Pepper laughed as the little kitten showed off its fierce, man-eating skills by taking a nip at Tony's hand, the fur on its back rising as it tried to fluff itself out even further than it already was. She breathed a soft "good girl" into the little creature's perked ears as Tony deposited it on her laugh...and then gave him a triumphant smirk when the animal simply stared at him and his command to attack her. Despite her initial reaction to the sudden presence of a wee thing in their household, Pepper could already tell that she and Salt were going to become rather close friends. She was a spirited little thing, that was for certain. She could already see a great deal of mischief taking place between the two of them.
Pepper blinked and looked up at Tony as he referred to her as "Mommy" and a little smile crept across her lips as she looked down at their newly appointed 'child'.
Perhaps it was that title that made her mind conjure up another mental image as Tony playfully insisted that she let him rub her stomach. For some reason her thoughts flashed to...well, to a time that could only ever come within her dreams and imagination. A time when she'd be laying back against the couch, her stomach with the tender swell of a woman in her early months of pregnancy. She imagined what it would be like to look up and see Tony's smiling face as he knelt down next to her. Love in those impossibly dark eyes of his. Tenderness. A kind of pride as he reached his hand beneath the hem of her shirt and softly began to run his fingertips across her belly...wherein rested a new life that was created by the joining of their love.
Woah!
Blinking her eyes quickly, Pepper pulled herself from that reverie as fast as she could...blushing when she realized she'd been looking at him closely.
Where the hell had that come from?
Forcing a calm smirk to her face, Pepper looked up at Tony as Salt began to bat at a curled lock of her hair. "A belly rub, Mr. Stark? Well, I'll have to file that back away with the rest of the pointless information that I know about you. Right up there with your particular kink for a strong, dominating woman and the fact that you turn a grand total of four times in your bed before being able to get comfortable."