He was trying to wear her down. She knew this trick of his. She'd seen it played out several times before. Whether he'd been trying to wear a girl down to agree to come to his bed...or trying to wear down the board to try and get them to raise their fundings for his current project. The smooth, easy charm of his and that roguish smile. The way he could twist and play with words. It generally had just the right desired affect on whoever it was he was currently weaving his spell over.
Fortunately, Pepper had known him long enough to be wary of those smooth words...and she'd forced herself some time ago to build up a defense against them. To harden her heart and not allow him to weaken her resolve. Though that defense had only ever been used against him when he was trying to sweet talk his way out of a particularly boring meeting...never for anything like this.
"Salt will see me plenty when I am over at the house," she informed him calmly...then gave a small shrug and an empty laugh. "And pretending may not fix things but sometimes it helps to dull the pain...and right now, that's what I need. Just something to help deaden the pain until we can get back home and back to the way things have always been."