she looked at him.
"Hi, I'm Killian." He walked over to her like a familiar friend and took her hand. "I read the article you wrote Emma. It sounds like you were very inspired by me." Killian's smirk hinted at the events that had taken place early between them.
"Shit." Emma muttered under her breath.