Guard My Heart

Chapter Ten

Eventually they find themselves in Regina's room, limbs entwined together beneath her silk sheets. Spent and completely sated. They had managed another round before they'd both collapsed into their current position.

Regina is snuggled up against his side, arm draped over Robin's abdomen. The sun is slowly setting as the last remnants of light filter through the window casting shadows across the sheets covering them. They've maybe an hour yet before Henry returns, an hour to just enjoy holding each other. She is warm and content, drifting off to sleep with her head pillowed on his chest when he presses a kiss to her hair and whispers almost inaudibly, "Will you tell me about Henry's father?" Perhaps it is not the wisest moment to bring up the question but she is relaxed in his arms, finally open to him and Robin can't resist asking. He needs to know.

Immediately tensing in his hold, Regina remains quiet for several long moments that seem to last forever. But she's let him in this much, enough to be lying in this bed with him, enough for him to have touched her heart and made her fall in love with him, to agree to give them a chance so why not give him the rest? Robin had shared his past with her, it's time she explained why she's been so frightened of their relationship, why she has spent so much time pushing him away. With a sigh she runs her fingertips over his chest, soothing herself as she begins.

"I met him right after I moved to L.A. I was trying to get my start, going to classes and auditions pretty much nonstop. Definitely did not have romance on the brain. I was much too focused on my career." The corners of Regina's mouth tip up a bit at the memory as she recalls how Daniel had thrown her carefully thought out plan out the window. "Eventually I managed to get a small role in a made for tv movie set on a horse ranch. I was thrilled, not only was it the biggest role I'd had to date but I've always loved horses and hadn't been around them since I was a teenager. Daniel was the animal handler on set." Regina smiles a bit as she remembers while Robin's fingers run languidly through her hair, the steady pull and release soothing her.

He doesn't say anything, just listens as Regina continues. "We fell for each other right from the beginning. Bonded over our mutual love for the animals we were working with and growing up on the east coast before moving out here, how exciting and terrifying it was." Her voice contains a touch of wistfulness as Regina loses herself in the memories. Daniel had been one of the first and only people in her life to understand her so instantaneously, so completely. It doesn't escape her notice or amusement that Robin had been the same way when he had come into her life.

Suppressing a smile as she wonders what that could mean for them Regina shifts over him, crossing her forearms over each other and resting her chin on them so she can look up into Robin's crystal clear blue eyes. The love shining there causes Regina's heart to leap in her chest as she keeps talking. "He was so easy to talk to, not something I've had a lot of in my life, and my heart didn't stand a chance." she laughs.

Robin's thumb rubs along the apple of her cheek as he smiles. "I'm quite positive he felt the same, milady. If he was anything like myself his heart would have been completely lost to you the moment he laid eyes on you." Regina's heart swells, that elusive smile breaking out over her features and Robin could swear he falls more in love with her every time she gives it to him.

Laughing, Regina teases, "Flirt."

Shaking his head, Robin chuckles and swipes his thumb over her bottom lip. "Truth." he counters and can't help leaning down to press gentle a kiss to her lips.

The gleam in her eyes when Robin pulls away makes her look even more beautiful as he rubs his hand up and down her arm, the other sliding along her bare back. "Keep going." he says quietly.

Taking a breath to steady herself Regina says, "Yes, well I was quite head over heels myself." she admits. "We were so wrapped up in each other that between Daniel and focusing on the movie I didn't notice any of the signs at first." Her eyes darken, going blank as she recalls the past, and Robin tightens his hold around her body, attempting to comfort her that she's safe now, here, with him.