Instead of going straight to the hotel after the show, Stephanie decided to stop by the local Starbucks which was only a few blocks from the arena. When she entered she was surprised to see so many other superstars there including her new teammate Eric. He was sitting all alone in a corner near the back. His head was down and it looked as if he hadn't taken the first sip of his drink. Father…why me? I should just ignore him. Stupid jerk but I can't… Stephanie sighed as she approached his booth taking a seat across from him. His head snapped up and he forced a smile as he greeted her.
"Hi…uh…what brings you by here?" he asked.
"Well I just…after tonight I needed to wind down a little before heading back to the hotel. What's your excuse? You said you had to get back and pack." She folded her arms staring at him curiously.
He finally straightened himself up, frowning as he stared at the feisty woman before him. "Alright. You got me. I uh…I needed to take in the events of tonight. I've been out of wrestling work for so long that I'm…never mind," he laughed. "I was just leaving anyway. You have a good night."
Stephanie watched the older man before her get up without his drink and leave the building. "So much for bonding," she mumbled. She went to the counter and ordered a drink waving at all the superstars as she made her exit.
~**~
Stephanie went inside their hotel room half hoping that Hunter would be asleep but much to her dismay he was not. He was sitting in bed drinking a coke staring at her intensely as she entered the room. "Where have you been?" he asked. "You should have been back oh…say an hour ago," he replied looking at his watch.
Stephanie rolled her eyes. She kicked off her heels and sat down on the loveseat across the room. She was tired, her feet hurt, and she wasn't in the mood to argue with her husband. "Hunter, I went out to get a drink. You see the drink so let's end it here," she replied casually.
"Honey look, I don't know what's gotten into you lately but…"
"Me? Excuse me but I'm not the only one who's been acting weird lately so don't try to turn the whole thing on me. I'm telling you Hunter tonight is definitely not the night. I am tired, my head is throbbing, and to make matters worse, my father has me babysitting a 40 something year old adult. Do you really want to do this tonight?" she snapped.
"No, but I…never mind. Let's just get some sleep," he mumbled. He rolled over settling himself for a goodnight's sleep. Meanwhile, Stephanie smiled to herself as she sat there drinking her coffee. Serves him right. After a while her eyes closed, her brain recalling the events of the night. The show was great, her father was tolerable and then there was Eric. Eric… Even though the idea of being his 'watcher' turned her off, she hated seeing him look so down in the coffee shop. What could have caused such a genius—according to her dad—to get so down and out so quickly? Whatever it was had Stephanie curious and she was now determined to find out what it was.
~**~
A week later, Eric was entering the arena for another exciting Raw. This time they were in Charleston performing before a sold out crowd. Eric entered his office and sat down at his desk to prepare for the show. He had already called Vince with a short list of ideas and he needed to see which ones the writers were going to run with. He skimmed through the scripts chuckling as he came across several of his ideas. So they trust me after all. For several long minutes he read over the script highly amused at all of his ideas until someone knocked on his door.
"Uh…come on in."
His door opened and in walked Stephanie, seemingly floating across the room towards him. She was wearing a white skirt with a matching, v-neck tank which slightly annoyed him. Her long dark hair was tied back into a pony tail and her make-up was light and refreshing, something he shouldn't have been noticing about her. She sat down in one of the chairs right in front of his desk with a frown on her face. "What can I do for you?" he asked, rolling his eyes.
"Eric or Mr. Bischoff rather—
"Call me Eric."
"Whatever. So was it your idea to do a Smackdown Halloween Special this year?" she asked hotly.
"Uh…yeah, but I thought it would be good for ratings. I've noticed that the WWE does Christmas specials and Thanksgiving specials so I figured why not? Why not do a Halloween special? I thought it would be something silly and fun for us all," he shrugged.
"Yes, I get that but I don't know how I feel about the whole show, especially the promo that I'm supposed to cut with you."
"Oh that," he chuckled. "Well, I figured by the time we get to that point, you'd enjoy slapping the hell out of me. What's so wrong with that? Do you think I'm too old and feeble to take a hit anymore?"
"No Eric and…wait a sec…what the hell are you talking about? The scene doesn't call for me to hit you."
"Um…the one that I wrote did. You must have read the wrong script sweetheart because—
"No, actually I think the writers have added their own twist. Have you even read the entire script?" she inquired, crossing her legs. Eric's eyes did a quick double take before looking down at the script. Why do women insist on wearing very little? He shook his head as he flipped through the script searching for the Halloween stuff. It didn't take him long to spot what Stephanie was probably so pissed off about. It was a kiss…a kiss that was supposed to go down between the two of them on screen. He stared at it, mouth agape from surprise yet he couldn't find the words to say. Truth be told, he had no idea what to say anyway. Just like her, he didn't like the idea any more than she did and made a mental note to talk with Vince about it later.
He did not want to kiss anyone on screen especially a spoiled brat like her. Not only was she Vince McMahon's daughter and in his opinion, that alone made her off limits, but she was beautiful—too beautiful for her own good. The thought alone of kissing someone like her excited him and he hated himself for feeling that way. He promised himself that he would never utter the word 'woman' ever again but if Vince kept doing things like this, he was going to be forced to see Stephanie as the delicious morsel that she was and that was going to be a big problem.
"Eric?"
He jumped having been brought back to the real world. "Huh? Oh…yeah I see what you… I'll see if I can get that changed right away. I know how uncomfortable you'd be and I don't think I could…"
"No, Eric. It's not…It's not the kiss that I'm worried about and…" She twisted her face into a scowl. "Hey wait a sec. Are you trying to say that I am insecure?" she asked angrily.
"What? No! I just…I figured you'd be uncomfortable doing something like that with a guy like me."
"Oh…so now you're saying I'm shallow?" she snapped folding her arms across her chest. Eric had no idea but he was pissing her off more and more with each passing second.
"I…you know what? I don't need this shit right now. We'll deal with that when the time comes." He stood to leave but she quickly headed him off cornering him behind his desk. She stood toe to toe with him ignoring the fact that she was far too close for comfort. The scent of her sweet smelling perfume almost knocked him out and he couldn't help but notice how her breasts peeped out of her tank nicely. Oh hell… "Princess…"
"Eric you listen to me and you listen good. I do not take criticism lightly…"
"I wasn't—
"And before you speak of me and about me then I suggest for future reference you learn a little something about me. For starters, you made it sound like I am a shallow person and for your information I am far from it. I could care less how old you are. This is a business and if that kiss means higher ratings then I'm going to go through with it. You got a problem with that?" she asked softly. Her breathing was now slightly labored from all of her yelling and it was making Eric very uncomfortable. He hadn't been that close to a woman in ages and with each passing moment, her sweet scent was being implanted into his head.
"No, not at all," he managed. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a show to run. We can discuss this further when the time comes."
She moved aside and watched him as he exited the room. Damn you Eric. Stephanie plopped down into the chair behind his desk and stared at a blank spot on the wall. She was still shaking with fury from Eric's words. Seriously, how could he even think that I'd be that shallow? She picked up his copy of the script and began reading though it again, wanting to make sure she hadn't missed anything the first three times. Nope. It was the same and featured the same uncomfortable kissing scene that was supposed to happen between her and Eric. The kiss…
Until this very moment, the thought of kissing Eric seemed just like another day at the office but after the past conversation with him, it was starting to sound like a huge mistake. When she was standing in front of Eric just now, it took her brain all of ten seconds to realize just how handsome Eric was for his age and his refreshing man scent did not help either. For a brief moment she had been tempted to put her nose near his neck just to get a good whiff of it but she thought the better of it. Is that something married women should be aware of? Probably not.
There was a knock at the door and Stephanie stood to her feet quickly as Eric came dashing into the room. He stopped suddenly rolling his eyes when he realized that it was just her. "What are you still doing here?" he mumbled.
"Uh…I…I never left. I was…looking over your copy of the script checking some things out," she replied quickly.
"Oh. So you're still on that kick huh?" he chuckled.
"No…you know what? What's with your attitude?" she asked storming over towards him. As she approached, he raised his hands in defense backing up towards the door.
"Whoa. Hey. Sorry. I'm not… Look, if you were in my shoes a few weeks ago, you'd be a grumpy old man too. I'm sorry. It's just going to take me some time to learn how to be…nicer," he replied choosing his words carefully. What's a man to do with such a feisty woman on his ass everyday? I should just fire myself and call it a day…
"Nicer huh? Well now let's talk. Why don't you explain to me how it was living your life weeks ago?" she asked with a smug look on her face.
"No. I don't have the time plus it's really none of your business princess." Stephanie had had enough. She angrily shoved him against the wall with every intention of slapping the hell out of him but she hesitated. The hand she raised to slap him lingered in midair and she watched as his arrogant smirk slowly vanished. "Go ahead," he said softly. "Hit me. You know you want to."
There was something about the way he said those words that made her feel guilty. It was a mixture of cold and sadness that had her mind racing furiously. "I should but I…I just can't," she said softly. He suddenly grabbed her arms and spun her around, shoving her against the door. Now she was the one being cornered.
"Well you should have because I probably deserved it. At any rate, I do not like being pushed against a wall. You wanted to know how it felt to be me weeks ago? Well you're getting a taste of it now; backed against a wall between creditors, my wife, and past mistakes. It's not a very good feeling is it princess? Being backed against a wall…no defense…no where to go…," he whispered. He let go of her hands but she kept them up clenching her fists to keep from shaking.
"Eric…I…I'm sorry. I didn't…I didn't know."
"How could you have known? You aren't supposed to know."
"I know but…I'd like to know," she blurted out. It was the truth and as much as she wished her father would have just left her out of it, she was now curious about the man standing before her. She wanted to know more about him and after seeing his sad expression in the coffee shop last week, there was a slight chance that she wanted to help him too. He continued to stare at her, his expression soft but unreadable. "Eric please…" she whispered lowering her arms so that she was completely defenseless. She looked up into his eyes showing her sincerity to help him but his sad eyes did a number on her heart. Without thinking, she reached up and touched his cheek tracing his cheekbone.
"I…don't need…" he stammered but the light touch from her hand moved towards his neck causing him to lose all train of thought as her warm hand caressed his neck.
"ERIC? STEPHANIE? ARE YOU IN THERE?" Stephanie and Eric both jumped out of their trances and cursed. Eric, who seemed a bit embarrassed, moved across the room towards his desk and took a seat before nodding towards Stephanie to open the door. Stephanie opened the door and groaned. It was her father…and her husband.
"What can we do for the two of you?" she asked. The extreme sarcasm in her voice caused Eric to stifle a laugh and her husband looked plum pissed.
"Well dear, your loving husband was just coming by to see if you were alright. Vince came by to have a word with his new GM but since you seem to be doing ok, I'll just be on my way." Hunter nodded towards the two older gentlemen then completely ignoring his wife, he stormed off back towards the locker rooms. Vince shook his head following Stephanie back into the office.
"So how are you two getting along?" Vince asked. Neither Stephanie nor Eric replied. Instead they both pretended as though he didn't exist. "I see," Vince replied softly. "Well I guess that means you two are getting along just fine then so I'll be on my way. By the way Eric, good show you have planned for the evening. I hope the Halloween special is just as good," he grinned as he walked out of the office shutting the door behind him.
"Got to love your father," Eric mumbled. He stood to his feet and started for the door. He stopped in front of Stephanie on his way out fighting to keep his senses from going into overdrive. "I'm sorry for earlier…my hands…I should never have touched you like that and I promise to never do it again. And to answer your question, I can't…I mean I won't…I don't need any help from anyone. What your family is doing for me now is enough. The fact that your father has forgiven me after all these years and is giving me a fresh new start is help enough but thank you anyway…princess." He swept past her quickly and headed back out the door thanking God that Vince showed up when he did. Who knows what would have happened if he didn't? He hoped that he would have less time to spend with Stephanie. The more he stayed around her, the more he realized how nice it could be to have a friend again.
