"What the hell is going on in here?" Those eight words were enough to make Stephanie's entire body go cold. Slowly pulling away from her boyfriend's kisses she removed herself from his arms immediately feeling empty, "Dad, what are you doing here?"

"Does it matter what I am doing here? The bigger question is what the hell is going on here between the two of you?"

Suddenly feeling like she was five years old again and being told off for having a cookie before dinner when she was told not to she looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry."

Paul didn't know what was going on between Stephanie and her Dad but he wasn't going to stand back and allow her to apologise for having a private moment in her private office, "I'm not. Mr McMahon Stephanie is my girlfriend, we dated back in College before I moved out to California and then out of the blue we reconnected after my first meeting with her a few weeks back. We haven't seen each other since then so as it is her lunch time I came to surprise her as she did not know that I was visiting this week. With all due respect Sir, when somebody's office door is shut it is normally polite to knock before you enter."

She could only brace herself for the inevitable explosion, she just hoped that it didn't cost his company the job.

As much as he wanted to be mad at the young man for the way that he spoke to him he couldn't deny that it was nice to see somebody unapologetic about who he was dating and it was even better to see his daughter with a boyfriend. Having just spent the last couple of hours with the young man he found himself not raging with anger, "The two of you should come for dinner one evening when you're in the area Paul."

"What?!" Stephanie was shocked at the sudden turn of events, she thought for sure that Paul was about to get thrown out and he was going to be threatened with losing the contract for the company, "Why are you inviting us over for dinner? Why do you not look like you're about to blow a blood vessel and have a heart attack?"

Vince was quite amused by his daughter's reaction, "Well I think this young man is probably the reason that you have been going home at a reasonable hour."

Paul couldn't help but smile with pride knowing that what he had fought so hard for had been noticed, "Guilty as charged Sir. Being three hours behind I told Stephanie that she should go home when my sister does so that I know when I call I won't catch her when she is on the road."

She couldn't help but pout and cross her arms, "Are you two seriously bonding over telling me what to do?"

"I do believe that we are. So when can the two of you come for dinner? Your Mom would be ecstatic to know that you have a boyfriend and to meet him."

Her Mom would be almost as bad as Sasha and Stacey will be when they find out, "I don't even know how long he is here Dad, we haven't gotten past the 'it's so good to see you' part yet so I will get back to you. What can I do for you?"

Absently waving the logos in the air he shook his head, "These can wait until after lunch, have fun the two of you." The older man turned around and left the room as abruptly as he had entered it.

Stood there with her mouth practically on the floor she could only stare at the now closed door.

Paul pulled her back into his arms, "Your Dad seems to like me now."

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she leaned into him, "He's easily pleased, can't you tell?"

Kissing the side of her head he held her a little tighter, "Well I like being on his good side. We should get going to lunch, you don't mind if Chris comes too do you?"

"Shouldn't it be whether he minds if I come?"

There was no time to argue about it so he released her from his arms and took hold of her hand and led her towards the door. The two headed out to the hallway but Paul immediately groaned when he saw his boss and his sister in an intense conversation, "Back off Lynn, I want to keep this job thank you. Chris, you don't mind if Steph tags along do you? We kind of told her Dad that she was on her lunch break."

Chris couldn't help but smile at the couple as she looked so sheepish, "Of course. Maybe Stephanie can show us somewhere good to eat?"

"Of course. I need to grab my purse though Paul, food isn't free."

A gentleman never let his lady pay and now that they were officially together he definitely wasn't going to let her pay, "Not happening, you don't need money. Let's go so we can all eat before we have to go back to work."

Ten minutes later and they were sat around a table in a small café, "So how long are you in the area?"

Throwing a smirk in the younger man's direction as he looked over the menu Chris couldn't believe that she still didn't know, "All week. Our days consist of meetings and our evenings consist of empty hotel rooms and in my case calling home to check on the wife and kids."

If he had the evenings all to himself did that mean that she could or would see him most nights? As much as she wanted to ask she really didn't want to make things awkward in front of his boss so would wait and just change the subject for now, "So how long have you been with your wife?"

"Coming up later this year it will be twenty five years that we have been in a relationship, we have had our good times and our bad times but I love her to death and I am pretty sure that she feels the same way, most of the time." He punctuated his statement with a soft laugh, "So how long have the two of you known each other?"

"We have known each other for about eight years but six of those we didn't talk so I'm not sure if we can count those. This time around no matter what happens I am not going to lose contact with her."

Stephanie felt her heart melt just a little and reached underneath the table to squeeze his hand, "No matter what happens we'll keep in contact."

Curious about their relationship Chris couldn't help but pry slightly, "So how does this work between you as you are in separate states?"

How it worked was a question to be answered once they figured it out, "Right now we are in a long distance relationship and we are trying to figure out how we will manage to spend time together but once that is figured out I'm sure we could tell you."

"If the move ha . . ." Chris stopped talked when Paul shot him a glare, why was he insisting that he stopped talking?

To cover for the fact that he had essentially cut his boss off Paul jumped in with a change of subject, "So what did my sister tell you?"

When they had all finished eating Chris excused himself to the bathroom leaving the couple alone at the table which gave Stephanie an opportunity to ask a burning question, "So what are your plans for this week?"

Paul couldn't stop himself from reaching across the table and gripping her hand, "Well I thought maybe we could have a date night or two and the rest of the time will be just me and an empty hotel room. What do you think about a date or two?"

A date or two sounded nice, seeing him every single day sounded so much better though, "I know something that sounds a whole lot better."

With a raised eyebrow he looked at her curiously, "You do? Please don't say not seeing me at all or you will ruin my day."

Turning her hand in his she began to play with his fingers, "Well no, I was thinking that you staying with me for the week sounded a whole lot better than a couple of dates."

As much as he wanted her to say that he hadn't really expected her to so it was a pleasant surprise that she actually did, "Do you really mean that? You actually want me to stay with you every night all week long?"

"Well yes, you are my boyfriend and I hardly see you so I'm not stupid enough to want you to stay the other side of town when I could sleep in your arms every night."

Chris' reappearance at the table forced Paul to pull his hand away feeling guilty, "I'll call you when we're done to see where you are to know whether I come to yours or the office and then you can take me home with you?"

Alarmed she looked between the two men, "Shouldn't you ask Chris if it is okay first?"

The older man stood there confused, "Ask me what? As long as it isn't for the afternoon off the answer is probably yes."

He decided to act like he hadn't already discussed this with his boss so she didn't think he was being presumptuous, "Steph has invited me to stay with her for the week, if it's okay?"

"Sure, whatever. I'll give you a list of the appointments and the addresses so you know where you have to be and can make your way there."

She couldn't help but feel slightly jealous that it was so easy for him with his boss, "Thank you Chris, I appreciate you being so cool about it. I need to get going back to work though as I need to go straight to see my Dad. It was very nice meeting you and I'll see you later." Giving her boyfriend a quick kiss to the cheek she shook Chris' hand before she left took a quick glance at the bill feeling a wave of guilt hit her that she didn't bring her purse with her before she left.

After they had paid the bill the two men made their way out of the café, "I'm not one for giving opinions on other people's relationship normally but you two make a really good couple and it is nice to see two people just happy to be around each other without needing to be all over each other."

"It's funny but we've never been that couple that are all over each other, maybe because we started off as friends but we've always just been happy to be around each other. It sounds pathetic to say it now but back in College we'd be happy to just be together doing our assignments or hanging out in the park and she'd be reading for class or fun and I'd just be sketching."

They stood on the sidewalk and attempted to hail a cab, "But isn't that the best type of relationship? One where you don't need to be talking or all over each other just to have a good time. I'd much rather be comfortable doing nothing with my wife than having to constantly fill awkward silences."

When he heard somebody else saying it it sounded so much better and did make sense, "I guess you're right there, couples that aren't comfortable in silence are destined for a miserable life."

Stephanie arrived back in the offices after lunch and headed straight to see her Dad, knocking on the door as his Secretary wasn't around she wasn't surprised that he wasn't at lunch and invited her in, "I'm sorry about earlier Da . . . Vince."

He put his glasses on his desk and motioned to the seat in front of him, "Don't apologise, Paul had a point so technically you didn't do anything wrong. Don't get me wrong, I am not thrilled that you were all over each other like that but you didn't have your tongue down his throat so I'm not scarred for life."

"Oh. I promise not to touch him on company property from now on."

A heavy sigh left Vince's mouth at her statement, "I was teasing you Stephanie, just relax will you? How come I have never heard of him before?"

Why would she tell her parents that she lost her best friend and the one guy that she could picture her life with because she chose the company? That was not a conversation to have now so she was going to get out of it, "What was it that you were coming to see me for anyway?"

Reaching about blindly on the organised chaos that was his desk he finally got his hands on the logos that he had put down when he returned and pushed them towards her, "I was coming to show you these, they are the slightly more polished versions of the sketch that Paul drew and the board agreed on. I was actually looking for your opinion on them."

"Why? You took the job off me didn't you so why does my opinion matter?"

He did feel like he deserved that, if it had been anybody else that had the job he would have let them see it through to the end but he had taken it off her, "Of course your opinion matters, just because I took it off you it doesn't mean that I don't value your opinion."

She had to bite her tongue at that so she didn't get in trouble so focussed on looking at the logos and not on the stupidity of his statement.

After a long afternoon of meetings Paul walked down the corridor towards Stephanie's office just looking forward to going home with her and collapsing on a comfortable couch hopefully with her in his arms. As he approached the office he forced a smile at his sister, "Still here?"

Lynn looked at her brother and nodded her head, "Still awake?"

He was trying so hard to keep his eyes open at this point, "Barely. Is she free? I can maybe take a nap whilst she finishes work."

Although she felt bad for him she couldn't help but laugh, "She's in, she's free, she's all yours."

Walking past her he stopped briefly and bent down to kiss her cheek, "Thanks sis, you've been amazing and I appreciate it all. Chris will be emailing me the schedule for the week so maybe we can do lunch?"

It wasn't often that her brother was affectionate so she was going to enjoy this moment, "We should do lunch if you have time for me. You're welcome for what I did for you though, it's what sisters are for."

Without knocking he quietly opened Stephanie's office door incase she was busy and then shut it behind him before he placed his luggage off to the side and then turned to see that she wasn't on the phone, "Hey."

"Hey you, you look exhausted. I have a couple of things to finish before we can leave but feel free to enjoy the comforts of my couch."

He took a quick look at the couch and realised how comfortable it looked, "Thank you." The distance to the couch was short but before he got there he felt the guilt of not having greeted her properly so instead he walked over to her desk and carefully leant over it to kiss her gently, "I missed you."

They had only been in the same state for a day and already she knew that if she had her way there would be variations of this greeting happening every night but sadly she was going to really miss him when he left. As her hand stroked his cheek the stubble from his beard there tickled the palm of her hand, "I missed you too. Now take a seat and rest, you look like you need it."

Paul turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand before he went to make himself comfortable on the couch as she went back to work.