In the Eye of the Storm / Catering to the CEO Read online

  Totally taken aback, Holly opened her mouth to speak, but Stephen held up a hand to silence her. “Oh, no. You have had a lot to say in the past twelve hours, and you’ve been poking and picking and prodding for answers, so here they are!”

  He started off telling Holly how Derek and Will had shown up at the office not long after she had left the night before. “I guess you must have missed them because it could not have been more than a matter of minutes after you left,” he said. “The plans were to find someplace casual to go and hang out like we used to do when we were younger—nothing fancy.”

  Stephen stared out the window at the rain pounding the deck as he continued. They had ended up at McGavin’s to have a couple beers and maybe shoot a couple games of pool or darts. “I started telling them about the new Gideon project you and I were going to be working on, and Will made the comment that I work you too hard.” Stephen turned around abruptly; his eyes bore into the top of Holly’s head as she looked at the floor. “You felt comfortable enough to tell Will that I worked you too hard but not me. Why?”

  She looked up then. “I didn’t tell Will any such thing.” She sighed. “Remember last week when he came to the office to have lunch with you and your conference call ran long?

  “Well, he sat with me out in the office and asked what my plans were for the weekend, and when I told him, he looked at me like he felt sorry for me.”

  “Why? What were your plans?”

  “Cleaning house. Balancing my checkbook. Basic things that most people do during the week but I do on the weekends because it’s the only time that I can.” Saying the words out loud made her feel lousy about herself all over again. “He asked me why I wasn’t going out on a date or to a movie with friends, and I sort of shrugged. I had no excuse except I was too tired to.”

  Stephen stalked away and began to pace again as he talked. “Anyway, we were shooting pool, and I argued that I do not work you too hard. Will snorted. Derek laughed. So I asked what his problem was, and he made a snarky comment that maybe if I had a social life, I’d get out of the office once in a while.”

  Holly looked at him quizzically. “What’s the big deal about that?”

  “I’m trying not to be crude here, Holly. He didn’t word it quite that way…”

  “Oh.”

  “So I told him my sex life—or lack thereof at the moment—was none of his business. But he kept going at it like a dog with a bone. ‘You need to get out more.’ ‘You need to get laid more.’ Honestly, sex is Derek’s answer to everything.” Needing to stop the pacing, Stephen began cleaning up the breakfast mess. “Will told him to back off, and I thought we were through with it, when he looked at me and said that maybe I wasn’t interested in getting laid because I had you around.”

  “What?” Holly wheezed. She had always liked Stephen’s friends, but of the two, Derek was certainly a little more vulgar and harder on the senses. The fact that he would think such a thing about her hurt her feelings but didn’t really surprise her. “Why would he think that?”

  “He figured that the only reason I’d not be out screwing around and instead staying around the office with you was because we were screwing around.”

  “Well, that’s ridiculous,” Holly said, pulling at some imaginary spot on her sweatpants.

  “Then Will chimed in that it did seem odd that a woman as attractive as you had no other social life besides the time you spent with me and that it didn’t seem to faze you. They agreed and conspired about how it all made sense and then wanted to know how the sex was.”

  “Oh…my…God…” Holly stammered. She was sure she was blushing form the roots of her hair to the soles of her feet. If Stephen’s friends thought this, was it possible other people in the office thought it too? “Oh…my…God…” she repeated as she stood, her heart racing, and then began to pace herself. “This is unbelievable.”

  “I tried brushing them off, but after a couple of beers, they were a little relentless, and I was a little defensive, and one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, pool cues were being thrown, and I had Derek on the pool table by the throat. Will pulled me off him, but not before I had pounded his face pretty good.”

  “Oh, no! You didn’t!”

  He nodded. “Unfortunately, I did.”

  “Was he all right?”

  Stephen looked away before answering her. He busied himself loading the dishwasher and placing food in the refrigerator. “It didn’t end there. It got worse.”

  Holly rolled her eyes. How could it possibly have gotten any worse? “Why? What happened next?”

  “Are you sure you want to know? Because it’s not pretty,” he snarled. If he was hoping to change her mind, he was sorely mistaken. At this point in the story, Holly had to know everything. “Will pulled me off Derek, and I was about to apologize for what I’d done when he looked at me and said, ‘Well, if you’re not man enough to’”—Stephen searched his brain for a kinder word for what Derek had said but could find none before continuing—“‘then maybe I will.’” He turned and looked at Holly and cringed at the horrified look on her face. “I snapped. I have no excuse. I don’t know why it bothered me so much for him to say such a thing. I mean, he’s always saying things like that about women we see when we’re out, but for some reason, hearing him say it about you, well, it…it made me snap.”

  He stood there, waiting for her to say something, anything. Minutes passed, and still Holly stood there, her green eyes huge in her pale face. Not knowing what else to do, Stephen did one final sweep of the kitchen, poured himself another cup of coffee, sat back down at the table, and stared at Holly’s back. The tiny pit bull that had been relentless in wanting to know what happened the previous night apparently had nothing left to say. He should be smug about silencing her, but thinking about the look in her eyes stopped him.

  “Holly?” he whispered. “Say something. Please.”

  Slowly she turned to face him. “To be honest with you, Stephen, I don’t know what to say.” She sat down slowly, almost as if being poured into the chair, before standing back up again. “No, that’s not true. I do have something to say.”

  Stephen hid a small smile behind his coffee mug. He wasn’t sure what was coming, but at least that devastated look was off her face. He’d welcome anything she had to say as long as he didn’t have to see such hurt in her eyes again.

  “If this is what your friends think of me, I can only imagine what the rest of the company must be whispering about us. I…I don’t think I can work for you anymore. I had no idea people thought this way. I…I…”

  Standing abruptly, he walked over to Holly and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You can’t make a judgment call on everyone based on the words of a couple of drunken men, Holly! You’re being ridiculous!”

  For the briefest moment, she wanted to agree with him. She really did, but the reality of it all wouldn’t let her. “You have no idea what people think, Stephen, because you don’t pay attention to anything around you that doesn’t directly pertain to a project that you’re working on. I would hate it if after all this time people had such low thoughts of me.”

  “Sleeping with me would be low?” he asked, taking his hands away from her shoulders.

  “For the love of it, would you focus? This is not about that, and you know it. I thought your friends truly liked me. I liked them. But after a few beers suddenly they think I’m some sort of…of…slutty secretary or something!”

  He knew he shouldn’t have laughed, but somehow he couldn’t stop himself. “Holly, please! You make it sound like bad porn or something. Those guys were drunk! They were being stupid. I’m sure if I talked to them right now they’d apologize for what they said.” Thinking he had it all worked out, Stephen walked over to grab the phone.

  “Don’t you dare!” she cried. Holly walked over and took the phone out of his hands. “I do not want any part o
f that discussion. And besides, you need to finish the story. None of this explains how it ended up that they left you there at McGavin’s. That seems rather juvenile to me.”

  “Really? That’s the only part of this whole scenario that seems juvenile?” His voice dripped with sarcasm as he stared down at her. Had she always been this petite? Looking down, he realized that she was barefoot. Her toenails were painted a bright coral color, and for a moment he was simply fascinated. His conservative little assistant wore a sassy color on her nails, and it had him wondering what other sassy items she might wear under her normally sensible attire.

  “Stephen?” she prompted.

  “Oh, right.” He looked back up at her face. “Well, there was a lot more yelling and shoving, and for a while Will tried to break us apart, and then Derek and I both turned at the same time and sort of swung at Will.”

  “Oh, no! You didn’t!”

  “We did.”

  “Oh, this is all way too much, Stephen. I don’t want to be the cause of you fighting with these men who you’ve been friends with almost your whole life, especially over something that’s not even true! Was Will okay?”

  “No, we knocked him unconscious.”

  Holly knew she was beginning to sound like a broken record but could not stop the oh no from coming out. “What did you do?”

  “I went to get some water and ice from the bartender. In the meantime, Derek threw Will over his shoulder and left. By the time I got what I needed, they were pulling out of the parking lot.” He shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal. “And that’s what happened.”

  The walk to the kitchen table felt like it was a mile. How did this weekend go so terribly wrong in such a short amount of time? It didn’t seem possible. When she left work last night, Holly had high hopes for a relaxing weekend. It didn’t seem right that in a matter of a few short hours she had come to realize that people thought she was sleeping with her boss and now she had to seriously face the possibility of quitting her job. After a good night’s sleep, she had come to realize that it was the last thing she wanted to do.

  But apparently the choice was made. “You realize, Stephen, that in light of all this, I can’t continue to work for you. It would be too awkward. I would feel like from this point on everyone was watching us, and, God forbid, if Will or Derek ever came to the office again, I would die of embarrassment.”

  “Holly, you have nothing to be embarrassed about! Quitting is a little extreme, don’t you think?”

  “No, I don’t. I said it last night, and this whole thing has snowballed from one bad issue to another, and while I would have preferred that it not come to this, we can’t turn back time.” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. She hated herself for wanting to cry. “I have loved working for you, Stephen, but there are too many obstacles now that I can’t overcome.” She would miss seeing him every day, being challenged by him every day, but the only way to keep her pride intact was to leave Ballinger’s.

  One lone tear fell, and Stephen felt it all the way to his soul. “Stop, Holly, please. Don’t say any more.” Once again he placed his hands on her shoulders, but this time he pulled her in close before lowering his arms to wrap her in them. “This will all blow over in a couple of days. I can make sure Derek and Will stay away for a while. I’m sure I’m not high on their list right now either. Chances of them even wanting to come around are probably slim to none. Don’t quit!” He said the words with a quiet fierceness that Holly had never heard before. “I can fix this. I swear I can. Give me some time.”

  Holly pulled back to look at him and smiled sadly. “I appreciate that you wanted to fight this battle for me, I do. No one’s ever done anything like that for me. But the truth of the matter is it’s not your issue, it’s mine. It may very well be only Derek and Will who have this theory, but I’ll never be sure of that, and it’s not something I can live with. I know I work hard and the work I do is legit. I’m not exchanging sexual favors for job perks.”

  “So if you know that and I know that, then why let them win? Don’t you see, Holly, by leaving you’re playing their childish game. Don’t do it.”

  Oh, how she wanted to believe him. Without conscious thought, she let herself be pulled fully back into his embrace and let herself relax into it. It felt nice. It felt better than nice; it felt bone-meltingly good. That thought worried her for the briefest of seconds, but she chased her concern away and let herself enjoy the moment. After all, this could be the first and only time she would ever have the opportunity to feel this closeness with him.

  Although she would never admit it to anyone—she could barely admit it to herself—she had always harbored a slight crush on her boss. He seemed like the perfect man; he worked hard and was successful in his field, he was kind to his employees, he was friendly and had a great laugh—not to mention that he wasn’t hard on the eyes! Allowing herself to have this moment with him was sort of a fitting ending to this chapter of her life.

  Not working with Stephen, not seeing him or speaking to him every day, was going to be really hard. It would probably be one of the hardest things she’d had to do at this point in her twenty-six years of life, but it had to be this way. Holly hugged him back briefly and then went to pull out of his embrace, but Stephen wouldn’t allow it.

  “Don’t do this, Holly,” he whispered. One hand was stroking up and down her back while the other kept her anchored to him. “I’ll cut back on your hours, I’ll stop calling on the weekends. You can go home and cook dinner at a reasonable time. Don’t…quit.”

  She smiled sadly into his chest. Oh, if only it were that easy. She knew what her decision had to be but didn’t want to continue this conversation. “I need some time to think about this, okay? I’m going to get the rest of my things and head home, and we’ll talk more about this on Monday. Is that all right?” Stephen released Holly and nodded.

  He stood back and watched her walk out to the foyer where she had placed her jacket that morning, and put on the sneakers she had taken off when they first got to the house in the wee hours of the morning. He waited quietly, hands in pajama pockets, unsure what to do. Should he force the issue and not let her leave until she agreed to stay on working for him? Should he be arguing his case and pleading and begging until she agreed to stay? No; Stephen Ballinger did not beg! If Holly chose to leave, Stephen knew things would be rough for a while because he hated having to take time out of his schedule to train someone new.

  Holly had been a natural from the beginning. It had always seemed as if she had been made for the job, the perfect assistant for him. She had a quick mind and wasn’t afraid to ask questions. The fact that she had such an infectious personality was a perk. All his colleagues and associates loved her. Stephen always knew that he could take Holly with him to any meeting or formal event and she would be an asset to him. She had managed to wow some of his more difficult clients and maintained easygoing friendships with the wives of many of his favorite ones.

  With deep-down resignation, Stephen knew he could not let her quit. He’d give into any demand she made if it came down to it. He’d be willing to give up his friendship with his two best friends if that’s what made Holly stay. He shook his head at his own desperation. Was he insane? Sure, she was an amazing personal assistant, but was she really worth all that?

  “I think that’s everything,” Holly said and snapped him out of his inner dialogue. She looked years younger than she did in the office, wearing sweats and very little makeup. Stephen decided he liked her hair down and found that he wished she’d do that more around the office—if she stayed. “I really do hope you work things out with Will and Derek. I’m sure in the light of day, things will be clearer for everyone.”

  Stephen merely grunted in response because at that moment, he couldn’t care less about what was clear and what wasn’t for his friends. His life was a damn mess, and as far as he was concerned, it was their fa
ult. He walked over and opened the front door for her. The wind was howling, and the rain was coming down in sheets. “Holly, I don’t think this is the best time for you to be on the roads. Maybe you should wait it out for a little while longer.”

  Hesitating for a heartbeat, Holly knew she had to get out of the house now while she still could. “I’ll be fine. I’ve driven in worse. Besides, you said yourself that the TV5 weatherman predicts it’s going to get worse as the day goes on. This is probably the best time for me to go.” Pulling her hood up and taking her keys out, she turned and smiled. “Thank you for breakfast. It was wonderful.” Clicking the remote to unlock the car door, she stepped out onto the porch. “We’ll talk on Monday, okay?”

  “No,” he said quickly. “I mean, call me when you get home so I know you made it okay.” When Holly looked at him with disbelief, he added, “I promise not to try to talk business with you or pressure you into staying. I want to make sure nothing happens to you on the drive home.”

  “Okay,” she said and made a mad dash for her car. Once inside, she felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “Thank God!” She sighed as she started the engine. There was no way she could make the decision she had to make while wrapped in Stephen’s embrace.

  Three years she had worked for him, and it had taken something like this to make the man notice her as anything more than his assistant! Did that make her pathetic or really, really unlucky? Putting the car in gear, she pulled forward in the circular drive and waved to Stephen, who was still standing in the doorway watching her. At the end of the driveway, she entered her destination into the GPS and turned right.

  The drive home was going to be long and slow, to be sure. The rain was coming down so hard that she could barely see beyond the nose of her car. The wind was fighting her compact little SUV with all its might. For a moment she thought about going back to Stephen’s and doing as he suggested and waiting it out. Thinking better of it, Holly decided that what was best for her, both mentally and emotionally, was to take the drive as slowly as possible and resign herself to spending a large portion of the day in the car.