Day 15

Rating: R (here comes the good stuff)

"I'm going home." Pepper says from her office when I pass by.

I check my watch and frown. It's ten pm.

I duck my head into her office and try to act nonchalant but I know I can't. Not with her. Never with her. She stands in the front of her office with her back at me, but when she turns I notice that her lips are pursed and her eyes are focused. She's checking some files when I come behind her and look over her shoulder. She gasps softly when my warm breath touches her neck but makes no move to turn or say something.

I burry my nose into her soft curls and smile when I hear her inhale quietly. I know she's having a hard time with me but I'm willing to change that. I'm willing to take that chance because I want her so much. Her simple smell drives me into overload and I feel my blood rush south when her pert ass brushes agains my groin involuntarily. I try to press my hips into her ass one more time, seeking pleasure and I succeed even for just a second.

"What are you doing?" She asks me suddenly.

She puts the papers down and just looks down at her hands. This is it! I can't take it anymore.

"Me?" I ask innocently and burry my nose deeper into her hair. She squirms a little bit but stops as soon as my lips brush against her ear. She shivers softly and I wonder how much she really wants this and me.

Pretty much, I suppose.

Her shivers encourage me even further and I press my lips heatedly just below her ear. Her skin is so hot and soft that it takes me a great deal of willpower to take it slow. Her face is flushed and her mouth is slightly opened but her eyes are unfocused now.

When her head falls back and rests against my shoulder I cannot stop the sigh of relief that escapes my mouth. I wrap my arms around her waist, below her breasts and my knee comes between hers, supporting her as her body is resting against mine.

My mouth is filled with her strawberry-blond hair – her hair scent is so unbelivable strong in my nose that it makes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up, electrified. Everything is perfect in this moment. Everything.

I press a little more into her, sighing as she doesn't pull away and lets me press my body fully against hers. Our breaths are a little shallow and there is no other noise than that. She brings her hand and entwines our fingers together while she turns her head a little more to one side to give me better access to her neck. I press my lips on her jaw and start trailing kisses along it, earning a few sighs of pleasure from her, but I can sense that she is holding back.

I want her to surrender to me. Stop fighting me. Stop fighting everyone else. She has to stop thinking about what others believe about us. Of course we've been sleeping together – conform the tabloids and other publications. They want this – they want us just so they could eat us for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's the truth and it hurts because there's never been more than a friendly, yet nervous dance. There's never been a hug or a kiss or some sample of affection people who work in such close proximity should have.

And it's shocking. Days pass, weeks pass, months and years pass without some sort of connexion. It's also wrong because we have such a great chemistry. I've always felt that she had that spark – that special element which other women didn't possess. Of course I had denied it back then, when I was just a jerk – so to speak.

My life has always been great. Being at the top ensured me respect and fame but never privacy. Security… yeah, that's debatable. I've always thought that I was in a weird sort of way, invincible. Invincible until shrapnels pierced through my chest and almost through my heart. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have come back. Hearing her screaming my name like that back in that cave opened my eyes. I've realized then that every little smile or blush or babble meant that she was in love with me.

It's really strange thinking like that now after all we've been through since my return. But this – this compensates it. Compensates the lack of affection between us by a long shot. The invisible, thin line between us is crossed and even though it's not really a wild and rough sex session it still has the same meaning to me. Probably even for her.

Thinking back at how many chances I've blown up I want to smack my head into something. She's always been there – like now. Her heart was always opened for me and I never realized that. Is it from just being too stubborn or was it genuine? Both of them, I suppose.

Looking at her now I feel like an invisible weight has gotten off my shoulders. All the events in the past week seem like they've happened a long time ago.

She slowly stirs in my embrace until she faces me with a small smile and her face covered in the reddest blush ever possible. I'm pretty sure I'm flushed too. It's been a little while since I've done this but apparently not too much.

Pepper stares at me and licks her lips. She looks like she wants to say something but I stop her by bringing my lips back to her neck. This position is a little cozy if you'd ask me. I can't put all my weight onto her because she's pinned against me and the desk. The edge of the desk digs into her back and it's a little uncomfortable, I think.

But it's a little better than the previous one because now I can see her face and the rest of her. My eyes are fixed on the swell of her breasts as my mouth moves lower and lower until it reaches the space between her breasts. She brings immediately her hand at the back of my neck and she slowly runs her nails on my skin and into my hair. I groan a little bit at the sensation of her nails but she quickly pulls me back and looks at me with expecting eyes.

This time there's no hesitation when our eyes lock. I use my left hand on the small of her back to pull her a little closer to me but I suddenly regret that movement, because when her hip bumps into mine I hold my breath in hope that she wouldn't notice the proeminent erection. Yeah, that's it.

Hm. She notices it and her eyes go dark and more intense than they've ever been until now. A low moan escapes her throat when I add a little friction between my cock and her hip. God, it feels so damn good.

She shivers then when our eyes lock again, but this time I try not to do something that will probably ruin this perfect moment.

I bring my gaze down to her lips and back up and she does the same. I lean in gently, slowly and careful not to scare her. She always beats me to it and it's only now that I realize that she leans in as well, her eyes closed just a bit. My lips touch hers hesitantly – everything I'm doing to her appears to be just a little hesitant right now. It's the little voice in the back of my mind that tells me to go slow because there isn't other way.

She increases the pressure just a little bit and then closes her eyes completely. I'm so lost. I didn't think it would feel this way – thousands or maybe millions of butterflies flying through my stomach while my heart beats so fast that I think it's going to pop out, and it's just because of her. Of her.

We're not kissing that much as we are brushing our lips together. I smile against her lips and decide if this is going to be our first kiss it's going to be something. I slowly probe my tongue on her lips, tasting her, or maybe even testing her. She's still holding back. I can feel it in her soft, shy kiss.

It's not any kiss. It's a kiss I wanted to get since that night on the rooftop. Or maybe even the first day of her as my personal assistant. I suppose it's the first version, though, because the kiss I want from her now is gentle and intimate, not lustful and greedy.

But it seems that she wants the same thing now as she parts her lips just a little for me to suck on her lower lip. It's not fast, neither rough. It's incredible gentle and soft and so full of emotion that I can only describe it as the best kiss of my life.

She moans a little when I press her too hard against the edge of the desk and I break the kiss and look worriedly over at her frowning face.

"Sorry." I murmur softly and look into her eyes, wanting the approval that she's okay.

I can't remember my voice being so soft and silky before but it doesn't matter as she wraps her hands around my shoulders and brings her lips to mine once again. This time she returns the kiss in full, letting her lips caress mine in a slow, torturous rhythm.

I bring my hands down to her waist and untuck the shirt from her skirt, then I bring my large, calloused hands beneath her white, classy shirt. She gasps into the kiss when she feels my hands skim over her backside where the edge of the desk had caused her pain. My hands soothe her, it seems, because she's sighing against my lips and practically melts in my embrace.

It's pretty uncomfortable to do this while we're still standing so I decide to pick her up and sit her on the desk top. We take a few moments break until our breaths slow down just a little before we begin again. Her fingers are tugging gently at my hair and my hands are having a hard time deciding where they should be. On her waist, inside her shirt or on her back. Yeah, well they kinda decide for me at the moment because I can't make decisions on my own when I'm being kissed by the woman I love.

There's still this nagging question that doesn't leave me focused only on the feel of her because it's too easy. I wonder what has gotten into her, but by the time I get a chance to open my mouth and ask the question she moves her hands down my chest and they come to rest against the front of my pants. I swallow hard and look at her hands.

With a smirk Pepper moves her hands up my chest, getting a groan of disappointment and pops the first button of my dress shirt with agile fingers. She uses her incredible long and sexy as hell legs to pull me closer to her in her attempt to kiss the exposed skin the shirt revealed, and she succeds.

She presses a open-mouthed kiss to the skin just above the arc reactor and then lets her lips touch my arc reactor with tenderness. My heart simply stops at that piece of returned affection especially after she'd said to me that she wished I didn't have this heart – she proves to me that it wasn't something that she wanted to say. It just came out of frustration and I understand her, or at least I think so.

I take her hand and kiss her palm softly while looking her in the eye. I allow myself to drink in the sight of her. Her lips are swollen and the area around her mouth is a bit reddish from my facial hair. Her hair stood up haphazardly over her face and her steel blue eyes were big and dilated and probably the most beautiful I've ever seen.

My own fingers pop out the buttons of her shirt until it reveals her beautiful round breasts clad in a white lace bra. Her face flushes even more at the look I give her and I really can't blame her. The image in front of my eyes is enough to make my cock throb in expectation. It really needs to make some sort of connection with any part of her tremendously sexy body before actually getting out of my slacks himself. I let out a small laugh at the mere thought of that happening.

When I return to her, though something seems out of order.

Her eyes are closed but her flush faded away along with her smile.

"Pep?" I ask, my voice all hoarse.

She doesn't open her eyes and I rush my hands up to her face and touch her. She opens them but she doesn't look at me.

"She began sending me messages even before the party." She whispered in a strained voice. What is she talking about?

"What are you talking about?" I whisper back and clear my throat before burrying my face in her neck.

She makes no move to push me but I can sense the mood has shifted.

"Natasha Romanova." She spats and I can feel one of the hardest erections I've ever had deflate and die. I break away from her like I've been burned.

"…that's why I was late at your birthday…" She explains with a slight tremour in her voice. "…she told me that if I'd – t-touch you she'd come after me…"

That's why? Fuck!

"You must have told me earlier." I tell her with a tremour in my voice as well.

"I'm sorry for this!" She says quickly and detaches herself away from me. "I'm going home. I need to-"

I grab her wrist not so softly and pull her into my embrace. She wraps her arms around my back and holds me tight.

After a few minutes I release my death grip on her and cup her cheek with the palm of my right hand. She smiles weakly and I press my lips to hers in a chaste kiss. She responds by tasting my lower lip.

"You're not going to your apartment." I say pretty damn annoyed that she wanted to leave me with Natasha following every movement Pepper made.

"But I have to go home to-"

"No…" I cut her off with my best glare. "You are home."

I smile at the way her face lightens. Her lips curl up into a small, shy smile and she lets me take her hand and lace my fingers with hers.

"You are staying here. Forever. Permanently." I babble as we make our way to the stairs taking up to the bedrooms.

Pepper doesn't say anything about that, but I know she's thrilled with this idea. Who wouldn't be? You don't expect Tony Stark to say something like that every day.

"I'm going to take one of the guest rooms…" She whispers as she ascends the stairs.

"Na-ah! My bedroom. No discussions." I tell her firmly but with a trace of a smile on my lips.

"Aren't you coming?" She asks after a couple of seconds when she's disappeared into the dark hall.

I twirl around on my heels and get the phone from the coffee table.

"In a few mintues!" I yell. "I have to make some calls."

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So… what do you think? Do they deserve more or this is just a waste of time?