After a few rounds into the game, and many more drinks, everyone was feeling pretty reckless and loose. Except for me and Steve.

In fact, the super soldier who I'd begun to grow increasingly close with looked like he'd much rather be anywhere but here. Especially with all of the loopholes that Tony was getting us into.

Despite my request, which he knew better than to ignore, Tony had come up with some pretty crazy dares that had me reaching for anything I could get my hands on as a weapon.

Tony really seemed like he had something he was trying to prove, getting me and Steve to kiss in front of the group. The only other problem was that Steve and I seemed to be on completely different pages this time.

"Next round, everyone! Get a refill on your drinks because this one is going to be the best," Tony said.

"You having fun?" I asked Steve when we had a moment.

He shrugged. "It's not as fun when you can't get drunk."

I smiled. "Here, come with me." I stood up and motioned for him to follow me into the kitchen.

"What are we doing?" Steve asked.

I pressed a panel on the wall and a set of buttons appeared. I fiddled with them for a second and then turned to him.

"We haven't had a moment alone all evening," she said. "And we need to talk about this fake-out plan."

"Oh." Steve stepped back, raising a hand to scratch the back of his head. "I thought you were cool with it?"

"I am. But we need to go over ground rules, especially because we're...well—"

"Unofficially dating?" Steve supplied.

"Something like that, I guess. Whatever we are, we can't let that get in the way of the mission."

He nodded. "I know that."

I narrowed my eyes at him. This was serious, and he needed to know this was not a time to say that he understood when he didn't. Steve was the type of guy who fell hard and fast—I'd seen it firsthand—so I needed to know I could trust him to put the mission first, something I knew he'd battled with in the past. "You can't let your personal feelings for me affect the mission."

"Isn't it my role to play the boyfriend?"

"Yes, but if we get caught or if anything goes wrong, you have to treat me like your teammate, not your girlfriend, ok?" I scanned my gaze over his face. "The mission, Rogers, is always more important."

Steve nodded. "Got it. Anything else?"

"Yeah. How convincing is this?" I pulled myself up to his level and kissed him. I couldn't help myself; he was right there and all mine for the taking. As long as we were careful about it.

A few seconds later, we pulled away from each other.

"Pretty convincing," Steve said. "Although I'm pretty sure I'm biased."

I smiled. "Good. Now we can go back to the game." I left Steve in the kitchen as quickly as I could, catching a glance of myself in the stainless steel refrigerator. Hopefully I was pulled together enough that I could go back in and convince the team that everything was normal. Because now all I was going to think about was that kiss.

***

The game escalated pretty quickly after we returned to the living room. Although, having to wear Steve's shirt as part of a dare was one thing, whereas doing body shots crossed the line. In the presence of the team, I hoped we could easily fool everyone—especially if Tony wanted to continue enforcing the "no inter-team dating" rule.

But he made it so damn hard when Steve's lips were all over me.

Damn team-building exercises. I was a little sad that there hadn't been a killer robot to interrupt the evening.

At that point, I decided I'd had enough, so I announced my retaliation from the game and returned to my room. I laid down on my bed and sighed. I really just needed to be alone for a while to regain my composure.

Tonight had confirmed something for me. Once the fakeout was over, I needed some time away from Steve. Just until I figured things out for myself. Maybe I'd take a jet to New York—

Knock, knock.

I sighed again. Apparently, no one else wanted me to have my alone time. I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hi," Steve said, leaning against the door frame.

"Hi." My gaze drew over his face.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

I nodded and let him pass by me before I closed the door.

"You're still wearing my shirt," Steve told me. "I just, um, wanted to get it back."

"Right, sorry." I tugged at the hem of Steve's button-up even though it was obviously too big for me and pulled it off, leaving me in my dark camisole.

Steve's eyes scanned over my chest before landing on my face. He crossed the room and sat down next to me. "You know, I—"

I tucked a hand around his neck and parted my lips to kiss him. Even I was breaking my own rules; this man did things to me I never imagined myself actually caring for.

"Natasha, what you said downstairs..." Steve threaded a hand through my hair and began to massage my head with his fingers.

Holy...wow goodness.

"I don't want to overstep any boundaries with you." He grazed his mouth over mine. "But it's just like, I can't stop, you know?"

"We're both gonna have to learn to control these urges," I murmured.

"But not right now."

"Just kiss me already." I pulled on his t-shirt so he was on top of me. His face inched closer to mine again and closed the gap, his lips grazing mine softly at first and then more intensely. I lifted his t-shirt over his head and he slipped his fingers beneath my camisole, running his fingers slowly down my stomach.

I tensed slightly from his touch—not because I didn't like it, but because it tickled—and I had never wanted him more than I did in that moment. His head bent to kiss my neck, sucking lightly on the skin. I clutched at him harder, wishing we could shed the rest of the clothing between us. At least with staying partially dressed, we could have a reminder to stay above the waistline.

But the moment was too good to be true.

My phone buzzed from where I put it on the nightstand. And it wasn't the phone I used for the compound. It was my mission-focused cell.

"Dammit." I ran a hand through my already mussed locks and grabbed my phone. Letting out a sigh, I turned to Steve. "False alarm, I thought it was Devin. He's been quite since...well, since early."

"So it was Emery?" he asked.

"Yeah. She, um, just was confirming Friday night." I chewed on my lip. "I think the mood is effectively ruined now, so we should both try and get some sleep."

"Yeah, we should." Steve retrieved his t-shirt from the floor and pulled it on to my dismay. "I'll see you in the morning."

I walked him to the door. "Don't forget this." I took his button-up from the bed and handed it to him.

"Thanks. It looked really good on you, just wanna point that out."

I laughed. "You're sweet." I let him linger at the doorway for a minute so I could pull on the camisole back down over my bra.

"I guess I could kiss you goodnight," Steve said, making no effort to leave yet. Holy hell, he was as deep in this as I was, not wanting to leave.

"You could." I smiled and leaned in. "But where's the fun in that?"

Steve laughed. "Good one. See you tomorrow."

"Night, Steve." I closed the door behind him and slid to the floor. God, I wish we hadn't stopped. But what would've happened if we hadn't? A few more inches lower and he would've...

Another knock on my door snapped me out of my fantasy. I stood up and fluffed my hair. "Back already?" I asked, opening it. "Oh, it's you."

"Hello to you too, Nat. Can I come in?" Pepper looked around with raised eyebrows.

I nodded. "Sure." Idiot, I thought to myself. I'm such an idiot.

"Did I just see Steve leaving?" she asked.

I bit my lip and sat on the edge of my bed. "Guilty. Yeah, he came by for his shirt since I'd forgotten to give it back to him after the game."

"Convenient. Looks like it went well." She gestured to the rumpled sheets.

"We kinda got carried away for a moment. Anyway, what's up? I wasn't expecting to see you." Clearly.

Pepper took a seat beside me on the bed. "I wanted to make sure you were ok. I had no idea Tony was going to sabotage you and Steve like that."

"Honestly, I'm not surprised he did. But I appreciate the sentiment."

"I can talk to him if you want, Nat. He's my husband, so he'll listen to me. Well, at least he'll listen about this."

I laid a hand on her shoulder. "I really appreciate that you want to help, Pep, but I think it is best for me and Steve to talk to him. After all, he's only doing this because he's Tony and maybe wants to prove something about his surveillance skills. To prove that Steve and I are fooling around together."

"But you and Steve are fooling around together," Pepper pointed out with a frown.

I waved my hand. "Not the point. The point is, if you tell Tony to back off, he'll become even more suspicious and probably wonder why I told you and not him."

"Well, if it were me, I wouldn't want Tony knowing I was...whatever-ing with Steve either."

That was a good way to put it. Steve and I were "whatever-ing". But did I want to be more than a "whatever"? The more I thought about my feelings for him and the implications when it came to our job, the more I wondered if I could even do this.

"Can I ask you something?" She clasped her hands together and sat next to me on my bed.

"Sure."

"Why are you hiding your relationship with Steve from Tony and the others? I mean, I get it. But these guys are your family."

I blew out a puff of air. "You know why, Pep. The rules...I'm the reason we have the whole 'no inter-team dating' rule. After my past with Bucky..." I sighed, realizing I was going to have to reveal way more of my past than I ever had before. "I just have had bad luck when it comes to relationships with others on my team."

"Well, what about Clint?" I noticied that she completely bypassed my inclusion about my past with a former super solider.

"Clint is different because he's just my friend. That can be dangerous too, but I trust Clint with my life. Not that I don't trust Steve with my life—because I do—I just see Clint differently than I see Steve. Does that make sense?"

She nodded. "Absolutely. You don't want your feelings for him to get in the way of the mission. I understand."

"Exactly. I would be devastated if I lost him because I let my feelings cloud my judgement."

"Have you set ground rules?"

"We've started to establish ground rules. We're both still testing the waters, and all that's included is a lot of kissing. But only in the confines of our rooms."

Pepper smirked. "Well, it's a good thing kissing is good for the soul."

I laughed. "Good thing."

Pepper stood up and headed for the door. "Listen, I won't tell Tony anything about you and Steve, Nat. It's your relationship, your news to tell."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow."