(A/N-Thanks to Lynn for beta reading this, you're amazing. Thanks to all who read, review, follow, and fav this story.

"So do you think you're ready for Mardi Gras?" Robin asked as they made their way out of their hotel room. He had flown them down last night and booked them two hotel rooms. His was right next to hers, he had almost asked her to share a suite with him with their own private room from each other. But he thought it might be too soon.

"This may be my first Mardi Gras, but I have heard stories and I'm not that naive," Regina said.

"Well, you're sober, so that increases your safety exponentially right there. And you'd only need to go about two or three blocks on well-populated streets in the middle of the day, so I think you'll be all right. There's a lot of people, but there's also a lot of police around. If it was dark and you were planning on wandering the Quarter alone, I'd say differently. Fortunately you have an escort."

Regina smiled as she saw the smirk appear on Robin's face.

"I'm happy to have you show me around," Regina said.

"So let's go watch the parade," Robin said.

Regina grinned at Robin, her excitement clearly evident and surprisingly contagious to someone who should have been long immune to the parades. "Let's go."

Chartres Street wasn't completely packed, but it was busy, requiring Regina to stay close as he helped guide her through the throng. As they went through one crowd of obviously drunken men, Regina leaned in closer to Robin.

Robin grinned as he held her close. Bold but cautious. Funny and smart. He put a hand on her back as he shouldered through a group gathered under a balcony begging beads from the people above.

Regina felt a small sense of excitement blend with a sense of panic.

She was alone, in a still-strange city, during one of the biggest street parties in the world, with a man she'd very recent as her only guide.

But Robin didn't seem creepy or shady—he hadn't triggered any of her internal alarms—and it was broad daylight. She was sober, he was sober and there were, quite literally, thousands of people and police around. Surely it was safe enough to just watch a parade.

She had a basic map of New Orleans in her head, but she'd only been here for a day, and she'd spent most of that just trying to get settled in—so it was patchy at best. Chartres would cross Canal and become Camp, and Camp would get her home. That much she knew. As long as she stayed on the main streets, she shouldn't get too lost or turned around.

The crowds got thicker as they approached Canal, and she found herself pressed closer to Robin. That wasn't exactly a bad thing, she admitted to herself. Amid the general smell of stale beer and teeming masses of people, Robin smelled nice—like clean laundry. Plus, Robin had a rather nice body to be pressed against—athletic, and muscle-bound. A girl could do much worse.

"Here, hold my hand."

The instruction startled her, and she looked up at him. Robin grinned as he held out his hand. He had a great smile that caused little crinkles at the corners of bright eyes. Goodness, he was just damn pretty.

The sentiment must have showed on her face, because Robin laughed as he cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'm not trying to get fresh. I just don't want to lose you in the crowd."

It was a fair enough statement, but before she could reply, he flashed her another lady-killer grin. "Either that, or you could just stick your hands in my back pockets."

Without thinking, her eyes flicked down to the pockets in question, and damn, did he have to have a cute butt, too? That was tempting. Way too tempting.

For safety's sake, his first idea was probably the best one.

Regina put her hand in his and Robin's fingers threaded through hers, bringing them palm to palm. His hands were warm, the grip firm but not painful, and there was one brief ridiculous moment where she was sure her skin tingled like the heroine's in some romance novel.

She almost wished he would get fresh.

No!

But he's so freaking cute.

Down, girl. Have we learned nothing?

She had.

She continued to tell herself that as she was hauled up against Robin's side, their clasped hands pressed against his chest as he maneuvered through the crowd. Regina just did her best to keep up.

Robin finally stopped near a streetlamp. "This should be good. They will come this way, but the trucks turn the other way up Canal, so to see them, you'll have to go up a few blocks."

Although crowds lined the barriers on both sides of the street, there was no sign of a parade. "So where is it?"

"Ah, timing can be a tricky thing. You never really know how long it will take for the parade to get to a specific spot. There are delays, the floats break down, you name it. But this—" he gestured to the crowd around them "—is part of the experience, too."

"So we wait?"

"We wait. Do you want a drink or anything?" When she shook her head, Robin sat and leaned back against the lamppost.

Although there was no telling how nasty the sidewalk might be, Regina sat as well. She felt a little awkward now, this good idea faltering a bit as she tried to decide how to make small talk with a basic stranger—regardless of how pretty he might be. One thing she'd never been very good at was cocktail party chitchat.

Thankfully, though, Robin didn't seem to have the same problem. "Is this your first time in New Orleans?"

"No." She'd been down here a few years ago with an ex for a weekend getaway. Before everything had gotten crazy and gone to hell. But there was no way she was going to mention that. "It was a very short trip, though, on business with my boyfriend, so I didn't have much time to explore."

That eyebrow went up again. "Boyfriend?"

"Ex," she clarified.

Robin winked at her. "That's good to know."

Was that flirting or just charm? It was so hard to tell. She'd been out of the game for awhile that she didn't remember how to play. And she certainly didn't know how to respond. Joey had been the jealous type—possessive, actually, she amended with hindsight—so her flirting skills were rusty from disuse. Maybe she should delay even easing back into this.

Robin stretched his legs out and got comfortable.

How much trouble could she get into, really? It wouldn't be anything serious, just one day to enjoy herself before the new life kicked in. It made sense—Mardi Gras was supposed to be the big decadent party before the austerity of Lent. One last day before life got real again. Hell, she couldn't even assume he'd stick around longer than this week.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, she had a cute, seemingly nice enough guy to talk to, and she was in the middle of a crowd that just wanted to have a good time. She felt free, powerful, in charge of her own life again.

She really couldn't ask for more, could she?

She deserved a break. After everything she'd dealt with—the pain, the shame, the complete destruction of her life—she'd earned this Fat Tuesday and all the decadent fun it could bring her.

She could have today, by God.

The noise level had been increasing steadily, and now music floated over the top of the roar. It kept her from having to respond.

Robin pushed to his feet. "Here it comes." He extended a hand to help her up. She was still justifying everything to herself as Robin hauled her up and stationed himself behind her as the crowd pushed forward toward the street and the barricades.

His chest was broad and hard against her back, and one hand came to rest easily and naturally on her hip as he leaned forward to tell her something. His scent wrapped up around her. She totally missed whatever it was he was trying to say.

"What?"

"Don't reach down if anything hits the ground. You'll get your hands stomped."

What the hell were they throwing off these floats? Diamonds? She twisted around to look at him. "Over cheap plastic beads?"

"Yep."

"Seriously?"

Robin laughed, patting her hip as he did. It left a nice residual tingle. "Oh, honey, you have no idea."

Regina strained up on tiptoe, craning her neck to see. Wow. She'd heard these parades were amazing, and she'd expected something really cool, but this... A massive gilded throne, ornate costumes with feathers and men on horseback in matching courtier outfits with satin pantaloons...just wow.

She jumped up and down to get a better view, accidentally bumping against Robin's chin in the process.

"Can you not see?" he asked. She shook her head and tried to use his shoulder as a boost when she jumped this time. A second later, she felt hands on her legs and the whisper of hair against her thighs. She jumped for real this time.

Robin was crouched behind her. "Come on. Climb up."

He didn't wait for an answer, and she felt the broad base of his shoulders pressing against the backs of her thighs as Robin's head dipped between her knees. Then she was up over the crowd—with an amazing view of the parade—with Robin holding her as though she weighed nothing at all. He shrugged to get her settled, and she quickly wrapped her legs behind his back to anchor herself.

"Better?" he shouted up.

She was still reeling from the fact his head was now between her thighs and a rather personal bit of her anatomy was now pressed against the nape of his neck. Funny how she'd never noticed the inappropriateness of this position until just now. "Yeah," she answered, but it sounded a little weak even to her own ears. "Are you sure I'm not too heavy?"

"Oh, please. I can barely tell you're up there."

"Now what do I do?"

Robin tilted his head way back, nearly sending her toppling over before she corrected by leaning forward, and grinned at her again. "Catch whatever comes your way. And no matter what you've seen on TV, don't flash those babies for beads," he cautioned. "You'll get us both arrested."

"Flash them—?" she began, but she was cut off when something hit her right in the face.

She caught it reflexively and a strand of green-and-gold beads dangled from her fingers.

"Good job," Robin said, patting her knee, letting his hand move up and down her thigh. "Now put them on." She looped them over her head as a shower of beads began to rain down from the floats. Ana thought she would fall when she felt his lips kiss the inside of her thigh, and then his tongue slipped out and licked her right there. Oh, go a little lower...

Robin caught a few beds, but for the most part, he kept his arms locked around her legs to keep her stable as she quickly got the hang of it. Occasionally, she'd loop a set over his head until he began to look a bit like a cheap Technicolor Mr. T.

There were marching bands, more elaborate costumes, ornate floats—just an ongoing stream of tacky, over-the-top opulence. And Regina loved every minute of it. She'd had no idea she was such a sucker for a parade, and the crowd's enthusiasm was contagious. This was so much better than sitting at the Lucky Gator listening to a crappy band play, and she finally understood the allure of the street party.

This was simply freakin' awesome.

Robin kept pointing out details and providing backstory, acting as her own private Mardi Gras guide and tutor. When a float broke down, bringing the parade to a halt, Robin got them some drinks from a street vendor and then danced with her to a high school marching band's rendition of "Louie, Louie" before putting her back on his shoulders for the last few floats. She was sad to see the final one go by. They were both laughing as the song ended, Regina looked up into Robin's smiling face. Their looks to one another was intense to say the least.

Rising up onto her tiptoes again, she kissed his cheek, surprising them both. "This is so much fun. Thank you."

"My pleasure."

"I enjoyed having you between my legs-" Regina stopped as she realized what she had just said,"I mean-"

Robin was grinning at her, enjoying listening to her stuttering as she tried to get herself out of those choice words.

"I enjoyed being between them," Robin said.

His eyes met hers and the intensity in that dark stare, made her catch her breath. When his long finger reached up to caress her cheek, Regina was pretty sure she'd let him do whatever he wanted with her.

He kissed her tenderly and the breath she'd been holding expelled on a sigh. "The things I will show you." Robin pulled her so close to him, he then kissed her again.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she surrendered to that kiss. The rest of the world faded to black and he opened her mind and body to passion. Regina didn't want to let go and, apparently he didn't, either, since his arms snaked around her waist holding her tightly.

She felt the press of his erection against her core, and it terrified and excited her at the same time. After she stiffened slightly in his hold, he released her. "You make me feel things I shouldn't."

She didn't know how to rationalize his words, because she was still dealing with the shock of knowing he wanted her that way. It was pretty heady. This gorgeous man being turned on by her kiss? She kept her eyes lowered and her cheeks burned.

"How about we head a couple of blocks up the street and watch the next one?" Robin asked as he finally regained control of himself.

A happy glow settled in her stomach. "I think I'd like that. A lot, actually."

To her surprise, he seemed genuinely pleased with her answer. He held out his hand. "Then let's go."

This time, she didn't think twice about taking it.

Let the good times roll.

(A/N-There will be more Mardi Gras in the next chapter.)