In the Eye of the Storm (20 page)

The sound of her voice was so soothing that Stephen felt all of the tension leave his body.  “Everything is fine; it always was, I guess.  I just panicked.  No big deal.”  He was going for light and breezy but Holly just looked at him with mocking disbelief.

“You slept in the office for a week, Stephen.  In all of the years I’ve worked with you, you’ve never slept in the office for more than a random night.  What’s going on?”  She reached across the table and gently laid her hand on top of his, her voice laced with concern.

Just the simple gesture, the gentle touch of her hand gave Stephen the courage to say what had been on his mind since she’d sent him away.  “Why did you leave like that?  Why didn’t you talk to me about Derek’s phone call?”  His tone lacked accusation and for that Holly was grateful.

“I had no idea what to say, Stephen,” she began.  “He caught me completely off-guard and I figured that he knew you better than I did and that maybe you didn’t know how to end things with us.”  She looked down at their now-joined hands and then back at him.  “You know, you’re not the greatest at breaking up with women and I should know; you used to leave it to me to clean up after your botched attempts at breaking up.”  She laughed softly and it didn’t take long for him to join her.

“Fair enough but still…you just left.  No phone call, no explanation…you were just gone.  I thought that if nothing else we still had a decent working relationship, decent enough that you should have been able to come to me and tell me that you were going away for a while and leaving me with Judy.”

“I talked with her several times while I was gone.  You didn’t have to take it out on her, you know,” she softly chided.  “I know I handled this badly but I was just so hurt.  How could I come to my boss and explain to him that I had to get out of town because the man that I was involved with hurt me so badly when those two men were one in the same?”  She looked up at him as her eyes filled with tears.  “I know now that it wasn’t you directly who hurt me and yes, looking back I probably should have confronted you with it but…honestly I was just too hurt.”

“Why?  Why were you so upset, Holly?”

Was the man dense or was he going to punish her by making her say out loud what she didn’t want to?  Stephen looked at her expectantly.  Holly pulled her hand from his and rose from the table with her plate and glass and took them over to the sink.  She had a strong urge to smash them in to a million pieces in the sink because he put her in this position.  Turning abruptly back to him, she spoke.  “Because I love you, Stephen!  Damn you!  There are you satisfied?”

He rose slowly and walked over to her and placed her hands on her shoulders to turn her towards him.  Stephen studied her face intently before pulling her close and crushing his mouth over hers.  It had been too long since he’d held her; since he’d felt her heart beating against his own.  His mouth left her briefly as he looked down at her upturned face.  Holly’s eyes slowly opened.  “I was devastated when you left, Holly, and not because of any damn contract or client but because I love you.”  His voice was thick with emotion and he loved the way that her eyes had gone soft at his words.  “I wanted to believe that I was upset from a business angle but the truth is that nothing felt right, nothing worked without you.  I missed you.”

He kissed her again, deeply, and then carried her in to the living room where he laid down beside her on the sofa.  Their bodies aligned, they kissed.  Stephen’s hands trailed up and down the length of her as if to reassure himself that she was still there. 

“I missed you,” she whispered between kisses.  “I’m so sorry for leaving, for not trusting you…”

Stephen held her face in his hands, reveling in the softness of her skin.  “I didn’t give you any reason to trust me, did I?”  It was more a statement than a question.  “You were only responding to what you knew and I am so sorry for all that happened and for what Derek did.  I did get to hit him again and that made me feel a little bit better.”  He kissed her nose and she giggled.

“So that’s where he got the bruise from,” she said then confessed, “I hit him, too.  Right on the same bruise you left on him.”   

Stephen couldn’t help it; he let out a hearty laugh.  How he loved this woman!  “You hit Derek?”  Holly nodded, and joined in his laughter.  “What did he do?”

“He wasn’t happy, I can tell you that!”  He pulled her close and sighed as the laughter subsided.  Holly snuggled in close and felt content for the first time since…ever.

She lost track of how long they lay there together like that.  A part of her wanted to encourage Stephen to take her upstairs but then thought of all of the nights he had slept on the sofa in his office and knew that if anything, the man needed sleep.  Carefully, she rose from the sofa and held out her hands to him.  Wordlessly he rose and followed her up the stairs to his bedroom. 

It had seemed a lifetime since they’d last been in this room together.  Holly came to stand in front of him and silently lifted his shirt above his head.  Gently she pushed him down on the mattress and went about getting him undressed.  If Stephen noticed that she was doing this without even the slightest hint of seduction, he chose to say nothing.  When he was down to his briefs, Holly pulled the blankets up to cover him.  “Sleep, Stephen,” she whispered.  You need one good night’s sleep in your own bed.”  She leaned over and switched off the small bed-side lamp. 

Stephen reached out and touched Holly’s arm.  “Stay with me.”  That had been her plan but it pleased her to hear him ask.  With a smile she walked over to his dresser, tugged open a drawer and pulled out a t-shirt before heading in to the bathroom with a promise to be right back.  “Spoil sport,” he mumbled as he settled comfortably in to the bed he’d abandoned for so long.

Holly had been gone no longer than three minutes and yet when she approached the bed she found Stephen to be sound asleep.  She ran a hand gently through his hair and kissed his cheek before walking around to the other side of the bed and crawling in beside him.  Truth be known, she hadn’t slept well either since she had sent him away that night.  Even back home in the bed she’d had her entire life, she’d been unable to get a good night’s sleep. 

Pulling the blankets up over herself, Holly snuggled in next to Stephen and was quietly thrilled when, even in sleep, he reached for her and pulled her close.  Sighing with deep relaxation it didn’t take long for Holly to join Stephen in sleep.

Chapter Twelve

It was the nuzzling that caused Holly to smile and open her eyes.  Stephen was placing whisper soft kisses on her cheek and neck.  The room was pitch black as she turned towards him and wrapped herself around him, pulling him close.  “I missed you,” he murmured between kisses.

“Show me,” Holly replied and then gloried in the wonder of it all as he did just that.

The next time Holly opened her eyes, the room was showing the first signs of sunlight.  A quick glance at the bedside clock showed it to be seven-fifteen.  If things were on the original Ballinger’s schedule, Stephen would be needing to get his files and paperwork in order so that he could fly out tomorrow.  She had no idea how much he had really changed his plans and so with business in mind, she quietly called his name and shook his shoulder to wake him up.

“Do you need to get in to the office and prep for the trip tomorrow?” she asked when he finally opened his eyes and seemed alert. 

Stephen stretched and pulled himself up into a semi-sitting position before he answered.  “I postponed the trip until Friday.”  He scrubbed a hand over his face, still fighting with alertness.  “I just couldn’t seem to work up the enthusiasm to go and do the job.  That puts me behind getting to Gideon, as well, but…”  He let the rest just trail off.

Needing to get up and stretch, Holly kicked away the blankets and rose from the bed.  “Okay, so that only puts you a couple of days behind.  Last I checked everything was ready to go.  Why don’t you just take a few days to get caught up on some sleep and by the time you leave on Friday I’ll have had time to go over everything with Judy and take care of things here.”

The blank expression on his face sent a wave of panic through her.  True, they never did really discuss their working relationship last night; Holly just assumed that Stephen would want her back as his assistant.  The only sound she heard other that the beating of her heart was that of the antique bedside clock. 

Uneasy with the silence, Holly began to ramble.  “I mean, I know that you’re probably still mad about my taking off like I did and I’m sure that Judy has done just fine…if you want her to stay on as your assistant, I’d completely understand.  I’d be disappointed, but I’d understand.  Really.”

Why wouldn’t he say anything?

Holly stared at Stephen expectantly and hoped that he couldn’t see her tremble.  This was it.  It was go time; all or nothing.  As if he had all of the time in the world, Stephen rose from the bed and walked over to her.  Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled Holly close and just gently rocked back and forth for a moment before pulling back to look at her.

“So you’re telling me that you want your job back; the same job that you abandoned without notice.”

Holly swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.  “Yes, please.”

Stephen released her and walked to the bathroom and shut the door.  Holly wasn’t sure what his response would be but she certainly didn’t expect him to just walk away!  When he stepped back out he walked over to the bed and sat back down, seeming to enjoy her nervousness.

“Well,” he began, “Judy really seems to have things under control and she was a real trooper with all that I threw at her this last week or so.  Would it really be
fair
to just send her on her way?  I mean, how do I know that you won’t run off again when things get rough?”  His tone was light and deep down, Holly figured he was playing with her but she was willing to go along for the time being. 

Walking over to the bed and sitting beside him, she gave the impression of thinking over his concerns.  “I suppose it wouldn’t be right; after all, she did jump in to a sticky situation and seemed to thrive.”  She ran a hand through her hair and faced him.  “I guess it wouldn’t be fair.  I’ll just have to call Will and see if he has any positions available for me; you know he’s been trying to steal me away from Ballinger’s for a while now.”

Holly had no idea Stephen could move that fast.  She squealed with delight as they rolled around on the bed until he was on top of her, looking down in to her face, his eyes piercing hers.  “You will
not
be going to work for anyone,” he growled and gave her a heated kiss.  “Judy will be more than happy to not have to deal with me anymore.  If you want to come back to work, I know that I would love that.  However,” he stopped and kissed her again.  “I was kind of hoping that you’d want to take on another position.”

Holly pulled back as far as space would allow and looked at him quizzically.  “Another position?  Doing what?”

“For starters, I’d like for you to come on this trip with me.  I know you’ve done that in the past and I’m sure Judy won’t mind staying on as long as I’m out of the building.”  He actually chuckled at the thought of that.  “I think that between the two clients, with the two of us working on them, we can get done a lot quicker.  And then…” he kissed her again, “maybe we can take a couple of days for ourselves.”

“Well, that definitely sounds like a plan but it still doesn’t explain what position in the company you had in mind for me.”

“Company?” he asked.  “I never said that the position was with the company.”

Holly rolled her eyes.  “Stephen Ballinger if that whole ‘position’ thing was a sexual innuendo then I don’t find you funny!”  She lightly slapped at his chest and laughed but noticed that he didn’t join her.  “Stephen?”

“Holly,” he began seriously, “I think that it’s past time that we had this discussion.”  He rolled off of her and climbed off of the bed, extending a hand to help her up.  He paced back and forth twice before facing her fully again.  “I don’t want you as my assistant really; not anymore.  I love you and I want…I mean, I need…damn.”  Stephen had thought of this moment several times since their relationship began and now that it was here, he couldn’t find the right words.

“Will you marry me, Holly?”  She collapsed on to the bed and Stephen knelt before her, taking her hands in his.  “We make a great team, you and I, and I think that we can make this work.  I need you in my life, not as my assistant or someone to help with the business, but in my life for
me. 
So will you?  Will you marry me?”

Her eyes filled with tears.  In her wildest dreams she never could have imagined a more beautiful moment.  This was what she had been hoping for before Thanksgiving, only now it seemed to mean so much more. 

“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” Stephen said as he wiped away the first tears that trailed down her cheeks.  “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Holly leaned down and placed her hands on his face and kissed him.  “I was hoping you wanted me for something other than my typing skills,” she said lightly.  “Yes, Stephen; yes, I will marry you.”  He pulled her close and kissed her again.

Later, much later, Stephen called the office and offered Judy the position of his assistant and happily explained how she was coming about the position.  When she didn’t seem all that surprised, Stephen asked, “You were in on it yesterday, weren’t you?  Did Will talk to you?”

“No,” she said cheerily; giddy with the thought of a happily-ever-after.  “Holly called and told me what was going on.  I was hoping that this would be the outcome.  I’m really happy for the both of you.”

“Thank you, Judy,” he said.  “Oh, and Judy?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Thanks for putting up with me during all of this.  I really am sorry for my behavior.”

“It all makes sense now,” she said.  “All is forgiven.”

Stephen hung up the phone and turned to face his fiancé as she lay curled up in the bed behind him.  “Everything okay?” she asked.