It's not so much the music itself, but the bass thumping throughout the house and echoing through the pillow that startles her awake. The bedroom is still pitch-black, so she knows it's still the middle of the night. She blindly searches for her phone on the nightstand and finds that it's three o'clock in the morning to be exact. She groans, scrubs her hands down her face and slowly clambers out of bed.
Graham's still at work and apparently Regina is angrily working on her latest piece this evening. The bitter night air nips at her skin and produces a wild spread of goosebumps to pop along her naked flesh. Her gaze drops to the floor to find something from earlier that she can slip into and her hand is immediately drawn to Regina's white blouse from her meeting earlier that evening with a potential buyer. She slips her arms into the cool blouse and only bothers buttoning one button in the middle. She runs her fingers through her knotty locks and trudges out of the bedroom in search of Regina.
Her eyelids are heavy, and her mind is still fuzzy, but her body instinctively follows the thumping to Regina's studio. The door is closed when she approaches, so she gently turns the knob and very carefully eases the door open, cautious not disturb whatever creative ideas that are bouncing around in there.
The bright white lights are blindly, forcing her to squint before the obnoxiously loud music assaults her ears. She winces. She discovers the drop-dead gorgeous brunette studying a canvas in front of her, almost the entire height of the woman. Her head is tilted, her hair piled high into a messy ponytail with adorable little pieces trying to escape the confines of the hair band. There's a streak of red decorating her temple and smudged all the way down to her cheek and it's probably Emma's favorite thing about this powerful woman. Green eyes trickle down to those talented hands and sure enough they are coated in the dusty residue from the pastels, inspiring Emma's heart to skip a beat.
She rests her weight against the door frame, folding her arms across her chest and quietly watching this incredible woman from a distance. She's grinning like a fool, she can feel the ache deep in her cheeks and maybe this is the moment she realizes that she's feeling things she swore she would never for another human until after she was a successful doctor, but it's there. It's a warm tingling in her chest, accompanied by a swirling mix of something she can't quite put her finger on, that's in her gut, and it's foreign, and yet familiar, and it spooks her right down to her soul.
Regina scoffs at something and luckily that snaps Emma out of her panicking thoughts. The brunette scratches at her temple, sighs and then tosses her green pastel down on her work station. Emma exhales slowly and pushes off the frame, tentatively stepping inside the room, not wanting to startle Regina, but she fails.
Regina jumps back, a hand to her chest while her eyes double in size. "Emma."
"Hi," she softly whispers, shuffling closer to pull this woman into her arms. "Why are you stressing?"
Regina shakes her head and quickly leans over Emma's shoulder to lower the blasting music. "What?"
"I asked, why are you stressing?" Regina mindlessly shakes her head again, her eyes crawling toward her artwork, but Emma grasps onto her chin and pulls her attention back. "No, you are stressed, why? Tell me," she gently asks, pressing her mouth to those plump lips to convince her into opening up.
"Full disclosure?" Regina husks, her voice sounding especially worn out and raw this evening, forcing a sad pout to curl around Emma's mouth as she nods slowly. "You leave in two weeks."
"I know."
"I suppose I'm realizing that it's going to be rather difficult to adjust to a life without you around. You basically moved your little self in and I'm just accustomed to you always floating around this house."
Emma swallows, because she didn't mean for this to happen, she didn't mean to spend every waking moment in this home and in Regina's presence and she certainly didn't mean to make herself at home in some stranger's house and she definitely didn't mean to continue sleeping with this woman and her husband every damn day this summer. Except, it all happened, and the worst part is, that she didn't even realize when it was all happening. They had one conversation regarding their actions, but after that, it was never discussed again. She just kept following her instincts and everything unraveled so naturally, comfortably and above all, beautifully.
"I know, I'm really gonna miss being here. I have so much work ahead of me and I would much rather hide away and keep lounging around your pool," she playfully acknowledges, hoping to lighten Regina's stormy mood, but those pursed lips and crease in her forehead don't vanish like she had hoped for. "I'm really gonna miss you," Emma softly confesses, against her better judgement.
Regina doesn't respond, not verbally anyway, instead she cups Emma's face, her thumbs gently stroking her cheeks to memorize her before she timidly brushes her lips against hers. Emma melts, her insides becoming a hot goo as she slumps into the comforting touch and vows to memorize how Regina makes her feel every time she kisses her.
Her blood warms until it's at boiling point, bubbling up to the surface and sizzling just below her flesh. Her heart feels the weight of the sensation that everyone refuses to acknowledge, it's heavy, full and she feels it expanding in the confines of her chest. And those damn butterflies are back again, flapping their obnoxiously large wings, tickling her gut and making themselves at home.
Except, she has to force those feelings away because at the end of the day, confessing the truth will only lead down a slippery slope to heartache. She can't have this couple, it's forbidden, it's taboo and above all, she doesn't want to want them at the moment. She has a goal and she's already set on the right track and she can't afford to be derailed. Not when she was accepted to the top medical school in New York.
All her worries are shoved out of her mind when Regina takes control and slams her back against her work station. She grunts from the force, but she doesn't falter, quickly snaking her arms around the brunette and jerking her flush against her body.
"I have a confession," Regina hotly husks into their searing kiss, and all Emma can do is hum in response as her lips try to keep up. "I drew you one morning while you and Graham were sleeping." Emma's eyebrows skyrocket from her surprise, but her lips seem attached to Regina's. "An art gallery wants to purchase it."
"Oh my god," Emma finally breaks the kiss, those enchanting, rich eyes peering deep into hers. "Regina, that's amazing! Congratulations!"
"And you don't mind?" She investigates with her insecurities and hesitance on full display.
Emma furrows her brows and tenderly wipes away the red residue painted down Regina's nose. "Why would I mind?"
"It's your body and you're naked," she fully discloses, holding her breath for the rejection she is expecting.
Thin lips twist in consideration, her mind working through the information. "Can I see it?" She meekly questions.
"Of course," Regina excitedly says, a shy smile making an appearance through her apprehension.
She steps out of Emma's embrace, sashaying across the room toward an easel covered by a large sheet. She carefully removes the linen, a proud smile blooming across her face as she carefully picks up the picture and carries it back to Emma.
Emma's face is glowing with excitement and anticipation, her wide eyes darting between Regina's sparkling eyes and the masterpiece in hand. Regina carefully spins the canvas around and patiently waits for Emma to absorb the beauty.
"Wow," she breathlessly gasps as her eyes soak up the intricate details around her curves and bouncing curls cascading down her back. "I-wow," she repeats because she is for once rendered speechless.
"Your face isn't that clear between your hair dipping low and the pillow, I don't think anyone could ever make the connection, but it's your body and if-"
"Regina, stop," she sternly demands, snapping the brunette's mouth shut in an instant. She reaches out, desperately needing to touch something so astonishing that this woman created with her barehands, but she refrains, terrified of ruining the masterpiece that it is. "This is beautiful, I can't even think of another word that could justify this. You're so unbelievably talented, like I can't even wrap my head around how something this spectacular came from your hands and a couple colors."
"Thank you," Regina shyly whispers, and it's so damn adorable how bashful this strong and independent woman is acting.
"Everyone needs to see how talented you are. Nobody will ever know that's me. Sell it, people have to experience this beauty," she orders with conviction.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive, not a doubt in my mind."
Regina sighs in relief and carefully places the piece back onto the easel for safe keeping. "Thank you," she whispers so delicately as she locks her arms around Emma's slim waist. "I really appreciate it."
"Don't thank me. Thank you for creating that from me. I can assure you, I'm not that beautiful," she laughs lightly, but the artist is not laughing along with her.
"You're more beautiful," she states in all seriousness, not a drop of teasing or insincerity in her tone as she encloses the gap between them and holds her lips firmly against Emma's.
And this woman doesn't move to deepen the kiss or feel their lips meshing together, no, she simply holds their lips together, breathing in the moment of intimacy and desperately trying to remember the feeling swelling in her heart.
Emma smiles into the connection and asks, with her lips still molded against Regina's, "how did you make those curves and dips so realistic?"
Regina chuckles against her mouth, her fingers speedily moving to unclasp the only button holding Emma's shirt together. "It's very tricky," she enthuses, scratching her nails down Emma's flat stomach, causing the blonde to squirm and smile into their connection. "I really had to study," she states, her fingers slyly gliding back up to grope the free and swollen breasts.
"Oh yeah? Seems we have both been studying a lot this summer," she teases, smoothing her palms down Regina's round bottom and forcing the woman closer.
Regina caresses the heavy mounds fully exposed for her and slips her tongue into Emma's mouth, distracting her for a moment. Emma moans into the kiss, digging her nails into that plump bottom and thrusting suggestively against the older woman. Unexpectedly, she feels a cool and chalky substance gliding across her sternum, causing her to gasp.
"I wasn't granted the luxury of making flash cards or study guides," Regina mocks and dear god that condescending tone shouldn't make Emma's toes curl in such a manner. "So, every time I touched, I had to memorize each curve, every line, every dip that makes this gorgeous physique," she continues, stressing her point by tracing the voluptuous swell beneath Emma's breast.
Green eyes flick down to observe a yellow streak coating her skin, coaxing the goofiest grin to plaster across her face. Maybe it's out of habit, or maybe Regina's trying to prove her expertise, but her thumb sweeps across the line, smearing the color like she's creating some shadow. Emma's in awe of the spectacular woman, she can't think, she can't speak, so she can only watch intently.
"The hardest part," Regina trails off as the pastel glides effortlessly down Emma's side, following the ridges in her ribs downward, "was always these curves," she stresses as yellow coats her hips, "but they are certainly my favorite," she confesses, stretching to lightly kiss Emma's lips, but the blonde is too distracted.
Regina smirks, knowing she has the younger woman hypnotized by her touch, encouraging her to continue. She steps to her right, slowly, like a lion on the prowl, dragging the pastel over the hump of Emma's tight little bottom.
"I had to make sure each line was detailed, specific, clean and clear," she explains, sinking behind the blonde and placing a tender kiss to her shoulder. "I believe this part of the piece is the most important," she states as the side of her pinky brushes against the clear line etching over Emma's bottom, shading the color all around.
Emma peeks over her shoulder, mesmerized by the sultry tone floating through the midnight air and the careful, yet important way Regina's hands work all on their own. They both seem lost in the moment as Regina traces the top of Emma's bottom like a curvy valley in some landscape painting. Regina sweeps around her other hip and Emma's eyes are immediately drawn to this vein in Regina's forehead as she concentrates on her work. Without her permission, green eyes gloss over from the love erupting in her heart for this beautiful woman.
"I had to be careful with these lines," Regina mindlessly says, dragging the pastel up Emma's ribcage and back over to the neglected breast. "I needed to ensure the realistic aspect, trim, fit, but not impossibly thin," she proceeds, her thumb lightly, yet firmly rubbing against the color for more shading.
Emma's heart is pounding erratically in her chest, screaming it's love for this divine woman, but she can't say those words. Instead, her hand plucks the red pastel, safely tucked away in its rightful spot and jerks Regina's camisole down, revealing those scrumptious breasts. She smirks to herself, as Regina's eyes follow her every move and she doodles her best curvy heart directly in the center of Regina's perky chest.
The corners of Regina's mouth deepen as she stares at the heart stained against her chest and she only wishes she could tell Emma how true this is. This woman's love is stained on her heart and there's nothing that could ever remove it from its place.
Brown eyes drift up to meet shy green orbs staring right back at her. Emma has the corner of her lip painfully trapped between her teeth and the action has Regina swooning all over again. She tosses the yellow pastel to her work station and hastily pulls her lover into a searing kiss, causing Emma to mindlessly drop her pastel to the ground.
Her fingertips are coated in various colors, but neither one cares as Regina glides them up Emma's face and holds her impossibly close. She sweeps her tongue across Emma's bottom lip and the blonde immediately grants access to her mouth. She tenderly, yet firmly slides her tongue into Emma's mouth and claims her all for her own, eliciting a guttural moan from the younger woman.
Abruptly, Emma swoops beneath Regina's bottom and lifts her into the air, only to plop her down on the work station. They both are grinning wildly as they crash their lips together and Emma finds the hem of Regina's tank top, roughly yanking it up and over her head. They both gasp, the pure adrenaline and excitement taking over their bodies and making it almost impossible to breathe properly.
Emma lurches forward, her teeth sinking into the satin flesh to suck an erect nipple into her mouth while Regina's fingers bury deep into her hair to hold her close. Her lover groans deeply, arching into Emma's mouth and pleading for more and she will be damned if she doesn't offer this woman her all. She ravishes that breast, swirling her tongue and flicking over the hardening bud before she sucks it all into her mouth and roughly palms the other, demanding that they are hers.
"Uh, Emma," Regina breathlessly gasps, inspiring her to quickly unbutton Regina's shorts while sucking ruthlessly onto her heavy mound.
Her fingers fumble from her need, but she pops open the button and removes herself from Regina, so she can tug those jeans right off. Regina helps her, lifting her bottom in a haste as Emma jerks them from her body and angrily tosses them aside. Regina is instantly gathering two fistfuls of her own blouse and yanking Emma back between her legs.
Neither one even attempts hiding their desperate need for one another. They both are gasping into their fierce kiss, that borderlines sloppy and bruising while Regina tugs the blouse down Emma's shoulders until it's dropping hazardously to their feet. The second her shirt hits the floor, Emma makes quick work to plant rapid and forceful kisses down Regina's jawline until she's nipping and biting at the woman's throat. She proceeds down the tan chest, producing hard pecks that echo through the room as she descends over the uneven heart she drew. The tip of her tongue pokes out, licking a wet path down Regina's flat stomach until she smells the woman's arousal.
She doesn't hesitate, she knows they are both too frantic in the moment to even think about playing games. She bites down on the hood which provokes Regina's hips to flex forward, allowing Emma better access to her dripping center. She expertly slicks her tongue through the woman's slit and waits for that deep shuddering breath that always follows. She shivers in response, absolutely obsessed and addicted to each noise Regina produces when she's between her legs.
"Yes," Regina gasps, scratching her nails through Emma's tangled hair and forcing her in closer, prompting Emma's bundle of nerves to twitch with a burning desire.
Emma moans into the sweet taste of her lover, circling her tongue in the perfect rhythm that she has memorized by now that always brings Regina to climax within no time. Except, Regina has other plans, because she's suddenly tugging on Emma's hair and demanding her back up to meet her steamy gaze. Regina surges forward, brutally colliding their lips back together and groaning erotically from the taste of herself on Emma's lips. She bucks her hips forward while plunging her tongue into Emma's mouth and the blonde doesn't skip a beat, deftly ramming one finger into the tight canal.
Regina gasps heavily into the kiss, but Emma forces that tongue to keep up with her own, while she sneaks one more finger inside.
"Oh god, fuck me, Emma," she mewls, setting Emma's entire body on fire and turning her on like she's never felt before.
She shivers violently from the command and her hand moves all on its own, slamming into that trigger that makes Regina scream incoherently. She grips the older woman's hip to steady her balance and mercilessly thrusts deep inside of this woman like she's in some sort of damn race.
"Oh my god, fuck," Regina chokes on her words, her mouth slipping away from Emma's, but she clearly doesn't want to fall away too far, so she captures Emma's bottom lip and bites down to remain connected.
Emma's heaving, her arm is already burning and she's sure Regina's going to draw blood from her lip, but she really doesn't give a damn, because this woman is the sexiest woman alive and she wouldn't trade this moment for anything.
Regina's hips are hysterical, bucking and grinding while Emma repeatedly worships that sweet spot deep inside and then everything hits her all at once and she unravels.
"Fuck...yes...yes," she screams, releasing Emma's lip only to dive forward with a bruising kiss as her orgasm rips through her veins and pours through her blood like hot lava.
Emma eases on her thrusting and clamps the heel of her palm over Regina's needy clit. She presses down firmly, and slowly circles her palm, dragging out Regina's orgasm for as long as possible. The brunette actually whimpers in return, her hips slowly grinding and matching Emma's tempo as she bites down again on Emma's lip.
Regina's entire body trembles viciously, inspiring Emma to slip from her center and wrap the woman up in her arms. She presses a lingering kiss to the crown of Regina's head and breathes in all the glorious aromas swarming through the air. Regina inhales sharply, attempting to fill her lungs and calm her body back down, but it only results in her shuddering again.
Emma chuckles softly as Regina slowly pulls away from her chest and drags her into a lazy kiss. Their lips are weak, slowly brushing against each other, but Regina is pressing firmly into Emma's body, urging her to step back. The only problem is Emma refuses to release this gorgeous figure which causes her feet to stumble back. Awkwardly, she pulls Regina to the ground with her and the brunette wastes no time stretching her body out on top of Emma's.
Regina cups the back of Emma's neck as her tongue dives right back in, loving Emma's tongue all over again. Emma grips the woman's hips and holds her close, following as Regina grinds down against her needy clit, sending a glorious wave of pleasure to ripple through her body like a rock skipping across a lake.
Regina's hips never stop circling as she slowly pulls away from the kiss and taunts Emma with the red pastel she had dropped earlier. The blonde laughs, gazing up at this sexy woman and wondering how she will ever be okay without this woman in her life. Regina thrusts slow and rough, creating the most sensational friction against Emma's bundles of nerves before she takes the pastel and paints a line down Emma's nose.
Regina tips her head back in laughter, so carefree, unguarded and open, inspiring Emma to giggle along with her. She hastily snatches the pastel away, and behind Regina's back, she scrubs the color against her fingertips and then tosses the tool aside. She smirks, cocky and completely proud of herself before she slams her hands down hard against Regina's full bottom, marking her for the night.
She wiggles her eyebrows, dancing with amusement as Regina laughs and dips down to slowly kiss her again.
"I'm really going to miss you, Em," Regina sincerely states, slowly kissing her to memorize just exactly how she kisses.
Emma only kisses her back because she doesn't trust herself to open her loose lips. She knows she will probably blurt out something inappropriate and maybe even something she will regret, but more importantly, it will be something that will make her departure even harder. So, she kisses this woman like it's her last time and watches closely as Regina very clearly makes love to her.
It's slow, full of passion and a rhythmic dance that expresses how connected they truly are. Their kiss is tentative, like it's their first time ever exploring each other's mouths and it's utterly delicious and addictive. They bask in the intimacy, loving how their essence is mixing into one as their lower lips share their own heated kiss. They barely make a sound, just sharp gasps for their next breaths and little whimpers that tell their secrets of how close they truly are.
Emma is the first to cry out, writhing hopelessly beneath Regina as her orgasm violently wracks through her body and it's the sight of her pleasure that tips Regina over the edge, biting into Emma's neck to stifle her scream.
Regina rests her head against the strong shoulder and tries to regulate her breathing while Emma's nails drag slowly up her back.
"We should go take a shower and clean this stuff off," Emma says and maybe she's just tired, but she sounds awfully sad.
"Or, we stay here," Regina teasingly suggests as she reaches across the floor and steals that red pastel back. "And continue mapping out each other until we have every inch, every detail, memorized," she playfully suggests before she slowly draws a matching heart over Emma's chest.
And really, who is Emma to deny this woman a thing?