A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 4: A New Job
Ana couldn't have been hearing him correctly. "Wait… you want me to supervise Mr. Grey's construction?"
The thought of doing that was definitely not appealing - not only did Ana have zero experience working at a construction site, but she would likely have to take time out of her busy day to work alongside Mr. Grey. She hardly knew the guy, but the fact that he had literally flown into town on a helicopter and acted like he knew everything made her seriously question the kind of person he was. She had called him rich and arrogant, though, so she felt pretty confident in that assumption of him.
Ana looked over at Mr. Grey, who was looking over at her too. She had to admit he was definitely easy on the eyes, with his messy copper-colored hair, silvery-gray eyes and chiseled jaw. He wore a light blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, dark blue slacks, brown leather shoes, and aviator sunglasses perched on his head. All of it put together probably cost more than Ana's entire house, she was sure.
Mr. Grey was probably the type of guy who knew exactly how good he looked, and liked to play the field because of it. He probably had a gorgeous model wife or a whole harem of women at his disposal back in Seattle - a real class act, to say the least.
"Considering your experience working in carpentry, Ana, I thought this would be a suitable job for you," Greg explained. "Supervising Mr. Grey's construction would only take about an hour or two out of your day, so it wouldn't interfere too much if you and Ray were busy working on a project."
"I'm fine with it," Mr. Grey piped up, and Ana and Greg looked at him. "I mean, if I have to take on someone to supervise our construction, at least I know I can trust Ana to do a good job."
"Seriously?" Ana asked him skeptically. "What on earth makes you think you can trust me to do a good job?"
Mr. Grey shrugged. "I just have a feeling you'd be good at it," he said. He gave her a charming grin before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I'd hardly be a good CEO if I wasn't a good judge of character of the people I work with, now would I?"
"I can see you're humble too," Ana rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as well. Mr. Grey let out a snort, but she ignored him as she turned back to Greg. "Greg, can I have a word with you please?"
"Sure Ana. Mr. Grey?"
"We'll be right outside," Mr. Grey excused himself and Taylor as they stepped out of the office, closing the door behind them.
"…Greg, I'm not gonna lie, I don't like this guy," Ana said quietly a few seconds after he left. "He's a huge asshole with an ego to boot. I really don't want to have to work with him for the next few weeks… isn't there anyone else who would be willing to do it?"
"Ana, I seriously doubt he's that bad," Greg chuckled. "And if anyone in Easton can bring him to heel, it's you. I don't know what he's like as a person, but I know that he's honest in his business dealings - he and his brother have never led me to believe they're being shady or trying to cut corners with this new construction. It's just a few weeks of work for the both of you, and I'm sure you'll be able to keep him in line the whole time."
When Ana didn't say anything for a few moments, Greg went on. "…Is this about Ted? Because if Ray can't watch him while you're gone, I'm sure you could take him with you to the construction site, provided that neither of you get too close to the machinery."
"I know," Ana nodded. "It's not that. I'm just afraid this is all a bit out of my depth - what exactly am I supposed to do while supervising a construction?"
"You'd just be overseeing everything, and making sure the crew is staying on schedule. If Mr. Grey gets any new information, you should know it too - new workers, equipment, trucks… you name it, you should know about it. The three of us can go over it in finer detail tomorrow."
"Okay," Ana nodded, conceding. "I'll do it… but to be honest Greg, I don't think I can do it for free. I'm sorry to ask this, but I'd like some sort of compensation for the work I'm going to be doing."
"Of course," Greg nodded with a kind smile. "I'll pay you for the extra work, I promise."
"The payment better not be a date with your son though," Ana said warningly, though she smiled as she said that. Greg laughed.
"I swear it won't be… though I don't think Paul would object to that," he said amusedly, leading them both out the office door. Paul was Greg's son who was Ana's age, and he ran the local bar in town. He often flirted with Ana whenever he saw her - most of it was pretty innocent, but it was clear to anyone who saw him that he had a real thing for her. Ana felt a bit bad that she didn't reciprocate his feelings, but she knew it was all for the best. She didn't date at all because of Ted, and Paul was respectful of her decision.
"Did you want me to schedule a meeting with Mr. Grey and you tomorrow morning?" Greg asked, leading them both out into the hallway. "Nine o'clock, my office?"
"Sounds good," Ana nodded. "I'll see you then."
"Great," Greg smiled at her. "Thank you so much for doing this, Ana. I owe you big time."
"Yes, you do," Ana smiled back good-naturedly, and Greg chuckled. They hugged goodbye, and Ana walked out the front doors.
She immediately noticed Mr. Grey and Jason Taylor standing together next to her truck, talking with each other while texting vigorously on their phones. Ana stood a few feet away from them, waiting for them to finish up.
"…Ana," Mr. Grey finally looked up from his phone and smiled at her. "I'm glad you're here. Could you do me a favor and drive Taylor back to the helicopter?"
"Sure, but why aren't you coming?" Ana asked.
"I called a car service and they're going to be picking me up from here," Mr. Grey explained, looking down at his phone again. "They're going to give me a ride to the Airbnb rental I just booked for my stay here."
Ana knew that some of the more expensive houses around Lake Easton and in the mountains were vacation rentals, though she was surprised he had been able to book a place in a matter of minutes when it usually took weeks for anyone else to get one. "How were you able to get an Airbnb rental so soon? You've only just arrived in Easton."
"They made an exception for me," Mr. Grey said, glancing back up at her with a small smile. "Money tends to talk, and I'm not afraid to use my name when the need arises. However, the car service I called is going to be awhile since it's from out of town, so I'm going to have to wait here for it."
"Whatever," Ana shrugged, trying not to roll her eyes at how much of a snob he was being. "In case you wanted to know, though, Greg wants us to meet with him here tomorrow morning at nine o'clock to go over how this supervising situation is going to work."
"Alright," Mr. Grey nodded agreeably. "That sounds fine, but just know that as long as you're supervising the construction, I plan on sticking around here for as long as I'm able to in order to keep an eye on things."
Ana raised her eyebrows, feeling surprised and amused despite herself. "You don't trust me to do a good job supervising all by myself?"
"Honestly, no. You've already made it clear to me you don't like that I'm building in your town. How do I know I can trust you to be honest with Mr. Clayton when giving your reports to him?"
Ana felt a bit affronted, and for a moment she could only stare at him, blinking. "What? Whatever happened to 'I know I can trust Ms. Steele to do a good job'?"
"I just said that to appease Mr. Clayton," Mr. Grey said with a straight face. There wasn't a hint of amusement in his voice, and Ana could tell he was being completely serious. "I honestly don't know if I can trust you to let me do my job here, but I would like to believe that you would. Just know that I won't hesitate to report to Mr. Clayton if I think for even a second that you're trying to deliberately impede the construction in any way."
Ana frowned at him, indignation building inside of her as she crossed her arms defiantly. "You're saying you don't know if you can trust me? Well, how do I know if you're going to cut corners during this construction? I would also like to believe I can trust you, Mr. Grey, but I can't just let you do whatever the hell you want in our town. I know that neither of us like this situation, but we're going to have to develop a little trust at some point if we're going to work together to get through this. Wouldn't you agree?"
Mr. Grey stared at her for a moment or two, as if contemplating his answer. "I suppose you've got a point," he said reluctantly before holding his hand out to shake. "And please, if we're going to be working alongside each other, I'd like you to call me Christian."
Ana felt a bit surprised, but didn't say anything about it as she shook his hand. "Alright… Christian. I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." He gave her another charming smile.
They stared at each other for a moment before Ana finally let go of his hand. She turned to Jason Taylor, who was still standing several yards away. "You need a ride back to the helicopter?"
"Yes, ma'am," Taylor nodded.
"Are you not coming back, then?"
"I am, though not until a bit later. I'm simply taking Mr. Grey's helicopter back to its hangar in Seattle," Taylor explained. "I'm then going to pack our luggage and drive to Easton, and I should hopefully be back by tonight."
Ana nodded, understanding. "I see. I won't keep you here any longer, then - let's get going."
Ana led Taylor back to her truck and he got in through the passenger side. Ana got into the driver's seat, determinedly not looking over at Christian as she started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
Christian
Christian watched Ana pull out of the parking lot and drive away down the road back to the valley with Taylor. When they were gone, he shook his head to himself - this girl was unlike anyone he had ever met before, and he couldn't bring himself to examine the feelings swirling around his chest as he thought about her. When he had been honest about how he felt about their work situation, she was unafraid to stand up to him and be honest about how she felt about it too. Nobody other than maybe Ros ever talked to him like that - he couldn't tell if he liked it or hated it.
Christian pulled out his phone again and dialed his brother, deciding it was time to update him on the whole situation here in Easton.
Elliot picked up after the first ring. "Hey bro. Are you in Easton yet?"
"Yeah I am, and I talked to the mayor here about your land," Christian said. "We worked it out, but it's kind of a 'good news, bad news' situation."
"Oh God, do I want to know?" Elliot groaned.
"Well, I think you do - they're actually letting us build LCH in the valley," Christian said, unable to help the small smile appearing on his face as he said that.
"Holy shit, seriously? That's awesome!" Elliot said, the excitement evident in his voice, but he paused after a moment. "Wait, what's the bad news?"
Christian then launched into an explanation about how the people of Easton are extremely protective about their land and how the mayor assigned a supervisor to watch over their construction, thus forcing Christian to stay in Easton for the foreseeable future to oversee the project himself. Christian didn't bother mentioning that he knew who the supervisor was, and Elliot thankfully didn't ask more about that aspect of the situation.
"Jesus, man, this construction is likely gonna take weeks," Elliot said, sounding concerned. "Are you sure you're okay staying there for that long?"
"Yeah… I mean, Taylor's heading back to Seattle to pick up all of our stuff, and we're going to be staying in a fully-furnished rental. It's going to be like a vacation for me," Christian said honestly, and Elliot laughed.
"Only you would go to a jobsite and call it a vacation," he said amusedly. "I'm glad you aren't angrier about this whole thing, though. I would come down to Easton and do this with you, but I actually have to be in Chicago tomorrow to meet with a new client and I'm probably going to be there for the rest of the week."
"Don't worry about it," Christian said. "You can swing by at any time over the next few weeks, but just know that I've got the situation under control."
"Alright, thanks man," Elliot said sincerely. "I really owe you one."
"It's no problem," Christian said, and he noticed a sleek black Lexus pull up into the parking lot. "Sorry Elliot, I have to go. My ride's here."
"Okay. I'll talk to you later, man."
"Bye," Christian said, and ended the call before making his way over to the car.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! Next, we'll see Christian and Ana get to work with each other for the first time.
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