Oleander - Bucky BarnesxOC

CHAPTER THREE: DINNER

A/N: This is a long one, besties! But I promise it's worth it 😉

James lies awake while the grandfather clock across the room ticks softly. It was passed down through the men in the family, and always sat in his father's office when he was growing up.

It's one of those clocks that has to be tweaked and repaired manually - and often. It's a pain in the ass to call someone in, but James insists on keeping it running. He just likes the sound it makes.

His phone buzzes.

[Romanoff]: She'll meet you at 7:00pm.

James smiles.

Perfect.

[Romanoff]: Did some digging into her online.

Yeah, so did I.

[Romanoff]: Wear your dark purple suit and tie to dinner if you want to impress her. It brings out your eyes. She likes color.

He rolls his eyes. Natasha always bugs him about wearing nothing but black, blue, and grey.

I like color.

[Romanoff]: If I can be frank, Mr. Barnes, you dress like a funeral director who raided a Tom Ford boutique. It's charming, but a little intimidating.

Fine. I'll wear the purple suit.

Another text comes through.

[Romanoff]: She undersold you on that bouquet, by the way.

What?

Steve must have mentioned something to her about it. Natasha is a little nosy, but it works out well for James most of the time. Unless she uses it against him. They went out for drinks tonight while James went to check up on Suzy at Club Falcon. She's already doing great, and seems much happier.

[Romanoff]: I looked at her work online. She should have charged you double for that - maybe more.

She's underselling her own work?

[Romanoff]: I think so. When you negotiate price, pay her what she's worth, not what she offers you. I figured you didn't know much about flowers.

He can't help but laugh. He likes Natasha a lot. She's funny, sweet, and mouthy when she needs to be with him and some of his clients. She makes a hell of a cup of coffee, too. She's studying fashion design at night school, but he wants to hire her full time at the hotel and promote her. She's caught on to the business fast.

Natasha is smart, and her quick-wittedness could come in handy.

James hired her six months ago after his last secretary decided she wanted to move to Europe to find herself (i.e. fuck her way through a whole continent - James would never begrudge her that).

He rolls onto his side and taps out another message.

Watch the sass if you want those vacation days, Romanoff.

[Romanoff]: I'm just saying... You'll catch more flies with honey, Mr. Barnes. You seem to like her.

I'll keep the adage in mind. Thanks for taking care of that email, by the way.

[Romanoff]: You're welcome, Mr. Barnes. I'll see you tomorrow. Got the catering taken care of too.

You're a model employee. Do you have Dahlia's number?

[Romanoff]: Sent it to your email.

You're a gem. See you tomorrow.

James closes his texting app, sets his alarm for 6:00am, plugs his phone in, and rolls onto his back. He gets up at the same time every morning to run five miles and lift weights. He forces his eyes to close.