Not to be too cliched, but it really did feel like forever as he waited for an answer to that proposal...which never came. Which lead to a very erratic heartbeat in his chest. Oh God, she was about to start rambling and freak out like she always did when he got too close for comfort. But hadn't they been getting this close the entire time they'd been here? She'd let him touch her and she'd run her fingers through his hair while he napped. How much more intimate could they get?
Tony, for a moment, locked eyes with her and saw that hint of hurt that passed over them, but he couldn't define what that hurt was from, whether from his obvious betrayal of what they had built with another woman or that maybe she wished he'd never asked her this again.
Push your limit, Tony. It's what you're good at.
So he did. Tony leaned in this time, so close she could feel his breath as his eyes darted between hers and her lips, and he couldn't decide if she'd punch him if he so much as touched her. Might as well go for broke.
His lips brushed hers as Tony braced for whatever was going to come from Pepper's end. He prayed it wasn't a knee to the groin.