CHAPTER 29
Friday
"Should you be in today?" Ana peered at her increasingly gaunt-looking PA.
"I'm fine," Hannah replied, pushing a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.
"You don't look it."
"I'm just tired, that's all. I haven't been sleeping."
"You've been in early and stayed late all week. Why don't you go home at lunchtime?"
Hannah shook her head. "I'm OK. Really."
"Well if you need it, the offer's there. I'm not aware that we're especially busy right now. We have roughly the same number of books going out this month as we usually have. Is everything alright at home?"
Hannah gave a weak smile. "Yes. It's still just me and the cat and that's how I like it."
"OK, but burying yourself in work doesn't make problems go away. If you need to talk, I'm here."
She walked back to her office, hoping that Hannah would take time before Ana had to order her to take it. She couldn't fault her work, if anything, her PA was even more ahead of the game than usual. But there was no need for her to be in the office every waking moment and act as if she was trying to punish herself for something. Ana checked her calendar just as Hannah announced that Christian was here. She stood up, took a deep breath and smoothed down her skirt. She was meeting her new member of staff. Borrowing a phrase from Christian's cricket-mad counselor, John Flynn, her husband had bowled a googly last night.
"You're doing what?" she gawped, needing him to repeat the information that he'd lightly dropped into their conversation. She was unsure whether she'd heard him correctly.
"I'm teaching David about submission and domination."
She had. Ana scrambled up onto her knees beside him in bed and tried to focus on which question to ask first.
"Why? How?" She thought of his packed weekly schedule. "When?"
"Why? He asked me to. He has no self-confidence and I think it will help with that. But mainly it's because it's what Keeley wants."
"What Keeley wants? You're not going to teach her, are you?"
Christian shook his head. "No. This isn't going to be me and you all over again."
"Good. Because don't think I didn't notice that she's your type." Ana gave him a knowing smile and Christian rolled his eyes.
"Ancient history," he said, reaching for her hand. "How?" he continued, "I'll be the master, he'll be the student. I thought we'd stick with the traditional learning arrangement." She ignored the sass. "When? That depends a little on you."
"On me?" She was even more curious now.
"Yes. Is the internship in your office still needed?"
"Yes."
"Then I have just the right candidate. He's fresh out of college… well, nine years ago, reads voraciously and is willing to do anything you ask him. I need him to have a job, Ana, and David's never had one, so he's going to have to start at the bottom. I'd like him close, somewhere where it's easy for me to drop by and check on his progress. GEH has filled all its intern posts for now, Grey Construction is fully-staffed, but I know that you're recruiting." He flashed a smile and she couldn't help smiling in return, noting his faultless reasoning. To Christian it was a done deal. Grey Publishing needed an intern and he needed a job for David. But…
"Is he… subbing for you?" she asked. "I mean…in that way?"
"No," he said firmly. "There are many things for him to discover about himself and the role before we get onto the practicalities. This isn't about turning him into what I used to be, it's more about the type of thing we do. Role play within a framework."
Ana moved off her knees and curled up beside him, Christian's arm circled around her and pulled her close.
"But even so, it's incredibly intimate and he'll need to learn to do things, just as you did. Will you take him to Xavier's new place?"
"No."
"But..."
"Ana, there's a lot you can do with the right video clips and good written instructions. Besides, half the fun will be Keeley and David experimenting for themselves. My part will be making sure that David's role is firmly anchored in love and respect for Keeley rather than anything to do with…" he tailed off. "I want to make sure that that he's not coming to the table with issues." Christian reached for Ana's breast, coaxing her nipple into response as only he knew how. "Being able to make her come because he knows which bits of her body respond best can be discovered by trial and error."
"But in White Tower you wrote that somebody demonstrated to you where and how to touch a woman. It reads like an instruction…" she broke off. Christian was grinning at her. "What?"
"I hadn't thought of it like that," he said, "but you're right. White Tower is an instruction manual. I'll get him to read it."
"Christian, I…"
He took hold of her hands. "We've known him a long time and we consider him to be one of our closest friends. I'm happy for him to know the truth."
Ana loosed her hand from his and ran the flat of her palm over his chest, over the scars he bore from that truth. "Only you can make that decision."
"I know. And I think it's time for me to open up a little."
Ana rolled onto her back, reaching for him. He knew what she wanted and moved on top of her.
"Speaking of opening up a little," she murmured, spreading her legs, feeling his hips between her thighs and his hardness closing in to take her. "Every good teacher needs regular practice."
He looked into her eyes. "He does. Yield, baby. Give yourself to me."
"It will be my pleasure. Sir," she added.
"Yes, your pleasure. About that…"
Her eyes closed and her head rested back and she gave a moan of bliss as Christian eased into her.
The sweet memory of last night cleared to give way to the sight of her husband's amused face. He was standing in her office doorway. He knew what she was thinking about. The man could read her as well as he could read any book that Grey Publishing produced. Behind Christian was David and behind him, Simran and Molly were catching flies as they stared at the handsome visitor to their offices. She knew that David filling the vacant fourth desk in their group would go down very well.
"Come in," she said, greeting David with a kiss on the cheek. Christian shut the door behind them and then moved to claim a longer kiss, his hand discreetly running over the curve of her behind. His eyes were still alight from their morning lovemaking, before he'd disappeared early to supervise the neophyte.
Christian and David sat down in the chairs on the opposite side of her desk and it was evident that Dom 101 had been about personal appearance. David Brannigan was no slouch sartorially, but even Ana had to concede that improvements had been made to bring him into line with Christian's own exacting standards. His hair had been freshly cut, his beard trimmed, straggly eyebrows had been tweezed and his fingernails displayed the sheen of a professional buffing. He looked as if he would be more at home on the top floor of GEH than on the top floor of Grey Publishing where the dress code was rather more relaxed. Ana pulled the job description up on her computer screen and prepared to brief her new employee on his role.
xXXx
At his desk David Brannigan was still in the middle of the oddest twenty four hours he had ever experienced. He hadn't for a minute appreciated that learning the skills of being a good Dominant required an understanding of being a good submissive. He was still uncomfortable. Not from the clothing, He was used to wearing suits, but from the realization that giving his whole self over to the process meant that Christian Grey now had control over when he went to bed, when he got up and not leaving his apartment until he'd eaten an adequate breakfast. This morning he'd also had to let Marco attend to his hair, his beard, his brows and his nails. He was to attend Coolwater Men's Salon every week and place himself under Marco's personal ministrations. It was a level of self-care that David had previously neglected, favouring a pair of scissors, an ancient emery board and an electric beard trimmer when needed. The only thing that had met with Christian's approval was David's selection of suits. Those he had in abundance.
There were also sanctions. Keeley was now off limits during the week. He was allowed to call her or email her, but his physical time with her would be restricted to Friday through Sunday night and starting this evening, he had been tasked by Christian to design a weekend that placed Keeley uppermost in the arrangements. He was to report back with his plans at lunchtime. Before then there was the excitement of starting work in his very first job and he was aware that he was grossly overdressed for it. Not that it was of any concern to Christian… sir, he corrected. David now did things to Mr Grey's standards and his new teacher cared not one jot what the world thought of that.
David sat a bank of four desks pushed together. They were separated by low-level dividers and beyond each sat a woman, each giving David surreptitious glances. He could read them well enough to know that none of them knew quite what to say. But Molly broke the ice first and kept the conversation going when her questions yielded a stunning piece of information.
"You've never had a job?" Her eyes were wide.
David's smile was sheepish. "I've never needed a job."
"And you need one now?"
"No, I just want one now." That wasn't the truth, but his quest for this process to culminate in better sex with Keeley strangely required a job and a manicure. This, explained Mr Grey, was because Dominants were highly responsible people who made a meaningful contribution to the society and didn't spend their lives at art gallery openings and gala performances of La Traviata. Hmm… did Keeley like Opera, he wondered? Or would a film be more her thing?
He was now one of Ana's Editorial Assistants working through his first batch of fiction submissions from writers looking to be published. He already knew of Grey Publishing's commitment to championing new talent in the Pacific Northwest and Ana herself had passed him several new books on release that she thought might appeal to his reading taste. But nothing had prepared him for the document that Mr Grey had sent him early this morning, which had come with the warning that barring changes in names and certain details, it was pretty much the truth of Christian's own development as a Dom. He wasn't to let Keeley have sight of it and was to be kept strictly to himself.
David couldn't help but noticing the very fragile state of Ana's PA and among his new co-workers, they too were increasingly concerned by her appearance. She'd lost weight, her skin was pale, there were dark circles around her eyes and the slightest shock made her overreact. Danielle, who sat across from him glanced over at Hannah every new minutes and shook her head.
"She needs to get over it," she muttered. "It's only a goddamn book."
"Yes, but what a book," said Simran. "So glad you didn't keep that to yourself."
"You can tell who's reading it now by how many times they go to the restroom," said Molly. "Naomi's got it at the moment."
David had noted the woman in question had spent the entire morning turning various shades of pink. She headed back into the office now and walked by the desks.
"Got to the part where he turns the tables, yet?" Simran asked and Naomi promptly went puce. "Haha, yes," she said in response to the vibrant colour change.
"Holy fuck," the pink-cheeked woman hissed. "How will I ever be able to concentrate again?"
"I'm nearly back to normal," said Molly. "Although Lance is getting a little sick and tired of me upping my demands in the bedroom," she laughed. "What can I say? When a girl discovers that hot chocolate fudge sundae could be on the menu, she ain't gonna settle for plain old vanilla anymore."
"Amen to that!" Simran leaned over the desk and hi-fived Molly.
Hannah came over. "Would you please keep your voices down!?" Her tone was low and threatening. "If Ana…" Danielle grabbed the PA's arm and shook her head at her. There was a low exchange between them and first Hannah and then Danielle's eyes flicking to David made him understand that they didn't want what they were discussing to reach their boss's ears from him. Hannah went back to her desk.
"She needs to chill the fuck out," said Danielle. "She's making way too much of this. She passed on a book not secrets to North Korea." Danielle looked at David. "So what flavour do you like? Chocolate, raspberry swirl, or vanilla?" As he decided, she ran her finger along her lower lip, measuring him against an invisible standard.
"Actually, I'd go for the hot chocolate fudge sundae," he smiled.
"Would you, now?" she replied, fixing him with a carnal smile that told him that if satisfaction wasn't to be found with Keeley, then Danielle would be more than accommodating. "Seems we have something in common."
Not likely, he thought, imagining instead the woman he wanted to share a hot chocolate fudge sundae with. He smiled. That would be one thing for the weekend.
