"Hitting you once was enough," she said with some little regret in her tone.

Ooh, Pepper wanted to get short with him for that last comment, which told her that she hadn't yet fully calmed down. She needed to measure her words carefully, because she didn't want to end up yelling at him.

"I didn't mean for that to sound like making demands," she said first, grimacing faintly. "Obviously, I'm not very good at separating the emotional and the physical. So, you hiring Eisso bothers me; maybe it shouldn't. I know it's just physical with her, I know that." She turned her glass in her hands. "I also know I'm definitely not in the right state to make any rational decisions about her..." Not making any demands, she reminded herself. Ask, don't require, and try not to blush furiously. "I guess, for now, you might as well keep hiring her if you want to. I-- I want you, maybe probably in all the ways you can want a person, so I'd like to revisit that arrangement in the future." Deep breath. "Especially if we start sleeping together."