by Carla Fredd
There was a knock on her door. Holly frowned at the interruption. "Come in," she said.
Pam walked into her office. "Wipe the frown off your face. It's just me." She sat on the edge of Holly's desk. Her orange coat dress stood out against the gray interior of Holly's office. "Did you get a chance to read the report?"
"I just finished," she said. "Everything looks good. All we need is the money."
"You're really serious about moving, aren't you?"
"I'm really serious. Have you heard any more about the bid?"
"No. The Milton Group is keeping things quiet. We'll have to wait until next week to find out who they chose." Pam paused for a moment and studied Holly. "If we don't win this bid, Holly, I want us to get another loan so that we can buy Tamp Security."
"Pam . . ."
Pam held out her hand to interrupt. "I know that you don't want us to get a loan, but it makes sense for us to buy Tamp Security. Their projected profits for next year will make up for the loan payments, and I don't think that we'll get another opportunity to buy a company as good as they are for the price." She paused and smiled sadly at Holly. "As much as I want you to stay here in Atlanta, if you want to move to Seattle and run Tamp Security, I think you should, regardless of what happens with the Milton Group bid."
"I appreciate what you're trying to do." Holly folded her hands on her desk. "But I can't put us in that kind of financial strain. We both agreed when we started this business that we would not exceed a twenty-percent debt ratio, and buying Tamp Security would put us in the forty-percent range. We can't afford to do that. Thanks for thinking about it."
"Yeah, well . . . I just wanted you to know that I'll support you if you want to move. No matter how abandoned I feel, you just go on and have a great time in Seattle. Don't think about me." She wiped away imaginary tears. "I'll be fine here ... alone ... by myself."
Holly laughed at her theatrics. "Speaking of abandon, what happened to Wanda last night?"
"Wanda? I thought she was with you and Mr. Fineness."
"No, she left a message that she couldn't make it. Have you seen her this morning?"
Pam thought for a while, then said no.
Holly picked up her telephone and called Wanda's house. She hung up. "There's no answer."
"Maybe she left a message with Robyn."
Holly called the receptionist and put her on the speakerphone. "Hi, Robyn. Have you heard from Wanda today?"
"Yes, she called early this morning and left a message on the answering machine. Her little sister was sick last night and she's taking her to Egelston Hospital."
"Did she say what was wrong?"
"No, she didn't say."
"Okay. Thanks, Robyn."
Holly pressed a button on the phone to hang up.
"I hope her sister is all right," Pam said with concern.
"Yeah, me too."
"Wait a minute. If Wanda wasn't at dinner with you last night," Pam smiled, "you had dinner with him alone. Details— I want details, now."
"Pam, there are no details." She looked down at her desk, not meeting Pam's eyes. "We met at the Private Room when we got the message that Wanda couldn't make it. We decided to eat anyway since we were there. We talked, we ate, we went our separate ways."
"When did you meet at the Private Room, how long did you stay, what did you talk about?" Pam interrogated.
"Have you decided to go to work for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution?" Holly sighed. She'd seen that look on Pam's face before. Pam wasn't going to leave until she had answers.
"You better be glad that I waited until today to ask these questions. I started to call you around midnight last night. So what happened?"
"We had dinner and we talked about his chef. That's all."
"That's all? He didn't ask you for a date?"
Holly shook her head no.
"A man doesn't send flowers and a teddy bear without wanting something more than dinner." Pam watched Holly with suspicion.
I'm not telling her, no matter how she looks at me, Holly thought. I'm strong. I can handle her pressure tactics. She hoped that her face didn't reveal the discomfort she felt as Pam continued to study her. Pam had learned early on that Holly couldn't lie well.
"You know, you don't look at people when you're trying to hide something." Pam moved off of the desk and stood directly in front of Holly. "I want you to look me directly in the eye and tell me that he didn't ask you for a date." Holly looked into Pam's eyes and began to speak. Pam added, "And he didn't give you any hints that he wanted something other than dinner."
"He didn't ask me for a date and . . ." Her telephone rang. Grateful for the reprieve, Holly reached for the telephone and said, "Hello."
"Wanda, how's your sister?" Holly put her on the speakerphone.
"I don't know," Wanda said, her words filling the office. "The doctor is waiting for some of the test results before he says anything."
"Wanda, this is Pam. You let us know if you need anything, and I mean anything—okay?"
"Okay, I will." There was silence on the line, then Wanda replied. "The doctor wants to talk to me. I'll talk to you later."
The sound of the dial tone filled the office. "She sounded tired," Holly said, after breaking the telephone connection.
"If she's still there tonight, I'll go to the hospital and stay with her for a while." "If you go, call me when you get home." Pam stood and walked out the door.
Holly turned her chair around and faced the window. She hoped that Wanda's little sister wasn't seriously ill. Wanda and her sister were the only survivors in a multi-car accident that killed their parents and older brother three years before. Holly remembered the heartache that Wanda had suffered when she'd buried her family and Wanda's strength when she'd given comfort to her grieving sister while dealing with her own.
"Well, worrying won't change a thing," she muttered turning the chair away from the window. She began to work. A few minutes later, Pam stood in the doorway of her office.
"I'll bet you thought that I forgot about those questions that you didn't answer about dinner. I didn't, and I'll get you later." She walked down the hall.
Mike arrived at Holly's office a few hours later. She and Pam were discussing their strategy for another project when Robyn knocked on her office door.
"Mr. Williams is here to see you, Holly."
"Tell him I'm busy," Holly said.
"Send him in," Pam said.
"Hello, Holly." He appeared beside Robyn. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." His attempt at a serious expression was ruined by the amusement in his eyes.
"Noo-oo," Pam said, using two syllables instead of one, "you're not interrupting anything. We were about to take a break anyway."
Lips pursed, Holly glared at Pam. They weren't about to take a break. In fact, they were in the middle of the project. She turned to him. "Hello, Mike."
He stepped into the room. His multicolored rugby shirt molded the contours of his chest. His jeans looked tailored to his long legs. She never considered the casual look sexy . . . until now.
"Would you like for me to bring in something to drink?" Robyn asked.
"If it's no trouble, Robyn, I'd like a Coca-Cola." He gave her one of his high-voltage, sexy smiles. Robyn stammered something that sounded like "No trouble at all" and closed the door without asking Holly or Pam if they wanted a drink.
She wasn't unaffected by the smile. It brought back memories of the tension between them last night and the kiss that almost was.
"I'll leave you . . ." Pam motioned for the door.
"You don't have to leave," he said. "This won't take long."
"What can I do for you?" Holly asked.
He removed a box that he had hidden behind his back. "I wanted to give you something." He opened the box and put the glass object into her hands.
She studied the glass, then felt heat rush to her face when she recognized the candy inside: chocolate kisses. Holly walked to the table and put th
e candy jar on her desk. "That wasn't necessary."
"Oh, I think it was very necessary." He folded his arms across his chest. "I don't want you ever to say that I haven't given you a kiss."
Pam cleared her throat. "I just thought of a very important phone call I've got to make." She edged her way to the door. "Continue with your conversation."
Before Holly could stop her, Pam walked out of the office and closed the door behind her.
Mike slowly smiled at her. His smile promised heaven, but his eyes hinted at sin. He unfolded his arms and walked to the table and removed a single kiss from the jar. "Want one?" he asked unwrapping the candy. Then he held the tempting chocolate kiss to her lips. The smell of the chocolate was a sweet ambrosia to her senses. He brushed the candy against her mouth, but she kept her lips closed.
She stepped away from him. "No, thanks." Her voice was deeper, huskier than normal.
Without breaking eye contact, he raised the chocolate to his lips, holding it in the exact same spot where it had touched her lips. He lazily bit into it.
Her gaze moved to his mouth, his full, generous mouth. She didn't know when she had begun to hold her breath, but when he slid the other half of the sweet into his mouth, her breath rushed from her lips.
"This is how I imagine you'll taste. Sweet and smooth. The candy is nice, but I want the real thing. When are you going out with me?"
"I ... I don't think that we should, Mike."
"Then don't think." He gently touched her arms. "Just feel."
She felt so much when he touched her. The thin linen jacket was no obstacle to his warm hands. The heat penetrated through the cloth to her vulnerable skin.
"Say you'll go out with me," he whispered.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" He pulled her closer to him. "Asking a beautiful, sexy woman to go out with me?"
She stiffened at the words. The sensual daze that enveloped her disappeared. She stepped out of his embrace. "I'm well aware of how I look. Beautiful isn't the word I would use to describe me."
"You are beautiful, Holly."
"The last man who said I was beautiful was my fiancé, and he eloped with a model a week after our engagement."
Holly waited for his reaction. She didn't have to wait long. He closed the distance between them in a heartbeat. "I'm not Trey Christian, and I don't say things that I don't mean, period. You are beautiful, Holly. What can I say to make you believe me?" he asked softly, as he cupped her face in his hands. Mike studied her features as if to impart her face to memory. "How can you say you're not beautiful, with eyes that make me want to know all of the secrets they hold?"
Her dark lashes lowered, hiding the spark of pleasure and hint of fear she felt deep within her. Don't believe him, her mind warned. Believe him, her heart urged.
"Don't play with me," she whispered.
"Look at me."
Her dark brown eyes warily met his determined gaze. "This isn't a game, and I'm not playing. I want you, Holly."
It took her a few seconds to comprehend what he'd said.
"Try that on somebody who doesn't know any better." She moved away from him and sat in her chair, her expression cool and remote.
Mike stood still, watching in frustration as she put as much distance between them as her office would allow. "He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
Neither denying nor acknowledging his statement, she waited for his next move. He was playing the same type of game Trey had played with her, only with Trey, she hadn't known the rules, much less when the game had started.
With a sigh, Mike sat in one of the chairs across from her desk. "I can wait, Holly. Sooner or later, you'll learn that I don't lie."
Holly looked into his warm mahogany eyes. She wanted to believe him, she really did. Somewhere deep inside her heart, she yearned to take a chance. He was nothing like Trey. He didn't mind going to a secluded restaurant, nor did he constantly have people coming and going in his house. Despite his celebrity status, he didn't act like a celebrity when he met her employees. He seemed like a genuinely nice man with some of the same values that she had . . . the kind of man that she wanted to get to know
Chapter 5
Holly cleaned her kitchen cabinets with vigor. The physical work of removing items from the cabinets to the counter and floor, then washing down the empty space was a mindless chore that cleared her mind of weighty problems. The soothing jazz flowed from the den into the kitchen. Neither the music nor the work could keep her thoughts from turning to Mike.
It didn't matter that she had kept the rest of his visit to her office casual. He'd managed to unnerve her with a single stroke of his thumb across her lips. "Why can't he act like an ordinary man?" she muttered, throwing the pine-scented sponge into a bucket of soapy water. He confused her. Mike wasn't the first man to approach her after her botched engagement. He was the only man who didn't take no for an answer.
She climbed down from the stepladder and emptied the bucket into the sink. The orange-gold rays from the setting sun drifted around the edges of the closed miniblinds on the kitchen windows. Although she hadn't seen reporters around her house lately, she still didn't feel comfortable keeping the curtains and blinds open. "How am I going to handle going out with Mike when I can't even keep the curtains open?" she thought.
The sound of her doorbell interrupted her thoughts. Holly walked to the front door and glanced through the peephole. Her brother stood on the other side. She opened the door and let him in.
"Robert, what are you doing here?" she asked, closing the door when he stepped inside.
"I need to get out of the house. Mama and Daddy are driving me crazy." He gave her a sheepish grin. It was the same grin that he'd used as a little boy when he wanted to get his way. "Can I stay here for a while?"
Holly smiled at him. "Yes, you can stay for a little while." She noticed that he didn't have an overnight bag. "Did you bring extra clothes?"
"No, I'm not spending the night. I'll go back tonight."
She laughed at his pained expression. "I told you to rent an apartment while you were here."
"I know, but I thought that working long hours on the set would give us enough time to visit without getting on each other's nerves."
"They've missed you since you moved to California last year," she said in her parents' defense.
"I missed them, too, but I guess I've been living on my own too long to like living under my parents' roof again."
"I know what you mean. I love them, but I can't imagine the thought of moving back in with them." She shuddered at the thought. "Sometimes the distance between my house and theirs seems too short. I can't wait to move to Seattle."
"You're moving to Seattle?" Robert frowned in confusion.
Holly closed her eyes. Nice going, Holly. "I'm planning on moving to Seattle fairly soon."
"Nobody told me you were moving." His frown deepened when he noticed her guilty expression. "You haven't told anyone you're moving, have you?"
"Pam's the only one who knows."
"Why are you moving?"
She was tempted to lie to him, but he knew her too well. "I need to live in a city where I can just be Holly Aimes, not Senator Aimes's daughter, not Trey Christian's ex-fiancée."
"Trey." He said the name as if it were a foul word. "I should have known he'd have something to do with this."
"Listen to me. Trey doesn't matter to me."
"I'll bet you weren't thinking about moving until he ran off and got married."
"You're right. His marriage made me realize that I didn't want my life to be on display for all the world to see."
"I should never have introduced you to him."
"You can't screen the people who come into my life, Robert." She touched his arm. "I'm a grown woman. I make my own mistakes and I make my own decisions."
The chirping ring of the telephone interrupted her.
"Hello."
"Holly, it's Mike."
"
How did you get my private number?" she demanded. "I know I didn't give it to you."
Robert stared at her, listening without shame to her conversation.
"You didn't?" Mike asked in a playful tone.
"No. I did not."
"Well, I asked Pam for your number."
She gasped in anger.
"But she wouldn't give it to me. So I asked my assistant if he could get your telephone number." When he didn't get a response, he asked, "You don't mind, do you?"
"Yes, I mind," she said sharply. There was silence on the other end of the phone.
"If that's the case," Mike said in a serious tone of voice, "I'll forget that I ever had this number."
"Fine. Why did you call?"
"I called to ask if I could take you and Wanda to dinner after the show tomorrow night. Since Wanda missed dinner the last time, I thought maybe we could go tomorrow night."
"Wanda probably won't be there. Her younger sister is in Egleston Hospital with pneumonia."
"Man, that's too bad. What's her sister's name, and how old is she?"
"Carmen Johnson, and I think she's sixteen. Why?"
"I want to send her a card, maybe some flowers."
"That's really nice." His kind gesture and soft, sexy voice dispelled her anger.
"Don't let the word get out. It'll ruin my image."
"I won't tell anyone that you're a nice guy."
"It's almost time for me to go on the set. Will you go out with me after the show tomorrow?"
She hesitated before answering. She'd had a great time with him when they'd last had dinner together, but was dinner with him worth the risk of dealing with the press? "Yes."
"Then it's a date. Tomorrow after the show."
"I guess so."
" 'Bye, Holly."
" 'Bye, Mike."
