On the next day, Ana had just fed the dogs and was tidying up the kitchen when the doorbell rang and so she went to open it. When she did, she found a man in his late twenties or early thirties with blonde curls, sparkling blue eyes and a dazzling smile in front of her.
„Hi, you must be Miss Steele, my brother told me you are replacing Gail while she is on her honeymoon and he told me you bake amazing cookies. I'm Elliot Grey."
„Hi, please call me Ana, Mr. Grey... come in." She said and stepped aside to let him in.
„Do you know where my brother is?"
„No, I haven't met him yet, Mrs. Taylor said he doesn't like strangers so it's likely I won't meet him at all." She said and noticed that his brother looked annoyed.
„Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Ana... I'll be off to find my mysterious brother." He smirked and went up the stairs hollering the name of his brother while she finished to clean the kitchen and then went to the staff kitchen to make lunch for herself.
So at least she knew that he really did exist since he not just was eating his meals, but also had a brother. Still, she couldn't help but wonder why he was so reclusive that he didn't seem to leave his house and had no guest besides his family.
„Ana?" She heard his brother call out and put the sandwich she had made herself for lunch down and walked out of the staff kitchen.
„Mr. Grey?"
„Hi... so I missed lunch and my brother could eat all day... would you mind making us something?" He asked with a sheepish grin.
„Of course, I could make subs and some veggie sticks with hummus to go with it?" She asked.
„Sounds perfect." He said and followed her into the kitchen where she started to make the food.
„Is your brother much older than you?" She asked since she hadn't even been able to find out about his age.
„No, he is the middle child, Christian turned 28 just a few months ago."
„Does he ever leave the house?" She asked knowing she came across nosy but everything about the man she was working for was just so odd.
„Rarely, most of the time we come to visit him. He said you are a very good cook, especially for being as young as you are."
„My mother was a horrible cook, every time she decided to give it another try we all would end up with an upset stomach and my dad couldn't do more than cook noodles or heat things in the microwave. When I was about twelve I asked them for a cookbook and since then I taught myself."
„So you cook for your family on special occasions now?" Elliot Grey asked clearly interested to learn more about the young woman who was now working for his brother.
„No, my parents passed away when I was fifteen, I was lucky that my best friend's parents offered me to live with them until I was finished with high school but since I have started to work as a live-in housekeeper I'm usually busy during the holidays." She explained.
„Don't you have any family left?"
„No, but I have a few good friends whom I consider my family." She said as she put the subs onto plates, got the hummus and veggie sticks from the fridge and put everything with a pitcher of iced tea onto a plate.
„I would offer to carry it upstairs for you, but I'm not sure your brother would appreciate it."
„It's alright, I'll put the tray here on my way out." He said and took it when Ana remembered something.
„Is your brother in the library right now, Mr. Grey?"
„No, we are in his study, why?"
„Mrs. Taylor said your brother wouldn't mind if I would take books from there to read them, I just didn't want to upset him by barging in there while he is reading."
„I see, well, he isn't in there right now and won't be until I have to leave in about an hour." He said so Ana followed him upstairs and went into the library.
For a second she thought about what his brother had just said especially the comment about his brother eating all day if it was up to him. Maybe he was morbidly obese and couldn't leave the house... but that couldn't be it. She had just this morning done the laundry and his clothes were not the clothes of a man who was even remotely obese.
Pushing the thought aside she looked at his very impressive collection of books from all sorts of genres. She picked a classic she really liked and took it with her before she had to run some errands and do her chores to get everything ready in time.
Once she had made dinner she left the kitchen and took almost an hour before she wanted to return but then she heard noises from the kitchen, heavy footsteps accompanied by another sound she couldn't quite place. She so wanted to just peek into the kitchen to see what her boss looked like, but she didn't. For some reason, she felt that doing so would have been a gross invasion of his privacy. After all, it could very well be that he was suffering from a phobia that made him stay away from strangers and she didn't want to trigger him when she had no idea what that would do to him.
Finally, she heard his footsteps as well as the other sound she still couldn't place leave the kitchen and only then did she walk in only to find another note.
*Dinner has been delicious, thank you, Miss Steele. And thank you for giving me the time to leave the kitchen. I appreciate it.*
He must have heard her footsteps in the hallway, she thought and looked at the note written in beautiful cursive.
She had no idea what to make out of this. He knew that she had been there so why didn't he just introduce himself like any other decent human being? To take her mind off of things she decided to meet with Kate and Ethan for drinks after her evening run.
She told Sawyer that she would be out for a few hours and then drove to the city where she met them at the bar the usually frequented.
When she arrived she smiled at the siblings and hugged both of them in turn. She was glad that Ethan and she still were close friends. She had had a crush on him in her teen years and shortly after her seventeenth birthday they had snuck into his parents liquor cabinet one night and it had ended with her losing her virginity to him and both of them regretting what had happened instantly but too afraid to say it, so they had dated for about three months before it had been Ana who had asked for a conversation. They had talked and both agreed that it just wasn't working and they were better off as friends which to both their great relief had worked just fine for them.
She had no regrets about the way she had lost her virginity still she had not been with anyone since because it had taught her that the next time she would be with a man it should be out of love and not a little crush and drunken stupor. She knew that her expectations were probably a bit high, but she was looking for a man that was hard working, honest, loving, faithful, funny and charming and she didn't want to settle for any less.
„Hey Ana, so has your boss howled at the moon yet?" Kate teased since they had found many of those stupid articles together.
„No, but he has two beautiful dogs Angel and Devil." She said with a smile and showed her a picture of the dogs she had taken in the morning.
„You call those dogs... they look like wolves." Kate shrieked.
„I know, but they are lovely dogs."
„And your boss?"
„Well, I haven't seen him so far."
„Really, that is so weird Ana, are you sure you should stay there, what if he is a psychopath?"
„I'm not alone with him in the house Ethan, there is another guy Sawyer who looks after the house and is also security. So, I'll be fine, plus with the money I'm going to make in those eight weeks I finally have enough money saved to go to college." She said with a big smile. Sure, she would still need a part-time job to support herself, but at least she wouldn't need to take student loans which was important to her.
„I don't know, Ana. It's just so odd, I've asked my mom about the Greys but she told me she hasn't seen their middle child either, apparently, he was homeschooled while his siblings went to school. No one knows why... it's just weird."
„Look, Kate, it's just seven and a half more weeks. So far, all I can tell you is that he enjoys the food I'm cooking, has a very nice older brother and a love for pets and cookies."
„His pets look like actual monsters!"
„They are cuddly babies and he also has a cat." Ana said surprising herself that she was now defending someone she had never even met before.
In the end, they didn't talk about him anymore and after two cocktails and a beer, Ana decided to leave her car and take a cab home instead. When she walked down the driveway she saw the light was still on in Mr. Grey's bedroom and again she saw him standing by the window but couldn't make out his face or anything really. All she could tell was that he was tall and seemed to be in good physical shape.
It was so frustrating that this man whom she had never even heard of before she was asked to be his interim housekeeper was now constantly on her mind. So, she looked away and went inside surprised to find both dogs close by the door but as soon as she was inside and had petted them they turned around and went upstairs to find their master.
For a short moment she actually thought that he had sent them downstairs to wait for her to come back, but she pushed that thought aside and started to walk towards the staff quarters once inside her room she stopped in her tracks because on her bedside table was a glass of water which she hadn't left there and next to it two Advil as well as a note.
*Please take these so you won't feel poorly in the morning.*
He had been in her room... well it was his house so he could go into every room he pleased, but still... and why would he care if she was hungover the next morning or not... with a groan she took the Advil, changed into her pj's and then went to bed. She could think of mysterious boss the next morning...
Next chapter: Ana finally gets to meet her mysterious boss :)
