Author's Note: YES, I recognize I should be working on Truth and Consequences. HOWEVER, I couldn't help it when this little ficlet popped into my head as I was waiting for two hours for the plane to FL. Written on the fly on a 1.5hr flight from NC to FL. Unbetaed. Enjoy and as always please R&R. -Jen
Light glinted off Robin's face, the heat from the fire casting a glow over him as Regina watched him. The bottle of wine was just about finished and she was feeling warm and loose. Her lips still tingled, her head still spun wildly, and her hands were still trembling from their latest make out session. Her lips felt bruised and swollen, deliciously so. And she couldn't help but think of the first time they'd kissed.
A smile graced her face, a secret in her eyes and Robin arched a brow. "What are you thinking of?" he asked, leaning in to take another kiss. He couldn't help himself. The woman was completely irresistible and he was struggling to prevent himself from taking their afternoon into unchartered territory and potentially warning her off.
"Our first kiss," she said warmly.
He laughed. "Which one?" Thinking of both their first kiss in Storybrooke and before that in the Enchanted Forest.
"In the Enchanted Forest. I was just thinking not everyone can say they've had more than one first kiss with their lover," Regina laughed, her eyes twinkling.
Robin smiled. "Certainly not. That's just about the only blessing about this whole business with your sister."
"A fresh start in a new world," she murmured, twining her fingers through his short hair. Her nails scraped teasingly against the nape of his neck and she felt him shiver against her.
"Tempestuous doesn't begin to cover how volatile our relationship was in the Enchanted Forest."
"It certainly wasn't my fault!" he said indignantly.
"You were so annoying, always right," Regina rolled her eyes.
"Me? Milady, I think you've got the wrong pronoun there. It was you who was always right, or rather, always thought you were right. And It was infuriating! Always knew the answers, always had a snappy reply and you drove me absolutely out of my mind."
"With lust," Regina said knowingly, an eyebrow raised.
"I didn't know it until that moment," he murmured, eyes glancing over her face, and his hand came up to brush over her brow gently. "I couldn't recognize it, reconcile that what I was feeling for you, the so-called Evil Queen, was this bright and burning desire."
Regina's eyes fluttered shut in weakness, unable to look at him when Robin had lust and a hint of love in his eyes. "Until it came to a head."
He laughed heartily. "Brilliantly so."
The Enchanted Forest
"How many times do I have to tell you not to touch things, my things?" Regina growled, entering one of many dens in the castle, and finding him. You'd think she was talking to Roland by the tone of her voice and what she'd asked, demanded. But no. Instead, she was annoyed by the boy's infuriating father, Robin of Locksley. Why she had ever agreed to allow him and his men into her castle, she'd never know. She should never have allowed Snow White to persuade her it was the right thing to do, the honorable thing. Because now she had to deal with the repercussions. Always underfoot, always in her way, always in her space.
An eyebrow arched and he met her gaze, stood toe to toe with her, object in hand. "Do you know just how many mouths this one vase would feed?"
Regina narrowed her eyes. "Set it down from your grubby paws before your clumsy fumbling breaks it. And don't you dare think of pilfering it, thief. I do not take lightly to anyone stealing from me."
He grinned ruefully, setting the vase, a gift from Regina's father, down on the side table. "Somehow, Your Majesty, I doubt anything gets by you. Besides, I do not steal from those who give me and mine a roof over our heads," he said, bowing gracefully. Mockingly, Regina thought.
"Why must you always be…" Regina floundered, unable to think of something to say. She felt like screaming with frustration and irritation. The man bothered her on a most basic, primitive level. Something inside stirred at him and she didn't like it. Not one damned bit.
"And why must you have so much stuff, so many things? Does it fill a void inside?" He rejoined perceptively and struck a nerve within Regina, who immediately thought of Daniel, of Henry her father, and her son. The accumulation of her wealth and possessions had always been a sore spot for her. She knew why. She knew what she was lacking and trying desperately to make up for, but she'd be damned if he saw that deep inside.
"Don't you dare presume to know me, to understand me. Stay the hell out of my head!" Regina said furiously and turned away, her cape sweeping dramatically behind her.
Robin cocked his head, trying to resist the temptation to follow her, to engage her once again in witty repartee that he strangely looked forward to. Tried.
And failed.
And as he lightly jogged to catch up with her, he wondered why he even bothered. What compelled him to seek her out?
He caught up to her as she was rounding the east wing corridor and he knew she was headed for her sanctuary that no one dared enter. Grasping her bicep, Robin whirled her around and almost ducked at the raised hand, magic gleaming from her palm. "How dare you put your filthy hands on me," she raged and a fierce light burned in her eyes. Anger and something else.
"Milady, I apologize. Your thoughts are your own and I should not have pried. You are right. I shouldn't be intrusive and delve into your feelings. The motivations of your actions are none of my business. It's just…" Robin's voice trailed off and he found himself at a loss for words, unable to explain just why he was so damned interested in her. Fascinated. He shook his head. "It…doesn't make sense. Absolutely ridiculous…"
"Spit it out!" Regina snapped, her ire still high and her patience running thin.
"You're stunning. In every way. And I find myself drawn to you in a way that I haven't in an incredibly long time. Maybe even ever," he rushed out and he watched her face transform into confusion and denial, brow furrowed. And before she could voice the denial on the tip of her tongue, before he could even think about his actions, Robin Hood closed the space separating them and pressed his lips to hers.
Surprise was the first emotion that Regina experienced, followed closely by warmth. His lips were warm and she involuntarily parted her lips to take a breath and encouraged him entrance inside. Sweetness and heat were what she felt when he thrust his tongue into her mouth and began to tangle with hers and a low moan was what she heard. Shockingly, it came not from him, but from her.
He licked inside and nipped her lower lip and heat flooded her body violently, shockingly. Her limbs grew weak and she braced herself against the cool stone wall at her back. Robin advanced to her retreat and pressed himself against her, one hand coming up to tangle in the soft hair at her nape, the other at her waist. Regina's hands clutched at him reflexively, unable to stop herself. The kiss ignited a rollercoaster of emotions rioting through her, most intensely being desire. And it had been so long since she'd felt that particular emotion she almost didn't recognize it. Almost. Her heart raced and her palms sweat and her breath came shallow and hard. The kiss was slick and hot and everything she'd forgotten she wanted, everything she'd never thought she'd have. He tasted incredibly good, better than anyone she'd ever kissed. Better than Daniel. And for a moment, she forgot about the Wicked Witch. She forgot about Storybrooke. She forgot about Henry.
Henry.
That thought…it was like a splash of ice cold water across her face and she wrenched her mouth from his, breathing hard. "No!" she snarled, pushing him away and trying to regain her composure. "Never again. Not without my permission," she said, breath labored and Robin Hood immediately stepped back, bowing slightly.
"As you wish, milady," he murmured, his eyes on hers, but he noticed how she couldn't quite meet his and watched as she escaped to her suite. It didn't escape his notice that she'd added not without my permission, he thought with a grin and headed in the opposite direction, his lips burning and his body on fire for a beautiful, headstrong queen.
Storybrooke
Regina laughed. "I sure did make your life a living hell after that," she said fondly, thinking of all of the barbs she'd slung his way, the bickering they'd engaged in like school children, a little boy pulling her pigtails, a girl tattle telling. She hadn't known how to act after that kiss, it had thrown her off so badly. And Regina off her game was not something that anyone saw. Ever. So she'd fought back the only way she knew. Evade, snark, and keep him at arms length.
"It was worth that kiss," he countered. "Amazing how closely our second first kiss went, what with me apologizing—"
"But I kissed you," Regina interrupted, thinking of that moment in the woods beneath a cloudless sky and beside a warm fire.
"And how utterly incredible it was…" he murmured and stole another kiss. Regina pressed her hand to his cheek and cupped his face, holding him close as her gaze flitted over him.
"I was so determined to take that chance and yet utterly terrified at the same time," she chuckled, only now able to laugh about it. Something that had had her shaking in her boots on the inside. It had felt instantly right, in a way that nothing in her life had ever felt and she'd been startled by how quickly it fell into place. The look of shocked confusion on his face sliding into desire had prompted her to push aside that fear and take what she'd wanted. What she'd deserved and what had been destined. Fate had said he was hers and she'd never been one for sharing her toys. Only child and all that. Well…so she thought at the time.
"I was surprised to say the least. Pleasantly so, but still surprised and confused. Why would a queen ever expend her efforts on a common man such as me," he marveled. "And up to that point, you had rebuffed every overture I'd made."
Regina huffed. "Of course I did. In the farmhouse I saw your tattoo. I knew you were mine and that scared me like nothing else ever had. Not since losing Daniel. Because there was this possibility again. A possibility I thought I'd never have. Then fate put you in my path again and I had to make a decision."
"And you ran," he completed.
"And I ran," Regina agreed. "Like I've been doing in some way or another since Daniel's death. Thank you for being persistent."
"And now I know why you drew me so." Robin caressed her face and tangled his fingers into the hair at her neck, caressing the tender skin there.
She reached a hand down to his and twined their fingers together and for a moment, Regina swore she could feel the brand of his tattoo burning itself into her forearm where they touched. "Funny how fate works out...sometimes I wonder if eventually all of our choices will lead us to where we should be, that things are predestined, or that I decide my own fate, make it what I will." She thought of Zelena and what she'd told her in that barn. She didn't like to think that everything was out of her control, predestined.
"I think the choices we make can lead us down the right or wrong paths, but that sometimes, the right choice at the right time can lead us back down the original road we were meant to take," Robin said thoughtfully.
Regina smiled softly. "And my choices lately have led to you," she said with a soft kiss pressed to his lips. "To this moment."
Robin hummed and captured her lips again, slanting his mouth against hers to get a better angle and submerge himself in her. "To second first kisses," he murmured, "and all that they lead to." Exceedingly grateful for all that he had and all that he would have in the future, he tumbled her down to the soft carpet to the soft sound of Regina's delighted laughter, which was soon smothered by silky kisses and even silkier caresses.
Fin