Bucky's Redemption

Chapter 1

It was the third time this had happened. Another pissed off customer with a hot cup of coffee. The obvious thing would be to ask for another one, right? Nope, this cup was thrown at me. Luckily I guess I was trained for this moment and was able to get most of the coffee on my back and not my face this time. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.

We were about ten minutes from closing and usually nobody came in around this time so I turned the open sign to close and headed for the backroom where the first aid was at. I took off my shirt and hissed as the fabric traced over the burns. When I finally got it off, I took the cream and reached up to put it on but no matter what angle I tried, I just couldn't get it. I got so frustrated that tears pricked at my eyes. I was so done with this job. I mean it paid good money, but at the cost of all of this, it wasn't worth it.

"Hello? Is anybody still here?" A voice called out.

I silently cursed to myself. I guess there was still someone here. They were probably in the bathroom while I was being doused with the hot liquid. I quickly put on my shirt, wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, and wiped the cream off before running back to the front. When I got there, there was a man in a blue navy jacket. It was the type of jacket you would put on in a hurry if you thought it might be cold or it was about to rain. I knew I could never pull that off unless I wanted to look homeless, but the stranger made it look like a fashion statement. This stranger had brown short hair and a hint of a shadow on his face. He actually looked oddly familiar.

He took one look at me and looked confused, "Everything okay?" He asked.

I nodded and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, "All good, sorry. There was an emergency that I had to take care of. What can I do for you?"

The man pointed at the door. "The door is locked, am I allowed to leave? And you do know your shirt is on backwards, right?"

As my face went red, I felt so stupid as I looked at the tag still poking out of the shirt. It flopped there, mocking me. "Yeah, I had coffee thrown at me so I was trying to apply cream to my back but I couldn't reach it and yeah... I guess I put my shirt on backwards when I heard your voice."

The man looked at me in disbelief, "Wait, someone threw coffee at you? Are you okay?"

Looking up at the fluorescent lights, I pinched the bridge of my nose to keep from crying in front of this very cute stranger. "I'm fine. This has happened two other times so I'm used to the burns, but I can't reach this one so I will just figure something else out. I'll just run to the hospital. Here, I'll let you out of here." I grabbed the keys and was about to put the key in the lock, but the stranger's hand gently touched my forearm.

"Do you want me to take a look at it? It'll save you a trip and time. That is if you want." He looked at me with sincerity in his eyes. He seemed like a perfect gentleman. I've heard the stories of men who acted all nice and that's how they pulled you in, but for some reason I felt like this wasn't the case.

I hesitated momentarily, but then I nodded. "Only if you want to. Let me go get the cream really quick. Will that gross you out?"

A small twitch of a smile ghosted his lips. " No, ma'am. I've seen a lot of things and the back of a woman would not be on a list of gross things."

I bit my lip and decided not to comment and went to the back to grab the medicated cream. When I got back, he was still standing where he was. I put the cream on the table and faced him. "So, you aren't going to kidnap me and put me in a hole where you force me to put lotion on, are you?"

That really surprised him because a snort came out of him and really caused him to look away to smile. "That's very oddly specific."

I lightly laughed as I felt his own laugh was infectious. "It's from a movie, Silence of the Lambs. Good movie, very creepy, but very good."

The man nodded. "I'll add it to the list, but no I'm not going to kidnap you and force you to put lotion on. That sounds so odd."

Once the awkwardness of the conversation ended, I turned around and lifted my shirt up. "The burn should be right above my... bra... strap." I felt my cheeks flush as I felt so stupid for letting a stranger do this. For all I knew, he could be some weirdo with a back fetish. But he was polite so far and I didn't see any red flags.

When his hand grazed my skin, I involuntarily moved forward and hissed as the cold medicine touched the heat in my skin. The stranger's hand pulled away. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, "Sorry, the cream was just cold."

"Are you okay with me applying again? And it doesn't look bad."

"Yes, I'm okay and I know it probably isn't the best looking back you've seen. I mean I'm not entailing that you've seen a lot of women's backs, you seem like a total gentleman. I just mean I stopped working out when I took this job and I have a teaching job as well. I teach fourth graders and they can be a lot of work so I don't have time like I used to to work out. So yeah.."

I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I meant the burn doesn't look bad, but your back is just fine."

Stupid, stupid. Of course he meant the burn. Why would he be talking about your back? " Um... yeah, of course. Well that's great it doesn't look bad."

The cream hit my back again and I tried not to flinch this time. The man then gently smeared the cream in and after it was done, I heard him step back. I pulled my shirt down and when I got a whiff of the shirt, I made a sour face to which the handsome stranger lightly chuckled. When he pointed his head toward the door, it came back to me. "You want to leave, right, sorry. You probably have a big date or a girlfriend to go home to." I put the keys in the lock and turned it, opening it for him. "There you go, um... what was your name?"

The man gave me a small smile. "Bucky."

"Bucky, huh. Different, but I like it. Nice to meet you Bucky. If my name tag was on you could read it, but since the coffee thing, yeah, my name's Alexandria but you can call me Alex."

"Bucky nodded, "See you tomorrow, Alex."

I frowned, very confused. "You will?"

Bucky nodded. "Yeah, I usually come here for coffee everyday. Unless you aren't working tomorrow."

I thought he did look familiar but I thought he was a parent of one of my fourth graders. "I'll be working. Hopefully you won't have to help me put on anything like the cream. The medicated cream, not anything else. Okay, I'm going to let you go now before I talk myself into saying something else dumb. Okay, goodnight Bucky."

I could tell Bucky was trying to hold in a laugh so I gave him a fake stern look to which he held up his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, I'm going. Don't want to be held against my will with lotion."

I rolled my eyes and gently pushed on his shoulder. "Alright, bye."

Bucky left and when he was gone, I locked the door again and rested my back against it. I might have been imagining it, but I swore his other hand was metal. I honestly didn't care, I was just curious. I was about to walk over to start cleaning the coffee cups when there was a knock behind me. I flinched and looked behind me to see Bucky lightly waving a shirt around. I smirked and opened the door. "Do you need me to sew something?"

"No, it's for you and before you say something, your shirt is wet and smells like stale coffee. I'll get it from you tomorrow." He then handed the shirt to me and I took the burgundy shirt with a thank you before he gave me a curt nod. "And by the way, I don't have a girl to go home to." He was then off and walking to what I now saw was a motorcycle. I internally fanned myself. I was in deep trouble, a total hottie with a bike and the shirt he let me borrow smelled like dark woods and leather. Yup, I was done for.

After I closed down the shop and changed into Bucky's shirt. I went to my car and drove home. As I drove, I couldn't help but think back to when Bucky had his hand on my back. It still tingled as if his hand was still there. I ran a hand over my face, oh I was losing it. It had been way too long since I had even been touched by a man and the first one who does in a while, I'm going bananas for.

Once home, I had a glass of wine and finished watching some soap drama before I fell asleep on the couch. That night I had dreamt of him pushing me up against the wall, tasting my skin, biting my lips. It was wildly inappropriate, but I honestly couldn't help but feel like this stranger was supposed to be in my life. It was probably just a fantasy, a figment of my imagination, but hey, a girl can dream, can't she?