Feeling confident that, one way or another, in two cars or one, she would be spending the night with Stephen put a relaxed and confident smile on Holly’s face as she climbed into his car. Stephen shut her door after making sure she was settled, walked around to the driver’s side, and tipped the valet. Climbing in, he sat and put on his seat belt, then 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!
After they pulled 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 draw up 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 toward for years, and I am thrilled to see that it finally happened.” Without thinking, she leaned over, 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 and a black cocktail dress he itched to peel off her.
He made sure 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 seduce her slowly into the idea. Perhaps he could make her see that they could be together without putting a full-page ad in the newspaper. They could simply be together.
Of course, Stephen was not a patient man, and the thought of taking this slowly when all he wanted to do was have her back in his bed was not making him too happy. 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 her knowing he was following her home. He grew hard 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 rein himself in—a speeding ticket would surely slow down his plans to get to her.
It didn’t take long to pull into 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 not to alert her to his arrival, he pulled in, turned off the engine, 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 and 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 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 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 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 her to open the door so he could 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 slowly 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’d made him this past 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 doorjamb, 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 into 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 hadn’t finally slept until sometime after three. Last night he’d had the opportunity to live out both fantasies. Holly completely seduced him in the foyer, and it was as wild and as exciting as he had hoped. Afterward, 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.
Stephen reluctantly kissed Holly 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 had to quickly get all 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—this time for a much smaller group of people.
By lunchtime, contracts were signed, champagne was served, and the Gideon group was on its way to Raleigh-Durham International Airport to fly back to California. While Holly was relieved to have the process over with, a whole new phase of life at Ballinger’s had started.
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 plane of their relationship, but how long would it last? Was Stephen expecting her to be the type of woman he usually dated who would be 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 get any work done?” All the girls nodded in agreement and looked to Holly expectantly. “I mean, I think I would plant myself in his office all the livelong day and stare! Honestly, the man is beautiful.” This was followed by 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 her scent with her small admittance to having a crush way back when, Holly felt as if the topic were over.
She was wrong.
“Oh, come on,” Sherry from accounts 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 those business trips and the man has not once made a move on you?”
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 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 yourself that you’ve purchased breakup 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 me 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 into Stephen’s office to see if there was anything else he needed before she left. It seemed weird to be asking that; it was 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 bit more casual and a lot more relaxing.” Stephen stood and walked around his desk to stand in front of her. His office door was open, 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 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 toward Derek and later in the week toward Will when he saw his friend talking with Holly down on the sidewalk. 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 set 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 do. What do you say?”
He’d be a fool to pass up this opportunity, and if there was one thing he was beginning to pride himself on of late, it was not being a fool. “That sounds like a plan,” he said, keeping his tone light and casual.
They decided that Holly would head home to get things started while Stephen finished up what he needed to at the office. They’d meet at her house at six thirty. Looking and sounding every bit the personal assistant lest anyone be within earshot, she wished him a good night and said that she would see him in the morning.
On the way to Holly’s house, Stephen stopped to buy a bottle of wine. As he walked out of the liquor store, he had the 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 mixed bouquet 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 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. Nice, but definitely strange.
They enjoyed the dinner Holly had prepared—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 to see my family. For Thanksgiving I do a quick weekend—leave Wednesday night and I’m home on Saturday 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 at 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 anymore.
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 better, Stephen might be starting to see himself and Holly settling down together.
That wasn’t possible. Sure, he knew it had been an internal 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 he would never get married and settle down. Unfortunately, as of late, that seemed to be all he could think about. He glanced at Holly as she finished cleaning up the kitchen. She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled.
He couldn’t help but smile at her in return and knew that right now, that very moment, 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 a personal assistant-slash-boss relationship with her; Stephen needed it to be personal and intimate. He wanted to spend time with Holly outside the office and take her places.
Settling more comfortably into 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 meals. 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 these things, and yet he knew, deep down, that he probably had 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, topped off her wine, and turned to face Stephen. Whatever he was thinking about had put a relaxed smile on his face. For a moment, she allowed herself the luxury of looking at him. It was rare to see him so relaxed and smiling that she had to give herself a moment. He must have sensed her stare because suddenly he snapped out of his trance.
“Let’s go into the den,” Holly suggested as she walked past him and grabbed his hand. Stephen followed obediently. They settled in front of the TV where they channel surfed a bit. Finding nothing appealing 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 ou
t after a long day,” she said.
“Thank you for including me in your dinner plans.”
Holly smiled. “Thank you for joining me. This was a nice surprise.” She took a sip of her wine. “The wine, the flowers, dinner…some would call this a date.” She sounded playful, and she hoped Stephen wouldn’t be scared by her teasing tone.
“Would they?” he asked quizzically.
Nodding, she answered, “Yes, I believe 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 it would be.”
“Good,” Stephen said before reaching a hand out to cup Holly’s nape gently and pull her close so he could kiss her. It was tender at first—he 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’s.
“Bedroom?” he murmured as he trailed kisses 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. She squeaked when he lifted her, and before Holly knew it, she was on her bed, on her back with Stephen looking down at her.
In the Eye of the Storm / Catering to the CEO Page 12