A/N Hi all! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter in Rays POV. Thanks everyone for your continued support and a special thanks to those of you who take the time to review xxx
CPOV
Escala is especially quiet as I walk in this evening. I have gotten so used to the sound of Ana and Gail chatting and laughing each evening when I come home I now find the silence a little disturbing. Of course I promised Ana we would be going out for dinner so I am assuming she is getting ready in our room.
"Ana?" I call out when she's not there. Taking off my suit jacket I lay it across the back of a chair.
"In here," I hear her call back followed by the sound of splashing water.
I find her immersed in our huge bathtub filled with bubbles, the space bathed in soft light from the numerous candles lit about the room. The smell of jasmine is enticing. "Well this is a fine sight," I say as I loosen my tie and open a few buttons on my shirt. "A man could get used to coming home to this."
Ana rubs a washcloth slowly up and down her arms before sliding it towards her breasts. My pants tighten at the way she innocently seduces me without even realising it. She turns and upon seeing the growing tent in my pants she bites her lip and looks up at me coyly. "Can you scrub my back please?" she holds the cloth out for me to take. Hmm, maybe not so innocent after all.
Smirking, I squat down and take the cloth from her as she sits forward. I rub the cloth across her shoulders and she moans a little as the warm water streams down her naked back. "That feels so nice."
She leans back once more and I continue cleaning where she left off, her ripe breasts are slightly pinked from the warm water and it takes serious willpower for me not to lean forward and suckle those perfect nipples until they are hard and aching for me. The candlelight is dancing on her bare skin making it glisten in its wetness.
"Did you have a good day?" she murmurs. I pause momentarily as I am reminded of the conversation we need to have about my meeting with Ray today. She opens one eye when I hesitate, "what's the matter?"
I let the cloth sink to the bottom of the tub and make soothing circles on her tummy with my fingertips as I try to find the right words to answer her, "I did something today which you may not like," I hesitate, "you may even be angry with me, but baby I need you to know I did it for your own good."
She sits up suddenly, splashing my white shirt with water. "What did you do?" there's no accusation in her question, only worry.
"I met with Ray Steele today."
"What?" she whispers.
I can't look her in the eye, "I had a meeting with Ray this afternoon at GEH. I contacted him a few days ago after I showed you his letter and asked him to meet with me. I needed to know if his reasons for contacting you were part of any ulterior motive."
"What possible reason could he want to meet me other than to see me after so many years?'' she sounds confused.
I look up at her and see all the confusion and worry in her eyes, but thankfully no anger. I take her face in my hands, "Ana, did it ever occur to you just how much money I'm worth."
She pulls back suddenly and crosses her arms under her breasts. On any other occasion I would take my time to marvel at the sight of them propped up like that, but right now I know better as anger finally makes an appearance on her delicate features. "Why would I care about how much...oh! You think Ray is after your money?" she squeaks indignantly, "he's not like that!"
"Sweetheart please understand, you haven't seen the man since you were a small child. I needed to meet with him and be positive he wasn't willing to use you the way your mother was prepared to," she flinches and I feel terrible for mentioning the bitch, "please baby, I couldn't see you be hurt that way again."
Ana plays with her fingernails while she contemplates this, "I suppose," she murmurs but then gives me a dirty look, "I still think you should have told me." She pouts but I can see she isn't really angry, just a little pissed that I did this without informing her. I rub her pouted lip with my thumb. "I'm sorry." I continue at her sceptical look, "I'm not sorry I did it, but I am sorry it has to be this way."
After a moment she perks up, "how is he? Does he look like he's looking after himself? Did he get married? Oh! does he have kids?" The questions tumble out of her mouth much too quickly for me to answer them, causing me to chuckle.
"I'll tell you all I know about him, but first let's get you out of this bath, the water is getting cold and I don't want you to get sick again." I help her out and hop into the shower while she dries herself off.
"Do you think he missed me?" Ana asks quietly while we are getting dressed.
She is standing in front of her closet with her back to me and trying to seem as if she is asking off handedly. But I know better. I walk up behind her and pull her close to my chest. She is dressed only in thigh high silk stockings and her agent provocateur lacy underwear and I'm still in my boxers. For a moment I revel in the feel of her silky soft skin against mine.
"Baby," I murmur against her neck, "the man raised you as his own daughter for eight years and came looking for you as soon as he knew where you were. He gave you his name, sweetheart." I kiss her temple, "I think he has thought about you everyday for fourteen years."
I feel the tremor in her body as she catches a sob, "you think?"
I pull her around gently to face me, "I know. If it was me I would never stop looking for you. Not for one. Single. Day." I kiss her softly between each word. "Now come on, we have reservations at eight." I can't resist but to palm her ass just once before I turn to finish getting dressed, those panties are fucking killing me.
As usual the Mile High Club is booked solid but of course my personal table is always free. We are shown straight to our table and our first course is served within five minutes.
"You ordered before we got here?"
"Of course. You know how much I hate waiting, besides, the last time we were here you said you liked the look of the scallops for next time so I made sure they were on the menu," I grin and she rolls her eyes.
"What did you order for the main course?" she asks as she wraps her lips around her first fork full of scallop and mint pea puree. "Mmm this is really good."
I take a bite of my own and have to agree, they are delicious. "I ordered us the seabass for main."
She wrinkles her nose, "I've never had seabass before."
"You'll love it, trust me."
We eat in companionable silence until we finish our starters but once our plates are cleared I see Ana's nerves return. I reach across and release her lip from her teeth, "stop fretting baby, you will meet with Ray and everything will be fine. I promise."
"When?"
"Whenever you want baby. We can go visit him in Montesano or he can come here, whatever you decide to do we'll do it." I want to make this as easy and stress free as I possibly can and the sooner the better. I don't want all this stress affecting her diabetes. Her therapy with John is starting in the first week of the new year and I want this stuff with Ray sorted before that.
"W...would this weekend be okay?" she thinks for a second, "or maybe not, he's probably busy with his family so close to Christmas. I wouldn't want to be a nuisance."
"Ana," I scold, "you could never be a nuisance. Anyway, Ray never married or had children so I'm sure he'll be more than happy to meet you as soon as you can. I'll ring him later to set up a time."
She frowns, "why did he never marry?"
My guess is he never got over losing one child and didn't want the heartbreak of it ever happening again so he didn't take the chance. Of course I know saying this out loud would only upset Ana and I don't want to make her feel guilty, as she undoubtedly would so I simply say, "you'll have to ask him that when you meet him."
"Okay," she agrees just as we are served our main course. She tries some. "You're right, this is delicious."
#####
"Hello?"
"Ray? It's Christian here, I just wanted to ring to let you know I spoke to Ana about our meeting earlier," I wanted to ring Ray as soon as I got home so I'm making a quick call to him from my office while Ana's getting ready for bed. Technically Ana could have made this call herself but she's nervous and I think she wants her first contact with him after so long to be face to face.
"Oh, hi Christian. Good, that's good. How'd she take it?" although he tries to sound calm I can hear his nerves betraying him.
"Better than expected actually, she wants to see you and was wondering if you wanted to meet up this weekend. You can come back to Seattle or we can come up to Montesano if that would be easier," I know it can't be easy for him to take so much time off work. Ray is self employed and although he's not struggling financially, he isn't exactly rolling in it either. But I don't want to hurt the man's pride by treating him like a charity case.
"Actually Christian I'm staying in Seattle for a few days so I'll be around any day she wants to meet up," his eagerness for a reunion with his long lost daughter is touching and I decide not to prolong the agony for any longer than necessary. I know Ana will approve.
"Well if you're still in town I don't see why you two can't meet tomorrow. If you tell me where you're staying I can have someone pick you up tomorrow evening. You can come here to our apartment," I think the privacy of home is better than a public place as I know this will be emotional for Ana and I don't want her to feel self conscious.
Ray happily gives me the details of his hotel with an agreement that he will come for dinner tomorrow at 7pm.
When I enter our room Ana is already burrowed under the comforter reading a book. After quickly brushing my teeth I waste no time stripping and climbing in beside her. She snuggles up to me immediately.
"Did you call Ray?"
"I did. He's still in Seattle."
"Really? Is he going to see me this weekend?" she sounds so hopeful and I'm selfish enough to be delighted to be able to deliver her some positive news for once regarding her family.
"Actually, he's coming here for dinner tomorrow," I watch her beautiful face light up with a smile.
"He is? That's the best news ever!" she throws herself on top of me and rewards me with kisses all over my face, "thank you, thank you, thank you."
I grin and kiss her back and one thing leads to another and before long the inevitable happens and we end up fucking.
"That was some thank you," I pant as I roll off her onto my back and pull her with me. When she giggles and slaps my chest playfully I outwardly laugh but inside I marvel at how at ease I am with her touch now. She squeezes one leg in between mine, tangling them together as she nuzzles into my side again. I run my fingers up and down her bare back.
After a few minutes in which I thought she fell asleep she surprises me when she whispers, "I'm starting to remember things. About Ray. Things I had forgotten," she's surprisingly sombre, I thought having memories of her father would make her happy.
"Are they not good memories?" I ask gently as I continue to stroke the soft skin of her back.
She hesitates, possibly trying to make sense of her hazy memories, "mostly they are good, I think. I see swings...a park maybe, and I feel happy when I see it. Or sitting on his lap while he reads me a bedtime story from a huge book of fairytales.
"But then there are other memories that are not so good, pretty much any with my mother in them. I think I remember the day she took me away..." She trails off and I want to tell her it's okay, that she doesn't have to talk about it but I hold my tongue knowing it's better if she gets it out.
"What do you remember?" I whisper and hold her tighter. She traces her fingers along my ribs absently while she thinks.
"I was clinging to Rays legs and crying. Carla was pulling me away and I just kept screaming and screaming, begging him to keep me. She was saying nasty things, awful things, to Ray. It's the only time I ever saw him cry.
"Afterwards I was so angry. I didn't understand why my Daddy didn't love me anymore. Why he wouldn't come see me, take me away from the awful places Carla had us stay. Obviously as I grew older I realised the truth for myself, that my mother had kept me away from him and I felt guilty for blaming him. I don't remember much more than that really."
"You were just a little kid Ana, and your mother must have told you lies for you to think Ray didn't want you any more. Jesus that woman is a piece of work." I swear I will make her pay for what she did to Ana. As soon as I can find the bitch, she seems to have vanished into thin air but I'm sure she'll raise her ugly head again. And when she does I'll make her rue the day she was born.
"I know." Although she's obviously upset, I'm surprised Ana's not in floods of tears talking about all of this. But I reason that the sorrow and anger are being offset by her excitement in knowing that she will finally be reunited with her father tomorrow.
"Tomorrow will be a good day," she says with such conviction I have to smile.
"It sure will baby, it sure will."
A/N Not sure I like the last part of this chapter. The damn thing wouldn't come out the way I wanted it to (grrr) but after rewriting it three times I gave up. If I didn't you wouldn't be getting an update till God knows when.
Anyway enjoy and don't forget to review xxx