Ana felt her mouth sag open. She had expected Christian to tease her about making another contract or something and instead he had proposed marriage. "Are you really doing this?" she asked, a little hoarse.
She hadn't needed to ask the question to know the answer. Christian's eyes shone with love and determination. "Yes, Anastasia, I am. I want you to be with me forever. I never thought that I could love someone as much as I love you."
The earnestness of his reply shook her to her core. Her heart was demanding that she say yes, but her rational side kicked in before she could accept his proposal. "Christian, you know how much I love you, but we can't start a marriage with so many secrets between us, with so many things unsaid."
Christian gave her a sharp look. "Ana, I already know everything about you, everything that you have done. I don't want to rehash bad memories or bring up past faults. Let's just start this new chapter of our lives fresh."
"I meant that there are things I don't know about you. You have so many things in your past that you refuse to talk about." Ana narrowed her eyes as she tried to think about what he had meant by "her past." Christian knew everything there was to know about her. After all, before him her life had been pretty average and she was barely in her 20's.
She must have given Christian something to think about because he was silent for several minutes. Finally, he spoke. "Point well made, Ana. There are a lot of things you don't know about me, but I would rather have that conversation with you as my fiancée, not as my girlfriend."
He leaned forward and brushed a kiss against her cheek. Ana felt her resolve weakening. "Yes," she whispered. She felt him melt against her, and then felt as his body shook with laughter. Surprised, she pulled away from him.
"I am one of the richest men in the nation and I had the audacity to propose to a beautiful woman without buying a ring first," he said, clearly amused with his predicament.
Ana gave him a jab. "Well if I knew you didn't have a ring, maybe I would have declined," she said, grinning in return. "I just might have to reconsider, Mr. Grey."
This sent Christian into another round of laugher. "Are diamonds really a girl's best friend, Ana?" God, he was so beautiful when he smiled. Christian did not wait for an answer and instead scooped her up in his arms and began walking to her car. "Well, if that is the case I would not want to keep you waiting any longer. Let's go see what we can do to remedy the situation."
Ana stumbled into bed, exhausted and wanting to sleep but unable to turn her mind off. She kept hearing Christian's voice; she could still see the look on his face as he told her all about his life with his birth mother and why he had found life as a dominant so appealing.
She had left him at Escala for the evening. At first, he had thought that she was running again and he had set into a panic. Thankfully, Ana had been able to reassure him that she had planned on returning to Kate's apartment anyway. She was not willing to give up this piece of independence that she had earned when he had left her. Working for a living and paying her share of rent just felt… right and very, very satisfying.
She giggled to herself when she thought of how Christian had mistaken her no-staying-over rule as an attempt at celibacy, like she had become religious overnight or something. Like that would work for more than an hour. My body is still screaming for him now!
Taking a deep breath, she looked around her room. She would have to give all of this up when she and Christian got married, but that didn't seem like as big of a deal. He was worth it and at least if they were married he would have to give her some divorce papers or something if he wanted her to leave; it would be harder for her to misinterpret that kind of a signal. Plus, if she was his wife and partner she would not feel like his moocher-girlfriend anymore.
Wife. She had thought about it so much that now the word sounded so funny and foreign. She had contemplated it most of the way home when she just couldn't think about Christian's past anymore. The fact that she would be a man's wife seemed unreal. Having helped her mom through so many divorces, Ana had been under the impression that she would likely never marry, but with Christian she knew that all other bets were off. She needed him with her, forever.
She glanced at the clock certain that morning was drawing near, but became distracted by the glimmer coming from her left hand. She smiled as she examined her new ring more closely. It had a huge square-cut diamond center, haloed by several smaller stones. The thing weighed a ton; Ana was going to have to move her hands more carefully from now on. There is no telling what kind of damage this sucker could do with her wild, careless gestures.
Christian had taken her to a small boutique on the edge of town to pick it out. The shop had been filled with exquisite antique jewelry and Ana had been overwhelmed by the selection. She smiled as she thought about what he had said when they had arrived. An old fashioned ring for an old fashioned girl, Ana? He had used Ana's own perception of herself against her. Yes, she was an old fashioned girl.
At one point, she had caught a look at the price of one of the rings and had almost fallen off of her plush velvet seat. One glare from Christian had told her not to complain about the extravagance and after that she purposefully avoided inspecting the tags. It must have been pretty humorous for the staff at the boutique to help them with the expensive jewelry considering that they had parked her Hyundai right in front of the huge glass windows. Given the nature of their price range, Ana was certain that they would have expected one of the cars from Christian's fleet over her ride.
The man does have good taste. Christian had actually been the one to find the ring, having discovered it when she was visiting the restroom. Even the toilet seats had been covered in old-lady velvet. She had come returned to see him waiting for her with a smug look, gift bag in hand.
From there, they had gone to his apartment. The entire living area was decorated with candles and a large pillow/bed was in the center of the room. Fruit and champagne had been set out and music was playing softly in the background. Thankfully, none of his staff were in sight.
He had taken her in his arms and carried her to the pillow. This time, Ana had gone without protest or struggle. Once he had dropped her on the mountain of fluff and settled in next to her, he revealed the dark secrets of his past. He had cried and she had held him, reassuring him of her commitment.
They laid there in silence, soaking up the perfect time together, the perfect end to their day. Eager to be reunited, Christian had begun stroking her, pushing her to the brink but prevented her from falling until he was rooted deep inside her. The sex had been slow, not hurried like she had assumed their first time back together would be. With all of the tension that had built up between them, Ana had been sure that they both would climax instantly. But Christian had been merciless; building her up, just to let her back down and the feeling had been exquisite.
In the afterglow, he had grasped her hand and slowly, he had slid the ring on. "You are mine, Anastasia," he had whispered. "For now and forever." She couldn't have agreed more.
Saying goodnight to him had taken every ounce of her strength, but she would have hated herself in the morning if the night would have turned into a slumber party. She had made a promise to herself that she would become a self-sufficient adult during her remaining time as a single woman and she was sticking to it.
Interestingly, Christian had been accommodating once she had informed him that Ethan was spending his last night in town with another friend and that he would not be back until late morning to say goodbye. Jesus, the man is never going to forgive Ethan for letting me get so lit at that party.
Suddenly, she felt wide awake and slightly guilty. I haven't told Kate about the engagement! This was a serious violation of the girl code, even Ana knew that. She padded down the hallway to Kate's room and was about to open the door, but instantly pulled her hand away from the knob upon contact. Fuck! What if Elliot is in there with her?
Humpf! Having boyfriends around sure had cramped their style; Ana and Kate used to roam both rooms without worry and now their dynamics were undeniably changing. They are going to change even more once you get married.
Ana pushed the unwanted thought away and moved on to the living room, thinking she could watch some T.V. to treat her impromptu case of insomnia.
Of course, the only thing on was the original version of Carrie, so she grabbed a blanket and settled in for the long haul.
Just as she was getting sucked into the whole evil-revenge-from-the-grave situation, she heard a light knock at the door. Ana visibly jumped, shaken by the movie and the unexpected noise. She cautiously walked to the door and peered through the peephole.
God, it's only Ethan. Laughing at herself for getting so easily rattled, she opened the door. "Ethan, what's up? Is something wrong?"
He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry if I woke you, Ana. My buddy is an EMT and got called out, so I figured I would just come back here and see if anyone was up."
"Just watching a scary movie, you know, the stereotypical Friday night," she said waving her hand carelessly.
The ring on her finger caught Ethan's attention and he grabbed her wrist to get a better look. "What the hell, Ana? When did that happen?"
Ana shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "Um… today."
Ethan just shook his head at her. "One minute, it is the end of the world and you guys have broken up, then the next you are fucking engaged? Boy, Steele, you sure work fast." The smile on his face was growing, although his tone carried a little bit of concern.
Unsure of how else to explain the situation she just nodded. Ethan gave her another shake of the head and then his gaze flickered to the screen. "God, you're watching Carrie? This is the best part. Mind if I stay up with you?"
Eager for the company, Ana readily agreed.