Possessed - Bucky Barnes x OC

Part 7

The rest of Maggie's week was filled with near constant demands from August. She had to fill in for her coworkers, ending up working sixty hours over the course of five days. All she wanted was to start her paintings already. She'd often sit and sketch ideas for her pieces during slow hours of her shifts, mind wandering to thoughts of James.

The kiss he left on her cheek matched the one she gave him the night he drove her home. Albeit, her kiss was sweet, where as his was possessive, filled with intention. The feeling of his lips followed by a warm whisper made goosebumps peak up her arms. Despite his gesture, she couldn't help the feeling that she was in trouble for talking to Loki, but she wasn't sure why.

Thursday afternoon, Maggie turned her music on max volume, gathered all of her paints, and grabbed the largest canvas she owned. She stood back staring at it, waiting for inspiration to hit. James said he wanted something similar to the piece he had purchased, but with a black or blue color scheme, so she started there.

Squeezing out her tubes of paint and mashing the globs of pigment together with a pallet knife, until she found a color she was happy with. She actually used the color of James' eyes as her guide, recalling the striking hue from memory. Brushing broad strokes across the canvas, the work started to come together.

An hour in, when Maggie was mixing a darker slate color, there was a rough knock on the door. She quickly wiped off her hands on her painting pants as she padded barefoot to see who was there. Cracking her door a smidge, Natasha stood on her doormat holding a bottle of wine.

"Oh, hey Nat. Did you forget your key?" Maggie had given her the spare key to her apartment for emergencies, but she used it to barge in whenever she wanted. Not that she minded. She liked that Natasha would just show up.

"I left it at home. I've been crashing at Steve's place for the last couple days, so I didn't feel like going across the river grab it." She brushed by her, walking straight for the kitchen to open the bottle and pour each of them a glass.

Maggie walked back into her art room, picking up where she left off. Natasha waltzed in behind her, taking a long chug from her glass, peeking over at the canvas. "So far so good, Mags. I'm digging the blue."

"What?" She yelled, over the loud music.

Natasha rolled her eyes, handing her the second glass of wine in her hand and side stepping to the speaker, twisting the volume dial. "I said I like it— the blue."

"Me too. James said he wanted black and blue hues. It was basically the only guidelines he gave me, so I'm still trying to figure out the details myself."

Nodding, she took another sip.

"I'm still so surprised he asked me to do this."

Maggie had called Natasha, practically yelling into the phone, telling her about James calling her and offering her the commission. Natasha already knew before she called, though. She was lounging in bed with Steve when James called, asking for Maggie's number and explaining his intentions. Even though he passed it off as an innocent art commission, she saw right through it.

"I'm not. The guy is clearly enamored with you and you need to stop being so intimidated and shoot your shot."

"Speaking of being intimidated." She gave Natasha her best disappointed look. "You failed to mention that he's actually the CEO of the company."

She was losing a battle to keep her grin at bay. "Oh, did I not mention that to you?"

"Not cool, Nat."

"Pssh. You should be thanking me really. I knew you'd freak out if I told you, so I was really just sparing you from your own anxiety."

Maggie knew she was right. She would've avoided him if she knew he was such a powerful businessman. Although she genuinely liked James, he wasn't her usual type. She always went after artistic type men. Writers or musicians. The kind of guy that drank herbal tea and would talk about foreign films or literature.

James was a powerhouse of a man. Confidence and superiority oozed from him. He owned every room he stepped into. People would gawk at the sheer size of him. Along with his brutal looking tattoos and long hair, the guy was captivating to say the least.

His presence was intoxicating to Maggie. She was always left in a daze, wanting more. It drove her mad seeing him in his element at the office. Everyone around them hung on his every word, awaiting his response for everything. Maggie naturally did the same from the moment she met him. His dominant attitude complimented her already amenable and ways, leaving her wanting nothing, but his praise.

"You're right. Also... he might've kissed me on the cheek before I left."

Natasha set down her glass to clap her hands together, applauding her friend's success. "Well done, babe. How'd you manage that?"

"Well, it was weird actually. I bumped into this guy, Loki, in the hall and we talked for a minute, but James walked up looking super irritated. Turns out he was late for a meeting with James." Pausing, to take a quick sip of wine. "When I apologized for making him late, he told me I apologized too much and kissed me on the cheek, leaving me standing in the hall."

Natasha squinted her eyes, trying to figure out what happened there. "What was this guy Loki like?"

"Tall. Young-ish. Probably about the same age as James. He had an English accent and was actually incredibly handsome and charming." She gushed, making it perfectly clear to Natasha what had happened.

"James was jealous, babe."

Taken aback, She frowned, tilting her head in confusion. "No. It wasn't like that. Loki was charming sure, but I think he was just being polite."

"Jesus fucking christ." Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose, getting heated that her friend would never accept that men were into her. "You're an idiot sometimes, you know that?"

Maggie sighed. "I know."

The two of them ended up parking it on the couch, binge watching movies while they drank wine and ate too much pizza. Maggie loved nights like this, they always reminded her of when they were teens. They used to hang out in Natasha's basement at her dad's house, having sleepovers on the weekends. They'd try to stay up all night, but would always end up passing out on the couch.

Natasha's parents were divorced when she was young, due to their near constant fighting. Her mom was a cold woman, so she moved away to somewhere in Europe and left her to live with her dad. Ivan was the best father to her, though. He would make them pancakes in the morning whenever Maggie would stay over. He was the closest thing she had to a father figure, being that her own dad was long gone. He would take them shopping or to Golden Gate park, always having the best time with them. As much as she adored Ivan, it never seemed to fill the emptiness she felt.

"I think I might go to James' office tomorrow."

Natasha turned over to face her. "Yeah?"

"Mhm, I want to look over the spots James picked out for the paintings again. I'm hoping it'll inspire me a bit to be back the building to look at the decor."

"I think that's a great idea." She said, giving a sultry look. "Maybe you could look at James for a bit too. I'm sure he'll leave you feeling plenty inspired."

"Shut up."