Chapter Nineteen: Desires

Apparently Clint telling Natasha about Rumlow had been a mixture of a blessing and a curse, the curse being that for the past week and a half she'd been having hand to hand lessons with Natasha three times a day and shooting lessons with Clint two to three times a day.

The blessing was that in regards to Clint's lessons her shooting skills were getting marginally better, in that roughly seventy-five percent of the time she'd hit what she actually was aiming for. In regards to Natasha's lessons, well she was slowly getting better with Natasha managing to pin her three bouts out of five, the biggest bonus was that her bruises were no longer getting bruises.

Which was why she was currently sitting in Clint's bath tub, which was half filled with cold water and ice, in a sports bra and compression shorts, she had her head resting on the bath ledge with her eyes closed trying to focus on something other than the icy water she was soaking in.

Hearing the door to the apartment close suddenly followed by the echo of Clint calling her name she called out "In the bathroom." Lifting her arms out of the water she rested them on the edges of the bath, it had surprised her how much the tricks of Natasha's actually worked. Between the ice baths, vinegar wash and the heated compressions her bruises were fading quicker now and her muscles weren't quite as stiff and sore after their sessions.

"What the…..don't tell me Nat got you started on that too?" Shay turned her head to watch Clint stride into the bathroom, her chocolate eyes running over him taking in the sleeveless shirt and cargo pants he wore.

"You'd be surprised how much it's helped; my bruises don't have bruises anymore." To prove her point she lifted one arm and held it out for him to come inspect, when he sat down on the edge of the bath and took hold of her arm to pull it across his lap she let her eyes drift shut again.

"I was waiting for you in the shooting range." The brush of his calloused fingers across her forearm made her hum quietly and tilt her head towards him as her eyes fluttered open again.

"Sorry, I was a little stiff after the lesson with Nat." Watching the wry grin form on his face Shay arched both brows curiously, she had a feeling he'd probably experienced a whole other kind of stiffness after training with Natasha in the past, it was something in the way the other woman moved; a seductive yet deadly grace that even she was mildly curious about.

"So have you and Nat ever slept together?" Clint blinked at the sudden randomness of that question before turning his gaze to rest on Shay's face, he could see the curiosity clearly on her face but he had to wonder just what had prompted that particular question.

He'd told himself after their talk at the farm that he'd never lie to Shay, so he answered her question truthfully and without reservation, his fingers stroking her forearm as he spoke. "No. Nat knows her way around both sexes and often takes her pleasure wherever she can find it."

The rustle of the ice within the water along with Shay's soft hum piqued his curiosity and Clint let his gaze slide down from Shay's face along the delicate column of her throat, he paused momentarily at her bare stomach before his gaze dropped lower to where her thighs were restlessly rubbing together. It took a whole two seconds for his brain to put two and two together and for the thought of holy shit she's aroused to stick on repeat within his head.

Licking his suddenly dry lips before snapping his gaze back to her face Clint growled "Shay? Darlin' are you attracted to Nat? I mean fuck I know she's tempting but I didn't know you swung that way."

He watched her eyes widen as she jerked upright in the bath her face now scant inches from his, an embarrassed flush slowly forming in her cheeks as she muttered "Nat could tempt the pants off a saint, but no, I mean don't get me wrong she is seriously fucking hot but she's not who I was thinking about."

Bringing his free hand up to brush his thumb over her cheek he swallowed, his voice going husky as he asked "Then who were you thinking about?"

"Do you really need me to answer that?" Her voice ghosted by his ear moments before her tongue traced along the outer edge of his ear, her hands working their way beneath the hem of his shirt as she continued, her voice little more than a breathy whisper "You know, I really should just make you watch as I pleasure myself, it's not nice to leave a girl wanting for a whole week."

In truth he wouldn't fault her for doing that, he'd seen the way she'd been watching him over the past week but he'd been reluctant to even start anything given the rough training regimen Natasha was putting her through, she'd been bruised and tired and now he realised seriously horny.

He didn't even attempt to stop the shameless groan that slipped free as her nails raked firmly along his ribs, at the same time her teeth nipped firmly at his ear lobe sending blood rushing almost instantly to his stirring cock.

"Hmm, today is your lucky day though. I've missed having my wonderfully talented Hawk buried deep inside me, driving me out of my mind with his particular brand of exquisite torture." The low seductive murmur tipped him over the edge, pushing off the edge of the bath and turning he reached down to hook his hands under her arms and hauled Shay to her feet, dropping his hands to her waist he lifted her drenched body out of the bath, hauling her body flush with his so her legs settled around his waist.

"Woman, I'll show you fucking exquisite torture alright." He growled as Shay managed to albeit rather awkwardly divest him of his shirt, crashing his mouth down firmly onto hers as his hands slid from her hips to cup her ass he walked them across to the shower, kicking his feet free of his sneakers as he went.

Unknown HYDRA Safe house

Sitting back in the chair of the kitchen of the safe house they were currently set up in Rumlow kicked his booted feet up onto the table, flipping the folder open his dark coffee eyes began to scan the photos from the past week of surveillance on the Tower.

He was looking for a way in, a way to get someone from the Avenger's inner circle that could get him to Rogers, Potts he ruled out even going near she was too public to touch; a CEO vanishing never ended well and he'd heard rumours of what Stark had done to get her back from Killian, the billionaire proving to be one resourceful son of a bitch even without his damnable suits.

Banner he wasn't even stupid enough to consider, the last thing he needed was to face off with the Hulk, he doubted his regenerative abilities were enough for him to even a stand a chance of defeating the beast.

Setting aside the images of Potts, Stark and Banner, his gaze then fell upon an image of Romanoff, which had possibilities. His mouth twisted into a wicked grin as he dragged a calloused thumb over her pretty face.

For the eighteen months his STRIKE team had worked with her and Rogers, he'd found himself looking his fill of her delectable curves in that skin tight catsuit she wore, she'd caught him looking a time or two as well and he'd willingly paid the price for that when she'd challenged him to spar and had quite efficiently kicked his ass.

She'd left him sore, humbled and seriously fucking hard, so hard in fact he hadn't been able to conceal it as he'd regained his feet, her fiery emerald eyes darting down before returning to his face with one of those delicate red brows arched upwards as her bright red lips twitching in amusement.

He'd watched unable to look away as she sashayed out of the gym, like a moth drawn to a flame, he'd stalked through the halls of the Triskelion towards the temporary living quarters with his jacket and weapons harness well placed to conceal the prominent bulge in his pants.

The moment he'd entered his quarters he'd known something wasn't right, but he hadn't been able to pinpoint what until the lamp had flicked on beside the bed drawing his gaze to the fiery red headed Russian seductress lying naked as the day she was born upon his bed.

Her stamina had definitely surprised him as they'd fucked like rabbits well into the night, but what had surprised him more was the deft way she'd been able to coax his body back into action, she'd whetted his appetite and aroused a hunger within him for her that lingered within him to this day.

Setting the images of her aside into a possibilities pile he turned his gaze to the last of the images within the file, his gaze fell upon Barton's face with a sneer forming on his face, he'd had a hate-hate relationship with Barton since the academy.

Before the other man's arrival he'd been the best marksman in the academy, then some young upstart of a pup with a bow of all things had come in and knocked him into second place, he'd made a vow to himself to make the younger man pay for that.

He'd started by making Barton's life a misery in the academy and as he flipped through the images he now found a new way to continue on with the vow, lifting one image from the folder he took in the sight of Barton walking into the tower hand in hand with a woman slightly shorter than him his head bent down to her as though whispering into her ear.

The next image he picked up was a closer shot of the pair; he could clearly see the broad smile on Barton's face though the woman's face wasn't quite so clear, flipping through the images until he finally found one with a close up focused on the pair's faces.

Dropping his booted feet off the table with a thud he lifted the image out, the familiar face staring back at him with a slight smile a blow from his past, stroking his thumb across the face he growled "Son of a bitch, I spent years looking for you and you turn up now with him of all people."