Yes Miss Romanoff

38

We sat in the bath together, soaking peacefully in the bubbles, Nat sitting in front of me, wrapped in my arms. She rested her head back on my shoulder, sighing in content as she let the tiredness of the day, wash over her.

I stroked her hair softly, humming as I lay my head back against the towel, just thinking about how unbelievably lucky I was to have this woman in my arms.

"Oh, who called earlier?" I asked, suddenly remembering the call Nat took for me.

"Um, it was Steven, the maintenance guy?" She said, seemingly unsure of what she was saying.

"Yeah that's him. What did he want? Is my apartment ready?" I asked, slightly picking up in excitement. I mean sure, living with Nat was great but really, it was too early for us. Normally I wouldn't have moved in this quickly if it weren't for the unfortunate circumstances.

"I'm sorry Princess but no, he said it might still be a while. Something about mould from the flood damage? I don't know." She shrugged.

"Oh, alright" I sighed.

"Don't sound too upset. Is living with me really that terrible?" She teased, although it had a more serious undertone to it. I went back to running my fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her.

"Of course not! I love living with you! But it's quite a big step to fully move in and it's only been a few months. Do you understand?" I explained, careful not to hurt her feelings. She nodded.

"I guess you're right." She whispered, more to herself than to me.

Suddenly, it seemed an idea sprung to her mind as she sat up, spinning around to face me.

"Hey, why don't we go shopping tomorrow? I believe I owe you a pair of panties." I giggled as she poked nose lightly.

"Any excuse for you to look at lingerie huh?" I teased, pulling her into me, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her, the warm water surrounding us acting like a soothing blanket.

"I hate you" she said, shaking her head and smiling widely.

"You and I both know that's not true."

"No, actually I think I l-"

No. Not now. It's too soon she can't.

"It's getting a bit cold, how about we continue this cute little cuddle in bed huh?" I interrupted her before she'd say something she'd regret.

Even though deep down we both knew  how we felt, saying it felt all too much for me in this moment.

She sighed, but followed me into the bedroom, snuggling into my side and watching Tangled with me. I knew she'd like Disney films.

***

The next morning, I made us breakfast, however, as I made the pancakes, I showed Nat how to do it too. At this point I was just preparing her for when I left, she'd need to learn how to cook for herself, otherwise she'll just have had to stick to her signature pb&j.

I taught her how to whisk the mixture in the perfect way, so as not to have any lumps. She even had a go at flipping a few, brave girl! For the first one, I held her hand in mine, steadying it as we flipped it, but after that she quickly got the hand of it.

Usually she was very controlling, but when we were cooking, I was in charge. And I loved to see her listening to me so closely, and concentrating so hard.

Later on that day, as she'd promised, we went shopping. She took me to a shop I'd never been to before.

A sweet looking woman greeted us at the door.