The next week went by quickly. Graduation was looming and Kate helped me shop for a wardrobe for professional outfits and I was excited. Tonight was the night before my internship began, and I hadn't talked to Christian since the day I had told him I wanted to slow things down, until my phone buzzed.

Are you excited for tomorrow?-C

My heart jumped a little. Yes I was excited. Was I more excited to see Christian again or to start my professional career? I wasn't sure. I typed out a message.

Very.-A

I thought about our only night we had spent together. He had awoken a beast. I wanted to do the right thing, but my head was so cloudy with desire for him. I walked into my kitchen and poured myself a glass of bitter red wine, unsure of what I was going to do. I was actually beginning to like the flavor, it reminded me of him. I typed out a text message.

What are you doing?-A

His response came back quickly.

Anastasia, you are not very good at this.-C

Good at what?-A

I thought we were going to remain professional.-C

I paused and downed the rest of my wine. He was right.

You're right. I'm not good at this.-A

I didn't receive a text back. So this was it, this was what it was like to dump a bazillionaire. Hmm. I thought it would feel better than this, but frankly, I was horny and disappointed. Disappointed that he was my boss. I was thankful for this opportunity, but damn did it come with a price. I let my wine haze take over and I fell asleep quickly on top of my covers.

I woke up early the next morning, anxious and unable to sleep. I got up and looked at my phone hoping that maybe Christian had sent me a message after I had fallen asleep. No luck.

I opened my closet and pulled out a form fitting pencil skirt and a silky red button up shirt. I meditated as I slipped on my heels. Today is going to be fine. Professional relationship. Professional relationship. Professional relationship. We can do this.

I went into Kate's room and flopped down on her bed.

"Kaaateee. Wake up." I said, anxiety in my voice.

"Ana. Why do you do this to me." Kate responded in a groggy voice. "You're going to be fine. Some of us try to sleep around here. Breathe. Drink your tea. Be a badass."

She really did know me well. I stood up and picked up a pillow, throwing it at her. A muffled groan came from her pillow.

"Thanks Kate."

I shut the door and decided I needed to relax. I grabbed one of my favorite books and decided to head toward the coffee shop across from GEH to read for an hour or so before work started.

~{(0)}~

I sat in the corner of the coffee shop, latte in hand, desperately needing the caffeine after the bottle of wine I had drank the night before, paired with waking up excessively early this morning. I had never been good at coping with my anxiety.

"I thought you didn't do coffee." A familiar voice spoke to me. I looked up to see Christian Grey in the flesh, staring down at me.

"Well Mr. Grey, turns out I need the caffeine today." I said, taking a drink as I looked into his eyes, trying to see what he was thinking.

"Mr. Grey, huh?" He said, walking over toward the drink line. I winked at him and pretended to stare back down at my book and read. When I looked back up, he was gone. I looked out the window to see him, coffee in hand, heading across the street. I looked at the time. I needed to head that way as well.

Everything became a blur when I arrived on the marketing floor of GEH. People walked quickly and focused in on their computers on the main area of the floor. The layout of the office was very open with large windows on the North Wall opposite to the elevator. Down the sides were conference rooms, separated only by glass from the main room. Everything was very sleek and shiny. I was immediately welcomed by the receptionist.

"Are you Ana?" She asked. I walked over and shook her hand.

"That's me, how are you?"

"I'm fantastic. My name is Sarah Farris. we are so excited to have you as part of our team. Today you'll be shadowing Rose Carson, she is the director of the marketing department. Today she will show you the ropes and give you an overview of how we do things around here. Rose will be out of her morning meeting in a moment." Sarah motioned over to our left where who I assumed to be Rose, was pointing to something on a PowerPoint presentation while leading a meeting.

After a few minutes of waiting, people shuffled out of the glass room and Rose followed. She saw me standing awkwardly next to the front desk and walked over to me and shook my hand.

"Hi, you must be Ana. So sorry my meeting ran late!" She said warmly as she smiled. She was beautiful, probably in her late 50's. Her hair was a reddish gold color and her eyes were bright blue. Her smile was bright white and glistened as did the rest of the office.

"Hello, Rose. I'm very excited to be here!" I said back, shaking her hand confidently.

"Mr. Grey said you two have met before, otherwise at this point I would take you up to meet him." She said, waiting for me to respond.

"Yes, we've met before." I said, trying my hardest to keep from blushing. He just took my virginity, no biggie.

"Awesome, well Ana, let me walk you around and introduce you to everyone." We walked around a few desks until we stopped at a desk with two men sitting at it.

"Here we have Ben Ellis and Rob Stevens. They are our stats guys. You'll be working with them quite a bit in the beginning. Guys, this is Ana."

"Hi Ana." They said almost in sync. I shook both of their hands. Ben had brown hair and a sharp jawline. He was actually pretty attractive, but not Christian Grey attractive. Another downside of dating someone as beautiful as Christian Grey. How would any other man ever compare?

Rob was an older guy, his hair peppered with white.

"So you just graduated huh?" He said, trying to make small talk.

"Not quite. I have a month left of school and then I'm done."

"Nice. Good to meet you Ana." he said, redirecting his attention to his computer screen as Rose dragged me away in a hurry.

I met a few other people but then Rose set me to work. She had me set up on a computer in the corner of the room by the window, it was nice. She gave me a list of clients, statistics, and results of focus groups. I was given access to the GEH server, and asked me to evaluate the list and report back to her. I scrolled through, it felt like it never ended. My morning was busy.

Right before lunchtime, Rose came to my desk and asked me to join her in a meeting. I went into the conference room and she sat down next to me, to my confusion. Next thing I knew, Christian Grey stood in front of the employees and discussed a merger that I realized was way above my level of comprehension of marketing. I had a lot of learning to do, but I tried my best to keep up. He didn't make eye contact with me a single time until the very end. I smiled at him, barely with my eyes. He looked away immediately. Apparently having a professional relationship was going to be much easier than I thought.

Lunch hour finally arrived, and I made my way downstairs to the cafeteria. I found a nice spot outside in the courtyard and sat down. I spotted Rose inside and she made eye contact with me. She carried her lunch outside and sat down next to me.

"Ana. What's the deal with you and Mr. Grey." She said, biting into her apple, smiling.

"Um, what?" I said back, giggling. "How'd you know."

"I haven't felt more sexual tension in a room since 1987."

"What happened in 1987?" I asked, laughing.

"I got pregnant with my first son." She laughed and then her face got serious again. "Don't change the subject."

I knew I was trapped, so I came clean.

"Well, I met him while interviewing him for the WSU newspaper for my friend who is a reporter. That's how I got this internship. Shortly after securing the internship… I may have slept with him." I said quickly as I ate some of my soup.

"Girl! With Mr. Grey!" She said, slapping my arm, laughing. "So what's your status now?" She asked me, excited. It felt like I was talking to Kate.

"I told him I would only like to pursue a professional relationship." I said, almost mocking myself at the 'professional relationship' part.

"Well, that was stupid." Rose said, shoving a forkful of salad into her mouth. "If someone that hot wanted to bone me I wouldn't be resisting."

I laughed at her crass words. "So you don't think it's bad then?"

"Why does it matter what anyone thinks, Ana?" She said, shrugging. "You deserve to be here because you deserve to be here, not because you slept with the boss. I've seen your resume."

I looked down into my soup and thought about her words. Was this what I was worried about? About how my reputation would be affected if anyone found out? Maybe she was right… but I knew that I had some kissing up to do to Christian if he was going to offer me a relationship again. Leave it to me to complicate this situation further.