Merry Christmas everyone!
Snoopylover60 and I promised we would one day write an HEA, and that day has arrived.! This will be a short 3-4 chapter story, and we hope you will enjoy it.
Christian's and Ana's back stories are a little different—There is no Elena or BDSM—Christian is a lonely, hardworking CEO who is leery of relationships, and Ana is a grad student at U-DUB studying forensic accounting.
For Hootiebear and T Traveller.
CPOV
I lean back in my chair and sigh. This morning is dragging I grumble to myself.
Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving and GEH is closed so my employees can travel to be with their families, so today has been extremely uneventful…a few conference calls and meetings with my department heads, but nothing exciting.
My parents are due back from Paris tomorrow night, bringing Mia with them-they have been visiting with her in Paris for this past week during the month-long European vacation I sent them on for their anniversary, and all 3 of them will be back in time for Mom and Mia to start Thanksgiving dinner preparations.
At least I have something to look forward to this week.
Life had been going great for the past few years—business was booming—we closed several big deals, GEH had the most successful year on record last year, and I was engaged to a woman with whom I was deeply in love…her name was Jillian Robertson, and I thought I had finally found someone who loved me for me, not my bank account. But, come to find out, she was just like all the other women I have dated throughout the years… in love with my checking account, and the attention of status of being Christian Grey's fiancée.
We met at a restaurant in New York 3 years year ago when Ros and I were in town to close a huge deal with a local tech company. After the deal was closed and contracts were signed, Ros and I went out to dinner to celebrate as we always do, and that's where I first saw Jillian. She was sitting at the table next to us with her parents and younger sister. Listening to their conversation we learned that her sister had just graduated from Columbia Law School and was starting at a very prestigious law firm in the city the following week.
Jillian caught me staring at her and smiled, and for the rest of the evening we kept stealing glances at each other, and when Ros and I got up to leave, I paid for their dinner as a graduation/congratulations gift to her sister.
Ros went up to her room to call Gwen and the kids, but I wasn't ready to call it a night, so I decided to wander into the bar to watch the football game since the Seahawks were playing the Giants. I have a private box at CenturyLink Field, and Elliot and I usually go to most of the home games, and quite often Dad and Grandpa Theo come with us and we make it a regular boy's night out.
Anyway, back to Jillian. I was sitting back enjoying the game when she walked in and saw me and came over and thanked me for paying for their dinner, and I invited her to join me and we sat there talking all night.
I learned that she was from Seattle and taught 1st grade at a private elementary school in Bellevue. Talking to her was enjoyable and relaxing, and I found myself attracted to her. Being from Seattle, she knew who I was, but didn't seem star struck or intimidated by me, and I didn't get the feeling from her that she was a gold-digging opportunist like so many women who approach me or try to get my attention.
When the game was over and we got up to leave, I asked her if she would like to have dinner with me once I got back to Seattle. She said yes, and took my phone and programmed her number in, and said to call her whenever I was back in town.
We said good night and went our separate ways, and as the elevator took me to my suite, I had a slight grin on my face and a bounce in my step.
Maybe she's not like all the rest I think to myself, and then emailed Welch to do a background check on her, as is standard procedure for anyone with whom I do business or have any personal interaction.
A week after I got back to Seattle, and after reviewing the background check, I called her and asked her out for dinner, and she accepted and I decided to take her a small Italian restaurant in Kirkland called Volterra. Elliot found this place a few months ago and raved about it, and we have been back a few times for dinner. It's moderately priced, quaint, and the few times we went nobody recognized us, so we were able to enjoy our dinner in peace.
I didn't want to take her to a fancy restaurant right away because I wanted to gage her reaction to a less fancy restaurant for dinner. She loved it, and we talked all through dinner and then went for ice cream after dinner—it was a perfect date. Before dinner I had her sign an NDA and explained to her that my legal department required it, and it didn't seem to bother her at all—she said she understood my need to protect my privacy.
After we dated for 2 months, we officially became a couple, 7 months later she moved in with me, and on the 1-year anniversary of our first date I proposed, and she accepted. We set a wedding date for 1 year later—on the 2-year anniversary of our first date. We had kept our relationship private—only close friends and family knew about us, and we managed to stay off the radar of the paps. After we announced our engagement, everything started to change, though. The paps started bothering us, somehow managing to show up everywhere we went, asking stupid questions— if Jillian was pregnant, calling her a gold digger, and asking if I was going to make her sign a pre-nup, and if so, how much was she going to get if we divorced. It just got worse and worse every time we went out, and it got so bad that I had to assign a full time CPO to her, and then I hired additional security at the school where she worked because the paps would hang out there trying to get pictures or comments from her when she was going to and from work.
In the beginning she shied away from the attention, not saying anything to them, but after a while I noticed that she began to enjoy the attention, sometimes engaging with them, especially when we were out together.
Then, a few months into the wedding planning she turned into a bridezilla...throwing fits when things didn't go exactly as she wanted, screaming at everyone, and then she had a full-on bitch fit at the dress shop because the owner made her wait 5 minutes while she was on the phone with her mother's doctor. Jillian screamed at her, telling her she needed to take care of her personal business on her own time, reminding her that she was the fiancée of Christian Grey and demanded her full attention. My mother was present and told me it was almost like watching the Exorcist, minus the projectile vomiting. My mom had the owner of the dress shop send me the security video of her temper tantrum, and I was beyond shocked that this monster in the video was the same woman I was going to marry...my mom's description of the Exorcist was spot on...
Then it was an issue with the caterer, then the florist, then the wedding planner called me a few weeks later to cancel the contract with us...she said she had never been treated with such abuse and disrespect from a client, and didn't appreciate being told to "suck it up and ditch her shitty attitude before she was bad-mouthed to Seattle's high society." She said Jillian told her that by the time she got done with her she would be lucky to plan a tea party for a 5-year-old and her teddy bears.
I had no clue what was going on, what was causing her horrendous behavior, but there was no way I was going to tolerate it. I talked to her about it and she just blew if off as pre- wedding jitters and told me she would apologize to the wedding planner, and to not worry.
The first year we were together she never exhibited any type of behavior remotely like this...she was always calm and polite and never wanted any attention, but after our engagement was announced, it's like a switch was flipped and she was transformed into a succubus. She is sweet and polite with me and around my family, and she was actually pleasant with the paps, but when it came to the wedding preparations and everyone involved in the plannng she was a monster, letting everyone know who she was, and who she was marrying.
I also had my security looking for any leaks, trying to figure out how the paps were finding out our whereabouts all the time, but they came up empty handed.
Going out became such an unpleasant ordeal that we stopped going out to dinner as often, and limiting our public appearances to just a few charity events when necessary.
The weekend of Jillian's birthday is when it all came to head.
She wanted a nice quiet, intimate weekend alone, so I had Taylor rent us a small cottage under a fake name in Vancouver, BC. We sneaked out of Escala in the middle of the night, made it to the airport without being followed, boarded the GEH jet and took off. I leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief to finally have a peaceful, quiet weekend.
That was short lived.
We woke up the next morning and went to town for breakfast, and while we were in the restaurant, a mob gathered outside, making it impossible for people to get in or out. Taylor brought the vehicle around the back and we managed to leave through the kitchen and headed straight back to the cottage, only to find there were more of the vultures there waiting for us.
We spent the rest of the weekend trapped inside the cottage because even though Taylor had the parasites removed, we never knew if or when or where they would show up again.
We got back to Seattle late Sunday night and surprisingly there weren't any at the airport or in front of Escala. Jillian had fallen asleep as soon as we left the airport, and I gently woke her as we pulled into Escala.
Taylor dropped us at the elevator and she sleepily leaned into me as the elevator took us to the penthouse, and when the doors opened she kissed me on the cheek and told me she was going to take a quick shower and go to bed.
I told her goodnight and went to my office, poured a drink and sat down to check a few emails, and an hour later Taylor knocked on the door.
"Sir, there is something you need to see" and he hands me a cell phone.
I look at it, puzzled, and before I can ask him anything, he tells me "Sir, Natalia found this on the jet. You need to read the text messages."
Several minutes later I looked up at Taylor in total shock and asked him whose phone it was.
"Sir, it was wedged into the seat cushions where Miss Robertson was sitting. I sent the number to Welch and had him look into it, and it's a burn phone that was activated 4 months ago, and the only 2 phone numbers in the address book belong to 2 of Miss Robertson's friends—one is her former roommate, and the other is a teacher at her school. Welch is in the process of recovering all the text messages since the phone was activated-he should have all of those in the next hour or so."
I could not believe what I was reading.
Jillian had been texting her friends our whereabouts, and they were the ones notifying the paps-she was the one causing all the commotion and chaos. That explains the change in her attitude towards them—she was enjoying all the attention she was getting.
There were also several text messages between the 3 of them discussing every aspect of our relationship—detailed conversations regarding our sex life, how much I spent on her gifts, how much she was going to spend on the wedding, but most of their conversations were regarding the unlimited use of my Black Amex, and the pre nup I was going to have her sign. There were also discussions of setting one of them up with Elliot so they could corner the market on the Grey brothers. After reading all the messages I realized there was not 1 text where she mentioned her feelings towards me. Not one. She never once mentioned that she loved me or how she was looking forward to our future or that she even enjoyed spending time with me.
I can't believe I fell for this—the background check Welch did on her before we started dating didn't turn up anything at all like this in her past. She had come from a modest upbringing, went to WSU on a scholarship, and was hired at the school in Bellevue shortly after graduating 4 years ago. She lived a quiet life of a 1st grade teacher and lived within her teacher's salary…nothing at all like was spelled out in these text messages.
After I gave her a Black Amex, I had Welch keep an eye on her purchases and notify me if anything was outrageous, but it never was…her spending had been picking up a little, but it wasn't anything that set off alarms.
I sat in my office stewing for a while, then called Welch and had him cut her off all my accounts, and told Taylor to make arrangements for a moving company to be here first thing in the morning, after she left for work.
Her possessions, along with her car, were boxed up and delivered to her old apartment. Luckily, her former roommate was out of town and the movers could drop off everything without her roommate notifying her. I was waiting in the car with her CPO when she got off work that afternoon and told her I had a surprise for her when we pulled away from the school. When we arrived in front of her old apartment, she looked at me with a funny look, and before she could ask any questions, I handed her the burn phone and told her the wedding was off and to never contact me again, and if she did, she would be dealing with my lawyers.
Taylor opened the door for her and helped her out, reminding her of the NDA she signed and what the ramifications would be if she broke it. He informed her that the burn phone was in violation of the NDA and that alone would be enough to prosecute her, so if she had any plans of talking to the paps again, her life as she knew it would never be the same.
He climbed in the front seat and we drove off, leaving her on the sidewalk, in total shock of what just happened.
The next day my PR department released a statement that our engagement was off, and asked everyone to please respect our privacy.
That was well over a year ago, and I have never heard from her again.
The paps bothered me for a few weeks, but as soon as the news of our broken engagement became old news, life got back to normal...well normal for me.
Present day:
After rehashing the past, I get back to work, reviewing a grant request from the farming division of WSU. They are requesting funding to send a group of students to various 3rd world countries to educate and assist the locals on new techniques of crop production.
It's a very worthy cause and I plan on fully financially supporting them in their endeavors.
Just as I reach for my phone, Elliot comes barging in, in his usual loud boisterous manner
"Hey bro! Shut off your laptop, grab your jacket and let's go! Mom called earlier and they won't be home for Thanksgiving. Apparently, our graceful sister tripped and sprained her ankle so bad that the doctor had to put her in a cast, and she can't walk. Mom and dad are going to stay with her for a couple of weeks and take care of her, so we are on our own for Thanksgiving. I checked with Andrea, and you don't have anything scheduled for the rest of the day, and I know you are closed tomorrow, so we are headed to Aspen in 2 hours to go skiing this weekend. I had her call Stephan and ready the jet, Ryan is going with us since Taylor is off, and I called Mrs. Bentley and let her know we will be there tonight and asked her to have Mr. Bentley get our gear out of storage and have it ready for us. Boys night out so get moving!"
I looked at him in total shock as everything he said sunk in, then closed my laptop, grabbed my jacket and smiled. Heading to Aspen with Elliot sounded like heaven, but I would never tell him that. I really needed to relax for a few days. I smiled at him and said "Sounds good to me! Let's go!"
Entering the house in Aspen I felt the stress slowly leave my body—it was an escape from the storm that was my life. I told Elliot to pick a room, and I headed up to my room to unpack and take a shower. I open the door to my room, drop my bags and walk to the floor-to-ceiling windows and stand and stare out at the beautiful landscape, lost in thought. I had no idea how long I was standing there until Elliot banged on my door telling me to hurry up. I jumped in and took a quick shower, and then grabbed a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt out of the closet and got dressed and headed downstairs where Elliot was waiting for me in the kitchen with 2 cold beers.
"Drink up bro—lets head to the Aspen Brewing Company for some good food-not that foo-foo, prissy food and wine you usually go for, but real man food—wings, burgers and beer!"
I laugh at him, finish my beer and call Ryan and let him know we are ready to leave.
30 minutes later we are seated inside The Aspen Brewing company in a comfortable booth drinking a local craft beer and eating our man food.
We sit there reliving old times from when we were kids, laughing about all the trouble we got into, and how much we got away with. I forgot how much I enjoyed times like this…I had been so busy with GEH the past few years that I hadn't taken much time off…keeping busy kept my mind off Jillian and the pain and anger I felt towards her-
I have not had a relationship since—I was leery of entering another relationship after her.
I scan the restaurant and my eyes stop at a table with 3 very pretty young ladies talking and laughing. One has shoulder length blonde hair, one has very short dark brown hair, but one really catches my attention—she has a long mane of chestnut brown hair, and even from across the bar I can see how blue her eyes are. I am mesmerized and cannot stop staring at her. She is laughing and taking animatedly with her friends, and I feel my lips turn up slightly in a grin. Her laughter is music to my ears and does something to me as I am immediately drawn to her. Elliot is talking to me, but I don't hear a word he says as my attention is fixed on this beautiful blue-eyed goddess.
He must realize I haven't been listening to him, because his eyes follow my gaze and lands of the object of my attention. He doesn't say anything at first, and then laughs and says, "Are you going to stare all night or go introduce yourself?"
Before I can answer the girls get up to leave and I realized I have blown my chance to talk to her. I watch as they walk out—it's a group effort as 2 of them are experiencing a little difficulty walking, but my blue-eyed goddess appears to be faring a little better than her friends.
A feeling of disappointment fills my chest as I realized I missed my chance to meet her and I sigh and signal the waiter to bring the check. A few minutes later Elliot and I walk out and we get partway across the parking lot when I realize we have walked into a combat zone...there are snowballs flying everywhere, and before I can take cover, I feel one whack me on the back of my head and knock off my beanie. Elliot is doubled over laughing, and when I turn around to see who the snowball slinging culprit is, I find myself staring into a pair of blue eyes as big as saucers. She has her hands over her mouth, not sure of what my reaction is going to be, but I can tell she is also holding back laughing. I smile and start laughing and walk towards her with my hands up, letting her know that I come in peace.
"Oh my God I am so sorry!" she exclaims. "You stepped right in the line of fire- I was aiming for them" and she points to her fellow drunken snowball hurlers, who are hanging on to each other, laughing hysterically while unsuccessfully attempting to walk towards us without falling over.
I look at all of them, still laughing, and I tell her "It's fine. I'm Christian, and this is my brother Elliot" and stick my hand out. She smiles, takes my hand, and I immediately feel tingles, and she introduces herself "I'm Anastasia, or Ana, and these 2 boozehounds are my best friends, Tonya and Paula."
