To the Guest that said in chapter 1:
"...it didn't even went past three strikes..." Seriously? Went?
"...she knew he was peaking in..." It's PEEKING.
"non-existed heart" It's NON-EXISTENT.
Thank you for pointing it out, and I know there are more. You probably wouldn't believe it if I tell you that I have edited and read through my work over and over again because it doesn't look that way, but I don't own an explanation to anyone and human errors cannot be avoided.
With that being said, I think it's only fair to apologize to my readers here because I know it makes reading hard when there are typos and the grammar isn't correct in more than one places. For that, I am terribly sorry, and I sincerely hope that you can enjoy the storyline while at the same time I will try harder with my editing.
On the bright side, I'd like to thank Cindra and CTHEWOODS for their supportive words! I totally agree though they could be nicer if they truly want to help the writer improve. I mean you're sitting behind a screen, so even if they really hate me at least they can pretend to be nice, no one will call them out for being pretentious when no one can see them. Don't worry, I won't let the trolls get to me, I've got a very thick skin. I only reply to them because I think I do need to thank them in some way since I can't reply through PM.
Oh and one more thing to clear up one small misunderstanding: it's not an hour a day, it's twenty-four consecutive hours in twenty-four chapters, a chapter dedicated for an hour. So, it's still the same day. Tell me if I'm not making any sense.
SECOND HOUR
"I hope you're not a sore loser, Christian Grey."
Anastasia laid the cue onto the table slowly and gently, never breaking eye contact with him as he followed suit.
"What do you have in mind?" He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Show me all the recordings of your previous submissive's performance."
His eyes were round as a saucer, "I do hope you don't mean that, Anastasia."
"Oh but I do." She remarked.
"Please don't be upset when you see them."
"And why would I possibly be?" She asked, "Christian, if you think I'd get jealous, then you couldn't be more wrong." She said, "I'm not the jealous type, I don't get possessive. I didn't even label my feelings for you, so don't worry about me getting hurt. Let's just say we're attracted to each other and not define it first, yeah?"
"Okay," he conceded reluctantly and extended his hand waiting for her to take them.
He led her to his office and halted at his desk, rubbing a hand over his face, he went around it and sat on his chair.
"We can always play a second round, right?"
"Are you chickening out on me, Grey?"
"Never."
"Then what?"
"Okay, honestly, I'm just really uncomfortable."
"I get it. I did come on a little too strong without the binding of the contract, I know that." He glared at her for her own acknowledgement, making her giggle at his reaction. "Still, a deal's a deal."
Looking up at the cupboards behind his chair, his eyes surveyed the cupboard doors as if trying to remember which one of them contained the information he needed. Standing up, he reached for one and pulled out a stack of folders.
"Which one do you want to see first?" He asked, his voice full of defeat. Her heart softened at that moment, she wanted to take pity on him.
"How many do you have? Fifteen?"
"No. I've got twelve. Eleven of them performed something, and one of them left a recording for me, with a note attached telling me to listen to it before I get married."
"Which means you're probably never going to listen to that."
"Never say never, Miss Steele." He sang teasingly at her, and she scowled at this mercurial guy before her, wondering just how much did she actually know him.
"So, you've got eleven here. Do you remember all of them?" She asked out of curiosity.
"No," he started to reply, but was soon cut off by the blaring sound of his ringing tone. "Sorry, I have to take this. It's GEH."
"Saved by the bell." She muttered to herself before leaning back in her seat and waited for him to finish his call.
Anastasia stares out of the floor to ceiling window on her side, just looking at the sky blankly. Her mind was empty and there was absolutely nothing to think about right now.
She was brought back to her current situation when she heard a loud sigh and a hand slamming down on to the table.
"Is everything okay?" She asked out of respect. She really didn't want to pry or bound him since it was his business and they were not that close to start with.
"I need to go to the office to sign a few things real quick." He looked really apologetic.
"Oh, on a Sunday?" She registered the information, "then go." She prompted.
"Will you come with me?"
"What?"
"Come with me. I asked you to hangout with me for a day, and this is an emergency situation in the in office but that doesn't mean you have to stay here. Do you want to come with me, or would you rather stay here and indulge yourself in my penthouse?"
"I'll take the invitation." She answered before she could even think too much about.
"Good, then let's go." He said, taking her hand in his and led her to the foyer where the elevator was summoned.
"Wait, I need a jacket."
"I'll get you one." Disappearing into his bedroom and re-emerged just as quickly with a
"Why isn't Taylor driving you?"
"He's going to follow us in the car, I want to take you in the R8."
"I'm honored."
"You're special."
"Am I really?" She scoffed.
"To me, yes. Special to no end." His genuine answer shocked her.
"You are such a sweet talker, Grey."
"You bring that out from me."
They got into his car and he start the engine. They were shooting out of the garage in no time.
"Christian," she said suddenly, sounding alarmed.
"Yeah, baby?" He turned to look at her worriedly when they came to a stop at a light.
"I'm dressed way too casual." She said, looking down at her loose plain black tank top, her denim short and a pair of black leather booties, with an oversized gray jacket that almost covered her ass. She'd look like a model walking down the street if she had a pair of Ray Bans on.
"Don't worry. It's not like I'm dressed in work clothes either."
"But at least you're in a shirt," she took the chance to check him out, and added, "and jeans."
"And believe me baby, my staff would be picking their jaws off the ground the moment they see me walking in dressed like this… with a woman in my arm no less."
Truer words had never been said. The moment he guided her through the reception area of the building's top floor, everyone stopped and gaped. Not only at the dressing of their boss but also at he girl in his arm.
She looked around, offering some of them a small smile as a greeting when they were still too shock to form words and were only able to dart their eyes between her and their boss and the hand around her waist.
"Afternoon, Andrea." He nodded at the blonde hair woman who was shocked by the presence of her boss. Anastasia almost giggled at all their expressions. She wanted to mock his tone and repeat the same to the blonde just to have some fun, but she knew that would be inappropriate.
"They're all on your desk, Mr Grey." She was the first to regain her composure among the gaping staff.
"Someone's making a hell of an entrance." Anastasia sassed, letting him guide her to his office. He said, squeezing her side making her squeal. "Fuck off, Grey. It's tickling." She shoved at him playfully using her shoulder so she wouldn't touch him.
"I sure did." He said releasing her and walking around the desk to sit down behind it, almost glaring at the pile of documents in front of him.
"Why is everyone working today?" She blurted out as she looked around.
"We agreed to work today and have the Fall celebration on Friday."
"You have a party each Fall? Didn't peg you as the party type."
"We have a celebration each season if we're making a profit, and whether it was profit or loss the executive team would always get together for a dinner."
"So, it's usually on the weekend?"
"It's usually on a Saturday," he nodded.
"Then why is it on Friday this time?"
"Because I'm not available next weekend."
"Why not?"
"It's your birthday."
"My birthday isn't in two weeks."
"I know, I'm taking you away for the weekend before your birthday."
"But, I'm supposed to go back to school on tomorrow."
"Actually, I called the school and told them that you're going to be back next week and told them to send everything to you electronically so you can study by yourself. It's only a week, so they were okay with it."
"Did you also pay for me?"
"Yes."
"That was part of the sub packet. Im not your sub anymore."
"I know, but that won't stop me from takin care of you."
"I know you pay for your other subs but I didn't ask for it, Christian. My dad is family is fully capable of paying my tuition."
"I know, but it's done."
"You really should've talked to me first."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"If you think you can still treat me as a sub while trying to pursue a relationship with me at the same time, you've got another thing coming."
"I'm not treating you like a sub, I'm trying to treat you like my girlfriend."
"So I'm your girl now?"
"You've always been my girl. Since three months ago."
"You don't state claims on submissives if I remembered correctly."
"True I don't, but you're more than just a sub to me and I'm only too stubborn to admit that during the three months."
She sighed and decided to let this go for the time being.
"So now you're making everyone work on a Sunday because you want to take me away next week."
"They all agreed," he shrugged, failing to see the point of her fuss. "Besides, it's only the executives that are here."
"I'm still failing to see the reason why it is necessary."
"Okay, let me spell it out for you." He sighed, putting down the page that he was holding and leaned forward to look at her. "I'm taking you away for the weekend, to a non-disclosed place, before your birthday." He looked at her, waiting for her to nod, she did and he continued. "Since the celebration is usually on a Saturday, and the dinner of the executives is on the night of that Saturday, I'm not going to be there this time. Also, as the CEO, my attendance is required, so we're going to move it a day forward and also because we are leaving right after dinner Friday night."
She nodded, really disliking the fact that he was demanding so many people to come to work on a Sunday when they could spend it with their family just because he was taking her to somewhere to celebrate her birthday. But, she wasn't going to complain anymore since he was trying to do something for her.
"I feel so out of place here. Please tell me what the fuck am I doing here." She sighed, taking a seat on the couch opposite his desk and plopped her foot up on the arm rest of the chair adjacent to hers as her eyes continued to survey the empty office walls.
"It's all part of the getting to know you process, Anastasia. I think it important before two people start dating."
"Oh, so we're heading down that path. Hmm, I see."
"Don't act like you're surprised. Now, since you're feeling so out of place here, why don't you go snoop around the workplace?"
"You're letting me off my leash?" She joked, and he glared.
"You were never collared." He winked at the pun but still sounded serious. "Now, please, shut up and let me work."
"Mm." She said, picking up a random piece of paper from his desk and started to read. "You're releasing a statement about us?"
"No. Not yet at least."
"Then why do you have it here."
"Just in case."
"If this is what you're going to release, then I'm not dating you." She declared holding the paper.
"Why? What's wrong with that statement?" He sounded alerted.
"I'll write one for you, you keep reading whatever the boring shit you're reading."
He nodded absentmindedly, couldn't really care less about it at the moment, besides entrusting this to an English Lit major girl might've been the better choice anyway.
After writing beneath the printed words in pencil. She put everything back to where she found them and stood up to pace around his spacious office.
The first thought that came to her mind was that he needed some paintings in here. She would prefer graffitis but it surely wouldn't fit the style nor the purpose of the place.
"Do you mind if I look around?" She asked tentatively, not wanting to interrupt him.
"Go ahead, baby. You can ask one of the girls to give you a tour."
"You mean one of the many blondes that you have around here?"
"Sure," he shrugged his shoulders, "but the two at the desk outside of my office are my assistants."
"Cool." She said before closing the door behind her. "Take your time." She added before closing it fully.
She looked around the floor, everyone was in formal dress code, moving around purposefully and busy with their work.
"Andrea, right? Really sorry to interrupt, I'm Ana." Placing her elbows on the receptionist desk her sleeves only revealing her fingertips. She leaned against it and looked at the woman sitting behind it with a bluetooth headphone on her head and a microphone at her mouth. A stack of paper was in her hands and she was reading over them while speaking into the phone. Picking up a pen, she jolted down something on a notepad and then went back to reading.
"Hi Ana, what can I help you with?" She stopped and looked up to see it was the girl that her boss brought in, so she halted everything in her hand so she could give the girl her full attention.
Better not disappoint Grey's girl, she thought.
Then the intercom sounded. Andrea held up a finger indicating for Anastasia to wait for one second as she listened to the speaker from the other side.
"Yes, Mr Grey." Andrea replied.
"What does he want?" She asked knowing it was about her because Andrea glanced at her when she listened to the instructions from Christian.
"He wanted me to take you on a tour." Andrea replied professionally.
"But you're swamped with work," Anastasia pointed out sympathetically.
"I'm sure Olivia can help me cover the desk," she replied, "it's really no trouble at all."
Then the intercom rang again, this time, Anastasia reached forward to pick up the receiver and heard Christian barking orders down the phone.
"Shut up and go back to your work, Grey." She said into the intercom when he hurried Andrea to take her around.
There was a pause but there wasn't the click, so she knew Christian was just shocked to hear her through the intercom.
"Can I speak to my assistant, please?" He asked irritatedly but adding that word as a second thought knowing he'd get chewed if he didn't.
She knew she was walking on a thin line, but she was still holding the receiver.
"Christian, stop adding unimportant things, like giving me a tour, to her plate. Let the poor girl work." She answered in a placated tone, promising him that she would ask if needed.
Putting the receiver down, she turned back to two wide-eyed assistants, "please, don't let me distract you." She stared back at them, knowing she might look like a bitch by putting on a show and telling people to not bother her at the same time, but she really wasn't trying to add anymore to their already overflowing plate of work.
"Ana, really, let me show you around." Andrea was still feeling bad about not carrying out her boss's order, especially to a girl in his jacket.
"Under one circumstance," Anastasia said sternly. She looked down at the document that Andrea was going over earlier. "You're only proofreading for mistakes or typos, right? There're no technical stuff about business or content that requires anymore knowledge than knowing how to edit, correct?" She asked, giving Andrea a pointed look, daring her to answer untruthfully.
"Yes." She replied.
"Good," Anastasia smiled, "then you'll let me go through part of those when I wait for Christian." Andrea looked like she wanted to argue but Anastasia continued to speak. "I'm an English major, so trust me with editing." She grinned, "I only want to compensate for your loss time when you're showing me around." She added the explanation only wanting to ease the blonde hair woman. "Please, deal?" Anastasia stuck out her hand for her to shake and Andrea looked at it for a moment before shaking it firmly.
"Follow me, please." Andrea walked around the desk and started to walk down the hallway. "This is the COO's office." She said, gesturing to the room. "Do you want to meet her?"
"I don't want to interrupt anyone's workday." Anastasia said politely.
"Don't worry, she's going to have a field day because Mr Grey brought in a girl."
"Oh," was all Anastasia said before she nodded to Andrea, leading her to the door. Andrea knocked on it before they heard a sound of the door unlocking.
"Ms Bailey." Andrea greeted an African-American woman seated behind a computer. She looked up to greet her back only to let the word hang at her mouth when she saw who was next to the blonde.
"Oh, Andrea, are you trying to make me have second thought about my marriage with Gwen?" She joked, her voice sounded a little raspy, and Anastasia knew it was because she smoked. Inwardly, she patted herself on the back for opting for vapor instead of cigarette.
Closing the door behind her, Andrea seemed to loosen up a little. "Nah, she's the boss's girl."
Anastasia couldn't help but let out a laugh at the expression on Ros's face. All this time, she hadn't gotten the chance to say a single word but witness the exchange between the two women.
"He went all out didn't he." Ros's face was priceless by the look of Andrea's face. Standing up and walking around the desk, she took another look at Anastasia.
"Are you checking me out now?" Anastasia smirked when her eyes lingered a little longer on her two exposed legs.
"Are you going for the Kendall Jenner look, model girl?" Ros teased, her smirk matching Anastasia's.
"Look at my skin tone and try that again, lady." Anastasia sassed back, making both Andrea and Ros laugh at her remark.
"Shit, how did Grey take this little firecracker." Ros said through her laughs.
"He's getting used to it." Anastasia shrugged. "But, to answer your question, I prefer the character that Jessica Alba played in one of her movies."
"Which one?" Andrea asked sounding curious all of a sudden.
"I'm not sure you know, it's not that popular." Anastasia hesitated.
"Trust me, I know all her movies." Andrea replied not missing a beat. "I'm a huge fan of hers." She elaborated with a blush.
"Got a girl crush on her?" Ros teased, Andrea's cheek flushed even more. "Hey, where're you from? You don't sound like you're from Washington." Ros turned back to Anastasia who was wiggling her eyebrows at Andrea.
"No, I'm not from Washington. I was born in Montesano but I grew up mostly in Southern California."
"Ah, a beach girl."
"Yep. I was in LA for a short period of time and then we moved to the south."
"What are you doing here in Seattle then?"
"My family moved back to Montesano when I was in high school, and after graduating from UCLA a few months ago, I came back for the summer. My best friend lives in Seattle, so I crashed at her place after visiting my parents. I'm currently studying in UCB for my masters, it's my last weekend up here."
Both women looked impressed at her accomplishments but her phone rang before either of them could get a word out.
"Sorry, it's your boss." Anastasia excused herself to take the call in the room, fully aware of the two eavesdropping her one-sided conversation with their boss.
"Where are you?" He asked.
"We're in Ros's office."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? Andrea's showing me around and Ros saw us, so she starts to hit on me."
"She's hitting on you?"
"What, afraid of some competition?" She teased, when he didn't reply, she said, "are you done?"
"No," he sighed, "I need a few more minutes. I promise not to take up the whole hour."
"Okay, but just remember you still owe me something."
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
"Hey, how about I take pity on you so you don't have to wallow in your misery and procrastinate."
"I'm not procrastinating, and I'm not miserable!" He protested
"Whatever you say, but I'll answer that question after you show me the videos. Better?"
She smiled at his response and hung up the phone. Looking at the time before locking her screen, she stared back at the two women in silence.
"Am I missing something?" She asked, voicing her confusion.
"No," they both shook their head and answered in unison.
"Sure…" Anastasia dragged out the syllable, narrowing her eyes at them suspiciously. "We should go, Andrea." She turned to the blonde woman.
"We should go out some time together." Ros suggested, pointing at the three of them.
"Uh sure…" Anastasia wasn't sure what to say to that, so she thought maybe Ros was only suggesting it out of courtesy.
They waved at each other and left the room just as Christian showed up in front of them.
"Chill, tiger. I was joking." She leaned into his embrace so she wouldn't touch him with her hands, knowing he was afraid of that kind of contact. "Are you all done? If not, I'm going to hangout with Andrea until you're done." She asked him, resting her cheek on his shoulder.
"You look so sexy and hot right now, baby." He whispered in her ears as he turned them around to guide her back to his office.
"I know, Ros said the same."
"Did she, now." He growled.
"Relax, I'm not the only one that flirts when I'm unattached." She glared at him.
He tensed but wisely kept his mouth shut. "Does that mean you'll stop flirting when the twenty-four hour is over?"
"You're getting ahead of yourself now, Grey. Who said that I'm going to say yes to more with you." She goaded.
"Who wouldn't?"
"Don't gloat, Christian Grey. You and your huge ego should remain in the boardroom. Now go finish up so we can leave." She said, pushing him back into his office and headed to Andrea's desk. "Okay, which one do you want me to go over?"
Andrea turned around to look at the girl, still in the oversized jacket, the denim shorts and the leather boots that showed off her long tanned legs. She looked like a popular girl in high school wearing her equally popular boyfriend's jacket walking around the school because they were sweethearts.
"I thought you didn't mean that." She swallowed, peering in the direction of her boss's office.
"A deal's a deal, Andrea, I'm sure your boss values that, too." Anastasia gave her a pointed look, daring her to argue back. Extending a hand she waited for Andrea to hand her a document. "Oh, and please don't give me anything confidential, I don't want you to get in trouble even though I'm sure I won't understand the meaning behind those words even if it is something confidential." She added when Andrea handed her a stapled booklet. Grabbing a pencil from her desk, she went behind her desk and started to read through the page.
…
Anastasia was on her second document when Christian walked out of the office, spotting her just in time before he could ask Andrea.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, walking around the receptionist desk to her side.
"Helping Andrea out of her swamp." She looked up from her position on the chair as if it was obvious.
"Why?"
"Because she gave me a tour, and I wanted to do something to make up the time she used to take me on that tour."
"I'm done, we can go now." He told her, biting back the comment about her doing Andrea's work.
"Let me finish this one." She said, turning back to the page in front of her. "Five minutes max." She added, looking up at him with pouting lips.
Staring at her, he sighed, unable to resist the way she was looking at him.
"Don't look at me like that," he requested softly, leaning down to place a kiss on her pouty lips. "Finish it in my office then." He said, pulling her up.
"Don't distract me." She warned, he nodded and pulled her into his office.
True to her words, it only took her five minutes to finish the ones in her hand. They walked out, she handed the document back to Andrea and bid her farewell, also thanking her for introducing her to Ros. Andrea laughed when Anastasia winked at her.
"Now, I'm curious." Christian said as they stepped into the elevator, "what did you girls talked about?"
"Nothing you can't find out from my background check. Ros asked me where I'm from…" and she relayed the conversation to him as the elevator descended. "Are you going to show me the videos when we get back?" She asked after getting into the passenger side of the car.
"Yes," he replied with a sigh but looked much better than the first time she brought up that idea, he had accepted the fact that it was something he couldn't get away with. "Are you going to tell me just how many rules you've broken?"
"I took pity on you, Grey." She chuckled to herself, "but, yeah, I'll tell you. Do you want to know the number now? I can tell you what they are in detail after you show me those videos." She offered, never really intended to put Christian in a difficult spot, she only wanted to get to know him better and have a little fun with him to enjoy each other's company.
"Yeah, I guess you can tell me how many times but the details later."
"You're not going to punish me are you?" She joked only half-seriously.
"It's a little late for punishments isn't it, you sneaky little minx."
She was silent all they way back, and he didn't know if it was what he had said or what he had done but he didn't dare to say anything to her since she didn't even look at him once, her eyes were always staring out the window.
"Strictly speaking," her voice startled him as he drove them into the garage of Escala. It took him a while to understood what she was referring to, she continued without even a glance at him, she still looked like she was recalling the last three months. "Eight."
"What?"
"I broke the rules eight times strictly speaking."
"And loosely speaking?" He asked, he didn't even know if he should be angry or not.
"Eh… that's probably going to be double digits…"
"Oh, Ana, what am I going to do with you?" He stared at her when she gave him the sheepish look that she would give whenever she got caught redhanded. "You're going to tell me about them after I show you the videos." He dictated.
"Yes, Sir." She giggled at that response when his eyes darkened.
"Behave," he commanded.
"Stop ordering me around then."
"You find me bossy?"
"Very." She said stubbornly, sticking out her tongue at him before pulling him into his office. "Come on, show me."
"Who's the bossy one now?"
She said nothing while watching him get to work. Pulling out his computer and taking out the hard drive that was in his safe where it stored all the insurance photos for his submissives.
"Just to be clear, Christian," she said looking deep in thought.
"Hmm." He hummed in response as he continued to set up.
"The rules said to not be in contact with the Grey family and staff includes your security details right?"
"Yes, what are you implying?"
"Oh don't worry, I didn't cheat if that's what you're so worried about."
"I'm not worried about you cheating, baby." He placed the computer in the middle of the desk and took a seat on the plush office chair, then tugged at her waist and pulled her into his lap.
"They didn't disclose anything that I don't already know, if that's what you're worried about." She said trying to reassure him because she wasn't going to tell him about the nature of her relationship with his staff and family members when she promised she would tell him after he showed her the videos.
"Now I'm really curious just how many rules have you broken behind my back." He said into her neck, intaking a breath to ease his nerves. "Just to be honest and open, like you've asked me of," he said slowly over her shoulder, his hands moving on the trackpad to locate the files that he was looking for in the hard drive that was connected. "I'm really uncomfortable with this."
"I know, I can feel it, Christian. But, just remember that I won't judge, I'm really just curious and want to know. It won't make me change my mind about you."
"Have you already thought about what you're going to do with me after the twenty-four hour ends?"
She bit her lip and nodded every so slightly.
"Yeah."
Not edited, because I truly do not have time if I want to get this update uploaded on time.
Again, thank you for everyone that has reviewed, favorited and followed this story! If for some reason I didn't reply to your review from the last chapter for a teaser or anything, please call me out. It's not my intention to neglect anyone.
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