I no longer have a sense of time. I didn't realize it had been a whole week since the last update. Where has the time gone, are we really in March already?
Anyway enjoy the chapter.
Christian
"I have one more surprise." I say unwrapping my arms from around her waist.
I thought I had ruined our date by sharing my early years with her, so I told her I would take her home if she wanted to leave, but she smiled and gave me a quick kiss saying she was fine.
Kissing her temple I stand and extend my arm towards her.
"Geeze, Christian," she laughs taking my hand and stands in front of me, wrapping her arms around my neck. "How many surprises did you plan?"
Should I tell her the truth as tell her I planned six, but seeing as I only had a limited time with her, I had to choose four? No, I'd probably scare her away.
I actually had planned on picking her up early in the morning, but I didn't want to seem desperate, so instead I choose on the afternoon. It may have been a stupid time seeing as I only have a limited of time with her, although I do have to say, so far I have enjoyed myself.
"A few," I choose to say which earns me a skeptical look from her.
"Okay," she drags the word and I smile at her.
I haven't smiled or laughed as much as I have today in a very long time. Anastasia is like a breath of fresh air, when she's near me my heart begins to race, and I crave the touch of her lips on mine, her positive vibe.
"One more and I promise I'll take you home after." I say to her as I bend down to pick up the blanket off the grass, and I'm stunned. What the fuck?
Turning my head to the side I see Ana bite her lip, and take a few steps back before a wide smile appears on her beautiful face. "Did you just spank me?" I ask surprised and she laughs.
"I'm sorry," she tries to say between her laughing fit. "But it was way to hard to resists." She shrugs her shoulders innocently and bites her lip again. Oh she wants to play.
I leave the blanket where it's at and slowly stalk towards her my intent clear when she sees the predatory look I know I have on my face, "Christian don't." She playfully warns and begins to back away slowly.
I act as if I'm going to lunge for her and it makes her squeal in excitement and she begins to run. I go running after her and I can hear her delightful giggles in the air as she tries to avoid me catching her.
"Christian stop it!" She laughs again and runs behind a tree, hiding from my line of sight.
"Come on Ana it's only fair I get to spank you in return." I laugh once more at this ridiculously fun game of cat and mouse. "I will get you Ana." I taunt and come around my right side of the tree and she quickly moves to her right making a complete circle around the thick tree trunk.
"Okay one," she squeals again when I turn around the tree quickly. "You have a nice ass." She says trying to control her breathing and I know she's blushing as well. "And two you shouldn't have displayed it so perfectly in front of me." she laughs again and this time runs in the direction of Taylor who's at about a two block radius from us.
I take a moment to look at her retreating figure. Her hair moves in gentle side to side motions down her back, and her wide hips sway, making her ass bounce with every step she takes. She has such an incredible body, although I do find her mentality her most stunning feature.
She's at a short distance from me now so I run full speed and catch her from her waist and we both fall on the grass in a laughing fit. "You're mine Ana." I whisper slightly out of breath in her ear and look at her flushed face.
Taking a risk, I angle her body on top of mine and my right hand comes down gently spanking her. She grunts and I can see her pupils dilate and fuck if it doesn't turn me on.
"As much as I enjoy chasing you in the park," I kiss her lips and she laughs, "We have to go, or we're going to be late."
"Okay," she says standing reluctantly, and extends her hand to help me up. I take it and before I can process what's happened I find myself on my ass and Ana running towards Taylor laughing away again.
I've been driving for about five minutes and I keep seeing Ana wipe at her knees from my peripherals.
"Christian I have grass stains on my pants because of you." She teases and sure enough she has light grass stains on her knees, they don't look very dark, so I'm guessing it could be easily washed out.
"Well it wouldn't have happened if you wouldn't have ran away from me." I tease back while I maneuver the car through the traffic in downtown Seattle. "I'll buy you some new pants I promise." I tell her taking a quick glance her way, and I see is her playfully glare at me, which makes me laugh.
"You don't have to do that." She smiles and shakes her head, "Just admit it Christian it was fun." She laughs taking my hand in hers, and I smile at her.
It was fun.
It's a quarter till nine and my plan is to drop her off at home no later than ten. I know Kate and Jose will be there and will for sure want to know the details of our date, and surprisingly I'm okay with it.
I mean sure I'd love nothing more than to keep her with me for a full day, but she's a mom first and a business woman second.
I turn the corner of Main street and park the car next to curb in front of Indulgence Chocolatiers.
Parking the car, I turn my attention on Ana who looks at with a twinkle in her eyes.
"You know I would've been happy with just staying at the park." She confesses and I know she's telling me the truth.
"I know," I grasp her hand and bring it to my lips, laying a kiss on the top of her hand. "But I also know you treat yourself to their chocolates once a month and you haven't done so in two." I laugh when she mumbles something about hurting Kate and Jose for sharing her secrets without her permission.
"Come on they'll be closing soon." I gesture to the clock on the dashboard of my car and pull on the door handle to open the car door. Making my way around the car I open Ana's door and hold my hand out for her to hold as she steps out.
"What do you usually get?" I ask Ana, while I wipe away the invisible drool from the corner of my mouth. Every single piece of chocolate that is on display in front of us looks amazing, and the aroma? Wow!
"I usually get the Signature Collection." she says pointing to the small open box that houses 24 assorted truffles.
"How good are they?" I ask her and she looks at me as if I told her the sky is green.
"Have you never tried this place?"
"I've never been to this side of town to be honest." I rub the back of my neck in embarrassment. How pathetic am I?
"Well it's a good thing you have me, because I'm going to show you a few things." She laughs, but then stops and blushes. I smirk at the way that came out and walk behind her.
"Oh is that so?" I ask and nip at her earlobe.
We are interrupted when a cherry blonde haired woman comes from the back room and stand behind the counter, "Can I help you?"
"Yes," Ana says and points to the box. "I would like to purchase a box of the twenty-four signature collection truffles please."
The sales associate smiles at Ana and gently pulls out a box from behind the counter and places it on top.
"I would like to order fifteen more please." I smile at the sales associate who looks at me with a shocked expression.
"Christian!" I hear Ana gasp and she turns around to look at me.
"What?" I shrug my shoulders, looking down at her. "I sort of figured I could give one to my parents, Mia, and Elliot, as well as Ross and then you can give some to your family." I say in my defense, which earns me a kiss on the lips.
"That's really sweet of you Christian, but that is a lot of chocolates." She smiles and lays her head on my chest while I hand over my Chase Palladium Visa Card to the sales associate.
Five minutes after closing time we walk out of the store with enough boxes of chocolates to share with our families. I hand over the bag that has the majority of the boxes to Taylor, since Ana said she'd be okay with six, and we begin to make our way back to the car.
Opening the passenger car door Ana sits the bag of chocolates and pulls out a box.
"What are you doing?" I question her when I see her open the box and begins to scan the assortment of chocolates until she finds the one she wants.
"Try this one." She smiles at me and I look at the chocolate in hand and then at her.
"Fine." She shrugs and is about to bite into it, but I grab her wrist and maneuver it to my mouth and take a bite of the chocolate that's trapped between her thumb, index, and middle finger.
The look she gives me has my cock becoming hard in seconds. Her blue eyes have darken and a gasp is heard entering her parted lips.
Licking my lips from the caramel that has dripped from the chocolate she offered me, I moan. "That is really is a good fucken piece of chocolate."
Ana takes me by surprise when she throws the remaining piece in her mouth and kisses me sliding her tongue inside so I can taste the chocolate, caramel and Ana.
Pushing her back against the car, my hands roam down to her lower back, my fingertips just barely grazing the top of her ass.
I pull my head back and she laughs, "I'm sorry," she says sweetly as she wipes the corner of my mouth with her index finger. "I couldn't help myself." She bats her eyelashes innocently and I just shake my head amused by her tactics.
She's going to be the death of me.
"Thank for today." Turning in her seat so her upper body is facing me she lays a gentle kiss on my lips.
I take hold of her head steady and begin to explore her mouth with my tongue. This woman drives me crazy and I want more of her.
"Christian as much as I love kissing you I have to go." She smiles at me and I reluctantly let her go.
"Fine." I pout which earns me one of her giggles. "But you and I have dinner plans for tomorrow." I wink and she nods eagerly.
"Yes we do."
I walk Ana to the front steps of her home, holding her hand and hold the bag with the chocolates in the other. I don't expect her to invite me in, and even if she did, I would decline her offer no matter how much I really want to go in. I don't want to fuck up the date, by making her feel pressured, so dropping her off and heading home is the best option.
"I know I've said it many times," she bites her lip nervously, "but I'm truly grateful for today." She smiles and looks embarrassed. "I enjoyed myself." She nods and smiles at me.
"Did you really think that little of what I had planned?" I ask and for a moment in gutted she thought she wouldn't enjoy her date with me.
Well can you blame her Grey? You don't necessarily come off as a gentlemen sometimes.
"No," she looks at me with her wide blue eyes begging me to believe she had fun."I just didn't know what you had planned."
"Baby, if I believed for a second you liked materialistic shit, I'd buy you whatever your beautiful heart desires." I move a tendril of her hair behind her ear, and gently tug at her earlobe, before I cup her chin. "But that's not you." My eyes scan her beautiful face as the blush gently appears.
"You really think so?" She asks and I smile, "Yes." I answer and kiss her once more before we say goodnight and I make my way to my car.
"Hey asshole," I roll my eyes at my brothers lovely greeting. During my date with Ana my cockblocking brother kept calling my phone, and instead of answering it, I just kept ignoring his call and placed my phone on silent.
"What do you want?" I ask while I'm stopped at a red light.
"Where are you? I came by your penthouse, but no one was there, not even Gail." He sounds like the little boy who didn't get invited to the birthday party.
"Don't tell me little Elliot feels left out?" I make fun and laugh when he says, "Well yes."
I roll my eyes once again and tell him I'm ten minutes away from Escala.
"Okay cool, because I'm still sitting in the underground parking." I take my gaze off the road and look at the dashboard as if I could see Elliot on the screen. What the fuck?
"Laters." He says and disconnects the call. The high I was on from my date with Ana is no longer as potent, thanks to my shit head of a brother.
"What the fuck is that?" Elliot asks pulling the side of the bag I'm holding wide enough so he can see inside of it more clearly.
"Bro, you bought chocolates?" his brows knit together and he looks at me intently. "What the fuck are you going to do with all that shit?"
I can't help my sarcastic remark, "I'm going to fucken sit here and eat it all by myself."
"What the fuck?" His eyes widen thinking I'm serious.
I rub my free hand over my face and turn to look at him just as the elevator announces our arrival to my penthouse.
"Is there a reason why you're here?" I ask annoyed and place the bag of chocolates on the counter.
"Yeah," he says sitting down on one of the barstools. I open the refrigerator door take out two beers and passing him one.
"I met Josh today." He says and takes a drink of his beer and looks at me. Who the fuck is Josh?
It takes me a moment to realize Elliot is talking about Ana's ex.
"How the fuck did that happen?" I ask trying to control the rage that is bubbling inside of me, just by the sound of his name.
He shrugs his shoulders and takes another drink of his beer, "He's been fucking Crystal."
I look at Elliot confused, "Who the fuck is Crystal?"
He sighs and finishes off his beer, "She's the one that helps Tom with the blue prints."
"What the fuck are you talking about? You mean the blonde woman who's wears those short as shit skirts around your crew?" I furrow my eyebrows trying to remember what she looks like. I think I've met her once or twice when I've gone over to speak with Elliot at a worksite before. I also remember she has no sense of boundaries that's for sure. She would bat her eyelashes at Elliot and then at me and still be flirty with the crew members.
"Yeah bro, he came to pick her up from the job site and I have to say," he raises his hand up and runs it through his hair, "he's a good looking fucker and polite as shit." I glare at him.
How the fuck can he say that when we know what he's done not just to Anastasia, but to Theodore and Phoebe. If he wasn't my brother I would've punched him on his face for saying something so idiotic. I don't need, want, or care to know about Josh.
"Do you know how hard it was not to punch him in his face when he showed up all smiles and friendly and shit? Asshole made my stomach churn. Fucken prick." My eyebrows practically reach my hairline. I've rarely heard Elliot express himself that way about anyone before, usually it's me who doesn't give a shit, but it's Elliot who keeps a calm demeanor.
"Did you tell him you knew Ana and the kids?" I ask and he looks at me with a what kind of question is that expression.
"Are you fucken kidding me?" He glares and points his finger in my direction. "I would never put her or her family in any sort of predicament." He shakes his head, "I may not like the fucker and I do think he's a piece of shit, but I'll be damn if I put more drama on Ana's plate because of that asswipe."
He shakes his head once more and finally looks up at me with tears in his eyes, "She's family bro."
I walk around the breakfast bar and place my hand on his shoulder squeezing gently, "I get it Elliot."
"Do you bro? Because I sure as shit don't." He wipes at his eyes and looks down.
I sigh and take a seat next to him. "You know he's not like your dad." Elliot looks up at me, "You gave your biological father a chance to know you before he died, because he wanted to know you, but Josh doesn't want to know the kids."
"I just know what's it's like to resent him for not being there you know? To always have the question of why I was never good enough running through my head." He shakes his head and looks down again. "We just met Ethan's family and I already feel overprotective of the little ones." he laughs weakly and looks at the empty beer in his hand.
I used to hate it when Elliot would get like this when we were growing up. At a young age, I would make fun of him and ask if he was PMSing, since all he did for one day out of a month is cry. It wasn't until I was older that I finally understood why Elliot felt like he needed to have at least one day to set his emotions free.
Elliot's mom passed away when he was two years old and was placed in CPS since his mom had no living relatives and his biological father was listed as unknown.
It took Elliot and Carrick 10 years to find Elliots biological father. To say Carrick was heartbroken was an understatement. For Carrick this was his first born asking about his dad, someone who could fill a void in his son's life, that he couldn't fill himself, but little did he realize that Elliot would need him now more than ever.
According to Elliot when he and Carrick went to Missouri, he pictured a man with strong arms and and house with a picket fence, with a bombshell of a wife. But when he finally saw his biological father, he was anything but strong, he was very fragile, sitting in his wheelchair looking worse for days in a seniors home. His skin was clammy white, with age spots, and wrinkles on his face with blue eyes the same as Elliot's but lacking in intensity.
The way Elliot described him to me was more of an older man than someone in his mid sixties. It turns out Elliot was conceived during an affair and his birth mother never mentioned she was pregnant. So when Carrick told Elliot about the details he also told him that his biological father may not take the news well.
Elliott said once they finally met, they hugged, talked, and shared so much with each other, and they left with the promise to know more about each other the next day, they parted and Carrick and Elliot went to a hotel. Little did Elliot know, that his biological father died in his sleep the same night they've said hello and goodnight for the first time.
"Yeah I get it." I nod in agreement and hand him another beer.
It's about three in the morning when Elliot finally passes out and I retire to my bedroom. I am physically exhausted, but I can't seem to get comfortable enough on my bed. All I keep doing is tossing and turning while my mind keeps running with the information Elliot has given me.
By the time I look at the alarm clock on the night table it's already 5:45am.
"Fuck it." I murmur to myself and throw the comforter off me and begin to get ready for the day.
Walking out of my bedroom I spot Gail already making breakfast and Taylor standing by her.
"Taylor I'll be ready to leave in thirty." I inform him and receive a nod in response.
I head upstairs and peek inside one of the spare bedrooms to see if Elliott has woken up, but I'm greeted by the sight of his naked ass laying on top of the sheets.
I'm going to order those sheets be burned.
Walking in I stand beside the bed and push the mattress with my foot to wake him, but all he does is grunt and turns on his back.
"Oh for crying out loud," I advert my eyes when his junk is displayed before me. "Fucken Elliot get dressed and be downstairs so you can eat." I say loud enough to wake him and shake my head when he begins to laugh.
"Good morning to you too baby bro." He stands quickly and I take that as my queue to get the fuck out of here.
"Remind me to purchase you some fucken sleep pants." I shake my head trying to erase the image of my brother out of my head while I walk out the door and back downstairs.
I have to admit seeing Elliot naked isn't the worst I've seen. I was about 14 years old when I first caught him fucking the next door neighbor's daughter, who swore up and down she was a virgin, in our parents boathouse. And let's not forget the pretty blonde from across the street, who was sucking him off in our parents car. Or the redhead who he was fucking in the utility closet at our parents house on Carrick's birthday.
"Mr. Grey," Taylor's voice stops me from entering my bedroom. I turn and look at him with raised eyebrows. "We have a problem."