Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 96: Snow Angels On The Beach

July 28, 2024

Katya's eyes swiftly ran over the Italian words in front of her, absorbing the awfully predictable storyline of this novel full of clichés she'd bought at the small supermarket downtown. Some story about a woman who went back to her hometown and got caught up in an affair with a married man. Incredibly boring. It had been more surprising to find out how easily reading in a foreign language still came to her.

There was something about Italian which she really liked. Like French, it sounded classical, elegant. Sexy, as Natasha told her yesterday. And maybe that was true, maybe Italian was a sexy language. Nevertheless, she enjoyed it. Growing up a spy had some pros at least.

A celebratory yell pierced the air, interrupting her reading mid-sentence. Katya slightly lowered her book to peer over the edge, smiling at the sight of Maya standing hips-deep in the clear blue sea, a brightly colored volleyball raised above her head like a trophy. She and Sofia had been passing it back and forth across a reasonable distance, trying not to let it hit the water. How they agreed on those rules without being able to communicate verbally, Katya wasn't sure, but she'd seen a whole lot of gesturing between them.

About two hours ago, after meeting up with Sofia and her mom at the adorable café five minutes down the beach, they came back to their private strip of sand, mostly for safety purposes, but also so they didn't have to deal with the tourist crowds. Katya may feel comfortable in her skin most days, but she didn't like being nearly naked for everyone to see.

Luckily, the two girls went along great. So much so that Sofia's mom took her leave after ensuring her daughter would be safe with them. That decision may or may not have been based on the fact that she saw the Avengers logo on their beach bag which used to be an old workbag of Clint's that they stole. She must have suddenly recognized them and what they used to do.

Sofia didn't seem to mind. She'd brought her own bag full of tools to build a sandcastle, and goggles. Katya nearly had a heart attack the first time she looked over and didn't see the girls anymore, thinking they drowned and got pulled under by the sea. Until they popped up from the water with huge smiles, pointing to whatever fish they had just seen as they pulled the goggles away from their eyes.

Natasha almost had to perform CPR on her.

Katya was just watching the two play when a body blocked her view on the sea. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly followed the toned stomach up to the face connected to this very attractive body. As soon as their eyes met, Natasha smiled her even more attractive smirk, radiating confidence as she handed over the ice-cold smoothie Katya had asked for.

"Your ordered drink."

"Why, thank you, kind servant," Katya mused, moving the book to one hand and accepting the cold glass with the other, noting the slice of orange on the rim.

Natasha playfully winked at her, and Katya returned to her book, thinking the redhead would reclaim her place beside her and pick up her own book. But, as she read, she saw from the corner of her eye that Natasha instead pulled her camera out of its protective bag, shoved a polaroid in it, and sneakily aimed the lens at her. She made sure to get a good angle for it as well, stepping to the side and getting on her knee in the sand.

Instead of doing anything about it or saying anything, Katya simply ignored it, allowing her to shoot a perfect candid picture. Luckily, she could depend on her acting skills and the sunglasses on her nose to hide her smile. Having her picture taken was not a favorite of hers, and she got flustered and awkward every time someone thought she was worth taking a random photo of.

When the familiar click sounded, she immediately placed her book and drink down and made grabby hands for the polaroid. "Lemme see." With a lazy grin, Natasha handed it over, joining her side as they waited for it to develop. To Katya's surprise, she didn't hate it. Her boobs looked good in this bikini. "Not too bad."