COVETED - CHAPTER 2
The smoldering embers take their final breaths, creating a warm orange glow underneath the charred wood. After watching it for a few more moments, Regina rises from the couch to end the fire's misery. She hasn't been able to get a single thing done since Emma's visit this afternoon. She can't stop herself from wondering at the sheriff's little show. She contemplates whether Emma has somehow figured her out. Impossible. She knows she has never done anything to give herself away. The door to her office creaks open as Regina leans against the mantle, deep in thought.
"Madam Mayor?" The soft voice floats into the room and the brunette turns towards it, a small smile replacing her previously serious expression.
"Come in, Melanie."
The young blonde enters, closing the door behind her. The room is rather dark, the setting sun now dipping behind the horizon. Regina had been so lost in thought and mesmerized by the firelight that she hadn't noticed the dwindling daylight or the fact the room had grown so dim.
The blonde makes her way to the chair in front of the fireplace and stands behind it. She rests her hands on the back and leans forward just a bit, giving the mayor an eye full. Regina turns in place to face her, not feeling up to the game today.
"Going home for the night?" Regina asks, trying to sound breezy, but there is a perceptible weariness in her voice.
"Yeah." A light blush spreads on the girl's cheeks. "I just wanted to see if you needed anything else from me tonight before I go. If there was anything I could do for you?" The blonde's voice now contains a low and seductive property, causing a shiver to slide down the back of the brunette's neck. Regina has become strangely accustomed to this somewhat suggestive dance with her assistant. The blonde flirts and makes vague propositions to "help" the mayor in some nonspecific way, usually when they are alone in her office. She dresses in clothes that Regina likes and makes a point to re-wear the ones Regina compliments. She sometimes feels brave and sits on Regina's desk when Regina asks her to take dictation, putting her long, smooth legs on display. The mayor never stops her. At first she pretended to be oblivious, but even as her plausible deniability faded, she told herself that Melanie had no idea what she was doing. So it always remained a fairly innocent thing. Benign.
"Thank you. That is very kind of you to offer, but I just need to finish some things and I will be going myself." Regina says, finally moving to turn on the lamp on her desk, her back to her assistant.
"Ok, if you're sure?" Melanie moves closer to the brunette and the words hang between them like an offer being taken off the table during a negotiation. Regina considers for a moment what the other woman would do if she accepts. If she closes the distance between them and pushes her onto the couch. If she kisses her pink lips, pressing her tongue deep into the girl's mouth. Regina imagines what the blonde would taste like. Wonders if she would kiss back assertively or whether she would be shy. I wonder if she's a virgin, the mayor thinks abruptly. She's never mentioned a boyfriend . . . or a girlfriend. Regina's mind trails off as she imagines what her assistant looks like under her clothes.
The moment between the two women hangs heavy with unspoken intention and the young blonde begins to fidget with her watch. She feels her heart racing a bit faster as the mayor inches forward in response to her obvious nervousness. She can hardly bear the weight of Regina's eyes on her, and her body flushes in response, feeling like the brunette is already inside of her. Her boss has never responded like this. Melanie is used to her efforts at seduction being politely dismissed or ignored. The blonde swallows hard. She can feel her pulse beating in her neck.
Regina allows her eyes to wander away from the girl's face, over her ample chest, down her slim waist, across her thighs squeezed into the tight gray pencil skirt, one of Regina's favorites, and to her enticing legs. She admires the girl's muscled calves, beautifully accentuated by the peep-toe black heels she's wearing. Regina almost smirks as she recalls making a comment about those very shoes last Spring, and considers them to be an odd choice for December in Maine.
The assistant feels like a gazelle being stalked by a hungry panther. It makes her feel both invigorated and terrified all at once.
Dark brown eyes slowly travel back up the blonde's body. Anticipation is thick in the air, and when the girl bites on her lower lip nervously, it takes all of Regina's self control not to pounce on her. She wants to, Regina admits to herself with an almost audible gasp. She wants to tangle her fingers in long blonde hair. She wants to rip the buttons from the girl's white silk shirt, exposing what she can see is a pink lace bra. Regina feels the space between her thighs begin to throb as she imagines her fingers moving through the wet flimsy fabric of the blonde's underwear. She wonders if touching her will feel familiar. If the sensation of a woman around her fingers will excite her. Judging from the hard pull of arousal she feels, the answer is yes. Regina's mind is like a train run off track and she can't stop the images flooding her mind. Her breathing becomes shallow as she pictures her fingers moving inside the blonde, the girl's hips thrusting back against her in rhythm. Her lips and tongue tasting every inch of that long, sexy neck. The girl moaning and begging for Regina to go harder. Faster. Pleading with her not to stop. She wants to see Emma writhing beneath her screaming her name as she comes undone.
"No!" Regina yells out in panicked realization that it wasn't Melanie she was just fucking in her mind.
"Mayor, are you ok?" The blonde doesn't move. Afraid that her boss has just turned her down before she could get the chance to make her move.
"Yes, excuse me." Regina clears her throat. "I just thought of an appointment I made and I'm going to be late." Regina feels her skin blush lightly with embarrassment, but her tone is even and her exterior calm despite the chaos rampaging through her thoughts. The girl is looking at her with wide blue eyes and Regina reaches for her purse stowed in her desk drawer. The assistant remains motionless. She tries to smile.
"Of course," she says, nodding awkwardly. The pair walks out silently, both wholly unsure of what just happened. When Regina gets in her car, the blonde waves goodbye but the mayor doesn't even see her. Regina's mind is racing under her composed exterior. Certain realizations are starting to settle in, and the brunette isn't sure what to make of them.
"Oh my God," is all Regina can repeat aloud to herself as she drives down the street towards her home. She has been forced to acknowledge thoughts that have been circling around the outskirts of her mind for months. "It can't be," she says more quietly, trying to calm herself. She thinks back to every infuriating interaction she's had with the perpetually leather clad sheriff. Every stalemate, every combative argument . . . the constant bickering . . . the stare downs.A sigh escapes between her blood red lips as she conjures the image of Emma's bright green eyes every time they fought. Always full of fire. The other woman always rising to meet every obstacle Regina throws her way. Regina thinks back to when Henry was trapped in the mine. When she almost gave in to the dormant feelings that are now stirring to life. The brunette has a sinking suspicion that this realization won't be buried this time. That she won't be able to stow it away where no one will find it. The thought keeps unfolding inside her, slow and steady. The truth is taking shape despite her best efforts to the contrary. She can no longer hide it. Not even to herself.
I want Emma Swan. . . It sounds so crazy that Regina can hardly comprehend it. Her body is in full scale upheaval. She's not sure whether to vomit or cry. Regina even feels a fleeting desire to laugh. Insanity.
"But I hate her!" she argues futilely to herself, as if the realization had occurred to someone else. The mayor is almost sickened by the idea of being near enough to the blonde to be intimate. Everything about her is so . . . damn infuriating. The mayor can't understand why her traitorous body has launched this rebellion against her, but she feels powerless to stop it. She feels the lascivious stirrings low in her belly as she thinks of Emma's luscious blonde locks, tumbling in soft curls around her face and shoulders. Her body, the perfect combination of muscle and femininity.
"Fuck," Regina says simply. Never one to overuse profanity, she feels like there is no other way to describe her current predicament. Regina pulls up to the mayoral mansion and wastes no time getting inside and pouring herself a large and much needed glass of scotch. Cider simply wouldn't do it. Not tonight.
"I still don't get it," Ruby says, having just discarded the empty box of pizza and plopping down next to Emma on Mary Margaret's couch. Emma pulls the brunette's long legs onto her lap and reaches forward for the wine bottle on the coffee table. She fills up the two glasses Ruby is holding. The brunette hands her one and the pair settles into the sofa comfortably.
"She's a closeted homophobe, and I'm not going to let her get away with her self-righteous shit anymore. I'm not going to let her keep fucking with me. I finally have something on her for a change." Emma's cheeks are flushed from the alcohol, the third glass of wine going straight to her head.
"You have no reason to think Mayor Mills is a homophobe," Ruby says with a chuckle. "If she doesn't want to be out, she doesn't have to be. We can't judge her for that. We don't know her life, babe. You don't even know if she's actually gay!" Ruby has been trying to wrap her head around Emma's "plan" since she arrived at the apartment. It still wasn't making much sense.
"Trust me, she likes women and I do know that she would hate it if anyone found out her little secret." Emma leaves out the part of the story where she suspects the mayor is attracted to her.
"So you're going to blackmail her? That's disgusting." Ruby tries to pull her legs away from Emma, but the blonde grabs her by the feet and returns them to the original position.
"It's not like that," Emma explains, softening her tone. "I wouldn't do that. I just want . . . a little leverage. I just want to get her off my back. Why does she have to always be the one with the power? Have you forgotten all the fucked up shit she's done to me? She fabricated charges against me and had me arrested. She published embarrassing parts of my life for the whole town to see. Parts of my past that she had no business knowing about - much less publicizing. She even tried to poison me for fuck's sake!" Emma feels her emotions getting the better of her, but she can't stop. She has tried not to hate Regina. She has tried more than once to form a truce for Henry's sake at least, but at every turn the woman has rebuffed her, tried to ruin her. Anger is bubbling in her blood and coursing through her veins as she remembers all the horrible things Regina has done to her. What Emma has planned now surely pales in comparison. Surely.
"Ok babe, calm down," Ruby speaks gently as she runs her hand along Emma's arm to settle her. Emma sits back on the couch and tries to catch her breath. She pushes her shoulders back to release the tension in her back. Her muscles had locked up when she was making her case. "So what is it that you're going to do exactly, if you're not going to blackmail her?" Ruby tries to redirect Emma's anger. She's never seen this side to her girlfriend, and she's not sure how she feels about it. The brunette blames it on the wine and makes an effort to understand what Emma has, rather indistinctly, been talking about all night.
"I'm not sure what I'm going to do exactly. I guess I just want her to know that I know her little secret. Just to get her to back off some. Get myself a little breathing room." Emma brings her voice back down to her normal speaking level and takes another long sip of wine.
"Alright. . ." Ruby says with a sound that is somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. "I guess you know what you're doing." Ruby shrugs and digs herself deeper into the couch, getting ready to hit play on the DVD. The same DVD that has been stuck on the title screen since they started this rather odd conversation. "Just promise me you'll be careful? Regina Mills is not the kind of person that will just let herself be played with. She's always put me a little on edge, you know?" Ruby's voice is ladened with worry as she imagines what Regina would do if she felt threatened by Emma. An uncomfortable anxiety begins to build in her stomach, tying her insides in knots. Something tells Ruby that this is not going to end well. Not for any of them.
"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen. I know what I'm doing. Trust me, ok?" Emma straightens her back to seem more serious, and then smiles before leaning over to kiss Ruby softly on the lips.
"Famous last words," Ruby says between kisses, and as clothing quickly covers the floor of the living room, the movie remains unwatched.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hopefully this won't be the end of the world, because I promise this story is going to start getting gooood! I just can't help the slow build-up :D
Thank you to my lovely Beta RileyGirl1, you are awesome!
Please leave a review - it will be like a little Christmas present. :)