The next chapter! I hope you'll like it, please let me know what you think! And thanks to everyone who read the last chapter and left a review! You're awesome!

I don't own the characters or places!

Tony

When I woke up, I felt happier than in years. Maybe even all my life. I blinked a few times and to my surprise, it was still dark in the unfamiliar room. Pepper's bedroom. And she was lying next to me, an arm wrapped around my waist tightly. Her eyes were closed and from her steady breathing I knew that she was still asleep.

There was a peaceful look on her face and she was smiling in her sleep. Her hair was a mess and I knew that it was my fault. However, I didn't have the impression that she'd cared about that very much last night. One of the most amazing nights in my life. I couldn't stop myself from smiling widely. Finally, we'd been together again. And many more nights would follow, I was sure of that.

Because there was no way I would let Pepper go again. Alone the thought that she might walk out of my life someday scared me and made my heart race. No, I had to prevent that from happening. I couldn't be without her anymore. It would feel like a part of me was missing.

I touched her cheek carefully and breathed in deeply. I desired this woman so much that it hurt. And not just her body, but all of her. It was still surprising. Normally, I'd never wanted to be with someone in every way possible. She'd turned my whole life around. And I even enjoyed it.

What happened to Tony Stark, the playboy? Who spent nights in bars and with women he didn't even know? A few changes, like drinking less, had already started before Pepper walked into my life. Because I was tired of losing all my senses regularly. Nevertheless, the most important things had changed since I met her. It didn't feel like I only knew her for a few weeks by now.

While I watched her in her sleep, I thought of our conversation the previous evening again. I was still angry because her ex was looking for her. Furious, even. And I meant it when I said that I would prevent him from finding her. It would be easy. A look into his private accounts, a few calls, maybe even hacking a few airlines... No problem. Would only take an hour. Then that problem would be solved, hopefully forever.

I decided not to think of him any longer. He wasn't worth it. Instead, I concentrated on the good parts. Did we really admit that we were in love with each other? It seemed so.

Wait, was I in love with Pepper? When I thought of it again, I had to admit that it was true. I've never been in love before, but I knew the signs. And they were all there when I was with Pepper. Well, and of course when she wasn't with me as well. I couldn't stop thinking of her. Which made a few things really difficult...

When she started to shift and her breathing became unsteady, I knew that she was going to wake up soon. Suddenly, I remembered that I wanted to ask her something yesterday, but I'd completely forgotten it. I made a mental note to do this soon.

I didn't want to give her the impression that I'd been watching her, so I looked around in her room for the first time. Last night, there had been more important things than looking at her flat. Now I realized why she'd thought that her office at SI was too plain. Pepper's bedroom was really beautiful, with lots of pictures on the walls, flowers in each corner and much more decoration. From the paintings in our offices I recognized Mr. Meyers' style. She really liked his work and even I had to admit that it was beautiful. Somehow, it made me want to go to Griffin and see her home town myself.

I also noticed that there weren't any photographs in this room. Not even of Pepper and her best friend, Daisy. I would have to look in the rest of the flat later. Because honestly, I was curious about this woman. Pepper's only friend, like she'd called her once. That there weren't any pictures of Pepper's parents didn't surprise me. After all, she'd told me that they didn't talk very often.

Pepper's grip around my waist loosened and when I turned my head, I saw that she was blinking sleepily. She was looking a little disorientated and I thought that it was cute.

"Good morning." I whispered and smiled at her.

When she heard my voice, she froze and very slowly, she turned to look at me with wide eyes. Then the realization seemed to hit her and she grinned. I thought that she was also blushing, but I wasn't so sure in the dim light. "Morning." She whispered almost shyly and I chuckled.

"Did you sleep well?"

She nodded. "And you?"

"Best sleep I had in weeks." I replied with a wide grin and hoped that she understood what I meant. Best sleep since our first night together.

"Me too." She muttered and reached out to place a hand on my chest. At her touch, I shivered.

"We should do that more often." I suggested and moved closer to her. When I ran my rand through her messy hair, she chuckled lightly.

"Definitely."

"As well as this." I leaned forward and kissed her lightly. To my surprise, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders to pull me even closer. I couldn't stop the moan at this. And just like this, my arousal was back and I started to touch her, trying to remember everything that made her sigh with pleasure. And she seemed to be a fast learner as well, according to what she was doing to me...

Some time later, we were lying in each other's arms again. "You're incredible." I whispered while I drew circles on her back with my fingers lazily.

"Nope, you mean yourself." She argued softly. "I'm just me."

"Incredible. Just like I said." My voice didn't allow her to argue and luckily, she didn't.

After a few moments, she sighed. "We should get up, shouldn't we? Otherwise, we'll be late for work."

I chuckled. "It's my company, I can start to work whenever I want. And what should my personal assistant do when I'm not there?"

I could feel that she was rolling her eyes now, even if I didn't see it. "There's still so much paperwork. And I have to remind you that I already left early yesterday."

"Which wasn't so bad." I argued simply.

"No, it wasn't. But someone here has to do all the work." I could hear a playful tone in her voice now.

"I'm also doing very much." I said slowly. "And now that you mention it... There's something I wanted to ask you. I already wanted to do it yesterday, but it seems like we got carried away."

She leaned back so that I could see her face again. Pepper looked curious now. "And what do you want to ask?"

"You know that I had this video call with the guys from New York yesterday." I started.

She nodded. "The tower is nearly finished."

"Exactly. Which means that I can start building the reactor there. It will take some time, maybe two weeks or more. And I wanted to ask if you'd like to go to New York with me? Of course I won't be working all the time. We can do other things as well. Like having a look at the city. Maybe even go somewhere else close by, whatever you want." I looked at her expectantly and was glad when she smiled. I could see the excitement in her eyes.

"I would love to go to New York with you." She replied softly and I couldn't stop myself from kissing her again. However, this was just a short kiss which didn't lead to anything more. She was right, we should leave this bed soon. I was also starting to get hungry, which reminded me that we'd skipped dinner last evening...

"That's great." I replied with a wide smile. "We'll have a good time, just wait and see. New York is great. And you should see the tower. It's like my baby. I'm still proud of the idea. And the new reactor there -"

"Can provide energy for the entire city for one year." She finished my sentence and when I stared at her, she laughed. "Oh come on, you've already told me this about four times. And I can't wait to see it."

I grinned. "I bet it will impress you."

Now I could see that she rolled her eyes. "You don't have to impress me. You already do."

"How is that?" I asked curiously and when she sat up, I copied the movement quickly. I didn't want to miss the look on her face.

"You like me." She said simply and smiled at me like it was the answer to every question in the world.

"That impresses you?" I repeated and raised my eyebrows.

"Yes." Pepper kept her eyes on my face and suddenly, she looked quite serious. "Because you're too good for me and like me either way."

"I should be too good for you? It's the other way around." I muttered and caught her arm when she wanted to stand up. She stumbled back onto the bed and I pulled her closer, wrapping my arms around her again. "You're more than I could have ever dreamed of. And it's incredible that you like someone so self-obsessed and arrogant as me."

"We both know that it's not true." She whispered. "Let the people say whatever they want, I know that you're not like that."

"But I was."

"That's in the past." She said simply. "And now let us get up. How does breakfast sound to you? I'm really hungry. And a shower would be nice."

"Only if we can do that together."

When she winked at me, I released her quickly and followed her to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, we were sitting in her small kitchen and ate breakfast. "I really like your flat." I said and looked around again. "It's nice."

"I assume you already know that Obadiah got it for me?" She asked.

"Yeah, that was his idea, not mine. Honestly, I didn't think of my assistant very much before you showed up the first morning." I smiled apologetically.

"Why doesn't this surprise me?" She asked and her eyes were narrowed now. Luckily, she was still smiling.

"I had more important things to do!" I defended myself. "After all, I was busy building the earth reactor. That's also why all the paperwork was there."

"Don't tell me that you looked through all those things yourself before I came to Stark Industries?" She looked sceptical.

"Well, some of it." I explained hesitantly.

"Obadiah did the rest?" She assumed and when I nodded quietly, Pepper started to laugh.

"He must really like you if he does something like this. After all, it's not like he doesn't have his own paperwork."

I smiled when I thought of Obadiah and everything he's done for me in the past years. "He was my dad's best friend. And in many ways, he's like a father to me."

Pepper's expression softened. "I can see that you're very important to him."

"And he's that to me as well. He belongs to my family. A very small one, but he's part of it."

"And Happy too?"

Her question surprised me, but I nodded. She really noticed everything. "We get along really well. And he takes his job seriously."

"You don't like him for doing his job." She remarked.

"Yeah, that's true." I shrugged. My relationship with Happy was difficult to explain. He always stood to me, no matter what happened.

"And the last member of your small family is Rhodey." This wasn't a question.

"By now, you should know why I like him." After all, she'd talked to him just a few nights ago.

"I do." The expression on her face was thoughtful now. "They are all very protective of you."

Now I raised my eyebrows curiously. "What do you mean by that?" Did they threaten her not to hurt me like in those romantic movies?

"I just noticed it." She explained. "The way they talk about you. It's obvious."

I considered this for a few moments before I nodded slowly. Honestly, I didn't notice this before. But others had a habit of seeing things more clearly. I decided to change the subject. "You don't have any personal pictures in your flat."

"I don't have many of them." She explained hesitantly. "Just a few of Daisy and me. I threw away the rest before I moved here." She shrugged. "You already know that I don't have a good relationship to my parents."

I smiled slightly. "Well, maybe we can add a few pictures in the future. I've been told that I'm very good-looking on those."

Luckily, this made her laugh and let the sad mood my question had left her in vanish. "I bet you do." Her eyes were shining when she stood up to clear the table. I helped her quickly.

She seemed to find something about that highly amusing since she tried to hold back a laugh – unsuccessfully. "What's so funny?" I asked and raised my eyebrows.

"Tony Stark is in my flat, helping me to get things in order while he's wearing a suit that's surely more expensive than my entire wardrobe."

I joined her laughter, though I really didn't care about the suit in the slightest. "Get used to it. I think I'll be here more often in the future."

"Maybe you should put some clothes here then." She said, still grinning. "I think someone might notice it if you keep wearing the same suit twice every time you come here."

"Then you should do the same in Malibu." I threw in immediately. Somehow, I liked that thought.

"I will." She agreed immediately.

I thought that we would have continued to joke around like this for a long time, but unfortunately, my phone rang. "What is it, JARVIS?" I asked and held back a sigh.

"Sir, you have two missed calls from Mr. Stane." JARVIS informed me.

"What does Obi want?" I could see that Pepper was frowning now.

"He says that you have an important appointment in less than an hour." When JARVIS told me who wanted to see me, I cursed.

"Seems like we've forgotten my meeting with the counsel of SI." I muttered and from Pepper's annoyed expression, I already knew that she blamed herself for this. "Are you ready? Then we have to leave now."

She nodded. "I'm sorry, I should have thought of that."

"No problem. After all, I can still make it in time." I kissed her cheek and smiled. "And now don't start telling me that this is one of the reasons why a relationship is a bad idea for us. I don't care. And from everything I've seen last night and this morning, you also don't really care..."

Pepper tried to hide her blush and left her flat quickly. I followed her, a wide grin on my lips.

"And could you figure everything out?" Rhodey asked curiously.

I nodded. "Yes, we did."

"She was really hurt, Tony." He continued. "You can't do this to her again."

"Don't you think I know that?" I hissed, slowly losing my patience. "I didn't want all this, Rhodey. I hate that I hurt her." A few days had passed since Pepper and I kind of confessed our feelings. Ever since, we'd spent every night together. Until now. This evening, Rhodey visited me in Malibu and Pepper was at home. Most probably reading the book she'd told me so much about this morning.

"You really like her." Rhodey muttered, realization dawning on his face.

"That's the understatement of the year." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. There was no point in lying to Rhodey. He would find out about Pepper and me anyway.

His eyes widened. "You can't be serious."

"I am." I replied quietly. "Ever since we spent the night together. I bet you've already figured that out."

"Yes, Pepper gave the final clue. Back when you were... You know." Rhodey looked uncomfortable now. Most probably because he'd found out about it and didn't tell me immediately.

I sighed. "It's alright. You would have found out either way."

"And what are you going to do about it now? Will you really try this with her?" He frowned at me. "It won't be easy, with her being your assistant."

"We know that. She keeps emphasizing it." I groaned. "Honestly, I don't care. If people find out about this, let them talk. They're talking about me too much already, this doesn't matter anymore."

"But does it matter to her?" Now Rhodey sounded thoughtful. "I had the feeling that she doesn't like being in the centre of attention."

That was true. Pepper had also mentioned it to me as one of the reasons why no one could find out about us. "I know that as well." Slowly, I was getting really impatient. I hated this conversation. "I'll do everything to prevent the press from finding out."

"And Obadiah knows?" He sounded surprised.

I nodded. "He sees us together regularly." Then it wasn't difficult to figure it out. Which was a reason why I thought that hiding wouldn't be of any use. "And Happy knows too."

Rhodey leaned back and crossed his arms. "I'm really happy for you, Tony. From everyone I know, you deserve happiness the most. But I'm also worried that this might go very wrong. And that you'll get hurt in the process."

"I can't stay away from her, Rhodey." I said slowly. "She's amazing and I just..." I shook my head. "I could never hurt her."

"Then you'll better make sure that your relationship stays secret." Rhodey muttered.

"I will. And I just hope that Pepper will be fine with others finding out someday..."

Rhodey just opened his mouth to reply when the sound of my phone interrupted our conversation. Somehow, I was glad for this.

I reached for it on the table and raised my eyebrows in surprise when I saw who was calling. "I've got to answer this." I told Rhodey apologetically and stood up. "Tony Stark." I answered and walked towards the window slowly. "Why are you calling now? Shouldn't it be like in the middle of night in New York?"

"It's good to hear your voice, Tony." My friend on the phone answered. "And yes, but I thought that you might be home by now."

I rolled my eyes even if he couldn't see it. "You think so many bad things about me, Steve." I muttered and shook my head. "You can't just assume that I'm only home at night."

On the other end of the line, Steve Rogers laughed. "When we last saw each other, you were out every night." He said. I knew that Steve had never understood my lifestyle. He was a rather calm person and liked being at home. He hated parties. We knew each other for years now, we'd met on a charity event in New York. Back when I was still producing weapons. Steve had been in the army then. Now he was working for some kind of security company. At least that's what I thought. It seemed to be top secret. Of course I could have found out more about it easily, but I respected Steve's privacy. He'd asked me politely not to do it and I'd agreed. I really liked him.

"Well, times change. We saw each other the last time more than half a year ago."

"Yeah, that's why I'm calling. I heard that you'll come to New York soon." Steve explained. "Maybe we could meet and catch up?"

Slowly, a smile spread on my lips. "Sounds good. So you're in town?"

"Yes, I'm there at the moment. However, I'll leave in a few weeks."

"We're planning to leave next week." I told him.

"We?" He sounded surprised and I realized that he didn't know about Pepper yet.

"Happy, my personal assistant Mrs. Potts and me." I wasn't sure why I didn't just say Pepper, but I still remembered the conversation with Rhodey about keeping things professional on the outside.

"You've got a personal assistant? When did this happen? I always thought that you'd prefer doing all your work alone."

"As I said, things change. I'll explain everything when we see each other. It's a rather long story." I already feared that Steve would notice immediately that there was more between Pepper and me than a professional relationship. He was good at reading people.

"I'm curious to hear it. So you'll call me when you're in the city?"

"I will." I promised and looked over my shoulder, just to see that Rhodey was watching me.

"That's great. And now I should really sleep. I've got a meeting with Natasha tomorrow morning. I assume you still remember her?"

Natasha Romanoff was one of his colleagues and a really beautiful woman with an interesting character. Of course I remembered her. She liked toying with men. Just that it didn't work with me. I liked her, but that's it. "Say hi from me." I said simply.

"I will. And see you soon, Tony!"

"Bye, Steve." I muttered, but he'd already ended the call.

"Your friend from New York?" Rhodey asked and ripped me out of my thoughts.

I nodded. "Steve wants to meet when we're there."

"And I can't accompany you..." Rhodey muttered darkly. Only now I remembered that they also got along really well.

"I'll tell him that you're missing him." I said with a grin and ignored that Rhodey rolled his eyes. "And now let's grab something to eat. I'm starving."

"Didn't you say something about pizza?" Rhodey asked curiously.

"Yes, and then there's this new ridiculous action movie we really have to watch. It's called the Hulk. Really unrealistic, but also fascinating." I kept explaining everything about it while we walked to the kitchen.