CHAPTER 7

Wow, thanks for all the kind words everyone. They inspire me.

Now, on to the good stuff.

ROBIN POV

I was confused. If I had to pick the feeling that was dominating me most it would definitely be confusion. This on top of everything else I am feeling left me having a kind of out of body experience.

This was how I arrived at the door of my house without really realizing I had been walking there.

That woman, the nerve of that woman! I can't even begin to describe the things she was doing to me.

I mean, I was kind of freaking out because of how quickly things escalated but I was mostly just trying to enjoy it until she up and disappeared on me.

Her trust issues are worse than mine! and that was saying something.

Just thinking about her soft hands linking with mine and her gentle smile. It made me go a little fuzzy in the head.

But then it inevitably happens, whenever she shows some bit of vulnerability. It's almost like she feels the need to counteract that side of herself by lashing out.

It is infuriating. It is getting too much. If this is all it was ever going to be, me reaching out, her pulling away, then I don't know how much longer I could keep it up.

I open the door to my house and the sight of her asleep on the floor pushes all my doubts to the side.

She looks so peaceful like this, so beautiful. Her hair is down, it's wavy locks spread out in every direction like a crown, how fitting. I smirk.

I am drawn to her like a magnet. I find myself knelt in front of her. I see her eyelids flutter a bit and I suspect she is not quite as asleep as she appears. I respect that she might not want to talk about what happened just yet.

She will explain to me in time though. I won't let it go just yet.

I bend to kiss her forehead and I feel her lean in slightly and it makes me smile. So she's not so cool as she pretends to be.

I move to my side of the floor and wrap myself in a couple of blankets and hope sleep will find me.

….

I wake suddenly in a panic, something is obstructing my breathing.

My eyes shoot open and what I see threatens to explode my heart.

Regina is half on top of me, her head resting just above my heart, one hand wrapped around my side, the other grasping the collar of my shirt. Her legs are twisted with mine.

It seems in sleep her true nature is revealed. Regina is a cuddler. Definitely something I did not expect, but something that I am exponentially pleased to find out about her.

My breathing is becoming more shallow not only because of her position but because I am left breathless at the sight and feel of her.

Her breaths come in long calm waves, her lips slightly open, in a little "oh" shape that newborns often make.

I am helpless to move, helpless to do anything but watch and feel.

She was looked like an angel in the low ember-y glow of the dying fire.

Then she moved.

She grips the lapels of my shirt collar more tightly and nuzzles my chest with her face.

The movement is so gentle and yet so explosively telling, it kills me not to reciprocate.

I am in hell, some twisted circle of hell. I shut my eyes and try not to react as one of her feet slides oh so teasingly up and down my leg bringing with it some of my pant so that her skin is brushing mine.

It's torture in its most blissful form. Sweet traitorous seduction, and the temptress doesn't even know she's doing it.

I rationale it in my mind that since she is asleep, one small indulgence would be forgivable.

So I open my eyes and am caught up once more by the bittersweet situation that has amassed between us.

I gently pet her hair and trace the outline of her cheekbones and jaw, and as carefully as possible let my thumb brush her delicate and heavenly soft lips.

But I feel her stir at the contact and quickly stow my hand away before I let myself get too caught up.

Yep, I am going to hell. Why did I do that? I silently berate myself.

Overall though, I am serenely happy for what I got to experience of her tonight. Even if she technically wasn't really aware that she was showing me that side of herself outside of her sleep yet.

So the moment will stay with me for the time being, kept private and stowed away like a treasure.

I just hope it's not the last I will get to keep of her.

So with that in mind I resign myself back to sleep.

….

I wake once more at the crack of dawn to another peculiar situation.

Instead of finding Regina on top of me like I had earlier, it is I who has become entangled with her.

Over the course of the night it seems we had swapped positions and it was me who was now clinging to her body like a starved child.

I open my eyes just a hare and see I am attached to Regina's lithe form. My head rests in the crook of her neck.

I see her eyelids flutter a bit and I realize she probably is awake like earlier last night but is waiting for me to move and save us both what may be an awkward untangling.

Unlike last night, I decide that she needs a little payback for what she did to me (albeit unknowingly) last night.

As softly as I can manage, brush my face up and down the column of her neck from the dip in her collarbone to just below her ear, making sure that the stubble from my beard ghosts over her skin ever so softly.

Her reaction is all I need to confirm that she is indeed awake.

A small but definable whimper escapes her lips and I swear for a fraction of a second she shifts into me. I seize the opportunity and hug her closer. Enjoying the moment just a little longer.

Sweet revenge my dear. Sweet sweet revenge.

"Regina?" I whisper, daring her to open her eyes.

She keeps them glued shut and I can tell that she is fighting to keep it together. She is not a very good actress.

I laugh a little and then unhinge myself from her side and get ready for the day. The smell of her hair and feel of her soft skin clouding my mind for the coming hours.

….

I tease her all day, trying to ease some of the tension. But it's no use.

As much as I try to distract myself from the anger and frustration I feel towards the Roland fiasco with my feelings for Regina, it just doesn't cut it.

I feel myself getting dragged down to a place where I didn't want my mind to go.

The chitter chatter of the charmings trying to assuage my fears and doubts as we tried and failed to come up with viable rescue options was regrettably starting to piss me off.

So I decided to blow off some steam by shooting some arrows.

That somehow always helped, even if nothing else was. The focus and precision, the clarity, the feel of the arrow leaving your fingers, in your control, for a few seconds at least the world seems to have a bit of order to it.

Then I hear the tell tale crunch of leaves and I know it's her. She stops herself a ways behind me adn I can tell she's trying to gauge what my mood is.

"dealing with your anger constructively I see" I turn my head and try not to look too disgruntled, but by the look on her face I can tell I am not succeeding.

"Have you ever shot one? It can be very… therapeutic" I try to extend the olive branch.

Maybe she will be the distraction from all the distractions. The one thing that I need right now.

We make small talk about archery and the banter gives me a little reprieve and I find myself letting go of the anger bit by bit.

I try not to laugh as she attempts to shoot the arrow. I correct her stance and am moving her into the correct position when I realize for the second time today how close she is to me.

I am pressed up against her back with my hands on her hands and my lips near her ear. It's an intimate portrait by any account.

I want to hold her close, and pour all my anxiety and frustration out and fill myself up with her, her bravery, her compassion and her competency.

But I fear she is not ready for that and truth be told I am not ready for that either, so I settle for getting her to admit that we are turning into something instead.

"I knew you were awake" I whisper as she lets go of the arrow. She freezes, her body stiff as a board.

" I knew you were awake and I still kissed you last night" I say, " You were awake this morning too Regina, I felt you react, don't deny it"

She tries to speak but I keep going, holding her close to me, not letting her run,

"I don't want you to feel like you are obligated to do anything with this information, I just thought you should know, because, I don't want to keep denying this". I sigh.

I feel her move for the first time since I started talking and I fear she is about to disappear like last night.

I am pleasantly surprised to see that she instead turns around in my arms and looks me straight in the eyes which are now glazed over and wide.

I am momently spellbound by her beauty and I falter for words for a moment.

"You help, that's all I know, you help me see things in perspective, you are like a balm to my emotions. And I know this is a little odd considering the circumstances and the fact that we hardly know each other, but I can't help but feel connected to you"

She is frozen and for a second I wonder if I actually said the words out loud or if they were just in my head.

Then my mind goes blank.

She is gripping the lapels of my jacket like she had last night and her lips are on mine as fierce and as passionate as I could have ever imagined.

It was like being enveloped by a flame, she was all consuming taking everything in her wake, swallowing it up and I giving to her willingly. Surrendering myself to her completely.

Then all too soon she lets go. Her eyes still wide, like she couldn't believe what she'd just done.

I am reeling, too dumbfounded to think of anything but how soft and pliant her lips were.

Then I see that look on her face, the look I am beginning to realize is her tell for when she is about to run.

So I do the only thing I can think of to keep her from leaving. I dive back in.

This time I am the initiate.

I weave one hand through her silky soft hair and latch one to the small of her back and pull her into me.

I feel one of her arms snake their way up my back gripping my shoulder, the other suctioned to the side of my face.

Her lips are what heaven must feel like, I am now thoroughly convinced.

When I lick the bottom of her angel lips she gives off that same whimper only less guarded. Then her mouth is open to me and then we are all clashing of tongues and panting and grasping and moaning and it is exactly what I need.

I can tell she is letting something go too because she is getting more and more bold by the minute, he hands moving lower and lower.

We release each other and we are panting, looking directly into the other's eyes. She is looking for something in me, and I don't know what to say.

I am eclipsed with satisfaction for the moment.

She is the first to speak.

"Just where do you get off thinking kissing me was a good idea there thief?"

Her tone is playful but I feel an undertone of hostility that I am not sure where to place yet.

"ME? you kissed me milady"

"That was a… momentary lapse in judgement, it won't happen again, I assure you" she says and I can see the hurt in her eyes.

"Ohhhh no you don't" I say as I see her make to move back to the house.

I grab her by the elbow and bring her back into one more kiss.

This one was more gentle, more sweet.

I suckle her lip then the bottom and nip it playfully.

I feel her sigh and lean into me, just as powerless to my touch as I am to hers.

"Don't run away from me. I know you feel this, don't hide from it, don't hide yourself from me."

I plead and she looks like she may cry and I hate myself for causing her pain, but I would not regret kissing her if that was the last one I ever had in my life.

"Alright, you want to do this thief m let's go." she whispers.

"Let's take a walk Robin, and we'll see where this can go". She gives me a shy smile.

I smile right back thanking the heavens silently for giving me a chance with this brave, brave woman.

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