"Elliot stop teasing us and just tell us." Mia groaned.

"Where is the fun in that?" He asked with a mischievous grin.

"Well, is it a man or a woman?" Grace asked exasperated.

"The question to ask is… are they with Christian for who he is or his money." Elena added her two cents. Grace saw the very moment Carrick sat up straight. He had that look in his eyes, ready to cross-examine whoever walked through the door with their son.

"Christian is old enough and intelligent enough to know if someone is simply after his money. My son is not stupid." Grace shot Carrick a warning glare.

"The boy has never been in a relationship." Carrick defended.

"Not that we know off," Mia added.

"Mia does have a point," Elliot added. The front door opened, and everyone sat up. Mia was just about ready to bolt off the couch when Carrick's gentle hand on her shoulder kept her in her seat with a pout.

Grace couldn't believe her eyes when Christian and his girlfriend walked into the living room. "Ana?" Grace damn near squealed with a smile that could light up any dark room. Ana shot a surreptitious glance Elena's way to find her looking utterly confused. You'll put it together in a minute.

"Hello Grace, Carrick." Carrick was up on his feet mirroring his wife's smile.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Ana Steele." Carrick laughs crushing her into a hug. His eye's catches Christian and the boy does not look happy. "You didn't tell him did you," Carrick whispered.

"Why would I, and miss out on the Christian Grey death glare?" She turned her smile on him, and his glare turned into a pout. "Or that pout for that matter." She leaned into him kissing his jaw.

"We will talk about this later." He growled in her ear.

"Carrick, I was under the impression you were going fishing with dad this weekend," Ana asked.

"Noo… there is only so much fishing a man can do on a weekend." He sounded about as convincing a toddler caught with their hands in the cookie jar and yet claim they weren't trying to steal a cookie.

"Uh huh." She giggled.

"How do you know Ana?" Christian asked.

"Ray is a client?" Carrick answered.

"Of course, you represent Raymond Steele. I can't believe I forgot that." He groaned.

"You were too busy with other things." Elliot chortled in his usual manner.

Christian ignored him turning his attention to Ana. "Baby, see the one bouncing impatiently over there? That would be Mia." She found herself in another crushing hug. "And the lump of skin and bone over there is Elliot." And bone crushing number four soon followed from Elliot. She didn't miss the fact that Christian didn't introduce Elena and avoided looking her way.

"Hi, you are the first girl he's ever brought home… seen with for that matter." Mia rattled her excitement too much to contain.

"He told me; apparently, the women before me were just sex buddies." She pretended to whisper.

"Anaaa." Christian groaned though if it stopped the gay and virgin jokes, he would be happy. Little knowing the comment was mostly for Elena's benefit not that Elena had grasped the implication of the comment.

"Shit, bro…"

"Elliot," Grace warned.

"All this time I thought he was a virgin, and I was wrong, very wrong. How many?" He couldn't help himself.

"A hell of a lot less than you." Christian countered.

"Hey." He covered Kate's ears much to everyone's amusement.

"Elliot, I doubt there isn't a woman in Seattle aware of your reputation." Kate retorted though her attention was on Ana. She missed her more than she could express and hoped she would get a chance to talk to her today.

"Mom, how do you know Ana?" Elliot asked.

"We met at one of your dad's work functions. She looked positively bored to be there." She smiled serenely at Ana.

"In my defense, I was fifteen and didn't have a clue as to what was going on."

"Most fifteen-year-olds wouldn't, they are busy trying to navigate the perils of high school," Grace added. Christian shifted in his seat feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"How did you two meet?" Elena finally spoke moving the subject of conversation away from the perils of fifteen-year-olds. She had gone through a myriad of emotions from shocked to surprise to perplexed and to the one emotion that started taking root months ago… fear. It had now taken residence in every fiber of her being. She expected to see José with Christian; she had laid the foundation of doubt in Carrick's mind as to the intentions of the young man she expected. She had been poised to struck the moment everyone got comfortable with drinks in hand. She thought she had the upper hand, but clearly, she had been wrong. She felt herself unraveling and struggled to pull herself together as everyone around talked animatedly with each other. Grace and Carrick knew the young lady and her father was Carrick's client, Carrick's client weren't the strapped for cash type.

"Well, we met in New York. Kate and I had a falling out, and I walked away. It turns out this one here saw me on the monitors from the office he was hiding in…" That earned a groan from Christian.

"I wasn't hiding." He defended poorly.

"Want to try that again." Elliot countered.

"Okay, I was hiding when I watched as she and Kate stepped out the cab and my world felt complete. I haven't seen anything of such beauty and grace. I chased her on the night that had more people out and about than you can imagine. We ended up in another club. The next morning I woke up, and she was gone."

"As stupid decisions go… that one took the cake." She rubbed her hand on his thigh innocently, though what Christian was feeling was anything but innocent.

"Then after five months of hopelessly searching for her… Elliot finally got the story out of me and took to searching for Kate without saying anything to me. He remembered Kate and Ana together that night."

"You found her." This was Mia's idea of a fairytale, and she was enraptured.

"Yeah, I did." He said proudly.

Elena's fear gripped her till she struggled to breathe. Christian had looked calm and in control for seven months, seven fucking months. The entire time he didn't know if he would ever find her… and now there she was in his arms. The implication was too great to contemplate in front of everyone.

"Mom, how long till lunch is ready?" He asked.

"Another thirty to forty minutes dear." She beamed a smile at him.

"Excellent, I can show you around." He turned his attention to Ana taking her hand.

"He's showing her something alright just not around." Elliot teased when they were out of earshot.

"Elliot," Carrick warned though his smile was hard to conceal. "Boy did good, he couldn't have found himself a more perfect girl," Carrick said proudly.

Elena, on the other hand, felt sick to her stomach. "Will you excuse me." She said stumbling her way to the bathroom. She locked the door and tried to breathe bracing herself against the vanity. "This cannot be happening." Thinking she would be back in her clutches by the end of the day to now knowing she had slowly been losing him to something that was just a memory for months was deeply unsettling. How could she compete with that, the woman he saw as perfection, there was a time he looked at her with something akin to love and in fear, she shut it down in the most cruelest of ways. Now he was in love with another woman, a possibility she never saw coming because she had drilled into his head the notion that love was for fools. As much as she hated to admit it, Ana was a beautiful girl and Christian's type.

"Are these trophies from rowing?" Ana asked awed by his sporting achievements. "This is impressive." She added.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew my parents?" His tone sent a delicious chill down her spine.

"I like to catch people off guard." She admitted honestly.

"You like to catch people off guard." His voice was soft yet imposing. He stalked towards her slowly. "There is a certain deviousness about you." He clutched the back of her neck, his other arm holding her to him. She couldn't move, not that she wanted to.

"You are a devious little thing. You have been testing me for some time now, pushing to see how far I would go." He snarled. "You want to see how far I can go?" he licked the shell of her ear, and her already wet panties became thoroughly soaked. He slammed his mouth onto hers forcing his tongue into her mouth. He dominated the kiss, possessed her as he held her head in the way where he could control every aspect of the kiss. He released her abruptly leaving her unsteady on her feet and gasping for breath.

He picked up a cushion on the sofa bed and dropped it at her feet. Without a word he undid his zipper and pulled his cock out. Ana dropped to her knees and took his cock into her mouth. He threaded his fingers through her hair but stopped himself from fucking her mouth.

"Christian." She implored him with just his name and a look.

"No hands." He growled holding her still and started to pump his hips. He had to stop holding back for fear she would she his actions as something else. Be yourself for fuck sake.

He hit the back of her throat every single time he pumped back in, as blowjobs went this was the best he'd ever had by a landslide. "Fuck." The feel of her mouth was exquisite; her tongue massaged his cock at every stroke. He shut his eyes taking in every feeling he was getting from this, he could feel his balls tightening up, he kept fucking her mouth till the very last moment and held his cock at the back of her throat and pumped his seed violently down her throat. She swallowed every drop rubbing her thighs together for some much-needed friction. How is he still so hard?

He helped her up and promptly turned her around bending her over the sofa bed, ripped her panties off and slammed into her. She didn't get a chance to get acclimatized to his cock when he started pounding into her. Each time he drove into Ana she felt ripples of pleasure surge through her. One hand held onto her shoulders, the other held her waist as he pumped his cock over and over again at an extreme pace. This wasn't just relentless it was hard, and it was fucking hedonistic. Ana felt her walls tightening around his cock, but it made no difference to the rate at with which he pounded her pussy. Ana's knees went from under her, her head dropped onto the cushions, and her body gave up on her as she screamed through her orgasm. Christian maneuvered Ana body onto the bed and straddled her thighs still stroking his cock in and out of her. He leaned forward bracing his forearms on her back as he started grinding into Ana. Her moaning and whimpering urged him on. He kept up the relentless grind, up and down, side to side and whichever direction he could think off.

"Is this what you wanted?" he growled.

"Yes… god… yes, fuck me... fuck me harder." Her first orgasm never abated keeping her on the edge. He knew she was close to another orgasm and started pounding into her again. He felt her quivering pussy clamp around his cock, he was about to get milked like never before. She came like a freight train without brakes, his autonomic jerking was all the indication she needed to know he was close to emptying his load into her. He collapsed next to her exhaustion threatening to set in.

"Ana." He calls worriedly as she had yet to move or utter a word. "I didn't hurt you… did I?" This got her moving. She turned her head, and he was met with her satisfied beaming smile.

"Do you think we can lie here till someone comes and get us?" Ana barely managed to get the words out. "My pussy was still quivering," Christian growled.

"Don't talk like that." He warned as he forced himself up. He took her shredded panties of the floor and wiped her juice off his cock. He took a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and cleaned her up as best as he could. " I will be right back." He said bolting down the stairs before she could get her head to muster a response he was back with a wet handkerchief. She yelped when he touched the wet cloth to her thigh. "Sorry, the Sound is cold." She broke into a fit of giggles and as hard as she tried she couldn't stop.

"I can't believe you know my parents." He said in disbelief, as his brain could not think of anything else.

"I met your dad on the weekends he came to Montesano to go fishing and your mom at a couple of functions dad forced me to go to."

"Ana, Christian," Mia called from the bottom of the stairs. She knew what they were up to and had no desire to see anything she wasn't meant to see.

"We will be there in a minute," Christian called as Ana tried to compose herself.

"Come on, you two sit down." Grace beamed at the lovely couple. "Where are my manners? Ana, it is Elena Lincoln my best friend." Ana knew Elena was friends with Christian's family, so was surprised to find Elliot, Mia, and Carrick frown when she was introduced. Interesting.

"Hello, nice to meet you." She said paying more attention to Christian, who looked damn right uncomfortable.

"You too." She was surprised to find that Elena was genuine in her greeting.

Elena needed to get close and to do that she was determined to play nice to get there. It was the only way to undermine this relationship… from the inside.

"Christian, get up." He looked worried for a moment. "Get up." This time, he did. She walked behind him and pulled off his jacket and hung it behind his chair. "Now loosen up a bit you are not at GEH."

"About time," Elliot mumbled.

Amen." Mia added.

"Thank you, Ana," Grace added. Christian just chuckled. Before sitting down, Ana squeezed Kate's shoulder with a small smile. She didn't expect it, therefore didn't have time to catch the small groan caused by the surprisingly pleasant pain that left her as she sat down. Christian looked smug as fuck. Elliot and Kate just smirked their way, Elena looked sick to her stomach. Her last hope was just shredded and trampled on. Christian wasn't forcing himself into a role that would soon shatter. No, the man despite having no need for BDSM clearly still fucked like a man possessed. It was evident when they walked back that they had been having sex. She had been under the false impression it was slow, loving sex, the kind of sex that would never sustain Christian, not in the long run. It wasn't the case; you don't wince when you sit down… not after that slow crap. No, he fucked that girl just the way he loved to fuck, hard and raw. This was not a façade; this was Christian Grey in every sense of the word. He was her Christian and though it had been building she never truly expected him to be gone, to be someone else's. She could barely get through the goat cheese salad in front of her.

"Wait, you the were the one who thought Christian was dating my friend José." Ana blurted out.

"Wait, what." Elliot's boomed.

"Yeah, José told me; apparently, you showed up twice at GEH thinking Christian was gay. I saw you the second time during the photo shoot. You weren't happy about it." She added.

"I just heard a couple of rumors so I thought I ask him about it and in my defense he was flirting with Christian." She laughed.

"José is an outrageous flirt and with a man like Christian… there will be no stopping him." Kate told the room.

"Rumors from whom." He glared at her. "You wouldn't happen to have someone following me?" Though his tone sounded playful, she knew it was anything but.

"Would you have had an issue if he was gay? Is that why you were making comments about Christian's money earlier because you thought he was coming here with José. I happen to have met José a few times during my fishing trips with Ray and José Snr. That boy is a lot of things, but a gold-digger is not one of them." Carrick defended.

Elena didn't know what to say; admitting she thought José was cheating would have Christian wondering why she said nothing till now. She could have called and left a message. She knew him well enough to know he checked his messages on a daily basis.

"Anyway, how is José?" Carrick asked.

"Fishing this weekend with dad." She smiled at Carrick's forlorn expression.

"Does Ray know you two are dating?" Christian's turned his glare off Elena and smiled at Ana.

"He knows I'm dating, he doesn't know it's Christian."

"Why not?" He barked. "The man is always going on about you meeting someone like me." He added proudly.

"It's true," Carrick added his two cents with just as much pride.

"Where is the fun in that? If I told him I was dating you, he'd just smile and tell me to treat you well. Right now there are a lot of grunts and groans and reminders of his gun collection, it's just fabulous." She teased. "Anyway, you will most likely hear from him tomorrow because José can't keep a secret to save his life. Under dad's interrogation, he will sing like a Canary." She huffed.

"Nice to see someone is at least on my side. Wait a second did José know Carrick was my dad." He asked.

"No, he knows Carrick as Carrick, and that's about it. Believe me, you are about to get a whole lot of José when he finds out."

"We don't talk about work during fishing we just moan about everything else."

"I'm sure you do." Grace retorted.

"Darling, I do not moan about you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me." Carrick cooed although not all that convincing.

"How have they been married for so long?" Ana whispered.

"Yeah, you'd think he be better at lying considering he's a lawyer." He countered.

"Wait until you've been married for a few decades and see how successful you'll be lying to your partner," Carrick grumbled with his fork pointed towards them.

"You'll never lie to me, will you?" It sounded strangely like a warning in Christian's ear.

"Never."

"Good. I'd hate to cut something off while you are sleeping." Ana unconsciously patted his chest earning audible gasps from the table, most noticeably Elena.

"I'm working on it," Christian answered feeling a little ashamed. "Be patient with me. I'm really making an effort this time… I'm sorry it took me so long." He runs his fingers through his hair. Grace tried in vain to get rid of her tears. The grin Carrick had been sporting since Christian walked in just got wider.

"Whenever you are ready son." He mumbled past his emotionally constricted throat.

Ana's fingers played with the hairs on the nape of his neck; he smiled down at her before planting a kiss on her lip earning a whoop from Elliot.

As the conversation and laughter flowed around Elena, she desperately wanted to take leave. She did not recognize the Christian in front of her, gone was the cold brooding asshole and here sat a man content in himself and accepting his family's love. The thought left her cold, with love in his life he would no longer have room for her, her lack of belief in love. But she did love, she loved him, and now it was too late to express it.

When she recalled Ana having said she was there for the photo shoot, she realized Christian had known about the PI for some time and decided to make a fool of her. Have I nailed the final nail into the coffin myself?

Elena, I am going to have to cancel our meetings." He didn't want to say Thursday or weekly. He didn't want his mother to know he met with Elena every week and yet for a long time couldn't be bothered to come for Sunday lunch. "I have sent the Esclava files to the finance department, they will call and arrange a meeting to go over everything." She nodded though she expected this, she didn't think it would come so soon.

Grace had barely looked at her clearly upset with her with what she believed was homophobic attitude from Elena. Grace was on the board of directors for an LGBT charity that helped young people whose families had disowned them due to their sexual orientation.

"Where is the bathroom?" Ana whispered in Christian's ear.

"Up the stairs, the last door on the left." She excused herself and made her way upstairs. It had been glorious watching Elena shrink into her chair as her most prized possession pulled away from her. She walked out of the bathroom to find the bitch in black standing on the landing pretending to be busy on the phone.

AN: Next chapter Ana and Elena will finally talk. I had originally planned it for this chapter, but I wasn't happy with what I had so I posted this instead of keeping you waiting. C.J.