In the Eye of the Storm by Samantha Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

Maybe there was something to be said about relaxing once in a while.  “Snacks?  Aren’t you the one who said she ate as much as a lumberjack at breakfast and wouldn’t be hungry again for the rest of the day?”
    Blushing slightly, she turned her head away and mumbled, “Maybe.”
    Pulling her up from her chair, he led her to the pantry and gave her little shove.  “Go ahead; have at it.  What should we have?”  He watched her inspect each and every shelf, then go to the refrigerator and snoop around and then the freezer. 
    “Okay, I’ll tell you what,” she began, “you go and get the movie and whatnot set up.  Give me forty-five minutes and I’ll have everything ready, deal?” 
    “It’s going to take you forty-five minutes to open some chips?”
    She rolled her emerald eyes at his naïveté.  “Do I look like the kind of woman who would merely snack on chips?”  At that moment, Stephen really looked at her.  She was adorable.  With her hair loose and wavy, barely a trace of make up and dressed in black yoga pants with a blue hooded sweatshirt she should have looked plain, unappealing.  But she didn’t.  She looked like temptation.  Stephen almost found himself telling her to skip the snacks because he wanted to feast on her.
    “Hello?” she sang.  “Earth to Stephen.”
    He cleared his throat.  “Sorry, my mind wandered for a moment.  And to answer your question, I honestly have no idea what you like to snack on so I’m going to just step aside and wait and find out.  I think I’ll go and grab a shower and get changed while you run amok in my kitchen.”
    “Sounds like a plan.”  Holly was relieved when he finally left he kitchen because now she could play.  This was where she felt most at home.  She grabbed ingredients from the pantry, the refrigerator, the freezer and the cabinets; she pulled out pots, pans and baking dishes.  She had things baking, sautéing, simmering while she chopped and prepared plates. 
    Right on cue as the timer went off, Stephen walked in to the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks.  “What in the world have you done?”  There were platters of food of every kind all around him yet there was no trace of it having been prepared.  There were nachos, cheese and crackers, fruit and vegetable platters; there were potato skins piled high with cheese and bacon and sour cream to top it with.  Stepping closer he noticed mini hot dogs wrapped in pastry and a tiny bowl of popcorn.  He looked at her quizzically.
    “You can’t watch a movie in a theater without popcorn.” She shrugged.
    “I’m sorry, but is the neighborhood joining us?” he teased.
    Holly looked around her and suddenly felt very self conscious.  “I guess I did get carried away…”
    “Ya think?”  When she made to apologize, he stopped her and went about finding trays to carry their bounty on. 
    “Should I grab drinks?” she asked.
    “I’ve got a fully stocked refrigerator downstairs and a bar.  I think we’re good, now come on before all of this gets cold.”  They made their way down the stairs and in to the theater.  “What shall we watch?”
       “I don’t know…what have you got?”
    Stephen flipped a switch and one wall lit up to reveal his movie collection.  Holly stood wide-eyed.  “Geez…how am I supposed to decide on this?  What is there?  A thousand movies here?”
    “Twenty-five hundred, to be exact.”  Holly looked at him with disbelief. 
    “I think I’m going to need my glasses because reading all of these tiny DVD boxes is most certainly going to strain my eyes.”
    Chuckling, he came to stand beside her and took her by the hand and led her to the back of the room where there was some sort of flat computer screen.  Steven touched the screen and suddenly it came to life.  “You can scan better this way; it’s a listing of all of the movies.  Just click on the genre you want and it will prompt you from there.”
    She looked