CPOV

When Anastasia passes out from her adrenaline crash, I catch her in my arms and pick her up, telling Sawyer and Taylor, "My office. Now!" as I pass them.

I carry Anastasia to my room and lay my beautiful girl down on my bed.

With one last look, I closed the door and head to my office.

Taylor and Sawyer are seated when I walk in.

"Care to explain the meaning of covert, Sawyer?" I ask sarcastically as I walk in and sit behind my desk. "What the fuck happened?!"

When I called Taylor earlier, while Anastasia was changing, he said he was with Sawyer and they would explain what happened when they got here. I assumed that meant they got the guy, and when Sawyer stepped off the elevator, looking like he went a couple rounds, I was pissed. He obviously caught the guy and went a couple rounds with him, but they came back alone, and Taylor was trying to hide his amusement. I saw red with rage. How can he be amused when someone was after My Beauty?!

"Sir," Sawyer begins. "I kept my distance, just as you requested. I saw Ms. Steele notice the SUV Monday morning, so I parked in a different location today."

"What happened today?"

"After work she had dinner at a café. She left after eating, I assumed to return home, but instead, she changed directions, so I followed her to a book store. I sat in the corner, out of sight but also near the front so I could keep a look out at the entrance. I saw her slip out the back and became concerned. I followed to make sure all was well." He explains.

That still doesn't explain everything and I'm getting tired of waiting.

"And?" I growl impatiently.

"Ms. Steele made me, sir." Like that explains it all. It doesn't.

"Who was following her? She called me in a panic. And what the fuck happened to your face, Sawyer?"

If this fucker did that to Sawyer and My Anastasia got away, now I'm glad I had someone on her. I can only imagine what would of happened to her had Sawyer not been there. He'll need to be her full time CPO if this crazy fucker is after her. Maybe this is what she's scared of.

"I was, sir." I raise my brow.

Is he talking about Ana? She saw him? Thank fuck it was just a misunderstanding, but then who attacked Sawyer?

"That explains who was following her, not what happened to your face."

"Ms. Steele, sir. She..." He looks uncomfortable, shifting in his chair. "I-"

"Spit it out, Sawyer! Who did that to you?!"

"Ms. Steele did, sir." Ana?

Now I'm confused. Sawyer's not a huge guy but he is compared to Anastasia.

"Ms. Steele did that." I point to his face to confirm.

"Yes, sir."

"Anastasia? My Ana?"

"Yes, sir."

I'm trying to control my laughter.

"Ana?" I chuckle a little, then stop, still smirking. "Ana did that to you?"

"Yes, sir." He confirms for the third time. "She hit me. Punched my nose, kneed me in the groin, and threw me on the ground, then she took off running."

I sit back stunned, surprised and proud.

"What?" I chuckle still unbelieving.

I look at Taylor, understanding his earlier reaction.

"Are you telling me Anastasia took you down?" I ask again.

"Yes, sir." He confirms yet again, looking both embarrassed and proud.

I nod. That's my girl. My girl that's going to be very upset with me when she wakes and finds out what happened.

"You terrified her." I let him know.

Okay, it's partially my fault. I should have let her know I had him following her, but he was supposed to be covert.

"I apologize, sir."

"Taylor, Ms. Steele will be staying here tonight." I tell him. "Get her some work attire."

"Of course, sir."

"That'll be all."

They nod and leave.

When she called me and I could hear the panic and sheer terror in her voice, I freaked. I lost it, I had no control. I lost control!
I was in a meeting, and I left without excusing myself. Taylor and I rushed to her. I have never seen Taylor drive so fast. He must of been worried as well, especially when he couldn't reach Sawyer.

The thought of her hurt, of losing her. I couldn't bare it. Thank fuck, she wasn't hurt and this wasn't serious.

I know we agreed to be friends and to not try for more until after I was no longer her boss, but it shouldn't matter. I don't give a fuck what people think.

Hell, I want people to know. I want every fucker to know she's mine!

She's the first girl I've ever wanted more with. More, what? I don't know, but I do know I want it with her.

I'm going to talk to her about being together. Together now, not tomorrow, not next Tuesday. Now. I wont take no for an answer. Surely she can see we belong together, and she didn't pull away from the kiss we shared earlier, in fact, she participated.

Could that just be because of the situation? No. She wanted it.

When I asked her to be mine and she said my name, I was so afraid she would turn me down again, so I did the only thing I could think of. I kissed her again.

I notice movement outside my door, bringing me from my thoughts, and when I look up I see Anastasia walk passed.

She's awake, so I know it's time to talk my beautiful girl.

I go out to the main room and see her standing by the large windows, looking out at Seattle. I have never seen a more beautiful sight.

The view of her standing in my clothes is making my dick stir.

I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her, where she belongs, then I kiss her temple, inhaling her calming scent as I do.

She doesn't tense or pull away, in fact, she wraps her arms around mine holding me to her.

I apologize about Sawyer, ready for her to freak out on me and get upset, but it never comes. Instead, she's worried about Sawyer. As it turns out her Stepfather taught her self defense. I'd like to shake that man's hand. I let her know Sawyer is fine although she hurt his ego.

I feel like it's now or never. She seems to be in a good mood.

When I tell her I would like to talk to her, she smiles and says she wants to talk to me as well.

Maybe she finally sees how good we can be together.

We don't get the chance to talk yet, though because work needs my attention.

As I am unsure how long I will be, and since I don't want her to leave before we talk, knowing her love of books, I decide to show her my library.

Her reaction is just as I hoped it to be. Breathtakingly beautiful.

I leave her with one last soft kiss as a reminder and promises to talk.

~..~..~

After dealing with the Taiwanese, and calling Ros to get me a publishing company, it's late and I'm tired. I want to talk to Anasta- Shit, Ana!

I quickly stand and look for her in the library, but she's not there.

It's late, maybe she went to bed.

I look in my bedroom, thinking she went to sleep in there. Nothing.

Where is she? I know she didn't leave.

As I'm heading towards the kitchen, I hear a noise coming from upstairs.

No! No, no, no, no, no!

I run up the stairs, taking two at a time, and rush to my Playroom.

Why the fuck isn't it locked?!

There she is, standing in the room I never wanted her to find or know about, holding a flogger.

"What are you doing in here?!" Fuck! She's going to leave.

She looks up and smiles at me. She's smiling?! Why is she smiling?

"What is this?" She asks, holding up the flogger in her hand.

I walk inside my Playroom and take it from her, putting it back.

"It's called a flogger." I tell her then turn around to face her.

She's just standing there, staring at me, completely unfazed.

"Well?" This is me baby.

"What?" She says.

I furrow my brow, confused. What does she mean, what? Let's start with an easy question, the one she didn't answer.

"What are you doing in here?" How did she even get in here?

"I was trying to find you. I wanted to say goodnight." That still doesn't explain how she got into my locked Playroom.

"Goodnight?" I question the meaning. Goodnight? As in, goodnight she's going to bed, or, goodnight she's leaving.

"Yeah, it's late, and I have to go home. I was getting tired waiting for you to finish." She says like we're not having this conversation in a BDSM Playroom.

"You want to leave?" I knew it! She's running.

"Yeah." She shrugs as if it's no big deal, when it is.

"Why?" I croak.

"I have work tomorrow morning." She says as a way of explanation.

She breaks our eye contact to look around my Playroom.

"Is this... Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? You want to do this with me?"

She's calm and it confuses me. Does she know about this lifestyle?

"Only if you're willing." I explain cautiously.

She nods her head. Is she saying yes?!

"Could you try to do .. um, ..." She pauses looking for the word.

"Vanilla?" I suspect.

"Yeah, that."

"I'm not sure. To be honest I've never tried. This is who I am, I'm a monster." I look away, not wanting her to see the monster inside me.

"You're not." I snap my eyes to hers when she says this.

Does she not see what I enjoy?

"Everyone has a dark-side, Christian. Skeletons in their closet they don't want anyone to know about. There is nothing wrong with this." She waves her hand around the room we're in. "Granted BDSM is misunderstood and is mistaken for abuse, I know it's not. But this... this is just not for me. I'm sorry, I wanted to talk to you about trying for more than just friends but if you need this, I can't do it. We can still just be friends if you'd like."

"You still want to be near me?"

Where has this girl been all my life?

"You're a good man, Christian." She smiles.

"I'm surprised you're not running away screaming."

"Well, I'm not wearing my running shoes." She looks down, so I follow her gaze to see she's barefoot.

"Do you want me to run?" She asks me. "I can assure you I can run pretty fast."

"Don't run," I pull her into my embrace. "And so can I."

My heart thaws when she giggles.

Together we walk out of my playroom and head downstairs.

I'm still trying to figure out why it's unlocked. I can only assume Gail was in there cleaning and forgot to lock the room.

"How do you even know about this?" I ask, curious.

"I like to read." She shrugs, explaining, "I've read a little about it, not much. What I found was interesting." That beautiful blush creeps along her cheeks. "Even though I could never participate in BDSM, it's still interesting."

I could show her interesting.

We're walking towards my bedroom, but as we pass the elevator, she tries to go in that direction. Since we're holding hands, this causes our arms to pull.

"Where are you going?"

"Home." She explains, "I told you it's getting late and I have work tomorrow. Can you give me a ride home?"

"Exactly, it's late." I pull her to me, smirking. "Stay with me, I'll give you a ride."

She laughs at the innuendo.

She looks so beautiful when she laughs, I can't help but crash my lips to hers.

I know we still have to talk about our relationship, but it's late, we can talk another time.

Still kissing her, I pick her up. She wraps her legs around me as I carry her to my room.

I kick the door open and closed, then toss her onto my bed. She laughs when she lands with a bounce. I crawl on the bed and climb on top of her.

"Oh no, you don't." She says, trying to push me off and moving away from me. "It's late and I really do need some sleep before work tomorrow morning. We can experiment with vanilla another night."

Damn!

I'm all but pouting when I look at the clock and see it is indeed late.

"Alright," I concede. "I guess I'll change into my pajamas and we'll just... sleep."

I get off the bed and go to my closet, thinking if this is a good idea. I've never slept with anyone before because of my nightmares, and my haphephobia. Would she be upset if I asked her to sleep in a spare room? Maybe I could try and sleep with her.

As I'm putting my pajamas on, I notice the pair of hot pink socks Mia got for me, claiming I don't have enough color in my wardrobe. But pink?

I smirk as I put the hot pink socks on then walk out to Anastasia.

She's sitting on my bed, cross legged, looking at her hands, but she looks up when she hears me enter.

"Ready for bed?" I ask her, wiggling my toes causing her to look at my feet.

Her face breaks whens she sees my hot pink socks and she laughs loudly.

"Oh my gosh!" She grins, trying to control her laugher. "You have pink socks?!"

"You don't like them?" I pout.

"I do, I do!" She says, still trying to contain her laughter. "Oh my gosh, where and why did you get them?"

"Mia." That's all I need to say to explain. My sister.

"Of course." She says with a smile.

She moves when I step up to the bed, but I stop short.

"I forgot to brush my teeth."

She laughs when I walk away.

In the bathroom, I brush my teeth, and when I'm finished, I decided to tease her a bit more.

I smirk as I walk out of the bathroom with my shirt off.

Her eyes darken with desire when she sees my toned physic.

When I finally get into bed, she stands, with her back to me, and she takes off my sweats that she's wearing. I know they are too large for her, and she's only getting comfortable, but she looks arousing only wearing my T-shirt.

I can't control myself, I slowly get out of bed and stand behind her.

She doesn't move when I gather her hair, bringing it to one side, and kiss the back of her neck.

I continue kissing her neck, moving to just behind her ear, as I hold her hair out of my way with one hand and place my other flat on her stomach.

She still hasn't moved, but her breathing has picked up.

When my trail of kisses can no longer continue, I slowly turn her around.

The moonlight is casting shadows on her beautiful face but all I can see is the sheer lust in her eyes.

I lean down and she tilts her head up, and when our lips touch, there is that spark.

There is so much passion in our kiss. It's a slow, meaningful passion, not a carnal passion. I've never felt this before. My usual MO is hard and rough, but this is slow and sweet.

She thrusts her hands into my hair when I wrap my arms around her tiny waist. Her tongue is gently moving with mine.

I move away from our kiss to grab the hem of the shirt she's wearing and lift it up, slowly taking it off her body and tossing it to the floor.

She's now standing before me wearing only her panties, looking every bit of perfection. Eagerly, I pick her up and gently lay her on my bed.

Her eyes are fixed on my pants when I grab the waistband and release my monster. When my erection springs free, I smirk at her wide-eyed reaction.

I'm a big boy, baby.

I lick my lips and climb on top of her, kissing up her body as I go.

"You have a beautiful body, Anastasia." Very beautiful.

"Oh!" She moans as I latch onto her perfect nipple.

She arches her back when I slip my fingers inside her panties and brush her clitoris.

Her hands once again fly to my hair when I slowly push my fingers inside of her to find her wet. Very wet. Soaking.

"Oh my god!" She moans

"Oh, baby." I groan, kissing her neck. "I want you, Anastasia."

"I want you, too."

I curl my fingers in a come-hither motion, hitting her g-spot, causing her to tremble. She gives me a long sweet moan when my thumb circles her clit, and soon she starts lifting her hips to meet my fingers, matching the pace I'm setting. She's so slick and wet, I want to be inside her. I have to be inside her.

She whimpers when I withdraw my fingers.

I kiss down her body to her panties so I can take them off. Before I take them off, I look up at her to see she's leaning on her elbows watching me. I deliberately lick my lips and run my nose up the center of her panties, inhaling her arousal.

I close my eyes in delight. Intoxicating.

"Oh my god!" She moans and falls back onto the bad.

"You smell so good." My voice husky with want. "Fucking delicious."

I need to be inside her, now!

I finally pull down her panties and she helps by lifting her hips. Her bare pussy is now on display for me. I want so badly to taste her, but I'm desperate to fuck her. Instead I kiss her thighs and up her body, back up to her mouth.

As I'm kissing her, I reach for a condom in my drawer. I usually keep a few in here when I have sex on the main floor, but I have never had sex in my room. This will be a first for me, sex in my own bed.

After I have the condom, I sit up and open it with my teeth. I swiftly put the condom on, all without breaking eye contact with My Beauty.

She is biting her lip, squirming with want, and her eyes are glowing.

"I can't wait to be inside you." My voice sounds so full of want. Have I ever been this aroused?

I settle myself between her thighs, grab her hands and hold them above her head.

"Keep your hands there." I demand even though I'm holding her.

I release on of her hands so I can grab my dick and position myself at her entrance. I run my dick along her slit, coating him in her juices.

"Is this what you want?" I ask to be sure. If she doesn't want this, she needs to tell me now because once I'm inside her, I wont stop.

"Please." She bucks her hips up.

That's all I need to hear.

I push forward, entering her, and moaning in pleasure at how tight she is.

FUCK!

"Ahhh!" She cries out, closing her eyes and throwing her head back as she grabs my forearms.

I close my eyes as well, enjoying the feel of her pussy gripping me. Fuck, she's tight! So fucking tight! And even though her hands are on arm on my forearms, I don't care.

I go to move, but she stops me, wrapping her legs around me to keep me still.

"Wait! Just wait a minute."

It is taking all my control not to thrust deep inside of her while she adjusts to my size.

"I have to move, baby." My voice strained. "You ready?"

"Ye-Yes." She nods frantically.

I pull out and push back in, claiming her.

"Ah." She whimpers.

She's still not use to my size so my thrusts are slow and deep, but soon she begins to meet my thrusts.

Fuck! She feels amazing.

She's no longer whimpering, now it's her moans I hear.

I tilt her chin up with one hand, still holding one of her wrists with my other, and kiss her hard.

I can feel her pussy clenching around me so I know she's close, and I'm not far behind.

"Cum for me, Anastasia." I demand.

Like my words are all she needed to release, she obeys, tightening even more around me as her pussy spasms, soaking my dick.

Fuck!

She cries out, screaming my name. Say my name, baby!

"Christian!" Her head back, her mouth open, her eyes closed... seeing her like this is all too much and it tips me over the edge.

I explode, calling out her name, as I cum violently inside of her. I don't think I've even cum this hard.

When I finish my release I collapse on top of her, panting hard and trying to catch my breath.

My forehead is resting on hers and when I open my eyes she's staring up at me in awe.

I softly kiss her lips then I pull out of her. Even though it was nice and slow she still winces.

I roll over, take off the condom and discard it onto the floor. I'm completely spent and exhausted.

I grab the blankets and cover our bodies, then I pull her to me, inhaling her wonderful scent. Her back is to my front, and before I can do or say anything more, I fall into a peaceful, content, deep slumber.

Vanilla; my new favorite flavor. Only with her.

"Oh my god." I wake the next morning to the sound of My Beauty.

I pull her closer, tightening my arms around her.

"Mmmm..." I nuzzle my nose in her hair and kiss her head. "You said that a lot last night, baby."

"OH MY GOD!" She quickly sits up, taking the sheet with her to cover herself.

"Anastasia?" What's wrong?

She looks back at me with a wide eyed expression.

Fuck!

"Don't." I plead, and close my eyes tight, thinking she is having second thoughts or regrets sleeping with me.

What she says next surprises me, and I too have a wide eyed look.