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"No? Can't say I learned any ballet, though. We didn't have enough money for actual lessons. We just stole from what we saw performed in the movies," Bucky says. His older sisters, before they married and moved away, had been real good about taking him along even though he was the kid brother and hardly worth the effort. They'd been good to Steve, too, and he misses them. He knows it'll be even harder to write them when he's actually got his orders but for now, he tries to keep it up.

"I used to think I might get into it, you know. Show business, do the whole Fred Astaire thing. Don't think I could take it, though. Too much pressure to try and live where everyone can see you. I sing a little, I dance a little more and I guess I'd better learn how to shoot at Germans since I'm about to go to Europe."

It's the most he's talked about it, really. He's got complicated feelings about being drafted. Part of him is glad he's going to get to do his part for his country but part of him is dead scared of it. He knows men aren't coming home and that's why they're drafting more. He doesn't want to be one of the ones who doesn't make it back.

She was quiet as she listened, resting her temple back on James' shoulder, head tucked snugly against his chin. The music was still playing on, the song slow and just right for shifting back and forth, slow little circles of guys and their dames all around the floor. Not for the first time, she realized just what this "war" was doing to those who were actually getting pulled onto the front line, and it wasn't glory, country, and heroism.

No, she knew better than most what it cost.

Before she even realized she was speaking, Natalia said, "It's not just the Germans either, James. It's the Russians, too." Then bit her lip, cursing her tongue. But she tightened her grip on him, and added, "I take it back. I think I really will miss you, when you leave."

"The Russians are our allies, sweetheart. They're holding the eastern front for us. We couldn't do it without them," Bucky says. He's a little confused she wouldn't know that and he wonders if she just hasn't been reading the papers or seeing the news reels. Natalie seems too smart to just not know or confuse things.

"I know this is probably too forward," Bucky murmurs, half against her hair. "But I want to bring you home with me tonight. You turned my head before I even knew your name or got a good look at your face. I've always loved red-haired dames and you're the prettiest damn one I've ever met."

What he didn't know about the Russians... Natalia closed her eyes tight, trying to keep her very heart from breaking. She hadn't anticipated this when she'd agreed to drinks and dancing. But then, she'd been focused on her own mission for so long, hadn't she, that it'd blinded her to everything else. Howard Stark was priority, her assignment was to keep him happy, interested, and eventually bring him into the fold, slowly corrupting the scientist until he was so perfectly entangled in HYDRA's web that he'd never be able to escape.

She had her orders.

"Maybe I read it wrong," she said, giving a girlish-sort of laugh. "It seems news from over there changes every day, makes my head spin sometimes." Stop this, Natalia. Insanity incarnate, that is what this is.

But then James said that, and her heart nearly stopped right in its tracks. Before she even knew what she was doing, she'd lifted her head from his shoulder, met those beautiful steel-blue eyes, and nodded once, twice. "...all...all right." Bless her, she even managed to stutter a little. "I mean, only if you're sure, James. I wouldn't mind, I'd love to go home with you.."

"I'm not going to mind, Natalie. How could I mind bringing a beautiful woman home with me for the night? We'll get out of here and get back to my place."

He thinks it's a little strange she tried to play dumb about the news, though, and he wonders at it for a moment before letting the knot go. His Ma had always told him that the truth has its own way of working out and while teasing at it could help it along, sometimes it was best to just let it unravel on its own. Maybe that's what he needs to do with this - ignore a slip-up as stupid as Natalie mixing up an ally with an enemy and just focus on the beautiful woman in his arms.

"C'mon. Let me get you out of here before you go and change your mind on me," he teases, sliding his arm around her waist. "I'm not usually a lucky kind of guy."

The smart thing to do would be to leave him here, disappear into the crowd, and return to her own little flat far across town, and forget she'd ever met this handsome, blue-eyed soldier. She knew without question what her superiors would insist upon, and that was definitely the former course of action. But something stayed her feet, and it wasn't just the warm arm around her waist.

So she nodded, saying, "All right," in a quiet voice, and let James pull her off of the dance floor and towards the pub's front door. The air outside was thankfully much cooler, and Natalia took several deep draughts of it, feeling the crisp bite ease her flaming cheeks and throat. But she had to ask, regardless.

"How are you not lucky, James? A handsome bloke like you? Surely you have girls following you around in herds, don't you?"

"I don't have trouble," he concedes. "But none of them have stuck. They date me for a little while and then they get bored. I don't really let most of them in and, well, I'm getting my orders soon. Not really fair to a girl to fall for a soldier and end up losing him, is it? Best case scenario, I won't be around for a couple of years."

It's a little cooler once they step outside and Bucky shrugs out of his jacket almost automatically, draping it over Natalie's shoulders. He doesn't want her to get cold and, besides, he'll warm up just by walking. He'd taken the train down here to the expo and he doesn't know if he should cough up the cab fare or ask Natalie to go back on the train with him. He decides on the cab.

"Reach in my pocket and get my wallet and I'll get us a cab. Not going to make you ride the train looking as nice as you do. You deserve a little better than that after a date. It's the inside pocket of that jacket. I'd go after it myself but I don't want you thinking I'm getting handsy."

Her eyebrow went up as James spoke, but she let her lips twitch in amusement but held her tongue. The offer of his jacket was truly sweet, and she cuddled back into it gratefully, surreptitiously breathing in his clean, masculine scent from the heavy fabric.

But at least they didn't have to take the train. She'd have offered her own dough for cab fare otherwise. But she obediently fished around in his jacket and procured the requested wallet, handing it over despite the burning curiosity to open it and take a quick peek inside. Had it been anyone else, she would have.

She almost asked if this had really been a date, but again, bit her tongue just in time. She stayed well away from the curb while James hailed a cab, surprisingly sparse at this time of night, but then most of them were probably hanging around the Expo, several blocks up the way. Thankfully, this particular car was mostly clean, the driver spoke understandable English, and Natalia slid inside after James gallantly opened the door, with a flourish, of course, and she smoothed her skirt over her knees as he got in after her, closing the door with a soft click.

Bucky has kissed in the back of a cab before but he doesn't move to kiss Natalie just now. He decides he'll save it for when they're alone at his place and settles, instead, for reaching for her hand and lacing their fingers together. This girl has him turned over and upside down and he's not real sure how it's happened.

He keeps sort of quiet while the cab makes its way back toward the place he shares with Steve but when they pull up, he's quick to get the door open for Natalie and help her up and out of the cab. He pays off the driver and apologizes that it's a walkup and has no elevator. Once they're inside, though -

"I really want to kiss you right now, Natalie. You think you can give me a chance even though I'm no fancy guy from Manhattan?"

The fact that he didn't try to kiss her, or anything else, in the cab on the way to his place threw her for a confused loop. She'd been so prepared for it, had anticipated it, that when he only reached over and took her hand, she actually jumped.

The drive wasn't all that far, she discovered, because the cab was pulling up at the curb sooner than she'd realized, and James was getting out and holding out his hand to help her do the same. They were definitely in Brooklyn, she thought, gazing around, and then they were inside the complex, climbing stairs to his floor, and then...

She blinked. "Isn't that why I'm here, James?" Natalia threaded her arms through his jacket, so that it wouldn't slide to the floor when she lifted them to drape around his neck. "If I wanted a fancy Manhattanite, I'd have stayed back at the Expo." Lord knew she had one of those very same who'd be waiting on her come the morning.

Natalia laced her fingers together behind James's neck, toying with the fine dark hairs at his nape. "You can kiss me," she whispered, inching up on her tiptoes, gaze falling to his lovely, kissable mouth. "I want you to.."

"Good. Because I'm going to."

Bucky kisses her slowly but thoroughly, tongue coaxing her lips to part and his own hand threaded deep in bright red hair. He slides his other hand down to her lower back and presses her up close to him, lets Natalie feel just how much he's wanted her and just how much waiting has driven him crazy tonight.

They're right out in the front room of his place and while Steve would never walk in on him without knocking at night, he probably would walk through the door of his own apartment without announcing himself. Bucky reluctantly pulls his mouth from hers.

"My room's the one furthest back. We're probably going to want the privacy and I live with someone."

There wasn't any hesitation, any second guessing, in their kiss, mainly because Natalia met James halfway when he lowered his head, slanting her own at the perfect angle to meet those soft, soft lips. She instantly parted her mouth and gave a soft, yearning moan when tongues slid against the other, feeling his fingers work against the pins holding back russet curls. She pressed tight against him, fitting against the strong length of his very nice body, and wasn't at all surprised to feel the very real evidence of desire making itself known.

But before she could get too interested, James was lifting his head, gazing down at her with lust-dark eyes, and she knew her own had to be just as dilated, her lips kiss-swollen and red not just from her lipstick. Her smirk tilted at his comment, and she lifted a sardonic eyebrow.

"I'll say. Wouldn't do to give your roommate that sort of shock, now would it?"

Natalia let his jacket slide off of her arms, gently draping it over the back of a nearby chair. She pulled the rest of the pins from her long curls, letting them tumble down over her shoulders and spill over the swell of her breasts, aching beneath the bodice of her dress.

"Lead the way, James."

It's not a big place and it doesn't take long to get back to his room. There's a few less books in his than Steve's but the walls are still covered in framed art he's done and there's sketchbooks laying around. They'd loved art, he and Steve, and he wonders if they'll ever get back to it when the war's over.

His bed's a double, at least, and it takes up most of the space in his room. Nowhere else to sit and nowhere else he wants to sit so when he sits on the edge of it, he motions for Natalie to follow him.

"C'mere, doll. I wanna get my mouth on you in some places we can't with company around."

She followed him down the hall to the last door, stepping inside for him to close it behind them. A brief gaze about revealed his art hobby, and the random sketchbooks here and there spoke of at least a doodling hobby, perhaps something more serious. But there weren't many other decorations; a few clothes littered the chair and floor, so perhaps soldierly tidiness was something this Bucky Barnes would learn during his military stint.

Her handsome soldier plunked down on the bed and invited her to follow, but she didn't, not right away. Instead, Natalia sashayed over slowly, lifting one small foot and propping it directly between James's thighs, pulling her skirt up over her knee, a tantalizing tease.

"Unbuckle my shoes, James, please?" She wiggled her heel lightly from side to side. "And then help me with my stockings? I don't want to rip them."

"You're trouble," Bucky says, fingers going to undo the leather strap of her shoe and slip it off. It's the stocking he takes his time with, fingers sliding up the smooth nylon until he gets to her garter. Natalie Rushman must have a rich family or a good job because most women in New York are having to go without stockings right about now.

When his fingers find bare skin, he carefully undoes the garters and leans in so he can kiss the inside of her thigh, then the top of her knee. He rolls them down slowly, enjoying it, because he has no idea if he's ever going to see her again after tonight and he wants to remember.

"You're trying to kill me, I think."

Her breath caught slightly when those soft lips touched the tender skin inside of her thigh, and Natalia couldn't help a small shiver. She wound a hand through James's dark hair, holding him close between her knees. She rubbed the inside of her leg along his cheek, feeling the day's worth of stubble grazing her skin, a delicious roughness.

"I think you'll live, sir," she told him, already a little breathless.

When that leg was bare, she carefully shifted the other into the former's place, hitching her skirt a little higher this time. "Now the other one," she directed in a light, almost playful voice. Seeing this beautiful man's hands lift to run along her eager flesh was intoxicating. It really was a shame that after tonight, she'd never see him again.

"Yes, Ma'am," Bucky says, making quick enough work of the shoe before sliding his hands up along the length of her leg. This time he goes higher though, long fingers slipping up to tease along the edge of her underwear. It's silk, soft beneath his fingers, and he plays there for a moment before unhooking her garters to roll the stocking down.

He sucks a dark mark on one thigh, liking how her pale skin marks so easily, and makes a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses all the way back down her leg to her ankle.

"Gotta be careful when you're issuing orders, ma'am."

She didn't deter those hands, not in the slightest. If anything, she squirmed a little beneath their bold yet playful touch. By the time he unsnapped the small garter and went to work on her stockings, those expensive silk panties were more than a little damp, and Natalia's bodice was near to overflowing with aching breasts rising and falling with her deep, panted breaths.

But it was the swift suction on the sensitive skin of her thigh that had her shivering, biting off a sharp moan at the rush of heat beneath her skin, staining pale ivory a soft blush. Her knees were a little weak, and she by now had both hands gripping broad shoulders beneath his crisp uniform shirt, very nearly ready to rip it right off of him.

"Oh?" Now, her voice was definitely light, breathy, and overflowing with desire. "Just how careful?"

Bucky smirks up at her, blue eyes tilted and lips full. He hasn't had this much fun with a woman in a long time and he thinks it's because Natalie meets him step for step with everything he's throwing out. She's smart and she's beautiful - two things that will always do him in.

"I'm just a Sergeant," he murmurs. "Gotta be careful to get those orders just right so I don't play fast and loose with 'em. I might go a little off the book if you give me any wiggle-room. I like to push up against the brass."

He slides his hands back up her legs and his thumbs find the edge of her panties again, stroking the silk before he slips one beneath and draws it between damp folds.

"Well," she replied, biting her lip hard enough to hurt and cutting off another soft moan as those hands slid back up the length of her legs, "we can't have you being...insubordinate now, can we?" But her stomach fluttered and full hips bucked as one of those hands snuck beneath the slick silk, teasing her unmercifully. "...James..." His name was a soft gasp, and Natalia lifted her head to gaze down into those too-blue eyes, her cheeks and throat flushed as she panted. "You're a devil, aren't you."

Not necessarily a question.

Although she ached to just fall into his lap and fall apart, Natalia nevertheless steeled herself, wiggled her hips a little naughtily, and took a step back, just enough to put her out of his immediate reach. "But if you need hard rules then, soldier, why don't you unbutton my dress?" She turned prettily on her toes and swept long red curls aside with one hand, pouting over her shoulder.

"I can't reach all of them by myself."

"That's an order I'll take," Bucky says, moving to his feet so he can start working on the buttons. He does them slowly, kissing her neck and spine as he does, and he pushes the dress down in short order. Her skin is creamy pale and he plays at the strap of her bra a bit as he leans in and murmurs hot against her ear.

"Got those buttons done for you. Want me to get this bra, too? I know it can be a real pain in the ass and I'm not the kind of guy to leave a lady wanting. Not when I've got what she needs."

Bucky wanted to have everything Natalie Rushman needed. He doesn't know when he ships out but until he does, he thinks he wants her in his bed every night.

She was silently thankful she'd opted to "dress up" under her dress for tonight, even if she hadn't planned on undressing for anyone else. Cotton was comfortable, but silk and satin were just...classy. And having grown up with next to nothing, she'd learned to take advantage of the niceties when she could.

Thus she had no qualm about letting James slide her dress down as the buttons came undone, it catching at her elbows for a moment as she still played the coquettish maiden, but then it was gone, leaving her in sleek, fitted undergarments, a soft mint green against her flushed skin.

"That'd be a good boy, James," Natalia purred in a low, throaty alto, tipping back her head to rest it against his shoulder. "I think I'd like that."

"I bet you're not such a good girl, though," Bucky teases. He undoes the bra but keeps Natasha tugged up against his chest while he takes it off and once her breasts are bare, he slides his hands up to cup them. His thumbs brush over her nipples, teasing them hard, and he kisses along her neck.

"You gonna try and get me to heaven tonight? I can think of a few ways we might get there, Natalie."

He's been cutting her name off or nicknaming her all night but right now, Natalie seems to fit better than anything else.

Oh, he had no idea, did he. For a heart-wrenching moment, Natalia gave serious thought to cutting this short, retrieving her clothes, and bolting out of here, but then James's large hands settled over her aching breasts, rough thumbs teasing her nipples to pebble-hardness, and all thoughts of leaving simply fled her mind. She whimpered, needy, and tipped her head aside, baring more of her skin for his mouth even as she leaned back into his warm, lean frame.

And he called her Natalie.

A name she'd come to identify with, but it wasn't hers. And to her shock, she suddenly wished she could hear her name, moaned in that rough, Brooklyn voice.

Natalia bit her lower lip, hard, and thankfully the sharp pain helped focus her back on the now: James's hands fondling her breasts, his mouth leaving soft little bites along the slope of her throat, and she dimly realized she was rocking back into him, her hips rolling across his groin with sinful deliberation.

"Yeah?" She gave a soft laugh and turned in his arms, winding her own around his neck and going up on her toes to pull his mouth down to hers, while she pressed her entire body flush against his, wanting him just as naked and needing him now. "Just how high would you like to go?"

"I think you got a couple ideas in that beautiful head of yours," Bucky teases. He's hard and he's been hard since they hit the door. He hasn't taken anything off yet because he's been a little too busy with her and, honestly, he's still sliding his hands down low to get into those silk panties of hers and start pushing them down.

"But if I don't get my mouth on you, sweetheart, I think I'm going to die. You wouldn't want to short the war effort," he teases. "Not of a fine, upstanding officer like me."

Dimly, Bucky hopes that if Steve does get back, he doesn't hear what's going on in the back room of their walk-up. He's brought girls home before, sure, but this girl feels a lot more special.

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