Glass Heart

Ice clattered in the bottom of Scarlett’s empty glass. This had been her second drink since Tony had graciously refilled their glasses a few moments prior without her having to ask. Turning to her right she could see that Tony was nearing the end of his second rum and coke too. Before she could get up to refill their glasses for them, along with fulfill her curiosity to see what he had stocked in his bar at the other end of the room, Tony got up and snatched the glass from her hand. Quite purposely, he squeezed between her and the coffee table in order to walk past her and then headed back to the bar where he placed down the glasses at the edge and left them there, only to be replaced by two tall clean ones.

Clanking against the glass as he did, Tony dropped a handful of ice cubes into each one and then clicked his tongue while he browsed through bottles hidden beneath the bar. Finally he decided on an older bottle of scotch and stood up straight. With a mischievous smile he wiggled the bottle toward Scarlett who shook her head and laughed beneath her breath in response. She could smell the earthen liquid from all the way across the room the moment he pulled the lid open.

While he poured the alcohol in their glasses, clearly deciding he needed to make them the strongest of drinks, Scarlett tried her best to keep her attention on anything other than Tony Stark.

He could’ve kicked her out after she’d confessed what she’d done during her escape attempt. The guilt continued to tear away at her insides. At this rate she was going to end up with an ulcer in the next week at the latest. Why was the fact that she was lying to him bothering her so much? She hadn’t lied, she reminded herself. She’d merely hidden some parts of her story. Everything she’d told him had been true.

When he returned to the couch holding the glasses of scotch she’d barely noticed he’d made his way back. Clearing his throat to get her attention, Tony wondered if he should call a doctor to take a look at her. While he’d been carrying her out of the building he’d noticed the blood on the gauze wrapped around her thigh. Then again, if he called a doctor for her he’d have to call one to look at his wounds as well and that was something he was avoiding. The fact that he was a little bit of a baby when it came to minor pains was well known.

“Ground control to Scarlett, if you don’t take this glass of scotch soon I’m going to have to drink both. I wouldn’t want you to take advantage of me in my drunken state or anything.” The playful tone returned to Tony’s voice. Now that she’d shared some of her story with him, he was feeling back to his old self. Scarlett grabbed the glass from his hands, having realized she’d zoned out. Tony took his seat next to her again and took a long drink from his glass.

“I’m sure you’ll be taking advantage of yourself later on tonight, Stark.” Scarlett looked down at the scotch in her glass before taking a drink. “Besides, I don’t think you’d have to be drunk to have a girl take advantage of you.”

“I’m going to get you to call me Tony.” He nudged her arm with his shoulder and winced. Scarlett set aside her glass and then turned to look at his shoulder to see why he sounded pained. His undershirt was torn, tattered, and stiff with caked blood. Dripping slowly down his arm, she could see fresh blood from how he must have pulled the wound while either bumping her or mixing drinks. She had been doing her best to try not to pay attention to the mess that had been made out of him. Guilt was doing a good enough job ravaging her insides without having to realize how much damage she’d done to someone she was trying desperately not to care about.

Her attraction to him was a sickness in her own mind. Why was it that scraped up and bloody, he was more alluring than ever? Something had to be seriously wrong with her to think such things. Then again, the adrenaline coursing through her body after having worked with him so successfully all added to the attraction she felt. The blue light of his arc reactor was still all that lit the room, outside of the fireplace at the other end of it that Jarvis had lit for them upon entering. It was distracting to see it so close up, not because it was so odd that it was what kept him alive, but because it was such a powerful piece of machinery and beautifully constructed from what she could tell after having seen the Iron Man armor in action.

“What is it?” Tony could feel her staring at him and while he was enjoying the attention, he was still struggling to read what was going on in her mind. There was tension thick in the room ever since she’d told her story and while Tony wasn’t the type to really mind tension, he couldn’t tell if it was the good or bad kind. He was hoping it was the good kind, considering how receptive she’d been to him saving her earlier in the evening. That kiss she left on his helmet was fresh in his mind. Maybe he could play on that and finally get past being so conflicted that he didn’t know how to make a move.

“You’re bleeding.” Scarlett glanced at his exhausted face and then back to his shoulder where she was pointing. “You should’ve gone to the hospital with Happy.”

“Me?” Tony chuckled, taking another long drink of his scotch. Alcohol made everything a little easier to deal with. It was probably an unhealthy way of thinking, but Tony had given up enough bad habits in the last year to justify this particular one. “If anyone should’ve gone then it should’ve been you.” With his free hand he hooked his index finger underneath her chin and tilted her head up. Bruises were forming around her neck from where one of the men had attacked her. Scarlett swatted his hand away and shook her head in a negative response.

“I can take care of myself, Stark. Besides, nothing that happened to me needs stitches. I’m a little banged up but trust me I’ve dealt with far worse.” Scarlett got up from where she was seated, trying to clear the air after being so close to Tony.

“Tony, it’s Tony. Are you sure that you don’t need to go to the hospital? I’m starting to suspect brain damage. You had it right earlier when we got all close together on the dance floor.” Smirking as he watched her walking around apparently searching for something, Tony took another sip of his drink. Scotch had long since been his favorite alcohol, but for the moment it helped him deal with the stress and pain of the wounds he’d sustained during battle. He’d worked up a decent buzz but it took more than three glasses to get him completely drunk. Buzzed was all he needed for the time being.

“This is still that important to you? Your priorities are screwy.”

“I feel like we’ve taken ten steps backwards.” Tony clicked his tongue in disapproval as he watched her searching his room. Her dress was tattered and her hair was pulled back in the most awkward of ways. It had obviously been messed with while she’d been fighting for her life. “You wouldn’t even tell me your name when we first met and you finally got past that. Then you insist upon calling me Stark instead of Tony and it’s not even Mr. Stark in some sexy naughty catholic school… girl… sort of… way…” Tony drifted off, clearly distracted by his own thoughts. Scarlett threw a glance toward Tony which brought him back to the conversation at hand. “What was I talking about?”

“I think I agree that one of us is regressing.” Walking through the room, Scarlett was surprised that Tony hadn’t stopped her from looking around yet. She was guessing that there had to be a first aid kit hidden around somewhere. Due to the level of mothering that Pepper had done since she’d met her, she was assuming the woman was well prepared for any sort of danger, significant or not.

“Was that so hard to admit, Scarlett?” Tony knew that wasn’t what she was referring to but couldn’t help himself. “You called me Tony out of worry a few times but out there on the dance floor… Well, I really thought that was a breakthrough! Or were you panicked?”

“What on earth would I be panicked about? Also I’m pretty sure I was referring to the fact that you have the sexual appetite of a teenage boy and the attention span of a flea.” Scarlett didn’t bother to keep her concentration on Tony while she took her search behind the bar.

“You were panicked because I was going to kiss you and you wanted me to do it.” Tony admired her while she walked around the room, noticing the slight limp in her step. “What happened to your shoes anyway? I could’ve sworn you had heels on.”

“I think you would’ve noticed if I went to that event barefoot, Stark.”

“Trust me when I say that I had better things to look at than your feet tonight.” Smirking, Tony finally grabbed Scarlett’s wrist to stop her from meandering around the room when she walked in front of him to search the other side of it. “You’re doing that thing where you ignore my witty remarks again. I’m not a huge fan of it.”

“You’re insinuating that I felt some sort of sexual tug to you and it made me let my guard down and call you by your first name.” Scarlett looked at him skeptically and tugged her wrist away from his grasp.

“That’s exactly what I’m insinuating. If you like we can spend some time you know… recreating that experience. I mean, if you think it’ll help get to the root of the problem here between us then… I’d be more than happy to dedicate my body to the cause.” The smile on Tony’s face was contagious, despite how ridiculous he was being. Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head in dismay.

“If you really want to help me, then you can tell me where Pepper hides your first aid kits so I can stop that bleeding on your shoulder before you pass out.” Scarlett picked up her glass of scotch and took a drink out of it, still standing close to Tony.

“Oh no, that… that sounds like the opposite of helping you. It’s nothing, that thing on my shoulder. I mean, it hurts and it’s… kinda bloody but that’s… Well I got thrown across a room multiple times!” Tony stuttered, trying to think of a thousand different ways to get out of having to deal with what had been done to him.

“I feel like you just listed all the reasons supporting my point.” Scarlett rested a hand on her hip. When Tony simply pouted at her and made his best attempt at puppy dog eyes, Scarlett simply started away from him again so she could go get the first aid kit she knew about in the lab downstairs. He actually had an impeccable pout, with glistening brown eyes and the slightest wrinkle in his chin when he did it. It was incredible how ridiculous and adorable he could be. Tony grabbed her wrist again and tugged her to keep her from going to, presumably, get a first aid kit to clean his shoulder with. “Stark, at the rate you’re drinking and losing blood you’re going to pass out before you get to take another pass at me so you really have to pick your battles here.”

“Call me Tony, just once.” Continuing to tug her closer, Scarlett didn’t resist very hard. She looked to be contemplating his request, batting her eyelashes and resting her finger on her cheek.

“No.” Scarlett spoke after her moment of thought and Tony couldn’t help but laugh. When she tried to pull away again he pulled her closer and slipped her artfully right into his lap. Giving him a skeptical look, Scarlett chose her words carefully. “I think you tried this once before, didn’t you? Do you remember how that worked out for you last time?” While she was threatening him, she didn’t make much of an attempt to move away.

“I think I almost got a kiss out of you then, didn’t I?”

“Oh, is that what you thought I was doing?” Scarlett’s eyebrows shot up and she smiled playfully. Alcohol had eased her tension and allowed her to finally stop thinking about the consequences of what she wanted to do. All that remained was the situation at hand, which seemed like loads of fun to her. Tony didn’t seem nearly as nervous as he had the times where they’d gotten closer beforehand. Something had changed between them, and Scarlett could guess that it had been the trust she’d shared with Tony by telling him parts of her story.

“What, when we were down in the lab and we got close and you… told me what a bad idea it was? You were definitely about to kiss me. If Pepper hadn’t walked in, it would’ve been far more than just kissing.” Tony reached to touch Scarlett’s cheek, then instead grabbed his scotch glass and took a sip out of it. “Jarvis, do you mind?”

“You thought I was going to kiss you?” Scarlett mused, chuckling under her breath. From the ceiling, just as it had when she’d cleaned her own wound days ago, a first aid kit descended. Scarlett plucked it from the tray it’d come from and smiled as the tray returned to its place above them. “Thank you Jarvis.”

“You’re quite welcome, Miss Damien.”

“Kiss ass.” Tony muttered before snapping his fingers in front of Scarlett in hopes of getting her attention away from the computer that had distracted her. “You know, I told him to send that down. You could say that I’m the one you owe gratitude.”

“You only did it because you know I’ll call a doctor if you don’t let me help you.” Scarlett pursed her lips and then started to climb off of Tony’s lap, so she could find a better place to sit. Besides, sitting with Tony like that had begun to make her uncomfortable in ways that she was still working up to dealing with. She had to keep reminding herself that this was happening naturally. Despite how it had been part of her long term plan to seduce Tony, she was still struggling with how easily it was occurring. On top of that, it was hard to admit just how badly she wanted it to happen and for more reasons than just revenge.

“Oh no, no, no… The deal is you can clean my wound if you stay right where you were.” Tony patted the spot on his lap where she’d been sitting.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve been through this and I’m not going to let you grind up against me while I’m taking care of you.” Scarlett laughed as she opened the first aid kit then let out an audible sound of surprise as he grabbed her by her hips and urged her to sit right where she’d been only a moment prior.

“You either sit there or I am going to throw the biggest tantrum you have ever seen come from a grown man.” Tony dared. “I promise to keep my hands away from the naughty parts, okay?”

“You’ll keep your hands to yourself entirely.” Scarlett responded after a moment left to her thoughts, considering his proposal. “And I’m going to need a refill on that drink if that’s the case.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad.” Tony kept his hands on her hips, brushing his thumbs against the cloth just beneath her corset.

“That is not keeping your hands to yourself.” Scarlett readjusted herself on Tony’s lap, her legs bent on either side of him. Then she leaned over and started pulling supplies out of the first aid kit. Grabbing a pair of shears from the kit, she moved to cut at Tony’s sleeve to get it away from the wound but Tony swatted at her hands to stop her. Rolling her eyes she sighed dramatically. “Look, this is going to take all night if you start throwing a fit before I even get to see what this wound looks like.”

“I’m trying to be helpful.” Tony grabbed her hips again which she was surprised by and pushed her a little further back on his knees. Leaning away from the back of the couch he tugged on the bottom of his shirt and then started to pull it off.

“You don’t have to do that.” Scarlett started to object. Like the situation could get anymore sexual being short of the actual thing, now here he was stripping.

“This will be easier, isn’t it what we did last time?”

“Yes it is, but I can get it just fine without you giving me a show.”

“What, does this make you uncomfortable, Scarlett?”

“No, it does not make me uncomfortable.” Laughing as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it at her, Scarlett pulled it away from her face and tried to cover him back up with it.

“Then why are you turning red?”

“Now you’re just hallucinating, Stark.” Scarlett knew she couldn’t be blushing. “We’ve been drinking, that’s what happens. Rosy cheeks and all that.”

“Are you sure it’s not just my rugged, manly physique?” Tony purposely flexed to show off his muscles. Scarlett shook her head and swatted him with his shirt.

“Cut it out.” She laughed, tossing his shirt to the side on the couch.

“Oh come on, I’m trying to make you more comfortable.”

“Good job, Stark.” Scarlett laughed as he continued to flex and be overall absurd. Finally Scarlett grabbed his good shoulder and pushed him back against the couch, sitting up on her knees and straddling his hips.

Tony immediately stopped goofing off and looked up at the strong woman hovering over him with the rag in her hand.

“Just sit still for a few seconds. I know that must be incredibly difficult for an eleven year old like you.”

“That would make you such a pedophile.” Tony laughed softly but then cleared his throat when she shot him a look. As Scarlett wet the rag and was about to wipe at the wound on his shoulder, he reached up and grabbed at the remaining pins in her hair and in one swift motion pulled her hair free of them. Her messy brown curls fell in her face and obscured her view nearly immediately. Slumping her shoulders and hanging her head, Scarlett sighed in dismay.

“Really?”

“Really.” Tony reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, letting the tips of his fingers brush down the side of her neck afterward. Scarlett resisted shivering in response but Tony could feel the goose bumps that rose on her skin. “If you stop pulling it out of your face, I’ll stop freeing it to its natural state.”

“You don’t get to make that decision, Stark.” Sitting up straight, Scarlett ignored her freed hair. She’d tried to let it down earlier without much success anyway. How Tony had managed to get it free of the tangles she’d found it in was a mystery to her.

“It looks like I just… did.” Tony smirked, brushing his fingers down her arm.

“I thought I said no touching.” Scarlett didn’t turn away from his wound since he made it clear that he was distracting her and trying to keep her from causing him the discomfort he was sure to feel. Wiping the wet cloth over the wound to clean off the blood that had caked up, she could feel Tony tense immediately.

“I promised no inappropriate touching… and I’m not really good at keeping those promises anyway.” Tony winced as he spoke, watching her while she worked. She really did seem to know what she was doing. Scarlett finished wiping the dried blood away from his wound and over his arm then held a clean piece of gauze over the bloody wound to keep it from dripping further. While she reached for the supplies to stitch up the wound she stopped to look over the scrapes and cuts on his body from having fought off the robots that had been sent to distract him.

“You really took a beating.” Scarlett sighed then shook her head sadly.

“What about you?” Tony touched the scrape on her shoulder that she’d received when she’d been thrown through the door of the bathroom.

“I’m fine.” Starting to stitch up his wound, Scarlett tried to keep concentrating on the action of cleaning and caring for him. Her heart was racing so she breathed slowly to try and regulate her emotional control over her rational mind, but it wasn’t working very well. The amount of alcohol she’d had was most certainly not helping the situation either.

“Really?” Tony snuck closer, his hand slipping over her shoulder, brushing her hair away and then onto the back of her neck, urging her to lean her head up which she initially resisted. “What happened here?” His lips were close to her neck and she could feel his hot breath on her skin.

“Someone got their hands on my neck, obviously.” Scarlett was trying and failing to ignore Tony’s touches and caresses. In fact she found that she was leaning into him rather than shying away as she’d intended. There was something intoxicating about being so close to him. Tony watched her in the light of his arc reactor. Her hands continued to work diligently on the wound on his shoulder which had started to numb to the pain that was being caused to it.

“I hope you kicked his ass.” Tony whispered, tugging her closer. The apprehension that he’d had the last few times he’d had an opportunity to kiss her had completely abandoned him. His brash confidence and skill had returned to him and he was merely biding his time to make the right move. She wasn’t pulling away or throwing up defensive walls left and right that he’d have to knock down. It seemed like she was giving him the all clear.

“It’s a shame that you weren’t there to see me do so.” Scarlett stopped when she became aware of the scruff of Tony’s well manicured and practically trademarked goatee brushing against the side of her neck. The urge to shiver was once again repressed, but the goose bumps arose to tell the true story. She’d never been into guys with facial hair before. Her type had always been clean cut, masculine, blond hair and blue eyes. If that was the case, why was this disheveled, scruffy, brown eyed pain in her ass turning her insides to jelly? Tony felt the goose bumps on her skin beneath his finger tips and knew she was fighting showing him her true reactions. In his true nature he pushed her further and let his hands slip down to her hips in hopes of pulling her closer on his lap.

He was surprised when one of her hands found his wrist and stopped him. When he froze, she pulled her hand away and continued to work diligently on his wound. “Didn’t I tell you not to touch?” She spoke quietly, forcing him to remain close just to hear her.

“Fine… fine.” Tony still couldn’t help but smile. She may have told him to back off but she hadn’t rejected him. On top of that, Tony didn’t think she really wanted him to stop trying. To him, it felt like she just needed a nudge in the right direction. Continuing to finish up the stitches on the wound that she’d been cleaning, Scarlett stiffened up when Tony’s lips brushed against her neck. She hesitated to continue with her work, unsure if she should stop or not. On one hand she was aiming to manipulate him, on the other hand she didn’t want to use Tony the way she was planning on doing. And then there was the fact that his lips felt so damn nice against her neck.

She hadn’t realized that she’d stopped entirely just to feel his lips on her skin and had even tilted her head to the side, ever so slightly, almost as though she was encouraging him. It was natural to give in when that was so clearly what she wanted to do. Why shouldn’t she, at least for this one moment, get what she wanted? What was so terrible about that? Why was she struggling to take something she so desired? It was just sex. She’d done it many times before, and was damn good at it so it wasn’t like she was nervous. Or was she? And if she was, then why?

“Does that bother you?” Tony couldn’t help but smirk, continuing to brush his lips over her neck, leaving small kisses on her skin every so often. Scarlett’s heart was racing a mile a minute but from the way Tony was breathing against her neck, she could feel that his was too. Was he nervous, or just over stimulated? Either way, it was almost a relief to know that he was having similar reactions. Pulling on the last stitch she was sewing into his flesh, she tied it off and set the stitching tool aside before glancing down at him.

“I was just surprised at how quickly you ignored, once again, to stop with the inappropriate touches.” Scarlett could see the mischievous glint in Tony’s eyes and was surprised to see there were no motives hidden behind them. Tony chuckled in response. She was waiting for him to come back at her with a snarky remark about how her neck wasn’t considered an inappropriate place but instead he bridged the gap between them and engulfed her lips with his. His shoulder was throbbing in pain and while the alcohol had succeeded in dulling his discomfort enough to be tolerable, the distraction of Scarlett’s lips on his was more than enough to wipe it from his mind entirely.

While she considered pulling from his lips and playing hard to get, Scarlett found that her body acted far before her mind had agreed and had returned his kiss, and passionately at that. Apparently she wanted this far more than she was admitting to herself. Could the last week she’d spent with Tony be deemed playing hard to get? Scarlett was willing to argue that it was, considering how many close calls they’d had since she’d woken up in his lab downstairs.

His scruff tickled against her chin and her lips and she shivered through kisses. Now that Tony had finally taken the plunge he’d found it hard to pull away. Her lips were surprisingly soft considering the nature of her career. Scarlett pushed herself onto her knees so she was sitting slightly above Tony and leaned her head down to continue kissing him. Her hair fell in his face so he pushed his hand to be tangled in it, in an attempt to move it out of the way. Resting her hand on the back of Tony’s neck she only pulled her lips away long enough to breathe.

Finally freeing his hand from her hair he slipped both arms around her and slid them down her back, locating the zipper on the back of her corset for later. Pulling her body closer to his with a swift tug, he made Scarlett lose her balance on her knees and forced his body back against the couch, her chest leaning against his. Undeterred by such things, Scarlett kissed sloppily at his lips through the near fall, her lips finding his chin accidentally and giving her a case of the shivers which finally became unavoidable.

Tony grinned between kisses, leaving a playful nip on her bottom lip as he did so before deciding to take a further step in their romantic endeavor. Slipping his tongue over her bottom lip he begged for entrance into her mouth and while she couldn’t help but smile, she accepted and allowed him to deepen the already rather intense kiss. The room suddenly felt much hotter than it had before. Scarlett’s fingers nimbly traveled over Tony’s torso, feeling the warmth of the reactor in his chest against her fingers, then the dips in his physique and the small scratches he’d received during his battle against the drones that had attacked him.

Tony sucked in his stomach, not out of embarrassment but because he hadn’t expected her fingers to go wandering. To say the least he was pleased. A low groan escaped his lips and he became more aggressive with his kisses, biting at her lips and tilting his head to deepen the kiss. Scarlett kept up with him and returned the heated passion in kind, letting her fingers explore over his body still, not willing to stop with how far she’d come.

This was what she wanted and while the rest of the nonsense that came with it still confused the hell out of her, she knew that this particular moment was perfect.

Tony’s hands brushed down her arms, feeling the scrapes she’d acquired during their battle. There was something sexy about using the adrenaline built up during a fight and turning it into something sexual, which was clearly where they were headed. Resting his hands on her hips, Tony urged her to sit back down in his lap which she resisted at first but then gave into. If she was going to play this game with him, she had to know he was playing with a loaded gun. Scarlett recoiled and lifted her hips, breaking the kiss momentarily so she could glance down at what Tony had done.

Licking his lips nervously, Tony wondered if he’d pushed her too far. When she settled in his lap and returned to his lips, the nerves flooded away and were replaced with the thick overconfidence that was often one of his strongest attributes. His hands still at her hips, he urged them lower and over her backside. Before she could urge his hands away from there he moved them over her hips and thighs and finally beneath the shredded and tattered skirt of her dress.

Scarlett urged her hand to his neck, pulling him away from the back of the couch and pulling his lips back into the passionate kiss they’d been sharing. Tony kept his hands on her thighs, momentarily distracted by her lips then caressed lower and toward her knees. His scraped up hand stuck against the bandage over her wound and pulled at it.

Yelping in discomfort from his actions Scarlett accidentally bit Tony’s lip and she pulled away very quickly. Having forgotten about her leg, Tony winced visibly in light of his error.

“It’s fine.” Scarlett whispered, her leg throbbing all the while.

“No it’s not.” Tony tugged the cloth of her dress and pushed it aside so he could look at the bloody mess that had become the wound on her leg. “It was finally getting better.”

“It’s just sore because I pushed it too far.” Scarlett sighed, pushing her hair out of her face, her chest still rising and falling quickly from the passion they’d been building up.

“Let me take a look at it.” Tony insisted, starting to tug at the gauze and resulting in another pained sound from Scarlett.

“No.” Scarlett grabbed at Tony’s wrist and pulled it away from her thigh with some force, much to his surprise.

“We should really…” Tony drifted off when he saw Scarlett moving his hand and urging it to her chest. Who was he to argue? If this was what she wanted and she was sure she was okay, then he would be doing her a disservice not to give into her wishes.

“It’s fine.” Scarlett reassured him, her body shivering with the chills once again. His hands were scraped up and rough from battle and years of working on weapons and creating other technological advances. She wasn’t sure which part of that made them alluring, but whatever it was seemed to be working.

“You’re sure?” Tony muttered almost incoherently against her lips between kisses, while he brushed his fingers over the flesh of her chest available to him above the corset, his rough skin catching on bits of the chiffon.

“Would you stop talking?” Scarlett laughed, grabbing him by his chin and urging his lips to hers again, groaning softly from his touches on her chest.

“No.” Tony smirked between kisses, though he pulled away from her lips only a moment later. Glancing down at her legs, Tony grabbed her backside carefully which resulted in a rather sarcastic look from Scarlett. “What?” Standing up, Tony made sure she wrapped her legs around his waist and then started out of the living room. If he was going to do this, then he was going to make sure there was no chance of the two being interrupted.

“I guess I’ll have to keep shutting you up then.” Scarlett took the opportunity to slip her arms around his shoulders, being careful of the wound she’d just stitched up. She then took to kissing over his neck. Tony faltered on the stairs when she did so and quickly grabbed onto the railing so he wouldn’t fall. It was lucky Scarlett had a good grip on him with her legs otherwise he might not have kept his grip or the romantic tension they’d worked up to on the couch.

Smirking against his neck, Scarlett bit at his skin again and then whispered again in a low and sensual voice. “Distracted are we?” Tony chuckled in response to this and then urged his hands back onto her butt and gave her a playful squeeze.

“I think you know the answer to that question.” Tony cleared his throat in an attempt not to sound so haggard but it was no use. Scarlett most certainly wasn’t arguing the change. Returning to his neck, Scarlett brushed her lips over his skin, beneath his chin to where the scruff of his goatee started and did her best to send his senses into overdrive. Her fingers touched over his bare back, tracing over the muscles that were flexing and being used to carry her up the stairs. If she was trying to break Tony’s concentration, she was doing a great job.

Jarvis opened the door to the master bedroom so Tony didn’t have to worry about it, which was pretty lucky considering Tony was starting to lose his patience. He couldn’t do much touching and taunting in this particular position. Scarlett kissed down his neck and over his collar bone. She wasn’t afraid to touch his reactor, which had been one of his bigger concerns. In fact, he found her tracing the triangular pattern which startled him further. What really made him stumble was when her fingers moved over his stomach, and further down to the lining of his dress pants.

She was fiddling with his belt now which was more than enough to signal to Tony’s mind that he needed to jump into action. He’d nearly made it to his destination but had to stop. Pushing Scarlett against the wall near his bed he had clearly surprised her since she made a soft sound when her back met the wall. Urging both hands to her wrists and pinning them against the wall, Tony realized she was holding something. This something turned out to be the belt he’d been wearing. His pants had become loose around his waist so he looked down and groaned when he realized they were unbuttoned and unzipped and hanging awkwardly around his lower half. It appeared he no longer needed the belt to keep them in place.

Groaning, Tony glanced back at Scarlett, his hands still on her wrists to pin her there. She wiggled the belt between her fingers then let it drop from her grip onto the floor with a clunk as the buckle hit the floor. There was a playful and dangerous smirk on her face and lust thick in her blue eyes. Ever since they’d met, Tony had struggled to get inside of her head but at the time being he was having no trouble at all seeing what was on her mind.

Releasing one of her hands, Tony maneuvered his pants off and let them eventually fall around his ankles before kicking them aside. He’d long ago discarded his socks and shoes so they weren’t a concern. When he felt Scarlett’s hand on his neck again he grabbed her wrist and pinned her back to the wall. She laughed under her breath and tried to pull her wrists away from his grasp but he held her fast and started to kiss at her chest.

Arching her back into his kisses, Scarlett closed her eyes and savored in the touch of his lips on her sensitive skin and the way his scruff was brushing against her and giving her the chills over and over. It was an entirely new sensation for her and incredibly sexy, or at least she’d say so. Tony’s teeth bit at the material of her corset and tugged it down past the lining of her strapless bra but couldn’t do much more than that because of her sleeves and the constriction of the boning of her corset. Growling playfully as he twisted back and forth to try and gain more leverage with the dress, Tony pulled away and instead started to kiss between her breasts and caress the flesh available to him.

Twisting her wrists harder in an attempt to escape his grasp, Scarlett couldn’t help but exhale soft moans and coos of pleasure and excitement thanks to Tony’s taunting. Frustrated that he couldn’t get more without going after her dress, Tony freed one of her wrists and urged his hand behind her still arched back. Scarlett immediately grabbed for the first thing she could think of which was Tony’s hair. He winced and pouted up at her upon realizing how sore his head was thanks to how he’d been tossed around like a rag doll during battle. Scarlett released her grip, but only by a little and tugged his lips back to hers.

While he was still the dominant one in that particular position, Scarlett took command with her lips and momentarily disarmed him. He let the slack go on her other wrist and she wrapped the other arm around his shoulder, pulling his body closer against hers, so he was pressed against her and pushing her harder against the wall. Tightening her grip on him with her legs, Scarlett felt her wound throb but didn’t relent. Wrapped up momentarily in the kiss, Tony kept his hand against the wall and had nearly forgotten what he’d been doing with the one that had managed its way to her back. Then he felt the top of the zipper brush against his hands and through the thickness of adrenaline and hormones that were raging through his mind, he remembered that he was standing in front of her nearly naked when she was practically fully clothed.

Grabbing onto the zipper, Tony pressed his hips firmly against hers before tugging on it. After getting it halfway down, he groaned in frustration when the zipper snapped and popped off of the dress.

“Something wrong?” Scarlett leaned close to his ear and let her lips brush against the outline of it before letting her tongue caress just beneath it, purposely groaning against his skin. Tony moaned low and deep before turning to look at her.

“Not for long.” Tony reached behind her with both of his now free hands and tugged at where the zipper had broken, finally getting the mechanism to pull free. Now loose around her, Tony fought with Scarlett to maneuver her sleeves off of her. Most of the fighting was a mixture of caressing and giggling, but eventually Tony managed to grab her wrist again and tug on strap after the other down her arms, at least enough to awkwardly pin her arms in place at her sides. “I’m just going to leave you like that…” Tony smirked and glanced down at the bra that he’d forced out of place with all of his pushing and let his lips find her breasts again, biting and kissing over the skin that he found there.

“Oh, come on.” Scarlett was both amused and displeased that she was left to awkwardly sit how he’d left her. Wiggling now against the wall to try and free her arms, she was starting to mess up Tony’s footing. Finally she decided it was the only way to get free, so finally she dropped her legs and got her feet on the floor which threw Tony off. He stumbled and tripped over the belt they’d dropped and fell backwards onto his bed.

Leaning up in surprise, Tony half expected her to make some remark about how she had been merely teasing him and was going to leave him to finish up what he’d started but instead she was stripping her dress off the rest of the way. Mouth hanging open, Tony watched as it slipped around her curves and onto the floor. Though she was scraped up and bruised and the gauze around her leg was bloodied, he felt his body react to the visual stimulation at hand. He was relieved, to say the least, that he was no longer wearing any pants.

“Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for?” Scarlett pushed her hair out of her face and then walked over to where Tony was half lying on the bed. Leaning over and hooking her index finger underneath his chin she urged him to sit up with just her touch and got close enough to kiss him before pulling her lips away from his. Now sitting up and staring at her, dumbfounded by how she’d taken control, Tony wasn’t sure how to respond. While his instincts were telling him to just hop up, grab her and ravish her, he seemed to have momentarily been completely stunned.

Scarlett took this moment of weakness to push Tony backwards onto his bed and climb over him. She straddled his hips and grabbed his wrists, in a mock attempt to pin him down as he’d done to her against the wall. While she’d put up a good fight, her limbs were still tired and aching and it was very likely that if he tried very hard to get free of her grasp, she wouldn’t put up much of a struggle.

Resting her hips against his, Scarlett could feel just what their foreplay had been leading up to. While she’d had a preview of it on the couch when Tony had forced her into his lap, this was far more revealing considering there was very little left between them and the act that they had both clearly wanted for much longer than Scarlett was willing to admit. Kissing down his chest, Scarlett planned on getting her revenge on him for having pinned her in place.

She stopped when her lips got closer to the arc reactor, realizing that it seemed to be glowing much brighter and was actually the only light in the room since Jarvis had neglected to turn on the lights for them. Distracted, Scarlett brushed her fingers over the reactor, letting her lips linger against his collar bone while she examined it. The metal frame of it was hot and she wondered if it was causing him discomfort or if it was a regular occurrence with the reactor. Nipping at his skin, Scarlett felt him starting to struggle so she rocked her hips softly against his. Tony groaned low and squirmed beneath her in hopes she would continue with the grinding motion against him. Scarlett’s body had responded in a way she hadn’t quite expected. Her legs had actually tensed and resisted, but not because she was nervous; it was her body’s natural reaction to recoil from such a feeling.

Tony took this moment of curiosity and sudden apprehension to his advantage, twisted his wrists free and pushed her up into his lap as he sat up. Grabbing onto her wrists he pushed her down onto the bed but felt her legs latch around his waist. With a grunt on her part, Scarlett forced his hips down against hers, making Tony’s knees slip against his silk sheets. Smirking as she kissed him, Scarlett wrapped her arms around his shoulders again and pulled his chest close against hers. The hot arc reactor brushed against her skin but she didn’t recoil. It felt odd for a second but it was a part of him, and she didn’t much mind that it was there. Somehow, Tony had forgotten all about it which was a rare occurrence. He did realize it had started to heat up but assumed that if there were any functionality problems with it, Jarvis would be interrupting their foreplay.

Completely locked together on the bed, Tony reached beneath Scarlett in an attempt to find the clasps of her bra but she was resisting and trying to keep his hand from being able to push beneath her that far. Instead he rocked his hips against hers again, letting his body slip into a more natural position between her legs so he could feel her quiver just as she had when she’d been sitting on top of him.

“Oh…” Scarlett gasped in surprised and curled her toes against the comforter on the bed. She hadn’t expected each little motion to become so stimulating. Romantic flings in the past had never had quite this effect on her and she had to admit it was throwing her off. There was no way that Tony was just that good. Or maybe he was. Scarlett couldn’t tell what was in her head and what wasn’t. She’d been trying not to take into account the hype that had been built up around him, thinking there was no possible way he could live up to it, but so far Tony had done an excellent job handling his reputation.

Tony managed to get her grip on him to loosen and started to kiss back down her chest and over the red mark that had been left on her skin thanks to his reactor. He didn’t notice it was there at first but as his lips bit and toyed with her skin, he realized it had become raised thanks to the contact with it. Deciding not to draw any further attention to it, Tony continued to kiss down her stomach, his tongue dipping into her navel before kissing further down to the line of her panties.

Hands shaking in anticipation, Scarlett found herself grasping at the comforter. She was never comfortable with giving up control in these situations, she found it made her vulnerable and frightened her. It had always been to a point where sex had been a means to an end for her but something felt different now with Tony. Thankfully there wasn’t enough sense in her head at the moment thanks to the lust and attraction that had taken the reins.

Wrapping her arms around Tony’s torso, Scarlett tightened her grip on him and then with her remaining strength rolled him over onto his back. He yelped in surprise, clearly not having expected this turn of events. Scarlett sat up on top of him, her knees on either side of him. Tony leaned up and bit playfully at her thigh. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to give up dominance without a fight.

Crying out in astonishment, Scarlett felt her thighs quiver and tried to maneuver away. Tony grabbed onto her hips and hooked his fingers on either side of her panties before trying to tug them down and off. Scarlett grabbed his wrists and twisted them away before pinning them down on the bed. That only lasted for a second before Tony had freed his wrists and was grabbing at her butt again. This time he pushed her back onto the bed with some force and crawled over her. Pushing her hair out of her face, Scarlett barely had the time to free her hand from her hair before she felt his lips against hers.

Pushing her hand into his short hair, she ran her fingers through it, feeling the sweat that had started to build up on his skin from their game. They were both out of breath and hadn’t even begun to truly get going. Not willing to waste anymore time, Tony reached for the sides of her panties again and started to tug them down.

Scarlett pulled one hand away and urged it back to her chest which was embraced initially and met with a playful squeeze of her breast until he realized she was trying to distract him from his immediate goal. The matter had become rather urgent for him and while he didn’t want to deny any part of her the touch of his hands, he knew what he needed for the time being.

Tony’s lips moved frantically against Scarlett’s and his scruff teased her upper lip and occasionally her cheek when their kisses became too sloppy and heated for either one of them to keep up. The brush of his scruff consistently gave her the shivers and goose bumps which frustrated her to no end, considering her initial reaction to his goatee. She wondered why it had become suddenly such a huge turn on to feel it against her skin.

Groaning with the feel of him against her thigh through his boxers she finally lost the battle for her panties when the side of them ripped from their pulling and tugging back and forth. Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that they’d actually broken two of her articles of clothing in their foreplay. Pulling them away from her hips, Tony tangled them on his index finger and held them up triumphantly.

“What can I say?” Scarlett whispered between heavy breaths, biting her lip in anticipation. There was no hesitation for her anymore, no doubt, just excitement and nerves about doing something with the man who had caused her so much conflict over the last few days.

“How about… you win, Tony?” Smirking from ear to ear, Tony leaned up on his hands and knees and quickly discarded his boxers, kicking them to the side and off of the bed. He then tossed her panties away as well and leaned over her. He waited for her to take the opportunity to try and take back control but she didn’t and instead just stared up at him.

“Fat chance.” Scarlett laughed after a moment and shook her head from side to side before curiosity got the better of her and she glanced down at where he hovered over her. She didn’t say a thing in response but instead bit her lip in a smile. Tony didn’t fish for compliments. He figured that would be asking for far too much from the stubborn woman beneath him. The look on her face was all that he needed to know that he was getting exactly the response he desired from her.

Leaning his body flat against hers again, arms on either side of her, Tony found her lips and settled his hips between hers, feeling her body hot and excited for him. Kissing her deeply and surprisingly intimately, Scarlett found her nerves melting away thanks to the distraction his lips provided.

When he slipped within her with a deep groan against her lips he was forced to pull away. Scarlett was crying out for him before she’d realized it was something she’d done. Her hands were on the backs of his shoulders and she was gripping at him tightly. Tony groaned, readjusted his legs and then urged his hips to start moving against hers.

Scarlett leaned her head back on the bed and gasped, nails digging into the back of Tony’s shoulder. The tension they built up was near immediate and better than anything she could describe. Maybe it was because of the sparks that had flown from the moment they met or maybe it was something more, Scarlett couldn’t tell but either way her walls had practically crashed around her.

Watching the faces she made beneath him was exhilarating but hearing the sounds that came with those faces was even better. Tony urged his hips to go faster to further increase the tension between them. Kissing over her neck, Tony started to move toward her bra in hopes of getting it off while things built up.

“Tony!” Scarlett arched her back and gripped him tighter as his pace increased. Everything came to a halt with that simple word. Tony snapped his head up and looked at her in surprise. She’d resisted so entirely to calling him by his first name that now that she was saying it, and in such an intimate moment, he was completely floored.

Face red from a mixture of embarrassment and passion, Scarlett took Tony’s faltering moment to her advantage, leaned up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, then rolled him over onto his back, being careful not to hurt anything fragile in the process. Tony grunted and leaned his back on the bed, finding that he was near his pillows at long last. Out of breath and staring up at her, Tony watched as Scarlett sat on top of him, resting her hands on his abdomen and started to move on top of him to regain some of her control.

Tony grabbed her hips and bucked his own into her, a smirk on his face while his mouth hung open. Again Scarlett cried out, the end of it sounding almost like a whimper but she had managed to resist saying his name again. If it was the last thing he did, Tony would get to hear it from her lips again and he would make it a point to never forget the sound.

Arching her back and letting her lips hang open as she rocked her hips and kept herself moving on top of him, Scarlett finally let her eyes slip closed. Gasping and moaning as she moved, Tony was bewitched by the way that her body shifted over him. Sitting up momentarily, Tony reached behind her and artfully unclasped her bra in one fluid motion. It was something he’d grown to be incredibly gifted at over time, considering how often he’d done it in the past. Tossing the strapless piece aside, he wasn’t surprised when Scarlett initially covered herself and stopped her motions.

Tony grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her chest and then urged her back onto the bed again, laying her near the headboard but being careful of how close they were so he wouldn’t have her hit her head considering what he planned to continue doing. Keeping her arms pinned as he started up their fluid motions again he watched her body rock beneath him on the bed, bouncing more with each push into her. The tension was starting to become unbearable for her. Scarlett writhed and her body ached with each continuing motion.

Tony let go of her wrists once he was sure she wasn’t going to cover up her breasts again then reached down to give them the attention they so deserved. They’d been far too tempting to resist. His fingers caressed over the soft skin, taking note of the pronounced burn that had shown up on her chest thanks to his reactor and the contact it had made with her skin for such a long moment. Leaning down to her chest he let his lips brush over her skin, his tongue picking up the beads of sweat that had been built up from their lovemaking. Scarlett started to curse under her breath, urging her hand into his hair but not to stop him from what he was doing, but to find more contact with his body. In her current state there was little left she could do to take control. Each push resulted in a soft sound from her lips and clear resistance of trying to cry out to him. Tony groaned low to see such a result.

Touching over her breasts until his body started to demand he focus on other things, Tony brushed his palms up over her chest, amazed at how excited he’d managed to make her. Reaching up to grab his headboard for support, Tony pushed slower but deeper into the woman beneath him, hoping to get her to that difficult end of the road and allow her to experience the bliss he knew was coming.

Scarlett tried to find a way to move, a way to participate but at this point her body was screaming for her to let go. If she could just release the tension that had been built up and not over think it then she would be fine. Then Tony moved away from her breasts, which were both sore and tender from his touches and started to push in a different way entirely. It had been more than enough to send her over the edge.

“Tony!” Crying out as she hit her end, Scarlett felt her pleasure pulse through her like lightning. Her hips twitched in an uncontrollable motion and her toes tingled as her orgasm spread through her and filled her with warmth. It was like seeing stars. Wave after wave of intense pleasure crashed through her. Crying out again, Scarlett wrapped her arms back around Tony and pulled him closer. He lost his grip on the headboard but didn’t care. “Tony…” She was kissing him sloppily between her pleasured moans, her hair stuck to her face and neck from the sweat of what they’d done together and whispering his name between those kisses.

Wanting to give her as much pleasure as he could, Tony resisted giving into his own urges for as long as possible. Scarlett couldn’t keep up her breathing while kissing him any longer, not when the pleasure was so overwhelming. Bringing a hand up to her hair she gripped it and leaned her head to the side, gasping for breath as she did her best to move her hips with Tony for as long as she could manage.

Feeling rather satisfied with himself for his accomplishment, Tony nibbled down the side of Scarlett’s neck, gripped at her hip and then finally let go of the pleasure and tension he’d built up within his body. Hips aching and body sore from the combined effort of fighting against the robots and making love to Scarlett, Tony concentrated on riding out the pleasure that shot through his body and up his spine. Growling playfully he tilted her head to the side so he could kiss her again. He’d started speaking before he’d realized it.

“Scarlett…” He muttered against her lips, her name flowing naturally in the heat of passion and pleasure. Blinded by the pleasure of their actions, Tony continued to kiss Scarlett despite how his lungs objected and begged for air. Nothing mattered except for the pleasure of his orgasm and the taste of her lips on his. When he’d finally let go, Scarlett had cried out in surprise, her grip on her hair tightening while the other hand pulled on the comforter below. It had been just as stimulating a sensation for her as it had been for him.

The peak of their lovemaking was nearing its end and soon enough they’d be finished. Slowing his hips down drastically when he realized Scarlett seemed to have given up on moving her hips from exhaustion, Tony couldn’t help but smirk against her lips. He could see hers had become swollen from the effort of kissing and playing and he took pleasure in that. Once he’d come to a stop he placed both hands on either side of her and smoothed her sweaty hair away from her face.

Biting her lip in a satisfied smile, Scarlett could feel the intense pleasure finally fading from her system. How long had it been since she’d felt something quite like that? She could barely recall. Tony could feel Scarlett curling her toes beneath him and brought his hand down to caress the side of her thigh, careful not to touch her bad leg this time. Burying his face against the crook of her neck, Tony nuzzled his nose against her skin before pulling his hips away. It felt odd being removed from her but he tried not to dwell too much on the empty sensation it left him with.

Scarlett stretched her legs and wiped the sweat off of her face, before choosing to look back at Tony who was readjusting on the bed. He’d climbed off of her and started reaching for sheets tiredly. Clearly he was worn out from the way that the day had gone. Between that and the alcohol, Scarlett couldn’t exactly blame him. Once he’d covered them with sheets he’d rested close to her on the bed, an arm lazily draped over her stomach.

“So…” Tony whispered, his eyes half lidded as he tried to stay awake. Usually after he’d gotten what he wanted from a woman he’d wait for them to fall asleep and then head for the hills. But this time was different. It wasn’t that he wanted to cuddle, but rather that he wanted to fall asleep next to her. Was that the same thing? Tony had no real idea. It had never occurred to him in the past.

“So?” Scarlett leaned her head to the side to look over at the man who had just made her feel the most fantastic of sensations.

“That’s what I have to do to get you to call me Tony, huh?” His voice was deep, slow and obviously filled with fatigue. Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh but had no real answer for him in the span of things. Instead she just chuckled until it faded and leaned to kiss his chin. Before she could tell him to get some sleep, Tony had fallen asleep next to her, his arm still lazily on top of her. Scarlett closed her eyes and turned her head back toward the ceiling.

What was she going to do now that she had actually gone through with her plan to seduce Tony? And had it really been a seduction as much as it had been both of them giving into the desire they’d had since they’d first met?

But now that Tony was falling asleep what would she do? Maybe she could just wake up the next day and ask him about what his involvement was with MedCo. She knew what he claimed his story was but she still couldn’t shake that there was more to it than just some misplaced memos from Stark Industries. Someone at Stark Industries had contacted MedCo to do work with them; she knew it in her gut. If that person wasn’t Tony then she was sure it was someone important who worked for him. Could it even be Pepper? Or Happy? Scarlett hated to think that the people who had gone above and beyond to keep her out of harm’s way could be working against her. It would make sense as to how MedCo was so easily able to locate her, if nothing else.

Sighing heavily Scarlett glanced back at Tony whose mouth was hanging open while he slept. Stifling a laugh, but unable to hide her smile, Scarlett carefully readjusted the sheets over Tony’s body so he wasn’t lying with his ass exposed to the world.

She’d expected her conflicted feelings to get in the way of being able to get into bed with Tony but instead it’d been far easier than she’d anticipated. When it had been happening she’d known exactly what she’d wanted and had taken it. But had it really been the best decision for her to make? How many times had Scarlett sacrificed her own wants and, often, her needs for the good of her mission? Now here she was making reckless decisions with a man who could still possibly be her enemy. Tony had started to snore next to her, clearly having fallen into an intensely deep sleep. Slowly she moved his arm off of her stomach and laid it next to him in a more comfortable position.

Carefully sitting up, Scarlett held the sheets up to keep her body covered and placed her free hand to her forehead. Her thigh was stinging and her body objected overall to moving. The soreness from her fight earlier in the evening was settling in. Her hips were still tingling with the remaining feelings of her orgasm. She’d never had a hard time moving after sex before, at least not for years.

Glancing back at Tony, she knew that either way she would have to find out the truth. Asking him would leave her forever with the unsettling question of whether or not he was being honest with her or covering his ass. Then again, if she betrayed his trust like this and did what she planned to do he may never forgive her.

Selfishly, Scarlett wanted to simply lie back down next to Tony, slip beneath his arms and fall asleep. She was half afraid if she did that she’d wake up to be treated like any other one night stand. Then again, perhaps that would’ve been easier than anything else. She was sure this was relatively uncharted waters for Tony as well. Something told her that if she stayed in bed with Tony, she’d wake up to find him still next to her despite her fears.

That would mean she’d given up on Scott and revenge and had given into her more selfish needs. Would she spend her whole life destroying those around her? If things were ever going to be more than they were with Tony, which for whatever reason was what she wanted, then she needed to find out the truth on her own. And if Tony wasn’t behind what was done to her and Scott then she’d find out who had been responsible.

MedCo wasn’t going to win and that had to be more important than the blossoming romance with Tony Stark. Deciding that thinking was the worst thing she could continue to do, Scarlett got up from her place on the bed and walked slowly around to collect her clothes from the floor. On the nightstand lay a half opened laptop, clearly leftover from some sort of work that Tony had been doing. Slipping on the remains of her tattered dress just to be covered up, Scarlett winced when she felt the cloth of the corset rub against the raw spot on her chest. Rubbing at the sore spot, Scarlett decided to address it later.

Snatching the laptop from his desk, Scarlett brought it with her back to her room. She had a very long night ahead of her.