He could see it flaring in her cheeks, something he'd set her off with, something he was missing. He watched it settle on her, watched her form the smile that wasn't really a smile, watched her recede back into herself. It broke his heart a little, to watch that, but this, at least, was a heartbreak he was used to.
"Yeah well, I like you an awful lot, so you're stuck with me and my annoying Barton habits," he said lightly. He got up from the table for a moment, letting his fingers rest on her shoulder for a second as he smiled down at her. Then he stepped back to the kitchen to refill his water glass. "You want dessert after this?" he asked, when he returned. "I got cake and some kind of gelato something."