"Christian, come on..." Mia whines in the voice that always gets her what she wants. Over the years, she's perfected it and has her whole family, especially her brother Christian, wrapped around her finger.
"Mia, I don't want to do it, and I don't understand why you want to. If you want something, I'll just buy it for you. There is no reason for you to go out shopping at 3 am and battle crowds for things." Christian tells his sister as they are sipping coffee and the maid helps to clear the table from the Grey family Thanksgiving feast.
"Christian, it's not about the sale. It's fun and exciting and a tradition. Please?" She gives her big brother the biggest pout she can manage and bats her eyelashes at him.
Christian looks to their father who is seated at the head of the table. "You're on your own, son. I'm not going to battle against Mia." Mr. Grey laughs and gets up from his seat placing his napkin at his place setting.
"Mom, don't you want to go with Mia? Isn't shopping more your thing?" Christian is getting desperate. He has a terrible time telling his sister no, but he had plans of his own. His newest sub should be arriving at his apartment in a couple of hours for the weekend and, he'd much rather spend the time in his playroom than shopping with his sister.
"Christian, I would love to go darling, but I promised to take a shift at the hospital, so some of the other doctors can spend some time with their families." Christian's mother gets up from the table and kisses her son on his head.
Christian sighs in defeat. "It'll be a family tradition!" Mia happily shouts. Even though he hasn't agreed to go just yet, she knows she will convince him.
"Mia, I have work to do. Can't one of your friends go with you?" He will try anything to get out of it. "I'll give you money to spend on whatever you want."
"Christian, my friends aren't around, and I want to spend time with my big brother. Please? Pretty please?"
"Fine, I'll go. But I'm not spending all day going all over the place. We can go to the mall or whatever and that's it."
Mia happily jumps up from her seat and hops over to Christian giving him a gigantic hug. "Yay! I'm going to go get some sleep before it's time to go." Christian remains at the table wallowing in what he's just agreed to do. Now he wishes he would have left with Elliot to spend the weekend in a cabin at Olympic National Park drinking beer.
Christian cancels his plans with his sub and goes to sleep in his childhood bedroom. He wakes, cursing his decision to get up at this ungodly hour just to go shopping. Still tired, he pulls on jeans and a sweater and heads downstairs. Mia is already ready to go and in the kitchen practically bouncing off the walls. "Christian! Are you ready? I've made you coffee; come on, let's get going. There are deals to buy." She grabs her car keys from the set of hooks on the wall next to the front door. "I'll drive." Mia opens the front door and is about to walk out when Christian stops her.
"Mia, I love you dearly, you're my baby sister. But, I've seen you drive, and I'd like to live until Christmas." He grabs his keys and presses the fob to unlock the doors of his Audi SUV.
"Christian!" Mia cries out to him and pouts. "God, you're so rude."
Christian stands at the driver's side door to the car, "Mia, are you coming or not?" She scowls at him, marches to the SUV, and gets in the passenger side without saying a word. Christian smirks. He likes the fact that he can still get a rise out of his sister like that.
Christian trails behind his sister, dutifully carrying her shopping bags as she goes from department store to department store. They are in another department store, they've been in so many stores already this morning he's not even sure which one they are in now.
"Oooh, Christian, look at this leather jacket." Mia stops and and tries on the jacket. She looks like she is in seventh heaven. "Oooh, it's so soft it feels like butter."
"Don't you already have a leather jacket? And, aren't you supposed to be buying gifts for others?" he asks agitated as the stores get more and more crowded and Mia collects more and more shopping bags for him to carry.
She rolls her eyes at him, "First of all, my leather jacket is different from this one, and second, I've bought a bunch of gifts for other people so far." Mia throws the jacket over her arm and turns, headed in the direction of the cashier.
Three stores later, Christian pulls into a parking space at Best Buy. "Mia, what could you possibly want in here? You know they don't sell clothes and shoes, right?"
Mia rolls her eyes at her older brother once more, "Haha, you're soooo funny. As a matter-of-fact, I want to look at their tablets for mom and dad." Feeling a little guilty for giving his baby sister such a hard time, Christian keeps quiet and follows her into the store.
It takes Mia no less than a half hour to decide on which tablets to get for their mom and dad, and a new phone case for her friend, Lily, that Mia says 'she'll just love.' As they wait in the endlessly long line to checkout, Mia strikes up a lively conversation with a woman behind them. Disgusted at the two small children with runny noses who are both whining loudly, Christian turns his back and tries to ignore they even exist.
Suddenly, he is pushed so hard from behind it almost knocks him over. He's immediately angry and turns back around to give the moron a piece of his mind. Just before he says something, a petite pretty brunette girl peers from behind the large tv box she is attempting to hold on to. It's obvious she's struggling with it.
Stumbling over her words and looking incredibly embarrassed, the girl says to him, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do..." She doesn't finish her thought once she looks up at Christian and into his eyes. She's captivated by this gorgeous man standing in front of her. But, it's not just the fact that he's uncommonly attractive, there's some magnetic attraction she feels to him. As she holds his gaze, she can feel her cheeks get hot.
Christian looks at this petite girl, who can be no more than 5 foot 4 inches tall and 115 pounds, and is mesmerized by the bluest eyes he's ever seen. Her mahogany hair is up in a haphazard ponytail, she's not wearing any makeup and is wearing a puffy vest over a flannel shirt and skinny jeans. She can't be much older than Mia and looks like the average girl-next-door, but there is something about her; she's completely alluring, even though her cheeks are flushed with what seems to be embarrassment or shyness. He can't tell which it is.
After what seems like a long silence, Christian says to her, "Oh, no worries. Do you need help with that?" He points to the large tv which she has set on the floor.
"Oh, no, I couldn't ask that of you." The girl stammers in response. She tucks a strand of wayward hair that has escaped her ponytail behind her ear. It's a nervous reaction she has and unconsciously does it.
Christian, realizing she is incredibly shy, gives her his 1,000-megawatt smile. "You aren't asking me - I'm offering. You look like you could use some help."
She quickly glances over to Mia and looks back at Christian. "Are you sure it wouldn't be a problem?"
He smiles at her once again, "I wouldn't have offered otherwise. Can I take that from you?" Christian asks her pointing to the large tv. He picks up it up as if it weighs nothing, "So, where are you parked?" he asks her.
She continues to stare at him for a brief moment still captivated. "Oh, um, yeah..." She turns, takes her keys out of her pocket, and walks towards the exit. Christian looks back at Mia who is looking at him in strange disbelief and follows the shy beauty. As she walks to the doors, he notices her thick hair sways as she walks and she has a perfectly shaped ass. It's a great view.
She leads him towards the back of the parking lot to a black, four-door jeep and opens the back. Then, she pauses and looks at the tv and her jeep. "Are you sure this will fit in here?" Christian asks her.
"Um, I'm not sure. Let me put the back seats down." She opens the back door to start putting the seats down.
He places the tv down on the ground and approaches her, "Let me help you." he tells her.
"Oh, you don't have to, your girlfriend is probably waiting for you." She tells Christian without turning around.
Christian laughs, "That's not my girlfriend, that's my little sister." She turns to look at him and blushes at the salacious look on his face.
Nervous and flustered, the girl just replies, "Oh." and turns to put the back seats down. Once both back seats are down, Christian places the tv in the back of her jeep and makes sure it's secure. He shuts the back door.
"Thank you, um..." she tells him.
Once again, he gives her his 1,000-megawatt smile and extends his hand, "Christian." She places her small hand into his, and for some reason, he doesn't want to let go. Even with the frigid late November temperatures, especially at this early hour, her hands are warm.
She looks down and bites her lip which sends a signal directly to his groin. "Thank you, Christian. I'm Ana."
Before he can reply, Christian hears Mia calling to him, "Christian!" She approaches Ana and Christian, "Oh, hi! I'm Mia." Mia gives Ana a friendly smile.
Ana reaches out and shakes Mia's hand. "Hi, I'm Ana."
"I like your jeep, it's really cool." Ana turns to look at her jeep, and as she looks in the opposite direction, Mia looks at Christian and gives him a wink. He gives her a dirty look.
Ana faces Mia, "Thanks." Then she looks at her phone. "I don't mean to be rude but I have to get going."
Mia happily replies, "Of course! It's was great to meet you."
"You too." She looks up at Christian and blushes once again. "Thanks for your help, Christian." Ana replies quietly.
"It was my pleasure, Ana." Christian replies. Ana gives him a demure smile and climbs into her jeep.
Christian and Mia walk away towards his SUV. "So, she was cute. Right?" Mia teases her brother.
"Oh, shut up. I was being polite - something the world could use more of." Christian replies but is unable to stop thinking about the incredible woman he just met.