Pepper turned away from him fully now as he calmly threatened to call...(wait, what did he say her name was? Cameron. Yes, that was it)...Cameron up again and get her to come and 'scratch that itch'. (Who in the hell ever thought up that analogy anyways? Stupid analogy.)
She felt like he'd reached out and slapped her. Fair, she supposed, since she'd just done that to him. But one thing was certain about her relationship with Tony - they knew each others weaknesses...and neither one of them was afraid to occasionally fight dirty. They'd both hit below the belt when they needed to and feel completely justified in their actions. Perhaps it was a rather twisted relationship...but it was all she really had. And somehow, even when taking jabs at each other's lowest points, they always managed to make up in the end.
But there was something that troubled her - made her wonder if this time it might be different. If this time they might have finally reached that proverbial "last straw".
For a moment she couldn't bring herself to look back at him...but finally, as he began to talk again, she forced her body to turn in his direction.
It was her first mistake.
Meeting those eyes of his that now pried into her own, searching her thoughts and her emotions through those 'windows to the soul'. She wanted to look away from him...but couldn't. Because she was just as busy reading him as well. Behind the anger and the frustration and the anxiety...was there something else lurking in that tide of emotions that made those eyes of his so intense?
He was drawing closer and she caught her breath...but refused to show any kind of submission by backing down. She stood her ground, chin lifted upward in a confident manner that she didn't quite feel herself.
And then he said the absolute last thing she would have ever expected to come out of his mouth at this moment.
Tony Stark...asked her...to be his.
Perhaps not in so few words. But the implication was there nevertheless.
And despite the way her heartbeat had begun to speed up inside of her...Pepper suddenly dropped the cold facade away from her eyes and allowed him the briefest glimpse of the hurt that she felt in her heart.