A/N: Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
A POV
"You're here." I open the door and wave Christian inside the apartment. "When I spoke to you on the phone earlier you didn't mention stopping by this morning."
"I thought it might be best if I stopped by in person so I could give you my news.", he says. "I promise it's not going to make you late for work."
"I thought I heard Ana talking to someone.", Kate says as she rushes from her room and grabs her coat. "I've got to get going. I'll see you later. Bye." She dashes out the door.
"She's meeting with a client first thing this morning, and the meeting is on the other side of the city so she decided to leave a little earlier." I open the fridge and grab the turkey sandwich I made earlier. I then grab an apple and place it along with the sandwich inside a brown lunch bag. "I'm taking my lunch today so I can stay at the office and do some work on the Clothing Palette account. What kind of news do you need to tell me?"
"Because of Sawyer now dating Mia, I've decided to change your security."
"You were surprised but ok with the news, and now you've decided to fire Sawyer?", I scoff. "How could you?"
"I didn't fire him.", he laughs as he sits down in one of the kitchen chairs. "He's going to remain your security, but I'm also going to assign you another CPO who'll accompany you whenever you're around Mia. I need Sawyer's full attention on his job, and that might be difficult if Mia's around. In the end, I feel it's the best compromise for everyone." I pad over to him and kiss him. "Does that mean you agree?"
"I agree. Have you chosen my second CPO yet?"
"Not yet. I've got several who work in various levels of seurity for me, but I need to narrow it down to the best one for this particular assignment." He stands and wraps his arms around my waist.
"Were you able to get much work done last night?", I ask. Although we spent yesterday afternoon together, we parted ways last night so Christian could do some work on the Gil Hanson deal while I worked on the Clothing Palette campaign.
"I was able to get quiet a bit done. Gil Hanson's flight is scheduled to land around ten tonight, and our meeting is at eleven tomorrow. I thought it would be best to have it later in the morning so he could get some rest."
"Good thinking." I gently pull on his tie. "I need to get to work."
"There's a flower delivery guy. Ana, Kate, I bet one of you got a delivery.", Julia says while standing by the fax machine. The delivery guy's talking to Mr. Nelson who points in the direction of Kate, Julia,and myself. He then walks over and stops at Julia.
"Delivery for Julia Carson." The delivery guy hands Julia a single stem red rose along with a large box of what appears to be candy.
"Thank you.", Julia tells him. "I was sure they were for one of you." She takes the rose and candy over to her desk, but Kate and I are right behind you. Opening the box, she reaches for a piece of chocolate candy and bites into it. "Mmm."
"Julia, who sent the rose and candy?", Kate asks. Julia opens the attached envelope and smiles.
"His name is Will, and I met him Saturday night. I was in Barnes & Noble, and when I went to turn, I crashed into him. He was tall and had dark blonde hair. He immediately asked if I was ok, and I shockingly was able to say yes. I paid for my book and started out the door, only to drop my purse. All of its contents fell out, and I started picking them up when a pair of hands began helping me. It was the guy I bumped into. Afterwards, we introduced ourselves, and he asked me out for coffee. I took a chance and said yes. We ended up spending over two hours getting to know each other. After growing up in Portland, he moved to Seattle five years ago and now works as a loan officer in a bank that's only a few blocks from here."
"It sounds like a successful night.", I say.
"We exchanged numbers and texted a few times yesterday, but I told myself not to get invested too quickly. Even though I had been talking about how I wanted a guy, I've come to the decision that I don't want to be in a relationship just to say I'm in a relationship."
"That's smart.", Kate tells her.
"Kate, I'm not sure about this facial mask." Kate and I are crammed around the coffee table where we're working on our respective projects for work. Before we began, Kate insisted that we try the new facial mask cream she bought after work.
"What's not to be sure about? It's supposed to be exfoliate and moisturize our faces."
"I hope you're right. I just don't want it to backfire and end up turning our faces green.", I murmur about the lime green colored cream.
"It won't. Besides, we only have ten more minutes until we have to wash it off." She peers across the table to where I've got my sketches laid out. "Victoria Lewis is going to love your ideas. I especially the tagline "Times and Style May Change, but You Can Always Count on Us."
"We're meeting Thursday, and if she likes what she sees, the new ads will start running as early as next week."
"I'm unfortunately not as close to being as done as you. The brokerage firm I'm working with decided they wanted more options other than the five different ones I presented to them this morning, and now I'm basically back to square one. Elliot wanted to have dinner tonight, but I told him I need to buckle down and get more work done. I did, however, tell him we'd talk on the phone before going to bed."
"Aww. I'm going to call Christian before calling it as night as well." I push myself up from the floor. "I'm going to wash this stuff off my face."
"I'll do the same.", Kate says as she gets up.
Forunately, facial cream washes off with ease, leaving my face feeling smooth and not green as I feared. It's already ten so I gather my things and say goodnight to Kate who's also calling it a night. Changed into my light pink pajama shirt and pants, I climb into bed and dial Christian's number.
"Hey baby.", he says upon answering.
"Hey. I'm about to go to sleep but wanted to call and tell you goodnight first."
"Funny because I was going to do the same.", he laughs. "I was thinking maybe we could have a sleepover tomorrow night. That's if you want to."
"I want to.", I reply without having to consider it.
C POV
"Your company certainly has the latest cutting edge technology.", Gil Hanson says while we're meeting in the conference room.
"It's thanks to hard work and perseverance." I pick up the prototype of the G5, the phone that's the center of our deal. "This phone can do anything. It can be programed to turn your home security system off or on. Have you ever had a difficult time looking for your keys in the dark?"
"As a matter of fact, I have. It's frustrating.", he sighs through his British accent.
"The G5 has a small slot on the left side where you can place your house key. Next to the slot is a light that can be turned on."
"Interesting. What else can it do?"
"It can be progamed to start your washing machine and dryer although you have to be within range. There's a state of the art tracking system in case you lose the phone or if you're a parent who's worried about a teenager." He picks up the phone and smiles.
"My parents used to stay up late waiting for me. They would've definitely wanted one of these."
"I'm sorry again about your mother.", I tell him.
"Thank you. She'd been in bad health for a while, and even though I didn't want to give her up, she's at peace now. She's also with my father who passed away two years ago. I miss them, but I'm thankful for the time I had with them." He clears his throat. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Your parents may be gone, but they won't be forgotten." My words speak volumes to myself as well. I'll never forget the hell my birth father put my birth mother through.
"Shall we get back to discussing the phone?", he suggests.
"The body style of this phone is sleek although I envision something even better. That's where your company comes in."
"We can make it flatter and a little smaller."
"Great. I feel like this is the beginning of a wonderful partnership." I extend my hand across the table.
"I couldn't agree more.", he says as he shakes my hand.
"What do you want for dinner?", I ask Ana. She hops on one of the breakfast bar stools and shrugs.
"I don't know. You decide.", she smirks.
"I don't know either." I lean across the breakfast bar and kiss her. "I would rather stay here instead of going out."
"And why is that?" I move around the bar and over to her. "Do you want to do naughty things to me?" It feels as though my pants are about to rip into pieces thanks to my hard as steel cock. I take her hand and ease her from her seat, putting her over my shoulder. "Whay are you doing?", she giggles.
"I'm going to do naughty things to you.", I laugh as I step inside the living room where I almost bump into Taylor. His face is a mixture of both embarrassment and seriousness.
"Sir, Leila Williams is downstairs. She says she needs to see you immediately.", Taylor says while I set Ana down.
"You might as well find out what she wants or she won't leave.", Ana murmurs.
"Taylor, let her up." He nods and leaves Ana and I alone although our alone time won't be long. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok." We stand side by side and wait for Leia to arrive. A few minutes later, the door opens. Instead of doing her usual confident walk, Leila staggers across the floor. She's wearing sunglasses which is odd considering it's seven at night.
"Leila, what do you want?", I demand.
"Can we speak privately?", Leila asks, turning her head to head and then back to me.
"No, we can't. Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of Ana. I don't have time for games so get on with it."
"Can I sit down please?"
"Go ahead.", Ana replies as she and I sit on the sofa while Leila sits down in the chair across from us.
"I wanted to unwind and relax so I went to a bar not far from my apartment. I had just sat down when this guy came over and started talking. He offered to buy me a drink, and I thought why not. He was attractive and seemed ok. I flirted with him, and he flirted with me. After my third drink I decided to ask him back to my place. It might sound like a terrible idea now." She finally removes the sunglasses. Her right eye is black.
"What the fuck happened in your apartment?", I ask. Leila's been causing trouble lately, but seeing her like this upsets me.
"We made out until I realized I didn't want to take things further. I told him I was sorry but he should leave. That pissed him off. He then tried to kiss me again, but I got up and started to the door. Unfortunately, he was on my heels and spun me around. He slapped me and said I was going to do what he said. I tried to kick him, but that only made him angrier. He grabbed me by the arm and pushed me down." She takes off her jacket and holds up her arm which is covered in a large bruise.
"What happened next?", I ask.
"He got on top of me and tried to unbutton my blouse, but I bit his hand. The next thing I knew his fist was colliding with my face."
"Did he..." Ana swallows and takes a drawn out breath.
"No. He said he realized I wasn't worth his time. He got up and left."
"That's it?", Ana asks. "He just got up and left?"
"After attacking me, yes. Do you think he should've stayed and finished what he started?"
"Not at all. I'm just trying to make piece things together." Leila shakes her head.
"I bet you think I deserved to be attacked. You don't like me, and I bet you're smiling on the inside about what happened to me.", Leila sneers at Ana.
"I would never wish that for you.", Ana murmurs. "You and I might not be the best of friends, but I don't want to see you hurt."
"What was the guy's name?", I ask.
"Mark is all I know."
"What kind of car did he drive?"
"He didn't have a car. We took a cab back to my place. I only wanted to go out and have a nice time.", she says as she starts crying.
"You need to call the police and tell them what happened."
"No.", Leila replies quickly. "I don't want the police involved. I'm ashamed enough. I came here because you've always been a good friend who I can talk to. Ana, I'm sorry for my recent actions. You came into Christian's life and made him happier than I ever could, and I resented that."
"It's ok.", Ana says. She stands. "Would you like some water?"
"Yes, please." Ana pads to the kitchen.
"I'll be right back.", I tell Leila. I get up and go to the kitchen where Ana's getting a bottle of water for Leila.
"That was certainly a traumatic experience.", Ana whispers, raising a brow. I glance over my shoulder towards the kitchen, making sure Leila's far enough away she can't hear us.
"You don't believe her?"
"Part of me does, and then part of me believes she's making it up. She could be stepping her level of relationship destruction."
"The way she reacted when I mentioned the police is suspicious." Ana's eyes quickly shift over my shoulder. I turn and see Leila on her to the kitchen. Ana hands her the water. "Do you want something to eat?"
"Food is the last thing on my mind. I'm mainly exhausted, both mentally and physically, but I don't want to go back to my place. I don't think I'll feel safe there."
"You can go and stay with your mom and Richard. They should know what happened to you."
"I'll tell them...eventually. Do you maybe..." I already know what she's about to ask, if she can stay here.
"How about I have Taylor take you to a hotel?"
"Ok.", she says with a less than pleased tone.
"I'll make the arrangements."
"I wonder how Leila likes her hotel room.", Ana says softly. After having Chinese takeout for dinner we wasted no time going to the bedroom where we're now resting after making love.
"I'm sure she likes it.", I shrug, making a trail of kisses along Ana's neck.
"Although not as much as she'd like being here. I bet she would've liked nothing more than to be sleeping in the room beside you or better yet in the room with you."
"There's no way in hell that was going happen."