The Heart That Beats For Her

Chapter Twenty-Three

Emma quickly scrambles into the bug, shivering from the chills due to the dropping temperatures and her lack of a warmer jacket. She shoves the key into the ignition, starts the car, and blasts the heat. As soon as she manhandles the stick to reverse out of the parking spot, Regina slithers her fingers between Emma's. There's a heavy pause between them, but Emma knows this woman well enough to know she's working up the courage to reveal her truth.

"You know I hate how cold my place always feels now," Regina quietly confesses, intently observing Emma as she focuses on the road ahead.

"And this has nothing to do with the urn next to your bed, which is the real reason why we have to sleep in the guest bedroom every time I stay over?" Emma lightly muses, not wanting to add too much pressure to the topic of conversation that they never discuss.

"Emma," Regina lowly says in a warning tone, her fingers curling even tighter around Emma's hand.

"It's okay," she flippantly replies, shrugging so carelessly. "I understand that you feel guilty."

"Guilty? I feel like I'm cheating every time," Regina sighs heavily, the weight of her shame pressing further down on her chest and crushing her lungs.

"I know," she whispers, squeezing some love and support into Regina's hand, green eyes flicking to meet sorrowful brown for a split second before they dart back to the road ahead.

She can hear the way Regina shifts against the leather seat, pivoting to fully face Emma and offer her undivided attention. "I don't want to feel that way anymore."

Emma glances her way and offers the best reassuring smile she can produce. "I know that too," she cheekily confirms, lifting Regina's hand and pressing her cold lips against the leather covered fingers. "We will get through this, day by day."

"I've been working very hard with my one on one sessions to overcome these feelings," Regina explains, brushing the fat curls off Emma's shoulder. "But that house feels so hollow and haunted now and it's just another reason why I feel the need to move."

"I think the move will help you heal and move forward. You won't constantly feel like you are reliving that nightmare."

"I don't know if I've mentioned, but the nightmares don't follow me to your new place," Regina reveals, mindlessly playing with a curl resting against Emma's back.

"You haven't told me that, but I'm glad my place is peaceful for you," Emma says as they roll to a stop in front of the glowing red light. "I want to be your safe place."

She swiftly drifts toward the middle and captures those painted red lips for a slow and sensual kiss that has Regina grinning wildly.

~~~~~

Emma reads the email one more time on her phone, too stunned to completely comprehend the words the first time around. Her eyes repeatedly drop down to the name at the bottom of the email, Mal. Mal. Simply Mal, one of the most talented eye for art with six galleries around the major cities across the country. Apparently, the woman she bumped into in the bathroom was Mal's daughter, Lilith and had raved about Emma's work to her mother.

"Emma."

"Hmmm," she murmurs on reflex with her thumbnail wedged anxiously between her teeth.

"Emma," she hears that deep, husky tone that tickles every nerve in her body, demanding her full attention.

She peeks through her eyelashes and the display she is gifted with causes her thumb to fall away from her gaping mouth. Regina is lingering between the bedroom and the bathroom, wrapped in black silk and Emma is already itching to unwrap her like a fragile present. Her wide eyes start at the bottom, where she finds those adorable toes painted a blood red that matched her lips earlier that evening. She follows the path up those tan legs, admiring how perfectly sculpted they are, defined, muscular, and strong and god she wishes they would snake around her body and claim ownership. And they are completely bare, over the knee, up toward her mid-thigh until Emma finds the hem of a very short silk robe that just barely covers Regina's underwear. If she's wearing any.