Here's part 3. Hope you enjoy...As always, please leave a review on here and let me know what you think so far. Thanks!
Thanks again to Shay for her input, and Brooke for the beta :)
{***********************}
Chapter Three
Robin and Regina have talked several times over the last few days. They had been trying to find a day that both their schedules would allow for furniture shopping. Robin was busy with his latest advertisement project, Sleep Tight, the up and coming calming baby bubble bath, while Regina has been busy with three other design projects.
They both have employees that can handle these projects, but they like to be involved with all aspects of the businesses they run, so finding down time during the week proved to be challenging.
During their last phone conversation, Robin had suggested they go on Saturday. He reasoned that they could take the boys with them since they seemed to get along so well, despite their five year age gap.
"They can keep each other entertained while we pick out furniture," is how Robin had pitched the idea to Regina, making her feel like she was one of his clients. Turns out, he is quite good at advertising.
That's how Robin finds himself walking into Enchanted Furniture on a warm, slightly breezy, Saturday afternoon with Roland, and two coffees, in tow.
Even though it's a weekend, he still wants to look semi-professional, he is somewhat working after all. So, he chose to wear dark wash jeans and a gray button up shirt that has light blue checkered into it. If he just happens to know that gray brings out his blue eyes, which several women have pointed out to him over the years, and he may have wanted Regina to notice, well, who can blame him?
"Roland," Robin says as the pair make their way into the store, "I need you to be on your best behavior today, son. This is not a store for children to run around in. Papa needs to pick out some furniture for his office." He kneels down to get to eye level with Roland and sets down his coffees to straighten a button on his son's shirt, "If you behave, I might just stop by the park on the way home and
let you play for a bit. How does that sound, hmm?"
He knows bribing small children isn't always the best way to parent, but Roland had a good week at school and deserves a little reward anyway.
"Yeah!" Roland squeals as his father laughs and ruffles his hair.
Just then, Robin spots Regina and Henry walking in. He can't help but notice how nice she looks, professional, yet casual. He likes this look on her.
She's wearing dark, skinny leg jeans, a sheer, deep violet blouse that ties in the front with a black tank top underneath. She topped it off with a lightweight black jacket, and she has her hair down. Her hair sits just below her shoulders, and he often finds himself wondering what it would feel like to run his fingers through her silky locks.
Robin waves as Regina and Henry approach.
"Good morning." Robin takes a sip of his coffee and hands another steaming cup to Regina. "I wasn't sure how you take your coffee," he shrugs, "but I hope it's ok."
He had stopped by the nearest coffee shop on his way to the store with Roland. He knew getting up and dragging a kid out of the house earlier than normal (for him anyway, he and Roland normally didn't leave the house until around lunchtime on Saturdays and they were meeting Regina at ten), could be somewhat of a challenge, and he wanted to thank Regina for her commitment to his project. He also just wanted to do something nice for her. He was completely unsure about buying the coffee in the first place, but the smile on her face as she accepts the brew tells him that he was right to buy it.
She inhales the rich aroma and takes a cautious sip – it's black with just a little bit of creamer in it. In his hurry to get to the store, he had fixed her coffee the same way he takes his. Halfway to Enchanted Furniture, however, he remembered her making a comment one time about drinking black coffee and loving it despite what her employees said. He mentally kicked himself but hoped she still found the gesture sweet.
"It's perfect." She smiles brightly, "Thank you." She takes another small sip before her eyes slide down to Roland.
"Good morning, Regina!"
"Good morning, Roland." She smiles down at the boy. "You look quite handsome today," she says, running her fingers through his brown curls.
Roland is in dark jeans that almost match his father's and a blue, red and dark green checkered button up shirt. When Regina looks back up, Robin is looking at her with a small smile on his face. He finds her natural mothering abilities so attractive, and he is once again blown away by her effortless beauty.
Regina clears her throat and tucks her hair behind her ear, "So, I think we should start over on the left side. They tend to have more transitional furniture over there."
"Sounds good," Robin says, placing a hand on Roland's shoulder, "lead the way."
{***********************}
"I want you boys to stay close by," Regina instructs the two young children as they approach the transitional office furniture section. Turning to Robin, Regina explains, "We need to find a desk that is sleek and streamline, but not too modern."
"Why don't you boys go test out those office chairs?" Regina turns to face the boys and points toward the multiple rows of different office chairs, most of which spin and swivel, just a few feet from the desks Robin is currently looking at.
"Ok!" The boys say in unison, rushing over to sit, and spin, in all the large chairs.
Regina turns around, smirking at their son's antics, and starts looking over the desk selection with Robin.
The pair split off for a few moments, each looking at different types of desks, every now and then signaling to each other with a thumbs up or down.
Enchanted Furniture is her go to place to find office furnishings because they offer such a large selection. In the area she's roaming, she sees different types of desk – some she doesn't think quite fit in the transitional style, but she'll just skip over those. There are light colored wooden desks, some more sleek than others, and several metal desks. She knows she needs to find a desk that has the iron elements to match her design scheme for Robin's office.
After a while of looking through all of the desks, Regina thinks it's a bit too quiet and goes in search of the boys.
She finds them sitting in two large, black leather chairs playing Sight Word Bingo on Henry's iPad. Thankful that her son, as the natural leader of their duo, hasn't led them to make too big of a mess within all the office chairs (although she notices several chairs are no longer facing the same direction as all the others, so she knows they definitely played around for a while before settling down). There are other people shopping today, after all, and she trusts Henry not to cause too much trouble.
Grinning, Regina turns back around to the desk section and immediately sees Robin leaning up against a sleek, glass top desk with wrought-iron legs that make an "X" in the middle, smirking at her. The iron detail makes her think it would be a great option for his new desk.
Her steps falter slightly at first, however, and her eyes widen for a split second. Robin is leaning up against that desk, ankles crossed and holding his coffee cup. He's got a smirk on his face and damn, he looks sexy.
Looking at him, Regina can't help that her initial thought upon seeing him is how thrilling it would be for Robin to take her and ravish her so completely on top of that glass desk. Surely it has a high weight limit – it could hold both of them.
Pulling herself from her inappropriately thrilling fantasy, Regina takes a deep breath and walks over to Robin.
"Is this the one you like?" she questions, pointing to the desk he's still perched upon.
"I'm not sure." He stands from the desk and clears his throat. "There's one over here that I like as well." He moves slightly to the left, grabbing Regina's elbow and turning her to see the other desk.
A shiver runs down Regina's spine when he touches her elbow, just like it did in his office the other day. Damn him.
Robin points to a larger, metal desk. It's a little too modern for Regina's envisioned transitional office, and the glass desk would probably look better in her design, but if that's what he wants…
"This one is much larger, though, so I'm not sure. What do you think?" Robin asks, pulling Regina from her thoughts.
"I like it." She apprehensively shrugs a shoulder up. "I like them both. Which one do you prefer?"
Robin chuckles. "I like them both as well." He smiles at Regina and sipping his coffee, tells her, "That's why I need a professional's opinion."
Regina lets out her own small chuckle. "Alright then," She turns towards the glass and wrought-iron desk, "I think this one is best for your office space. It's got the iron element that I'm trying to incorporate."
"Then that's the one we'll get," he concedes, walking back toward the glass desk.
Smiling triumphantly and walking to catch up with him, she says, "Perfect."
{**************************}
He's never quite enjoyed shopping as he has today.
He wasn't sure exactly what type of desk Regina wanted for his office, so he aimlessly wandered about the desks, picking out the ones he thought looked good.
After playing their amusing thumbs up, thumbs down game, and getting lost in her chocolate brown eyes, Robin found himself having a highly inappropriate fantasy of being on his knees, head in between her legs, staring up into those gorgeous brown eyes as she sits bare assed on top of that very same desk that she decided was perfect for his office.
Once they made their way out of the furniture store, and saying their goodbyes, Robin loads Roland into the car. He's old enough now that he can buckle his own car seat, which has proven to save loads of time for Robin.
"Was I good at the store, Papa?" His son asks from the back seat, slipping his headphones on while Robin reaches behind himself to press the play button on his 4-Runner's DVD player.
Smiling at Roland through the rearview mirror, he tells him, "You most certainly were, my boy!" Remembering his promise from earlier, he says, "What do you say we go to the park for a little bit?"
With Roland's squeal of delight and yeah! he laughs and heads towards the park.
It's a beautiful, warm day. Perfect for the park. Robin had stopped on the way to the playground to pick them up some sandwiches from the grocery store. They stayed at Enchanted Furniture longer than anticipated, and it was nearing lunch time. He knew if Roland was going to enjoy the park without having a meltdown, that he would also need food.
"Stay on the swings where I can see you while I get the food out!" Robin calls as Roland runs towards the swings. They got lucky today, there doesn't seem to be too many other families out. As he pulls their turkey and cheese subs from their packages, he wonders if maybe more parents will bring their kids out later, after lunch perhaps.
Once the food has been placed on top of their napkins (he's leaving them wrapped up until Roland is ready to eat so the bugs don't swarm to the food), and the tiny water bottles are brought out, Robin sits with his back against the tabletop to watch his son play for a little bit. Hearing his son's giggles and Papa! Look!'s always bring a smile to his face. He looks so much like his mother in these moments that it makes his heart clench.
"Mind if we join you?" A boy's voice interrupts his thoughts. Smiling, he turns his head to see Henry and Regina approaching. She's still in those skinny jeans and purple top from earlier, but he's glad to see she's shed her jacket. It has warmed up somewhat since they left their apartments this morning, and he's even had to roll up his shirt's sleeves.
"Of course not, please sit." He smiles, moving over a little bit and sliding their sandwiches down to make room for her bag of food.
Sitting beside him, Regina takes Henry's outstretched bottle of water from his hand before he runs off to join Roland on the swings. "Looks like we had the same idea," she grins, placing the water bottle behind her on the table and then turning to watch the boys.
"I told Henry if he was well behaved at the store, then we could come here. Is that terrible of me?" She playfully grimaces. "Bribing my own kid?"
Laughing, Robin reassures her, "definitely not. Why do you think we're here?"
Sharing a chuckle, they turn their heads to watch their sons for a little bit. The swings aren't too far away, just a few dozen feet from where they sit, so they know the boys are perfectly safe without them standing directly by their sides. The park isn't overly crowded, anyway, there's only three other families here, so he knows they're fine.
After a few moments of companionable silence, just watching Henry and Roland run around (they'd hoped off the swings and began chasing each other around the playground equipment), Robin speaks up. "I had a lot of fun today, surprisingly."
At the lift of her eyebrows, he realizes how that might have sounded. Rubbing the back of his neck and sighing, he sheepishly chuckles, "Not like that. I just meant I didn't realize picking out furniture could be so entertaining."
Letting out a breathy laugh, she agrees and tells him it was fun. "One of the more enjoyable experiences I've had shopping with a client. You'd be surprised at how pushy some people can be when I pick something for my design that they don't like."
"Well, I can't imagine anyone not trusting your judgement." He leans a little closer to her and nudges her shoulder with his while winking in her direction, "You're quite good at what you do."
Shyly smiling, she turns, swinging her legs to be under the table, and starts unpacking her and Henry's lunches. She's brought a premade grilled chicken salad with spinach leaves for her and a turkey and cheese sub, on wheat bread and a bed of lettuce with some pickles and tomatoes, for Henry.
"He'll eat all that on a sandwich?" he asks incredulously, knowing Roland wouldn't touch lettuce with a ten foot pole.
She laughs, telling him, "Oh, yeah. Henry loves lettuce and all sorts of vegetables."
At his wow, I'm impressed, she smiles and tell him how Henry used to hate eating things like that but she kept insisting he try, and one day he magically tried lettuce and liked it. "Ever since then, he's tried all types of vegetables and has ended up liking most of them, thankfully."
"Hmm," he hums, "maybe I'll have to try that with Roland, just force him to try them all."
They both laugh as she tells him, "well, don't be too forceful with it, but yes, make him try as much as possible. You never know what he might like." She smiles over to the boys before adding, "I was rather impressed with Henry's taste buds when he started tasting new foods. I think he might even like more vegetables than I do!"
She sets their food out next to his and Roland's sandwiches, placing the boy's food on the same side of the table, telling him she's positive Roland will insist upon sitting next to Henry, which he wholeheartedly agrees with.
"We should probably call the boys over the eat before they start having too much fun and don't want to stop," she sniggers, pulling her hair over to one shoulder.
He agrees, cupping his hands to call for the boys to come eat. At their twin coming! Robin turns around to open his water bottle and take a sip as their sweaty, red faced boys join them, chugging their own water down.
"Don't drink it all too fast, you'll get a tummy ache." Regina reminds both boys, opening her water and taking a sip.
"Yes, ma'am," Henry says, causing Roland to echo the sentiment.
Smiling at the boys, Robin begins to unwrap Roland's sandwich and open his small pretzel bag, while Regina pulls out a miniature bottle of hand sanitizer and gives each boy a squirt.
The four of them eat their lunches, laughing and talking about all the crazy furniture they passed in the store, Roland commenting on all the cool kitchen setups they had seen.
"That one kitchen had fish scales on the wall!" Roland exclaims, causing the three of them to chuckle at the boy's surprise.
"Not exactly," Regina laughs, going on to explain to him, "some people like what's called a modern style. That wall, called a back splash, was just made up of nothing but shimmery, silver tiles. But it did look like fish scales, didn't it?"
"Sure did! Papa, can we have fish scales in our kitchen?"
Laughing, Robin tells him it wouldn't quite go with the style of their house, causing the boy's shoulders to slump and give a defeated ok in response.
"What does your kitchen look like?" Regina turns to look at Robin instead of their sons. He tells her how his kitchen is a bit of everything, that once he and Roland were on their own, they kind of used what Marian had at their old house, mixed with elements that were given to them from their friends. He tells her his tile is gray, but looks like hardwood floor, which she says is quite common these days and she loves (and also has at her apartment), his cabinets are black and his appliances are stainless steel.
"It all looks very, I guess you'd say, modern or… transitional," grinning in her direction at his new design lingo he's been learning, "on the outside, but the details are what don't all go together, I suppose. None of our dishes match, except the set we got for our wedding, and my appliances didn't all come from the same store, they were just all sort of inherited from different friends." He chuckles, telling her, "it sounds chaotic, but I promise it all goes well together." Nodding toward Roland and asking his son to back up his claim.
"Oh," she says, holding her hand up in mock surrender, "I believe it! You have, what sounds like, a very typical kitchen. The main elements all go together, but inside the cabinets is where the real personality is." She giggles, telling him that is more than normal, most people have kitchens like that.
They go on to talk about how her apartment is also decorated in the transitional style, because it's her favorite. She says her kitchen and living room are an open concept so they flow right into each other (he says his do as well). She loves the gray and beige color scheme because she can add pops of color in each room, but she mainly sticks with teals or other calming blue hues, nothing too bright or outlandish.
"Except in my room!" Henry chimes in, telling them how Regina let him choose how his room got decorated. "It's all super heros right now!"
Henry tells the group how his bedspread is blue and red, and he has Captain America pillows. He also has a poster of just about every superhero possible hanging up on his wall. Roland's eyes bulge out at that, claiming he wants to see that one day (Robin just knows his son will be asking for a super hero room, too, as soon as they get home.) The boy says he's thinking of changing it soon to something else, but he hasn't quite decided what that will be, which causes Regina's eyebrows to move toward her hairline as she claims they just finished finding all the posters he wanted.
Henry gives her a sly grin and shrugs his shoulder, claiming, "I'm a growing boy, Mom. My mind changes like every other week."
Rolling her eyes playfully, she tells him, "which is exactly why we will be keeping the hero themed room for a while," she points her fork in Henry's direction and smiles, saying, "maybe you can talk to your dad about redoing your room there since you haven't done that since you were younger."
Once their food has been eaten, the boys run back to the playground to hop onto a metal dome and hang upside down from it, laughing the whole time.
"They really do get along well," Regina notes, standing to throw their trash away as Robin collects their plastic bottles to place in the community recycle bin.
"They really do," Robin agrees, "Henry is great with Roland."
At Regina's beaming smile, she concurs, saying that Henry has always been great with other kids.
Tentatively, he says, "We should maybe let them get together again on a weekend and let them play."
"Definitely. As long as it's not a weekend that Henry is with his father, then we should be able to work it out," nodding her head, she beams, "I think the boys would love that."
The boys aren't the only one that's would love that. He's glad he bribed his son with going to park today, after all.
{*************************}
The following Monday, Regina is hard at work designing a sleek, modern living room for one client, a farmhouse kitchen for another couple who are having her redo their entire mansion, and putting some finishing touches on Robin's offices, when a knock sounds at her door.
She looks up to see Robin walking in.
He looks good today, wearing a navy suit with a pale blue button up underneath and a navy tie. Classic. Sexy.
"Robin," Regina stands from her desk, straightening some papers and smiling, "What are you doing here? I was just working on the computer design of your office."
"Fantastic," Robin smiles, walking towards her, "But that's not what I'm here about."
"Oh," Regina says, brows descend in confusion, "What's going on?" She inquires, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. It's a nervous habit of hers. One that her mother has been trying to break her of since she was a child. But there's something about the way this man looks at her that always seems to have her stomach in knots, especially when she catches him looking at her when she looks up at him.
"Regina," he seems hesitant. Nervous, almost. "I've really enjoyed the time we've spent together over the last few weeks, and," Oh, no. This can not be happening. Regina bites her bottom lip. "I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me sometime? No children this time?" Robin smirks, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
Damn him and that adorable smirk.
"Robin." Regina walks to meet him halfway between her office door and her desk. How does she turn down this handsome man that she's had so much fun with over the last few weeks? "I… well…" Regina huffs a small breath and tucks that same piece of hair behind her ear again.
"I appreciate the offer, but," Regina can tell she's disappointing him. His smile has started to fade from his handsome face, and he looks disappointed. She hates doing this to him. "I just ended things with Henry's dad a few months ago, and I just really need time to figure out who I am without that relationship weighing me down. I've enjoyed our time, too, so much," she says, placing her hand on his bicep, "but what I need right now… is a friend. Is that ok?" Regina looks at Robin nervously.
She really has enjoyed their time together – furniture shopping, playdates at the park, quick chats while she's dropping off small pieces of furniture, their phone calls — but she cannot date. At least not right now, anyway. She'd finally decided a few days ago that dating a client wouldn't be the worst thing in the world… but only when she's ready, which she isn't right now. Shouldn't be, couldn't be anyway, she tells herself. She just ended the longest relationship of her life not even a year ago.
"Of course," Robin slightly smiles, "I'll take whatever you're willing to give. I understand needing time to heal after being with someone for a long time." His eyes are so warm and affectionate, so empathetic. This is torture on her. Why couldn't his nanny have convinced him to hire her a few months from now, when she's ready to date?
Great.
Charming, caring, and understanding.
Regina smiles sadly at Robin, "Thank you." After a few seconds of awkward silence and staring into each other's eyes, Regina speaks up.
"Do you want to see what I've come up with so far on the computer?" She nods her head toward her desk where her laptop sits with an uneasy look on her face.
"Sure," he says with a defeated smile.
{********************************}
Shit. That's all Robin can think. He'd been so confident waltzing into her office just a few minutes ago. He has enjoyed their time together so much over the last two weeks, and he was positive that she had, too.
She says she just wants a friend right now and of course he understands. Henry is ten, and she just ended things with his father. Anyone would need time to heal after a breakup of that magnitude.
Hell, he had needed almost two years after Marian died to even start dating again and they'd only been together for six years.
He understands.
Hates it. But understands.
And if a friend is what Regina needs, then a friend he will be.
Following behind her toward her desk, she sits down in her chair and motions for him to take a seat in the chair on the other side of the desk. Taking residence in the plush chair, he leans his chest into her desk as she turns her laptop around to show him her digital designs.
They're breathtaking. Not that he expected anything less. "These look amazing, Regina," he tells her. There's still a tensioned air between the two of them, but when you've just been rejected, I guess awkwardness is only to be expected when you have to stay around and work.
"Thank you," she smiles, clicking to the next screen to show him the designs for the hallway and waiting area. Again, she's done a wonderful job, and he finds himself relaxing, telling her he's excited to see the finished product in a few months because it all looks so great on the computer screen.
After viewing his fifteen employee's offices, he asks for a few small adjustments to be made, which she makes note of to change once he leaves. "It takes a while to change, even small tweaks," she explains.
"I'm sorry," his brow slightly furrows, feeling like an inconvenience.
"Oh," she pushes her hair out of her face, "It's not a problem, Robin. I just figured you wouldn't want to sit here for half an hour or so while I change things," she chuckles, causing him to softly smile. He still feels like a git no matter how much he's relaxed since she said she just wanted a friend.
She tells him she's glad he told her now. "Remember, it's easier for me to change things now before we start actually working on those offices." She smiles in his direction, eyes glancing back to her computer screen, then back to his awkwardly. "So, it's no problem."
"Ok, great," he nods, standing from the chair. He assures her everything looks amazing and asks her to just tweak those wall colors and that pesky bookshelf and they'd be good to go.
She says, "ok," biting her lip and nodding her head. Taking a deep breath, she tells him she'll get those things changed and send the designs via email for him to look at and approve.
God, he thinks, this is so awkward. He doesn't want it to be awkward like this, he enjoys this friendship that they've developed and he won't let him asking her out prematurely ruin everything.
"Alright," he smiles, "I'll look those over and get back to you. Thanks again, Regina."
After her mmhmm, no problem, he walks towards the door as she stands from behind her desk.
Turning back toward her, he softly says, "Hey," causing her to look up at him and smile a questioning smile. "The boys had such a good time at the park, Roland hasn't stopped talking about it the past few days." They chuckle together as she walks closer to the doorway he stands in.
"Maybe we can take them somewhere this weekend… if Henry isn't with his father, of course." Robin shrugs his shoulder in a nonchalant manner. He's already made a fool of himself today, so no harm in at least asking to spend time together with their kids, right? "Roland has been begging me to go see Cars 3, so I was thinking of taking him to that before he explodes."
Laughing and placing her hand on the door frame, she tells him, "That actually sounds really nice. Henry has been talking about wanting to see it, too." She smiles, saying her son won't be with Daniel, he'll have him the next weekend, so they're free to go to the movies.
"Excellent. Tink will have Roland for a few hours Saturday morning while I get some work done at the office, but we can go after that."
"Sounds perfect," she smiles, opening the door to her office wider, "I'll text you later once I look up movie times so we can decide."
Telling her that sounds good, he turns to leave, reminding her to send those new sketches over when she's done and he'll see her on Saturday.
Friends. He can definitely be her friend, he tells himself.