Chapter one-Floating

I don't know why I agreed to come to Ranford's when I should have demanded he come to my office, I mean he's the one who came to me with the is deal. But no, the old bastard made it a point of pride that he does all of his business deals at his company. Whatever. The sooner I get this deal done, the sooner I can put this deal behind me and put my focus on the more important deals in my back pocket.

Taylor drops me off in front of Ranford Software Inc., while he parks the Q5 in the underground garage. I pull open the spotless glass doors and strut to the front desk, ignoring the appreciative and envious stares.

"Christian Grey, here for Benjamin Ranford," I say in a clipped tone. I inwardly roll my eyes as the small red headed receptionist can do nothing else but stare at me like she's never seen a man before.

Her face turns red and she pushes her short cherry-colored strands away from her face. "O-of course, Mr. Grey," she stutters, gazing up at me through her dark eyelashes after glancing at her computer. "Mr. Ranford is expecting you, you can take the elevators over there to 30th floor." She points over to the wood paneled elevators behind her.

"Thank you," I say.

"No problem, Mr. Grey," she breathes out in a flustered, dazed voice.

I roll my eyes as I walk away and head towards the dark elevators. Pushing the up button, I wait only a few seconds before the doors open and I step in. It's a short ride up to the executive floor and thankfully no one else gets on. The elevator arrives and I step out onto a polished tan marble foyer. There's a set of glass doors that lead to two sets of marble desks with receptionists standing at both.

I walk through the doors and decide to go to the receptionist that I know won't make me feel like a piece of meat.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Grey," the tall, dark receptionist greets me with cool efficiency. He has dark eyes that are almost black. "Mr. Ranford is in conference room A waiting for you. Miss Frazier will show you the way." He gives the receptionist that comes around the corner a pointed look.

I nod my head at the young man behind the desk that he acknowledges with a nod of his own.

Miss Frazier, I assume, smiles at me and then holds her arm out, gesturing the way to go. "This way, Mr. Grey," she says in a small voice.

I hold back my sigh as I follow her. I really should have made Ros do this. I really don't have the patience to be directed around like some puppy without a damn leash.

We get to two floor-to-ceiling wooden doors and she opens it for me. "Go on through. He's waiting for you."

I give her a tight smile and walk through the doors, only to be greeted by four unfamiliar faces and one face I do recognize sitting at the end of a long conference table.

A man with graying hair, a round frame and wire glasses stands up and greets me. "Mr. Grey, thank you so much for meeting me today," Ranford says, shaking my hand. He gestures to the people I don't recognize around the table. "This man," he says pointing to the man to the far right whose back is facing the window, "is my linguistics executive, Jimmy Castor." He goes in a counterclockwise direction as he introduces me to the people joining us. "This is Sylvia Stanley, my head legal director, Ronald Holloway, executive financial officer, and my head HR, Emily Watkins."

I greet all of the with a hand shake, and then seat myself at the other end of the table, facing Ranford. The table sits twelve people so I'm sitting at a moderate distance from them, but I did that on purpose. If I sat close I wouldn't be able to look whoever is speaking in a direct way. Even though I'm not conducting business in my own building I still like to have the most control.

Ranford takes his seat and opens up a folder in front of him, then looks at me. "Shall we begin," he inquires.

I nod my head, and he begins to delve into the aspects of his business and why I should venture into this deal with him. I'm usually not one to do a merger, but I do think doing so would benefit both me and Ranford tremendously. Mainly because his company is the lead competitor in technical innovations and is the most sought out technological corporation in the United States, but also because Ranford Software Inc. was built from the ground up on native soil. A lot of U.S. companies dealing technology have never been as successful as Ranford's.

As he starts into the financial history I find that I'm impressed with how clean and efficient his company has been in the last fiscal year, although I would like to see the data for myself, but it makes me question why he came to me with a proposal in the first place. Usually people seek to merge with a company when they find themselves in a financial stupor, but that doesn't seem to be the case for Mr. Ranford here.

As I contemplate all the possible reasons why he would want me to have a hand in his company, a flash of color catches my eye at the other end of the table.

I look up and there's a woman whispering something in Mr. Holloway's ear. He nods his head frantically and then whispers something back to her. She purses her lips, and straightens her back, turning to leave, but the man catches her arm. She turns around with thin lips and looks down at him, then his hand. He whispers something to her again, to which she nods to. I watch the entire exchange in fascination, completing ignoring every single word falling out of Ranford's mouth.

The woman has long light brown hair that falls to the middle of her back. Her long, lean legs are sheathed is sheer black stockings, and her lithe body is wrapped in a waist-hugging black pencil skirt, while her impressive chest is covered by an emerald silk blouse. I find myself mesmerized by her and I haven't even had a good look at her face.

She turns around to leave, opening the door, and as if she feels my eyes staring holes into her, she turns to me and I have to catch my breath. She has a very pretty face: a button nose with full rosy lips and perfectly arched brows. But none of that compares to her eyes, my God those eyes. An ocean blue, so deep and pure, that I feel as if I'm floating on the sea and I can hear the relaxing waves brush against the life raft I'm holding onto. And then I'm falling, and all I see are her ocean eyes staring down at me as I stare back at her.

And in that quick second, she blinks, turns away from me and then she's gone.

I feel like I've discovered a hidden treasure only to wake up and realize it was all I dream. I feel disappointment and curiosity races through my body. Disappointment because she's no longer gracing me with those ocean eyes, and curious because I want to know who she is, but I have no idea of finding out how. I don't even know her name.

I wonder what she had to tell Mr. Holloway and what she does here. Is she an assistant for Ranford? Or does she work in a different department? I wonder if she like's working here and what she does on her free time. I bet she smells like an exotic flower that blooms only once every fifty years. I wonder how old she is. She couldn't have been older than thirty; she had such a young face. If I had to guess I would say she is twenty two—twenty three. I wonder if she's from Seattle. Maybe she lives in the city. If she does chances of me seeing her again are pretty high, or at least I would like to think they would be high. I shake my head to myself, I barely leave my penthouse or my office at GEH, and I have someone tied up in my playroom on the weekends, so when would I ever go out? Well I guess now I have more of a reason to. I want to see those ocean eyes again.

"Mr. Grey," I hear Ranford call me. I turn my attention to him, blinking my eyes to clear my head. "Mr. Grey, are you all right?" he asks me.

I glance around the table and everyone is looking at me with either a frown or an inquiring stare. I clear my throat. "Yes, I'm fine."

Ranford gives me a lingering look that I raise a brow to. He gets the hint and carries on. "So," he begins, "is there anything you would like to add, Mr. Grey?"

Shit. I hate when a meeting is so damn boring I zone out and have no idea what the hell is going on. I really should have had Ros negotiate this deal, she wouldn't have been distracted by Ocean Eyes, or maybe she would have . . . Jesus, whatever.

I go with my famous line that always buys me more time. "I would like to see your quarterly review as well as financial statements. Only when I can review the paperwork will I be able to make a decision," I say to him and stand up. "I'll call you next week, at the latest."

"Thank you, Mr. Grey," Ranford says, shaking my hand as I begin to make way to the door.

Everyone begins to file out of the office, and as if a higher entity is trying to help me out, Holloway is at the end of the line. I stop him just at the threshold of the huge wooden doors. "Do you mind telling me who that woman was that came in earlier to talk to you?" He gives me a quizzical look and stares at me like I'm some creep or something, so I add rather begrudgingly because I'm desperate, "It's that she looks like someone I may know . . . from high school," I lie. "We we're friends and then she moved away, I just wanted to know if it was the same woman."

He nods his head like he understands or at least has been in my position before. "She's an intern," says his slightly high voice. "She works in PR, I think her name is Elizabeth Martin."

I sigh as if I'm disappointed that it isn't the woman I thought she was. "No, I don't think it's the same person. Thanks, though," I say, genuine gratitude coloring in my voice.

He gives me a thin smile and a quick nod, then turns around and leaves the room. I pull out my phone and call Welch. "Welch," I answer without a greeting, "I want a full background check on a woman named Elizabeth Martin, this is top priority. She's an intern at Ranford Software Inc. I don't want it any later than eight tomorrow morning."

"Understood, Mr. Grey," he says, and I hang up.

I walk out of the conference room, spotting Taylor waiting for me by one of the front desks. I walk toward him, gesturing that we can leave.

As we get into the car and leave the underground garage I look back at Ranford's building with a triumphant grin on my face.

I will see you soon Ocean Eyes. Real soon.

Okay I know I might get some backlash from this because I haven't finished my other stories yet, but the good thing about this is that it's only six chapters and I've finished writing it. I literally wrote it in 24 hours, and I've had this idea for a while, so I decided to finally put ink on paper.

I'll post a new chapter about two or three times a week, but only if you guys want to read more, if not I'll just save this for myself and read it when I get bored. But if you don't like it, don't read it. I don't need any snotty, rude comments, but if I do get some just remember I'm not afraid to be a bitch.

If any of you were wondering this story is based off the song Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish. I really like it and the girl, who's only fourteen by the way, is a really great singer. You guys don't have to listen to it, but if you did it would probably help understand the story better, maybe.

I'll update soon if you guys want to read more. And please don't ask if it's a HEA, it's only six chapters and it'll most likely be complete by next week or the week after. But if you desperately want to know just PM me.

Leave a review if you want. Thanks for reading.