Christian, Will, and I are on the way to meet Dad and Mere for lunch at this new home style restaurant downtown. I know dad misses his southern meat and three meals, so this is the closest he could find. I glance over at the beautiful man beside me. He is concentrating on the road, but he also seems incredibly nervous. His body is tense and he keeps wiping his plans on his shorts. Bless his heart; he is really nervous about meeting my dad. I reach over and give his hand a gentle squeeze. He smiles in my direction but it doesn't meet his eyes. I keep my hand on his leg once he returns his hand to the steering wheel.
I daze off into my head and try to remember what the moment was like when Ethan met my dad. I would never tell Christian this, but my dad really liked Ethan in the beginning. I would say all the way up until he cheated. Yup, that did it in for my dad. Then I was surprised Ethan is still breathing after that. Even though my dad and Ethan were close, I have no doubt that him and Christian will be even closer.
We walk into the restaurant and immediately spot them sitting at a booth/table in the back. I notice Christian looking for something and then spot what he is looking for. I turn my head and see Taylor sitting at a table not too far away from ours. Why is he here? I look to Christian for answers and he just shakes his head as if to say not now. I shrug it off and keep walking. We finally make it to the table and introductions start.
"Hey daddy!" I say as he pulls me and Will into a big hug.
"Hey baby girl. Look at my little man. You have grown so much since the last time I saw you. What are you 10 now?" My dad, the jokester. Will giggles at his silly Papa.
"No Papa! I'm onwy 3." He holds up his hand showing exactly three fingers. My smart little guy.
"I'm so sorry! You are just so big. Look how big he is Mere." Dad says pulling Will into his arms.
"Dad, Meredith - this is my boyfriend Christian. Christian, this is my daddy, Ray, and his girlfriend Meredith." I say nervously hoping to get this part over with. My dad's demeanor changes and he sticks his hand out to Christian. They shake hands, but it looks terse. Gone is the loving dad and papa. The protector has now taken place.
"And my bestfwiend." Will states proudly in my dad's arms. This causes Christian to give off his brilliant, panty dropping smile. I can feel the wetness pool between my thighs. It's not the time for that Steele.
"It is very nice to meet both of you. Ana talks about you all the time." Meredith says as she motions for all of us to sit down at the table. We place our orders and it's silent for a few seconds.
"What are y'all doing in Seattle today?" I ask. They live a good 45 minutes out of the city.
"Just wanted to visit our favorite grand baby and daughter." My dad says looking at us fondly. He glances at Christian.
"So Christian, what is it that you do?" My dad seems generally interested which surprises me. I expected his voice to sound a little colder.
"I'm into mergers and acquisitions. I own GEH." He states proudly while placing his arm around the back of my chair. It causes my own smile to appear.
"That's very impressive." My dad says.
"I would say so. That's quite a successful company, Christian. Your parents must be incredibly proud." Mere chimes in. Christian smiles shyly and I know he feels uncomfortable with the praise.
"Been married before?" There's my dad. That's a question I expected from him. Even though I'm not touching Christian, I can feel his body tense beside me at the question.
"No sir. Never saw myself as a married man until recently." He says looking my dad straight in the eye. Dad nods his head.
"Recently? What changed your mind?" I'm slightly embarrassed and Meredith is trying to stay out of it by coloring with Will. I can see her raised eyebrows and smirk as she slightly shakes her head.
"Well, these two" Christian nods with his head towards Will and I "have me hooked. I wasn't really living before I met them." Christian turns to look at me and so much love is radiating from his eyes. I want to jump his bones right now, but it might kill my father. I see Mere and Daddy look at each other and she smiles sheepishly.
"And what about my grandson? He needs stability. There's no being there one day and not the next. He needs just as much commitment as your relationship." Dad says sternly, but in a hushed voice so only the adults can truly hear. I know my blush is covering my body now. So embarrassing.
"I'm going to be around as long as Ana lets me. I have no intention of going anywhere. I know this is quick, but I truly love Will as if he were my own. I would also marry Ana tomorrow if she let me. I'm in this for the long run." I turn my head towards Christian, completely caught off guard by Christian's words to my father. I knew he loved us, but to hear him profess it to my dad so mater of fact...it just makes my heart want to explode with happiness. I can feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes and I try to swallow the emotion stuck in my throat. Christian hasn't broken eye contact with my dad. Mere and I stare on in eagerness of my dad's response. It's like we are stuck watching terrible reality TV you can't turn away from.
"Let me make this clear, if I ever in my life find out about a repeat of what ended Ana's marriage, I will be your worst nightmare. Anything that hurts my babies at all and you will answer to me. Understood?" Ray's voice is low, but the threat is clear.
"I wouldn't expect anything less sir. Let me make myself clear by saying I am not like..." Christian looks at Will and back to my dad "you know who. I have no intention of ever purposefully hurting Ana or Will."
We are all still staring at my father with anticipation. They are still staring at each other as if having a silent conversation through their eyes. Finally, my dad nods his head once and it's all it takes for Christian's tense body to deflate. The next words out of my dad's mouth reassures me that he likes Christian.
"So, you like to fish?" My dad would never ask about someone's hobbies if he didn't plan on liking the person for the long run. Christian smiles over at me and kisses me on the forehead. I watch on as they get lost on the topic of sports, fishing, and beer. Mere and I get lost in our conversation and Will entertains himself with the colors and his truck. Our food finally arrives and we eat while laughing as group at past events. My dad shares stories of myself as a child and Christian shares his stories of Will. Listening to Christian talk about Will with so much love and fondness makes me want to cry. You can feel it through his words.
We finish up lunch and head outside towards the vehicles. We say our goodbyes, but not before my dad and Christian make plans to go to a baseball game soon with Will. I knew my dad would like Christian. What is there not to like?
Christian suggests we talk a walk through the market near by. He carries Will on his hip and has his other arm wrapped tightly around me, anchoring me to his side. We make our way over to a little pastry stand and decide to get a few for later at the house. They are small, bite sized cakes and damn they are phenomenal. I make a mental note to try to make these on my own. I'm broken out of my baking calculations when I hear Christian laugh.
"What's so funny?" I say looking around. Did I miss something?
"You have a little bit of icing on you." I immediately look down. Nope, nothing on my dress. I wipe at my nose. Nothing there. I look back to Christian and he is trying to stifle his laugh.
"Let me help you." He says as he leans down and licks it of my top lip. Then he follows up the cleanup with a mouth watering kiss. He keeps it PG since my child is in his arms and we are attracting an audience, but it is enough to make my panties wet once more. He pulls away leaving me wanting more.
"Thank you Mr. Grey. How ever shall I pay repay you?" I say fluttering my lashes at him. He leans in close to my ear so only I can hear.
"Your mine tonight, baby. The last thing my mouth eats before I sleep is going to be you." He pulls away with a smirk. That fucker knows what he just did to me, as if the blush wasn't enough. I lean up on my tippy-toes and whisper in his ear.
"Only if your promise to come in mine." I kiss his cheek and start to walk towards the next booth. I turn to my head to see him standing with his mouth wide open and stuck in the same place.
"Are you coming, baby?" I ask. He smiles and shakes his head as he catches up to me. Will has finally finished his small half portion of a cake bite and is talking non stop as we make our way up the other side of the market towards the car.
"MAMA!" He screams and my heart stops. I turn to look fully at him thinking he surely has just been shot the way he screamed. He is still in Christian's arms and I can tell it has scared Christian as well.
"What's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?" Christian rambles off and pulls Will's head to his shoulder.
"Nooooooo. Wook!" He says pointing behind me. I expect to see a scary man like in those scary movies behind me. I imagine him to be holding an axe with an awful mask covering his face. When I turn around I fight the urge to loose my temper at Will. He must be my child because I may be the only other person who would get that excited over the view. In two circle fences with paper lining the bottom are puppies and kittens, separated of course. I hide my smile before I turn around and face my child. Christian looks like he is about to lose it.
"Will." I say in my no-nonsense tone. He straightens up and his eyes connect with mine. He knows he did something wrong. "You scared mommy and Christian when you screamed like that. I thought something was wrong. When something is wrong, you are injured, or someone has hurt you – you scream exactly like that. When something excites you, like spotting sweet, cute, little fur babies – you do not scream like that. Do you understand?" I say hoping I made it as easy as possible for him to understand. He nods his head and his eyes get a little misty.
"I sowwy Ma-Mama." He says through a sniffle and reaches his arms out for me.
"It's okay baby. I know it was only an accident." I say holding him as close to my chest as possible. His face is buried in my neck and so far we have no tears. It is then I realize Christian hasn't moved and looks slightly upset. I know Will screaming like that scared him. I hold my hand out for him. He takes it but makes no movements. I tug on his hand and he finally moves in closer to us. He wraps his arms around us and leans his forehead against mine.
"It scared me." He mouths to me and I mouth back "I know". We stay in this embrace for what seems like forever, but truly must only be a minute. Will starts to shuffle and wraps his arms around Christian again. Christian takes him from my arms and holds him to his chest. He whispers in Will's ear and Will nods his head. Will turns his head to me and my happy, smiling baby boy is back.
"Mama." Will says calmly.
"Yes baby."
"Wook." He says sweetly in a calm voice and points towards the fur babies again. I see the lesson has been learned. We make our way over to the animals and Will is in heaven. A chocolate lab puppy has all but claimed Will as his human. He is sitting in his lap and when Will throws the tennis ball he fetches it. His giggle is causing Christian and I to giggle.
"Let's get him." Christian says while staring at the puppy. I sigh and it catches Christian's attention.
"Christian… no. We do not have time for a puppy right now." He furrows his brows and I know he is deep in thought.
"I think we have plenty of time for a puppy."
"You are not at our house permanently. With my upcoming work change, I have no idea what I will be doing. The backyard is not fenced in and who is going to train him? I also like the fact Will and I get up and go in a moments notice. We can't do that with a puppy in the house." I say grabbing his hand. I know it didn't matter my reasoning, all Christian Grey heard was the fact he didn't live with us. He stands up effectively brushing my hand off his. I join him and wrap my arms around him. I can barely touch my hands together, but I think he gets the idea.
"Don't get upset. It is just the truth. We never know what will happen and you cannot truly commit to the puppy if you may be flying off to New York at a moments notice." I say while snuggling his chest as best I can. His huge muscular arms are kind of preventing me from getting as close as I would like.
"I know, I know. I guess I got carried away. I thought if you would commit to a dog with me, it would be easier in the long run to get you to commit to a baby." He says while brushing my arms off his so he can wrap me up properly. I hide my face in his chest.
"Babies and puppies are no where near the same thing Grey." I say into his chest and I feel it vibrate from his chuckle.
"I figured as much." I lean back to look at him. He gives me a full kiss on the mouth before turning me around and pulling my back to his chest. "He is cute and Will seems to love him."
"He sure does. It just isn't the right time." I feel him nod against my head and pull me closer.
We have finally made our way towards the entrance of the market. It was tough to pull Will away from his new best friend. He didn't scream or cry, but both Christian and I got the stink eye for a few seconds. He got over it quickly enough when he saw a candy stand. Of course, Christian being Christian, indulged in my child's sweet tooth. They both walked away with a bag full of different types of candy.
"We can share later, baby." Christian says seductively with a wiggle of his eyebrows. It causes a giggle to escape from me.
"I'll hold you to it, love." I say with a wink.
"Christian!" I faintly hear behind us. Christian doesn't make any movements to turn around so I assume I am hearing things. I am wrong though when I hear his name called again but it is louder this time. He finally stops and turns with Will in his arms. Maybe he just didn't hear it the first time…
"Fuck." I hear Christian whisper under his breath as I turn to see who is calling his name. I give him a look letting him know he just slipped up, but when he makes eye contact I know something isn't right.
"Oh Christian!" I hear in a drawn out nasally voice. I finally look and see who is seeking his attention. This beautiful, medium height, shoulder length dark brown hair, pale skin, brown eyed model reaches us. I would almost say we look similar except for minor details. I look back to Christian and I am confused by his look. Is he apologizing with his eyes?
"Miss Starr." Christian says with a nod at the girl. She comes a little closer to us and I feel my bubble is being invaded. Christian switches Will to the other side near me. She looks like a dog waiting to claim her bone. Is she drooling? Who is this chick?
"I haven't seen you in about a month. You stopped calling." She reaches out and grazes his arm with her finger. Did this bitch just touch my man? He pulls away from her and gets closer to me.
"Miss Starr, this is my girlfriend, Anastasia. Baby, this is Miss. Starr." I make no move to shake this skank's hand. Not only did she touch my man, she is openly hitting on him in front of me. I do take pleasure in the fact her face balked when Christian said girlfriend.
"Girlfriend, how funny!" She says through her nasally laugh. She is asking for it and I have no problem delivering. I look over to Christian with raised eye-brows. Did he seriously sleep with her?
"Christian, you have always been so funny. Seriously though, call me when you get tired of the commitment. Oh what a cute little boy!" She says finally noticing Will in Christian's arms. She reaches out to touch him and I slide in front of Christian. She gets the message loud and clear though. She winks at Christian and turns to walk away. Only then do I notice Taylor catch her off to the side.
"Come on baby, let's go home." Christian says. He wraps his arm around me while still holding Will. What happened back there? I have never in my life been jealous of anyone, so I know that is not it. Is it? She was gorgeous and then there is me. "Baby, are you okay?" Christian asks and I realize we are in the car on the way home. When did we get in the car? I rest my head against the headrest and try to relax my mind. It doesn't help and all I can think about is why is Christian with me when he has been with someone like her?
Oh boy. We have a jealous Ana on our hands. So it seems Mr. Grey isn't the only one who turns a little green. Let me know what you think of this chapter! Thank you again for all of the sweet reviews. Your amazing words keep me going!
xoEW