Chapter Six
Another morning we wake together with my hand over his heart, only this time his hand is over mine holding it in place.
"How does it feel?" I was almost afraid to ask.
"Wonderful." He sighs blissfully, I lean over to kiss him not caring about my morning breath.
"I need to get ready, I forgot to pick out my outfit yesterday." I stop before we get completely lost in each other.
Five minutes later I'm sat on the floor of our walk in closet wishing I had brought more clothes with me because I have nothing whatsoever to wear.
"What's wrong?"
"I have NOTHING to wear. I should have brought more clothes with me. I should have sorted this yesterday." I say frustratedly looking at him buttoning up his shirt looking delicious.
"Why don't you get ready normally, put just anything..." I don't let him finish.
"It's my first day, Christian! I can't just put anything on. I'm not still at Claytons. You know this." He takes a deep breath and I know I shouldn't have lost it I'm just in a mood and everything is pissing me off.
"It's only half seven. We'll drive together and swing by your apartment so you can get ready after breakfast. Then tonight we'll go and get the rest of your clothes." He resolves kissing me on the forehead.
"You're a genius."
"I didn't get to where I am today by being dumb." I roll my eyes. "I saw that Miss Steele."
"Spank me for it later. I'm going in the shower."
"I could always join you."
"Later, baby." I promise. I enjoyed being spanked with his hand, and I don't want him to lose who he is. We like kinky fuckery, just not extreme. I'm scared he won't be satisfied with me for very long.
At half eight I'm in my soon to be old apartment with Christian, I'm wearing a black turtleneck sweater, red trousers, black pumps with a matching red bag.
"How do I look?"
"Stunning." His voice low.
"Thank Kate's closet." I cheekily say as we walk back to his car.
"We'll go shopping one night this week."
"No, when I get my first pay check." I reply with a glare.
"Anastasia I, on average, make over one hundred thousand dollars every hour. I used to give my subs a new wardrobe and other expensive gifts. You're not a sub, you mean so much more to me. We've said we're partners, as partners we share everything we have." He implores.
"I do understand that, Christian I really do. But that much wealth makes me way too uncomfortable."
"I know, baby." I'm assured with a kiss on my forehead.
As we get closer to SIP my anxiety shifts from my boyfriends wealth issues to new job issues. Yay.
"You'll be amazing, baby. And you look delicious." Christian leers. I match his look, my man is delicious in his three piece grey suit.
"See you tonight, have a good day. I love you." I reply with a kiss.
I hold my head high praying I don't trip on my heels as I stroll into the fresh looking building and see Claire at the reception desk, I remember her from my interview.
"I'm Ana Steele, it's my first day." I nervously say.
"Mr Hyde will be here in a moment. You'll have to see Human Resources at some point during the day to make sure all of your personal information is correct." She's peppy, but very sweet. "And, here is Mr Hyde." Her face falls slightly when she mentions Hyde.
"Anastasia. Good to see you again." Hyde announces. "Shall we get started?" He asks.
"Yes, Sir." I nervously reply. Calling him sir makes me feel revolting.
We spend the rest of the morning going over my duties and where everything is. Jack keeps standing a bit too close but not close enough to warrant telling him off. On the plus side I'm now more confident about working here.
I'm grateful when lunchtime arrives so I can go to the deli across the street to call Kate. She's in for a shock. Luckily it isn't stupid o'clock in the morning there, Barbados is only three hours ahead of Seattle.
"Hey, Steele. What's up?" I can almost hear her smile.
"I have news!"
"Oh my god you're pregnant!" She shrieks
"Who's pregnant?" Elliot asks
"NOT ME." I shout trying not to laugh like a hyena.
"Oh. Then what is your news." She asks with trepidation.
"I'm moving in with Christian."
Silence.
"Kate, say something." I implore.
"Why are you moving in with him." The 'if you're not pregnant' implied.
"Because we spend every night together, and we love each other. We don't want to be apart."
"Okay."
"We'll still do girls nights, we don't have to live together to spend a night eating cookie dough in our pjs and falling asleep on the sofa. It just makes it more special because it won't happen a few times a week."
"I guess." Another deep sigh. "Elliot go away." She shouts. "Is he forcing you." She asks, her voice low.
"No, it was his idea but I'm excited about it. Moving to Seattle, having my new job, actually being in a relationship is such a change that adding this stress now makes sense to me. I'm happy about this. I promise."
"Okay, I was just looking forward to it being us in this new city and our apartment."
"Put it this way, we won't be keeping you up while we're having loud sex all night long and you two won't keep us up."
"Ana Banana!"
"It's always the quiet ones. I'll call you later or tomorrow when I'm not on my break."
"You can tell me all about your new job then! Love you."
"You too." I end the call with a smile on my face, I love my best friend.
I leave my desk at half five, waiting for me just outside the man door is Christian, a bouquet of pale pink roses in his hands.
"They're beautiful, Christian!"
"Not as beautiful as you."
"Smooth." I laugh.
It doesn't take us long to pack up my clothes. Christian takes a lot of joy in going through my underwear.
"I'm definitely buying you a new wardrobe." He says as we carry the four boxes filled with clothes down to the car.
"I don't need..." I begin to say as he starts the car.
"Ana, it's not about need. It's about want. No one needs lots of clothes, but I want to do this for you."
"It just feels too much."
"I know. I also have a present for you at home." I sigh.
"I think this is a situation where I just have to get over it."
"What makes you think that?"
"The only understandable piece of relationship advice my mom ever gave me was pick your battles, which makes sense. There is no point making a mountain out of a molehill."
"So I can spoil you?"
"Yes. However there is never going to be a time when I enjoy shopping."
"After dinner I'll finish my model glider, and you can go online shopping." He plans.
Over a delicious dinner of Mrs Jones's spaghetti and meatballs, I tell him all about my day, he laughs when I tell him Kate assumed I was pregnant, although his smile was replaced with a scowl when I tell him about Jack standing a little too close for comfort.
"If he does anything, let me know. I'll sort it out with Roach."
"What could you do, you SIP isn't a part of your company?" I wonder.
"It's going downhill as a business, so we're looking to buy it." His voice impassive.
"WHAT?!"
"I promise unless something happens I won't interfere with your job. In fact if it makes you feel better I can have Ros deal with anything to do with SIP."
"Fine." I sulk.
"Don't be mad, baby. It's not even a done deal, and we've been looking at branching out into publishing for months. SIP fits the bill on what we need. From what we've seen it's the people at the top that are ruining the company, not the editors."
"I'm letting a lot of issues go Christian, but I need you to understand that us being partners goes both ways. I don't want to be blindsided all the time. If you keep me informed of things, there'll be less chance of me wanting to kill you." I promise.
"As long as that goes both ways." He compromises. "If Hyde or anyone does something I want to know, so I can help before it becomes a mountain when it should have stayed a molehill." He's not even hiding his smirk at using my words against me. Wanker. My wonderful wanker, but wanker none the less.
"Do you want this?"
"What is it?" I ask looking at the Tiffany box he took out of his blazer.
"A present." He condescendingly replies opening the box for me to see.
"It's beautiful!" I sigh looking at the necklace with key pendant, it is truly stunning. It was a platinum key adorned with diamonds, and rubies in the shape of a dragonfly at the top.
"Keys are a symbol of a bright future, we share what I hope will be a lifetime of happiness together, including you being an amazing editor one day." He explains. I stare at the beauty of my new jewel with awe. I love it.
Thank you all so much! Keep the reviews, reads, follows & favourites up! I'm so excited that you love reading this as much as I love writing it! I have so much planned for our favourite couple. I'm so sorry I can't reply to all of your reviews, I do appreciate every single one. Thank you.