4
"Is it always like this?" Robin chuckled, sitting next to hear, reading from her screen. "I think so.." He answered as Regina looked on another site. "Well the kiss looks real." Regina said as she stared at the picture of them kissing, it was nothing to serious, just a simple kiss. "Yeah we did a good job."
She had looked at the pictures all day, she was pretty sure she had read every article and a lot of comments. The comments where mostly about her, everyone wanted to know who she is, where she comes from, how they had met. A few comments from jealous girls and some woman, all of them dreaming of being with Robin. Regina had found it fascinating, all this people giving there opinions, their unsolicited remarks. She had wondered if Robin read them, he was probably to busy for that but she had wondered if he had looked at the pictures, if he had thought back to that kiss just as she had, if he had wondered when he would kiss her again.
Regina shook up out of her thoughts as Robin talked to the driver, reminding her of where they were going. "I don't know about this.." She started, nerves immediately filling her stomach. "I know it's hard but they already called.." He didn't have to tell her that. A few minutes after the internet explode with pictures of Robin and Regina together her mother had called, Regina wasn't sure if she was mad or excited but she almost forced them to dinner tonight. Robin, as the gentleman he his, cancelled his appointments and insisted on coming with her. But although Robin was there with her, she was terrified, they would ask so many questions. She was scared of getting caught, although she and her mother don't really get along Cora Mills knows her daughter and it freaked Regina out.
Not to mention Zelena, who would obviously be there. She would do anything to humiliate her, to make herself look better than Regina. And then her father, he was going to be so happy for her, his happiness would break her heart since none of it was real, lying to her father was hard, she loves him so much just the thought of disappointing him hurt her.
"Don't worry, when you don't know what to do just look at me, I'll save you from any situation." Regina smiled, a smile Robin had seen in his dreams these last nights. He knew it was fake, all of it. And of course they could be friends, they could make the best out of this time, but he was already losing himself, flirting too much, looking too much. He met her three days ago and he already struggled with the reality.
"They will absolutely adore you." Regina then said, thinking about the countless times her mother wanted to set her up with successful man. "My mother always wanted me to marry someone wealthy, someone with status." Regina looked out of the window, after Daniel she stopped bringing boyfriends home, afraid they might run from her and mostly her family just as Daniel did. She just told them she had no contact with her family, no one ever doubted that. "That must have been hard on you.." Robin said as he looked at her, trying to find her eyes with his but she kept looking away. "I'm just to it, my father only cares about my happiness, so you might have to try a little harder with him." She changed the subject hoping he would stop talking about her mother. "I'll do my best."
"Regina!" To Regina's surprise her mother hugged her tight before she laid eyes on Robin. "Mr. Locksley, I am Cora Mills, so nice to meet you." Cora greeted him politely, before she asked them in. "Robin will do." Robin said smiling and walked in while Cora hold Regina back. "We need to talk before you leave." She just whispered, spreading goosebumps all over Regina's arms with it. Without saying another word Regina followed Robin into the living room.
"Mr Mills, pleasure to meet you, Regina told me a lot about you." Henry got out of his chair and gave Robin a firm handshake. "The pleasure is mine, unfortunately Regina didn't tell me much about you.." Henry said as he looked at his daughter, who was already blushing. "I might have had a little to do with that." Without a warning he wrapped his arm around Regina's waist, pulling her closer. "But I hope we can make up for the lost time." He continued as he quickly send Regina a smile.
"Regina kitchen!" Cora almost screamed into the living room. "Don't be to harsh on him daddy." She gently laid her hand on Robin's muscular abdomen, feeling how ripped he was and before she could get carried away she kissed his cheek lightly and walked into the kitchen. Pretending to be with him already felt so natural.
"Yes mother." Regina said, pretending not to know where this was about. "How long?" Cora just asked, not even looking at her daughter. "Almost a year." Regina told her mother the lie she and Robin had prepared. Her mother sighed deeply. "Why didn't you tell us?" Her mother snapped. "Because we wanted our relation to be private before the whole world decided to blend in." It sounded reasonable but still, it was her mother who she was trying to convince. "And you didn't think your own family could keep it a secret?" Her mother said, dramatically hurt. "Of course I think you could, but Robin and I didn't want to take any risk so we kept it to ourselves." Before her mother could react Regina continued. "I'm sorry mother, I wish I could have told you sooner, but you know about us now and we are very happy." There was a short pause before she finished. "And I hope you can be happy for us too."
Regina left the kitchen, finding Robin and her father already in a conversation about sport. Regina smiled and wanted to walk to them before she heard the doorbell. Zelena. Robin send her a quick glare and she just nodded before she mentally prepared herself for her sister.
"There he is!" Zelena cheered. She walked towards Robin and just after Robin got up she hugged him. "So good to finally meet you!" Zelena said as if she had known about him for years. "My sister is a lucky woman." She then said after she took Robin in from head to toe. "Where's Archie?" Regina asked, hoping he was here to control Zelena, for as far that was possible. "Conference." The redhead just said, completely taken by Robin's presence.
Regina was grateful when they finally started dinner, the more food the less talking, something she had learned after going to these dinners twice a month. Robin constantly send her glares and while she really shouldn't, she loved it. She loved how could it felt to sit next to someone, especially with her family.
Her mother and sister had asked them anything, how they'd meet, how Robin had proposed, how they saw the future and after all these questions they just wanted to know everything about his business, mostly to know how rich he really was. Since everything in this damned family always was about money.
"And you'll keep working in the callcenter Regina?" Her sister asked with that wicked smile of hers. And here it was, a question she didn't had an answer too. She panicked, all alarm bells went of in her head. They were going to find out the truth. "She will, just not fully. I want her with me as much as possible." She hadn't looked at him and still he had saved her. She quickly smiled at him, feeling so grateful for what he was doing for her, for how he helped her to make her family believe in this engagement. As she looked at him she almost drowned in his eyes. For a businessman he was pretty good at pretending, she almost believed him when he spoke like that, or when he had hold her by her waist earlier.
"Mrs. Mills this is absolutely delicious." Robin said after he finished his plate. Her mother blushed a little and began to tell him what the recipe was. And while her mother told him that Regina stared at Robin, he was definitely the perfect gentleman tonight and the way he looked at her when he talked about her, although all he told was lies still he had a look in his eyes when he told her family does lies, a sparkle, like he wanted the lies he told to be through. Regina had to stop her mind from thinking, this was getting out of hand, she was just doing her job, just as he was doing his, nothing more than that.
"Shall we go home? It's been a long night." Robin whispered near her ear as the rest of the family cleaned the table. Regina smiled and nodded. Robin stood up from his chair and grabbed her hand, again the brunette smiled. He lead them to the kitchen, thanked her family for dinner and said goodbye, Regina did the same and followed Robin to the door.
Once they were outside Robin caught her parents staring at them from behind the window. "Kiss me." He whispered, Regina's eyes widen, unaware of her parents staring. "What?" She whispered, making sure she heard him right. "Kiss me Regina." She did as he said and leaned forward to kiss him, she just wanted to kiss him on the lips, a simple kiss, just like the one on the red carpet. But Robin had other plans, he brought one of his hands to her waist his other to her cheek and deepened the kiss as he stroked his thumb over her skin. Regina fought with all she had to hold back a moan and let her hands rest on his chest. Enjoying this new sensation, trying her best not to feel anything. Robin ended the kiss and tipped his nose against hers, smiling at her surprised expression. "I eh.. We.." Regina stumbled, trying to understand what had just happened. "Your parents are looking, now you don't have to worry about them believing this." His thumb was still stroking her cheek as Regina tried not to blush. "And now I'm going to give you my jacket, wrap my arm around you and walk us to the car." He whispered again. Regina was still looking for the right words, but all she could think about was that kiss. "Is that ok?" She nodded and felt how his jacket covered her bare shoulders before his arm was wrapped tight around her.
— — —
The first week had flown by, Regina had told Mary-Margaret she was going to stay and since today she was officially Mrs. Locksley to be. Apart from the event and the family dinner she hadn't seen Robin much. He worked a lot and she wasn't sure if he wanted to spent his free time with her so she just gave him his space. She was not avoiding him, of course not, why would she do that. She was just trying to not get in the way.
They hadn't talked about their second kiss, not that there was any reason to talk about it, it was part of her job and although he was the one that kissed her it was just business, nothing more, nothing less. Still Regina had found herself dreaming that night, dreaming about his lips, about marrying him, about the wedding night. She constantly had to stop herself, this was nothing like her. She had literally slept with countless man without ever developing feelings, and now she couldn't even stop thinking about a kiss that didn't even mean something.
A few knocks on her door made her come back to the reality. "Yes." She said before August opened the door and stepped inside. "Mr. Lockley would like to have dinner with you, there's a table set for you two down the lake." Regina swallowed something, this was not a business meeting, or a fancy dinner party, this was Robin, wanting to have dinner with her, in private. "He's waiting for you downstairs and he told me to tell you to take your time." August smiled and then left her room. Regina's heart skipped a few beats, she immediately ran to her closet and before she lost herself in the thought of what to wear she picked a long wide white dress. She let her hair fall down and quickly touched up her make up before she put on white flats and walked downstairs.
She found Robin talking to Granny and to keep their little act going he ended the conversation and took her hand in his and placed a gentle kiss on it. "Beautiful." He whispered. Regina saw Granny smile before she went back to the kitchen. "Shall we?" She nodded and followed him into the garden while he was still holding her hand.
They walked in quiet before they reached the lake. A small round table was standing in the grass, one big plate on top of it and when Regina saw what was on the plate she started to laugh. "Really?" She asked and Robin just smiled at her and nodded. "You really thought I never ate pizza?" Regina smiled back and sat down before Robin did the same. "So.." She started, hoping he would start talking because she didn't know what to say. "So.." He repeated. "You decided to stay." He said, trying to suppress a smile. "I did." They looked each other in the eyes. "Did that surprise you?" Robin shrugged his shoulders. "After you avoided me these last few days I didn't know what to expect."
Busted. "I didn't avoid you." Regina tried to sound convincing but she really didn't. "Regina.." She felt how she blushed, damnit. "I don't really know how you want me to act when we're here.." She confessed and it was the truth, she had no idea what he expected from her. "I don't want you to act around here." She smiled a little, still not sure what that meant. "I want to get to know you, you don't have to hide from me.. This is as much your home as it is mine." She nervously twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "And I get that the whole situation is a bit unusual." Regina laughed. "Just a bit.." She said making him laugh to. "Ok it's madness, but I want to make the best out of it, I want you to feel comfortable and if that kiss outside your parents home confused you than I'm sorry, I thought.." He was searching for words. "Yeah I don't know what I thought, sorry." He didn't have to apologize, she didn't want him to. But what could she do? Tell him he shouldn't feel sorry because she loved it, telling him she wanted him to kiss her again, maybe even in this exact moment. "It's ok." She just said, ruining all of her chances. "I'm glad, so how about a slice of pizza? Or do you just want to stare at it the entire night?"
They ate the pizza, talked about life, about themselves, nothing to serious, both of them avoiding everything that could ruin the mood. They sometimes looked each other in the eyes, but quickly looked away, at once Robin's shoe had touched hers, they had both pulled back their feet. They had watched the sun go under and both wondered what had happened if they weren't in this situation.
If he wasn't a desperate businessman in need of a woman to stand next to him and if she wasn't a well paid escort pretending to be that woman to fulfill his needs. What would have happened if they had just randomly meet, if they had kissed because they wanted to, and not the world. Maybe he would have kissed her again, holding her in his arms as the son went to sleep, he would walk her home, kiss her again before she went inside. He would call her first thing next morning, wishing her a good day, asking her when he would see her again.
But he was a desperate businessman and she was a escort, so they just sat across from each other, waiting for this day to be over, looking forward to the next time they would be pretending, both of them constantly asking themselves the what if question.
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