In the Eye of the Storm (15 page)

He wanted it all again.

Chapter Nine

Pulling up to the restaurant together in Stephen’s car, Holly wished that they could have just skipped the dinner and gone back to either her house or Stephen’s.  Sitting around talking business for the next three hours after her body was still tingly was so
not
what she had in mind for this night.

When Stephen had come back in to the office after getting her things, he had joined her in the now unlocked bathroom and they had spent the better part of an hour pleasuring each other mindlessly.  Holly was thankful for the darkness on the interior of the car because she knew that she was blushing.  Stephen pulled up to the valet and got out of the car and walked around to help Holly out. 

They arrived before the Gideon’s which was perfect for Holly.  She needed to compose herself a little bit more and find a way to block the thoughts of the last few hours out of her mind.  Stephen escorted her to the bar while they waited for their table and ordered each of them a drink.  Not sure of when the Gideon’s were going to arrive, he had to fight off every urge to take Holly to a corner table and pull her close and nuzzle her neck and have the freedom to touch her like he longed to do.  But remembering that this was a business dinner and their arrangement of a week ago, for the remainder of this time, she was off limits and back to being his assistant only. 

They made small talk about the presentation and all of the things that she knew Mrs. Gideon had wanted to do today so that Stephen might be able to talk to her about her day and involve her in the conversation.  Holly always made sure that Stephen was coached in such things when they dined with spouses of clients because she knew it made the wives feel like part of the negotiations and included.

The Gideon’s arrived within ten minutes and they were seated not five minutes after that.  With no prompting from Holly, Stephen asked Mrs. Gideon about her day touring the museums and shopping at the Streets at South Point Mall.  He knew that she was an avid collector of Lladro’s and knew of a store in the mall that specialized in them and asked her if she found anything new to add to her collection.  The woman positively beamed at him and after that, the dinner flew by in a flurry of conversation that never lulled. 

As the evening was coming to an end and Stephen was waiting for the check, Mr. Gideon leaned back in his chair and smiled at Holly and then at Stephen.  He seemed to approve of something in his own mind because he nodded his head and then spoke.  “You know, Ballinger?  I like you.  I really do.  I think that our company’s are going to work wonderfully together.”

Stephen had to stop himself before he yelled ‘Yippee!’ or something else completely inappropriate in the middle of the restaurant and look like a buffoon.  “I couldn’t agree more,” he simply said, afraid to say too much.

“I look forward to seeing you out on the West coast and being able to treat you and Holly to the same wonderful hospitality that you have shown to me and my wife.”  Rising from the table, he assisted his wife, taking her hand and then placing his arm around her waist.  “I’ll be in your office tomorrow morning at around ten to sign the contracts.”  Stephen rose and shook his hand and leaned in to kiss Mrs. Gideon on the cheek.  They all laughed and said good night and within minutes Stephen was staring at their backs as they left the restaurant as he stood beside the table at Holly’s chair.

“Is it too soon to let out the victory cheer?” Holly asked, glancing up at Stephen who looked like a kid on Christmas morning, grinning from ear to ear.

He chuckled and looked down at her and felt as if all of the oxygen had been sucked from the room.  She was breathtaking.  Her smile was radiant and he saw just as much excitement over the deal that they had just sealed in her eyes as he knew shown in his.  She was truly his partner.  Could she be more?  Could he allow himself to let her be more?

“Not yet,” he whispered, remembering that she had asked him a question.  Sitting himself back down in his chair and finishing off his glass of wine, Stephen felt more content than he ever had – even more so than earlier in his office.  Why was he fighting this thing with Holly?  Surely after what they had shared earlier, she might be more open to them exploring a relationship; perhaps even a permanent one.  If she truly cared for him, as he suspected she might, all of the gossip in the world wouldn’t stop her from wanting them to be together, right?

Their waiter appeared with the check and after taking care of the bill Stephen rose and helped Holly to her feet.  They walked out of the restaurant and out to the valet where Stephen handed the driver his ticket.  While waiting, Holly stared at the star-filled sky.  What was in store for them for the rest of the night?  Her car was still back at the parking garage at Ballinger’s and so there was a very real possibility that Stephen would take her back there to get it. But what about after that?  Would he ask her to follow him home?  Would he follow her home?  She did not have the guts to ask – her mouth had gotten her in to enough trouble lately it seemed, so she would leave the decision up to him.  If Stephen wanted to spend the night with her, she would not turn him down or deny him.  All that she had managed to accomplish by demanding that they leave the weekend at the weekend was making them both miserable.  And dammit, she thought, I deserve to be happy!

Feeling confident that one way or another, in two cars or one, that she would be spending the night with Stephen had a very relaxed and confident smile on Holly’s face as she climbed in to his car.  Stephen shut her door after making sure she was settled and walked around to the driver’s side and tipped the valet.  Climbing in he sat and put on his seatbelt and turned to look at Holly and noticed the smile on her face.  It made him smile, but he wasn’t sure they were smiling at the same thing. 

“Care to share what’s put that smile on your face?”

She sighed happily.  “It’s been a good night, that’s all.  Everything went well, everyone’s happy.  Who couldn’t smile at that?” she asked, turning her head to look at him.  Their eyes met in the darkened interior but even without the benefit of light, Stephen could tell that her big green eyes were pulling him in.  And he wasn’t fighting it one little bit!

Pulling away from the restaurant, the twenty minute drive back to Ballinger’s was mostly spent talking business and what they would need to have prepared for tomorrow’s meeting.  Stephen would have the legal department prepare the final draft of the contract and be at the meeting and Holly made a mental note to have some sort of mini celebratory buffet put out with champagne for them to toast to their new venture before Mr. Gideon left to return to California. 

Before she knew it, they were back at the garage and parked next to her car.  She was a little disappointed that Stephen hadn’t mentioned taking the night any further but she supposed it was for the best.  Holly placed her hand on the door handle and turned to give Stephen a final smile.  “I’m so happy for you,” she said.  “I know that this contract is what you’ve been working towards for years and I am just thrilled to see that it finally happened.”  Without thinking, she leaned over and placed her hand on his cheek and kissed him on the other one.  “Good night.”  She climbed from the car and Stephen watched as she walked over to her own vehicle in those skinny heels she had worn to dinner and a black cocktail dress that he itched to peel off of her. 

He made sure that she was safely in her car and followed her out of the garage.  It had been his plan to take her back to his house and present her with the idea of continuing their relationship but somewhere along the way, as they were discussing business, he decided that perhaps it would be best to slowly seduce her in to the idea.  To perhaps make her see that them having a relationship does not mean having to take out a billboard announcement.  They could be together without putting out a full page ad in the newspaper.  They could simply just be together.  It could be simple. 

Of course, Stephen was not a patient man and the thought of taking this slow when all he wanted to do was have her back in his bed was not making him too happy.  After all, when they had made love this afternoon it had been explosive.  He wanted that.  Again.  Tonight.

Now.

She couldn’t be more than five minutes ahead of him; the perfect amount of time for him to follow her home without knowing he was following her home.  He grew hard just thinking of the look on her face as he pulled in the driveway behind her.  Luckily Stephen had been to her house a couple of times so he knew where he was going.  He found himself pushing down on the accelerator harder than he should and had to reign himself in – a speeding ticket would surely slow down his plans to get to her.

It didn’t take long to pull in to her neighborhood-slash-subdivision but by the time Stephen pulled up in front of her house, Holly had already gone inside.  This was perfect, he mused to himself.  The look on her face when she opened the front door would be priceless.  Turning off the headlights so as to not alert her to his arrival, he pulled in, turned off the engine and quietly got out of his car and shut the door cautiously. 

Walking up to the front door of Holly’s condo had him almost feeling giddy.  It was close to midnight on a Tuesday night.  Deep down, Stephen knew that he probably shouldn’t be here.  He should let her be home in peace and let her sleep – or at least get some sleep – before coming in to work tomorrow. 

Work.  For the first time since…well, since their weekend together, he couldn’t give a damn about work.  Hell, if Holly wanted to call in sick tomorrow to recover from all of the ways that Stephen planned to please her tonight, he wouldn’t mind it at all. 

He was about to raise his hand to knock on the door when he stopped himself and allowed his mind to wander for just one more minute.  True, the longer he waited to get inside, the greater the chance that she’d be out of that black cocktail dress that he so desperately wanted to take off of her himself.  Stephen needed time to think about how he was going to handle this situation once she opened the door.  The beast in him that Holly had unleashed wanted to have her open the door where he would make his way inside and have her right there in the hallway.  Been there, done that earlier in the office, he thought.  No, maybe this time they would go slow, take their time and he would seduce her all the way to her bedroom where he would take his time in exploring her and pleasing her and make her as crazy as she’s made him this last week. 

Yeah, that was the one.

Raising his hand finally to knock, he was surprised when the door opened and Holly stood seductively in the doorway, leaning against the jam, her head tilted, her lips wet and her hair spilling wildly over her shoulders.

“What took you so long?” she said as she grabbed his tie and pulled him in to the house.

The next morning came too soon as far as Stephen was concerned.  Holly’s alarm went off at five a.m and all he knew was that they didn’t finally let one another sleep until sometime after three.  Last night he had the opportunity to live out both fantasies.  Holly completely seduced him in the foyer and it was just as wild and as exciting as he had hoped.   Afterwards, he had carried her up the stairs to her bedroom – she was still in her cocktail dress and heels, a heady combination – and slowly made love to her for hours.

With the reality of the morning, he was too content to risk bringing up the subject of taking their relationship to the next level.  Kissing her awake, Stephen found that this there were better ways to wake up in the morning than using an alarm clock.

Luck was on their side in the morning with Stephen having his own car with him.  He reluctantly kissed her goodbye at six thirty and drove to the office where he had a shower and kept a change of clothes.  By the time Holly arrived at eight-thirty, it looked like business as usual. 

They were also lucky to have the deterrent of having to quickly get all of the specifics out of the way for Stephen’s ten o’clock meeting with Mr. Gideon.  Stephen spent the better part of an hour on the phone with legal while Holly went about setting up the conference room for them to use again – this time with a much smaller group of people.

By lunch time, contracts were signed, champagne was served and the Gideon group was on their way to Raleigh-Durham Airport and preparing to fly back to California.  While Holly was relieved to have the waiting and the preparation and the wondering over, this started a whole new phase of life at Ballinger’s.

As she went down to the company cafeteria to meet some of the girls from accounting for lunch, she had to wonder if she was entering a new phase of life with Stephen.  It was clear that they had moved on to another phase of their relationship, but how long would it last?  Was Stephen expecting her to merely be the type of woman who he usually dated that was satisfied with a week or so of his time and then okay with being dumped with some sort of door prize picked out by…well, Holly normally picked out the parting gift slash door prize.  Who would Stephen get to pick out hers?

That thought did
not
settle well in her heart or her stomach.  The whole thing was making her sick.  Luckily, the group of gals she was eating with were all chatty and it helped divert her mind to simpler things – other people’s lives! 

Until they were preparing to clear off their tables.

“So Holly,” Donna from accounts payable began, “how can you work for such a good looking man and actually get any work done.”  All of the girls nodded in agreement and looked to Holly expectantly.  “I mean, I think I would just plant myself in his office all the live-long day and just stare!  Honestly, the man is beautiful.”  This was followed by even more agreement from the group.  Holly felt a little bit trapped.

“You know, I guess I don’t even notice it anymore.”  They all looked at her with disbelief.  “It’s true,” she lied.  “When I first came to work for Stephen I did have a major crush on him but it didn’t take long to realize that he only cared about one thing – his company.  He never looked at me twice.”  Feeling confident and that she’d thrown them off of her scent with her small admittance to having a crush way back when, Holly felt as if the topic were over.