She didn't want this. She didn't like the person she was around him. She'd spent so very long putting up those walls around her and here he was, not even taking them down brick by brick but bulldozing them. For so long she'd hardened her heart. From the moment she'd placed a kiss on her baby's head and given him up for the last time, she'd promised not to let anyone in. Graham had been so close and she'd still fought it, and all he'd done was sleep with the bitch of a mayor. Bit of a different league than being a serial killer. A brilliant one, of course, an absolute genius when it came to it. But still.
But he was hitting all the right points. He was digging past the hardened young woman and finding the girl who still held out some hope for the life she'd always wanted. And damn him for it. She wasn't delusional enough to think she could change him. As much as she might want to, he was too smart to fall for anything she might try. If he wanted to, he would, but nothing else would convince him. So instead, she just listened. Some of the things he said were purely lines, meant to rope a woman into trusting him. But some?
That and he was talking about Henry. And what better way to play against a woman than by using her child? Even if she hadn't raised him the last ten years, she'd still known him entirely for nine long months and already knew, in the short time she'd gotten to know him again, just how much she loved him still.
And then her hand was in his and his lips were brushing against her skin and forget it, she was completely ruined. It was such a simple gesture. It shouldn't have gotten to her. But how could it not? When was the last time a man, or anyone really, had paid attention to her so sweetly? A slight blush crossed her cheeks and she smiled, despite everything.
And she hated herself for it.
"There's plenty of reasons I can think of. Some favorable, some not." She said it with a hint of a smirk, her eyes flashing, but then they softened. "I want to believe everyone deserves a chance," Emma said simply, returning to the point of why she'd come to this meeting in the first place. For a moment, she left her hand there, curling her fingers lightly around his. Then she let it slide away. "How do you know, though? How do you know I'm not doing exactly what I was meant to be doing all along?"