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Bucky
I lay in bed next to Stella, stroking her hair, watching her chest rise and fall as she sleeps. Our shower was somehow the most intimate I’ve ever felt with someone despite only kissing and washing each other’s bodies. Stella offered to wash my hair first. Her hands massaging my scalp released every bit of stress I’d felt for ten years. She moved along to washing my chest, my back, arms, she made sure to be gentle yet show so much care in each movement. After she finished I returned the favor making sure to worship every inch of skin, taking my time to show her the care I would promise to show her every day forward. The way her head leaned back against my shoulder as I stood behind her scrubbing her scalp gave me the perfect opportunity to shower her with kisses.
Stella was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Her dark wavy hair fell down to her ass as it became weighed down with water. The green specs of her light brown eyes were on display in the bright lights of the bathroom. Her tall, tan frame was curvy, like a back road winding through the country, a perfect hourglass. The way her hair spread across the pillow highlighted her high cheekbones, her skin glowing under the city lights shining through the glass window overlooking the city. I’ve never felt more at peace in my life.
When I woke up the this morning Stella was laying in a ball curled up next to me, still sleeping but slightly stirring. I turned my body to face her back, placing an arm around her waist being careful to not wake her. After a few minutes she started tossing and turning, fighting the urge to wake up.
“Good morning beautiful,” I kiss her nose.
“Mmmm, good morning,” she stretches her arms above her head before wrapping them around my neck. “How did you sleep? Did you have nightmares again?” Her voice full of concern.
I shook my head. For the second time in almost ten years I hadn’t had nightmares. “I slept the longest I ever have for twenty years last night. I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ll be up for days,” I joke. She lets out a small laugh with a beautiful smile. I notice the thin strap of her tank top is falling off her shoulder so I place two of my fingers under the strap and place it in it’s proper spot. Her skin is so soft, begging to be touched.
“Good, I’m glad,” she smiles. I start to move my hand away but she grabs my arm. “I like when you touch me,” she looks at me shyly.
“I won’t let go of you if you tell me that,” I let out a small laugh.
“Maybe that’s my plan,” she giggles.
“Oh is it?” I move my hand to tickle her. Her giggles grow louder throughout the room.
“James!” She yells between giggles, “James. James I can’t breathe.” I finally stop tickling her, pulling her down on top of my chest.
“Are you ready to get up?” I ask her.
“Dispensary!” She shoots up out of bed and runs to the bathroom. She comes back out looking at me, “well are you coming? We have to get ready, our treats await us!”
“Da doamna,” I laugh lowly as I follow her into the bathroom she’s already disappeared to.
Between kisses, giggles, and her convincing me to place a few waves at the ends of my long hair and then putting half of it in a low bun, we’re finally ready. I’m donning a navy t shirt, black jeans, white sneakers and a brown motorcycle jacket. Stella is stunning with her black ripped jeans I told her I loved, a white t shirt topped with a dark blue utility jacket and black boots. We make our way to the dispensary where Stella gets her favorite strain in a pre rolled joint as well as a pack of gummy edibles. She offers share them all with me if I don’t want to buy anything because we’re at a higher altitude. I remind her we have a private jet and offer to provide her stock for a couple months. She reluctantly accepts after I refuse to take no as an answer, but not before she reminds me she’s “a grown ass woman who can buy her own weed.” We purchase as much as we both can within the legal limit and make our way back to my car.
After we split a gummy and take a couple hits of her joint we have a driver take us to the Contemporary Museum of Arts located at the River Mile. We grab a coffee from the cafe inside and make our way through the museum, spending a few hours checking out the current exhibition: Cowboy.
Our dinner reservations are for seven at Mercantile at Union Station. I take her to the shops at Union Station where we wander into bookstore called Tattered Cover. Stella was elated when we walked in. She ran immediately to the romance section, pulling book after book off the shelf and reading the back cover. I noticed her bottom lip slipped between her teeth and her brows furrowed as she concentrated. I offered to hold the books she was interested in while she continued her search. I chuckled when I saw some of the book covers. Men covered in tattoos, some shirtless, come in suits, others with open flannels, flowers with skulls and guns, some just flowers. I raise a brow as I read the back cover of a book she handed me, she was into some kinky shit.
“What?” Stella asks as I look up at her, surprise still written in my eyes.
“I wouldn’t have expected you to have a knife kink,” I raise my brow at her.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Barnes,” she winks before spinning and walking further up the aisle. My cock jumped in my pants. If she only knew blade combat was my specialty in the army. I’d be lying if I said my eyes didn’t wander down to her ass, taking in how her hips swayed side to side as she walked.
“Will there be dessert at dinner?” She asks.
“There might be, but we could always go somewhere else too. Got a sweet tooth, Sugar?” I tease her.
“You’d think after growing up in and now owning the bakery I’d be sick of sweets, but I can’t ever seem to get enough,” she smiles at me before making her way further up the aisle leaving me where I am.
“I can think of something else for dessert,” I mutter under my breath before walking closer to her.
“What was that?” She asks without looking back.
“Nothing, Sugar,” I reach her and place my free arm around her waist. She turns her head to look at me, a smile plastered across her face bigger than it was a moment ago. “Is this okay?” I want to make sure she’s comfortable.
“More than okay,” she places a quick kiss on my lips before and turning around. I chuckle before placing my hand around her neck, turning her head to look at me again.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish, Sugar,” I pull her face closer to mine, kissing her again. This kiss is more needy, I want to show her every moment I get how much I appreciate her presence in my life. We pull our lips apart after a few moments, both of us breathing heavy.
“Are we going to get banned from a bookstore, James?” She asks raising a brow, almost challenging me. Fuck. I would gladly get banned from anywhere for fucking her in public.
“Are we, Sugar?” I raise a brow back.
“Mmm, not today,” she turns to look at me, my hand still on her neck, “maybe another day.”
“You’re going to be the death of me,” I laugh dropping my hand to grab hers before taking her to the front to pay for her books.
After dinner I take Stella for her dessert where she decides on a fresh berry tarte and chocolate cupcake. We decide to go to the pool after we get back to the hotel. I have a pair of dark blue swim trunks on while Stella comes out of the bathroom in an adorable color blocked swimsuit. One side of the top was a peach color, the other side was white, and the bottoms were a dark teal. I find myself staring but she’s too beautiful for me not to.
“You ready?” She asks wrapping a towel around her waist. I nod grabbing my towel and throwing it over my shoulder.
We walk out of the room and I grab her hand. Stella’s phone was ringing, her phone lit up with “Nat” and a few emojis.
“Hey Nat!” Stella said into the phone, “what?! No way. Oh my gods. What the fuck?” I look at Stella with concern on my face. “Oh hold on, Nat. I forgot James couldn’t hear you,” she puts the phone on speaker.
“Hey Nat,” I greet her.
“Hey Buck. Did you enjoy your date?” Natasha says in a teasing tone.
“I did, I didn’t realize Sugar had a chance to tell you about it yet,” I raised a brow at Stella but she shook her head.
“Oh, she didn’t. It was on the celebrity news page that James Barnes and new girlfriend have a weekend getaway in Denver after she went viral for singing with you on stage. Pictures provided and all,” Natasha lets out a small laugh. My laugh carries through the hallway. Stella raises a brow at me.
“Those fucking news outlets. They love to start shit,” I laugh. Stella’s smile falls a bit and I realize the way what I said came out with the opposite intention of what I meant. “That’s not what I meant, Sugar.” I took her hand in mine. “I’ve enjoyed every second I’ve spent with you and I intend to continue spending time with you after you get back to Marvel City. What I meant was they like to plaster ‘news’ all over their pages without having accurate facts. Although this time they’re not necessarily wrong,” I kiss the back of her hand, watching her eyes.
✪
Stella
Did James just call me his girlfriend?
“Oh, you have a new girlfriend? I should probably head back to the room and grab my stuff,” I find myself saying.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he says, wrapping an arm around my waist stopping me from walking back to our room.
“Uh, guys I’m still here,” Nat says through the phone.
“What else did it say Nat?” I giggle.
“James Barnes and new mystery girl step out on the town after The Barbershop Quartet’s final show in Denver. Could the brunette bombshell be the new girl inside sources say stole Barnes’ heart?”
“Those fucking tabloids,” James rolls his eyes, “they almost never have an ‘inside source’ they just say that shit to sound like they know what they’re talking about.”
“Damn, here I was thinking you actually liked me,” I laugh.
“Fuck, that’s not what I meant. Again, Sugar. I’m sorry. Those tabloids just piss me off because they don’t ever have all of the information if any accurate information. I fucking love spending time with you and these past few days have been the best days I’ve had in almost twenty years.” James places a kiss on my nose.
“Damn, Buck, I never thought I’d see you like this,” Nat chuckles into the phone.
“Like what, Nat?” He sasses into the phone.
“In looooove,” I hear Wanda cackle with Nat on the other end.
“Shut up,” he rolls his eyes and pushes the phone. I start laughing.
“Nat! Wanda! He just rolled his eyes and pushed the phone” I half scream causing all three of us to laugh even harder.
“Man, fuck off,” James rolls his eyes and tickles me.
“Hey! Hey! James!” I say between laughs, James is now has his arms wrapped around my waist with his front to my back.
“We’ll let you guys go, have a good night!” Nat says
“Bye guys!” Wanda chimes in.
“Bye!” James and I say at the same time although mine is more of a half scream.
“So is it true?” I ask him.
“What?” He furrows his brows.
“Are you in loooove?” I tease him as I look up at him.
“I can’t say that I’m not, Sugar,” his eyes look down at me, nothing but a seriousness staring back at me.
I can’t say that I’m not.
We arrive back in Marvel City on mid-day Thursday. About forty five minutes after I arrived home I hear banging on my front door.
“We’re here!” Nat says coming through the door with three coffee drinks.
“With food!” Wanda holds up the bags from one of our favorite local cafes.
Nat distributes our coffees while Wanda splits the sandwiches, salads, and chips between the three of us. Once we finished settling in, Nat and Wanda look at me then look at each other and finally back to me.
“Tell us everything!” They both say with anticipation lingering in their eyes.
“Okay, so…” I tell them every detail from after lunch Sunday to him dropping me off an hour ago.
“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day Bucky Barnes fall for someone, let alone my best friend,” Nat says shaking her head.
“This is amazing,” Wanda clapped her hands.
“What if this is all too good to be true?” The doubts in my mind are starting to come forward.
“I don’t think it is. The thing about Buck is if he doesn’t want to do something, he’s not going to do it,” Nat offers.
“Yeah, Bucky wouldn’t have taken you with him if he wasn’t serious about getting to know you. He doesn’t really like many people,” Wanda chimes.
“And the fact you were able to catch his attention immediately speaks volumes, Stell. He doesn’t allow many people close to him, especially not when he’s around his friends. He’s extremely protective of us,” Nat’s words sink in. The way he got defensive of me at the bar, the way he got upset with how the tabloids talking about us.
“Do you really think this could be it?” I ask them.
“Do you really think this could be it, Stell?” Nat raises her brow. Wanda nods once as agreeing with Nat’s question.
“I really think it could be,” I tell them as I chew on my bottom lip.
Wanda, Nat, and I hang out for a bit longer. Wanda tells me Nat and Steve have rekindled their spark while Nat hid her face in her pillow. Nat tries to deny there’s anything going on between them but the way Wanda describes them back when they were teenagers as well as how they had been acting since seeing each other again. We decided to order take out and watch movies the rest of the day. James texted me when he landed as well as when he got home. He even FaceTimed me before he went to bed, of course Nat and Wanda teased him. The three of us stayed up almost all night laughing, having fun, joking around, and laughing at the tabloids that caught James and i together in Denver.