As they headed back to their suite for the evening, Steve Rogers couldn't help but feel melancholic at the prospect of returning to their everyday routine. Yes, Rachael was still his, they had made their vows to tie their lives together. He pulled her closer to his side as they walked, to reassure himself of this fact. But, it still remained that they both lead very busy lives, and they were bound to be pulled in opposite directions. Especially when he was on mission, or dealing with one of the crises that had seemed to become almost routine for the Avengers crew. And Rachael had her own commitments to the scientific community; she wasn't like Clint's wife Laura, set on creating a homestead retreat and traditional family unit. He had thought that was what his future held, once, before things became infinitely more complicated. He didn't think it really fit who he had become, now.

They reached the door of their rooms, and he pulled it open and held it for his wife to pass through.

"Thank you, Steve... ever the gentleman"

He followed her in to the greatroom that's been their retreat for the previous two and a half blissful days. As she set down the bags of souvenirs she had picked up at the market, his thoughts returned again to his team.

"Wonder how Nat is handling training, she's certainly capable, she just prefers to stay out of the spotlight. And I'm sure Tony's gotten himself, and the rest of us, into some sort of trouble by now."

He heard a soft noise from Rachael that might have been a sigh, as she set down the items she had unpacked, then drew herself close to his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her in response.

"They're fine, Love" she said, lifting her palm and caressing the line of his jaw. "They can handle three days without you. For tonight, you're still just mine."

She punctuated this statement by dropping her hand below his waist, gripping him. He blushed a little at her boldness, thrilled as he was by the prospect of another evening together. As he lifted his eyes to her face, he found she was blushing, too, at her own audacity, but her eyes twinkled with suppressed wit. She caught his hand in her own, and turned to lead him around the kitchen island, and to the sitting area in the centre of the room.

"Now, you just sit here" she said, drawing him around, and directing him to sit in a large easy-chair. "Wait right here for your surprise."

She turned on her heel and sashayed towards the bedroom; his eyes following her swaying form until she disappeared through the doorway. He fidgeted in nervous anticipation of what she had in store for him. After what felt like eternity - but was probably only a few minutes - she returned, her figure filling the doorway of the bedroom as she leaned against the doorframe in a sinuous pose.

"Do you like what you see?" she asked, as he gawped at her. She stood before him in a full set of sheer black lingerie. The semitransparent lace revealing hints of her most intimate places, but concealing most from his gaze. He had never seen her like this before. He'd seen her naked, and he'd seen her disrobe (he'd even done some of the disrobing himself), but this was something else. She practically oozed sex. And all this for him. He felt his response to the thought. All he wanted to do was to strip it off her. He started to rise to do just that, but she held up a finger to stop him.

"Unh, unh, unh. You stop right there, mister. You stay right there. You can look, but you can't yet touch."

As she made her way towards him, he noted the tall black heels she had donned, changing the rhythm of her stride so that her shapely legs were accented. He tracked his eyes up from her ankles, following the smooth black stockings that ended mid-thigh, where they were held up with a garter belt, also black lace. Underneath she wore a small set of black panties, and a bustier bra. She approached him, gliding her hands over her body, touching where he ached to touch.

"I'm going to make you watch as I take all this off. And you can't touch until I say so. Does that sound like something you want?"

"Yes" he growled deeply from the back of his throat, before he could even think. Thinking in general seemed pretty much impossible right now. His blood was occupied other places. His mind was filled with the sight of her, and his growing need.

Satisfied that she had him enthralled, she lifted one foot, wiggling it to discard the black stiletto pump, and placing her stockinged foot gingerly on the chair between his thighs. She reached down to caress her leg, running her hands from ankle to thigh, the backs of her fingers gently brushing him as they moved past. Out of instinct, he reached up to stroke her calf, but was brought back to attention by a loud smack, as she slapped his hand, generating more noise than sting.

"No. You sit still now, like I told you"

"Yes, ma'am" this time it came out almost strangled, his throat seemed to have gone completely dry in the last few seconds.

As he watched, she unclipped her stocking from the garter belt. She worked her fingers under the top band of her stocking, loosening it, then slowly slid it down, exposing the soft pale flesh of her inner thigh, inch by inch as she did so. As she bent forward to claim the stocking from her toetips, he was treated to a closer view of her bosom, pressed forward and together by her upper arms. He breathed deeply in the scent of her, longing to bury his face in her cleavage. As he struggled to keep himself still, she leaned back again, and set her right foot back down on the floor, then stepped out of her left shoe as well. Turning to face away from him, she bent at the waist to collect the shoes, and took her time setting them neatly to the side, waving her upturned ass in his face as she did so. He was tantalized by the sight of her, just inches away. He ached to be touched, but dared not move, and provoke her ire again.

She turned, slowly, to face him again, and lifted her other leg, resting the sole of her foot squarely in the centre of his chest. With a sweep of her hair, she bent forward to the task of unclipping the stocking from her garter belt.

The second stocking came off as smoothly as the first. He could feel she was drawing this out, so he set his mind to settling in, and enjoying the view. She slowly unclipped the longline bra, slipping it down slowly, revealing her smooth breasts. Finally, she stood before him, naked save for the skimpy lace underwear.

"I hope you noticed, everyone got a Wakandan souvenir except you. I was saving yours for last. I'm going to send you off with these panties" she purred, tucking a finger under the band and dipping it just low enough to reveal the rise of her pelvis. "Now isn't that a nice memento to remind you how good your wife is to you?"

"Yes, dear" he replied, a tinge sardonically.

She smirked at him in response, and began wiggling down the lace underwear, obscuring his view of the action with a sweep of her hair, and the stretch of her back. She rose, with the pair hooked around her finger, and stood, hand on hip, before him. Finally naked and completely exposed. His eyes raked her body, consuming with his eyes what he could not touch.

She moved forward towards him, stepping into the space between his knees, tantalizingly close. She brought the gifted article upward, trailing it softly up his chest. As she brought it closer to his face, he could catch her smell on it, the faint musk of arousal awakening further reciprocal passion in himself. She draped the slip of lace behind his neck, resting her forearms on the tops of his shoulders, pushing forward, so her thighs pressed into his. After delaying so long, the thrill of skin-to-skin contact sent flashes of hot and cold through his body. Her hands trailed down his chest, caressing.

"Say you love me"

In that moment he would have said or done anything. He trembled at the thought.

"I love you."

She reached forward and kissed him, deeply but briefly, pulling back all too soon.

"I love you, too. Say it again."

"I love you" he said, putting some Captain's authority in his voice this time.

"Good. Then show me how" she spoke.

Thus released, he bounded upward, scooping her up in his arms, and flipping her onto her back on the floor in front of his chair, and pressing his body down on top of hers.

Surprise broke the façade of the sultry seductress, and she broke into ecstatic giggling. And he showed her the full expression of his ardor.
After, exhausted, he shifted his weight, so he wouldn't crush Rachael and then collapsed beside her on the floor. In the moment of clarity after sex, freed completely from the ever-present desire for arousal of manhood, he contemplated his life. He was deeply content. He had been a man out of time, but he had found his home, and it was with a wonderful woman who he loved and admired, and who loved him back just as deeply. As he thought on this happy truth, he relaxed into the afterglow of their lovemaking.