Although she could tell that he wanted to argue Clint knew better and soon was sitting up so she could get at his back. Positioning herself behind him she started at his neck and worked as gently yet efficiently as she could.

His opening sentence was a surprise and her hands faltered for a brief second. Why would Hill specifically want her absent from this mission? He must have meant it another way. Keeping silent she just let him talk, let him work it out for himself. In the end he didn’t really have an answer, and she was left with more questions than anything. She had been elsewhere at the time, but not the entire time, and her mission hadn’t been anything someone else couldn’t have covered. She could have easily accompanied Clint on this one had Hill seen fit, but for some reason she had made sure that didn’t happen.

Of course the mention of Coulson just made everything worse, and Natasha momentarily abandoned the massage and wrapped her arms around Clint instead, pressing her lips to the space between his shoulder blades. “You were the one that got me out of trouble,” she said, nuzzling against his warm skin. “Maybe she thought I would be too much of a distraction on a mission that held very little stimulation.”