I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope this chapter makes up for it!
I don't own these characters, I'm just having some fun with them!
Christian
It's been days since the luncheon at my parents and I haven't been able to get a hold of Ana and invite her over for dinner.
Immediately after I've heard from Kate, who so kindly shared with everyone while giving me the evil eye where Ana was going, I told Taylor to inform me when she would be arriving back to Seattle.
But no news has yet to be shared.
Taylor as usual has remained at my side, actually he's been more than usual. I don't know what he's so worried about, but I'm about to find out.
"Taylor, don't you have anything to do, besides look at me?" I grumble, while I read the contract Ros sent VIA e-mail.
"No, Sir." Looking at him straight in the eyes, I ask. "What are you not telling me?"
Shifting uncomfortably under my gaze, he speaks near a whisper. But I don't need to ask him to repeat it. I heard him loud and clear!
"What the fuck do you mean a man? When in the fuck did this happen? And why the fuck are you telling me this now?" I raise my voice and look directly at Jason, who fidgets once more.
"She's just arrived at Mrs. Grey's..." I don't give him a second to finish his sentence as I bolt up from my chair, grab my suit jacket from the coat hanger, and quickly walk towards the elevator, with Taylor behind me.
"Andrea cancel all my meetings today and reschedule them for tomorrow." Not waiting for her to respond; I walk past her desk and press the call button for the elevator.
"Yes Sir." She says confused, just as Taylor and I step inside.
"Alright Taylor, explain who the fuck the guy is?"
"That's just it Sir, I don't know anything about the guy. All I know is he's been staying with her at her home, but besides that Welch couldn't get a background check on him. It's as if he never existed, or really knows how to cover his steps." I can see his face contort into confusion as he tries to place one and one together.
"Staying at her home? How long has she been back?" My anger has risen, with the lack of information my team hasn't been informing me with.
"Almost a week Sir. Once again, he's covered their tracks down to a T."
The elevator pings alerting us, we have arrived to the ground floor. Taylor steps around me to scan the area quickly, before I step out, nodding his head in an 'all clear' motion.
"To my mother's, Taylor and make it quick."
Anastasia
It's been almost a week since we've arrived back to Seattle, and upon landing I called Dad and told him I hired a CPO.
"It was about time you did." Was dads response as his voice came through the speakers, which started a whole series of questions to be thrown specifically at Luke, once he found out.
After a minute of silence Dad decided he would be coming from Montesano to Seattle to help Luke update the security system around my home.
To say I felt like I was eavesdropping on a random conversation, is putting it lightly, even if the conversation was about me.
"Dad I love you and I'm very grateful. But don't you think your going overboard with all this? I mean really, do you think it's necessary for you to drive all the way from home to here?" I say speaking from the backseat of my car, while I pierce the back of Luke's head with a glare, as he's clearly enjoying this conversation.
"Annie, you know how I feel about your security and especially your well being. I do not care if I'm going overboard or not! Is that understood young lady? You are my daughter, I don't care how many publishing companies you own, you will always be my child, and I still worry about you." I shrink back into the backseat of my car, while Sawyer wears a smirk on his face. Fucker!
"I'll be there in three hours. And Ana? Please listen to your CPO!" He says before disconnecting the call.
"Keep your mouth shut Luke." I grumble while turning to look out the window.
"Yes Ma'am." He speaks, shaking his head gently.
Closing my eyes for a moment as I sit on my office chair, I feel the familiar vibration of my phone on the side of my pants suit.
Looking at the caller ID a smile forms on my face.
"Hello Grace."
"Ana? I'm sorry, I thought I was calling Mia." She laughs.
"It's alright Grace." I smile.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry to have interrupted your busy day. I'm sure you have lots to do, while you're still in Florida." She speaks with a cheerful tone.
"Actually Grace, I've been back in Seattle for about a week now."
"You have?"
"Yes. My father actually came for a short visit, when I soon arrived. He said something about having to see his child arrive safely back home with his own eyes, instead of hearing her voice."
She laughs, immediately agreeing with my father. "I know I do the same when one of my children take off somewhere, especially with Christian. Sometimes that son of mine would leave for weeks and not even say where he was off to." Her voice holds hurt and sadness.
"Although he attempts to be here on the weekends, it's sometimes not enough." My heart hurts for the woman and the possibility of my dad feeling the same way.
"I'm sorry Grace." I say full heartedly, "If there's anything you need help with, please do let me know. I'll gladly help anyway I can or even if you just need a Mia Substitute." We both laugh at my suggestion. I don't think I would make a great Mia Substitute. Where she's loud, I'm usually quiet.
"Ana sweetheart, if it's not much of a bother actually, and since... Well..." I can tell she's embarrassed to ask.
"Go ahead Grace."
"It's Elliot's birthday next Tuesday, and I want to have a small dinner for him on Saturday, but I don't know... Usually, I would ask Mia, but she's out of town for three days. And well I don't want to ask Kate, since Elliot might be there. But if you can't it's okay, I understand you have other commitments."
"Grace? Do you need help planning?" I ask once I've put two and two together.
"Oh yes please!" She exclaims with joy. I laugh after she apologizes for her excitement as we remain on the phone for two more minutes, in which she invites me over to her home for lunch today.
Disconnecting the call I turn around in my chair and face Luke who's smiling.
"What?" I ask eyeing him.
"You feel comfortable around her." It's not a question, it's an observation.
"Yes." I answer automatically, without even thinking. Because if I'm honest, I am. I don't know what a mother figure is or the emotions a child might have for their mother. But Grace, is a wonderful person with a great heart. She's kind, generous, loving, nurturing, and endearing.
"Ana?"
"What?" I must have been too engrossed in my thoughts causing me not to hear what Luke was saying.
"I need your input on the new security Ray choose." He says laying five manila folders on top of my desk.
I can feel my eyes widen, "Is he serious? Luke, why on earth would I need six personal security? I'm not a top notch lawyer? I own publishing houses, for crying out loud! What is the worst that can happen?" I take a deep breath after my small rant and I can feel my heart rate begin to slow down.
"Ana, this is just a precaution." Looking up at Luke, I can see he's agreed with my dad on this. I know, either way I'll agree with them both full heartedly.
"Luke, just hire who you think will be a great candidate. I know nothing about..." I wave my hand towards the manila folders. "Any of this."
Taking a deep breath while rolling his eyes, which causes me to laugh, he begins to go through the folders with me. He explains what their experiences are and what they can provide for security measures and the benefits of them working for me.
"Ana, it all comes down to your opinion." He shrugs after we spent an hour looking through the files.
"Okay, hire them." I say, which makes him smile.
"They may be security, Luke. But you are my CPO. Is that understood? Unless it's truly necessary and you believe there's a threat, I don't want another." I refuse to be walking around town with two men in black, behind me.
"Understood Ana." He smiles, stands and walks towards my office door with the files in hand. But before his hand touches the doorknob his phone alerts him of an incoming text message.
"Let me guess? It's my dad, correct?" He doesn't answer, but I can see the tips of his ears turn red. I laugh loudly when I see his head dip slightly towards his chest.
"See Luke, you are not the only one that can make observations." I speak once again as he's closing my office door.
"Ms. Steele, you have Mr. Rites on line one, who's adamant on speaking with you." Comes Hannah's voice through the intercom.
I groan, just thinking of the headache I'll be having shortly due to Mr. Rites.
The man is intelligent and has incredible ideas for his book, but always tends to linger or find an excuse to talk longer than necessary.
"Thank you Hannah." Lifting my finger off of the intercom button to disconnect the call, I pick up the receiver.
"Good morning, Mr. Rite. What can I do for you?"
Just as I expected how long this call would be, forty five minutes later, I'm still on the phone with Mr. Rite.
"Mr. Rite why don't I connect you to my assistant? She would gladly schedule an appointment, so we can continue this conversation." Seeing as it's about lunchtime and I made plans with Grace, I should be leaving now if I want to arrive on time.
"Oh yes, pardon me, that would be fantastic. I'm looking forward to our meeting for I can share with you my ideas for the next book I have in mind, which I know you'll love, but unfortunately I'm still having a rough time with getting the phrases correctly..."
Thank you Luke! I mentally cheer when he enters my office. Tapping his forefinger on the face of his watch, he smiles and mouths, "Lets go."
Nodding my head, I quickly place his call on hold and send it directly to Hannah.
"Hannah, Mr. Rite is on hold, make sure you set an appointment for him later this week." I speak as I press the intercom button.
"Yes, Ms. Steele." She responds, but I can hear the undertone of displeasure. I laugh as I gather my things and walk out my office door with Luke behind me.
"As soon as you're done with scheduling his appointment. Go home and have off the rest of the day, I won't be coming back after lunch." She sighs and smiles, mouthing "Thank you" as she has Mr. Rite on the line.
"Luke, I would like to go home and change my clothes, and then we can headed over to Bellevue." I say as I sit in the backseat of my car.
"Yes, Ana." He smiles and closes my door and walks around my car to the driver's side.
Thirty minutes later we arrive home and I quickly change my clothes, gather a small bag with a change of clothes just incase, and head out once more.
Luke informs me we're only three houses down, so I call Grace letting her know where at the front gate. She buzzes us in, and Luke drives my car through the long drive way and parks in the vacant space beside the garage.
"Oh Ana, I'm so glad you're here!" She greets me with a smile on her face and a motherly welcome hug.
"Hi Grace, I'm glad you invited me." I say hugging her back.
Letting go of me she turns in the direction of Luke who stands to my left side.
I giggle when I see the confusion on her face when she looks between me and Luke.
"He's Sawyer. My CPO." I answer her unspoken question and I can see her shoulder slump in relief.
"It's nice to me you, Sawyer." She says extending her hand out to shake his.
"She's Dr. Grace Trevelyan Grey." I tell Luke who firmly shakes her hand.
"Pleasure to meet you Dr. Grey." He says formally.
"It's nice to meet you as well. Will you be joining us, by any chance?" She asks as she looks between me and Luke.
"Yes Ma'am." He smiles towards her.
"Even better." She claps cheerfully. So that's where Mia gets it from? "Well there is no need to be standing outside now is there? Come on in."
"Sawyer, please feel free to watch the television. The remote is on the side table there, and I believe my husband recorded last night's football game." I laugh when I see his face full of glee.
"Oh Grace, I think you became Luke's favorite person." I smile towards Luke who's looking through the sports channels. "He's been asking me to order the sports channels, so he can watch something besides soap operas and girly movies on TV."
She smiles as she turns to look at Luke who's now sitting on the recliner chair with his eyes glued to the TV.
"So you two live together?" She asks as we make our way to the kitchen.
"Yes and no." I answer, and I can tell she's eager to know more.
"When we arrived back from Florida, I called my dad, letting him know I hired a CPO who was an associate at the publishing house I just bought. He invited himself for a week visit, in which he and Luke bonded and they immediately began repairing the back house for Luke." I tell as I watch her chop vegetables, on the kitchen islands, as I sit on one of the barstools.
"So you're dad likes him." I huff, but smile at her comment. "Yeah, you can say that. They actually have a very similar history." Suddenly she stops and looks at me with her brows furrowed.
"Military men." I answer and she nods in understanding.
"Are you fond of him too?" She asks and I immediately blush. Why would she ask me that?
"I'm sorry Ana, I didn't mean to pry, it's just that you both seem very comfortable with one another."
"I am, but it's more down the line of a professional kind. He's my CPO and I have to trust him, because when all is said and done, he's the one protecting me." She nods in understanding and chooses now to change the topic.
Thirty minutes later, Grace and I are laughing as Luke tells us his childhood stories.
"Yup. And my mother never lets that down. Every time the family gathers around, especially during the holidays, she always says, "Luke, stay away from that Turkey." In my defense, I didn't know my mother stuffed the Turkey." He blushes and Grace and I are still howling with laughter.
"You know my children did that once." Grace says as she takes a drink from her wine glass. "I was at work and my husband was here with the children. Elliot was 10, Christian was 6, and Mia was 2. They were attempting to make cookies, and when they placed them in the oven, they forgot to set the timer. When Carrick went back to check on the cookies, they were Carrick went inside our pantry and took out a box of cookies, placed them in a cookie sheet, and when he called the kids and told them the cookies were done, he said they had a look of achievement on there faces."
I smile as I imagine what that would've felt like. I have my dad and he did an amazing job raising me, but I still wonder what it would've been like to have my mother around to teach me certain things.
"That's a lovely story Grace." I tell her as I drink from my glass of wine.
"There are plenty more stories where that one came from. You should hear the one where the boys almost burned down the boat house." Shaking her head gently as I and Luke laugh, only to stop quickly when we notice Christian standing in the entrance of the Kitchen with Taylor behind him.
My heart races when I see he's angry, but his anger is not directed at me. But at Luke, who is sitting to my left.
"Oh Christian, sweetheart." Grace stands and embraces Christian.
"Hi mom." He says looking down at Grace shortly, before his fierce gray eyes turn to me.
I'm speechless and for an odd second, I think he's not going to greet us.
"Hello Anastasia." He greets, which sounds rather calmly, but by the ticking of his jaw I can tell it was forced.
"Hi Christian." I say in response.
I can see Luke's eyebrows lift, when he catches on to his name, much to my mortification. Oh god!
I turn my attention to Luke, who turns to look at me with a 'I know your secret' smile. My eyes widen, when he smiles at me. Asshole!
"Am I interrupting mom?" Christian speaks, but doesn't look at Grace, instead his eyes are focused on Sawyer, who is still looking at me waiting for confirmation.
Oh ground, swallow me up now!
"No sweetheart, actually I invited Ana over for lunch so we could get to know one another and she brought her friend Luke along." Grace innocently informs Christian, who still looks mad.
Rolling my eyes at Christian's behavior, I stand and ask Grace if I could use her bathroom.
"Yes dear. It's upstairs, second door on the right hand side." I thank her and begin to walk away, but stop when I feel someone behind me.
"Ana, will you be alright?"
"Yes, Luke." I roll my eyes at the stupidity of that question. "I'm going to pee, what can possibly happen?" I ask and walk up the stairs.
Wow! Is all I can say as my feet land on the second floor of Grace's home. There are family pictures hanging on the walls between the doors. They are not gigantic frames, but small 8 by 10's. There's one on each wall that divides the rooms, but the one that catches my attention is the one that hangs at the end of the hallway in the middle of the two windows.
It's beautiful and picture perfect. Grace and Carrick are sitting on chairs as Elliot, Christian, and Mia stand behind them. They're not aware of the photo being taken as you can see their body language screams relaxation. But what's captivating, is the fact that they all have smiles on their faces. Carrick and Grace are looking at each other lovingly, Mia has her head thrown back as she laughs, while Elliot smiles a teeth showing smile as he points at Christian, and Christian wears a smile, that's full of mischief. The background is of a beautiful backyard, which I can only guess the photo was taken here.
Turning back around I quickly make my way to the bathroom. Once I'm done and I've washed my hands, I pull open the door, only to be shoved back inside the bathroom by Christian.
"What the hell?" I ask as I regain my balance.
"Don't." He says as he comes closer to me. "I've called you, I sent you emails, which you didn't respond to. But my mother calls you and you happily answer. Why?" He says as his breathing has become labored.
"I... I don't know." I answer because I honestly can't think of anything better to say. His scent and close proximity is causing my brain to malfunction.
"I'll tell you why..." He says as his hands cup my face. "Because you love to piss me off." He grumbles and crashes his lips to mine.
I gasp at the contact, which gives him access to deepen the kiss. Pulling away from my lips his mouth finds the side of my neck, " Why did you bring him here?" He asks between bites and licks he's given my neck.
"I... I..." I can't form a simple answer as my body hums with a new sensation.
"Do you like pissing me off, Ana?" I can hear his displeasure, but yet I hear the arousal as well.
"N... N... No." I say, my breathing now shallower, and my knowledge of English as completely left.
"You know what I want to do you?" He speaks, as his hand travels down my back and squeezes a handful of my rear. "I want to bend you over, spank you for taunting me, ignoring me, and for making me crazy mad." He nips my jaw, causing me to yelp in surprise.
"Does that turn you on Ana? Do my words have you dripping?" Oh god the words this man is saying.
His eyes look directly at me as I feel his hand roam the front of my shirt and down towards the front of my jeans. My breath hitches, when I feel his hand tug on the button and zipper of my pants.
"Christian..." I moan as his hand slides down my bare skin over my pubic bone. Oh god!
"Fuck Ana," he groans as his hand grips at my fatty tissue.
"Christian..." I moan again as my hands grip his shoulders, but we never lose eye contact.
"I've got you." He says as he brings his hand lower to my core and runs a finger through my folds.
"Fuck Ana, you're soaked." Groaning he places his finger on the tip of my core and rubs small but quick circles on my clitoris. I tense when I feel the tip of his finger slide towards my opening.
"Don't worry baby," he smirks. "I want to feel the inside of your bare pussy on my dick, not on my finger." He says speeding up the motion of his finger on my clitoris.
My breathing quickens, my heartbeat races, and my eyes water from the intense feeling that is soon going to overcome me.
"That's it baby, cum on my hand." He orders, which my body complies.
Gasping for air, I open my eyes at the same time Christian is placing his fingers in his mouth.
My mouth drops open in shock of his actions. Smiling he places his fingers which are coated by my orgasm in my mouth.
"Suck." he orders and I do. Sucking, licking, and biting along the length of his fingers, he lets out a moan.
"Ana, sweetheart? Are you alright?" Comes Grace's worried voice through the other side of the door.
My eyes widen, as Christian just smiles.
"I'll be right down, Grace." I say with a slight tremble in my voice.
"Okay dear." She responds and I can only hope she didn't hear what just partook in her bathroom.
I turn towards the sink to wash my hands and quickly rinse my mouth.
"You know, you looked so sexy cumming on my hand." Christian speaks as he presses his lower body on my rear as I'm bending down to spit in the sink.
Gasping when I feel his hard erection between my buttocks, he bends lower to whisper in my ear.
"I'll be picking you up at 8 o'clock tonight." He stands up, rearranges himself, but before he leaves he spanks me.
Letting out an audible gasp he smirks, bends down to lay a kiss on my lips, and quickly leaves.
I try catching my breath, as I'm still not understanding what just happened, and look at my self in the mirror.
My lips are swollen, I have faint bite marks on my neck, and I feel a dampness between my thighs.
Taking care of business once again, I gather myself as much as I can and walk back downstairs, towards the chatter that is occurring.
"Ana are you alright?" Luke asks as I take a seat next to him.
"Yeah." I answer still not quite believing what just took place.
"What happened?" He asks, but this time I hear the undertone of worry in his voice.
"I don't know." I answer as I look towards the direction of Christian who is conversing with Grace.
My eyes widen when I see him sucking on his, those fingers, the remains of the peach cobbler.
Squeezing my thighs together, I silently ask for this day to be over with.
But like a slap in the face, his words echo in my head, " I'll pick you up at 8 o'clock tonight."
Shit! I have a date!