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Chapter 7
Las Vegas, Day 6
Steve set an alarm clock for 6 AM and Natasha's text was the first thing he saw. The message indicated it was sent at 2AM so she was probably still asleep. Steve got up and went to the gym for some workouts. He hadn't done much since he'd become engaged to Sharon. His life had been surrounded by everything wedding and he'd had no time for working out except for Sunday morning.
It felt good that he finally had his old self back.
Steve went to take a shower and left immediately so that none of his friends could catch him. He left a note that he was meeting with the client at his house outside Vegas. Steve brought Natasha breakfast as she ordered him to.
As if Natasha could predict that he would arrive, she texted him that she'd left the key under the mat and he could let himself him in right away. Steve opened the door to her apartment and found a trail of clothes leading to her bedroom.
Steve froze at the doorway as his heart jumped. Thoughts raced through his mind but he discarded them right away. Natasha had already told him that she never slept with her clients, and he believed her. Steve picked up her clothes and put them in the laundry basket before placing the food on the kitchen counter.
He then proceeded to silently creep inside her bedroom to wake her up and the sight of Natasha made him stop in his tracks again. She was sleeping and her red curls were tousled like a halo above her head. Her flawless skin combined with the sunlight was one breathtaking thing. Steve was caught between drawing her and waking her up for breakfast.
But since there was no equipment for him to draw, Steve had to wake Natasha up—or at least get her out of bed.
"Hey…" He gently shook her arm. "I'm here with breakfast."
"Go away, Rogers." She hissed at him, pulling the blanket over herself. "I need more sleep."
"Come on. I bought you mint choco chip waffles the way you like them." he tried to persuade her.
"10 more minutes."
"Okay."
As he was about to get up from the bed, Natasha grabbed his hand and forced him to sit back down. "Stay."
Steve couldn't do anything but sit back down on bed and gently rub his hand on her arm to soothe her. Natasha relaxed and curled herself closer to him. She fell back into deep sleep in a minute. Once Steve was sure that she wouldn't wake up soon, he gently got up and made sure that he didn't wake her up.
He went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast in bed for Natasha because it was the only way to wake her up. He make a cup of coffee and put fresh fruit on the tray.
"Natasha," Steve called, which was followed by her frustrated groan. "Your breakfast's here."
Natasha opened her eyes as he sat the tray in front of her.
"Aww, you're so sweet." She said and smiled sleepily at him. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He sat down opposite of her as they began to eat their food. Even though Natasha had her own waffle, she still stole Steve's pancakes and bacon. He let her because he knew she need a lot of nutrients.
"So…what should we do for today?" He asked.
"I don't wanna go out today." She said. "I'm too tired and I need to clean my apartment."
"I can help." He offered.
"Don't…You can just go back to the hotel." Natasha told him.
"I insist. The work can be done faster if we help each other and we'll probably get some time left to go out if you feel like it."
"Okay…and thanks again."
"You're welcome, bae."
She hit his arm. "You should stop using that word because doesn't suit you at all." She took the opportunity to steal more bacon from him.
"I think I will keep saying it to annoy you." He replied. "How's the waffles?"
"Disgusting." Natasha dropped her fork, admitting defeat. They were just not edible.
"Let me taste them."
"No, no, it's really disgusting."
Steve didn't listen to her and ate the waffle. He handed Natasha his pancakes and bacon, telling her to eat it. Natasha wanted to debate with him but she was really hungry—and his pancakes were delicious.
"I can cook something else, you know?"
"Your fridge ran out of food and we need to do grocery shopping too." he said.
"You ransacked my fridge?" she practically yelled at him.
"I was looking for milk, okay?"
Natasha sighed. "Fine. I will take a shower. You clean the dishes and we will go shopping."
Steve was about to protest but he kept his mouth shut, watching Natasha devour everything in front of her except for the horrifying mint chocolate-chip waffles. Steve couldn't do anything but eat the waffles and pretend they were delicious. Natasha dubbed it his favorite food. Steve lied that they weren't that bad, but he swore in his mind that he would incinerate any mint chocolate chip waffles he found in the future.
Then Steve took the dishes to clean while Natasha took a shower. He heard the sound of the shower running and couldn't help but imagine Natasha in a very inappropriate way. To be honest, he'd never thought about women in an inappropriate way but with Natasha, it was really hard not to do.
Her naked body in the hot shower was tempting him to join her.
"Hey, you're a million miles away." Her voice brought Steve back to reality. He dropped the dish in his hands and it broke into pieces from the impact. Natasha leaned against the door frame and laughed at his expression. Steve turned only to find her with only a towel wrapped her body. Steve flushed.
"You buy what you break." She said.
Steve completely disregarded her statement. "Is that your invitation for me to join you on something?" he asked mischievously.
"Lover boy…" she groaned.
Steve stepped closer and tried his best to seduce her the way she always did with him. Natasha froze when Steve touched her arms and leaned closer to her, his hot breath on her skin sending shivers down her spine. It was a dangerous game to play, and she couldn't predict who will win.
"That's how it's like when you keep teasing me." he whispered.
"You jerk." Natasha groaned, punching his stomach.
Steve pretended to be hurt, but laughed out loud at her reaction. Natasha pouted, then turned back inside her bedroom and got dressed. She never thought her plan would've backfired like this, or that Steve would even have the courage to get her back. He wasn't as innocent as she thought.
But there was one thing to keep in mind. Steve was extremely irresistible. She'd probably met her match.
Natasha stopped as she realized what she'd just thought. That was dangerous. She shouldn't think about it anymore. She shook her head and walked out of her bedroom to find Steve walking around her small dance studio.
"Wanna give it a try?" she asked.
"Some other time." Steve replied. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, let's go shopping."
She grabbed his hand and led him out of the building. They walked along the street to the nearby supermarket. People seemed to greet her along the way as if they knew her. Steve made the assumption that they were her neighbors and that Natasha was pretty close with them. Most of the people called her Natasha, but some called her Natalia, like the Russian doorman had.
"They're pretty close neighbors. We know and help each other. Sometimes I volunteer at the homeless shelter on my day off."
And just when he thought she couldn't be more perfect than she already was, she surprised him with another amazing fact about herself.
"You never fail to amaze me, Natasha Romanoff." he said with an adoring smile on his face.
"I can take you there too if you want."
"Yeah, I would love to."
When they were inside the supermarket, it didn't surprise Steve at all that Natasha jumped inside the cart as if she was a little child and let Steve do all the pushing.
"You are heavier than I thought." he complained mockingly without really meaning it.
"Oh, shut up, Rogers. You didn't complain at all when you carried me to bed the first night we met."
Steve didn't back down and retaliated instead. "That was because I wore you out completely."
An elderly couple turned to look at them, apparently shocked at their conversation. Natasha kept on scaring them off with double-meaning details about their love life. Steve groaned at her to make her stop but Natasha only added a slap to his ass to prove her point.
"That's not necessary."
"It's totally necessary!"
Steve decided to be a grown up and pushed the cart toward the meat section. Natasha said that they should have beef or lamb—she would cook them a Russian dish. Steve strongly disagreed, because one, Russian food would kill an American like him, and secondly, it would be such a waste of good American meat.
"Stop with your patriotic shit, Rogers. You will hold your tongue after you eat what I'm cooking for you tonight because you'll want your tongue to remember only the taste of my food."
"Nah…I'll want to remember the taste of something else more." He replied. Natasha knew what he meant and it made her cheeks flush uncontrollably.
"Damn it, Rogers." She glared at him.
Steve laughed and began to select the beef and lamb for them. Natasha just sat back and observed the man before her. Steve Rogers was truly a gift from god wrapped in a fine specimen. He was perfect husband material. Not to mention that he was also charming and caring. God! She was so jealous of the woman who would marry him in a couple of weeks.
"You should get out of the cart." He told her, and Natasha immediately jumped of the cart while Steve placed the meats into it. "I bought 2 T-Bones and some lamb. You can cook with lamb and I can cook with the T-bones."
"Deal."
"You think we can eat all of this?"
"Yeah, why not?" she replied. "You will be surprised by how much I can eat and still maintain my perfect shape."
"I'm not surprised, bae. Stop bickering. We should head to another section."
Natasha couldn't stop bickering and bantering with him anyways. The rest of the shopping trip was filled with just that, and flirting that left them only wanting to kiss one another to stop all of the flirtatious teasing. Everyone mistook them for a couple and they played along. The couple filled the cart with everything to fill her fridge in a matter of an hour, then Steve paid for everything and they headed back to her apartment.
They came back and aligned everything into the fridge. Steve surprised her again by showing how tidy he was, separating each kind of food and making labels for her while she would just shove everything into the fridge.
While Steve was busy with the fridge, Natasha started cleaning. When Steve finished with the foods, he helped her lift the coffee table and sofa without whining. He looked so happy to help her. When it was almost lunch time, Steve was on cooking duty and Nat stuck close to him to watch him cook.
To be honest, it was very sexy of a man to cook and know his way around the kitchen. Even with how much she was admiring him, Natasha couldn't stop sassing him with witty remarks.
"My mom taught me how to cook so I could cook for myself when she had to work late at night." he replied.
"Oh…sorry. I didn't know."
"Don't be. It's just something that you should know about me." he said as he flipped a steak in the pan. "How do you like your steak?".
"Medium rare, please."
"That's my girl."
"What? Your fiancée doesn't eat anything rare?" She asked.
"Yeah, she doesn't eat rare except for sushi. Sharon said it isn't healthy to eat rare meat." He admitted. "It's kind of a shame because it is the best way to eat beef."
Urgh! Your fiancée is so pretentious. Nat thought. "I know, right!"
From what he'd told her about Sharon, every little detail made Natasha wonder how could he end up with a woman like this. Steve could find someone better than this. How could two people who were completely different from each be together without a fight? She knew that personalities could be different, but their interests or lifestyles should be the same.
If she could save Steve from the miserable life ahead of him, she would. WAIT! She wouldn't do it that way. She would do it as his friend.
Natasha helped Steve with the mashed potatoes and pan fried vegetables. Finally, Steve placed the plate in front of her and it looked really good. He settled down next to her before they began to eat in peaceful silence. Natasha told him that it was really good and that her steak was perfectly cooked. Steve had a proud smile on his face for the rest of the meal. They helped each other clean up the dish before moving on to the next task.
Steve helped Natasha carry her big laundry basket downstairs while she carried her small container of intimates. The building had a laundromat on the ground floor. It was a quiet afternoon and not many people were in the area.
Natasha separated the color of her clothes before ordering Steve to help her put it in the machine. She handled her delicacies and then they waited for it to finish. Nat sat on the machine, reading the magazine with her iPod on. Steve leaned against the opposite machine, doodling something on the paper that Natasha'd given him.
"What are you drawing?"
"I won't tell you."
"Tell me!"
When Steve didn't reply, Nat jumped off of the machine and went to sit on the one next to him. He tried to hide what he was drawing, but the effort was futile. Natasha's eyes widened when she saw a detailed sketch of her in his hands.
"Wow..." that was all she could manage.
"How is it?"
"It's beautiful."
"You can keep it if you want."
"Thank you. I will put it in a frame and hang in my bedroom."
Steve added the final touches the sketch and handed it back to Natasha. He loved the look on her face when she looked at his work. It was like a little child who'd gotten a present. She told him that she would be back in 10 minutes.
"Where are you going?"
"There's a framing shop not far from here. I will drop by and maybe we can pick it up tomorrow."
"Should I go with you?"
"Stay here and handle my laundry, lover boy."
Natasha jumped off the counter, holding the sketch with both hands close to her heart as if protecting it with her life. Steve could see the happiness in her eyes as she actually skipped out of the building. Steve couldn't help it- he smiled too.
Steve handled the laundry until he reached the basket that made him reluctant to go any further. When Natasha came back, still with a big smile on her face, Steve stared at her as if he wasn't sure what to say.
"What's wrong?"
His hand instantly went to his scratch at his head. "Umm—it's—umm—your panties and bras." He said. "You should handle it." At the end of the sentence, he was blushing from head to toe.
"Aww…you're cute when you blush like this," she smiled before tiptoeing to kiss his cheek. Steve smiled shyly and looked away. "Okay, lover boy. I will handle this."
"Yes, ma'am." he said. "I already took out everything from the machine except those…"
Steve was back to sketching Natasha again, and when they finished the laundry, Steve carried the basket back upstairs. Natasha had to iron her clothes while Steve vacuumed the whole apartment. Natasha put on some music, and surprised Steve by being a big fan of Taylor Swift, but Steve realized that he could sing along to every song as well.
The chores were done before 3PM. If Natasha had been the only one to do it, she would've procrastinated and would probably have ended up not finishing anything. Steve had proved to her again that he was husband material.
Aww. Sharon was indeed one hell of a lucky girl.
"Hey, what should we do for the rest of the day?" Steve asked when he'd run out of things to do. Natasha was lounging on her couch, flipping through a magazine.
"We already discussed that." Natasha replied. "We will watch a movie tonight and I will cook you the best food in the world."
Natasha got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to begin preparing the food. She brought the lamb out, cutting it into 2 inch chunks before placing it in a Ziploc bag.
"What is it called?"
"Shashlik." she replied. "It is a Russian shish kebab."
"Hmm, it sounds delicious already."
"Your sweet words will get you nowhere."
Steve laughed, bringing his sketchbook with him before sitting at the counter and watching Natasha do her thing. Sharon couldn't cook. The best she could do was easy foods, but she still risked burning it anyways, so Steve was usually the one with cooking tasks.
Woman who could cook tended to remind him of his mother. She was the best. Everything she cooked could made you feel like heaven. The only person that he wished that Natasha would have had a chance to meet was his mother. He was sure that they would've gotten along.
Steve started to draw another sketch of Natasha while she blended the onion, garlic, and water. It was combined with bay leaves, apple cider vinegar, pepper, oregano, and lemon juice in the food processor. Then she poured the mixture in a Ziploc to marinate for four hours.
During the time they waited for the lamb to marinate, Natasha brought out a board game to kill time. She killed it again. There was no way that he could've beaten her. It was a fruitless effort, but it made her laugh so Steve went along with it.
When the time for dinner came, Natasha ordered Steve to prepare fresh vegetables on the plate while she cooked the lamb. It was usually grilled outside, but since they had to cook inside, Natasha grilled it in the pan instead It was placed on the plate ten minutes later.
"It smells so nice that it made my stomach growl." Steve praised her. "Wait until you taste it."
Steve put their plates on the coffee table while Natasha put on the movie she'd chosen for them. They sat on the carpet before beginning to eat their food. Natasha looked at Steve expectedly when he took his first bite.
"How was it?"
"Okay, you win." he said. "This is literally the best food I ever had in my entire life, and it's Russian."
"Yeah, I know how painful it is for you to admit it."
"It's really delicious, Natasha. I love it."
"I'm glad."
It was a delicious meal but the movie she'd picked was sucky. They ended up not watching it and talking to each other instead. Steve handled the dishes while Natasha decided that they should turn up the vibe of the night and go out somewhere else.
"Whatever you say." Steve replied. "Lead the way."
Natasha took him to a different casino which wasn't his hotel. This one was an old, small hotel that was probably not a tourist attraction. When they stepped inside, Steve could feel the old western theme. Most people in the casino were locals, many wearing cowboy hats and looking friendly more than people he'd met in his hotel's casino.
The people were here talking, drinking, and laughing together as if they knew each other for a life time. Some even greeted Natasha happily and came to hug her. One man spoke to her in Russian. Steve didn't understand it at all, but Natasha sounded so sexy when she used her mother tongue.
Natasha confirmed his assumption when she said, "Most of people in here are locals."
"You come here much?"
"Twice a week, if I'm not too busy." she replied. "People here are nice, and most of them know me beyond the singer and stripper mask."
"I know you beyond that too."
"I know. You're not like most guys I've met, and I'm glad that you proved me right."
They settled down at the bar while Natasha ordered them drinks. She forced Steve to try some cocktails as a part of her grand plan to get him drunk and loosen up. She wanted to see the part of him that really let everything go. The couple engaged in some small talk while Steve quickly consumed his drinks. Natasha was a bit worried that he might get too drunk to keep the night going.
"Hey, I've wanted to ask you this question for a while." He looked at her with seriousness on his face.
"Shoot."
"Why did you let me in so easily? You seem like a very private person."
"Probably the same reason why you wanted to hang out with me."
"You are evading the question."
Natasha sighed. "I don't know. It sounds weird, but I will tell you anyway. I kinda feel like we could be friends. You seemed like a nice guy, and you turned out to be as nice as I thought. That's when I decided that I'd like to have a friend like you." she explained. "I gave you shitloads of opportunities to take advantage of me, but you didn't take them. Even you lose control sometimes, but I totally understand that-I am irresistible."
"Yeah, you are. But I promise you it will not happen again."
Natasha smiled. "It's your turn now."
"I like you. That's all." he replied.
"Really? That's all?"
"Well…" He scratched his head, trying to come up with a better reason. "You're one of the most interesting people I've ever met. There is something about you that always makes you stand out in the crowd. I felt like we should be friends and hang out, get to know each other. That was the best decision I ever made."
"I see that you're acting on your feelings right now
"It must be because it's my fifth drink of the night!"
Natasha smiled again. The first step of her plan had been a success. She set their glasses down before dragging Steve to the casino zone and letting him picked the game. Steve picked Blackjack, even though he knew he had no luck in gambling. But you only live once, right?
Steve was the first one to initiate the bet. He said that he would win more money than her tonight. Natasha accepted that bet and said that if she won, he couldn't say no to whatever she told him to do.
"I will crush you, Rogers." she said.
"On va voir" he sang before hitting the bet.
The game went on, for how long he didn't know. Steve only remembered that he drank a lot of beers. Natasha wouldn't back down on her vodka either. He remembered that she told him she won something.
"You suck, Rogers!" she yelled at him. "I won this much gold!"
"Yeah, you are the best."
"We should do poker next!"
"Whatever you say."
"Let's own the night!"
AN:
- Thank you to my partner in crime, independentalto for everything including encourage me to write and editing for me.
- Thank you for reading this and please kindly leave a review.
