The rest of the evening came and went. Emma loved the soup I made her. The way she spoke about my cooking made me feel like I should have gone to compete in a cooking contest. Emma made me feel something I hadn't felt in years…appreciated. Hell, even loved to a degree. However, it was something I did not want to think about…I couldn't because it was entirely too soon. I entertained my thoughts in and out of commercials, but I kept pulling myself out of it. I didn't want to get my hopes up into thinking this was something more than it should be. We were having sex. That's all this was. I really liked her and she really liked me. Why couldn't I just leave it at that? Why did I have to make it complicated. I shook my head at my racing thoughts. When Emma glanced over at me, she must have noticed my melancholy expression because she placed a tender hand onto my cheek, softly turning my attention to her. Her inquisitive eyes were pleading with me. "What are you thinking about?" she asked, brushing her soft fingertips across my olive skin.

"What are we doing?" I asked bluntly. My thoughts were swirling. My last relationship was a six month long fling. No tied emotions, just straight up fucking. I was fine with it, that is…until I wanted more. Then, before that, I had really been in love. We were together for four years until I caught her cheating with her secret boyfriend. My anger enraged towards love and wanted nothing to do with it. I was badly burned. It hurt too much to even utter the word. And yet, this woman…this irking woman, who could make my knees buckle at just a touch…she questioned everything. There was so much potential, and that scared the hell out of me.

"I mean…what do you want this to be?" her emerald eyes searching mine…deeply looking for an answer. Her vibe gave away that she wanted to be more. "I can be your friend…your fuck buddy…your…you know, whatever you want." I grimaced at all her options. "Honestly Regina, I feel something between us. I could be wrong, but I can read peoples emotions pretty well. And from what I can tell…you want more."

"I certainly don't want to be friends with benefits. I think we have too much chemistry than just to have sex and call it a day. If that were the case, you wouldn't have had breakfast with me and I wouldn't have asked you to spend the day with me." I traced my fingers across her pale cheek. "What do you want this to be?"

"I would like us to date."

My eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah…I mean…I'm not saying lets run away and get married, I'm just saying lets get to know each other. Go on dates."

"And do you want to be exclusive or…."

"I would like that…but if that's not what you-"

"No!" I cut her off. "I want that." she quirked an eyebrow. "I don't like to share."

She giggled as she took my hand into hers. "Well then, we're dating. Just to see how it goes. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great."

"I just have one question." I motioned myself into a more comfortable position, her head resting on my chest.

"What is it?"

"Should…should we take it slow?" she asked tentatively. "We can if you want to, but it would be hard. Don't you think?"

HELL NO! My mind screamed. "I think it would be for the best. I think it will be difficult since we have such high chemistry, but, I'm trying to be logical here."

Emma huffed, crossing her arms with a pout. "Damn logic."

I chuckled at her demeanor. "Well, someone has to be." she grumbled something under her breath that sounded like, 'not fair'. I smirked to myself. "Tell you what, let's just let what happen, happen? Will that please you?"

Emma glanced up at me beaming, nodding excitedly. "Very much!"

I shook my head, running my fingers through her soft locks. "What am I going to do with you?"

At the end of the night, as we lay in bed, I found it incredibly tough not to let my hands wonder over her body. I wanted to do this right. I took a deep breath before wrapping my hands around her waist. I kissed the back of her neck as she hummed in approval. "Hey, want to play twenty questions?" she asked as she turned to face me.

"Sure." I responded smugly. "You go first."

"Hmm…why have you always been so mean to me at work if you've always been attracted to me? It's kind of redundant."

"True, but I didn't want anyone at work to catch on. The only one that knows is Katherine."

"Are you serious?!"

I chuckled at her stunned reaction. "Yes, does that really surprise you?"

"Somewhat. I took you as a 'I keep everything to myself' type of person."

"I am normally, but Katherine is my closest friend. I pretty much tell her everything. We've been friends for the last five years." she gave an delicate smile. "My turn. Let's see…what was your longest relationship?"

"Oh shit." Emma sat up, leaning against the headboard. "My longest was my only relationship. It lasted eight years."

"EIGHT YEARS?!" I shrilled, shooting up to sit beside her. "You must have been young getting into that?"

"I was. I was seventeen. She was my high school sweetheart."

"What happened?"

"Well, we were supposed to go to San Francisco for my twenty fifth birthday, but when I came home from work that day, she was gone."

"Gone? She just up and left?"

"Yeah. She had left a note saying that she couldn't be with me anymore. That she had fallen in love with someone else online. She had been hiding a relationship from me for the past three years."

"Oh, Emma, that's terrible. I'm sorry that happened to you."

"I tried to fight for her. I told her we had been through so much and that I could try to be better, but she wanted nothing to do with me. I told myself right then and there that I would never try so hard for someone who clearly didn't want me."

I squeezed her hands, silently reassuring her I wouldn't do such a thing. "What did you do about your trip?"

"I didn't go. I spend the next six months crying about it practically every night. Sad, I know, but she was my first love."

"I understand. My first love did me one in too. I walked in on her cheating on me with, whom I found out to be her boyfriend of two years."

"Oh my God! Regina that's terrible! How could anyone cheat on you? You're like…the most beautiful woman on earth. She had to be crazy to cheat on someone like you."

"She was. However, if I would have known I was going to become the other person, I would have ended the relationship. We were together for four years. Then I dated an older woman…well…it wasn't really a relationship. Just a fun time, and that was two years ago."

"Holy fuck Regina. What happened with that?"

"I wanted more, and she didn't."

"What's wrong with these people?! How could someone not want you?! I'm sorry, but that is just…outrageous to me."

I chuckled at her astoundment. "Well, thank you dear, but I feel quite the same towards you. I just don't understand how someone could just up and leave. You seem like the most caring and considerate person I've ever met. Anyone would be lucky to have you." she leaned forward, planting a sweet kiss upon my lips. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

"For being so amazing."

We continued our game until we passed out. I found out that she wanted to originally be an EMT, but couldn't afford it. She had been a therapist for two years before working at Luna's. I, on the other hand, had been a therapist for going on ten years this year. She explained that she had no brothers or sisters and her parents lived in Maine now. I didn't go into too much detail about my parents, just that they were strict and were six feet under. Regardless of their tough love, I was close to them. I wasn't ready to go into that just yet. However, she wasn't surprised when I told her I wanted to be a lawyer before massage school. It was a very informative evening for the both of us.

The next day, Emma and I both walked to work since we went in at the same time. It was so refreshing knowing what we were. I needed that clarity. We walked into the spa, a giggling mess. The front desk staff stood completely stunned. Out of the five years I had been working here, they had never given me the look they did. They poked fun at me as we walked to the break room, but I only rolled my eyes, inwardly smirking.

As I glanced at my schedule, I noticed by busy morning. I had four sixty minute clients today, all requesting me. All deep tissues. I had a miniature break in between my third and fourth client, which I was relieved about. I was going to need to eat something to reboot my energy. I glanced at Emma's schedule as she walked to the sink to begin rolling her towel. She had two ninety minutes and a sixty minute, her only break was right before she left. She liked having her schedule that way. When we first started working together, I heard her tell David that she liked to work through her breaks. I couldn't fathom that; I needed a break for my hands, forearms and body. Then again, I had been a therapist longer. Younger therapist tended to work straight through everything.

I went into my assigned room for the day, setting up my unscented coconut oil, bio-freeze, and lavender essential oil on the counter, turning on my towel warmer. After I lowered my table and set my table warmer, I walked back to the break room to roll my towels.

In the process, I heard Emma talking to our newest member. They seemed to hit it off immediately. I overheard Mary Margret ask about if David was married. I rolled my eyes as I wrung out the excess water in my towels. Emma laughed however, "He's very gay Mary Margret." stated in a matter-of-factly tone. I could I swore I heard the young brunette choke on her tea.

"WHAT?!" she shouted, which Emma shushed her immediately. "He's so good looking!"

"Just because he's good looking doesn't mean he's straight." she laughed. "He's been in a long term relationship with Killian for how long now? Regina do you know?"

"I believe they've been together for three years." the pixie haired woman gaped at me as I turned to warm them in the microwave. "They seem very happy." I don't know why, but telling her this bit of information was very gratifying for me. As she stared in disbelief, Emma told me that my client had just checked in. I gave a toothy grin before taking my towels into my room, then grabbing my client.

My day was going by fast and smoothly. I couldn't wait to get home and unwind. Don't get me wrong, as much as I love my job, I equally loved going home at the end of the work shift. By the time I was on break, I popped open the fridge, grabbing an apple and early grey from the community cabinet. As I sat and munched on my apple, I heated up a cup of water, preparing my tea. As I waited, I heard Emma come in from her last client. I checked the clock and it was a tad earlier than normal. She picked up the phone to call the front desk.

"Hey, it's Emma. I just wanted to let you know that I ended my session with Mr. Gold early because he made the session very uncomfortable. If you could get David to escort him to the men's changing room-ok thanks." Anger flooded my body. I would walk him to the lounge…through the wall that is.

"Are you okay?" I asked, nostrils flared.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's not the first time this has happened." she shrugged, but her face said otherwise.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." she stated, irritation lacing her voice. I quirked my eyebrow. "I'll tell you later." she offered a smile before she snuck around the corner to spy on David. I followed shortly behind. The man who exited the room was very old and grotesque. He made my skin crawl and I didn't even work on him. David was polite, walking him back, explaining that he wouldn't be paying and that he wasn't allowed back. When we get clients like that, they aren't allowed to pay because it means they can get away with trying it again. It's their way of apologizing, which is something we don't allow. We just explain to them that they are not allowed back. No ifs, ands, or buts. The spa had zero tolerance for it.

After he was out of range, Emma darted out of the break room into hers to change the sheets. I wanted to desperately follow, but I had to believe that she would tell me after work. I shot her a text instead. I hope you're okay. I'm here when you're ready to talk. When my break was over, I grabbed my last client.

The massage went by quickly since it was one of my favorite clients. We chatted most of the time, he loved telling me how great of a therapist I was and that he could never go to anyone else. He was a real confidence booster. By the time I escorted him to the relaxation room, changed my sheets, I went to the back to grab my things to head home. Figuring Emma was long gone, she sat in a chair as our coworker, Belle, worked on her shoulders and neck. I stopped dead in my tracks as the sounds that hummed out of her mouth. I felt my sore center pulsate. The green monster was rising like vile through my body. Her slender lips were parted, eyes closed, as sighs of bliss continued to echo through the room. I felt my hands clench and unclench. I wanted to choke Belle. I make her make those sounds, not you! It was very immature of me, we had literally just decided to take things slow the day before…well…I decided to take things slow. Good job, Regina. When Belle made her way to her scalp, Emma tilted her head back, eyes still closed, she hummed in pleasure. Oh, no you fucking don't. the fact that neither of them saw me in the corner of the room bewildered me. I cleared my throat before walking to the door. "Have a good afternoon Miss. Swan." this made both women jump slightly. "Miss. French." I regarded her unpleasantly before exiting the room.

I checked my phone as I briskly walked home. I was so furious I couldn't see straight. I had received three messages from Emma.

I'll call you when you get off.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Are you mad at me?!

I snarled as I walked faster, my fingers typing away. Why don't you just fuck Belle on the counter! You were practically coming in her hands! I can't believe I was getting this outraged.

LMFAO WHAT?!

Her amusement only angered me further. You heard me! As a soon as we agreed to take things slow, you just decide to let another woman touch you!

LMFAO! WHAT?! OMG! Are you jealous?!

No. I lied.

I'm coming over tonight. We are sooo talking about this and I'll tell you what happened with my creepy ass client. I'll see you at 5.

I felt her demeanor was intrigued through text. Whatever.

Five o'clock seemed to arrived rapidly. However, I was going to remind Emma who she was exclusively dating. I know it was senseless, the woman was getting a massage. People made noise…it was common…however, she was…she was mine. Only I had permission to give her such pleasure. Why am I acting like a complete psycho? This was maddening. I slipped on my best black lace garters, g-string, and push up bra that made my breast look ample. I slipped on my robe that was on my vanity from the other night, tying it loosely, making sure Emma would have a good view. I sat down and began applying make-up. Making my amber eyes lusty, painted my lips blood red, then put on my best stilettos. I fixed my hair as I heard a knock on the door. I smirked at myself in the mirror. "Time to show you who can really make you come undone."