DISCLAIMER: Fifty shades of Grey or its characters do NOT belong to me. I own the plot and more than a few characters though. I would like to remind you that this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or places is accidental.
Thanks so much to my awesome Beta, Ninkita
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*Information:*
Ana and her friends = 24 years old
Christian = 28 years old
Mia = 22 years old
Elliot = 30 years old
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Chapter -5:
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Two weeks passed by. Ana's ankle was finally better. So, she and Carla finally joined the Grey and Timber women's weekly brunch at Grace's insistence. It took the women no time to become comfortable with each other. The mothers started sharing funny childhood stories about their children, causing their daughters to blush and laugh awkwardly.
"And he used to run around the house butt naked," Grace said, snickering at the memory. Ana smirked as she recorded the conversation stealthily. She had got the perfect blackmail material on Christian.
"Ana used to think she was a kitten until she turned 5," Carla said shaking her head.
"MOM!" Ana protested, eyes widened. Everyone laughed as Ana blushed hard and hid her face behind her hair. She was wearing a black silk shirt with golden lace shorts, golden flat pumps and a black leather bag.
"Don't worry, honey. My Jessica used to love her red pumps so much that she would only wear those and nothing else. It used to take an hour long chase every single day to make her wear clothes," Elizabeth said with an amused smirk. Jessica winced before tried to look busy eating.
"My Mia was kind hearted from the moment she understood anything. Once she brought home a puppy because she thought its father was abusing it. Turned out, the daddy dog was just carrying him by the scruff of the puppy's neck," Grace said, fondly.
"How did you find out what had actually happen?" Ana asked curiously.
"It was our neighbor's dog," Grace replied with a chuckle.
"Oh, Grace! Didn't you ask me to remind you of something?" Elizabeth reminded.
"Oh, right! Carla, Ana, I would like to invite you for a party this Saturday. My husband's firm has completed 35 years since Carrick and his brother founded it. The dress code is formal," Grace said with a bright smile. "Here," she slid an invitation card in Carla's direction before handing another to Ana, "You both have to bring dates," she added with a smirk.
Carla smirked at her new friend. "Date, huh! I know this handsome hunk who would be a lovely date. I can get some after event specials," she winked.
"Ew, mom!" Ana shook her head in disgust, causing the older women to laugh.
"What! You know I think your dad's a sexy man," Carla teased her daughter some more.
"I'm glad you think so, mother," Ana whined a little.
"It's okay, Ana. As I still live with my parents, I often find them making out in every nook and cranny of our house," Mia sympathized.
"I saw my dad pinching mom's butt the other day. It was as if they forgot I was in the room with them," Jessica added shaking her head. The mothers kept snickering at their daughters' reactions.
"Girls, on behalf of all three of us, I can assure you that we want you to have a life partner who would flirt with you, tease you, and romance you even when you're old. That's the kind of life partners we want for you and what you should want for yourself. Someone who's in love with your very being, and not just your outer beauty," Grace stated affectionately.
"I agree," Carla said with a warm smile.
"Me too," Elizabeth added.
"But… how would we know which guy is attracted to our real self and not our outer beauty?" Mia asked.
"The guy you can fight with freely without the thought what he might think of you," Elizabeth said with a smirk.
"And especially if that guy fights back the same way," Grace added bumping her wine glass with Elizabeth's.
"Yeah. The fighting is amazing. The angry sex and the makeup sex are definitely worth it," Carla added with a smirk, at which Grace and Elizabeth nodded in agreement.
"And… they are back to sex," Ana muttered lowly so that only the girls could hear her.
"Girls, also make sure they can give you toe curling orgasms," Carla added.
Wanting to distract their mothers from this topic, Ana clapped her hands loudly. "I just got a brilliant idea. If you guys haven't got your dresses for the party yet, why don't we go shopping together?" she suggested.
"Yeah. That's an amazing idea," Mia and Jessica nodded vigorously.
Exchanging an amused glance with each other, the mothers shrugged in agreement knowing the girls wanted to change the topic. "Why don't we go today after we finish here?" Grace offered.
"YAY!" the girls cheered, relieved.
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They went to a boutique and separated to browse. Ana chose a satin wine red gown with plunging neckline and a thigh-high slit on the right side. The dress hugged her curves in all the right places making her feel extremely sexy. Carla chose a mermaid style gown. The top part of the dress was decorated with colorful flower lace and the lower part held light beige flowing thick tulle. Mia chose a dark blue satin backless gown with twin straps that criss-crossed on the back and had a thigh-high slit. Grace chose a forest green off-shoulder gown in mermaid silhouette and scalloped sweetheart neckline. The bodice of the dress was embellished with matching green lace and stones. Jessica had chosen a rose gold sequined gown with deep v-neckline. Elizabeth chose a black gown with v neck. The bottom part of her dress was embellished with black and silver sequins.
"That was amazing! After moving to Seattle, I was never able to make any good friends with whom I can go shopping. Yeah, it's fun doing this with my Annie, but I missed having other friends," Carla said with a thankful smile.
"I agree with you. Having friends keeps the stress level down," Grace added with a smile.
"You didn't always live in Seattle?" Elizabeth asked curiously.
"No, Ray and I used to live in Michigan. When I was pregnant with my Ana, my hormones were WAY out of control. I divorced my husband of 3 years because he forgot the extra cheese in the sandwich I ordered. In a fuss that I could take care of myself better, I moved to Seattle to my aunt's house 24 years ago. We've been here ever since," Carla said nostalgically.
"Did you really divorce your husband over cheese?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. That poor guy!"
"So, how did you share Ana's custody?" Grace asked, curious.
"Oh! He moved to Seattle the day after Ana was born and we were back together, but we didn't get married again," Carla said with a sheepish shrug.
"Wasn't he upset?"
"He was at first, but then as time went by and we lived in the same house for Ana's sake, we started feeling that same attraction for each other that made us get married in the first place."
"That's so romantic," Elizabeth cooed. Grace nodded in agreement.
"I think that incident made us stronger," Carla said with a happy sigh.
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Christian knocked on the door before entering his father's office. "Hey, dad," he greeted.
"Christian! When Ms. Stone said you came, I thought I heard it wrong," Carrick said with a smirk.
"Come on, dad! I'm not that bad," Christian said taking a seat in front of his father.
"Is this a work meeting?" Carrick asked.
"NOOO! I wanted to see how you were doing," Christian shrugged.
"Hmm. When was the last time you voluntarily came to my office?"
"When I was 12 and I wanted to know where babies come from," Christian replied with a smirk.
"Yeah. You barged into my office and demanded loudly, 'Dad, where do babies come from?' Totally ignoring the fact that there were clients in my office," Carrick said giving his son a mocking glare. "So, what's the deal?"
"I just realized that it had been a while since you, me and Elliot did something together. The firm's 35th anniversary party is coming soon. Why don't we do something after that?" Christian proposed.
"That's a great idea, son! What are you thinking? Road trip, Vegas trip or something like that?"
"How about hiking or camping?" Christian suggested.
"Let's ask Elliot to join us for lunch and we can decide then?"
"Sounds good, dad."
An hour later, Elliot joined his father and younger brother in a restaurant close to Carrick's office. "What's up, old man?" Elliot greeted Carrick with a side hug. "Hey, little bro," he said messing Christian's hair.
"DUDE! Grow the fuck up, will you?" Christian growled as he ran his fingers through his hair.
Snickering, Elliot took a seat. "Huh!? How come we've never had lunch together like this before?" he asked.
"That's about to change. Christian and I have decided that we should do lunch or dinner once a week like your mom and Mia do. Anyways, Christian suggested that we should do something together after the anniversary party. What's your opinion on this?" Carrick asked sipping on his wine.
"Christian and I went hiking a few months back. Why don't we try that?" Elliot suggested.
"Hiking is good. I was thinking more like more like camping. Dad was thinking road trip," Christian informed.
"How about we make it a one weekend every month thing? We can go hiking and camping… let's say at the Rattlesnake ridge one weekend, and then the next month, we go on a short road trip," Elliot proposed.
"I like that idea," Carrick nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Once a month is doable," Christian said with a nod.
"YAY! It would be awesome! So, the weekend after the anniversary party we're going to a hiking at Rattlesnake ridge and then camping… but where?"
"There are some decent camping grounds near Rattlesnake ridge," Christian nodded.
"How about Middle Fork campground?" Carrick suggested.
"Sounds like a good place," both boys nodded.
"Just imagine. A few years later Mia's boyfriend could join us in these trips," Elliot mused, causing both his father and brother to glare at him.
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Grace finished her makeup and went to the walk-in closet. Pulling her dress out of the black plastic bag, she hung it beside the large mirror. Kneeling down to pull out her matching shoes, she noticed that the knot on her silk robe had tangled badly. Keeping the silver high heels under the dress, she started fumbling with the stubborn knot. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her. Although there was no other sound or sign of the visitor's identity, Grace knew who it was, even before he sank to his knees behind her. Strong fingers brushed hers away, and the knot was freed with a skillful tug.
A low, silken murmur caressed the sensitive skin of her neck. "I see we've hired a new maid. How delightful!" the man said lecherously. Nifty masculine hands slipped under her loosening silk robe and started caressing from her waist to her breasts. "What an amazing pair of breasts you have! I predict you'll do well here," he added brushing his lips against her ear.
Grace closed her eyes, leaning back between his spread thighs. A mouth, designed for sin and sensation, started wandering lightly over her neck. "I should probably warn you," the seductive voice continued, "to keep your distance from the owner of this house. He's a well-known pervert."
A smile came to her lips. "So I've heard. Is he as sinful as they say?" she asked, playfully.
"No… much worse. Especially when it comes to women with sandy colored hair and hazel eyes," he said plucking a few strands of her hair. "Poor dear! I'm afraid he won't leave you alone," he mocked.
Grace shivered in pleasure as she felt him kiss his way along the side of her neck as he moved the robe away with his lips. "H-how should I handle him?" she gasped out.
"You just have to let him have his way with you… frequently," he said in between kisses.
A helpless giggle escaped her as she twisted in his arms to face him. Even after more than three decades of marriage, Grace's heart still skipped a beat at the sight of her husband, Carrick Grey. He had matured into a magnificent man with a presence that both intimidated and dazzled everyone. His mere presence screamed considerable power, but Grace couldn't look into those remarkable deep blue eyes without recalling that he had once been the most passionate man alive... he still was. She could attest to that. Time had treated Carrick lovingly. He was a beautiful man, lean and elegant. His tawny-golden hair now lightly brushed with silver at the temples. Maturity had given him a look of cool, penetrating authority, the sense of a man who had seen and experienced enough that he could rarely, if ever, be outmaneuvered, but when something amused or touched him, his smile was both radiant and alluring.
"Oh, it's you," Carrick said in mock surprise, seeming to ponder how he had ended up kneeling on a rug with his wife in his arms. "I was prepared to corrupt a simple resisting maid, but you're a more difficult case," he stated with a sigh and shake of his head.
"You can corrupt me," Grace offered cheerfully, "I promise not to resist."
Her husband smiled, his glowing gaze moving gently over her hopeful face. He smoothed back a few escaping curls behind her ear. "My love, I've tried for thirty four years, but despite my dedicated efforts," a sweet kiss brushed against her lips, "you still have the innocent eyes of that nineteen year old girl I fell in love with. Can't you try to look at least a little bored? Cynical maybe?" He laughed quietly as Grace rolled her eyes and kissed her again, this time with a teasing, sensuous pressure that caused her pulse to race.
"Why did you come to find me?" Grace asked languorously, her head tilting back as his lips slid to her throat.
"I thought I would help you with your dress," Carrick tried to sound honest.
"Liar!" she accused, giggling as his hands busied themselves in removing her silk robe.
"You're such a perverted old man," Grace said breathlessly.
"Am I?" Carrick groped her breasts as he considered her words, "I'm the perverted one? No, my love, that can't be right. I'm sure it's you," he stated seriously. One would think he was discussing the weather.
"You are," she said unfalteringly, and her breath accelerated as one of his hand reached between her thighs.
"Hmm… This must be sorted out at once. I should take you straight to bed to find out," He said before moving away from her. Grabbing her hand, he led his wife to the bed. It took Grace one hour to convince Carrick that he was definitely the perverted one.
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Grace had refreshed her makeup and re-pinned her hair before she pulled on her forest green off-shoulder mermaid gown. It hugged her curves perfectly. Carrick was standing a few steps behind her as his eyes roamed hungrily over her body. He eyed her bare shoulder and bit down on his lower lip. "Let me help you zip up," he offered in an innocent tone.
Grace stared at him suspiciously through the mirror as he approached her. Instead of zipping up her dress he spent the next minute running his fingers over the bare skin of her back. Grace always found it amusing and flattering that her husband still found her so attractive that sometimes he had trouble reining in his desires. "Honey, we'll be late," she reminded mildly.
"Don't worry. They can't start the party without us," Carrick replied without looking up, causing Grace to started snickering.
Suddenly the door of their bedroom banged opened as Mia entered. "MOM! DAD!" she called.
Grace went to answer when Carrick hissed, "Don't say anything. She'll go away." Grace rolled her eyes as she finishing putting on her diamond earrings. Carrick still hadn't zipped her dress up, she noticed casually.
Mia appeared at the closet and announced, "The guests will start arriving in half an hour. We should've been at the hotel by now."
"Why don't you head out before us with your brothers and welcome them?" Carrick suggested as he leaned down a little and placed a sucking kiss on Grace's shoulder.
"All right," Mia exclaimed, one arm firmly placed over her eyes, "That's my cue to leave. I'll wait in my room… or downstairs… or three universes away, where I'll never ever have to see my dad giving my mom a... hickie," she rushed away from the room, but not before bumping into a few things.
"I think I shocked her," Carrick mused staring at his daughter's retreating figure. Grace just gave him an amused look.
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Almost all the guests had arrived at the party. The Grey family was scattered throughout the party to entertain their guests. Suddenly, Christian's eyes zeroed in on a familiar young woman in a wine red dress. Her cinnamon colored hair with caramel highlights was falling freely over her shoulders. Her satin dress was accentuating every curve of her body perfectly while showing off her right leg through the thigh high slit. Her delicious cleavage was framed by the plunging neckline. She had accessorized with a pair of gold snakeskin lace up heels, gold botanical leaf chandelier earrings with small diamonds, a gold leaf cuff bangle, a gold ruby ring on her index finger, and a gold embellished clutch.
She was standing in a little circle with his parents, his sister, and another older couple. Christian recognized Ana's mother, so he guessed the man must be her father. Mia was talking animatedly, no doubt about one of his childhood exploits if her fleeting mischievous looks toward him were any indication. He watched Ana throwing her head back in laughter. 'God, she's beautiful!' he thought absentmindedly. Shocked by his own thought, Christian shook his head before walking towards the group.
"Good evening, everyone," Christian greeted with a polite smile. "Ms. Steele," he nodded at Ana.
"Hey, Cr-uh... Mr. Grey," Ana stammered. She almost called him 'creep' in front of his family. "You already met my mom. This is my dad, Ray Steele," she introduced.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Christian said shaking hands with Ray.
"You too, son. You parents and sister were regaling us with your childhood escapades," Ray informed with a smirk causing Christian to blush.
"All lies, I assure you," Christian replied honestly.
"Uh-huh?" Carrick gave his younger son an amused look.
"There's Elliot!" Mia exclaimed suddenly, "Ana, come. I'll introduce you," she grabbed Ana's hand and led her away from the group. "Christian, join us… or do you want to continue talking to the oldies?" Mia teased.
"Who are you calling old, little girl," Carrick growled causing his daughter to giggle.
Laughing, Christian excused himself from the group and joined Ana and Mia. "Elliot! Meet Ana, my new friend. This is Elliot, our older brother," Mia introduced.
"Ana… wait! You're ice-cream girl, aren't you?" Elliot said before looking at Christian for confirmation.
Ana shot Christian a look before turning to Elliot. "Hello, Elliot. I'm Ana. Only creeps call me 'ice-cream girl'. You aren't a creep, are you?" she asked keeping a smile on her face. Mia started snickering at the look on Elliot's stunned face. Christian also couldn't stop his lips from curving up.
"I-it's nice to meet you… Ana. Damn, you're a firecracker!" Elliot muttered. "Say, are you single?" he asked summoning his usual suave manner.
"I am, but you're not my type. I do have a friend who might be a good match for you," Ana said with a shrug.
"What does she look like?" Elliot inquired, intrigued.
"Tall, blonde, sexy, smart, and fierce," Ana described.
"SOLD!" Elliot grinned, "When can I meet her?"
"How about you meet us on our next night out?" Ana offered.
"You're the best wing man," Elliot grinned.
"HEY!" Christian protested from the side.
The music started and people started to gather at the dance floor. Squealing in excitement, Mia announced, "That's my favorite song!" and dragged Ana to the dance floor with her. They were soon joined by Jessica who had just arrived.
Christian didn't know why, but his eyes didn't want to leave the girl in the wine red dress. He watched as she laughed with his sister as they moved their arms and hips with the music. "She's one hot piece, man. It's no wonder your eyes won't leave her," he heard Elliot say smugly. Blinking rapidly, Christian turned to his brother. "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded before grabbing a glass of alcohol from a passing waiter.
"I say you're crushing on ice… um Ana. She's a perfect for you," Elliot said sipping on his own drink.
"What perfect?! Do you have any idea what kind of lunatic she is?" Christian protested. "A few weeks ago, that crazy girl sent me a half-tamed ferret. If it wasn't so damn adorable, I would've sued her for this," he added.
"A…. ferret?! What?" Elliot was confused. "Why would she send you a ferret?" he asked.
"How would I know how her crazy brain works?" Christian huffed angrily before emptying his alcohol glass.
"So… you guys are still fighting?" Elliot asked.
"We are."
"But she didn't act like she was fighting with you."
"We decided not to fight in front of strangers," Christian muttered. Elliot gave his brother a blank look.
Ignoring his brother, Christian went back to stare at Ana. His eyes roamed over her lithe form and he could feel lust flowing through his body. Even though his brain and heart weren't interested in her, his body was quite interested. He wanted to hold onto the curves of her hips. Her thin waist begged for him to wrap his arms around it. Even though Ana was on the thinner side, she had a woman's body; delicious pair of breasts, a thin waist, curvy hips, and flat stomach. But it wasn't just her body that attracted Christian, he noted absentmindedly. Her heart shaped face, kissable lips and those hypnotic blue eyes attracted him equally. 'If only she wasn't so irritating,' he thought with a sigh.
He went to take a sip from his drink when his eyes fell on the thin straps of Ana's dress. The straps tied at her back to hold the front of her dress in place. As Ana turned around while dancing, Christian noticed that the ties of her straps had almost come undone. Any moment now they would be undone, causing the front of her dress to sag so she would end up flashing her lovely breasts to everyone. Hurriedly, Christian handed his Champaign glass to Elliot and rushed to the dance floor.
"Dance with me," he said loud enough so that she could hear him before he grabbed her hand and pulled her close.
Bumping against his chest, Ana gave him a startled glare. "What are you doing, you creep?" she hissed as she started struggling against his hold.
"Stay still, you careless idiot," Christian said scolding.
"How dare you!" Ana protested while keeping a fake smile on her face.
Instead of answering, Christian ran his hand over her back. When Ana realized that she could feel only his hand and not even an inch of the ties of her dress, she gasped in realization. "My dress!" she whispered.
Christian nodded. "The ties had come undone. A few more minutes and you would've been flashing everyone here," he said with an amused smile.
"Thanks," Ana muttered with a pout.
"You know I'm not as bad as you think I am."
"Okay, so you're a decent creep."
"Can you stop calling me a 'creep'?" Christian said with an angry sigh.
"I will if you tell me what you meant by my 'lovers' at the club that day."
"I heard you talking with a group of boys about a threesome, so…" Christian trailed off.
"So? I'm single. If I wanted to have a threesome, who are you to judge?" Ana asked, jutting her chin out in defiance.
"Yeah, I realized that as soon as I asked you that stupid question… and I didn't know you were single until the next day," Christian informed with a grimace.
"What do you mean 'until next day'?" Ana asked frowning.
"I had a background check done on you."
"Seriously?! And you still think I shouldn't call you a 'creep'?" Ana asked in disbelief.
"I think you lack the will to give credit to one's skills," he retorted.
"You call snooping around skills?" she asked, both of her eyebrows raised.
"I believe the better term would be 'collective gathering'," he said smugly causing Ana to roll her eyes.
Suddenly, Ana realized that they had danced through two songs. "I think we should move off the dance floor," she suggested.
Nodding, Christian wrapped his fingers through the straps at her back to keep them in place, and deftly maneuvered off the dance floor. If anyone one looked at them, they would think Christian had his arm wrapped around Ana's waist. Christian started leading Ana away from the crowd and towards the ladies' room when they were approached by their mothers.
"Now THAT's what I'm talking about! Isn't it better now that you're friends, and not fighting all the time?" Carla stated looking disgustingly thrilled.
There was no way to over-state their enormous amount of sarcasm when Ana and Christian said, "Yeah, it's fantastic."
"If Carla hadn't told me that you were fighting, I wouldn't have even known about it. I'm glad that you are friends now," Grace added with a kind smile.
Christian snorted at the word 'friend'. Ana ignored him and offered a polite smile to their mothers. She was planning on asking her mother's help for her dress, but Grace said she wanted to introduce Carla to someone and they left.
"Ugh! Now what?! Hey, can you call Mia? She can help me with my dress."
"I would, but one, I can't find her anywhere," Christian said looking through the crowd, "and two, I've got my fingers laced through your straps. If I let go, your dress will..." he trailed off with a shrug.
"Damn it! Okay. Take me to the ladies' room."
"Come." With that, Christian escorted Ana to an empty hallway. "Coast is clear. Go," he said letting go of the straps. Ana held her dress against her chest before entering the ladies' room. After a few minutes of silence, Christian heard her cursing. "You okay in there?" he inquired. He was leaning against the opposite wall of the ladies' room with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I need help here. I can't reach the strap back there. Can you call someone? Please?" Ana said opening the door a few inches and peeking through.
"I can help. It'll take less than a minute," Christian offered.
"Um… ah…" Ana grimaced as she tried to find a nice way to tell him that she didn't trust him… especially when she was almost naked. The dress was really unforgiving, so she had to leave her bra and panties off. Under her dress, she was wearing nothing.
As he saw her indecision, Christian's mouth twisted sardonically. "If I was going to molest you," he pointed out, "I would have done so by now."
Ana blushed at his bluntness. "So you say… But for all I know, you could be a very slow molester," she said suspiciously.
Christian rolled his eyes in disbelief before pushing the door of the ladies' room and entering. He grabbed Ana's shoulders and turned her around. With skilled fingers, he re-tied the straps at her back. He noticed the goosebumps on her bare back when his fingers touched her, but he ignored that side of his brain for the moment.
"There you go… and with your virtue still intact," He couldn't have sounded more condescending even if he had tried. With a petulant glare at him through the mirror, Ana left the ladies room.
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The next day, Ana had just finished a meeting with one of their clients. She often went for lunches with clients to maintain a good relationship. Smiling to herself, she started walking to the nearest Starbucks. She had this habit of drinking coffee right after lunch. Suddenly, she saw a store with a beautiful exterior. Curious, she entered the store. An older woman in bohemian outfit greeted her with a smile, "Welcome, dear."
"Hey! I…uh love your exterior. I had to come inside," Ana said with a sheepish smile.
"Then it did its job," the woman laughed. "We have many things. Why don't you look around and see if you find something to your liking?"
Excitedly, Ana started looking through the stuff at the store. She was looking at a wind chime when her eyes fell at the doorway of the store. A man was standing a few feet away looking inside. Frowning at his strange behavior, Ana went back to look through stuff. After half an hour, Ana ended up buying a colorful wind chime, a large lace dream catcher, a bohemian style top, and lots of bohemian jewelry. She chatted with the woman for a few more minutes before heading out. Deciding to keep the bags in her car first before going to get her coffee, Ana headed towards her car. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the man she had seen outside the store following her. Since her survival instinct was rather poor, she stopped suddenly and turned around, startling the man.
Ana gave him a large smile and greeted him, raising her eyebrow, "Hello there!"
The man looked confused for a second before he returned her smile and stepped closer. "Ms. Steele, you finally stopped. You walk too fast," he said.
Ana tilted her head and asked, "I know that I know you from… somewhere, but for the life of me, I can't remember your name."
"It's Jack Hyde. We met at that meeting at SIP, remember?"
"Oh… oh, it's you! Now I remember. So, why were you following me?" Ana inquired, bluntly.
"I-I wasn't exactly following you… per say. I saw you at the store. I wasn't sure if it was you at first, so I decided to wait outside. I got distracted for a minute and you were gone. I… uh… saw you walking so I… followed you," he finished lamely as he shuffled his feet.
Ana hadn't liked the vibe she got from this man the first day they met. Today's incident also made her a little uncomfortable. 'Maybe… he's just shy and awkward with women in general and that's why he's behaving strangely?!' she thought to herself. "That's really… nice of you… I think," she said aloud.
"I just wanted to say 'hi'," he sounded defensive.
"Well… 'Hi' then. I'll… uh… see you around? Bye," with a wave, Ana turned around and left. "That was bizarre," she muttered under her breath. In her carefree attitude, she didn't pay much attention to her gut feeling that something was wrong with Jack Hyde, and soon forgot about him.
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Christian was returning from a lunch meeting when he noticed Ana talking to a man on the sidewalk as his dark grey 2019 Bentley Mulsanne was passing by. He frowned at the scene. He didn't know why he felt irritated watching her talk to a man. She was free. She could do anything she wanted. Why then he felt that burning sensation in his chest, he didn't know.
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A/N: Thoughts?