Chapter 3

Christian POV

This stunning creature had blown her way into my office this morning and I had never been more grateful for anything in my entire life. I stood next to Taylor in the lobby outside the security room after a very uneventful meeting, when this brown-haired beauty calmly walked over to the front desk and engaged with the vile creature I apparently had working for me.

I watched the object of my affection stare at her reflection for a moment before engaging with the bitch. I may have only laid eyes on here for a total of thirty seconds, but it was clear to me she didn't see herself clearly at all. She was like no one I'd ever seen before. From her hourglass figure, which made me hard at just the mere sight of her, to her flowing brown hair, to her beautiful slightly freckled pale skin. She was perfection. I wanted to lock her in a room with me and never let her go.

I was quickly able to be rid of the bitch I had as a receptionist and manage to get this Ms. Ana Steele into my office in a matter of minutes.

She was here for an interview but honestly if she asked me to give her my entire company, I might have done it just to keep her in my presence as long as possible. But she was here for an interview and an interview is what she was going to get.

"Ms. Steele my name is Christian Grey and I shall be conducting your interview for the position of head Editor at our new publishing house. Grey Publishing. Do I need to explain further Ms. Steele or are you up to speed?"

She's still staring at me from the other side of the room, a few terribly long moments pass before it seems like something changes inside her, her body stiffens and her face shifts entirely. Oh… this is the business side of Ms. Steele. I like it already. She decisively walks across to the chair in front of my desk and without breaking eye contact sits down, relaxing back until she is satisfied with her position.

"Mr. Grey consider me fully up to speed." She states with a new challenge in her voice. This woman is killing me. I so badly want to kiss her, but I also want her to keep talking as long as possible as her voice alone is doing things to me that I can't really explain.

"Alright Ms. Steele, well, let me ask you this, why do you want to work for GEH?" I say somewhat sternly. I can't forget where I am and why she is here. While I may want to kidnap this young beauty and do wicked things to her for the rest of my life, that would never be a reality. A woman like her could never love a man like me. So a standard question is my best shot before I go completely off script and ask her for every detail of her personal life.

She doesn't answer immediately, instead she looks at me with a raised eyebrow,

"Well forgive me Mr. Grey but I don't wish to work for GEH. I want to work for Grey Publishing, now while I understand that one may own the other, those are still completely different answers… Now as for why I would want to work for GEH? Well honestly until I was informed of this interview I had no clue I was even interviewing for a company that would be owned by GEH and I saw little need to do in-depth research in a company that was simply starting a publishing house as a separate entity. Now while that may have been naive of me, I believe I'm much better off spending my time researching publishing houses who would come into play as your biggest rivals and who the biggest competitors are for a new publishing house with large capital behind it, wouldn't you agree? And furthermore, it's quite obvious I'm sure, that my research into GEH did not go far enough as I had no clue who you were until you hijacked this interview a few moments ago." She runs through this monologue with complete confidence and finality.

This woman has left me speechless. And what's more is I agree with her. From a business stand point I would have done the same. Anyone can google a company and find out everything about them from a website but being knowledgeable about the market and competing companies; that's valuable information. I have little time to think before she continues.

"Now to answer the question why I want to work for Grey Publishing, well the answer is simple. I want an editor's position with a company large enough to put money behind no name writers. Writers that haven't been given a chance yet but have the power to be the next big trend in the literary world. From what I can tell Grey Publishing could do that." Ana looks me dead in the eyes, I can tell she is in her comfort zone on this topic. What exactly did this woman do for work before she waltzed into my office? It's very obvious her knowledge and talents would be well utilized in a higher up position. Well she has no clue, but the job is hers, hell she can run the whole damn company if that means I get to see her every day.

"You have put a lot of thought into this Ms. Steele. How long have you worked as an editor?" I truly just want to ask her, 'are you single?' if not where is he because I can have Taylor take care of that in five seconds. But I don't.

She seems slightly thrown by my question, "Actually Mr. Grey I'm yet to work as an editor. I've worked as an assistant-editor though and I possess all the qualifications that an editor does, I'm just yet to be given the opportunity."

Her demeanor, while still in business mode, reveals something I hadn't seen in her monologue previously. There is something off, why would she not have had the opportunity before? I'm guessing she has been out of college for a good number of years now, maybe 4 or 5 years? She doesn't seem like the type to not attempt to work her way up in the workplace.

"Where do you work currently Ms. Steele?" I say with a slightly darker edge. I've no clue what's gotten into me, but I need to know everything about this woman.

Ana's eyes meet mine and there it is. She doesn't want to answer because she knows I see right through her.

"I currently am unemployed Mr. Grey, as off a day ago. I worked for SIP for three years as an assistant and then an assistant editor." She shifts in her seat; she doesn't want to talk about this more. Well too bad.

I knew everything there is to know about SIP, about a year ago I wanted to acquire it and sell it for parts but they got hit with a bunch of sexual harassment suits and so I washed my hands of it. I knew there was a solid chance that I could guess why Ms. Steele no longer worked there but I needed to hear it from her.

"Why do you no longer work there Ms. Steele?" I get up from my chair and walk around my desk and stand in front of her. I've no idea what has possessed me to do such a thing and standing in front of her while she is sitting puts her head right in front of my already excited crotch and puts her so close to me, she could touch me easily.

Her eyes go wide as she watches my movement, she shifts back further into her chair to put as much distance between us as possible as I lean backwards against my desk.

"I… Well Mr. Grey I could lie to you and say I quit but I fear that if you made one phone call to check that story you would hear something different. The truth is I really did quit but not before I threw a sexual harassment suit at my boss. SIP had already been hit badly years previous with several suits and when I filed mine, they threated to fire me if I didn't withdraw it. So, I quit." Ana says so fast that I can barely compute what she just told me. Who the fuck touched her? Touched what's mine. She's not yet but if I have anything to do with Ms. Steele will be in my life for the foreseeable future. I will kill the man who touched her and destroy SIP from the ground up. I realize my silence combined with my clenched fists have made her extremely nervous. Before I realize what's happened Ana is up and out of her chair before I can blink.

"Look I maybe shouldn't have told you that and I get it, in 2019 every man is scared of being accused of sexual harassment but that happened to me. My boss tried to assault me, and I won't withdraw my suit and if that means you don't want me working at your company either then so be it. I know my worth Mr. Grey and I know I would be a damn good editor and that is all that should be at question here." She throws these words at me like they are darts and I'm the board.

Before she can go any further, I move so I am directly in front of her and I hear her breath hitch, "Ana I swear your experience with that company in no way impacts whether or not you are employed here. I am so very sorry that that happened to you and believe me when I say I know how you must be feeling but it will no longer be an issue for you I swear. Jack Hyde will no longer be a problem you have to think of." The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Fuck. I just showed way too many cards.

Before I can retract anything, her eyes are burning into mine, "I did not say the name Jack Hyde… how on earth could you have known that?"

I take a step back and walk around behind my desk and pick up my desk phone. "Andrea get Taylor in her now." I try very hard not to slam the phone back down. I look at her with understanding,

"Because Ms. Steele I'm in no way a stranger to the issues SIP has encountered over the years and at the hand of whom. Jack Hyde is the reason I never went through with purchasing the company previously and then consequently the reason we decided to just start our own publishing house out of GEH. I've heard what he's capable of but if I'd known for one second that he had remained employed after the first law suits broke or that he even had access to you trust me when I say I would take pleasure in removing him from this world myself." I say this to her with such intensity I'm positive I've scared her away. This beautiful creature may be fiery as hell but there is only so much a person can take and I'm used to people running. But she doesn't.

We are standing eye to eye. So close I want nothing more than to close the small gap and take her in my arms, but I won't do anything unless she makes a move. I can't do that to her. I need her to tell me she wants it. She is breathing faster and licks her lips. We are so close we are sharing the same air. It's unbearable. And then with a knock and the opening of the door the spell in broken.

Taylor steps into the room and Ana is quick to take several steps backwards. However, her coordination is not in her favor and she trips slightly and starts to fall backwards off her heels. I don't think, I just act. Before I know it, my arms have encircled around her waist and I have her pulled close to my chest to prevent us both from going to the floor.

I have her pulled so close to me that I'm so distracted by her body being flushed against mine that I don't even notice her hands both pressed against my chest.

Well there it is, another chapter. I like this story and the adjustments to the characters personalities. It may not be everyone's cup of tea and that's fine.

Now while I love the reviews, I want this story and the discussions I have with you all to be a safe place. So please if you are going to be straight up rude and nasty don't bother reviewing. The world has enough of that, and you simply don't need to add to it. Your review won't be acknowledged simply reported and removed.

To everyone else who is excited and wanted more I hope you like the direction the story is going and thank you for all you support!