Oleander - Bucky BarnesxOC

CHAPTER FIVE: ALL THE THINGS I WOULD DO

He nods.

"That would be lovely."

After dinner, Dahlia helps James load the dishes into the dishwasher, despite his repeated attempts to tell her to sit down. She can tell he's a little annoyed, but she likes to help.

"You really don't have to," he tells her.

"You cooked; I help clean up. Fair's fair."

He smiles softly.

"You're sweet, Dahlia."

The wine has made her a little woozy, and very flirtatious. She smirks and leans over the dishwasher, batting her eyelashes.

"I thought I was a bad girl," she whispers as she bites her lip.

James says nothing, but he does look at her like a predator sizing up his prey. Dahlia flushes with embarrassment, not quite believing that she said what she just said. As she busies herself with putting the rest of the dishes away and trying to talk herself down from how fucking stupid she just sounded, she notices that she can feel him watching her. Every so often, she glances up and finds herself staring into a pair of pale blue eyes. She almost drops a plate on the floor at one point and he reaches out to grab it from her.

"Careful," he purrs.

"Sorry."

His smile is warm, and she blushes again.

"It's fine."

She loads the last of the dishes in and James closes the dishwasher door. Dahlia walks him lean against the kitchen island and grab his wine glass. He takes a sip as he stares at her. His gaze is intense. He stares a lot. He did it all through dinner while making conversation. Dahlia doesn't have a wine glass to hold, and she feels incredibly vulnerable, leaning up against the counter and crossing her arms over her chest.

"What?"

He sets his wine glass down and clears his throat.

"Best kiss since Disneyland, or best kiss period?"

"What?"

James wipes his hands on a towel.

"When you made that toast, you said it was the best kiss since Disneyland."

So that's what's been on his mind while they ate. Dahlia could tell that something was weighing on him and it seemed like he was trying to work through it over dinner. She assumed it was the phone call, not her little toast. She feels a little bad. She didn't exactly mean it like that, but that kiss at Disneyland is special to her. Dylan is special to her. He was her first real boyfriend. She still talks to him. He lives in Arizona now, working for some small tech company.

"Why do you want to know?" She asks.

"I thrive on constructive criticism," James replies with a smirk.

Dahlia bites her lip. She wants to tease him a little. He seems so put together all the time. She kind of wants to see what he looks like when he breaks.

"Well, like you said, there were no fireworks."

James's eyes flash with something that makes Dahlia's stomach flip. His jaw twitches. It's fucking hot, but she's not sure if her gentle teasing unleashed something good or bad in him. He steps toward her and pins her against the counter, pressing his hands on either side of her body. She gasps and looks up at him. James cups her face in his hands. Dahlia gulps and he runs his thumb across her bottom lip.

"Look at me, Dahlia," he whispers. When she obeys him, the most beautiful smile spreads across his face. "Good girl."

She's covered in goosebumps and her heart is pounding. James smiles as his mouth slowly engulfs hers in a languid but heated kiss that leaves her aching for more. He knows exactly what he's doing. It feels like he's sucking her soul right out of her body. Dahlia drops her arms and snakes them around his waist. James moans softly and she whimpers in reply. She draws in a deep breath through her nose to keep herself from falling over. James laughs. Fire consumes her lower belly, quickly spreading through her veins as the kiss gets more intense, and his tongue swirls around hers.