Ana sat curled up on the couch in Christian's office. She was embarrassed when she realized that she feel sleep in his arms. She felt so safe, something she hadn't felt in more than six months. When she thought about her dad and what happened, she always cried. It was really hard to picture Raymond Steele lying in that bed so weak; he was out of breath just talking. She always saw him as the strongest person she knew. He was always there for her, especially during that dark period in her life. He was her rock and now he was gone. She missed him more as the days went by. She missed talking to him, seeing him and just being able to pick the phone and hear his voice. She still had the last message he left on her phone and played it when she felt lonely. She heard a knock on the door, jarring her out of her thoughts.

"Hello Miss Steele, Mr. Grey asked me to check on you. Is there anything I can get you?"

"I could use some tea if you have it. Bag out if possible."

"What is that wonderful smell?"

"Oh it's probably the cupcakes I brought for Christian. Would you like one?"

"No thank you. They are for Mr. Grey."

"I'm sure he's not going to eat them all. Please take one." She opened the box. "There are red velvet and chocolate."

Andrea took a red velvet. "I'll be right back with your tea."

"Is it ok if I use Christian's tablet?" she asked pointing at his desk.

"Go ahead. He won't mind."

She nodded, went to the desk and grabbed the tablet which she saw was an IPad. She brought up the browser and looked for new recipes to try out. Andrea brought her tea and left promptly. She was going through recipes when the door burst open with Andrea trying to stop the intruder.

"Mr. Grey I told you he is a meeting and you could wait out in the reception area."

"And I told you that he won't mind me …." He stopped mid-sentence. "Well hello there. Who are you?"

Ana didn't like the predatory gaze he was giving her. She tried to make herself smaller than she was. Sensing her discomfort, Andrea stepped in.

"Mr. Grey, please wait outside. Your brother will along shortly."

"I'll just wait in here." He gave Ana a smile.

"I'll just wait outside, Andrea."

Ana followed her out and sat on the couch. She was twisting her hands which was one of her signs that she was about to have a panic attack.

"Miss Steele are you ok?"

"I'm going to go." She said standing up. "Yeah I think I better go."

"Miss Steele wait." She stepped into the elevator and when it closed she called Taylor."

"Taylor."

"We have a situation." She said. "Mr. Grey's brother arrived and barged into his office. I guess he scared Miss Steele and she's leaving. She looks like she's scared."

"I'll see to her."

Taylor was waiting for her when she stepped off the evaluator. He saw how scared she looked and approached her slowly.

"Miss Steele." She stopped. "Are you ok?"

"I need to leave."

"Does Mr. Grey know you are leaving? Didn't he ask you to stay." He noticed people staring. "Why don't we go to the security office?"

"No. I need to go."

"Let's go to my office." He reached out a hand and she flinched. "This way please."

Christian finished his meeting and couldn't wait to get back to his office where Ana was. He was just outside his office when he noticed that Andrea was nervous and Olivia looked smug.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Grey. When your brother barged into your office, I guess he must have scared Miss Steele."

"Where is she?"

"She left." Olivia said.

Christian glared at her and the smug look vanished from her face. "Where is my brother?"

"He still in your office." Andrea said. "Taylor has Miss Steele in his office."

He nodded and threw open the door. There was his brother, eating the cupcakes that Ana brought him. He strode over to him and yanked the box away. He looked inside and noticed he managed to eat three.

"What the hell are you doing barging into my office?"

"What does it matter, I always do it. Or is it because you were hiding a little secret."

"Fuck off Elliott. I don't know what you did but you scared her and she left."

"What? I just asked who she was. I didn't mean to scare her."

"I'm sure you were your usual self when you come in contact with a woman."

"Well you know me when I see a beautiful woman …." He saw the glare his brother gave him. "Seriously I didn't mean to scare her. Who is she anyway?"

"None of your business." He started packing his briefcase. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Oh yeah. I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out tonight."

"I have plans for the evening."

"With the hot babe." He said. "Hey is she the one who brought those cupcakes."

"She made them."

"Really, they were good."

"You need to leave Elliott."

"Ok. I'm going."

He waited for a few minutes before he left himself. He stopped at Andrea's desk. "Finish up what you're working on and you can go. I'm leaving for the day have a good evening."

Andrea looked at him as if he had lost his mind. She nodded her head as he went to the elevator.

"Oh Mr. Grey tell Miss Steele thank you for the cupcake. It was delicious."

"I will." What the hell! Was everyone going to try her cupcakes before I do? The cupcakes. He went back to his office and grabbed the pink box. He went back to the elevator and took it down to the security office. He walked in and found Taylor sitting at the desk behind the computers.

"Where is she?"

"In my office." He said. "She was very distraught. I believe she was about to have a panic attack."

"How is she now?"

"She seems to have calmed down. I fixed her a tea."

"Have the car brought around. I'm heading home with Ana."

He knocked on door and then entered. He saw Ana hugging her knees to her chest, staring at the wall. He crouched down in front of her.

"Ana." He said softly. "Ana."

She took her gaze off the wall and focused on him. "Christian."

"It's ok baby. I'm here." he said. "Are you ready to go? To my place?"

"Ok."

He held out her hand to her and she took it. With their hands linked, they went out the door. Taylor had his briefcase and the pastry box in his hands. He followed them out of the office, through the lobby, to the waiting SUV. Sawyer was behind the wheel. Taylor opened the door and Ana slipped in with Christian right behind her. He sat as close to her as he could. They started to drive off when Ana spoke.

"My car is at the bakery. I need to get it."

"Where is it at?"

"Sweet Treasures."

"I'll have Sawyer get it when we get to my apartment."

They pulled into the underground parking garage and parked. Christian asked for her keys and then handed them to Sawyer.

"Um it may not start at first but after a couple of tries it should turn on."

Christian slid out and held his hand out for her. She placed her hand in his and slid out as well. She saw the cars parked in the same line as the SUV.

"Wow. Those cars are nice. Who do they belong to?"

"Me."

"You."

"Oh my."

In the elevator, it was just them two. He pulled her closer to him. The doors opened and she gasped when she saw the apartment.

"Christian this isn't a home, this is a palace, in the sky."

"It's' the penthouse but it's just my home."

"Oh wow." She said walking to the windows. "It's just like your office but the view here is spectacular. You can see the space needle from here."

"You can see my building from here too."

"Oh you can." She whispered. "What does GEH stand for?"

"Grey Enterprise Holdings."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why is everything white, black or gray? Why don't you have color?"

He looked around and tried to see it from her eyes. He realized it did lack color. He decorated like this because he was in a mood most of the time.

"It's like you live in an ivory tower." She said. "Your office looks kind of stuffy too. You need color in your life."

Someone cleared their throat. "Mr. Grey dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

"Ana I want you to meet Mrs. Jones, my housekeeper." He said. "Mrs. Jones, Ana Steele."

"Nice to meet you Miss Steele."

"It's nice to meet you as well Mrs. Jones but you can call me Ana. I'm just Ana."

"Would you like anything to drink Mr. Grey, Miss Steele?"

"I'll have a glass of wine and Ana will have some ice tea."

"I'm sorry but I don't drink."

"It's' fine. I'll have your drinks right out."

"Do you want a tour now or after dinner?"

"After dinner and then we need to talk."

Ana sat at the breakfast bar looking around the kitchen. She was in awe of all the appliances. They looked fairly new.

Christian watched her face light up. "You must love cooking in this kitchen. I know I would."

"Do you like to cook?"

"I do but I love to bake more. I work in a bakery and 2 days out of the week I get to bake my sweets."

"Is that what's in the box?"

"I brought Christian and guys some cupcakes."

"I might have to steal one before they are all gone."

Mrs. Jones sets a basket with bread, then salad plates. She had dressing on her salad but decided to eat it anyway.

"Mrs. Jones can you bring Ana another salad. She doesn't like dressing on her salad."

"It's fine Christian I can eat it."

"You don't like dressing on your salad."

"It's fine Ana I can make you another and give this one to one of the guys."

Mrs. Jones set another plate in front of her and Ana began to eat. "Did your meeting go well?"

Christian stopped mid bite and stared at her. "It was a meeting with the heads of the departments. I have the meeting with them once a month. The meeting I had before lunch was boring as hell. Roz, my COO, looked like she was falling asleep."

Mrs. Jones came back in the kitchen and plated the lasagna she had made. Ana inhaled deep and sighed. Christian had to adjust his pants when she moaned.

"Oh this is so good, isn't it Christian?"

He coughed. "It is."

She paid him no mind while she ate her food. Ana ate more food than most women he knew and she was tiny, he didn't know where she put it. She had an hourglass figure and not an ounce of fat on her. Her body was toned and womanly. He wanted to run his hands all over her body and memorize it. They finished eating and Ana rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

"Ready for that tour now?"

"Yes. Please."

They started in the living room and she saw the white piano. "Do you play?"

"I do play and some other instruments but the piano is my favorite. My mother gave all her children lessons for different instruments but I was the only one that took up her favorite. The piano. Elliott can't play worth his life and Mia, my sister, things it's boring."

"I always wanted to learn to play the piano but mom thought it was a waste of time."

He took her down a hall behind the stair case. "This is my office, where I spend most of my time."

He took her through the kitchen and showed her where the security office was and where Mrs. Jones and the CPO's quarters. He showed her where the formal dining room was at and the media room. He then led her up the stairs and opened the door.

"This is the master bedroom."

"This where you sleep." She said entering. "At least it's not white. It's blue." He laughed and then showed her the bathroom. "Oh this is big. You have a shower and a tub. Nice."

She looked up the stairs. "What is up there?"

"Just guests bedrooms." He said, "There is one room I think you will love."

"Really?"

"I believe so but it's by my office."

"Oh. You have a nice place here but it's kind of big for one person."

"I like my space and this was the first thing I bought when I made my first million." He said.

He led her to the door that he didn't open when he showed her the other rooms. He looked at her and smiled. He pushed the door opened and he heard her inhale a breath and let it out slowly. She stepped in.

"Oh my." She whispered. "It's a library. Look at all these books." She went to the nearest shelf and ran her fingers down the sides of the books. "Oh my God, some of these are first editions. Have you read all of these?"

"Most of them."

"You have all my favorites, Bronte and Hardy among others. I could live in this room."

"You take any book you want and read it."

"I'd like that."

He led her back to the living room and they sat on the couch. He took a deep breath. "You said we needed to talk."

"I know that we've only been on one date or make that two but you need to know I come with a lot of baggage. Once people find out about my past, they will start asking a lot of questions. When I tell you, you might have questions. I'll understand if you don't want to see me anymore. I won't blame you."

"Ana you don't need to tell me. I don't need to know."

"You do need to know so you won't be blindsided." She took a deep breath and he saw her eyes tear up. "My mother has been in prison for almost 10 years for abuse. She abused me when I was 11 years old. It went on for almost year before the final time she beat me, I almost died. She's due to get out of prison in a few months and most likely she will come looking for me to finish what she started. She wants to kill me for ruining her life."