Chapter Five

Some tiny part of Ana's brain considers just fleeing, but they're on an island. Her finger actually hovers for a moment over the panic button on her watch, but she knows that armed guards and then armed police charging in will definitely not diffuse Christian's temper, and not even Taylor could get here quick enough to save the intruder. Clad only in swim trunks, he's now standing and watching Christian approach. Fighting the urge to giggle, wondering if it's a symptom of shock, Ana finds her voice and says, "Run."

Something, perhaps the fear in her voice, gets the young man's attention, and he studies her for a second, but then merely cocks his head to one side and asks, "Why?"

Clearly, the fool has no sense of self-preservation, and Christian is almost upon them, his expression one of absolute chilling calm, so Ana resolves to leave the stranger to his fate. She's wondering how fast someone's heart can beat before it just stops when she then catches Christian's eye. Trying to will him to understand that it was an honest mistake, she shakes her head. But his first words are not for her; his voice devoid of emotion, only the too fast rise and fall of his chest revealing that anything is amiss, he carefully articulates, "This is a private beach. You're trespassing."

Finally looking concerned, the young man then blinks the fear from his eyes and shrugs before saying, "I didn't know that."

In reply, Christian points to the nearby hand painted sign that clearly reads, "Private Beach. Trespassers will be prosecuted." There are a few others prominently displayed along the tree line, large enough to be visible from the water.

Caught out in an obvious lie, the man says, "Would you believe me if I said that I can't read?" And then, with a dazzling smile, revealing perfect, white teeth, he bows a little and says, "Please excuse the intrusion. But I simply couldn't resist the beach's obvious attractions."

Something about the way he says it leaves no doubt that he's talking about Ana, and she cringes, waiting for him to fall backwards from the blow, or perhaps just explode from the force of Christian's rage. Instead, her husband extends his hand and says, "Christian Grey. And this is my wife, Anastasia."

Gratefully accepting the gesture, wincing enough to make Ana curious just how much force Christian exerts on the guy's hand, their suicidal visitor echoes, "Christian Grey?" When Christian's only reply is a raised eyebrow, he stammers, "Oh, uh, sorry; Jacque Pretorius. I'm vacationing here for the summer with my aunt." When Christian finally releases his hand, Jacque flexes it for a second and then points to the largest, whitest yacht as he says, "That's ours."

Still betraying nothing of what he's feeling, Christian bends down and picks up Jacque's snorkeling gear, handing it to him as he says, "Then I'm sure you're keen to get back."

"Right. Yes. Nice to meet you, Christian." To Ana he bobs his head and says, "And you, Anastasia. Again, my apologies for the misunderstanding."

Christian doesn't even watch him leave, instead stretching out on the lounge to let the sun dry his body. Ana is able to endure the silence for a while, but then asks, "Are you okay?"

Anger finally evident in his voice, Christian holds out a hand to reveal that he's trembling, and he says, "No, baby, I'm definitely not okay."

"I'm so sorry, Christian. I thought he was you, or I would never…"

Christian cuts off her apology, looking at her to say, "I know that, Ana. There's no way you'd let someone else touch you like that. I know it." With a shrug, he confesses, "Though it was only because it took me so long to get to you that I had time to remember that fact. I trust you. What I don't trust are philandering fuckers that try to steal women who are clearly unavailable."

The vitriol in his voice makes Ana afraid all over again and she pleads, "You're not going to do anything to him, are you? He was just…I did ask him to put sunscreen on me when I thought he was you."

His tone still dangerous, Christian says, "Trust me, baby, he knew exactly what he was doing." Suddenly, he rises to his feet, saying, "Come on. I've lost my appetite for this beach."

Just glad that she's not the object of his rage, Ana meekly complies. And then something occurs to her and she says, "Do we have to tell Taylor about this?"

When Christian's gaze suddenly flicks towards the path to their car, she guesses that he's thinking the same thing; once their security detail knows about this, their honeymoon will no longer include privacy. After a few seconds, Christian says, "Don't tell Jason that the fucker got his hands on you. And try not to look so scared, or he'll know something is up."

Finally releasing the giggle, Ana exclaims, "Try not to look scared? Christian, I'm amazed that my legs are working."

"He scared you?"

"More startled me than anything. No, I was only afraid what you might do."

Looking genuinely hurt, Christian says, "What the fuck did you think I was going to do to you?"

Laughing again, and again wondering if she's actually in shock, Ana says, "Not me, Christian. I was terrified what you'd do to...did he say Jacque?"

"Yes, but let's not humanize him with a name."

Ana is only able to relax when she detects the humor in his response, so she smiles and says, "Okay. I was worried what you'd do to the lucky fucker who left here with his testicles still attached and his face un-pummeled."

Christian finally smiles and says, "Yeah, that sounds about right." And then he studies her face for her reaction when he asks, "Would you have preferred that?"

With an adamant shake of her head, Ana says, "No. Not ever." And then she understands that Christian controlled his temper just to please her. Both hands flying to her mouth in an attempt to prevent the sob, she's still helpless to stop the tears.

Christian gathers her in his arms and says, "Baby, don't cry. We won't be able to fool Jason if you've got tear tracks on your face."

Resting her face against his chest, Ana is able to bring herself under control, and then she says only, "Thank you."

Christian kisses her hair and says, "You're welcome. But you'll understand why I won't be more than ten feet from you for the rest of our honeymoon? When I first saw him hovering over you I couldn't tell what he was doing. I may have a set a new world record getting close enough to see that he wasn't hurting you."

Ana lifts her gaze to his as she says, "I think ten feet is actually a little too far right now."

Smiling down at her, Christian says, "Back to the house for a while?" When Ana only nods, he kisses her and then wipes her tears away as he fondly says, "Yes, that look should fool even Jason Taylor."

They quickly dress and gather their things. As they approach the cars, Taylor and Prescott stand up straight from their relaxed but vigilant positions nearby and walk towards them as Taylor asks, "Any problems?"

In clipped tones, Christian says, "Nothing I couldn't handle. But find out what you can about some cheeky fucker named Jacque Pretorius. He knows me, so I want to know him."

Frowning his concern, Taylor says only, "Sir."

Christian takes the time to walk over and thank Vie before returning to take the wheel. As he drives at a leisurely pace back to the villa, he reaches for Ana's hand and she readily obliges. On noticing his smug grin, Ana says, "What?"

Glancing at her before returning his gaze to the road, Christian says, "It occurs to me that you're probably feeling grateful and I might get to fuck you however I want."

Ana laughs long and loud, because her joy won't permit less, and then says, "Christian, that's true every time we fuck. But I am grateful. If this is you before the beta blockers, imagine how chilled you'll be on medication."

Christian frowns and says, "Did you look up the side effects?"

Noticing his concern, Ana says, "Yes. But the nasty ones are extremely unlikely."

Hesitating a moment, Christian says, "Yeah, but one of the more likely ones is decreased libido."

Ana bursts out laughing, and then says, "You thought that I'd be worried about that?"

Still frowning, Christian says, "You're not? But you seem to want it almost as often as I do."

"Oh, I do, darling, believe me. But…well, the frequency and energy of our fucking means that I'm in some discomfort almost all the time." At his sudden alarm, she quickly says, "Not bad pain, I swear, just…reminder pain. And it truly is a small price to pay. But, in the extremely unlikely event that mere manufactured chemicals can dampen your ardor, I'll content myself with perfecting my masturbation techniques, okay?"

Seemingly reassured, Christian says, "With me watching? Because I think that might help."

Ana laughs again and says, "Yeah, I don't think decreased libido is anything you ever need to worry about, Mr. Grey."

Lifting her hand to his lips for a moment, Christian says, "Not while I'm married to you, Anastasia."

Having handed Prescott the car keys, Taylor immediately starts researching the name Christian gave him. As she follows the newlyweds at a safe distance, Prescott asks, "Think Grey laid a hand on the guy?"

Without looking up, Taylor says, "No. There were no fresh marks on his knuckles. Pretorius must have come from the water, because there's no easy way onto that beach, and we would have seen him if he'd jumped the fence." And then he glances at the car in front of them as he says, "Fuck! This is exactly why they should always be in sight; we can't know all the variables."

With a shrug, his colleague says, "They're on their honeymoon, Jay. Grey won't back down on this one."

"Yeah, I know. And, whatever happened, maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing, because no way is Christian going back to that beach."

Prescott laughs and says, "I think you underestimate how much power Mrs. Grey has over him."

Taylor barks a laugh and says, "And I think you underestimate the power of Christian's paranoia when it comes to Ana."

"Well, you've known him longer than I have. Think we're heading back to the villa?"

"For a couple of hours, anyway. They have a reservation at Aqua Bistro this evening, and will probably want to explore the town before that. Keep an eye on things here while I check it out. I'll pay a courtesy call to the police station at Cruz Bay, too. So they won't get in our way. Call me if anything changes, okay?"

"You got it."

Taylor stays only long enough to check the villa before permitting Ana and Christian entry. And then he drives towards the nearest town, attaching the earpiece and phoning Gail as he does so, and she greets him with, "Hey, handsome. How's paradise."

Feeling better just at the sound of her voice, Taylor says, "Nowhere is paradise without you, sweetheart."

He hears Gail sigh and then she says, "Yeah, I know. Is he behaving himself?"

"So-so. But I'd rather not talk about Christian, if that's okay with you."

"Of course."

Despite these words, they're then stuck for something to say, and then Taylor grins as he asks, "So, what are you wearing?"

Gail giggles and says, "Not much."

His dick instantly coming to life at the thought, Taylor says, "Seriously?"

Laughing again, Gail says, "Yes, baby; it's summer, I'm cleaning and there's no one else here. Well, there's Luke, but he's ensconced in the control room so he can watch football and the cameras at the same time."

Imagining Gail going about her duties wearing only a minimum of clothing, Taylor groans and says, "Woman, you'll be the death of me."

"But you'll die a happy man."

Taylor chuckles and says, "True; with a smile on my face and a hard-on to rival the Leaning Tower of Pisa."

"I think the heat's getting to you, baby, because that's not quite how I remember your tower."

"Yeah, well, we haven't been apart for a whole week before, either."

They're quite for a few seconds and then Gail says, "Do you think he'll let you have some time off when you get back?"

"Uh, yeah, because we'll almost immediately be heading to New York for a few days."

"So soon?"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but it's the job."

Gail sighs again and says, "I know, and I'm not really complaining. I just miss you."

"I miss you too, sweetheart. How about, for a change, we go out for dinner when I get back?"

"I'd like that. Where?"

"Uh, gonna be tricky to arrange from here. Would you mind?"

"Depends; did you buy me anything, yet?"

Smiling slightly, Taylor says, "Now what makes you think I'd buy you something?"

Laughter in her voice, Gail says, "Because you have every other time Christian drags you away from me."

"Okay, got me on a technicality. I'm heading into town as we speak. If you promise to be a good girl, I'll keep an eye out for something nice."

"And if I promise to be a bad girl?"

Shuffling in his seat to make room for his growing erection, Taylor promises, "Then I'll buy you two somethings nice."

Gail laughs; a relaxed, happy sound, and says, "That's what I thought."

Taylor can see the small town of Coral Bay before him and says, "I gotta go. I'll call you when I can."

"Okay, baby. Please be careful. I love you."

His chest aching, as it always does, at the thought of not holding her in his arms tonight, Taylor asks, "I love you, too. Change your mind, yet?"

"No. We've done the married thing. It didn't work."

"Only because I was young and stupid, and you have a proclivity for military men. But neither of those issues are a factor now."

Warning in her tone, Gail says, "Jay."

Cursing himself for ruining the moment, Taylor says, "I'm sorry, sweetheart. It just cuts me up when we're apart."

Gail is quiet for a couple of seconds and then says, "Well, maybe it'll help if I'm not wearing panties when you and the lovebirds return?"

With a groan, Taylor says, "Other than turning my balls blue, how the fuck is that supposed to help?"

Gail giggles and says, "Distraction. It'll make the time go faster."

"You do understand that distraction is a bad idea in my line of work?"

"I think you're good enough at your job to cope. Oh, I nearly forgot; Sophie called me."

"What? Why? Is she okay?"

"Relax, baby. She's fine. She called me just to chat, because she thought that I might be missing you. How sweet is that?"

Parking the car outside Aqua Bistro as he talks, Taylor says, "She's incredible; the one good thing to come out of my marriage. I texted her when we landed. I'll call her tonight. And I really have to go."

Her voice small, Gail says, "Okay. Take care."

"You, too. If anything trips the alarm, get in that panic room right away, okay?"

"Fast as I can, I promise. I won't even stop to don panties."

Banging his forehead against the steering wheel, Taylor growls, "Goddamnit, woman."

Laughing yet again, Gail says, "Bye, Jay," and hangs up.

Taylor stows the earpiece in his pocket and takes a moment to compose himself, and then he heads into the restaurant to do his job.

By the time Ana has finished her second shower for the day, Christian is at his laptop in the living room, wearing only a pair of lightweight, white cotton pants. Gathering her hair in a hassle-free ponytail, she asks, "More work?"

"Hmm? No, not this time. Taylor sent me information on the lucky fucker. It looks like he's some sort of modern-day gigolo. So I'm guessing the woman he's traveling with is not his aunt, but a wealthy benefactor who he's fucking so that he can cruise the Caribbean." At Ana's snort of laughter, he glares at her and explains, "I'm not scorning the fact that he's fucking an older woman, rather the fact that he's doing it to get a free ride in life, and watch your mouth."

Unconcerned, Ana smiles and says, "Yes, Sir." And then she gestures to the cord attaching his computer to the wall and asks, "Any room for me?"

Closing the lid, Christian says, "Sorry, no. But it's free now if you need it."

With a shrug, Ana says, "Not a need. I was just going to pass the time while I waited for you. I've already checked my emails. Just how expensive is Data Roaming?"

Christian smiles and says, "Best not think about it, baby. And I'm glad you're using it." When he then faces her and spreads his knees, Ana moves between them, resting her arms on his shoulders and threading her fingers through his hair as they kiss. When he finally ends it, his hands idly caressing her butt through the toweling robe, Christian then asks, "How's your discomfort level?"

Smiling at the memory of their most recent love-making and aggressive foreplay, Ana says, "Hovering around pleasant reminder. Yours? Your hand must be sore after that."

Holding up his palm, to reveal that it's still quite red, Christian says, "Also at pleasant reminder." And then he rests his hands on her hips and asks, "What would you like to do next?"

"Uh, you said something about towns? What about shopping?"

"Sure, baby. Though I'm surprised. Before today I got the distinct impression that it wasn't one of your favorite pastimes."

Ana shrugs again and says, "Usually, no. But it's more fun with you." With a grin, she adds, "Plus, you never let me open my purse, so it feels like I'm not paying for anything."

With a speculative look, Christian says, "It's getting easier, isn't it?"

"Spending?" At his nod, Ana considers a moment and says, "Yeah, I think so. I said it would. But don't get your hopes up that I'll rush out and buy a Porsche any time soon."

Managing to summon a stern look, Christian says, "Good, because they're basically squashed Beetles; not nearly as safe as an Audi or Volvo."

"I liked my Beetle. What about one of the newer models?"

"If you can find one with a five star safety rating, go ahead."

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Ana says, "You already know that's impossible, don't you?" When Christian only grins, she kisses his forehead and steps out of his arms as she points out, "You're not going to let me drive in the city until I've finished my lessons, anyway. So there's no point getting into an argument over it."

His tone suddenly serious, Christian says, "Ana, I think you understand by now that, when it comes to your safety, there will be no argument." When Ana wordlessly heads to the bedroom, shedding her robe as she goes, Christian growls, "Ana!"

Already out of sight, Ana says, "Yeah, I heard you."

Catching up with her, Christian says, "But you didn't agree."

Turning to face him, Ana wearily asks, "You honestly expect me to agree that I'll never argue with you just because you deem something a safety issue?"

"Yes. You know that I need this."

Standing to face him, somehow emanating strength, even though she's literally naked before him, Ana calmly says, "And what makes you, the guy who's seeing a therapist twice a week for anxiety, the person best able to judge what is safe for me?"

Visibly rocked by her words, Christian says, "You're the reason I've chosen to start seeing Flynn twice a week. You know that."

Keeping her voice even, Ana says, "Yes, I do, and I remain grateful that you've taken that step for us. And you're improving all the time. Today is proof of that. I'm merely pointing out that, when it comes to my safety, your judgment is clouded and therefore unreliable."

Running a hand through his hair, Christian angrily says, "Well, what do you suggest we do about it? I can't change overnight, or I would have already done so."

Approaching enough to reassure him with her hands around his waist, Ana then says, "What about Jason? You said that he chewed you out over the incident at the nightclub, and you trust him, right?"

Christian readily returns the embrace and considers her words a moment before saying, "You want Taylor to be a second opinion when you think I'm off the rails?"

With the hint of a smile, Ana says, "Not quite how I'd dare put it, but yes. What do you think?"

After another pause, Christian slowly nods and says, "It could work. But you'd probably have to be careful how you word it, because I'll already be out of my head with worry for it to be necessary." Ana is pondering this problem when he begs, "Baby, please; trying to focus here."

Releasing her bottom lip from her teeth, Ana says, "Sorry. I still don't notice when I'm doing that. Uh…what about a code word or phrase? Something like the safe words, but more generic, so we can slip it into casual conversation?"

Christian smiles and says, "Clever girl. How about what you said to me in the alley. That stopped me in my tracks."

Ana remembers and says, "My feet hurt?"

"That's the one. If…probably when we're next arguing about you doing something that I consider unsafe, you say that and I'll let Taylor decide the issue."

Ready to test him, Ana says, "So, if Taylor says that I can buy a Beetle, you'll support me?"

With a groan, Christian concedes, "Yes, but only if he has all the facts."

"Well, that's why we trust him, isn't it? There's no way he'd make a decision like that without first checking the facts."

Finally relaxing, Christian says, "You're right." After a deep breath, he adds, "I think this really has a chance. I almost want to test it now."

With a grin, Ana says, "Except that would mean you're freaking out and we're arguing again."

"Hence almost." And then Christian kisses her and says, "Thank you."

"For defying you yet again?"

Resting his forehead against hers, Christian murmurs, "For doing it in a way that I can live with."

Closing her eyes, soaking up the intimacy of the moment, Ana says, "It's for me, too. I don't enjoy arguing with you."

Christian chuckles and says, "But the aftereffects are always pleasurable."

Opening her eyes to confirm what she expects to find in his, Ana smiles and says, "We're not going straight into town, are we?"

Only desire in his voice, Christian says, "No, ma'am."