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Authors: Samantha Chase

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BOOK: In the Eye of the Storm
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She was wrong.

“Oh, come on,” Sherry from account receivable said, placing her hands on the table as if ready to rise and make a speech.  “You mean to tell me all those late nights and all of those business trips and the man has not once made a move on you?”

Dammit.  This was so
not
the way lunch was supposed to go.  Especially not today.  Holly knew she was going to rot in hell for all of the lies she was telling.  Looking Sherry right in the eye she said, “Not once.  I’m telling you, the only thing that Stephen Ballinger is interested in is his company.”

“Now that’s not true,” Donna chimed back in.  “He’s had girlfriends; you’ve said it yourself that you’ve purchased the break up gifts and whatnot.  Clearly he occasionally has other interests.”

With a shrug and a look of utter dejection, Holly simply said, “Then I guess it’s just me that he finds unattractive.” 

Bingo!
  That was the golden phrase that had everyone going from attack mode to sympathy mode.  All the way back to her office, she was comforted with offers of blind dates and “Don’t worry, honey, he doesn’t deserve someone as good as you.”  Holly had to hold her breath to keep from laughing out loud.  Oh, if only they knew!

The rest of the day flew by without incident and at five o’clock Holly went in to Stephen’s office to see if there was anything else that he needed before she left.  It seemed weird to be asking that even though it’s what she asked him every night, but now suddenly, it seemed like all she wanted to hear was that he needed her.

“Can I take you to dinner tonight?” he asked from behind his desk, looking hopeful. 

“You took me to dinner last night,” Holly replied, playing coy.

He chuckled.  “Well, that was a business dinner.  I was thinking of something a little bit more casual and a whole lot more relaxing.”  Stephen stood and walked around his desk to stand in front of her.  His office door was open and so he was trying to be mindful of anyone who might walk by or walk in. 

“I’ll tell you what, I already have dinner plans, why don’t you just join me?” she asked softly. 

Plans?  She had plans?  Who the hell did she have plans with?  Stephen had to stop himself; there was that rage again – the same one he felt that Friday night at the bar towards Derek and later in the week towards Will when he saw his friend talking with Holly down on the side walk.  What the hell was
that
about?

“Stephen?” she prompted when he hadn’t replied to her suggestion.

“Oh, right, sorry.  Join you, huh?  What kind of plans did you have?”   God, he only hoped he sounded as casual as he thought he did and not like he was accusing her of anything inappropriate.

“Well, I already had some salmon out that I was going to grill.  It’s not really enough for two but I can improvise with some side dishes.  My kitchen isn’t as well-stocked as yours but I think I can make due.  What do you say?”

Hell, he’d be a fool to pass on this opportunity and if there was one thing he was beginning to pride himself on as of late, it was of not being a fool.  “That sounds like a plan,” he said, keeping it light, keeping it casual.

It was decided that Holly would leave and head home to get things started while Stephen finished up what he needed to do here at the office.  The plan was for him to meet her at her house at six-thirty.  Looking and sounding every bit the personal assistant, she wished him a good night and said that she would see him in the morning – lest anyone be within ear shot.  Stephen hated to see her walk out the door but took comfort in the knowledge that he would be seeing her again shortly.

On the way to Holly’s house, Stephen stopped to buy a bottle of wine.  As he walked out of the liquor store he stopped and thought that flowers might be a nice touch, as well.  Feeling like a man on a mission, he drove to a nearby florist and purchased a large bouquet of wild flowers for Holly.  Roses would be predictable and Stephen was trying to show Holly that there was another side to him; a side that could be involved with a woman without the assistance of his…assistant. 

Stephen arrived right on time and Holly was honestly and truly pleasantly surprised with his gift of both the flowers and the wine.  Normally Holly took care of ordering flowers for his dates and having them delivered.  This was completely new territory and it felt strange.  Nice, but definitely strange.

They enjoyed the dinner Holly had prepared – she stopped for another piece of salmon on the way home.  They ate salmon and risotto, Caesar salad and asparagus.  The wine Stephen had chosen was perfect and once the meal was over, Holly quickly cleaned the kitchen while Stephen asked her what her plans were for the holidays.

“I normally head up to Long Island and see my family.  For Thanksgiving I just do a quick weekend – leave Wednesday night and I’m home on Sunday morning.  It’s short and sweet.”

“Do you want to stay longer?  Have I kept you from staying longer?”  He almost cringed while waiting for the answer.

Holly laughed – a full, all-out throaty laugh.  “Oh, Stephen, you should see the look on your face right now!”  She wiped a tear that was rolling down her cheek from laughing before adding, “No, you do not keep me from spending more time with my family for Thanksgiving.  The long weekend is more than enough.  I enjoy living six hundred miles away from them for a reason!”

Though her answer had eased his guilt, all Stephen could think about was that he suddenly didn’t want to go to Vail for Thanksgiving with Derek and Will; he wanted to meet Holly’s family.  He took a large swallow of his wine and did his best to block
that
thought from settling itself too firmly in his mind.  It was like he didn’t even know himself any more. 

First he was thinking about trying out a serious relationship with Holly and now he was imagining himself meeting her family over a holiday visit!  If he didn’t know any better, Stephen was sure that he was staring to see himself and Holly settling down together. 

That wasn’t possible.  Sure, he knew it had been an interior dialogue in his head ever since that fateful Friday night but Stephen refused to take it too seriously.  After all, he was Stephen Ballinger; a man who had always known that he would never get married and settle down.  Unfortunately as of late, that seemed to be
all
that he could think about.  He glanced at Holly as she went about cleaning up the kitchen.  She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled and Stephen swore that she must be some sort of witch because she had certainly cast a spell over him. 

He couldn’t help but smile at her in return and knew that right now, that very moment, that he had to make at least a partial decision about where this was all going.  He would ask Holly tonight if she would consider taking on a relationship with him that didn’t involve things like sex on his desk because they had been too busy trying to fight having a relationship.  He wanted more than just a personal assistant slash boss relationship with her; Stephen needed it to be personal and intimate.  He wanted to spend time with Holly outside of the office and take her places. 

Settling more comfortably in to the kitchen chair, Stephen imagined Holly spending weekends at his home.  They would go to movies together and dinners out; they could come here to her place and have casual, intimate dinners.  Maybe he would bring some of his clothes here, a shaving kit, perhaps, and Holly would leave some of her things at his place so that neither of them would ever be inconvenienced. 

A smile spread across his face because it all sounded perfect.  Stephen couldn’t believe that he had avoided all of these things and yet he knew, deep down, that he probably avoided them for so long because none of the other women he dated were Holly.  It felt perfect because she was perfect for him. 

Holly wiped her wet hands on a dish towel and turned to face Stephen.  Whatever it was that he was thinking about had put a very relaxed smile on his face.  For a moment, she allowed herself the luxury of just looking at him.  It was rare to see him so relaxed
and
smiling that she had to give herself time to have a moment.  He must have sensed her stare because suddenly he snapped out of his trance and caught her staring.

“Let’s go into the den,” Holly suggested as she walked past him and grabbed his hand to lead him up from the chair and out of the room.  Stephen followed obediently.  They settled in front of the TV where they channel surfed a bit and with nothing of appeal on, Holly shut the set off and turned on the stereo system, left it on low and sat herself back down next to him.

“This is much better than going out after a long day,” she said.

“Thank you for including me in your dinner plans.”

Holly smiled.  “Thank you for agreeing to join me.  This was a nice surprise.”  She took a sip of her wine which she had topped off before she led Stephen out of the kitchen.  “The wine, the flowers, dinner…some would call this a date.”  She sounded playful, and hopefully Stephen wouldn’t get scared by her teasing tone.

“Would they?” he asked, feigning knowledge.

Nodding, she answered, “Yes, I believe in popular society, this is what people would call a date.  What’s up with that?”

Stephen slowly sipped his wine before giving Holly an answer.  “Would that be so terrible?  If this was a date, I mean?”

“No, I don’t think that it would be.” 

“Good,” Stephen said before reaching a hand out to gently cup Holly’s nape and pull her close to him so that he could kiss her.  It was tender at first, he just wanted to taste her and show her that he was sincere, but it didn’t take long for it to deepen and become hotter until Holly was straddling his lap with Stephen holding her so close that their hearts beat against one another.

“Bedroom?” he murmured as he trailed kissed down her throat and pulled her blouse aside so that he could nuzzle the roundness of her breasts. 

“Absolutely.” She sighed, unsure if she wanted to wait that long to have him.  With a squeak, he lifted her and climbed the stairs and before Holly knew it, she was on her bed, on her back with Stephen looking down at her. 

“I think I’m going to enjoy dating you,” he said as he pulled off his shirt, a sensuous grin on his face.

 

Chapter Ten

 

Much later, they lay spoon-style in Holly’s bed with a sheet barely draping them.  Stephen’s chin was resting on the top of Holly’s head.  She wiggled a little bit to align their bodies even more intimately and signed with contentment.  She peeked at her bedside clock and saw that it was after midnight.  As much as she hated to speak and risk ruining the moment, she needed to tell Stephen what an amazing night this was but that she needed sleep.  To have shared two such passionate nights in a row with him had been wonderful, but her body desperately needed sleep.

She told him as much and he didn’t say anything.  She waited, wondering if he was already asleep.  “Stephen?” she whispered.  “Are you awake?”

“Yes,” he replied softly.  He kissed the top of her head.  “Can I ask you something?”

Holly nodded, a lump forming in her throat because he sounded so serious.  The last time they had a discussion like this, they were similarly in bed and it was decided that something like
this
could not happen again.  She fervently hoped that Stephen was not going to suggest such a thing again. 

“I know that we sort of made light of it all earlier,” he began, “about this being a date and all but…I was sort of wondering if you…I mean, if we could maybe try…you know…” God he was making a mess of this!  He held business meetings with wealthy heads of major corporations and did it without once stuttering and now here he was talking to one woman and he couldn’t seem to form a complete sentence!  He cleared his throat and started again.  “I think that we sold ourselves short when we said that we would leave what we had at that weekend.  I think we’ve proven in the last two days that we have something here that deserves to be explored.  Would you consider…”

“Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”  Right after she said it, Holly wished that she could take it back because it sounded so…high school! 

Stephen must have agreed because she felt and heard him chuckle before he turned her around to face him.  “Gee, Holly, do you want to wear my letterman’s jacket, too?”  He burst out laughing and Holly swatted him on the chest but couldn’t stop herself from laughing too.

Though they never finished their verbal discussion, it seemed that they were both in agreement that this was something that they wanted to continue.  Stephen made love to Holly slowly after that, and later, much, much later, they finally slept.

Things fell in to a comfortable pattern after that.  They maintained a very professional and yet distant relationship at the office, but the nights and weekends were passionately hot and wild.  They divided their time between their two residences, as Stephen had hoped, and as Thanksgiving week approached, there seemed an air of uncertainty as to what they should do. 

Holly really wanted to spend that weekend with him; to bring him home with her to meet her family would have been her number one wish.  She knew that Stephen had plans with Will and Derek and although they hadn’t discussed it, Holly had a sneaky suspicion that he had not told his friends about their relationship.  She wanted to question Stephen about it, but there were still some hurt feelings about that long ago weekend and the fact that his two friends thought what they did about her.  Although now, truth be told, she was doing exactly what they had thought she was doing back then!

That thought bothered her.  She readily agreed to get involved with Stephen and if she were brutally honest with herself, it was working wonderfully and she should have never thought otherwise.  Maybe it was time for them to stop hiding it; maybe it was time to come out of the proverbial closet and let the chips fall where they land.  What was the worst that could happen?  Stephen wasn’t really spending a lot of time with his friends and Holly had a feeling that if anything, the girls in the office would almost welcome the news. 

BOOK: In the Eye of the Storm
10.3Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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