I honestly can't thank you enough for your feedback. It's making me want to write this story when I should be writing things that I'm actually paid to do. So I blame you.

Regina practically attacked Emma before she was fully inside the door of the mansion. She pulled her in and kissed her soundly, hands grasping under the loose ponytail at the back of her neck, drawing her closer. Once she recovered from the surprise of the body on hers, Emma reached up and planted her thumbs at Regina's ears, letting her fingers wrap around the crown of her head. She let herself be kissed, pliant to Regina's lips, marveling at how good it felt to be wanted so much by this woman.

"You smell like restaurant," Regina mumbled into her lips.

"Mm sorry. If I had showered before I came over, you would have been asleep by the time I got here. Do you mind if I use yours?"

"Don't mind at all. Did you eat anything tonight?"

"Uh, I had a forkful of roasted Brussels sprouts and some wine."

"That's not dinner," Regina said, kissing down the column of her slender neck.

"We were slammed," Emma said, nuzzling further into Regina's kiss.

"You go shower. I'm going to feed you," the brunette said, pushing Emma up the stairs. "There are clean towels in the closet of my bathroom."

Emma climbed the stairs but watched Regina disappear into the kitchen in her cornflower blue silk pajamas. So cute.

She walked into Regina's bedroom and sat on the bed to take off her shoes and socks. The duvet was pulled back slightly, a book forgotten in the vacant spot. Emma reached out and turned it over, taking in the title, Blood, Bones, & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, a memoir by James Beard award winner Gabrielle Hamilton, a restaurant owner and chef in New York. Emma's eyebrows shot up, and she inserted a mental bookmark in her mind to bring this up at some point later.

She took off her clothes, neatly folding them and placing them on the bench in front of the bed, and walked into the en suite bathroom. She turned on the water, waited for it to get hot, and stepped into the oversized shower.

Emma loved a hot shower—she would lose herself in the steam and heat, and sometimes she got her best menu ideas just luxuriating under the water. She began to lather her body with brunette's expensive vanilla and lavender shower soap, closing her eyes and turning to face up to the spray. She shampooed and conditioned her hair and let all the tension of the day just slip down the drain.

Emma suddenly felt eyes on her, and she snapped to attention, peering out of the foggy glass doors. Regina stood just a few feet from the shower, watching Emma with rapt attention.

"Hi?" Emma said.

"Sorry to interrupt you. I just came in to make sure you had everything you needed," Regina said, somewhat timidly.

Emma wipe the fog from the glass door with her hand, giving Regina full view of her tantalizingly toned body.

"Actually, there's one thing I still need," Emma said, opening the door and reaching out to grab Regina's wrist and unceremoniously pull her into the shower with her, fully dressed, resulting in a high-pitched squeal from the brunette.

"Emma!" she yelled, shooting her an evil glare and holding her sopping wet pajama sleeves out in front of her in disgust.

"What?" Emma said, offering her most innocent smile. "You asked me if I needed anything. I do. I need you to take these off. Here, let me help you."

She unbuttoned Regina's pajama shirt and slid the wet material off her shoulders, letting it land with a heavy slap on the shower floor. Then she grabbed the waistband of her pants and pulled them down, letting them pool at her feet and kicking them to the side.

Emma immediately collected Regina into her arms, groaning at how good it felt to have her there, their wet skin coalescing. Her body was so lithe and so smooth, and she never wanted to let her go. She burrowed her head into her neck and began to suck and kiss under her ear. Without doing anything demonstrative, just by being, everything about Regina seemed to compel Emma to open herself further, to come closer, to be braver.

"Emma," Regina whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing. I, nothing."

"Tell me," Emma said over the echo of the spray, pulling back slightly to look into her eyes. "I wish I could read you better. But you can tell me what's on your mind."

"This is… I'm scared," Regina said in voice so small Emma could hardly believe she was ever intimated by her. Naked, washed free of make up, and with her hair wet and pushed back from her face, Regina looked so young, so vulnerable, and it made Emma want to protect her.

"Come here," Emma said, pulling her in even tighter, rubbing soothing circles at the small of her back, hooking her chin over Regina's shoulder. "I don't know what this is, but I feel it, too. We are out on the limb together, and I'm scared, too."

"You are?"

"God, yes. I've never felt anything like this."

With that, Regina smiled and tilted her head to brush Emma's lips with her own, quickly deepening the kiss and cupping her face in her hands reverently. Emma let out a tiny little whimper, but Regina heard it, and the mood turned from soft and uncertain to sensual and needy in a flash.

Regina pushed Emma against the wall, pinning her body with her own. She began to touch Emma with intention, sliding her hands up her sides and cupping her breasts. She pinched her nipples and then ducked down to capture one in her mouth, sliding her tongue around it before sinking her teeth into the flesh, prying a sharp cry and then a moan out of Emma.

Then she switched to the other breast, first nibbling teasingly and then once again biting down with a little more force.

"You like that," Regina said into her sternum.

"Yesss," Emma hissed.

"What else do you like?" Regina asked, kissing her way down Emma's torso, curling her fingers around her hips to hold her in place.

Emma looked down at Regina, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight. She opened her mouth to say something, snapping her jaw shut again as she tried to power her brain.

The brunette was on her knees in front of her, kissing and licking across her public bone, looking up at her with curious, wanting eyes. Emma had a few romantic relationships, but nothing to prepare her for this, for the emotional and sexual connection that had enveloped them. It was dangerous, she thought. Like cooking food on such high heat—it's fast and deliciously hot, but it's easy to burn.

"Do you like this?" Regina asked, lifting one of Emma's legs and sucking on the skin of her inner thigh. Emma nodded mutely. She repeated the action to the other thigh, keeping her eyes locked on Emma's.

"What about this?" she said with increasing lasciviousness. She nuzzled her nose squarely into Emma's center and slung a long, slender leg over her shoulder and began to slide her tongue up and down her slit.

"Yes, I like that," Emma said softly.

Regina smiled against her and took her clit fully into her mouth and used her free hand to sink two fingers all the way into her in a fluid motion. Emma inhaled sharply, her head knocking back against the shower wall with a thud. The sound propelled Regina, and she stood to get leverage, pumping into Emma with force that brought her up on her toes.

Regina looked Emma directly in the eyes, their faces just an inch apart, and continued to thrust into her.

"Emma," she said, the timbre in her voice turning Emma's blood hot, "Do you like it when I fuck you hard?"

"Oh god," Emma said. "Yes. Don't stop doing it."

"I won't stop," Regina said, adding a third finger and using a thigh to add power behind her. "I want you to be mine."

At those six words, Emma came, her body spasming and shivering delightfully under Regina, then falling limply in her arms, the intensity of the emotional and physical assault leaving her boneless. Regina kept her propped up, letting Emma tuck her face into her neck, panting intermittently.

"That was, holy shit, Regina… What did you do to me?"

Regina laid a simple kiss on Emma's lips.

"I showed you how much I want you," she said, once again shocking Emma at how willing she was to peel back the veneer and be vulnerable.

A wide smile crossed Emma's face, pinching at Regina's heart.

"Lets dry off. I have something to show you, too," she said.

At 2 am, they laid in Regina's bed, sated, their hair beginning to dry, their muscles weary from the effort of orgasms and hours energetic sex, and Emma's stomach growled loudly, making them erupt into giggles.

"You never ate your dinner," Regina said, nodding to the plate of na'an and artisanal cheeses she'd brought up hours earlier. "You must be starving."

"I am, but I want to stay here with you. Is that ok, if I stay?"

"I'm not letting you go anywhere, even if your stomach wakes me up," Regina said, curling up behind Emma and wrapping her arms around her. "I have to leave early for a story planning meeting in Boston tomorrow, so just help yourself to anything in the morning and lock the door whenever you leave."

"Ok. How long will you be up there?"

"Just for the day. Twice a month I go up there so they can see my face. I've tried Skype, but it's always hard to hear them, so this is just easier."

"Can I see you again soon?"

"I'm reviewing a new restaurant called Gold's tomorrow across town, and I usually have to file that same night. But then I'm pretty free. Would you want to come over on Sunday night and make dinner with Henry and I?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Ok, I can definitely do that."

"Perfect. Now quiet that stomach down because I need my evil beauty rest," Regina said, offering a kiss to Emma's shoulder and tightening her grip around her.

"Good night, Your Evilness."

"Good night."

—

Around 10 am Emma woke up hugging Regina's pillow to her body. She looked around, smiling when she remembered where she was and the details of the night before. She blushed recalling what happened in the shower, but smiled when she replayed Regina's words. I want you to be mine.

Emma wasn't 100 percent sure what she meant by that, but she couldn't wait to find out. She got up, made the bed carefully, and got dressed, heading downstairs to make herself some breakfast. There was a note folded on the counter with EMMA on the front in thick black ink in handwriting that she mused was better suited for a Medieval sorcerer.

She opened the note, which read, in the same script font:

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Dear Reader,

Since my recent review of SAVIORS restaurant, I have learned a few things about Chef Emma Swan that may or may not be relevant to your dining pleasure should you choose to visit her establishment. But in the interests of journalistic integrity, I feel obliged to inform you of the following.

In addition to being incredibly kind hearted and bearing the kind of integrity that is typically reserved for fairytale archetypes, Chef Swan is also sensational in bed. She's effortlessly sexy and giving in every sexual encounter, and I speak from personal experience. Why is this important, you may ask? Because as I was in the middle of my third orgasm last night, I thought, screw her food, although it's inarguably sensational. This woman is amazing, and frankly, I want to keep her all to myself. So I plan to ask her to be my girlfriend, and I ask you, dear reader, for any suggestions you may have as to the best way to approach this, as I worry that it may be much to soon to ask for a serious commitment. I hope this is not too personal a request, but for something as important as winning the heart of such an incredible, devastatingly beautiful woman, sometimes it's best to do a little group think. Wish me luck.

Regina Mills,

Boston Globe Food Critic

Emma stood there, frozen, reading the letter again and again, swooning. She folded the letter, put it in her pocket, and found a clean piece of paper in a drawer. Using the same pen Regina had used, she began to write.

Dear Miss Mills,

First I want to commend you on your honesty. It's rare to find a writer today who is so willing to share their personal life so openly. I've given this some serious thought, and I wanted to offer you this bit of insight. From what you've said, although Chef Emma Swan is prone to be emotionally closed off, you seem to be able to reach her in a way that no one else ever has. She's probably terrified of that but is willing to push past her fear… for you, with you. So I suggest you pick out a favorite bottle of pinot noir—it's said that you have impeccable taste in red wine—pour two glasses, take a big drink, and ask her to be yours. I suspect she will say yes and only curse herself that she hadn't been courageous enough to ask you first.

PS: I'm a huge fan of your work, although sometimes I think you're a little tough on those poor chefs. They're trying, man.

Sincerely,

An avid reader

Emma folded the note, writing REGINA on the fold in her small, fine print. She walked toward the front door, slung her bag around her shoulder, locked the door, and headed off to work feeling lighter and happier than she could ever remember.