DISCLAIMER:

I do not own, nor do I profit from, the Iron Man Trilogy, the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of the characters therein. They are simply used in the following story for my own entertainment. No copyright infringement intended.

This one goes out to my loyal readers who follow this story and review each chapter. I can't thank you enough for your support. I hope you like this one as much and the previous chapters! And don't worry, we still have quite a ways to go yet

Please excuse any typos and/or grammatical errors as I do not write with a beta.

xXxXxXx

-MONDAY-

Pepper awoke from the sting of her shoulders against the sheets. She tossed and turned on what felt like pins and needles and attempted to fall back asleep but couldn't find any comfort.

Adding to said discomfort was this unrelenting feeling of disappointment and it simply wouldn't allow her mind any rest. She had not seen Tony for the remainder of the night like he had promised when he'd abruptly left her in the pool the day before.

He'd gone out in his Iron Man suit and hadn't returned by midnight when she retreated up to bed. So, for dinner she helped herself to some fruit that had been left in the refrigerator, watched a movie by herself and went up to bed.

On top of her confusion and distress, all of the sunscreen she'd used when laying out in the sun had apparently washed off when Tony tossed her in the pool, and she had gotten a considerable sun burn which was now the main culprit in keeping her awake.

Pepper rolled onto her back with a huff, then winced immediately. She cursed at herself under her breath as she forced herself into a sitting position on the bed. The skin on her belly felt like it was crunching under the movement and her shoulders felt tight. Looking at the clock she realized it was still early.

Tony would be flying out to New York for that board meeting later today.

She felt a pout form on her lips as she stared out the window. She didn't want Tony to leave, and was now wishing she had fought a little harder for the board to move their meeting to another date so that he could stay in Malibu to keep her company the next couple of days.

That was assuming he wouldn't randomly up and leave her like he had yesterday.

Her pout deepened.

She still hadn't figured out what had caused him to leave so abruptly the way he had. She thought they had been having fun, playing like teenagers in the water until he suddenly left her there alone without so much as a fake excuse as to why he had to leave. Only that he had to leave.

She thought back to that night when they had danced, and about how he had left her there on that balcony all by herself. It was obvious to both of them that she had wanted to kiss him. She had felt very much then like she does now; rejected, alone, unwanted. It was after that night when her walls had gone back up. Not necessarily to the extent they had been before his disappearance, but enough that she wasn't pursuing him in the least bit.

She let her guard back down these last few days, hoping that maybe he would make some sort of move, and in a way he had. In other ways he was still shutting her out.

She didn't have the slightest clue what she was supposed to do about any of it.

Sighing in defeat she got herself up out of bed, her face twisted in pain as her skin screamed at her for hydration and relief, and made her way into her bathroom.

She let out a dry laugh when she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the lovely shade of tomato she had turned as a result of her sun-day. Resolving to find some sort of relief she began to look through all the drawers and cabinets, thrilled when she found a large bottle of aloe lotion hidden in the back behind the extra mouthwash and toilet paper.

Carefully she peeled her t-shirt off, noting the way it left crease marks on her over-sensitive flesh, and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked ridiculous, two perfect white triangles signaling like headlights right where her boobs had been shielded, while the rest of her blared a nausea-inducing shade of pink. Even her signature freckles had disappeared in the redness.

She turned and looked over her shoulder at her back, hissing through her teeth when she realized the thin strap of her bikini top hadn't even left a mark it was so thin. She didn't even have that tiny sliver of comfort on her back.

She was going to need help getting the aloe on her back, that, she was sure of. She bent back down and picked up her discarded shirt, pressing is against her front and using her upper arms to hold it in place as she grabbed the bottle of lotion and padded her way out of her room and across the hall.

Pepper bit her lip and rapped her knuckles against Tony's bedroom door lightly. Probably too lightly, and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for doing that on purpose. "Tony?" she called out softly. "Are you awake?"

She waited a full ten seconds for a response but got none, so she carefully pushed the door open and poked her head in. She let her eyes adjust to the dimmed light, and the sight before her made her tingle and her mouth water all at the same time.

Before her lay Tony Stark – her boss of nearly nine years – sprawled on his back in his bed with only a thin sheet covering him. And really, it was leaving nothing to the imagination as it was barely covering his lower half. It was low enough that Pepper could see his hip bones, the fine trail of dark hair that began just below is navel and worked its way down under the sheet, and the swell of his butt just before the rest of him disappeared under the soft fabric.

She felt a heat wave wash over her body – and not from the sunburn.

Her eyes traveled upwards away from his shielded man-parts, taking in his tight abdomen and appreciating his man curves. He had definitely been keeping himself healthy since his return. His pectoral muscles protruded slightly, and she found herself mesmerized by the soft way his chest rose and fell with his breaths.

His right arm was tossed on the pillow above his head while the left was splayed out on the empty mattress beside him. His head was turned away from her, his features relaxed in his sleep as the sliver of light from the draped window made his skin glow along with his arc reactor.

He was magnificent.

She felt a strong urge to slip into bed next to him and lay her head in the crook of his shoulder. She felt her own breathing becoming more labored as she thought about it; about what it would feel like to place a soft kiss against his neck as she wrapped her leg over the top of him, feeling his-

"You know," Tony's sleep-laced voice boomed and Pepper jumped, gasping lightly and immediately cursing herself for making noise.

She looked at him with wide eyes. He hadn't moved a muscle. Was she hearing things or was he-

"If you wanted to ogle me in my sleep you could have just joined me." Tony stretched both arms above his head before placing his hands behind his head and turning to smile sleepily at her. "Then again, if you had joined me the last thing I would have been thinking about is sleeping."

She couldn't get her brain to function at a high enough level to respond to his overly suggestive comment, though it did make her blush. His eyes grew wide as he realized what she was wearing…

…or not wearing, as it were.

"Pepper, what are you-"

"Before you get any wrong ideas," Pepper said as she made sure the shirt was still securely pinned to her front, hiding her chest from him. She wasn't sure if her face was cherry red or white as a ghost. Either way, she had been caught and she was absolutely mortified.

"Are you naked?" he asked, ignoring her as he sat up, pulling the sheet which had been barely covering his stiffening manhood and bunching it up so that she would, hopefully, not notice the effect her presence and current state of undress was having on him.

"Not naked. Well not completely… I need your help," she admitted, her eyes betraying the bashfulness that her cheeks couldn't convey because they were already so red from the sun. She held the bottle of aloe lotion out in front of her.

Tony blinked a few times as he registered what she asking of him and swung his legs over the side of his bed, careful to keep the sheet wrapped around his lower half. He cleared his throat and motioned for her to come closer and she did, tentatively at first before she too swallowed hard and handed him the bottle.

He rotated his wrist as indication for her to turn around and she complied. He had to refrain from gasping out oud when he saw her exposed back and just how red it was from the sun. "Jesus, Pep…" It was a miracle she had slept through the night like that.

Tony allowed his eyes to roam the expanse of her bare back for a moment, appreciating the lines and curves of her shoulder blades and the dip along her spine. She was long, and smooth, and his fingers itched to touch her for reasons other than this lotion in his hand.

"Tony?" she asked over her shoulder when he kept her waiting longer than necessary.

"Sorry," he murmured as he carefully reached out for her hips and pulled her backwards to be closer to him. "I don't want to hurt you, Pep. Where do you want me to start?"

You could start by pinning me to that mattress and having your way with me…

Pepper looked down and saw that he had pulled her in close. So close that his legs and feet were positioned right outside her own. She closed her eyes and willed away all the naughty images that were flooding her mind.

"It doesn't matter. I hurt all over. Just…" she looked at him over her shoulder again. "Please…"

Tony took a dee breath to calm himself and gently pulled her down to sit on the sliver of mattress that was left between his legs, pleased and surprised when she didn't argue or resist. Her ass was tucked in the space before his groin, and she instinctively leaned forward to give him a better vantage point.

God, the things he could do to her…

He carefully squeezed a healthy line of lotion across her shoulders, gritting his teeth at the way she gasped from the cool substance against her skin. Did she have to make those noises when he was about to be running his hands all over her bare skin?

Carefully he began to smooth out the aloe across the angriest looking parts of her skin, noting the way she was extremely tense under his hands. He did his best not to rub too hard, and he knew that at least part of her stiffness was because it did hurt her to sit there.

"Sorry my hands are rough," he said. "I'm not the best person to be doing this."

"No," she whimpered. "Your hands are fine."

Her eyes fluttered shut as she let his hands massage her, his fingers coming dangerously close to the sides of her breasts as he worked the aloe in over her rib cage and oblique's. She was tempted to lift her arms, drop the shirt, and let him grab hold of her when he shifted his hands back up to her shoulders.

Tony carefully moved her hair aside to expose the back of her neck as he began to message her, all the while rubbing the lotion in evenly and making sure he didn't miss an inch of her. She let out a little moan and Tony felt his cock twitch beneath the sheet that was separating them. He wanted nothing more than to lift her up and impale her down on himself, feel her squeezing all around him and milking him with her warm wet center.

Sitting here was becoming torture, especially because he knew he would have to be away from her for the next two days, at least.

His hands moved back down to her lower back and he gave her hips a light squeeze, committing to memory what it felt like so he could use it later on when he was alone in his shower again.

Pepper shifted her hips slightly and she could feel the sheet bunched around him pushing at her backside. He was so close to her and yet too far away. She seriously contemplated turning around and straddling him, letting him rub the lotion over her front as well even though she was completely capable of doing so herself.

Tony moved his hands back up, rubbing small circles along her spine with the pads of his thumbs, noting how much less tense she was now. He wondered if he was just good at this sort of thing or if maybe she was just that relaxed around him now. He really hoped it was both.

He finished by rubbing her upper arms and clearing his throat again. "You're all set, Potts. Good as a ripe vine tomato."

Pepper couldn't help but laugh as she remained in place, certain that he couldn't see the front of her and pulled her shirt back on.

He did catch a glimpse of some side boob, but he would keep that to himself. Also for the shower.

Pepper stood, on what appeared to be wobbly legs and turned to face him again. The tension in the room was thick, both of them felt it. Peppers smile faded slightly as she looked at him, sitting on the edge of his bed, the sheet wadded up around his waist as he sat there, staring at her body.

"Thank you, Tony," she said, feeling breathless as she absorbed him and his appearance in. He was positively edible looking; hair mussed, chest naked and glowing; his bare legs and feet hanging out from under the sheet…

"You're welcome," he said, his intense stare not faltering.

She felt her heart begin to flutter. The way he was looking at her was unnerving her.

"I don't know what I'll do without you while you're gone these next few days," she smiled coyly. "Terrible timing on my part. The sunburn, I mean."

Tony wanted to smile back at her playfulness but he was too damn turned on to think straight. Instead he stood up, holding his sheet in place as he stepped up to her once again, licking his lips and not letting go of her gaze.

"Come with me to New York. You can shop and go out and do lots of fun stuff while I take that meeting."

Her smile was gone from her lips but he could see it still in her eyes.

"That would be inappropriate," she said as she took one step back.

He stepped forward and looked straight into her. "I don't care. Come with me."

Peppers heart was hammering in her chest now. What was the use of pushing back when really all she wanted to do was say yes? So she did.

"Okay."

xXxXxXx

Pepper watched, almost numbly, as Tony disembarked his private jet and stepped down onto the tarmac. He immediately turned and held out a hand for her, helping her as she descended the steps and joined him on the ground. She had agreed to fly with him to New York and spend the two or more days with him while he was there for the board meeting.

Not that it had taken any convincing at all.

She pretended it was because she had nothing better to do, with her apartment being in the renovation process and all, and also because she didn't have anyone else who could help her put aloe on her back and the last thing she wanted to do was peel from having neglected her skin.

She knew the real reason was because she just wanted to be near him, around him, with him.

They walked in comfortable silence to the car that was waiting for them. She was relieved that Happy had stayed back in Malibu. That would have forced explanations that right now she just didn't have. This was better, because this man was hired for these few days and that was it. He didn't know who she was and if she steered clear of any work related function she wouldn't have to explain her presence.

Not that it would have been difficult. She is his PA after all, and most people didn't know she was technically on vacation. She supposed if she saw anyone out she would just pretend like she wasn't, and no one would bat an eye.

Over the course of the plane ride she and Tony has fallen back into their usual comfortableness with each other. The only moment she got snippy with him was when he had taken forever in the shower and she knew the plane was waiting for them.

After that they had just resumed normal comfortable conversation and there was no further mention of the morning favor he had paid her.

She had been, however, the brunt of many of his quips for the day, being she was so red. If she was compared to a tomato, lobster, or a fire engine one more time she was going to hurl her shoe at his head. Lucky for him, he seemed to know his limits, though, and he had stopped himself.

It wasn't until they arrived at the hotel that Pepper stopped and thought about what they were doing. Tony never brought her to his one-off board meetings, so she usually let him go to New York or wherever on his own. She booked him a suite with a single bed.

She dropped her bags to the floor in dramatic fashion as they stepped inside and saw the large king bed looming before them. She quickly pulled her blackberry out of her purse and began tapping away. "We have to change this…"

Tony reached a hand out and gently covered her blackberry, forcing her eyes to meet his.

"Don't you think the people in accounting will find it strange that I would suddenly change my reservation from a one bed to a two? And that you were the one to make the change? …while on vacation?"

Pepper stared at him for a long moment, knowing full well he was right but trying to think of a solution regardless. She couldn't just invite herself into his bed… but she also knew that sleeping on the couch in the suite would not help her tender flesh to feel any better.

Tony pulled his hand away and smiled at her. "Come on, Pep. How long have we known each other? I think we can be adults and share a bed for one night. Unless you're that uncomfortable with it, then I'll take the couch."

Pepper was touched by his comment and his offer, but knew she would not force him to take the couch. He was the one who had to work in the morning not her…

She chewed her lip for a moment, staring at the bed as Tony made his way over to the mini bar and poured himself a drink.

"No, you're right. We're both adults here. We can share the bed," she nodded, as if needing to reassure herself of that fact.

Tony offered her a sip of his drink which she accepted, making a face immediately upon tasting the dark brown liquid and handing it back to him. He smiled warmly at her for a second then reverted right back to his usual comic self.

"Alright good. We have an agreement," he said as he turned and jumped on the bed, laying in a position that made her giggle as he put himself on display. "But if you take advantage of me, Miss Potts,' we may have to reconsider your contract with SI. Stay strong. I know you can do it."

Pepper lifted her leg, slipped off her shoe and hurled it at him, all the while smiling.

"Hey hey!" he scolded as he ducked out of the way, watching as it landed on the pillow at the right side of the bed. "Ah, that's your side. You get the stinky shoe pillow."

"My feet do not stink," Pepper laughed and put her hands on her hips. "What do you want for dinner? I'm starved."

Tony popped out of the bed and looked out the window at the city lights. With the time zone change they lost a few hours so it was later here. It was already getting dark and he knew he would have to force himself to fall asleep early if he was going to make it to his meeting on time.

That being said, he certainly wasn't going to decline any chance to spend time with Pepper if she was willing.

"We could order room service or walk a few blocks and see what looks good?"

Pepper nodded her head at him and moved to grab her jean jacket. "That sounds fun, let's do that."

Tony nodded and downed the last of his drink like a shot, walking over to where Pepper was checking herself in the mirror.

She was casual, more casual than he was used to seeing her. There was a lot of that this week, he supposed. First the work out gear, then her sleepwear, her excuse for a bikini and now this; simple black yoga leggings, a white tee and jean jacket. Her hair was down in beach waves and she had just the slightest amount of eye makeup on. Despite all the other states of her dress that included much less clothing, he found this to be his favorite.

This is Pepper, he thought. When she was out running errands or just sitting at home on a Saturday, this is what she looked like, and he found that he wanted to see her like this all the time.

If she would let him.

xXxXxXx

Pepper sighed as she tossed her hot dog wrapper into a nearby trach can. "That was amazing," she smiled. "Just what I needed," she added as she rubbed he belly in satisfaction.

Tony laughed as he popped the last bite of his Italian sausage into his mouth and crumpled up the wrapper, tossing it over her head and into the trash can with perfect accuracy. "You're something, you know that?" he asked her as he chewed the last of his food. "All the restaurants in the area and you want a hot dog from a street vendor."

Pepper smiled and stuffed her hands into her pockets, walking slowly beside him down the street. "What? It's all part of the experience."

Tony swallowed and smiled back at her, walking leisurely beside her as he let her set the pace. He had to admit, it wasn't what he had expected when he suggested they walk and find a place, but he was thoroughly enjoying himself. He had not allowed himself to be this laid back in a long time, and he had to admit this was a perfect way to cap off the long day of traveling they'd had.

It was a relatively warm night, but not like the heat they'd been experiencing back home. They walked comfortably along the street, illuminated by the glow of all the New York City lights. They didn't say much, just took turns pointing things out to one another until they made their way back to the hotel room.

Pepper carefully pulled the jean jacket off and draped it over a chair as she made her way toward the bathroom with her beg.. Tony watched as she disappeared inside the other room and moved to remove his money clip from his pocket and his watch from his wrist.

He unzipped his jeans and kicked them off, leaving them in a pile next to his shoes.

Pepper emerged from the bathroom in her shorts and the same white tee shirt she'd been wearing, sans bra, just in time to watch Tony strip himself of his tee shirt. She watched from behind as the muscles in his back flexed with the movement. She wondered briefly if he had always been this manly and she never noticed or if this was something new that had come with him when he was returned to them from the Middle East.

Either way, she was appreciating all the yummy views she has been getting recently.

She cleared her throat to get his attention, blushing a little when he turned toward her and smiled his thousand-watt smile. Clearly he approved of her pajamas.

"Is that all you're wearing to bed?" she asked, glancing down at his boxers and back to his face.

Tony quirked a brow as he made his way over to the opposite side of the bed and pulled the duvet back. "Would you prefer I wear what I wore last night?"

The image of him lying with that thin sheet over him flashed through her mind and she felt her face get hot. She cursed herself for walking into that one.

"I suppose this will do. I'd ask you to put a shirt on but it's not your man-boobs I'm worried about here…"

Tony chuckled and slipped into bed at the same time she did. He watched, amused, as she grabbed the extra pillows and created a wall between them. After a few minutes she was satisfied that he wouldn't accidentally roll over and grab her boob in his sleep and she settles into her pillow.

"You good?" he asked her.

"Yes, thank you," she chuckled.

Tony smiled at her cuteness and reached to turn the light off, casting the room in only the glow from the outside lights. He sighed in contentment.

"Goodnight, Pep."

"Goodnight, Tony."

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