One Dance
Natasha wasn't sure how much longer she could sit there watching people dance without being able to join them. Clint and Laura looked so serene while they danced together as did the rest of the couples.
Now, earlier, when the music was fun and upbeat, Natasha was out there dancing with everyone. She danced with each of Clint and Laura's kids. She loved those little munchkins and they felt the same way about her.
However, dancing to fast-paced music was easy and required little effort. Anyone could shake their hips and swing around in circles and not look too silly doing it. Pop songs and the like were meant to be danced to without much thought put into the method of dancing.
Slow dancing was the problem. Natasha just couldn't get her feet to do what she wanted them to. It was like Sinatra's song 'I Won't Dance', except, Natasha really couldn't dance to slow songs or slow music period. It was pretty pathetic.
She had already told Clint a few minutes ago that she wasn't going to stick around much longer. The jealousy that ran through her as she watched the other couples on the dance floor was beginning to become too much for her. Natasha sat in her chair for a few more seconds, then she moved to pick up her purse. It was time to go.
"You're not leaving so soon, are you?"
Natasha furrowed her eyebrow and turned to face whoever it was that was speaking to her. When her eyes settled on Steve Rogers, she felt herself smile involuntarily. Steve was a nice guy. He met Clint through Laura because he was Laura's art history teacher for her first two years of college. After she graduated, Laura became Steve's assistant and worked with him for six years. With such a long association between the Barton's and Steve, Natasha had become used to seeing Steve whenever Clint and Laura invited her over to their house.
Sometimes she wondered if her friends had been trying to set her up with the handsome blonde, but Laura assured Natasha that wasn't the case. Steve and Natasha were Clint and Laura's best friends, so they naturally thought of the two of them whenever they thought about inviting friends over to their house.
They were both practically part of the family. Laura and Clint's children even called Natasha Auntie Nat and Steve Uncle Steve. Natasha believed Laura when she said there was no intention of pairing her up with Steve, but it was Clint Nat was skeptical about. He would pull a stunt like setting Natasha up with Steve. It was right in his alley. Not that Natasha would have complained about it or anything. Steve Rogers was a stud and she did enjoy his company.
"Yeah, I've gotta go." Natasha motioned to the time on her cell phone. "It's too late for me. I gotta hit the hay."
Steve came closer and rested his hands against the chair next to Natasha. "Nat...we both know that you're a night owl. What's the real reason you're leaving? Is it because of the dancing?"
The redhead said nothing, just picked up her jacket and donned it. Steve was too good at reading people. Sometimes it really irked her. Especially when she always seemed to be the one he knew almost as well as she knew herself.
"I can't dance, Rogers. You know that. I've tried, but my feet just aren't the best with coordination and rhythm." She wasn't embarrassed by this fact, but it did irritate her a lot.
Steve took Natasha's purse out of her hands and set it back down on the table. She glared at him in annoyance. "Just what are you doing?"
There was an expression on Steve's face that Natasha couldn't understand. He took her hand in his and led her to the dance floor. When Natasha realized what he was doing, she pulled back and stopped them from moving forward.
"Stop it, Rogers," she hissed, tone low and icy. Steve wasn't bothered by her attitude. Instead, he gave her a dazzling smile and said, "One dance. Just give me one dance and then, you can go."
Natasha was about to pull back again and argue against it, but she relented. Better to allow him to dance with her than throw a hissy fit and draw unnecessary attention to the two of them. The last thing she needed to do was start drama at Clint's birthday party.
When they made it to the dance floor, Steve slid his arm around her and pulled her close to his body. It was much closer than they needed to be for the song that was playing, but Natasha found that she didn't mind. The warmth of Steve's body was very welcoming and she felt a little giddy being in his embrace.
It wasn't long before she stepped on his feet and he backed up a little, wincing. Natasha sighed and shook her head at him. Why did always had to be so stubborn?
"See? I told you. I can't dance."
Steely determination filled Steve's gaze and he gave her his 'now-see-here-young-lady' look. "That's ridiculous, Nat. Anyone can dance, and that includes you. Take off the shoes, though, before you impale me and I end up on crutches."
Natasha crinkled her nose, but she did what he said, taking off her shoes, walking over to her table and placing them on her chair. Then she came back and stood in front of Steve. "Now what?"
He took her into his arms again. "Now, I'll show you how I learned how to dance when I was a kid. Put your feet on top of mine."
Okay. That actually made sense. Natasha did as he told her and she giggled when he began moving. There was something so funny to her about her stocking feet on top of his tennis shoes. Steve hooked his thumb under her chin and moved her head so her eyes met his own. "It's better if you look at me."
"But how will I know how and where to move if I don't look at my feet?" She started to look back down, but Steve pulled her head up again.
"You don't need to look. Just get used to the way I lead. After a while, your body will react instinctively to compliment my movements and we'll be able to dance in sync. Dancing isn't hard. It just takes practice."
As they danced around the room, Natasha realized how right Steve was. She stood on his feet for three songs and she was beginning to sense where he would move before he actually started moving. A little smile formed on her lips and she rested her head on his shoulder.
Steve was nearly a head taller than she was, but their bodies fit perfectly together. It was very comforting being held like this. Natasha felt like she could fall asleep right here in Steve's arms. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen.
The lights in the dining hall clicked on and the music stopped abruptly. Natasha and Steve opened their eyes and saw that they were the only ones on the dance floor. Natasha's cheeks turned beet red as she realized that she and Steve had been so caught up in the moment that they didn't notice anyone else but each other.
Clint was standing at the DJ's stage and he spoke into his microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to break the mood, but it's eleven thirty and I don't know about you, but I have a few tired kids that need sleep. Thank you very much for coming out tonight and have a safe drive home. Oh and don't worry, I won't be returning any of the presents except the lame foam finger you bought me, Tony."
Tony yelled out, "You know you love it!' and everyone laughed in response.
"Good night everyone!" Clint said before handing the DJ his microphone back.
Natasha frowned and inwardly cursed Clint for his terrible lack of timing. She blew out an exasperated breath before pulling back from Steve and giving him a smile. "Well, thanks for teaching me how to dance, Rogers. I won't forget it."
She gave him a quick hug and went back to her table to collect her things. Natasha forced herself not to look back at Steve because she probably would have done something stupid like kiss him. She had wanted to kiss him every since the moment they first met at Clint and Laura's farmhouse.
The way Steve's face lit up when he talked about art was fascinating. Natasha had never met anyone who was so in love with their work before. For the last four years that she had known Steve, Natasha had grown to really like him. Clint and Laura suspected this, but they never pushed her about it. Natasha wasn't the kind of person to put herself on the line and tell someone how she felt unless she was sure that the person felt the same way.
After giving Clint and his family goodbye hugs and promising to visit them later on in the week, Natasha headed out of the building and went to her car. She had just put her purse down and slid the key into the ignition when there was a knock at her window.
Natasha opened her car door and nearly hit Steve, who jumped back before the door could bump into him.
"Whoa, hey! Want are you trying to do, Romanov. Kill me?"
She rolled her eyes and put her hands on the steering wheel. "Nope. What's up? Did I leave something on table? Something fell out of my purse?"
"No...remember when I told you that learning to dance wasn't difficult?"
"Yeah."
"Well...it takes more than one lesson before you can master it. That is, if you'd be interested."
"Are you telling me that you teach dance class too?" An amused tilt made its way through Natasha's voice and she raised a mischievous eyebrow at the blonde.
"Every Saturday. My mom taught me a lot of the classic dances. The waltz, the rhumba, the cha cha, the salsa, the meringue, the quadrille. She used to dance professionally and wanted to pass the knowledge on, so she started me off when I was four." Steve rested his arm on the car door and Natasha tensed a little. Was the proximity of his body supposed to be throwing off signals that he was attracted to her? She watched his eyes carefully and was annoyed that she couldn't read the emotion there.
"That's impressive, Rogers. Your mother must have been an exceptional woman to be willing to teach you so much and at so young an age. I don't think I know many people who can claim to know half as many of the dances you mentioned."
"Thank you. There's always going to be an interest in dancing. My mom knew that, so she taught me on the off chance that I could use it to my advantage and so I could have a healthy way to have fun."
"Ah, that was smart of her. Well...I really do have to be going now. It's late for me and I have somewhere to be in the morning..." Natasha put her hand on the door handle, but Steve covered her hand with his. Her heart began to beat furiously when his skin touched hers. Why was he holding her hand? She gave him a questioning look.
"Natasha..."
"Yeah, Steve?"
He stood there for a moment, just looking into her eyes. Damn, it was hard to keep her eyes focused on his eyes when those delectable lips were so close in her line of vision. With a start, she realized that he was looking at her lips as well. Steve suddenly tugged on her hand, yanking Natasha to her feet and into his arms. Without a word, he pressed his lips to hers.
Finally.
Natasha sighed and put her arms around Steve's neck which pulled their bodies closer together and caused a bit of delicious friction between the two of them. A moan escaped Natasha's lips and had to move her mouth away from Steve's after a few seconds so she could catch her breath.
"So...that's what kissing you feels like. Nice." Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper. It had been a long time since Natasha had been kissed so passionately before and she was definitely going to enjoy as much of this moment as she possibly could.
Steve held his head against hers and chuckled lightly. "I was thinking the same thing. Nat...I want to take you out this week. We could have a private dancing lesson, then get something to eat if you want. I just want to spend time with you, if that's okay."
He was astonishingly modest, even after kissing her. Natasha gripped his hand in hers and gave it a small kiss. "I'm all for it. Dancing lessons, dinner, movie, ice skating. You make the occasion; I'll be there."
Steve grinned and leaned down to capture her lips with his again. This time he took a chance and ran his tongue along the seam of Natasha's lips. The redhead moaned at the action and opened her mouth, letting Steve massage her tongue with his own. She ran her hands to his hair and squeezed his body more tightly to hers. God, he felt amazing. All hard and hot against her. Natasha felt her thighs begin to shake with the power of that kiss and her lower walls clamped down in excitement. The friction between them grew to unbearable levels and they had to pull away from each other again.
Steve and Natasha panted, never taking their eyes off each other. He kissed the back of her hand gently. "It's a date."
"A lot of dates," she quickly responded.
He laughed and smoothed his thumbs over her elbows. His voice sounded so husky with lust. "Deal. I'd better let you go now or else I might be tempted to do more than just kiss you."
Natasha's pupils dilated in arousal and she leaned forward to kiss Steve just one more time. This time, she kept the kiss light and retreated before things could get steamer. Getting in her car, she closed the door and gave Steve a smile. "So tomorrow?"
Steve looked down on her with fire in his eyes as he replied, "Tomorrow. Seven o'clock. How does a picnic sound?"
A picnic? Natasha couldn't recall the last time she had ever gone on a picnic. Her eyes widened and she laughed lightly. "Oh, a picnic sounds fantastic."
"Great...see you then."
"I'll count the minutes."
"Don't count for too long. You need as much sleep as you can get."
She gave him a salute. "Yes, sir!"
Steve chuckled and stroked her chin. Then he moved back and nodded to the street. "Alright, get outta here, Romanov."
"Bye, Rogers," she said softly.
As Natasha drove home, she knew those amazing kisses would stay with her and cling to her memory, long after sleep came. When she finally got home and climbed into bed, Natasha held on to her pillow with one thought running through her mind.
I can hardly wait for tomorrow.