You and Tequila

Chapter Seven

Even though Regina was uncharacteristically late to her concert, the first time ever, Outlaw stalled perfectly by adding a few more songs into their set. The buzzing crowd seemed pleased and Outlaw always does such a wonderful job keeping their audience entertained.

After such an exhausting and eventful day, Regina decided that they would stay the night in Tokyo and fly back to the states in the morning. There is a small three day break between Tokyo and their next destination, Los Angeles, so Regina wasn't too concerned with the time schedule.

Ruby and Jefferson are hiding in Outlaw's dressing room while Cora is off speaking with Kathryn and the security team. Which, of course, leaves Emma alone with Regina for the first time since their secret trip to the hot springs. Emma can already feel her skin pricking just thinking about how close Regina's warm breath was to her lips, but she tries to shake those thoughts out of her mind and focus on her job.

This has all become routine to Emma now, after each concert she has to wipe away the sweat and grime and start fresh. She's fairly confident that this portion of the evening wasn't originally in her job description, considering everyone around her failed to mention so. She has an inkling that maybe Regina wanted to punish her the first night and now, well, it sort of has become a constant between them. Either way, it really doesn't matter to Emma, she doesn't mind these quiet moments that always seem to feel so intimate. Just another thing to keep her mind busy and off missing her family back home.

"I believe I owe you a thank you," Regina suddenly says through the silence beating between them.

The corner of Emma's mouth curls into a small smile just as her thumb sweeps across the deep groove above Regina's lip. And this time Regina doesn't flinch and Emma's smile is suddenly spreading deep into her cheeks.

"You're welcome," she modestly replies.

"You appeared very sure of yourself, fighting your way through the crowd."

She shrugs, uncertain how she's supposed to respond to a statement like that. She quietly reaches for the bronzer and brush, dutifully applying a light shade in case there's another flock of crazies just outside.

"Well, I appreciate the gesture," and even though the proclamation is so sincere, there's still an icy edge clipping Regina's words.

"Any decent human would have done the same," Emma brushes off the compliment because she never really understood how to accept them when they came her way.

"Well, there aren't too many left of those on this planet."

Emma chuckles in spite of everything that has crushed her spirit today and meets Regina's amused gaze. "We're here, just gotta dig through the riff-raff for us." One perfectly sculpted eyebrow slithers it's way up Regina's forehead, amused, yet the woman still refuses to laugh. "Like I said before, not everyone is out to sabotage you."

"There's the young and naive woman I hired," Regina deadpans, encouraging Emma to inhale sharply and keep her emotions in check, even though she thinks this might be Regina's attempt at humor.

She leans down, smug about her height since Regina's lounging in a chair below her and hovers right above the infuriating woman. Regina's dark eyes flash for a second, maybe she's enraged with the proximity, maybe she's shocked by Emma's boldness, but the blonde will never know.

"Nobody is here, Regina," she murmurs, a hair away from plump juicy lips. "Drop the attitude," she scolds in a tone that catches Regina off guard. "It's just you and me and despite what you keep telling yourself, you can trust me," she whispers so delicately, so sweetly, that Regina cannot deny the truth any longer.