APOV

The gentle chime of my alarm clock stirs me awake. As I begin to wake fully, I think of last night with Christian. He must have been feeling a tremendous amount of weight on his shoulders seeing his mom and Natasha murdered. I don't see him being needy or babying me at all. He is very kind, generous, and sweet to be doing all of this for me. I hear a knock at the door and I quickly jump out of bed and sprint to the door, but am slightly disappointed it's not Christian who knocked.

"Good morning Ana," Gail says in her infectious cheerfulness. "Breakfast is ready."

"Thank you Gail. I'll be out in a minute." After quickly hitting the bathroom, I come out and smile as I see Christian sitting at the island reading the newspaper and eating breakfast.

"Good morning Ana, did you sleep well," he asks as he gives me a sideways grin. I blush as I scramble up onto the island seat.

"I did thank you. Did you?"

"Yes I slept a lot better after my nightmare thank you." He rubs the top of my hand gently and it sends my stomach into a flipping frenzy and makes my cheeks heat again. We share the newspaper as we eat in comfortable silence. "I got you a gift." I look up at him and he lays a thin box in front of me. "I got them so we can use them for our practices. I mean, you can just use them by yourself if you want." I see him actually blush as I open the box. Inside are piano lesson books ranging from simply melodies to duets and concert pieces.

"Oh these are perfect! Thank you! How did you get them here so fast?"

"The Grey name as perks," he winks as I give him a side hug. If it's hugs he only wants, I'm more than willing to give them. I love being in his arms, hell just human contact has been missing from my life for so long I would probably hug a stranger! Although the kiss I left on his hand and the one he left on my forehead had me falling asleep grinning like a fool. After breakfast I run and take a quick shower only to realize I don't have any clothing that fits me. As I come out of the bathroom in my towel, I see a bag resting on my bed with another box underneath. I open the bag and find new underwear and panty set, socks, a pair of dark jeans, and a warm light gray three-quarter-length sleeve shirt. Further inside is a dark blue coat with a hood that has faux white fur around it and white gloves. Everything fits amazingly well. I put my hair up in a ponytail so it will stay out of my face today. I open the box and find a pair of brown boots that come midway up my calves. I glance in the mirror and I actually look, pretty. Christian is too good to me. I open my bedroom door and am surprised to see Christian standing beside my door. He looks down at me with his piercing silver eyes.

"How do I look," I ask as I spin around. He looks down on me with a good-natured smile on his lips.

"Beautiful." We walk down the hallway. I see he's wearing his coat from the other night and black dress pants with black dress shoes. In the kitchen I see Kate, Mia and a man. He has wavy blonde hair and blue eyes and is a little taller than Christian. He's dressed in a winter coat and jeans. The girls run over and quickly grab me for hugs, which I don't hesitate on giving.

"Oh Ana, it's nice to see you again! You look better like you've been gaining weight, thank God. You were beautiful when we first met, but seeing your cheekbones wasn't the best," Mia says quickly as she slightly crushes me in her arms. She lets go and Kate comes in for the next hug.

"You look as marvelous as ever babe," Kate states as she winks at me. I can only blush at her silly actions. Christian puts his hand on the lower part of my back and I feel that spark flying through my body like it did last night.

"Ana this is my older brother Elliot," he says as he motions towards the blonde.

"Hello little lady. Pleasure to meet you," he says with a wink, causing me to grin. I can see why Kate married this sweet goofball. Having a gentle nature must run in the Grey family.

"Nice to meet you too," I mouth and hope he can read my lips like everyone else.

"Well I'm ready to go shopping. Mia and I donated a lot of our clothes and shoes this morning," Kate says proudly.

"All right then, let's get this party on the road," Christian states with eagerness. We all huddle into the elevator and get into the SUV. Elliot, Kate and Mia take the back and I ride passenger in front as Christian drives.

"Is Jason not driving us today?"

"I wanted him to have the day with Gail. Besides we're going to get dragged to a lot of places with Mia and Kate in this party. He would probably get cranky." He gives me his sideways grin that makes me snicker as we exit the garage and begin our day.

Three hours into this shopping excursion and I'm exhausted! Who knew a person would need so many outfits and shoes. We've gotten pants of all kinds from dress pants, jeans, sweatpants, and shorts and even skirts, to shirts ranging from t-shirts, blouses, camisoles, and jackets. Mia went crazy when I said I just wanted another pair of tennis shoes. Turns out I needed heels, boots, and sandals too, luckily only three pairs of each. The men have been very patient, although Elliot have been on his phones when the girls were running around getting stuff for me to try on. I kept my word by showing off my outfits to Christian. He hasn't been on his phone once today. When I would come out of the dressing room, he would give me a once over with a beautiful smile on his face and say the outfit was "beautiful, wonderful", or "perfect". Every time he says it, it makes my face heat and my heart flutter.

"Okay so while you guys go drop off the bags in the car we'll go get pajamas, bras, and panties okay," Kate announces.

"Sounds good with us babe, but then can we go to lunch? I'm like a ravenous rat," Elliot explains causing us to laugh.

"Sounds like a great idea," Kate states as she locks her arm with mine, pulling me away from Christian. "Christian you can go hang with Elliot if you want."

"No it's okay I'll come," he beams at me while he follows our group. We enter a boutique and the sales associates are eager to help us. Kate ushers me into changing room and starts undressing me.

"Kate what are you doing," I mouth a little confused.

"The sooner we get you changed and trying on stuff, the sooner we can go eat. Plus I wanted to spend some one on one time with you while Mia's grabbing stuff. What's your bra size?" I shrug and before I can blink she grabs my left breast and gives it a squeeze. I gently smack her hand away and feel my face flush for probably the 50th time today.

"Kate!"

"Oh please. My roommate in college walked around my apartment naked and I worked in retail during college." She leans out the door and tells Mia my bra size. Soon enough Mia arrives and hands us underwear sets and pajamas to try on. "So have you liked living with Christian so far?"

"Oh yes, I'm starting to feel like I have a home again." I still feel embarrassed with her seeing me in the nude, but she's right. The quicker this goes, the quicker we can go eat.

"That's great. And he treats you well?"

"Oh yes. He's been nothing but a gentleman."

"Well good, I'm glad. Christian has always been very kind around his family and friends. But in the office, he changes and becomes the CEO he is. So if you hear him shouting on the phone sometime, don't be too surprised." As I look in the mirror again at myself in a comfortable and slightly sexy underwear and bra, I again think I look pretty. "You have a great body Ana, there's no denying it." She winks and quickly I'm changing into another matching set. "So have you and Christian been, bonding and getting to know each other?"

"Um, sort of. He's teaching me piano. We know each others' likes and dislikes." I don't know if she knows his past, but I'm not one to share if he hasn't told her.

"Well good. He's probably told you about his past hasn't he?" Never mind then, I think.

"Yeah he has. He's a very good man and is very kind to do this all for me." We hear a soft knock.

"I don't want to rush you ladies at all, but these women out here are driving me crazy," comes the soft voice of Christian. Kate and I snigger.

"We'll be out soon Christian don't worry. Grab a stick to beat them off you if you need to," Kate says. He chuckles and walks away as Mia hands her more stuff.

"Oh Ana you look hot! Girl you're working it," Mia exclaims before shutting the door. A moment of silence comes between Kate and I while I try on another pajama set.

"Are you attracted to Christian?" My cheeks heat once again and I can't bear to look at her eyes in the reflection of the mirror. "It's okay Ana. I won't tell anyone, I promise." I nod and she hugs me from behind. "Oh wonderful! I thought he was attracted to you too," she whispers.

"Why would he be attracted to me?"

"Why wouldn't he be? You're kind and beautiful. Not to mention smart as a whip as he told Elliot."

"But I'm a mute. Who would want anything to do with a mute?" She gathers the items we're going to purchase.

"Don't doubt yourself Ana. Besides, I'll tell you this. With his other guests he has never been more attentive. And he never went shopping with them personally. He would send his card with them while Mia and I would take them shopping. So just think of that." She gives me a sly smile and winks before leaving me to change back into my clothing and ponder my own thoughts.