Chapter Ten

When Emma awoke the next morning, she was alone in the bed. She rolled over, and noted that the room was empty, and for a panicked moment, she wondered if Regina had lied, and she really wasn't there until Sunday. What if she had just said that to get Emma to shut up and go to sleep?

She shot up in bed, and on a cursory glance around the room, she noted that Regina's things were still there, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

She laid back down in the bed, and only then noticed a note laying on Regina's pillow.

Emma,

I have a meeting until 11:30, and then I will pick you up for lunch. Please shower, and I will bring you something to wear.

Regina

Emma rolled her eyes at the instructions on the page. As if Regina needed to tell her to shower like a child. But she did like the prospect of going out for lunch. After emptying the contents of her stomach the night before, she was practically starving now. She grabbed the phone and checked the time. It was just after 10.

She jumped out of bed and crossed the room to the bathroom. She stripped off her clothes along the way, dropping the t-shirt and her thong ungracefully onto the floor, before entering the bathroom and hopping into the shower. She surveyed the bottles in there, as the warm water cascaded over her head and shoulders. It wasn't just the complimentary bottles the hotel left, there was Regina's fancy shampoo and conditioner, as well as some expensive looking apple scented body wash.

Emma hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should just use the hotel stuff. But then, she figured, Regina hadn't said not to touch her stuff, and she did leave it there. Emma grabbed the bottle of shampoo and popped the lid open. It smelled deliciously like Regina, and she was sold.

Once she was shampooed and showered, Emma turned off the water and hopped out, wrapping herself in one of the fluffy hotel towels as she quickly ran the blow dryer over her long hair. Regina's fancy shampoo made her hair feel like silk, and she was already grinning like an idiot at her own reflection in the mirror.

When she was done with her hair, she glanced around the bathroom, and didn't notice a hotel bathrobe hanging anywhere in sight. All she spotted was Regina's black silk robe hanging on a hook on the back of the door. She sighed and took off the towel, and wrapped the robe around herself instead. She hugged her arms around herself, feeing the smooth fabric against her skin.

She headed back into the room and grabbed her phone. It was a little past eleven now. She had tried to shower quickly, but drying her hair always took forever. Still, she was done in plenty of time to sit and relax and wait for Regina, so she laid back on the bed, and grabbed the remote, turning on the large flat screen TV.

Somehow, in the midst of everything, she managed to doze off again, and was awoken this time to Regina kissing her forehead. Emma's eyes fluttered open, and she moved to try to kiss Regina on the mouth, but Regina stopped her with a finger over her lips, and held up a new toothbrush, still in the package, instead.

Emma blushed, remembering that she had in fact vomited the night before, and she really did need to brush her teeth.

Regina leaned in to smell Emma's hair for a moment. "You smell so nice," she said, as she handed Emma the toothbrush.

"I smell like you," Emma laughed.

"I know."

Emma shook her head as she got up and headed back to the bathroom.

"There's a bag with clothes in there for you," Regina called after her. Emma nodded and went inside, opening the bag once her mouth was minty fresh again. She wasn't sure what she was expecting when she opened the bag, but the charcoal business-style dress, nylons and black pumps was certainly not it. Emma scrunched up her nose in confusion, but put the clothes on anyway.

She headed back into the room, where Regina was grinning at her. "You look good," she commented.

"Really?" Emma asked. "Why? Because I'm dressed like you?"

Regina laughed. "I may have forgotten to mention that the lunch I'm taking you to is a business meeting. I may have lied and said you were my new intern."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want you to have to sit here all day by yourself," Regina shrugged. "Come on, it will be fun."

"Oh, yeah, sounds like it'll be a blast," Emma said, rolling her eyes.

"The food will be good," Regina promised.

Truthfully, Emma knew she would have gone with her even if it was a meeting with no food, because being with Regina in any sense was better than sitting in the hotel room alone, waiting for her. She smiled as she took Regina's outstretched hand, and followed her out of the room.

"I hope it's okay that I used your shampoo and stuff," Emma said, as they walked the hall to the elevator.

"Oh, of course, dear. I expected you to," Regina nodded. "I wouldn't have left it out if I didn't want you to use it."

Emma smiled. "My hair's never felt this soft," she noted.

Regina leaned in close to her ear as they stepped onto the elevator full of people. "I can't wait to get my hands in it later," she whispered.

Emma blushed, even though there was no way anyone else had heard it.

Once they got out of the hotel, there was a town car waiting to take them to the lunch meeting. Regina let Emma get in first, and then wasted no time crawling on to her lap and straddling her once the door was closed, immediately locking her lips down onto Emma's.

"Is that partition thing sound proof?" Emma asked, as she pulled away from Regina for a moment.

"No," Regina shrugged, "but I don't live here and neither of us will likely ever see this driver after today, so who cares?"

That was all the convincing Emma needed to melt right back into Regina's mouth. All the desperation and longing of their seven month separation found its way into the kiss as their tongues battled each other for domination. Regina cupped her hand on Emma's face, and surprisingly, she didn't object when Emma's hands found their way to her hips.

Emma held onto her more lightly than she would have liked to, but considering Regina had yet to push her hands away, she considered it a victory nonetheless.

The car ride was shorter than either of them would have liked, and before they realized it, the car was stopping, and Regina was sliding off Emma's lap and onto the seat beside her, as the driver stepped over to open the door for them. Regina straightened her silver-grey dress and climbed out of the car first. Emma followed quickly, and was a little disappointed when Regina didn't reach for her hand right away, but rather reached for her briefcase.

Right. Business meeting.

Regina led Emma into a tall building with floor to ceiling windows. Regina picked up her name badge from the receptionist, and Emma quickly read it. Regina Mills. Well, at least now Emma knew her last name.

Regina picked up a second badge that said Guest, and fastened it to Emma's dress for her. "I didn't give them enough time to make one for you," she explained.

Emma shrugged. "That's okay." She looked around nervously at all the people around her, and then leaned in closer to Regina. "So, um, what do I do? I don't really know what an intern does…"

Regina smiled. "You don't have to say anything, just shake hands and smile. I promise it will be fine," Regina insisted.

Emma followed Regina to a large board room, where there were already several men in business suits making idle conversation. One man came over to Regina quickly – a little too quickly for Emma's liking – and reached out to shake her hand.

"Mayor Mills, it's a pleasure to see you again," he said, grinning an overly toothy grin at her.

"Mayor Danbrooke," Regina nodded, "this is my new intern, Emma Swan. Emma, this is Samuel Danbrooke."

Emma nodded nervously and shook his hand. She was so far out of her element at the moment.

She followed Regina as he made the rounds, introducing her to all the men in the room. None of them seemed as overly interested in Regina as Samuel Danbrooke had, and Emma made a mental note to keep a close eye on him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they were seated around the large table, and someone came in to take their lunch orders. Regina slid her chair in nice and close to Emma's, under the pretense that they would be looking at the same notes, but it wasn't long into the boring meeting that Emma noticed Regina's foot trailing across the back of her leg.

Emma blushed and lowered her eyes to the papers in front of her, avoiding the gaze of the men around her, as Regina starting making slow circles on Emma's calf with her stocking-clad toe. It was only then that Emma was completely aware that Regina had slipped her shoe off entirely.

Emma peeked at her out of the side of her eye, but Regina's attention seemed to be focused on the paper in front of her, as the nodded along to whatever some man across the table was saying. It was as if she wasn't even aware of what her foot was doing.

Emma made a cursory glance around the table to see that no one seemed to be paying any attention to her or Regina whatsoever, except for that damn Samuel Danbrooke, who seemed to be undressing Regina with his eyes.

Emma wanted to punch him.

Her thoughts were quickly distracted as a server came in with their lunch orders. Regina removed her foot and slipped it back into her black pump as the server brought them wine.

"Holy shit, they give you all this for free?" Emma whispered, earning her a curious look from the men in her direct earshot.

Regina just smiled. "Yes, dear," she whispered back, before looking up at the man directly across from them. "Sorry, she's very new."

Emma blushed and looked down again, embarrassed, trying to remind herself that she was among business professionals and not at a bar or a sketchy diner someplace.

Emma remained silent through the rest of lunch – which was some sort of fancy salad and chicken with a dressing she'd never tasted before, but tasted more expensive than anything she could ever dream of being able to afford – and throughout the rest of the meeting. She was a little disappointed that Regina's foot never returned to the back of her calf, and she hoped that she hadn't pissed her off or embarrassed her with her comment about the free food.

After the meeting, Emma and Regina headed silently down the hallway, and Emma couldn't really read the expression on Regina's face. Her anxiety rose with every step they took in silence, even as they stepped into an empty elevator together.

Moments into the ride, when they were between floors, Regina hit the emergency stop without warning, and turned to press her lips against Emma's, effectively pushing her right back up against the wall.

Emma let out a surprise yelping sound into Regina's mouth, making the brunette laugh against her lips. "I thought you might like some excitement after that boring meeting," Regina said, as she broke away for a moment.

Emma smiled. "Won't they question why the elevator stopped."

Regina shrugged, and pressed her lips against Emma's again. Within moments, her hands were sliding up Emma's body and found her breasts, squeezing them playfully.

But the moment was cut short by a voice coming through the intercom on the elevator, asking if everything was alright. Regina rolled her eyes and replied that it was, and hit the button to start the elevator again, looking thoroughly annoyed.

Regina took back Emma's name badge and handed it in with her own to the receptionist before they continued back out of the building, where the car was waiting. They climbed in, and Regina turned to Emma.

"I have one more meeting to get to. It's much longer and far less interesting, if that's even possible. You can come with me if you want, or the driver can take you back to the hotel," Regina offered.

"I'd rather stay with you, if that's alright," Emma said. "Especially if that Samuel Danbrooke is there making eyes at you."

Regina smiled. "Fine by me," she said, lacing her fingers through Emma's as they rode to the next meeting. "And don't worry about Sam, it's just a harmless crush. It's never gone beyond that, I promise."

Emma smiled as she squeezed Regina's hand. She secretly wished that Regina would straddle her lap again, but she supposed that hand holding was alright for now. Any sort of closeness was welcome from this woman she was becoming more and more infatuated with by the minute.

She tried to remind herself that Regina was going home tomorrow, and she didn't know when, if ever, she would see her again, but in the moment, it was hard to accept that was the reality of the situation.

Emma tried to distract herself from thoughts of the fact that Regina would be leaving tomorrow by remembering that they had all night tonight, and that Emma wasn't going to ruin another night between the two of them.

Tonight was going to count, she would make sure of that.