Phyllis closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before closing the file in front of her. "Why am I just hearing about this now?" She stood up slowly, barely able to contain her rage as she walked around the desk stood in front of him. "You had to know about this. How long have you known about this problem?"

Billy sighed. "Look, it isn't as bad as all that. I didn't know the suppliers were completely out of product. They just said there was a shortage and I knew you said that we were going to sourcing all kind of rare products from other companies anyway, so I really didn't see where it would be that big of an impact, you know? I wasn't that worried about it."

"They don't pay you to worry, Billy. Not anymore. That's my job. I'm the CEO. I'm supposed to know what's going on in every department in every situation, all the time. It's your job to keep me updated. I put you and Kyle in charge of marketing and development so that you'd promote the products not so you could decide what was important enough to pass on to me."

"I can fix this, alright? I'll make some calls. There are other suppliers that can provide us product. It's not like we're dealing with a finite number of companies here."

"You just don't get it do you?" She gripped the edge of the desk until her fingers ached. Sometimes his arrogance infuriated her. "You aren't making the decisions anymore, Billy. You get to decide which suppliers we use or which products we feature. I make that call and I'd made it. If there were going to be changes, I should have been notified. You had no right to keep information this important to yourself unless you were trying to …"

She stopped her face suddenly changing. "That's it, isn't it? You were trying to sabotage me. You're trying to prove to everyone that I'm not capable of doing this job. You're trying to oust me just like you said you would. Damnit, Billy. I swear, I'll …"

"I'm not doing that. Look, I know you're angry and I know you think I had some master plan to use this to somehow undermine your grand design, but it wasn't like that … not even close. And to prove it, I'll stay here all night until I get this fixed. I'll make sure that we are able to fill the shelves with products just like you promised all our customers we would. I won't leave this office until I have everything right back on track."

He could see the look of disbelief on her face. "I'm serious, Phyllis. I mean it. You go. Go on home and when you get back here in the morning, I'll have everything all worked out."

"The hell I will," she spat. "If you're staying here, I'm staying too."

"Alright, we're gonna have to change the marketing campaigns if we're gonna change the product lines we're offering. Do you know where Kyle's mock ups of the campaigns are?" She looked across the room at Billy who tapped furiously away at his laptop.

"Yeah, I do. It's all here. I can e-mail it to you."

"No. Don't bother. Just pull it up on your computer. Let's look over it together." She stood up and grabbed her notebook and a pen and quickly crossed the room. Sitting next to him had never felt quite so weighted before and she could feel his eyes heavy on hers as she forced herself to focus on the images on the screen.

"Okay." Her voice sounded stressed and breathy and he was hard pressed to keep from smiling at the slight flushing of her cheeks as she leaned a bit closer to the table in front of them. "If we just take out these two here and we add in the company logo over here, I think we should be okay without having to really change up the layout too much, what do you think?"

Silence.

"Billy?" She looked up when he didn't answer, surprised to see his eyes focused on her instead of the screen.

"Oh. Sorry, I was just …" He blinked. He'd been too distracted by the close contact to pay attention to the business she'd been talking about. The feel of her this close to him, the smell of her perfume, the sound of her soft voice … it was all far too familiar.

"If you're not focused enough to do this, Billy then maybe we should just …" She moved to stand, clearly frustrated.

"No." He reached out and grabbed her arm. "I'm just … I just need to grab some things from my office. That's all. I left some files. Let me go get them and I'll be right back, okay?"

A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she nodded as he stood and hurried from the room. She waited until she heard his footsteps fading down the hall before reaching for her cell phone. The sound of the faint vibration had caught her attention a few moments ago and it had been a blessing that Billy hadn't noticed. She looked down at the notification. 3 missed calls – all from Nick. He was expecting her tonight. Their nightly meetings had become something of a certainty. It was fun and easy and it filled the empty hours, hours she would otherwise have spent behind the desk or worse at home … alone.

She brought the phone to her ear and leaned back against the cool leather of the couch as she listened to the musical ring. "Hey," she breathed as she heard his voice on the other end. "Yeah, sorry … I got caught up here. We have a kind of a crisis with the some of our suppliers and I've got some stuff I have to take care of." She paused as he responded. "No." The word came out quickly and she glanced back towards the door, hoping her raised voice hadn't been heard through the empty hallways. "I don't need any help. This is something I need to take care of on my own, but thanks … for the offer. Yeah, I know. I was looking forward to it too." She let her shoulders drop as she listened to the words. "That does sound like a better way to spend the evening." The heat rushed through her as he continued to speak. "But, I can't Nick, I really can't … I've got to get this finished up. Tomorrow okay? I promise. Yeah. Okay. I'll see you then." She ended the call and let the phone slip from her hand.

"He strikes me a pouter."

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Billy!" Her body straightened immediately. "How long have you been standing there? What did you hear?"

He stepped back into the room and took a seat next to her again before laying the files on the table in front of him. He hadn't really needed them, but he had desperately needed a break from the pressure that had building up within him. If he hadn't walked away, he couldn't promise he would have been able to stop himself from reaching out, from grabbing her, from kissing her like he'd wanted to for day and weeks now. He missed her more than he ever thought possible. It killed him to know that she was with Nick. "Enough to know that your Newman boytoy isn't getting his playdate tonight."

Her eyes flashed in anger as she looked at him. "That's none of your business. My life and who I chose to have in it is none of your business. Now lets get this done so that we can both go back to our own, separate lives."

The soft knock on the door startled them both.

"Oh." Billy stood up and reached for his wallet. "Thank you," he said softly as he handed a few folded bills to the delivery man. "Have a good one."

Phyllis looked confused as she watched him close the door. "What's that?" she asked pointing to the box.

"I figured it's gonna be a long night," he said with a smile, "and I don't about you but I don't do my best work on an empty stomach. I ordered a pizza." He felt his heart soar a bit as her eyes lit up a bit. "You're welcome to some if you'd like."

She stood up and walked over to the table. "We've got a lot to do, Billy … I …" She stopped. "Mushrooms? You hate mushrooms."

He shrugged. "But you don't."

"No, they're my favorite." She took a seat at the table and reached for the paper plate as he passed a slice towards her. "Thanks," she said softly. "This was nice."

"No big deal. It's just a pizza."

"So," She took another drink from the cool bottle of beer as she reached down and slid her fingers over the touch pad. "What about if we put the logo there? Do you think it looks strange to have it off center?"

"No. I think it's fine. It draws the eye, but that's good. That's what we want them to focus on anyway, right?"

"Yeah, I mean all the other stuff is nice, but what's important is the two of them. We want everyone to focus on them … on the way he's looking at her, on the bottle, on the logo …" She let the bottle touch her face, her skin suddenly feeling flushed.

"Right … that's right. That's what important." He swallowed hard before looking down at his watch. "It's just after lunch in Hong Kong. Let me go see if I can get a call in to the distributor to see if they can rush us a shipment so we can make the final decisions."

"That'll be great." She let her head fall back against the couch as he rushed from the room. They'd been at this for hours now and even though the work had been exhilarating, she was exhausted. It would take him a while to make the call … she could let her eyes close … just for a moment.

"Okay! I …" He stopped immediately as his eyes fell on her and he couldn't help but smile. The beer bottle had slipped from her hand and fallen down beside her, the few drops left within in dripping down onto the leather of the couch. Her eyes were closed as she breathed in and out gently, her lips relaxed into a pleasant smile.

This would have been the perfect opportunity to rib her, to accuse her of being less committed to this company than he was, but he would never deny her this moment of tranquility. He knew how precious sleep was. It was the one time of day when he didn't live in the reality he'd created. In his dreams, he still had her. They were still together. They were still in love. They were still planning to spend the rest of their lives together. He couldn't help but wonder what she was dreaming about that made her smile like that. He'd like to hope it was something about him.

Carefully, he moved the pillow to the other end of the couch and gingerly lifted her legs. Her own instincts took over and she curled up, settling herself into position and drawing in a deep sleepy breath. He waited a moment before touching her again, afraid he might rouse her. The blanket was draped over the edge of the other small couch and he reached it and softly covered her. The smile grew larger now as she snuggled down beneath its warmth. He'd watched her like this many times before. Early in the mornings sometimes, he'd wake up before she did. He loved to watch her, so peaceful, so content. She'd lay there, her arms curled up beside her and smile as if everything was right in her world. And then … her eyes would open and the smile would grow and she'd look up at him and say his name. And that … that is how he would start his day. What he would give for another day like that.

He leaned down, his body looming over hers as he gently pushed her hair away from her face. The smile grew larger now as if she were watching a movie in her dream and fast approaching her favorite part. "Billy," she whispered.

His footsteps were almost silent as he stepped down to the end of the sofa and gingerly sat down next to her. There was nowhere on earth he'd rather be. He would start his day with her tomorrow once more.