Prompt: A kiss on the; knees (#2/25)
Setting: Storybrooke
It wasn't often that they actually found their way to a bedroom still clothed or not already wrapped around one other. But when they entered her room, her first and him a few paces behind, there was a calmness, an air of patience he almost forgot he still possessed.
He watched as she shrugged out of her jacket. And then her heels, making her drop half a foot in height — but he held back the small chuckle that rose into his throat, instead just taking in the scene and filing it away once again as one of his favorite things about her.
A woman who could transform into such a towering and, to some, terrifying presence — who then went home, went home to him more often than not, where he was the towering presence then, as he had always been. Towering and persuasive and the little queen may have grown up in to some big bad evil, but she was still little to him. And he never seemed to grow out of liking how small and striking a package she was. Had always been.
What had been a long and tedious day, was now expected to turn into a long and much less tedious night, but it seemed to take little precedence as Jefferson still stood and watched as Regina made her way onto the bed, laying down on her back with her legs just bent enough so her heals pressed into the sheets. Not at all meant to be a pose and yet it enticed him as one all the same.
She seemed lost in her thoughts almost as much as he was lost in her, as only then did she turn her head at him, questioning without actually voicing it. He made his way over to her, towering over the foot of the bed, before leaning down to grasp her ankles, thumbs brushing for a moment before he pushed forward until her knees bent fully, and he could kneel with a leg on either side of hers, sitting back on his haunches just in front of her.
His arms moved to encircle her bent legs, and he rested his chin in the space between her knees. Using the time to stare down at her, the barricade of her legs keeping him from rushing past the moment, allowing him to simply study her across the distance, until finally she made to speak.
"What are you doing?"
There was part of a laugh in her voice, but it was clouded by the uncertainty he knew to still expect. Uncertainty to trust him, to really let him in. He hugged her legs tighter, his eyes turning to scrutinize for a moment, deciding whether or not to to tell her either way. She never seemed to believe the words he gave her. But was there really any point in no longer trying?
He lifted his chin from its resting place, clearing his throat once. His arms stayed around her, keeping himself close and her with the slowly more perplexed expression displayed across her features. When he finally responded it began with a warm hum of a laugh, and he turned his head to press a kiss to one of her knees.
"I, am enjoying the view."
Pressing a kiss to other knee, and then lingering there, his lips just brushed her as he continued.
"Because it is rare you sit still long enough to let me."