I stood outside on the patio. I could see the sunset over the small mountain and it was a breathtaking site that warmed my heart. I lifted my wine glass to my lips and took a sip as I appreciated the unrelenting beauty before me.

"Do you always have to watch the sunset?" I heard a familiar voice ask me as I felt two strong arms wrap around my middle.

"Grant, I always either watch the sunset or the ceiling at this time, you should know that by now." I tried to maintain a stern voice but that was rather hard when he started pressing openmouthed kisses around my pulse point before dragging the sensitive flesh into his mouth.

I leaned my head back to give him better access and reached my hand up to tangle my fingers in his short thick hair. A small moan left my lips when he lightly bit down on the skin.

My stomach growled before we could take this any further. I heard Ward chuckle against my neck and I elbowed him lightly in his stomach. My own laugh escaped my lips as I laced our fingers together on my abdomen.

"We have work in Bruges. We'll get something to eat on the way." Ward said as he spun me around in his arms and gave me a quick peck on the lips.

When we left S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward took a job as a hit-man. With his reputation as a former specialist and a HYDRA assassin the pay was pretty nice. He'd get one or two jobs a month for a few million each and we would spend the rest of the time either lounging around the house or going out and doing something, "normal."

A somewhat normal thing I did was get my hair cut. I wanted to try something new and Ward supported my decisions to get bangs. I went to a stylist and they spent a good two hours getting the lengths right. It wasn't cheap but money wasn't exactly a problem anymore.

I still had cravings so more often than not I would go with Ward on the jobs and he would let me kill and feed on whoever he was sent to kill that day. I stopped passing out afterwards by the fourth or sixth feeding and now I can clean myself. I still let Ward do it because I like his hands running a cloth over my skin. Whenever I couldn't go with him on a job, I usually just found someone from the local prison and fed on them. Ward has on more than one occasion come home to a couple of bodies lying on the island in the kitchen.

"Skye, what happened?" Ward asked slowly. He knew I wasn't in any danger, but I guess he still didn't like surprises.

"I got hungry and you were working." I laughed at his bewildered expression. "Relax, they're from the prison up the road. One of them was a murderer and the other was a rapist. No one's going to miss them."

Ward let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll get the shovel."

"I'll make it up to you tonight!" I called out in as sultry a voice as I could manage.

"Hey, Skye." Ward snapped his fingers in front of my eyes to coax me out of my daydreaming.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Can you run support, or do I need to get you a fix?" Ward asked as he moved the hair that had fallen in front of my eyes.

"Well, I'd like a nice Italian dinner and so I shouldn't spoil my appetite." I laced my arms around his neck and laid my head against his chest.

Ward let out a light chuckle at that and let me go. He turned around and walked back into the house towards the staircase.

The house itself wasn't anything special, an average 3-2 in the Italian countryside, but it was beautiful, and more importantly, ours. S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't here to kick me out of it and HYDRA wasn't here to call him away.

I walked with Ward to the spare room closest to the hall bath. Inside was his entire arsenal. Snipers, pistols, shotguns, and others I didn't bother to learn the name of. He also had an assortment of knives that I found myself gravitating towards.

My favorite knife was what I liked to call "Beth." She was a medium-length blade with a serrated lower half. She made the men scream in agony before I fed on them. Ward always made sure to clean it while he was working on his guns and keep it sharp for me.

"You know she's a bitch to clean." I heard Ward say from behind me. He was taking his rifle apart and checking the pieces before prepping a couple magazines and a pistol. He usually carried his own knife but he preferred guns.

"Aw, but she looks so pretty when we go hunting." I replied. He'd clean it anyway.

"She's not the only one." Ward admonished as he turned his attention back to his baby. He loved me but he adored that rifle. Whenever he had an excuse to shoot it he would.

I remembered one time when I was watching the clouds roll by on the patio when I started hearing the dulled-down bang noise from the rifle in Ward's shooting range in the basement. I don't remember if I yelled at him about it before or after we fucked on the table though.

I heard a zipping sound behind me and I put the knife in its sheath. Ward snaked his arms around my middle and started kissing the side of my neck.

"Later, I promise you." I urged him to stop. If he didn't I knew that we would've wound up missing our flight.

"You're damn right." He smirked against my neck.

Ward took my hand in his and walked me to the SUV that sat in the driveway. I found he preferred trucks to cars which suited me just fine. My van had to be left behind in the states but that wasn't a big loss.

The drive to the airport was silent aside from the idle chatter that we would use to fill the air. He would tell me about the location in hopes that I wouldn't just walk in, stab the guy, and leave.

"Some corporate bigwig in an Armani suit with a trophy wife. They're usually a dime a dozen but I don't think he'll be too difficult to spot.

"The benefactor said that the target has a cell phone that runs off his own network, so if you can get a lock on that signal I'll take the shot." Ward explained as he pulled into an airport.

"I take it the benefactor is flying us out on his own dime?" I asked teasingly as I saw the luxurious jet laid out on the runway.

"He's a paranoia. He didn't want to bother trying to get my gear through customs." Ward said as he parked the SUV by the hangar.

I felt a small pang of nostalgia hit me as I stared at the jet.

The Bus usually parked at airports like this. I wondered what Fitzsimmons might have been doing now. It's been a couple years since I last saw them. Maybe they were better. Maybe they were still with May and Coulson.

The thought of Coulson made a small breath get lodged in my throat. Was he okay? Ward offered to look in on them but I always told him to not worry about it. They were better off without us and us them, but I still missed them some nights.

Ward opening my door brought me out of my thoughts. He offered me a small, warm smile, the one he saved exclusively for me. He took my hand in his and walked me over to the jet with his duffel slung over his shoulder.

I pressed myself against Ward's side and he let go of my hand to wrap his arm around my shoulders and let my head press against his chest. He ghosted his lips over my scalp and I felt all of my longing for the Team vanish.

The jet was amazing. Leather interior and more champagne then I've seen in any store, and this was Italy for Christ's sake! Ward took a seat near a wall table and started pulling out a couple of files from the drawer underneath.

"Do they want us drunk off our asses while we try to work?" I joked as I picked up a bottle and poured us a couple of glasses.

"I forgot to tell you, this job won't exactly be a regular paycheck. We get a few luxuries, kill the target, and then we go home, all at half price." Ward explained as I walked with our glasses and took a seat in his lap.

Ward wrapped his arm around my waist to keep me from spilling the champagne and I pressed his glass to his lips. After a few sips I replaced the glass with my mouth.

The kiss was soft but quickly grew heated. I put the glasses on the table, being careful to avoid the documents, and wrapped my arms around his neck. I teased his bottom lip with my tongue and felt his hand tighten around my waist.

"Mr. Ward, we are ready to depart. I hope I'm not interrupting." I groaned at the pilot's voice. I bury my face in the crook of Ward's neck to hide the embarrassing blush that I felt creeping up my neck to redden my face.

"Yes, Ma'am. What's our ETA?" Ward conversed while I breathed his scent in. I could feel his pulse pumping in his neck and I had to suppress the urge to sink my teeth into him. I wouldn't hurt him, but I wanted that flesh in my mouth.

"We should be there in three hours, Mr. Ward. Please, enjoy the amenities your employer has provided you." The pilot replied sweetly before taking her leave. I heard her heels clicking on the metallic floor in the middle of the carpeted lounge.

"Half-price?" I teased when I looked Ward in the eye again. He smiled impishly and pressed his lips to mine again before I abruptly stood from his lap.

I could feel the hunger creeping up on me. I looked into the cockpit and saw the pilot running through her pre-flight checks with her headset blocking out the sounds from the lounge.

"How important is the pilot to our, benefactor?" I asked as I kept eying her. Her blood was pumping delicately through her small frame.

"A dime a dozen actually. She's all yours once we land." Ward offered as he stood and pulled me flushed against him.

My arms wrapped around his neck automatically. I felt the power in his shoulders as he moved his arms to wrap around my lower back. His biceps pressed against my upper arms and I could feel myself going weak in the knees.

The first few months after leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. I saw Ward throw himself into his training ten times harder than when we were on the Bus. Pushups, pull ups, and sit ups at first but I saw it graduate into more intensive weight training mixed in with his already brutal training sessions.

It translated into his jobs when at first Ward was gone for a week or two at a time because he just didn't have the conditioning. In a few weeks' time he started only being gone for a maximum of five days depending on where the job was.

The conditioning also translated straight to the more fun stuff and that was why I never asked him to slow down. He would come back from a job and we would fuck on every surface in the house like a couple of animals. My personal favorite was the railing on the patio. The feel of the sun beating down on my sweat-slicked skin while Ward pounded into me sent me to new heights of pleasure.

I laid my head against his chest and heard the soft thudding of his heartbeat. Two years later and its monotonous tone still lulled me to a deep sleep. I started slumping against his frame and I felt Ward move his hands under my knees to pick me up.

I buried my head in his shoulder. The mood was gone but I still wanted to lay with him. Ward walked us over to the small couch by the wine rack and laid down on his back. I sprawled myself over his chest. His arms wrapped around my back and pressed me into his front. Ward pressed a small kiss to the crown of my head before I felt myself drifting off.

When the plane landed Ward made sure to tip the pilot. We walked over to the car the benefactor had arranged for us and took off.

I flopped my boots on the dashboard and laid my head back against the seat so I could easily take in the sights. The buildings were beautiful and reminded me of old time cottages I would see in pictures in the orphanage.

Ward pulled into a hotel drive thru and stepped out of the vehicle. I winked at him and stretched out more comfortably along the interior of the car.

While Ward was checking us in I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket. I flipped through some blog sites checking the regular newsfeeds in the area. The target apparently liked to frequent a couple of pubs and something I assumed was the Belgian equivalent of an American nightclub.

Ward got back in the card and gave me quick kiss on the lips before he handed me my room key.

He pulled the vehicle to a parking spot and started shuffling two of the three duffels onto his shoulders while I grabbed the third. We walked through the lobby and into the elevator. Ward pressed the button for our floor and we rode in silence.

"There's not any chance I could talk you into pressing the emergency stop and fucking me against the wall is there?" I suggested while leaning against said wall.

"Not while we're on the clock, check back with me when we're leaving." Ward replied.

He winked at me and I felt like a love struck teenager for the umpteenth time with him. The elevator dinged and we walked the short distance to our room.

It was a one bed suite complete with a vanity outside the bathroom. It was a simple room, but I liked it. The bed was a king and I looked forward to a night with Ward in it.

Ward sat the duffel bags on the floor against the wall on the left side of the bed. I was distracted taking in the view of the Bruges street and didn't notice Ward snaking his arm around my waist until he pulled me down on the bed with him.

A shriek left my throat when I fell on the soft mattress. Ward rose above me and encased me between him and the mattress. He lowered himself down and kissed me hungrily.

"Didn't you say we were on the clock?" I teased him breathlessly. He nipped at my jaw with blunt teeth before ravishing my neck for a moment. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I wrapped my legs around his waist when I felt a painful tug in my core.

Ward raised his mouth to my ear and his hot breath on my skin made my blood boil in my veins.

"I didn't feel like fucking against a wall. I wanted to take my time." Ward whispered huskily into my ear and my hips thrust against his at the anticipation of what he had planned.

Ward brought his mouth back to mine and I moaned loudly into his when I felt his calloused fingers rub against my breast.

I grabbed at his hair but Ward took hold of my wrists and lifted them above my head. He took both of my wrists in one hand and reached into his back pocket without moving his lips from mine. Our tongues tangled around each other in an attempt to dominate the other.

I felt something soft tugging at my wrists instead of Ward's rough hands. I broke the kiss and raised my eyes to see that my wrists had been tied to the headboard in a silk strap.

I looked at Ward in mock shock and he was wearing the biggest shit eating grin I had ever seen on his face as he stripped off his shirt.

The dick. He was deliberately taking it slow stripping out of his clothes as I sit there and pant like a madwoman. When he pops the button on his pants I feel my mouth go dry. He shucks off his jeans and underwear and I get a sight of his erection.

My mouth was watering profusely at the sight and I struggled against my restraints, the headboard was striking the wall repeatedly probably annoying the neighbors but I didn't give a fuck. This man was a sight to behold and my body was burning with the need to touch him.

Ward started undressing me slowly. He unzipped my boots and pulled them and my socks off one at a time making sure to kiss my ankles. He popped the button on my jeans and pulled them down my legs kissing the expanse of my legs as they became visible to him. He stroked me through my panties and my felt more than heard the moan I released due to the blood thundering in my ears.

The bastard left my underwear for later.

The gentleness Ward had for undressing was gone when he got to my shirt. His muscles contracted as he ripped the fabric from my body with a roughness that made a wet spot appear in the middle of the bed.

He slung the ruined shirt across the room and popped the clasp on my bra. He removed the undergarment and flung it against the far wall with a resounding clank.

Ward took a stiff nipple in his mouth and started twirling his tongue around it and teething it. He rolled my other nipple between his fingers and I pulled against my bindings with a renewed vigor.

"So impatient. Just enjoy it." Ward breathed against my skin as he started kissing a trail down my abdomen. He nipped at the skin above my center and I cried out into the ceiling. There was foreplay and then there was torture.

Ward didn't bother trying to save my underwear. He hooked a strap between my fingers and ripped them off my body. He plunged his tongue into my folds and I threw my head against the headboard.

Ward was savage against my core and I was moaning and screaming my appreciations to the air. He added my fingers to the mix and I started riding them. When my climax hit I screamed with abandon and thrust myself against his fingers as hard as I could.

I panted and tried to relax my heart. Ward raised himself back above me and kissed me tenderly. I didn't want tender when I bit his lower lip and started ravaging what little of his jawline I could with my teeth.

He started rubbing the nub of his erection against my clit and I lost all form of coherent thought.

"Yes, yes, yes, fucking do it already," I begged him. Ward wouldn't be swayed however and took a leisurely pace pushing himself inside me.

He let out a low groan that made my flushed skin heat up and I pushed the heels of my feet into his ass and pushed him deeper inside me.

Ward got the hint and started thrusting into me with fervor. I tightened my legs around his waist and made his chest pull flush against mine. He adjusted his angle where his pubic bone started striking against my clit and I threw my head back in a breathless gasp.

Ward buried his face in the crook of my neck, nipping at the tender flesh with blunt teeth. The contact allowed me to feel the sweat flowing through his skin. He wasn't going to last much longer and neither was I.

Ward kissed me to try and lower the volume of my screams when my second orgasm rippled through me in waves of pleasure, but all he got was a split lip.

Ward finally came and stilled above me as a low growl echoed from the back of his throat. He slumped over me and the warmth radiating off of him was heavenly.

My eyes shut in exhaustion and I felt Ward undo the silk tie freeing my hands. He wrapped his arms around me and rolled over onto his back. My head rested above his racing heart and I planted a kiss on the sweaty skin above it.

"You know that might've been better against the wall." I teased as my fingers slithered across his abdomen.

Ward chuckled and carded his fingers through my hair. "Next time," Ward promised.

"You're damn right." I said as I grabbed the sheets on the bed and pulled them over our bodies.

Ward turned onto his side and I snuggled into his arms pressing my forehead against his firm chest. Sleep claimed me quickly. The last thing I remembered before slipping to dream was Ward's lips brushing against my forehead.

My morning was met with sunlight blaring through the thin curtains of the hotel room. The light hit my bare back and my skin started heating.

I made a noise of discomfort and pressed myself against Ward's front while pulling the covers over my head. The morning sun could go fuck itself.

"Skye, time to get up sweetheart." Ward's soft voice echoed in my ears.

"I'm on vacation," I mumbled sleepily as I buried myself in the crook of his chest and left arm.

"Well maybe you are but I have job today." Ward said as he untangled himself from me and went to the bathroom.

"Right, I'm running tech support." I remembered.

"If you don't mind." Ward called from the bathroom. I walked in behind him to see him running a razor over his stubble. The stubble was hot but if he went too long it turned into a full beard and while it felt nice between my legs didn't do those Adonis-like cheekbones justice.

"So what's the plan?" I asked sweetly as I hugged his side and pressed my head against his bicep.

"Locate the target through his cell network and take the shot at my earliest convenience. The money will be wired through the accounts you made and we'll be in the air by dinner." Ward spoke methodically.

I built a system of fake bank accounts to wire the money to a treasury presence I created on the internet. To the rest of the world, it was a bank account in the Cayman's, but in reality it was actually just a bank account in Manchester under an alias Ward came up with. Mr. Adam Reeves was a corporate millionaire that spent his days in his penthouse apartment running everything through his private servers.

Ward took me to New York shortly after the alias was sent up. We spent three days in that apartment making sure it was properly, "lived in" before heading back to Italy.

Ward finished shaving and stepped into the shower while I combed a few tangles out of my hair and made sure my wrists didn't have any lasting marks from the silk tie. Ward wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt me but I would get violent when he went down on me.

I stepped into the shower behind him and started pressing open mouth kisses to Ward's shoulder blades. He turned around and cupped my ass in his hands. He dipped his head to mine to ignite a steamy kiss and I felt his hands slide down my legs to the back of my thighs.

He lifted me and I wrapped my legs back around his waist and he pressed me against the wall.

"So this is what it takes to get sex against a wall?" I tease as I wrapped my hands around his neck.

"Well I was hoping to shower, but I guess I can multitask." Ward smirked and started nibbling on my pulse point.

"I think you can." I moaned as he started working me over again.

"Skye, do you have the location?" Ward asked in my earpiece.

"Third floor balcony. Wait two minutes for him to be alone and take the shot." I spoke quietly masking pressing the talk button on my earpiece as adjusting my hair.

The upstairs lobby was empty. I expected the target to be suspicious of what I was doing here but he just kept walking. His eye candy must've been more distracting than I thought. Big boobs and a nice ass sure, but her idiocy made the body useless.

Ward taught me Italian shortly after we moved there and from then on he's been teaching me all six languages he knew. French was the easiest to learn after Italian for me and as such I understood what the idiot brunette was saying.

I sipped on my champagne. Bellhops walked around with trays of it on all floors and I indulged in a little afternoon drinking.

The target walked out onto the balcony with his eye candy dangling on his arm hanging on every word he said.

"You got the hooker?" Ward asked.

"Yeah, any chance we could kill her later though, maybe after a three way, she's really hot." I joked with him.

"I don't she'll be in the mood after I put a bullet in her client." Ward chuckled.

"On three?" I grasped the hilt of Beth under the cut of my dress and unclipped the hook.

"One," Ward breathed as I stood against the wall next to the balcony out of the hooker's eyesight.

"Two," The hooker laughed animatedly at the target's joke.

"Three." Ward fired the shot and the bullet wisped silently through the air striking the target dead center in the forehead.

I moved to the hooker quickly and plunged Beth into the slut's jugular before she could scream. Her blood coated down my arms and I felt that familiar warmth that came with a fresh kill.

"No time to feed right now Skye, the authorities will be there any minute. Do you need any help getting out?" Ward's voice forced me to remove Beth from the corpse's neck.

"No," I pouted. The bitch probably had a tasty heart too! A chest that big she had too.

I walked away and sidestepped into a bathroom. I washed the blood off and missed the warmth it made me feel. I dried my hands and placed Beth back in her sheath before making a hasty exit out of the hotel.

On the plane I erased all footage from the security cameras for the past week from both hotels. Once that was done I shut down the computer and sprawled across the couch laying my head in Ward's lap.

He smiled softly at me and the low lights of the plane made the dark brown of his eyes shine with an amber glow. He plucked a grape off the vine and placed at my lips where I sucked it out of his fingers and swallowed.

His other hand was currently running down the lengths of my legs sending shivers up my spine. I was still wearing the dress from the hotel. It was of the same design as the one I wore in Malta but was deep red instead of fuchsia.

"I love you." Ward spoke softly and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"I love you too." I spoke earnestly as I lifted my arm up behind his neck and pulled his head down to kiss him softly.

Best decision I ever made.