Pepper watched him carefully as he moved in closer towards her. She'd asked him to leave...was she really foolish enough to think he might just do that? Well, apparently so. She started to take a step back away from him as he moved forward, but then forced her body to remain still. She wasn't backing down to him. Not now. Not when she needed for him to understand the dire seriousness of her words and their situation. She wasn't just one of "his girls" that he could toy around with. She would never allow herself to become the trash that simply needed to be taken out.
She'd been preparing herself for just about anything. For his anger...or his puppy-eyes...or his snide comments.
But he just seemed full of surprises tonight...and she was fairly sure that her heart almost burst inside of her when his lips faintly brushed her own.
Her eyes fluttered closed and her breath caught in her throat. She wanted so badly to reach out her hands. To run her fingers roughly back through that thick, dark hair of his and pull him in to her. She wanted to kiss him with all of the pain and heartache and despair that she had built up within her.
...but she couldn't.
Instead, she could only pull her head back and turn away from him.
She'd imagined their first kiss in so very many ways. But not like this. Never like this. When he would use that kiss as a way to manipulate her. Perhaps as a way to calm her emotions or distract her.
No. Not like this.
Reaching upwards, she pressed her hands against his chest and moved him away from her...though her fingers wound up curling their way into the front of his shirt.
"Tony...don't," she breathed, looking up at him with a serious glimmer in her otherwise broken gaze. "I can't do this. Not after...what happened. I can't just become one of your girls that you're looking to have a fling with and then cast aside. I can't. Because...as much as I really do hate you right now...I can't make it without you."