His touch was making the fine hair stand up all along her arm, sending shivers down her spine. “How can you say that?” she murmured. “I walked into your Tower an hour ago. It’s not that I don’t believe in love at first sight, but … I don’t know. It’s not even that I don’t want you. You’re gorgeous and you kiss like nobody I’ve ever met and you took the moment to care about me from an off-hand remark and I’m still scared that I’ll wake up in the morning and your Ms. Potts will be waiting to throw me out.”
“But don’t you feel the tension too?” he asked, motioning between them. He wasn’t exactly sure just what he wanted any more or why he felt so strongly for a woman he had just met. Tony Stark had been with hundreds of women, why was this one so different? But he knew her words rang true. The chance of him leaving in the middle of the night was so strong, even if he didn’t want to believe it. “Your worries aren’t all too exaggerated. I can’t promise you won’t be just ‘another’…” he frowned.
“Of course I feel it! I can /taste/ it. But it just isn’t worth it to me to be used and tossed aside.” Summer clenched her hands in her lap. It hurt so much, to think how close she might be, how much her own fears and doubts were holding her back. “After all,” she whispered, “how can I believe you see me, really see me, if I become just another notch?” She pressed her lips together hard, trying to deny the tears swelling up.
“Persuade me, make me believe what you say. I can’t /be/ just the most recent girl you tumbled into bed with, I just can’t.” Not again, she thought. I need to be able to bond to someone, to know that they truly care for me. I can’t go on just giving myself away. But the little voice at the back of her mind knew if he asked again, she’d give in.