I finished my call with Connie, who was begging for details about just how hot things had gotten between Bucky and me, forcing me to ask her how she'd feel if I pressed her for details about her sex life with Joey.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, clearly settling in for a LONG chat. "Favorite positions? How we have to squeeze it in between games or how we have to smother noises so Bryn doesn't hear us having fun times and want to see what Mommy and Daddy are doing so she can join in?" I cringed so badly that I felt certain she could FEEL it. "Seriously, Brooke, I'll share anything you want to know."

"Yeah, I'm good," I shook off the idea of Joey naked, a guy who was like a brother to me. "I thought it would nip your curiosity in the bud, weirdo."

Connie snickered. "Sure," I could hear her opening a can of something, soda or booze I couldn't guess. "I have to live through you, Brookie, you're my single friend who is dating an AVENGER." I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "Bucky Barnes isn't just an Avenger, he's Captain America's best friend who happens to be over a hundred years old and still looks like he looks. I mean, there are LAYERS of hotness there."

I couldn't disagree with her there, so I gave her a few nuggets to keep her from going completely batty. Enough to whet her appetite, but not enough to make me unable to make eye contact when both Bucky and I were in her presence together. After promising to check in with her within REASON, I told her goodbye and got out of the car - grabbing my camera from the trunk and then locking the car before heading down the docks in search of inspiration for my portfolio.

I spent the day capturing life on the docks in a small Louisiana town. Instead of focusing on Sam and Bucky, with a dose of Sarah and her sons, I weaved through the other boats and fishermen snapping shots that caught my eye - the way the light danced off the ripples on the water or the way the men and women worked with purpose but also with a shared love of their jobs. No one posed, even when they took notice of me snapping pictures, they simply took my presence as a normal one. Maybe equating me with Sam's return and Bucky's added residency - just one more person to join their group and the camera came along for the ride.

I was sitting on a bench going through the frames as the sun was sinking lower when I felt him join me, his shadow my first warning, but his warmth coming soon after.

"You kept your distance today," Bucky's arm found a home along the back of the bench and across my shoulders, the scent of hard work and his musk invading my senses and getting the smile I'd decided was his alone to curl across my lips. "Did you get any good shots?" He leaned closer, our temples touching so he could see the viewer.

"I didn't do too badly," I offered, tilting the camera a little so he could see better. "How about you? Is the boat looking good enough to sell?" I moved closer, like a moth to a flame, needing to be closer to him.

He hummed, moving his free hand to help my immobile finger click through my pictures. "It's getting there." He paused at a picture I'd taken that had the boats out of focus, but the ripples of the water were perfectly in focus, the light capturing each ripple and you could see the fish just below. "How do you do this?" He sounded so impressed, like he couldn't imagine anyone being able to do it.

I shrugged. "It's the same as with the boys and the shield really." It was, you just had to capture the light at the right moment. "The light has to hit at the right moment, and you have to be in the right spot." It wasn't that huge of a deal, almost anyone with a camera and patience could do it. "It does look nice."

"Nice," he shook his head and turned to stare into my eyes. "Brooke, you amaze me." I opened my mouth to tell him if he was shocked by this trick he should see what I could do with a color splash editing, but he didn't give me a chance, his head dipped and his mouth met mine and anything I planned on saying died as the urge to taste him took over.

Just like when I arrived and we first saw one another at Sarah's house, everything else fell away and we forgot where we were and that there were other people nearby. When Bucky touched me, when our lips met we forgot the world - but lucky for us Sam was close by and he came to our "rescue". With a gentle tap on Bucky's head and a LOUD reminder that we were still on the docks, we managed to pull apart, but it was a close one.

"Y'all are going to end up in jail for indecent exposure," Sam was smirking, dimple digging deep in one cheek. "I swear to God, I think a few of these folks were using their cell phones to record y'all and no one wants to see that go viral." My eyes went wide just thinking about Connie getting her eyes on that - Shit. "Yeah, exactly." He shook his head, but his grin didn't leave his face. "Might I suggest you head back to your hotel? You know, before someone calls the police, or the dock catches fire?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. "You act like no one down here ever kisses in public," he stood up and held out his hand to help me up. "I swear, Sam, you're a prude." He shook his head. "I expected someone from YOUR time to be more OPEN." He was staring at Sam like he expected better and that had me biting my lip to hold back my laughter.

"PDA is a fine line to walk, Bucky Barnes," Sam countered. "A FINE line, and what y'all were doing was crossing the line into the indecent." Sam shook his head. "Should head to a church and light a candle, that's what you should be doing."

"You're advising that I go to Mass?" Bucky was staring at him like he'd lost his damn mind and I was thinking I was going to end up pissing my pants from this showdown. "Are you even Catholic? Are you sure I am?" He was staring at Sam and I couldn't look at either of them anymore, or I'd fucking die.

"Pretty sure Brooke is," Sam tossed out and I snorted, I couldn't help it, it just slipped out. "See!" Not sure how my snort was proof, even though I AM Catholic, but still. "She is, told you."

"She snorted at you because you're crazy," Bucky sounded like he was about to call the loony bin to have Sam locked up. "Light a candle." He sighed. "We'll light candles, alright." He was still holding my hand, but his fingers were sliding over my knuckles in a way that told me those candles weren't going to be anywhere near a church. "Candles, a nice hot bubble bath, then bed -" my stomach clenched and a few other places. "And trust me, Sam, if we DO go to church? The priest is gonna need to go to Mass to have someone to confess to afterward."

We were in the car on the way to the hotel and I was still holding back laughter and I was feeling a little - well to be honest, Bucky set a pretty high fucking bar. It was quiet again, but I had some thoughts to be lost in. Finally I had to let something out, so I went with the giggles from the utter insanity of it all.

"Better?" Bucky asked, once I let out most of the hysterical laughter I'd pent up during his and Sam's back and forth. I gasped myself back to some sense of calm, and nodded, but then the absurdity of what he had alluded to about what we would be getting into during our alone time started to set in and I wondered if I could even manage that level of - what the fuck was he thinking?!

"The priest is gonna need to confess after is he?" I was fidgeting, wondering what the hell I was getting myself into with this superman?

Bucky chuckled, pulling into the lot of our hotel, but then he realized that I wasn't joining him and he parked and turned to me. "Brooke?" Seeing my fingers tugging at my shirt hem and fiddling with the seatbelt, he unbuckled it. "What is it?"

"That's a pretty damn high standard, Buck." I bit my lip and his thumb met my teeth and traced where I was worrying the skin. "I don't want to disappoint."

"Oh, doll, no." He shook his head and unbuckled his own seatbelt. Pulling me to him, he held me and told me that I couldn't disappoint him, ever. "You are more than I deserve, more than I can ever hope to deserve." I was about to argue, but he stopped me. "This is me calming you down, Brooke Ashley," he reminded me. And I smiled at him. "I may have went a bit overboard in baiting Sam, but what we have - it's more than I ever expected to ever have with anyone." His brow was furrowed and he was cupping my face between his hands, holding me as carefully as if I were made of glass. "You and me, Brooke. We could make a priest blush without trying, but if we DID try," and that did it, I laughed, and his smile came back. Then our lips met and all was right in our world again.

We didn't need the car horn to stop us this time. We even managed to bring my camera equipment and our phones upstairs with us. We ordered dinner and ate first. We did have a bubble bath, a tight squeeze in that hotel bathtub let me tell you, but then - like he'd taunted Sam, we came together in the hotel bed with enough force and need to make sure that should I choose to mention it during my next confession or Bucky during his - the priest would no doubt want to have a moment with his own confessor.