"I have Mr. Grey out here to see you." Joanna, my secretary tells me through the office phone intercom. I lift my eyes from my computer with confusion.

What? My dad, the big CEO, is standing outside my office door waiting for me to let him in? Why wouldn't he just nock on the door or barge in? This is weird.

"Let him in." I tell her, and stand up to greet him as he walks in. He's holding his brief case, which usually means he just arrived to work or calling it a day. Both ideas seem far from reality, since it's just past noon on a Friday, there is no way he just came to work nor is he calling it a day.

"Theodore," my dad says as he sits on my office couch. Just by saying my full name, I know this is gonna be all business.

"Christian," I answer in the same tone.

His phone beeped, indicating he just got an Email. "Excuse me, just one second." My father says as he checks his phone. I look at the clock above my father on the wall; its 12:20, twenty minutes into Nina's lunch date with her ex fiancé. Pfft, not even half an hour ago my tongue was in her mouth and we decided to fuck exclusively and not deliberately make each other jealous- yea, that went well. What the hell are they on a date for? Are they getting back together? It can't be, she did mention last Sunday that he lives in London and that she doesn't do long distant relationships.

"So, sorry for barging in unannounced." My dad says as he puts his phone in the inner pocket of his jacket.

"It's fine. Something happened?" I ask, still confused why he's here.

"Oh before I forget, do you have plans for lunch today?" he asks.

Except of thinking about Nina and her ex?

"No." I say tiredly, and rub my eyes with the heels of my hands.

"Well, you can join me for lunch with Eliot. We're going to 'CACTUS'."

Oh yes! I can defiantly eat their 'Tacos Camarones' right now!

"Yea, I'm in." I say and get up to get my jacket. When I look back at my father, I see he still hasn't got up, but set his briefcase on the coffee table. "Are we going?" I ask him, realizing how hungry I am.

"Welch phoned me a few minutes ago." He says casually, "Why exactly would you need Nina's background check?"

Oh fuck.

I look at my dad completely dumbstruck. I sit down slowly on the arm chair, and try to find a reasonable answer. When I can't think of any good enough answer, I decide tell the truth. Or at least part of the truth. "We do a background check on all our employees. She is a GEH employee- therefore I asked Welch for a background check." This was maybe just 1% of the reason for calling Welch for her background.

"She's been working for the company for over a year, why would you just now decide to call Welch for her background?" my father asks suspiciously.

Shit. How do I answer that without giving anything away?

"Well," I say slowly, "she wasn't working for me last year, now she is. So that's why I need it." I say very matter of factly. As if it's obvious.

"Nina works for me Theodore." My father says smoothly.

"Technically," I say with a smile, "She does work for me. I'm the COO; she doesn't even have a title. So yes, she does work for me." My answer seems to amuse my father- I see he's trying to fight a smile. He looks so in control with his smug smile and he sits comfortably on my couch in my office like he's the king of the world. This is one of the most annoying things about him- always in control. That's when I realize that Welch must have called him right after our phone call. "Why did Welch call you anyway?"

"Because," my father's smile widen, "technically, Welch works for me." he leans forward to the coffee table to open his briefcase. "And, as you said, we do background checks before we heir." He pulls out a whit envelope, and puts it between us on the table.

I stare at the envelope, knowing what's inside it, yet still not sure.

"Is that her background check?"

"Yes," my dad says and leans back on the couch, propping his ankle over his knee. "I don't know what you hope to find there, but there's not much Welch could find to begin with."

"It's just basic information. I don't expect him to find out what's her favorite movie." I say, not mentioning that I already know that her favorite movie is Kill Bill- a badass movie for my badass girl.

"Yea, well Welch couldn't find a lot of even the basic information. Either it was nonexistent or protected by court." He says, then stands up and starts walking to the door. "You can read it when we get back from lunch. There isn't anything too exiting there."

When we get to the elevator, I see Gina- Nina's secretary- walk out the elevator car holding a paper bag that contained her lunch. "Miss Kyle, could you call me the moment Ms. Jones gets back?" I ask her.

"Sure Mr. Grey," Gina says, "would you like me to tell her that you're looking for her?"

"No, just call me." I say just as the elevator doors close.

Throughout lunch, all my thoughts were with that envelope sitting on the coffee table in my office. In that envelope, I will find some basic information about Nina, which she would have never given me. I would finally know who is her asshole of a father is, and how she ended up in the US. I am especially nervous to read the relationship status part of the background check. We include that section when we check our future employees to see if there settled and if there serious.

If I am going to have to fight for Nina, any information about her would help me- since there is a chance I am competing against her ex. As I think of her ex, I try to find resemblance between the two of us- to maybe see if Nina has a type she goes after. We are both tall, and he seems to work out just like me, but that's where our resemblance seems to end. He has brown eyes and hair, and was dressed casual in a burgundy and heather Varsity Jacket, blue jeans and clack converse sneakers. My biggest insecurity is the fact that he seems her age, and I know that women usually prefer their men to be the same age as them if not older. That Henry guy is so much ahead of me in the game (if he is playing at all).

"Is something wrong with your Tacos?" The waitress asks me, noting my barley eaten my lunch.

I lift my head to see the waitress standing next to me. She has beautiful chocolate skin, honey colored eyes and light ash brown hair pulled back in a half ponytail. She stands in a flirty pose and bats her eyelashes at me. She has an exotic look to her, and she is beautiful, but I am in no mood to flirt when all I can think about is Nina.

"No, it's great." I say, dismissing her. When I look over at my uncle and father, they look at me surprised and confused. It's probably the first time I haven't flirted with a beautiful woman who is willingly flirting with me. I look back at the waitress, who still has a flirty smile "But we could all use another round of the Hibiscus Mango Sour cocktail." I tell her and give my empty glass.

"I think your son is broken," Eliot tells my dad once the waitress leaves our table. "I never thought I'd see the day he'd turn down a beautiful woman."

"Whatever," I say and quickly take a bit of my Tacos, "I need to get back to the office so eat-up."

As I get back to the office around half past one, I go straight to Gina's desk outside of Nina's office, pissed off that she forgot to call me. "Is she in there?" I ask Gina, and walk toward Nina's office door.

"Actually, she's still on her lunch." Gina says apologetically. "I'll call you the minute she gets back."

Walking to my office, I can't stop being irritated that her lunch date with her ex is taking over an hour and a half. Joanna is sitting at her desk when I pass her, and she stands up to greet me but I barely notice her before storming into my office and slamming the door behind me.

Sitting behind my desk, I go through my schedule trying to see if I have another meeting today with Nina, which I don't. I don't even know if she has another meeting today, and if she even needs to come back to the office. What if she planned on not coming back after lunch, and starting her weekend early? What if she planned spending the rest of the day with her ex? She never did agree to have dinner with me today, what if she was having lunch with Henry just to see if the magic is still there between them, and see if lunch develops to dinner?

Just as I pick up me office phone to call Gina, to see if Nina is even planning on coming back to work today, something catches my attention at the corner of my eye. The white envelope that contains Nina's background check is still sitting on the coffee table. I completely forgot about it. I quickly put the phone down and make my way to the coffee table. Sitting on the couch, I slowly open the envelope, and read what it contains.

Serena (Nina) Elise Jones

DOB: March 27, 2004, London, England

Address: 99 Union St. UNIT 1801, Seattle, WA 98101

Mobile Number: 3609543210

Social Number: 987-65-4321

Banking Details: NatWest Bank 214 High Holborn, London. Account No.- none found.

GPA: 5.3

Education: *South Lake High School *Albers School of Business and Economics- Seattle University

SAT Score: 2300

Employment: 'Davis and Collins INC.'

Father: Information protected by court

Mother: Emilia Claire Jones DOB February 7, 1980 Deceased June 19, 2017

Political Affiliations: None Found

Religious Affiliations: None Found

Sexual Orientation: Straight

Relationships: *2020-2023 Jack Russell DOB October 30, 2002 Deceased July 11, 2023 *2027-2035 Henry Cole DOB January 25, 2004

Arrests: December 31, 2022 'Underage Possession of Alcohol'

I reread the paper four more times, think of everything I just read, and then read it again one more time, looking for hidden information I might didn't see. This background check doesn't really answer any of my questions, yet gives me more than I could have imagined.

I still don't know who her shithead of a father is, because the fucking court is protecting that information. Does Nina even know who he is? Or are they protecting him from his own daughter too? And I still don't know how she ended up in the US.

Yet I got a lot of information too. I found out she has a middle name- Elise, and that her mother died when she was only 13. She was arrested at the age of 18 for drinking underage, which makes me smile as I start to imagine Nina as a teenager. Just like me she studied Business Economics, but defiantly not like me, she got 5.3 at her GPA and 2300 at her SAT- she is practically a genius.

I already knew she and this Henry Cole guy were together for eight years, but never heard about Jack Russell. I don't know if his death at 2023 was the cause for their breakup or if it's just a tragic coincident. As I read the paper one more time, I come across something I've overlooked before. Before working for GEH, she was working for Davis and Collins INC. Also known as GEH's biggest rival in the US.

What the hell is that spouse to mean? Is she some kind of company spy for DAC INC.? How come my father didn't find this information fishy? People don't just change their loyalty between two big companies so easily. With the idea of her playing along with GEH while really working for DAC my brain goes a bit unreasonable. I start thinking that she was playing along with me all this time, maybe trying to make her ex jealous. While I think of other crazy ideas, my office phone rings and cuts my train of thoughts.

"Grey." I snap at whoever is at the other side of the phone.

"Mr. Grey, its Miss Kyle. I just called to let you know that Ms. Jones is back at her office." Gina tells me at the other side of the phone.

"Good. I'll be there any second." I tell her and get up off my chair.

"Actually, she did say…." Gina starts to say, but before she can finish I hang up and walk out of the office.

"I'll be at Ms. Jones office if anyone needs me." I tell Joanna my secretary. And storm over to Nina's office at the other side of the floor. As I walk, my blood starts boiling from anger, and I start thinking of different ways to snap at her and tell her that I know her game and that she's playing with me and my company.

As I get to Nina's office and grab the door handle, Gina stops me quickly from opening it. "Mr. Grey, Ms. Jones asked not to be disturbed by anyone."

For a moment I think that maybe Henry is there with her, and my heart stops. So without even thinking I just walk in her office and close the door behind me before Gina could make her move trying to stop me. I don't see her anywhere in her office, but I hear her sigh from her office washroom.

Once I'm outside her washroom and I look at her, my heart sinks in my chest at the sight of my eyes. Any thought of shouting, snapping or cursing at her fly out the window when I stand shocked seeing what she's doing.

Nina is standing in front of the mirror that's above the sink, and she's crying. Crying her eyes out. Not the kind of cry when it's just tiers, but the kind of cry that attacks you out of nowhere and you can't seem to control. She doesn't seem to notice me, and I don't seem to find any words to say.

I feel stupid for thinking Nina told her secretary not to let anyone in because she's with Henry. She asked to keep everyone out so no one would see her cry. I try to find any reason for her to cry like this in the middle of a workday, and the only reason I found is Henry. I saw her face when she left with him, she was glowing and happy. Now when I look at her, she looks broken and sad.

What the fuck did he do to her?

"Nina?" I say quietly, not wanting to startle her. Though I still do.

She looks up at me surprised, and quickly wipes her tiers away. "Ted," she sniffs, "Oh, you're probably here for a copy of the contract with Mr. Mitchell." She says and walks past me into her office.

I just look at her as she looks for a contract, and see that her tiers just keep falling down her cheeks. Her mascara is smudged all over, and all I want to do is hug her, and kiss her pain away. "Why are you crying?" I ask and walk over to her.

"Oh I'm not crying," she says with a shaky laugh, "I have something in my eye."

I smile at her answer, because it doesn't sound even half percent of truth. "You have something in both your eyes and a scratchy throat?" I tease her and slowly walk closer to her.

That makes her break down and cry out and she starts sobbing openly, with those hiccup things you do when you cry so herd. Immediately I make my way in front of her and wrap her in my arms tightly. As she cries into my chest my heart breaks a little. What the hell did that ass hole do?

"Is it Henry that made you cry? What did he do? Do you want me to kick his ass?" I ask and she starts to laugh. I smile, more than happy that I made her laugh somehow and kiss the top of her head. She leans back to look me straight in the eyes; her eyes look all glassy and glazed with her tiers, they look like green diamonds. Her lips look so kissable, all puffy and soft looking and I do all I can trying not to kiss her. I really don't think that me kissing her will help her right now, I can see that at this moment, she needs a friend. "What's wrong?" I whisper, as I caress her cheek with the back of my hand.

She looks down at the little distant between us, and takes a deep shaky breath. Then she looks back up at me and without any trace of humor says "I really hate men."

My hand friezes against her cheek and I look at her dumbstruck. Well I defiantly didn't think she was going to say that. "Behalf of all us men out there, I would like to say sorry?" I ask, because I really don't know what to say.

My answer was obviously not the right one, because she pulls me hand away from her face and walks away from my embrace. "I should just become a lesbian or something." She murmurs.

As much as the idea of her with another woman sounds hot, I can see she's not thinking straight (huh 'that's what she said, right?'). "What happened?" I ask firmly, making sure she can hear that I'm serious.

She looks at me for a bit, with her big green eyes that are starting to get tiered up again. "Eight years," she whispers, sounding worn out. "I've been with that man for eight years. Five of those years we were engaged. I thought we're going to be together forever. I thought I knew him. Turns out he and all men alive are liars, and stupid and I hate the whole lot of them." For a moment, I think He came over to tell her he was Gay or something. I mean, what's with all the 'I thought I knew him'.

"I don't understand Nina." I say quietly, "What happened on your lunch?"

"All the years we were together, he made it clear that he wants to live and raise his family in England. Now he just walks back into my life, after three years that we've been apart, to tell me he's moving to New York? You know how many years I've been trying to convince him to move over here?" she asks me, as if I have the answer.

I am completely shocked. Her ex fiancé in moving to the US?

"What does that mean? Are you two getting back together?" I ask, trying to find out if she's breaking off our agreement before we even started.

She looks at me with wide eyes. "What?" she asks confused. "No" she says too quickly. "I mean, he did say stuff about…" she trails off, and shakes her head.

She was about to say something, and I have to know what it is. "What did he say?" I urge her to go on. When she doesn't I snap and bark out "What did he say?"

Nina jumps back startled, and I instantly regret for snapping. But before I get to apologies, she answers me. "He wanted us to try again."

I look her in the eye, and clench my jaw. "Try what?" I ask stupidly.

Nina looks down at her feet and bites her bottom lip. "He wants us to try and be together again."

The way she looks right now, so ashamed and guilty, makes me believe she already agreed to get back with him. "And you said yes." I don't ask, I just say.

"No!" she says quickly, she looks discussed with the idea. "No! How could you even think that?"

"Well, you look so upset and sad…" I say defensively.

"Yea I'm upset!" she almost shouts, "Henry said at lunch all the stuff I wanted to hear from him for eight years. That I'm more important than his job. That our relationship comes before everything else. But he said it three years too late, and I don't feel the same way." Her pupils begin to dilate and I see she is getting really angry. She looks as angry as she was when I almost ran over her. "I guess man-sluts who were never in love like you, don't know how empty you can feel when you relies you are alone. I thought Henry is the one who would make me happy, but he's not."

Her words crush me. Not because she called me a man-slut, but because seeing her looking so confused and even though she's angry she looks vulnerable. All the thing she said about feeling empty and alone makes me heart ache. I realize that I would do anything just to make sure she doesn't feel this way again.

"You're not alone," I whisper, "I'm right here."

In an instant, all the anger and tense in her body disappears. Her mouth falls open and eyebrows shoot up. I don't wait another second; I just wrap my arms around her and claim her mouth. She opens up for me, and I slip my tongue in her mouth and she moans. I kiss her slowly and gently, trying to make all her pain go away just with my kiss. She wraps her arms around my waist and softly bites my bottom lip- which makes me growl.

I hold the back of her neck, and pull her away from my lips. "Do you have any more meetings today?" I ask her and slowly move my hands to rest on her solders.

"No." she whispers and starts to kiss the corner of my jaw.

"Well, call it a day and go home." I say and tilt my head giving her lips more accesses to my neck. "Have a bath, relax or something." I say and moan the moment I feel her tongue on me.

"What about dinner?" she asks with her lips still against my neck. "Should I eat all alone in my small cold apartment?"

"Baby, if it was up to me, you would never be alone. If it was up to me, we would spend every minute of the day together." I say, and surprised how much more I want from her besides just physically being near her. "Do you want me to come and worm you up with dinner tonight at your small cold apartment? I can bring your favorite burger."

Her lips pull away from my neck and she looks me in the eye. She looks so beautiful and happy, nothing like the woman I saw when I walked in this office ten minutes ago. "No," she says, and my chest aches again when she refuses to have dinner with me again. "I'll cook for us. Do you like macaroni and cheese?"

I laugh, both from relief that she didn't say no for us having dinner and for her choice of food. "That's my dad's favorite dish. We got to eat a lot of that growing up, so of course I love it."

Nina walks to her washroom and removes the smudged mascara off her face. While cleaning her face, she says something about her Mac and cheese being the best I'll ever eat, because she puts crushed crisps on top of it to make it crunchier. I smile and say "Crisps? Is that English for potato chips?"

She walks back into her office and on the way playfully smacks my arm. "Don't be a bully…" she says and grabs her hand bag.

As we walk out her office together, Gina looks up at us and smiles. "I'm going home Gina. If anybody needs me, give them my mobile number." Nina says with a smile, which makes Gina look a bit confused. I don't know what Nina looked like when Gina saw her after lunch, but I can see by the way Gina is smiling at me, that it's not anywhere near the way she looks like now.

When we get to the elevator Banks and I press the down button to call one up, Nina steps close to me but does not touch me. "I'll text you my address." She whispers.

"Great," I say, not telling her that I already know where she lives. "I'll be there around 19:30, right after my last meeting." When I look at her, I see she's looking at me with her bottom lip between her teeth and she's smiling at me flirtingly. "Don't look at me like that. I want to kiss you so bad." I whisper I move as close as I can to her without touching her. Then the elevator arrives.

"Well, hopefully, you will do that tonight, and more." She says and walks into the empty car. Just before the doors close, she blows me a little kiss which I return with a wink. And then she's gone. It seems like I've been here before not even two hours ago. When she was going with her ex fiancé to lunch. Two hours ago, I was feeling insecure and angry with Nina, thinking she might be going back to her ex. In two hours, not only have I learned so much about her, but I've realized that I care for her. Enough to know that whatever we two have, being only exclusive fuck buddies won't be might not be enough for me.

* I hope you liked the chapter. I did really want to do Nina's background check for a while. All the information that was new to all of us like Jack Russell and her arrest will be explained. Also the identity of her dad will come out. Please send reviews, I love reading them. *