"So, tell me about China," Emma asked excitedly, as she handed Killian a beer and dropped down next to him on the sofa. The two of them had considered going to grab some dinner together while they were in the city. But their inability to keep their hands off each other ultimately lead them to the decision that ordering in was probably the safest option for them.
"Oh, that reminds me," he chuckled, as he reached down for his bag, which was tucked under the small side table in the lounge. "I got you a few gifts." Killian pulled a large black box out from inside of it, and placed it down carefully in Emma's lap before he sank back into his seat. He looked a little nervous about her reaction to whatever it was he'd brought home for her, and Emma thought that was truly ridiculous. She would love whatever he'd gifted to her, for the simple fact that he'd thought of her enough to want to buy her something while he was away.
She pulled the golden ribbon on top to let it unravel before carefully lifting off the lid. When she peeled back the first layer of tissue paper inside, Emma gasped a little in surprise at what was hidden underneath it.
"It's um… it's from the Beijing opera," Killian explained carefully. "I've never been before, it always seems like the kinda thing you shouldn't go to alone. But I thought the masks were kind of cool. I have a few of my own."
"It's beautiful," she assured him. "I've never owned anything quite like this before. Thank you." Emma leaned forward to offer him a sweet kiss, but Killian pulled away before it could become anything else.
"There's um… there's more in the box," he explained, at the look of confusion on her face. "You can show me your gratitude when you've seen it all." He winked at her playfully and Emma dissolved into a flood of giggles at the action. He had this unique way of making her feel like a teenager experiencing love for the very first time, whenever he looked at her.
She carefully lifted out the mask and placed it down on the small table so that it wouldn't fall and break, before she began looking through the rest of her gifts. Killian had also included a few packages of different green teas, and some decorative chopsticks too. There was also a small peacock that had been made entirely from different types of knots, in the same colours as the mask that he'd gotten for her. And everything was sat on top of the most beautiful silk scarf she had ever seen.
"This is incredible," she praised. "You really didn't need to go to all of that trouble and expense for me."
"I wanted to," he assured her, as he leaned forward to tuck the hair that had fallen across her face behind her left ear. "I thought about you a lot while I was gone. So I picked up a little something when I wasn't busy, and you were on my mind."
Emma set the box of goodies carefully down on the floor as she slid a little closer to the man sat in the corner of her sofa. She'd dated plenty of guys in the past while she was at university, and after she had graduated. But none of her ex-boyfriends had ever been quite as sweet and thoughtful as Killian was.
What started as a soft brush of her lips to his, quickly built into more. Emma couldn't seem to stop her hands from tracing the hard lines of muscles in Killian's torso, as his own settled onto her hips, to pull her into his body a little more firmly. She wasn't sure when it happened, but one minute she was leaning into his touch, silently begging him for more as she used her tongue to trace the shape of his bottom lip. The next, she was straddling his lap, and pushing him back to a reclining position on her couch.
"Emma, we should stop," Killian protested weakly, as he slipped his hand under her shirt to explore the bare skin beneath it.
"I don't wanna," she mumbled back petulantly, laying kisses across his collarbone.
"Trust me, Love. This is incredibly painful for me to say." Killian pulled away a little to put some distance between the two of them. But he still couldn't seem to keep his hands off her. "I really don't want you to do something you're gonna regret."
"Then just tell me the damned secret," she shot back at him, sitting up so quickly that his hands fell from her waist. "Haven't I already shown you that it doesn't bother me? Tell me, Killian."
"I want to," he assured her. "Trust me, the entire time I was in China all I wanted to do was message you about what was going on. I wanted to share my joy and happiness with you. Not with people who I barely knew, and that were probably secretly jealous of my accomplishments. Look… my next tournament begins in eleven days in Sheffield. Come with me? Come and see what I do. That way, we'll both know for sure if this is something you're still interested in when you know the full story."
Emma sat back against the sofa cushions as she folded her arms over her chest. She wasn't happy that he was essentially cockblocking them once more. But she could tell that whatever it was he was keeping from her meant a great deal to him. Enough for Killian to want to know that she was all in, before he revealed the truth. And she couldn't really bring herself to be angry at him for that.
"Okay," she agreed softly. "I'll come to Sheffield with you."
"Thank you." The smile that broke over his face was almost as blindingly beautiful as the dawn on a summer morning. Emma couldn't stop herself from returning it, even if she had tried.
"So, Sheffield is another big clue, huh?" she teased gently.
"You already knew about my time in Sheffield," Killian corrected.
"Yeah. But not that you were there so soon after the tournament in China. I have more information for a Google search now."
Killian snorted as he reached for his now-warm bottle of beer once more, and drained it dry.
Thank you for reading and reviewing.
As ever, special thanks here go to Luna, Alexa, Laura Miller, Lexan and halfkender (feel free to always ramble at me. I love reading it) for their wonderful reviews.
