Seduction

Part 2

Regina Mills is good at her job. Excels at it as a matter of fact. For as long as she can remember men (and quite a few women) have been dumbstruck by her looks.

Robin Locksley was intended to be an easy assignment. Under no circumstances was she supposed to have fallen in love with him. It's her number one rule. Simple. Don't fall for the target. One Regina has never had a problem with before. So how on earth had she gotten herself tangled up in this mess?

They've spent the last two weeks, since that first night together, unable to keep their hands off one another. She's never felt like this about anyone, not even with her first love, Daniel. And she had loved him fiercely, deeply, before he'd been ripped from her grasp. But nothing has ever been as intense as this pull toward Robin, the way something deep inside her feels content when she's with him.

For a woman who has had nothing but pain and suffering her entire life, it's a feeling more seductive than anything she's ever experienced before. How is she supposed to manage to seduce what she needs out of him when he is constantly turning the tables on her? When everything he does makes her knees go a little weak? When every new thing she learns about him, has her falling deeper and deeper in love with him.

He's kind and generous. Has one of the biggest hearts of anyone Regina has ever met. Will go above and beyond to see her smile or pull a laugh from her. And he listens to her, cares about what she's thinking and feeling, values her opinions on an array of topics. Art, literature, politics, reality television shows, her love for horses and surprisingly enough, children. They never lack for conversation. Being with Robin is easy. Feels like the most natural thing in the world.

And she's been lying to him through every moment of their relationship.

Has already screwed up this potentially wonderful thing in her life that has ended up taking her by complete surprise.

Although, Regina has managed what she'd set out to do. Had found the elusive disk only two days ago when she'd been snooping around his apartment while Robin was showering. Right before she'd joined him under the spray. Her lips twitch at the memory, images of slick skin sliding against each other as they'd teased each other to completion. But the smile turns bitter when her thoughts immediately return to the fact she has to let him go.

His arm is a heavy weight over her waist as he cradles her against his body, their limbs entwined with each others. Robin's breath tickling the back of her neck in his slumber as she stares at the glowing alarm clock on the night stand. The neon green numbers glaring as the shadows grow with the quick onslaught of twilight. It will be dark soon. She should go. She's found the information she has been hired to retrieve. There is no need to linger any longer. No reason her heart should ache at the thought of leaving Robin's arms.

So why can't she make herself get out of the bed?

"You're thinking too hard." His voice cuts through the quiet stillness of the room, startling Regina out of her brooding, makes her jump.

"I thought you were asleep."

His lips press a light kiss to her neck and she desperately tries to ignore the fluttering sensations of pleasure that trickle through her at the contact. You have to stop this, Regina. He can't mean anything to you. He doesn't mean anything. She berates herself.

Robin just shakes his head and asks, "What's wrong, love?"

Her heart feels like it's being ripped out of her chest. That's what's wrong. That one singular word cracking and splintering it into a thousand pieces. She needs to get out of here. Right now before she says or does something that will most assuredly cause her future heartache when she is no longer lying naked and safe in his embrace. Like admit she's completely in love with him and it will never work. And she was stupid to have gotten in this deep. This is not the life she is meant to have. Quiet evenings cuddling in bed with a decent, kind, loving man. It's not the life she's chosen for herself. But she can't tell him any of that. So Regina clears her throat, swallows the lump that has formed in it and replies, "Nothing. But I should be going."