The bar had started to fill up with a variety of people as the evening wore on, but Regina was completely oblivious to everyone and everything going on around here. She was usually an observant person, always keeping alert to her surrounding, but at the moment she was astutely admiring and drinking in the woman next to her.
Three painkillers turned into four and she knew she had reached her limit, especially after not eating much of anything but ice cream and sweets for the past few days. She couldn't stop marveling at Emma, and how she seemed to transform from sullen and forlorn into a bubbly, confident woman who looked for the entire world like she had taken the reigns and was in total control of her own destiny.
Maybe it was the drinks or the atmosphere, or most likely, just Emma herself, but Regina found she couldn't keep her hands off. She started by loosely holding her hand and then she leaned forward on her seat to keep her knee in contact with Emma's thigh. She brushed her fingers through blonde curls under the guise of pushing the strands back from her lovely face, but now she had given up on making excuses.
Emma let her touch freely and encouraged the seemingly innocent touches, but to Regina they felt anything but chaste. Emma touched her back, a well-placed hand on her thigh, and slowly lifted her necklace to admire it, knuckles brushing hotly against her collarbone. Each and every touch brought thoughts of lust to the forefront of Regina's mind.
Her mouth was perpetually dry despite rapidly consuming drinks. Her cheeks were flushed and her blood pumped faster and faster through her system spreading and settling to her groin. She felt hypersensitive and fully aware despite the inebriation and she hung onto Emma's every word watching her lips part and then collide, and the flash of pink tongue and white teeth that appeared as she spoke.
When it all became too much, Regina excused herself to the restroom and to find some air. She stumbled off the bar stool, her legs were heavy and half asleep from disuse. It took a moment for her to pick up the strap of her purse and then she found herself wandering around the hotel lobby having no idea where she was headed literally and with her intentions regarding Emma.
The moment apart didn't lessen her desire; in fact it heightened the intense need to rejoin Emma in the painless vacuum they'd created for the night. Seeing her come into her true self, even if alcohol was the catalyst made Regina realize what she had seen all along in Emma. She knew her true self, and watching her come alive like this was truly gratifying. If only she could act like this all of the time, out from under the thumb of her parents and away from the lecherous fiancé.
When she came out from the restroom, Emma was standing at the door staring at her with hunger and intensity. "Are we finished?"
"I think I'm done drinking," Emma confirmed giving her a glassy eyed look and lopsided grin. "But we could always go upstairs and talk some more?"
"Yes, I am enjoying our talk tonight," Regina smiled over her shoulder finding her step steady as she strolled to the bank of elevators on the far side of the lobby.
"See you should have stayed for drinks with me that other time," Emma stated matter of fact as if she was trying to pin some misplaced blame on Regina. "But no, you ran away before we even had a chance to really talk at all."
Regina sneered and blinked as she stepped into the elevator car, sliding her back against the wall to help with stability, "Excuse me? We talk all of the time… we've done nothing but talk about you, about the wedding about your frightful 'Kill.'"
Emma put her hands up in front of her and took a little step closer to the corner where Regina was leaning. She put both hands up on either side of her head and leaned in close. Regina could smell sweet blueberry breath mingling with her own in the shared air.
"If that's how you feel…" Emma started low and smooth, "maybe we shouldn't talk anymore tonight."
Her breath hitched, her vision glazed over and one of them made a sound of agreement, but Regina wasn't sure if it came from her own mouth or Emma's. She was closing in tighter, heat wafting off of her body and pressing in tight and solid against Regina. All she could think about were all the places on Emma's body she had yet to touch and how maddening it was that she couldn't slowly explore all of her.
Then the elevator door dinged and opened, Regina looked down and saw stranger's feet boarding. Emma pushed herself away and flattened her back against the wall next to Regina, staring straight ahead. Regina chuckled in amusement as she realized they were still in the lobby as neither one of them had the wherewithal to actually hit the button to take them up to the room.
A man cleared his throat, and stepped forward to push '7' and then Emma stabbed her hand out to hit '6'. They rode up, floor after floor, and it seemed to take forever, as Regina wrestled with the conflicting thoughts arising and battling in her mind.
She wanted Emma, and Emma wanted her. They were about to spend the night together in a lavish hotel suite with nothing to stop either of them from giving into their desires. She could have Emma all night: spending hours kissing her, hands trailing and conforming down her sides, and over the luscious curves of her hips. She'd let Emma kneel between her legs and use her pretty pink mouth to bring her ecstasy and sorely needed release. The visual images had Regina shuddering and breathing heavily as she pulled in oxygen through her nostrils; her head felt dizzy from either the elevator ride or the almost suffocating blatant of sheer want she was fighting against.
This time the ding of the elevator startled her and she lurched forward and off the elevator as fast as possible. Emma was right behind her, pressing her hand against the small of her back to help steer her towards the room.
When Regina turned to look at her, Emma was smiling, her pupils completely dilated, lust blackened and mirroring her own. As Emma pulled the key card out of her back pocket and swiped in through the door, she paused, frozen with the door half open.
Emma wrapped her arm around her to usher her inside quickly; her breath felt scalding against the shell of her ear as she leaned close and whispered, "Oh my God, Regina, you are so, so fucking sexy."
Regina whipped around, grabbing Emma's face with shaking hands and slamming her against the closing door before pushing her mouth against hers, kissing her with unrefined passion and the slightly sloppy freedom of four (or was it five?) strong drinks in her overstimulated system.
Emma kissed her back hard, Regina felt her tug her hair roughly and the mild roughness caused her arousal to skyrocket. Hands were everywhere, squeezing at her ass, working clumsily to pop her buttons and work under her skirt. Regina didn't stop kissing except to pause for breath and try to get closer; she was trying to get more and more of the explosive touch she had been craving for far too long.
"I want to fuck you right now," Emma confessed and she sounded so sincere and certain, Regina moaned as she twisted her fists into Emma's hair tightly and brought her lips up to meet hers savagely. Emma was pushing at her shoulders, twisting her around so she could force her to the bed faster.
They hadn't made it two steps when a loud knock boomed against the door. "Who is it?" Regina demanded none too polite as Emma sprung away from her in a flash her face immediately garnered a guilty and ashamed look.
Emma cleared her throat and rubbed her hand over her lips, dumbly turning to open the door.
"Sorry, is this your bag…I thought I saw your companion drop it in the hallway, I wasn't sure which room…and you both look a bit intoxicated."
"Yeah, thanks," Emma grabbed Regina's purse from the older woman standing there and practically shooed her away. The woman raised an eyebrow as she peered farther into the room to look at Regina.
"Thanks again, good night," Emma said as she grabbed the 'do not disturb' hanger and placed it on the handle and closed the door tight; she locked it and added the security chain for good measure.
Emma finished with the door and faced Regina, taking a few steps into the room. She dropped her bag on the desk and Regina stared back at her as she took a moment to regain her senses. All at the once the drunkenness, exhaustion and the weight of her poor decisions hit her square in the chest.
"Um, do you want water?" Emma asked shuffling from foot to foot suddenly back to acting shy and nervous upon seeing Regina's own change in demeanor. Regina nodded in gratitude as Emma bent over the mini fridge and produced two overpriced bottles of water.
Regina sat down on the edge of the bed, kicking off her shoes, while Emma handed the water bottle over to her and looked hesitant, her eyes full of uncertainty and questions. Grateful to have something to do with her hands, Regina focused on quenching her thirst, and let the refreshing water slide down her throat. It did nothing to douse her desire for Emma, but Regina was grateful for the interruption at the door and the woman who had returned her bag. She didn't even remember dropping it, but she did remember the look on Emma's face when the knock came.
It raised warning flags and reminders that what they were doing wasn't right. Whether Regina accepted Emma's relationship with Killian she was still supposed to be an objective third party, and it didn't matter that they felt far more attraction for one another than Emma ever would with her fiancé. It wasn't even that Regina considered it cheating, she didn't care about that. She had to put herself first and judging from the dismaying way Emma had sprung away from her: tense, frozen and fearful, Regina couldn't bring herself to act on her feelings for Emma. Not at this time and not like this.
She wouldn't debase herself and be a fire on the side, not even when the chemistry and conversation she shared with Emma made her heart sing and she felt like no one else in the world could ever make her feel like she did. There were always two sides to the coin and she cared about Emma's happiness far too much to ever be okay with the ill-fated wedding to come or her place in it.
Not to say she wasn't taking responsibility for her own actions. She'd agreed to come to Emma's hotel room, on Friday night with the implicit assumption she'd be staying in the night with her. She didn't feel like talking about this with Emma, who was still standing arm's length away looking on with slumped shoulders and frightened eyes.
Regina brushed her hair behind her ear, remembering that she had packed a small overnight bag that contained two sets of clothes to sleep in. One was a modest satin pajama blouse and pants, and the other was a skimpy ice blue teddy that barely contained her breasts and the hemline barely covered the tops of her thighs.
She got up wordlessly, brushed past Emma and grabbed her bag of clothes from the chair. She silently headed into the bathroom to shower and get ready to sleep even though every impulse was pushing her back to Emma's side. Every thud of her heart was begging for just one more kiss, just one more minute to extend the easy peaceful night.
The shower took a bit of coordination as she was still heavily intoxicated, but it seemed to sober her up enough to know she had made the right decision in not giving in to her desires. A huge part of her secretly hoped that Emma would enter the bathroom, strip off her clothes and get wet along with her. All she could think about was Emma's toned naked body slippery against hers stealing her breath with hard kisses and making her beg for sexual satisfaction.
Unbidden images came to mind as she washed up, using the mini sized body wash, she let the hot, high pressured water pelt her chest while swiping her hand between her legs and finding she was more than a bit wet in a way that had nothing to do with the shower.
Regina dried herself with the white fluffy towels emblazoned with the Ritz Carlton emblem, and found she was even more frustrated rather than relaxed like she had hoped. There was a firm constrictive knot of tension sitting low in her belly, and at this point a stiff breeze might make her cum. She was only human and there was only so much she could handle in that regard.
Her modest set of pajamas had accidentally gotten wet from water on the floor and unfortunately the satin was soaked through. It was always her luck that when she tried to plan ahead she was foiled, but that is why she always had a backup plan. With an evil smirk she put on the slinky teddy and braced herself for an awkward confrontation.
When she entered the room the lights were off except for the light beside the bed, the door adjoining the main bedroom to the living room of the suite was pulled closed and Emma was nowhere in sight. Regina tested the door handle and opened it just enough to peer inside. The sofa had been pulled out into a bed and Emma was lying on her side with her back to the door. Regina could just make out her mane of blonde hair outlined in the dark room.
Regina returned to the bed irrationally angry that Emma had given up without even saying goodnight. If it weren't so late and Regina hadn't been drunk she would have redressed, gotten her car and headed home. As it were she was exhausted emotionally and physically. She had been on a high after her date in the bar, and then she had crashed down after Emma showed her true colors.
The trouble was Regina couldn't sleep. The bed was comfortable and she was drowning in luxury, the room was perfectly climate controlled and she felt fresh and clean after the shower, but she was still unbearably horny and knowing Emma was just behind the closed door sleeping soundly after all that had happened added to her unease.
She laid awake, waging an internal debate contemplating waking Emma up and forcing her to explain herself, or perhaps just asking if she'd come sleep in the same bed. It was headed to be a long night of wakefulness and discomfort. She'd already put herself through four days of it and just when things were feeling even more complicated she was back in the same anxious and stressful position. Except this was worse because Emma had spent all night riling her up and turning her on, and while it had been necessary to shut it down, Regina desperately wanted the choice to be taken away from her.
Not being able to sleep with Emma in good conscience was definitely a concern, and the other woman looking so guilty and confused about what she wanted had Regina in tatters, but if only there was a way to get what she needed while not breaking any of her self-imposed rules.
A noise startled Regina, and she sat up in bed, her body as taut as a crossbow. Her long forgotten phone had chimed with her text message notification. She crawled out of bed and retrieved it, grateful for the woman who had returned her bag after she so carelessly drunkenly dropped in the hall.
One new text from…Emma: "I can't sleep."
Regina stared at the message; the bright screen illumination hurt her eyes as she struggled to adjust to the contrast. She went back to bed and settled in against the pillows, her nightgown rode up her bare thighs and the sheets tickled her over sensitive skin.
She read the message over and licked her lips as a flicker of excitement blossomed in her chest. She typed a message back, "Me either."
There was no response for a long minute, and Regina frowned, almost turning off her phone entirely on impulse.
Instead, like a pushover, she sent another text to Emma, and held her breath waiting for a response:
"I wish you'd come here and say good night."
