Love and War Aren't a Game

“I don’t care what either of you have to say! It’s unacceptable!” Steve shouted. He had been ranting for a while now at Catherine and I. I could hardly believe he was scolding me, of all people, like a disobedient child. “Your foolish games almost cost our men their lives! And now Hydra knows our location and this-” Steve lifted a pawn from the strategy table, “-base has been abandoned! It was empty because you both screwed up! They knew our army was coming because you two couldn’t keep it together in the field!” Rage was bubbling up inside of me, but I was more annoyed at myself for letting a woman get to me like Catherine had.

“Steve, it’s-“ Catherine began but Steve clearly wasn’t listening to us.

“I don’t care for your excuses, Private, I really don’t,” Steve huffed before striding towards the exit of the tactics room. “You’ve got an hour to talk and sort things out. If you don’t, then I’ll have no choice but to remove you from the unit. Both of you.” With those heavy words, Steve left the room and I heard him lock it from the outside. I followed his footsteps to check the door and groaned after I had rattled the handle a few times to no avail.

“This is stupid, Steve! Let us out!” I shouted through the wall at him, but I doubted he was still there. Hell, he was probably off to talk to Peggy and swoon over her.

“You realise that this is entirely your fault, don’t you?” Catherine spoke from behind me. I turned on my heel and glared at her. She had shifted to lean with her hips against the table and had folded her arms, her creased face proving that she was just as frustrated about the situation as I was.

“My fault?” I repeated, shocked to hear her say that.

“That’s right. If you would have kept quiet and let me be the sniper on the team, if you didn’t have to compete with me and try to prove that you’re better than me, then we wouldn’t have had any issues,” Catherine snapped and I frowned deeper. She had to be joking.

“You are equally at fault here,” I countered while walking across the room to her. I wanted to look her right in the eyes and tell her how I felt. “If you weren’t so determined to wear pants, then we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Catherine gasped at my insult and her fist suddenly flew out and collided with my face. I felt my tooth brutally connecting with my lip and I brought my hand up to my mouth, touching a spot of blood. With my jaw ajar, I looked across at Catherine in shock and she stared back at me with just as much strength as she usually held in her face and posture.

“Go on, Barnes, hit me. I know you want to, you’re just not man enough to,” she taunted me. My jaw stiffened as I thought over my next move. Then I lunged for Catherine.

Instead of decking her with a proper punch, I pulled her into a kiss. I sensed her surprise, then her uncertainty, and then she pushed me off her. Catherine’s palm slapped my cheek and I quickly flicked my head back to watch her, at a loss for what to make of her. She was one hell of a woman.

Catherine held my gaze for a few long moments. Our chests were both rising and falling fast and I guessed that my eyes matched hers which were full of complex and conflicting emotions. And then Catherine shifted forwards. I almost flinched, thinking she was going to strike me again, but this time her touch was soft. Her hand curled around my neck and pulled me down to meet her lips. Everything about the way our lips were moving together screamed urgency, and I pulled her body into mine before deepening the kiss. Catherine was receptive to my touch and began unbuttoning my jacket, so I decided she had declared that the race had begun.

As always with us, things turned into a competition, and she unfortunately beat me. Determined to not have Catherine best me yet again, I lifted her up and slammed her down onto the strategy table behind her. She gasped on contact with the cold wood and then reached out to brush aside some of the wooden pieces that represented the Allies’ troops. Her eyes never left mine but I still paused for a second, giving her a chance to tell me to stop. It almost didn’t seem real to me, that we had both been harbouring such a lust for each other. I reached out and tugged the last item of clothing off her before pulling her hips into mine.

The look on Catherine’s face alone when I entered her was almost enough to send me over the edge. The way she gasped, how her eyes widened and her face softened, the groan of pleasure, it all just spurred me on to press deeper inside. With Catherine’s encouragement presented to me in the form of moans, I gripped her flesh tightly and started at a quick and rash pace, unable to get enough of the feeling of having a woman beneath me again. I leaned forwards to kiss her neck and inhale her scent, and in response she ran her fingernails across my back, sending a shiver down my spine and temporarily distracting me.

That was enough for Catherine to push me over. Fortunately she came around with me and I became stunned at the image before me. Catherine fought for her dominance over me, riding me and making every inch of her body bounce. Her flushed cheeks were adorable, and as her brown hair fell out of its bun I realised just how incredible it was that I had tamed the feisty soldier. It then sunk in that I hardly had any control in my current position and that she was winning yet again, so I pushed my back off the table and grabbed Catherine’s waist to hoist her off me. She made a squeak of protest but her mouth soon went back to producing moans once I bent her over the table and took control again. There was so much raw passion between us, an animalistic desire to just fuck, and I found myself becoming overwhelmed much quicker than I would have liked to.

I pulled out and away from Catherine, catching my breath and hoping that she wasn’t disappointed in our rather surprisingly intimate yet short altercation. It wasn’t my fault that I was a man of war who hadn’t touched a woman for so goddamn long it was almost torture.

As Catherine straightened herself and ran a hand over her messed hair, a wash of awkwardness flooded me. I had no idea what to do next because I had never been in such a situation before. A part of me said that she wouldn’t appreciate after-sex cuddles, and the door was still locked so I couldn’t just walk out and avoid the situation completely. Catherine shifted to dress herself, not catching my gaze, so I followed suit and then took a seat on the edge of the table that was damp from our sweat. Catherine was in the middle of buttoning her shirt when she turned to face me.

“I guess we’ve settled our differences then,” she stated and a grin crossed my lips.

“I guess so,” I agreed with a small nod. Catherine gave a small smile before sitting next to me and we fell into silence again, the room eerily still now that we were clothed. I knew that I should have felt satisfied, having physically exerted myself and had an emotional relief as well, but I wasn’t fulfilled at all. Despite logic telling me not to, I had an urge to put my lips against her skin again, to smell her, to be deep inside her, to connect with Catherine. A rustle at the door made me peel my eyes away from Catherine and Steve entered the room.

“Sorted?” he asked us. Catherine slid off the table and walked towards the exit.

“Sorted,” she agreed before leaving. Steve met my gaze, searching my dazed face for an explanation, and I gave a helpless shrug of my shoulders. Catherine had made me speechless.