It has been two years of this.

Busy from the crack of dawn until my head hits the pillow at night.

When I finished college, the job market was saturated with graduates. I had no idea what to do, I wasn't having great luck getting interviews, so I decided to do some freelance writing. Through the process I connected with a few other freelancers, all of whom were in the same position as myself. Our second published author wrote a bestseller, followed by a long string of successful authors, resulting in a multimillion dollar business. My head hasn't stopped spinning since graduation day.

So here I am, a 24 year-old woman with more money than I know what to do with, and a skyscraper with my name down the side. Luckily I had Kate to take over the Public Relations Department. Right now she is planning a 5K run sponsored by Steele Publishing, but currently she is pacing around my office trying to think of a response to text a guy she went on a date with last night.

"Maybe I shouldn't answer him at all, I'll play it cool." She looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Maybe you shouldn't." I answered, only half paying attention.

"Ana I need your help here!" She said sternly.

"Hang on a minute." I said, seeing a new email from a Christian Grey of Grey Enterprise Holdings.

"Have you heard of Grey Enterprise Holdings?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's funny you say that, actually the guy I went on a date with last night… Elliot, he's the CEO's brother." Kate said. "Actually, I was telling him about the company last night. What's it say?"

I clicked open the email.

To: Anastasia Steele, Steele Publishing

From: Christian Grey, Grey Enterprise Holdings, Inc.

Subject: A Business Venture

Dear Ms. Steele:

My name is Christian Grey, CEO of Grey Enterprise Holdings, and I am very interested in Steele Publishing and its tremendous success. I would like to do business with you. Would you mind giving me a call when you get a moment?

You can reach me at 206-939-2364.

Thank you,

Christian Grey

"Hmm, he says he wants to do business with us." I say as Kate raises a brow.

I type out my response.

To: Christian Grey, Grey Enterprise Holdings, Inc.

From: Anastasia Steele, Steele Publishing

Subject: A Business Venture

Dear Mr. Grey:

I will most definitely give you a call, but first... May I ask what kind of business you are interested in doing with SP?

Thank you,

Ana

I stand up to walk to the bathroom when my office phone rings. It's my receptionist, Kayla.

"Hey, Christian Grey from Grey Enterprise Holdings is on line 1 for you."

"Oh, alrighty then Mr. Grey."

I press line 1 and answer.

"This is Ana Steele." I say, a bit annoyed that he didn't answer the email before he decided to call me. Dude, you gave me your number, I'll call you. Weird.

"Hello Ms. Steele, this is Christian Grey." He says confidently, he has a nice voice. "I'm interested in doing business with you but I think it'd be best if we sat down and had lunch while we get into the details of it all."

"Umm.. Ok? Do you have something that needs to be published?" I say, unsure of why he is being so vague.

"Not exactly." He responds. "Let's have lunch. When are you free?"

"Umm…"

"Today?" He asks quickly.

"Sure today is fine." I respond and Kate smiles at me sheepishly.

"Okay how is noon for you? Italian food sound good to you? How about Pasta Fresko?"

"Yeah, uh sure." I say, putting my face in my palm and rolling my eyes.

"What's he saying?" Kate whispers. I shrug back.

"See you then Ms. Steele."

"See you then." I answer, hanging up quickly.

"What did he say?" Kate asked.

"He wasn't clear about anything. I'm having lunch with him now apparently. What did you say to Elliot?" I ask, trying to understand what he wants.

"I told him how much the business has grown since we started. Elliott told me that Mr. Grey has been buying a lot of Seattle lately, maybe he wants to buy SP?" Kate said.

"Oh wow." I say, kind of proud to have our worth acknowledged.

"You wouldn't want to sell would you?" Kate asks.

"Not in a million years."

I pull up out front and walk inside. My white dress flows in the wind, the top of my Jeep is off, and the sun is beaming down on Seattle. A server greets me at the front.

"Hi, I'm looking for Christian Grey, I'm meeting him for lunch." The server looks down at her seating map and I look around the restaurant, waiting for someone to wave me over, but realizing that Christian and I have never actually seen one another.

"He's in the outside seating area." The server responds, She leads me out the back doors and all I see is the back of a man's head in a suit. "Right here."

Mr. Grey turns around and my breath catches in my throat. Holy shit, he's beautiful. His hand moves toward mine and he says a few words to me, but I am awestruck and….. Nervous?

"Hi I'm Ana, nice to meet you." I say as I smile nervously, I'm like teenage Ana all over again. What the hell is going on with me?

I sit down and get comfortable, all the while keeping my eyes down, slowly regaining my composure.

"So what is your business venture." I ask, flagging the waitress down for a glass of wine.

"I am very interested in buying Steele Publishing from you." He says bluntly.

"Mr. Grey, I appreciate your interest but Steele Publishing is not for sale."

He blinks at me and changes the subject. We talk about the weather, Seattle, and a few other light topics before he starts in on the sales pitch again.

"What would you sell it to me for… if it was for sale" He asks, sipping a glass of wine.

"Well what would your offer be?" I say quickly, this guy is tricky.

"I will send you the official documents, but I'd like to offer you more than SP's worth, and a chunk of change to each shareholder, about 90 million."

My eyes got wide for a second. Holy shit. If I wanted to walk away from SP I could. I enjoyed it, but it was a tough job sometimes, but we were starting to get management figured out and things were slowing down for me. I love my job. No way I'd ever sell.

"I'm sorry Mr. Grey. That is a very generous offer but I'm just not interested in selling. I love this company and my job. I'm not interested in walking away. If you ever need anything published we would love to do that for you." I smile.

"Ms. Steele-"

"You can call me Ana." I interrupt.

"Ana, think about the offer before you say no. You can give me a call this week if you decide it's something SP is interested in."

"Ok." I say, arrogantly.

"So is this meal going to be awkward now?" He says, cracking a smile. My breath catches again. His smile is gorgeous.

"Nope." I say, laughing.

We talk about the basics. How he started GEH, and how I started SP. He told me that his brother Elliot had told him about SP's success after his date with Kate, which is what sparked his interest. Mr. Grey had wanted to venture into publishing, but didn't want to build it from the ground up. Which I understood, but SP is going to remain in my care until the day I get too old to work.

"What about an investment deal?" He asked, still trying.

"Mr. Grey, no thank you." I answer, starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"You can call me Christian." He corrects me, winking.

"Well Christian, this has been a wonderful lunch." I stand up and collect my purse, putting cash down on the table, he quickly picks it up and hands it back to me, sitting a hundred dollar bill onto the table.

"Thank you for your time Anastasia. I'll walk you out."

My mind is suddenly cloudy from him referring to me as Anastasia. It has never sounded that good before.

He walks me to my car and pulls open the door.

"Nice ride." He says, smiling at my bright yellow jeep.

"Thank you." I laugh and hop in.

"Think about it and call me if you're interested, Anastasia." There that is again. Anastasia.

I roll my eyes as I pull out of my parking spot and a serious face flashes across Christian Grey's face. I must have struck a chord.