Emma sat impatiently in her yellow VW, idling outside of Mayor Mills' house with her windows down, waiting for Henry. "Just a minute, mom!" he called out, his head poking out from behind the front door just long enough to get Emma's attention. Emma gave a casual thumbs up, though Henry had bolted back inside too soon to see it. She sighed and closed her eyes, tapping on her knee with her hands, rhythmically beating out a little of the drums to the song playing over her car stereo.
Emma shifted in her seat when she saw the front door swing open and Regina came into view. "God, woman..." Emma said aloud, wondering how Regina always looked impossibly polished and sexy as hell, even on the weekend. Henry staggered out of the house toting a large, overstuffed backpack and his sleeping bag strapped to his back. Regina stood in the foyer propping the door open, smiling as she watched Henry make his way down the sidewalk toward Emma's car. Emma's heart sank when she noticed Regina give her a little wave, and her face began to redden.
"Thank you for agreeing to drop Henry off at school for his class trip." Regina called. She flashed a genuine smile at Emma and added "I still can't believe they're camping overnight!"
"Sure thing, glad to help!" Emma returned, cooly. "With, uh, David and Mary Margaret chaperoning, it should be lots of fun," she said, to reassure Regina that Henry would be fine.
As Henry loaded his things into the backseat of the VW, Emma took the opportunity to scope out Regina's ensemble. She was wearing royal blue pumps that matched a black and blue shift dress which gloriously hugged her curves. Emma subconsciously licked her lips when she noticed that Regina was also wearing her art smock, taking note of the vibrant streaks of paint standing out sharply against the stark white apron. She cleared her throat, hoping that the mayor was far enough away that she couldn't see Emma's obvious attraction.
"Mom's almost done with her painting—she's really in the zone!" Henry said enthusiastically as he got into the car and belted himself in.
"Oh, yeah?" Emma said with a twinge of guilt over being turned on by Henry's innocent choice of words.
"She told me to let you know that you should come back by after you drop me off. She has something she wants to show you." He waved goodbye as he spoke, and Regina blew a kiss his way and nodded in appreciation at Emma as she closed the front door. Emma nodded back instinctively and watched the mayor turn around and disappear into the foyer.
"Okay, kid. Message received." Emma said, putting the car into drive and shaking off the curiosity sparked by the infinite possibilities of what Regina might have planned. After a moment, her cell phone rang. Emma saw the read out on her phone and announced to Henry, before answering, that it was Regina.
"Hello?" Emma said, listening for a second before handing her cell over to him. "She wants to talk to you."
Henry greedily pulled the phone out of Emma's hand and held it to his ear, just as Emma pulled into the school parking lot. She could hear Henry talking to Regina, alternating his responses between "I know," "I will," and "okay, Mom," as she pulled the backpack and sleeping bag from the back of the VW and tossed them on top of the pile of luggage already heaped onto the pavement beside the school bus. Signaling to Emma that he was wrapping up the call, Henry got out of the car and leaned against it, saying "Thanks, I love you too mom," before hanging up and hurling himself at Emma for a goodbye hug.
"Have fun, kid. Love you." Emma said, as Henry grinned and ran to join a group of kids from his class. Before Emma could even get her seatbelt back on, the phone chimed again. This time it was a text.
"I'm looking forward to spending the night with you, Ms. Swan."
Emma swallowed hard at the brazenness of the text message, suddenly aware that it triggered heat to begin building at her center. Emma scoffed at Regina's assumption that she would stay the night, but before she could formulate any sort of response to Regina's invitation—if you could call it that—another text came in. "Oh, fuck." Emma said as she quickly read it:
"I'm almost done painting. I suggest you get back here...if you want to come."
Emma told herself that Regina must not have intended that to read as dirty as it sounded. She put the car into gear and felt herself begin to drive faster than she should. "Who am I kidding?" she thought to herself, "I will not say no to this woman." She contemplated stopping to pick up a change of clothes, but decided against it. If she made it back to Regina's before that painting was finished, she reasoned she wouldn't need any clothes...