It took a lot to get through Emma's defenses, and Jim Moriarty hadn't quite done that. But she'd at least been willing to give him a chance, and to find out what she had, well... It was really no wonder she'd given this meeting a chance. She needed to know. She needed answers. Why her? Why wasn't she dead by then? He'd gotten what he needed from her, she'd filled him in on this place and helped him out and perhaps provided amusement for that morning. Why keep bothering? It didn't fit the profile of the man she'd read about.
She found she didn't fear him, though. Maybe she should. Common sense said she should. But he did keep her on edge, wary and suspicious, with every word about his past crimes and his intended crimes. It almost made her wish she'd had Abby create the life of a deputy for her, as opposed to her original profession. She didn't have the ability to bring him down, not now. Maybe not ever. And that bothered her. She wanted the upper hand and it wasn't hers. Emma Swan hadn't been helpless in the last five years or so, she didn't really intend to start now.
Though she accepted the menu, she didn't open it right away. She watched him, instead. As she'd once told Henry, she had an uncanny knack for knowing when people were lying to her. And every word he'd said so far was true. She respected that honesty. Even if it did send a chill through her that the short hem of her dress did nothing to prevent.
"You like to be challenged," she pointed out, considering him carefully. "Mentally, I mean." But why the path he'd chosen? There wouldn't be a criminal left on the streets if he'd used that keen mind to work for them rather than against them. Them. She was still on that side, right? A dinner with the man didn't mean she was up and playing on his team.
She wanted to know more. She wanted to understand. But she accepted his offer to change the subject by running one finger lightly over the white rose's petals. "They're beautiful," she admitted, eyeing the black one. She'd never seen anything like it. The one man in her life who'd ever sent her flowers was a pink carnations kind of guy. The gesture was sweet, but flawed. This? Entirely new, incredibly unexpected, and it left her feeling a bit off her game.