"Beautiful."
"Did you say something?"
"No, dear."
Regina leans down swiftly and nips at the blonde's clavicles to deter any further questions. She pulls the Sheriff up so as to pull down the zipper hidden at the back of her dress and begins pushing the fabric up the younger woman's body with firm strokes of her hand; thus revealing the black swatch of her thong and the dip of her navel. Emma attempts to help wrestle the intricate fabric from her shoulders and chest; her careless movements threatening to send them both toppling off of the desk.
"Stop your fidgeting, Miss Swan!"
The dress isn't even halfway off her damn body and already the delusion of elegance comes crumbling down...
The Sheriff blushes lightly and forces herself to remain still as the brunette plucks at the delicate strands and whorls that flow across her shoulders until, finally, the dress is pulled up over her head in a shroud of midnight.
Regina lets the garment fall carefully to the floor; not wishing to damage the singular item of clothing the younger woman possesses that she doesn't deem hideous. Hooking her fingers into the tight cotton of the blonde's underwear, she drags it swiftly down slender legs; leaving the woman beneath her completely bare.
Fading bruises dapple the Sheriff's pale flesh where teeth and nails had attacked her back in the jail cell, and Regina plays her fingers over these marks gently; mimicking their shapes and patterns, while occasionally pressing a little more firmly here and there.
"You bruise so easily..."
She marvels.
"Yes, my body's defences when it comes to pseudo-rape are very much lacking."
Emma sighs, and the brunette scowls down at the blonde before rolling her eyes irritably. She should have known Emma's charming act could only last so long.
She refuses to entertain the thought that perhaps she quite enjoys the sardonic little quips forever stringing languidly from wicked lips.
She can feel the colour rising in her cheeks a little shamefully, which in turn fuels the beginnings of her anger. She doesn't like the Sheriff's wording in the slightest, and she glares down at the blonde with a distinctly cagey expression, although her fingers continue to draw out intricate patterns over the younger woman's stomach.
"Well, you deserved it. It was payback. It wasn't... What you said."
"Oh?"
The blonde raises a brow, and Regina scowls as she pulls her hands swiftly away from soft skin.
"You threatened me with a blade and left me lying, wanting, on my own damn desk!"
"Uhuh, you, meanwhile, cuffed me to your fucking door and treated me like some kind of whore... Twice!"
Emma challenges, and the Mayor flips her hair back irritably; a burning loathing growing in her gut at being called out. In her mind, she can't see how the two could possibly be compared.
In her mind, she has always looked out for number one. Looked out for herself.
In her mind, donning an expensive dress doesn't give another the right to run their mouth. Not if they do so against her.
"Well, I simply call it like I see it, dear."
She whispers. The blonde goes rigid beneath her, and then an angry hiss escapes sex-swollen lips.
"Get off me."
Emma demands, and Regina blinks down at the younger woman in hazy confusion. She's used to the anger that laces the Sheriff's voice; having suffered through the tedious act of listening to the irksome woman rant and rave in that ever-sarcastic way of hers many a time.
This is different though. This is raw.
She expects strong fingers to claw at her bare legs and sharp hips to buck against her own. Instead, she's met only with a hurt green glare that doesn't quite make sense to her.
She's angry at Emma for her phrasing as to what had happened back at the station. She was simply serving out punishment, and if the blonde had really, truly been scared or in pain, she should have damn well said something then! Not now...
The brunette's head spins. Tonight has been nothing short of a rollercoaster, and now she struggles to make sense of things.
This is how this is supposed to work... We argue, and now, we have sex.
The blonde is supposed to snipe back at her. Goad her. Set her up for her next line.
"Miss Swan-"
"-I said get off me!"
The blonde's voice breaks, and she hates herself for it.
Why the fuck did I think this would be a good idea?! Like things were ever going to be fucking fair!
Regina stays put, dark eyes roaming over the Sheriff's pale face curiously. She vaguely recalls her earlier bout of apprehension that the younger woman was planning to play her winning hand and call an end to their little game.
Their fucking game.
Dark shadow, so meticulously applied, smokes beautifully around stormy eyes and the Mayor's expression of distaste gradually disappears. She lowers herself down until her weight is carried on her forearms which rest - cushioned by thick curls - flush with the desk's surface; bringing her nose to nose with the Sheriff. Emma glares up at her haughtily, but there's a fragility in her eyes that the brunette doesn't miss.
When she speaks, Regina's voice is low, and while her words could be considered goading, her tone is neutral and she shows no intention of removing herself from the slim form pinned beneath her.
"You shouldn't have walked out like that."
"And you shouldn't have left me in those fucking cuffs!"
"... I know."
Full lips press softly against the blonde's left eye - brushing against the small nick that mars the flesh of her brow bone - before the Mayor runs an uncharacteristically gentle hand through the Sheriff's hair; smoothing it back from her forehead.
"I know that."
She moves her lips to Emma's and nips at them gently. She isn't deterred when she's met with resistance; simply continuing to brush, lick and nibble softly.
Eventually, she feels tense limbs beneath her begin to relax, and she manages to part the Sheriff's lips with a hard swipe of her tongue. She closes her eyes and deepens their kiss, but when she runs her hand purposefully down between their bodies, the blonde presses her legs pointedly together.
Anyone would think she's never been called a whore before...
Regina banishes her inner goading irritably. She doesn't believe for a second that the Sheriff hasn't heard a thousand times worse, but she feels momentarily sheepish for her little quip at the younger woman's expense. Not because she feels she is entirely in the wrong, but because of tonight. Tonight was supposed to be about Emma, and she knows that the blonde's efforts to present herself the way she has won't have come easily.
Somewhere, in the narrow crawlspace of her mind where her younger self still lingers, she wishes to simply whisper into the blonde's ear that none of this was necessary. That, while they will always be at each other's throats, and there will always be this battle for power between them, she hadn't expected the younger woman to make the efforts she has tonight. Not when she can't bring herself to acknowledge them.
It's easier to hurt her than to compliment her...
Instead, she merely skims her hand over the blonde's mound before bringing it back up to rest on her stomach, trailing her lips all the while down the Sheriff's throat.
"Your reason for being angry with me for cuffing you is very different to my reason for being angry with you for walking out on me, Miss Swan."
She doesn't go on to vocalise what that reason might have been; the fact that she'd wanted the younger woman, had craved her, and had loathed being denied her. She suspects the Sheriff may just be smart enough to put two and two together and figure that part out for herself.
Emma sighs and closes her eyes, running her hands up the Mayor's hips in a way that seems promising until she begins to roll out from under her.
"I should go."
She states woodenly, and Regina frowns but allows the blonde to climb out from beneath her splay-legged prison. She lowers herself back down so that her backside rests on the desk; feeling monumentally deflated in spite of her recent climax. She watches silently as the younger woman pulls her dress back on over her head and fusses distractedly with the complex pattern of strings that cross over her shoulders.
Emma pulls impatiently at one of the curved straps that sit awkwardly across her collarbone, her eyes meeting the Mayor's and hinting at her distress as she only succeeds in tangling black silk further. She's not sure what to do in the face of the expression ill-hidden on the brunette's enviable features. She understands that she has just been offered as close to an apology as she can hope to get, but she needs to get out of here. At least for the time being.
Regina swallows as green eyes capture hers; tensing her shoulders as the blonde takes a hesitant step closer and presses her lips dryly against her own. A pale hand finds her bare thigh and squeezes it tentatively, and she suddenly pushes back - passionately - into the Sheriff's kiss before the younger woman pulls away.
Sighing, the brunette works her fingers over the whorls of silk decorating the blonde's shoulders to pull the fabric of her dress correctly into place. She applies a little extra pressure with her fingers when she completes her task; coaxing the younger woman to raise her eyes and meet her gaze.
"You're so lucky..."
She murmurs, and the Sheriff's brow creases in confusion. The Mayor tucks blonde curls gently behind the younger woman's ear.
"Huh?"
"I'm not going to tell you that you're flawless, but you are beautiful."
Emma stares back at her incredulously, and Regina struggles to hide her amusement. Instead, she nods curtly; the movement graceful in spite of the fact that she kneels atop the desk with her body intimately displayed. She offers the Sheriff a nonchalant shrug of slender shoulders before pulling her gaping robe closed around her body.
"Go home and get some sleep, dear. Consider tonight a draw... I expect I'll see you sooner or later."