Chapter 19

Apov

I can't believe him, a perk?! Ugh, and I can't believe I just stormed off like a petulant child instead of talking to him, but I was so angry I had to walk away. We've known each other so long he knows when to give me space, and I definitely need space now. I need to think and I tend to overthink.
I've already been stressing out about our new found relationship and how it's going to work at the office, and then he brings up that he can use his power to give me days off. Everyone there already thinks I get advantages just because he's my friend, and they already talk behind my back. I can only imagine it getting worse now that the world knows we're together. I know I shouldn't care what people think, but I don't want to be known as the office whore.
That's why I have been considering leaving GEH and finding a different job. Christian wont like it, I know, but I have to. Besides, he may get sick of seeing me all day, everyday, at home and at the office, and he needs to realize what the complications of him being my boss can cause. If I leave, it may make our relationship better, stronger. It's telling this to Christian, trying to get him to understand, that's going to be the problem. I already know how he will react to it, so I need to think of a way to soften the blow, so to speak.
If I stay in here any longer, I'll overthink everything, like I am now, and I need to talk to Christian.
As I make my way to his office, I think about calling Grace and Mia. Christian's birthday is in two weeks and I want to do something really special for him this year, now that he's my boyfriend.

Cpov

After talking to Anastasia's father, I decided to give her time to cool off and head to my office to look over a few things. I know she'll calm down when she's ready, but she needs to stop overthinking every-little-thing. She knows all too well that I don't give a fuck what people say, so it shouldn't matter that I'm her boss now that we're a couple.
I've already sent Mr. Steele an email with my open times I'm available to speak with him. I'm not looking forward to that. I do million dollar deals daily, I'm a force to be reckoned with, but when it comes to my girlfriend's father, I'm a teenage boy watching him clean his shotgun. Even though he did what he did, I can understand why. He truly cares for Anastasia.
Looking over everything with Rodríguez is making me furious.
Why the fuck are people trying to destroy our happiness?
Thank fuck he's dead. Unsympathetic, I know, but this fucker tried to harm my baby. And now I have to deal with this Travis fucker, Gwen's ex-assistant who gave Rodríguez the photos from the shoot.

And then there's Elena.
I don't know what she's planning, but I will take her down once and for all. She exposed me, so now it's my turn to destroy her sad miserable life.
Taylor is hiring more security so we'll be protected, and he knows I want another CPO for Anastasia. Sawyer wont be happy about that, it will hurt his ego more than anything, but I don't give a fuck as long as Anastasia is safe. I'm sure that will go well with her as well, but it's a must, no exceptions.
Anastasia may not have agreed to take the day off tomorrow, but I know she'll come around.
I'm going to take her on our first official date, spending the day on the Grace. We'll stay the night on board as well, just her and I alone for once.
The weather is supposed to be warm enough for swimwear, and I can't wait to see her in a bikini. I've already had Mrs. Jones pack our bags, and Sawyer is going to take them to my boat tomorrow morning.
Everything is ready, I just want to get this other shit taken care of before tomorrow so I wont have to worry about it.

"Taylor," I call him into my office.

Moments later there's a knock and he walks in.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Do we have anything on Elena yet?" I ask, tossing the files I've been going over for what feels like an eternity across my desk. "I want this shit taken care of yesterday."

"I have someone on Mrs. Lincoln." He confirms as he takes his seat. "If she coughs, we'll know, but she's made no moves as of yet."

"We still have no answers?!" What is taking so long?!

"Sir, I'm doing my best."

"Not good enough," I know I'm putting a lot on Taylor right now, but I want to know what this vile bitch is planning. She's a resourceful, manipulating woman, and is capable of more than anyone thinks.

"What about Gwen's ex-assistant, Travis Marshall, and the extra security we need to interview?"

"We're using every resource we have in tracking Mr. Marshall so we can question his motives, but he's unreachable at the moment. And I have a few men coming here tomorrow morning for the extra security positions."
I guess that's as good as I'm going to get tonight.

"Is everything set for tomorrow?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, keep me informed." I dismiss him.

Taylor-pov

I always thought if Grey had a good woman in his life, he would mellow out a bit, but I think it's made him more irritable.
If we don't get this woman soon, my life will be a living hell. I've sent emails to my contacts in the FBI and made them aware of the Lincoln situation. Hopefully they can lend a helping hand.
Grey wants at least four new security, so I have the best of the best coming here bright and early tomorrow morning for interviews.
Normally, I am the one who interviews and does the hiring of any security, but I know Grey will want to be a part of the interviewing process since he wants a second CPO for Ms. Steele. I felt sorry for Sawyer when the boss grilled him for hours during his interview, and then she was just his friend. I can only imagine how he's going to be now that they are in a committed relationship.

"Hey, T." Sawyer greets me when comes back from picking up our dinner.
Fuck, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. Sawyer and I, possibly some of the new security, all stuck on a small boat in the middle of the Sound. Usually when Grey is on his boat, I just stay with him since it's big enough, but he wants privacy, just him and his girl. I can totally understand, they haven't had much time alone since they became serious, but I'm not looking forward to it.

"Sawyer." I grab the sandwich he brought me. I can't wait for Gail to come home Sunday night.

"So what food are we bringing with us tomorrow?" He asks, opening his sub sandwich wrapper.
I swear he always thinks with his stomach, he never stops eating.

"Whatever you bring is fine."

"Cool. Cool." He says then takes a huge bite of his sandwich.

"New security will be here by dawn." I tell him with a smirk. "Grey's wanting a second CPO for Ms. Steele."
He groans with the food still in his mouth, unable to talk, while I laugh at his bruised ego.

Apov

"Christian," I cautiously call his name as I knock on his office door, opening it at the same time.
He's sitting behind his desk and it kills me that he looks so stressed, I know I can't be helping matters.

"I am so sorry I stormed off," I apologize as I enter, closing the door behind me. "I was having a little freak out."

"Baby, come to me." He says, opening his arms for me.
I make my way to him and climb on his lap. He immediately engulfs me into a big bear hug.

"I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed with everything, Christian, and I'm worried about work."

"Don't worry about it, everything will be fine."

"Well..." I begin cautiously, "I've been thinking of maybe looking for a different job and finding you a new assistant."

"What?!"

"I

"Baby, no." His arms tighten around me. "Don't do this."

"Christian," I turn in his arms so I can look at him. "I think it's best."

"You're stressing about this, overthinking it like you do everything." He accuses and assures me at the same time. It's quite comical.

"I just don't think us being in a romantic relationship and working together is a good idea. I'm not doing this to punish you, but I mean, what if we don't work out and-"

"You're running?" He interrupts me in a panic, tightening his arms further, almost to the point where I can't breathe.

"I'm not running."

"No, don't run from me," He ignores me, holding me tight so I can't move. "You can't leave me, please, don't leave me."

"Christian, why would you think..." Crap, I forgot about his self-loathing and insecurities.
I hold his face between my hands and look him directly in his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere," I assure him. "I'm just being realistic."

"Realistic?" He snorts.
He's not going to listen, I knew he wouldn't. If we break up, if we stay together, it doesn't matter, it will be difficult at work.

"Let's give it some time and we'll talk about it later." I suggest.

"That sounds acceptable." I know he's thinking he can distract me from it, but he wont.
Just as I'm about to kiss him, I see two large packages near his sofa that capture my attention.

"Christian, what are those?" I ask curious.

"They are presents from Gwen."
Presents?

"What are they?"
He chuckles at my question.

"Shall we open them together and find out?"
I get off his lap and together we open them.

They are two large photographs from the shoot, already framed and ready to be hung. One is of me on the bed, wearing the white lingerie set, and the other is a close up of Christian kissing me, both are in black and white.
Wow, they look amazing.

"Oh, this one is going in the bedroom." Christian grins at the one of me on the bed.
I guess that means the other photograph is mine.

"And this one is staying in my office." He says of the one of him kissing me.

"Hey," I giggle at him claiming both. "I thought they were for US?"

"You'll see them." He smirks with a wink.

He looks like a kid at Christmas while he holds up the one of us kissing, ready to find a spot here and now for it.

My yawning alerts us of how late it is.
Christian kisses my head and together we make our way to his bedroom.
The plan was to continue where we left off before everyone interrupted us, but it's so late and we're both so tired, we just climb in bed after putting on our pajamas and snuggle together.

"So what is the plan for our day off tomorrow?" I finally concede, but just this once.

"It's a surprise, baby," He kisses my head and holds me close. "That's all you need to know."
...

Cpov

I wake up at 5am, and instead of getting ready for my run, I get ready to interview.
There is plenty of time before we have to leave for the day so I let Anastasia sleep a little more while I deal with the extra security.
As soon as I'm in my office, I call Taylor in while Sawyer stays with the few men we'll interview.

"Anything on Elena?" I ask Taylor as soon as he walks in and before we can talk about anything else.
He has a two mugs with him and hands me one before he sits.

"A woman matching Mrs. Lincoln's description was spotted outside Escala last night, sir, but by the time we got there..."

"She was gone." I finish for him, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Yes, sir." He confirms. "And the guy I had on her said there was no movement all night."

"Fuck." I run my fingers through my hair, frustrated.
Why can't this bitch just stay out of my life, she's putting me in a bad mood now.

"Let's begin the interviews." I tell him.
I trust Taylor with my life, but I need to meet these guys and be a part of this interview process if they are going anywhere near Anastasia.
Taylor informs me that ten men have showed up, and we interview all ten.
I allow Taylor to conduct the interview while I watch from the sidelines, making notes about each one and looking over their personal files.
After the interviews have concluded, we have decided on four men to add to our security.
The one that will be Anastasia's second CPO comes highly recommended by Taylor himself, and is a former Marine. The guy is huge, married with children and seems happy with his life, one of the requirements I had. I know Sawyer is single, but the new guy had to have a family, I don't trust single men, it took me awhile to get use to Sawyer being around her and we don't have all day for my possessive shit. I think Matthew Ryan will make an excellent member of our security team.

Sawyer is taking Ryan to the marina so they can do security checks and he can get to know Sawyer since he will be his superior. They both will report to Taylor, who will debrief me, but since Sawyer is Anastasia's main CPO, Ryan will report to him.
Taylor shows the other guys the security suite to get their paperwork filled out and give them the usual being Grey's staff speech.
Since it's still early, Anastasia isn't awake yet. I need to wake her so we can start our day.
When I open my bedroom door she's still sleeping peacefully on my bed. The most beautiful sight I've ever seen.

"Baby," I coax her as I sit on the bed. "It's time to get up, sweetheart, come on."
She shows no signs of movement or hearing me so I stroke her face which causes her to wiggle away from me.

"Go. Away. Christian." She groans each word as she blindly swats my hand away.

"I have no idea how you get up for work every morning." I chuckle at the thought of her throwing alarm clocks across her bedroom, she must go through so many.

"I have you constantly bugging me," She smirks with her eyes still closed. "So no difference to right now."

"That's it." I growl and begin to tickle her until she gives in to getting out of bed.
After our tickle fight/wrestling match, we take a shower together, and I'm the one that ends up with the orgasm this time. Anastasia decided she's in a playful mood and gave me an amazing hand-job while she sucked my neck. The little minx has me feeling so young and carefree, I love it.
I'm in a hurry to get on the Grace so I dress quickly while Anastasia takes her sweet time. I guess I'll have to get use to this, what shall I wear, waiting on a woman thing.

When she finally decides what she's going to wear, I'm instantly hard.
She's wearing a pair of shorts that are way too short and a tight strappy top that matches the blue in her eyes. She's beautiful, but not very appropriate for being around staff and I still need to introduce her to the new security, mainly her second CPO. Maybe I should ask her to put pants on? No, we'll be on the Grace soon and it's best not to spoil the good mood.

"You look beautiful, baby." I whisper in her ear when she reaches me.
She smiles in response then we board the elevator.

The trip down to the parking garage where Taylor is waiting is uneventful, just a few innocent kisses and cuddles here and stays snuggles against my side in the car while I get a few last minute important business emails out of the way before we have our alone time. I make a show of silencing my phone and putting it in my pocket when I've finished with the important stuff.
Anastasia smiles, knowing exactly what I did, and why I did it.

"The Grace?" She asks when Taylor pulls up next to Sawyer's SUV . "We're going on the Grace?"
It pleases me that she enjoys this as much as I do.

"Wait here." I tell her as I step out.

I look towards the Grace where Sawyer is waiting with the new guy. Sawyer gives me a nod, letting me know everything is checked and passed inspection, then he sends the new guy towards me.
When I open the door to let Anastasia out she's grinning with her phone in her hand. I'm sure she's told Mia, maybe my mother, possible my grandfather, but I don't give a fuck if she told the world, no one will be able to interrupt our time when we're in the middle of the Sound.

"Come, baby." I hold my hand out to help her.

She puts her phone away and climbs out.
I know she wants to know who this random guy is, but she waits patiently for me to explain.

"Anastasia, this is your second CPO, Matthew Ryan. Ryan this is Anastasia Steele, my girlfriend." I introducing them, being sure to stress the word girlfriend.
Anastasia raises her brow towards me, and I know she'll ask about this later but instead she just smiles.

"Ma'am." Ryan nods his hello, smart man.

"Please, call me Ana." She said the same thing to Taylor and Sawyer when I introduced them.

I give the new guy a look, basically saying don't even think about it. Sawyer already gave him 'the talk' about my expectations so he knows I prefer professionalism and I wont settle for anything less, especially familiarity. For fuck's sake, if Taylor doesn't call her by her given name, this new fucker wont either.

Anastasia and I make our way towards the Grace while our security boards the smaller boat. I want them on duty at all times until this mess with Elena is settled, but I want to be alone with my girl.
I've brought Anastasia out here with me before as friends so she's able to help me with the sails and soon we're anchored in the middle of the Sound where we will be staying for the night, the security boat is in place near us, and we're ready to start our day.
Since we left before we ate, Anastasia and I sit together and eat the picnic breakfast I prepared for us. I'm not much of a cook so it's basically fruit and yogurt.

The sun is shining, we're having a wonderful time, and we're all alone. I couldn't ask for anything more.
I'm so glad there is no one around to bother us.

JackHyde-pov

Finally, some useful fucking information!
My source has confirmed that Mr. Billionaire extraordinaire will be taking my future sex slave on his boat today for a day of fucking romance. That whore doesn't need romance, she needs a good seeing to and I will only be too happy to oblige. I can't wait to fuck and beat the shit out of her.
My plans are all set, I made sure the dungeon was put in before I did anything more. If I don't have a place to put her, this will all go to shit.
She's going to love it, I will force her to submit to me in every way possible, I'm going to fuck her until I break her, and I will do so over and over again. I can't fucking wait! I've always wanted to take someone like this, and what better person than the girlfriend of my enemy. I was only going to ruin him, take his money, and fuck him over, but now I've found something better.
Anastasia Steele.

What better way to hurt him than for him to lose her?
I just need to figure out how I'm going to get her alone so I can grab and bag my whore.
I wont have to worry about Grey getting in my way because that vile bitch Elena will take care of that one for me. I don't get her obsession with him, he's a stupid, cocky little fucker, who wouldn't know how to fuck a woman even if he had a manual. That's probably why he's her golden boy, because she taught him how to please a woman. Big mistake. Submissives are for my pleasure, I don't give a fuck if they are pleased or not. Yes, I'm a sick bastard, and I love it.
Hopefully once Elena has Grey out of my way, his security wont give a fuck about Anastasia and will leave her vulnerable for the taking.

Cpov

After we finish eating, Anastasia takes everything back to the kitchen. I can't resist taking a few photos of her with my phone when she's not looking.

"What are we going to do know?" Anastasia bites her lip.
I know what she wants, and I want the same, but I also want to make today special. I keep forgetting the fact that she's a virgin so I don't want to rush things.

"Would you like to go for a swim?" I ask to get my mind off of sex.

"I didn't bring my suit."

"Everything we need has been pack." I tell her. "It's already in the bedroom, we're staying the night on board."

She grins as she makes her way to the bedroom.
This is good, it will keep us distracted until later tonight where I can make it special and romantic for her. At least, I hope.
When she emerges from the bedroom, I nearly have a heart attack and make a mental note to personally thank Ms. Acton.
I quickly change, then sit on the deck with Anastasia. She's soaking up the sun and I'm enjoying my view a little too much, until she decides to go for a swim.
We play in the water, stealing kisses here and there, and laughing as we splash each other. She makes me feel so youthful, so loved, and so complete.
Once we're back on the boat, we dry off and get dressed for lunch.

"You look good enough to eat." I murmur in her ear when I come up behind her.
She tucks her ass into my groin and lifts her arms behind her to thrust them into my hair.

"I think I'd like that."
It's too damn tempting not to have a taste of her again, especially since we're in the bedroom, but I have to save that for later.
Instead of taking her now, I lead her out to the bow where I had Taylor set up a candle lit meal for us.

"Christian," Anastasia grins when she sees the set up. "This looks amazing."

"You look amazing, baby." I tell her as I help her with her seat.
We talk about everything and anything while we eat. We're so comfortable with each other, and so at ease, everything comes so naturally with her.

"Christian..." Anastasia calls my attention and I have to look at her because I can hear hesitation in her tone.

"What is it, baby?"

"Will you please take me to bed and make love to me?"

Before I can respond, I smell something strange. I'm unable to react in time, and the next thing I know, I hear a loud explosion.
BOOM!