Natasha wasn’t sure why she had felt the need to tell him that she had taken some unnecessary risks just to complete her mission early, except for the fact that she did it so she could get back to him, back to this, sooner. She wondered if he knew her reasoning, if he had figured it out, or if he just thought she had taken risks to avoid her own thoughts, to push herself harder.

“I just wanted to get back to you,” she said against his lips when he pulled back from the kiss, her eyes still closed. Shivering slightly under his touch, her own fingers trailed up into his hair, threading the short strands between them. “You won’t lose me,” she said, and she felt as sure of that answer as could possibly be, maybe even a little more than she should be.

Finally opening her eyes again, his own blue ones were so close she could have fallen into them. “I can’t guarantee Fury won’t still send me on some solo missions,” she explained. “But no more deep cover, that much I swear.” She was one of SHIELD’s best agents; they would not defy her wishes completely. She could just as easily leave them high and dry.