"It's not okay," she answered, leaving it purposely vague as to whether she was referring to her behavior, or his, when in fact, she meant both. A flicker of humor crossed her face at the mention of Dandridge. "Bloodsucking spider," she muttered in a low voice, with a matching smirk. "I was waiting for her to leap across the table, sprouting claws aimed for my throat."
Giving him a look that made it clear she thought his learning to keep his hands to himself would be a miracle, she got to her feet just after him, fiddling with a few things to stall. There were a million things Pepper wanted to say and ask on the tip of her tongue, but whether or not she managed to ask them, and no matter how hurt she was, just talking with Tony again made her feel better than she had in ages.
She hadn't realized quite how much she ached with missing him. The implications knotted her stomach with anxiety.
With a very indelicate snort, Pepper looked sideways at Tony, an incredulous expression on her face. "You know better than to believe that that paparazzi claptrap, Anthony Stark," she teased softly. "They saw us getting off the jet, and learned about the favor I did in reopening the inquiry into his medical license. They forgot to take into account that I'm mortal, without power, and that he'd crush me into a sticky paste the first time he-"
She broke off with a blush, sucking her lower lip into her mouth.
Eyes on her Blackberry, Pepper added, in a voice that was trying for humor, but came out a little heavier with the weight of something significant she was loathe to recognize, let alone put name to, "Besides - you should remember my last relationship very well." She turned to face him, a smile ghosting her lips. "He's the one who tried to storm your property to challenge you to a fight, simply because he couldn't understand your penchant for calling me in to work at three a.m. to help you find a mysteriously vanished spanner, or to buy you lube." An eyebrow quirked. "Eight years ago."