A/N: one down, one more to go . I hope you enjoy this little lead-in to the main event (which wasn't planned, but that's always the way!) and I will be back tomorrow with some Christmas smut 😅😁. Have a lovely Christmas Eve, those of you who celebrate, and please comment to spur on my resolve to get this little dip into nostalgia finished between wine and trying my hand at (aka: butchering) some embroidery 😛. Happy reading!
Step away...
The Mayor's loaded suggestion lingers over them like a shroud as Emma keeps her gaze locked with Regina's while the shared taste of wine colours her tongue.
Step away...
And, oh, she knows she should and that she's flirting with danger, but just as the darker woman has implied that the tension between them isn't a solely negative experience on her part, so now the blonde finds her mind racing with countless previous scenes where she'd found herself horribly aggravated dealing with the ever-vexing Mayor in a way that had made her stomach ache in a distractingly pleasurable way.
You just frustrate me.
Regina's words; her meaning multifaceted and mutual.
"... It wouldn't be the first time."
She finally breaks the silence between them hoarsely, and the brunette frowns as she keeps her hand hidden beneath scant fabric as she has yet to be ordered to remove it.
"What wouldn't?"
"That I stepped away."
"You've never stepped away! I have a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol in my medicine cabinet to prove it."
"I did in the current context. I never backed down when you went for my throat in a proverbial sense, but... Had it been literal, or some of the other things I'd pictured you doing when you would get up in my face the way you do... I've stepped away rather than taking those thoughts further."
"... But there were thoughts?"
"Of course. I mean, you said yourself, I went a bloody awkward and showy way about just pouring some wine."
"Mm... Because you thought you might get lucky..."
Regina repeats the younger woman's unlikely admission as she searches the latter's face for any signs that she's messing with her, but Emma merely shrugs a little sheepishly and agrees
"You showed up on my doorstep with wine and a story; there are plenty of videos that start that way and end on a much more exciting note."
"Videos?"
"Not ones you'd approve of, I'm sure."
"I suspect you might be right, although I'm supportive of their implied conclusion."
"... Yeah?"
"Mm... Although, I would suggest you strive to get your mind out of the gutter, Miss Swan, if all that it takes for you to start wetting your underwear is a friendly introduction offered by a stranger."
The brunette muses coolly, chancing a pointed shift of her fingers to emphasise her point while cordially ignoring the fact that the resultant ripple of the younger woman's throat is having its own effect beneath the smart cut of her dress pants.
"Most of the strangers I meet don't look like you."
The blonde replies simply.
"I see... I told you you were taken with me."
"And I never denied it."
Emma counters, and Regina nods slowly as she supposes this is true; she's accused the Sheriff on multiple occasions of being enamoured with what she sees - purely to bait, to tease, to play into her role as she knows they both see it; meeting the blonde's waspishness with theatrical arrogance to revel in her reaction - and not once has Emma told her that she's mistaken.
No. She merely dances around the subject and sinks her teeth elsewhere so that our spat might continue.
Because she enjoys it.
Just as I do... She enjoys our little games and the way they make her feel.
"No. You never have."
She muses delicately, knowing that the same can't be said for herself and feeling uncharacteristically guilty as she considers pale features she's come to begrudgingly miss in their absence.
Seeming to read her mind, Emma grins as she strives to keep her voice even; all too aware of the delicious placement of the darker woman's hand and the electricity sparking between them.
"In that respect, I'd say I played things much cooler than you did, Your Majesty."
"How the hell do you figure that?"
"Simple. I kept my opinions to myself. You, meanwhile, just couldn't help yourself from making sly little comments, and I'll admit, the first couple stung; I'm not an especially vain person, but it was still kind of jarring to be called some of the things you decided to call me, even if in the grand scheme of your Regina-isms, nasty remarks about my appearance weren't especially high on the list of the things you would come up with to wound."
"Regina-isms?"
The brunette raises a brow, forbidding herself from smiling as she suffers the most bizarre flutter of flattery in response to what she considers a strangely affectionate accusatory term.
"Uhuh. Still, you know how it is; kids tease and taunt each other something rotten when they have a crush but lack the maturity to deal with it..."
"Watch yourself, dear."
The Mayor hisses dangerously, earning herself a grin.
"Or what? Don't get bitchy with me just because I'm telling the truth."
"... I never denied it."
Regina replies, mimicking Emma's loaded statement with a teasing glitter to dark eyes, and she supposes she's not overly surprised when the younger woman greets this charged remark with laughter and her own flustered admission.
"I never gave you the chance! I never had the guts to accuse you of it in the first place!"
"But you had your suspicions?"
"Maybe. I don't know."
"Oh come, don't be coy. Don't ruin our game."
"I had... Occasional hopes."
"Fantasies?! How sweet."
The Queen teases, and Emma rolls her eyes as she retorts
"More just momentary lapses in sanity. And I don't know what you're so tickled about, having just admitted that you've pictured taking me on my back and pleading, which, by the way, is pretty fucking demeaning and presumptive, and- Oh!"
Biting back a choked sound when Regina follows through with her previous threat and slips her fingers inside warm lace while attempting to force her down into a position very much like the one she'd described, the blonde holds her wine to the side in a bid to keep from christening the floor as she offers the darker woman a perturbed expression that's somewhat ruined by the colour blossoming across her cheeks.
"That's only going to work on a sofa this size if you get down on your knees, Madame Mayor."
"I think not."
Regina shakes her head with an arrogant toss of her hair, although she has to admit that the younger woman might have a point as the loveseat does dampen her now rather urgent desire to have the blonde eating her words.
Among other things...
"I'm open to suggestions..."
She smirks wickedly, glancing pointedly towards Emma's bedroom door.
"I-... We're really doing this?"
The Sheriff counters quietly, looking a little dazed, and the darker woman raises a brow as she offers a crude thrust of her fingers and replies silkily
"Well, it would certainly seem so."
Still, she understands the unease lacing the blonde's words as, of all outcomes and eventualities she'd pictured when arguing her right to venture out to retrieve her son and Emma by default, this had never been one of them, and despite her observation that the version of the younger woman she'd kissed had been new and exciting, the version staring up at her now is one she'll be forced to deal with once the dust has settled.
Is that so bad?
No. Not really. Of course, she would never say so - would never admit it - but she's coming to discover she doesn't feel anywhere near as uncomfortable as she possibly should with the way things have progressed between them tonight. True, the matter of their kiss thwarting the effects of her memory charm causes her great disquiet, but as for their actions since; she suffers none of the confusion or anxiety she would have anticipated.
Slipping her fingers from slick heat but keeping them cupped firmly over scant lace, she leans down to murmur in the Sheriff's ear
"I told you... Step away if you feel so inclined."
"Mm... Well, I'm going to have to, aren't I?"
"Oh. I-"
"Yeah, and you're going to have to get off me if you want us to take this someplace a little more comfortable."
"Right... What a line."
"I know. Lucky you."
"We'll see."
"... Yeah. I guess so."
Emma nods, taking a sip from her glass for good luck before slipping out from beneath the Mayor and leading them towards her bedroom; trying not to lose her cool as her mind rings with multiple alarm bells while simultaneously composing an erratic melody dedicated to the recent location of the brunette's fingers.
Fuck...
"Well... After you."
She smiles, pushing open the door to her room as she turns to offer Regina a calm look that the darker woman reciprocates while striving to quieten the sound of her heartbeat thumping in her ears.
"How unnervingly courteous, Miss Swan."
She teases; her voice sultry and sweet as she swallows her lingering reservations.
"Yeah, well, 'tis the season and all that."
"...Quite."