Author's Note:

One of the great things about fan fiction is that you can write complete and utter nonsense about real people and get away with it. In case you didn't already know, the world's richest man as of this writing is NOT Elon Musk, who seems to be in the news daily. No, it is none other than Bernard Arnault. And I think what I've written about Louis is feasible, even though Louis isn't real while Bernard and his real children that I mention are. Oh, and this story takes place in 2017, when Bernard Arnault was still CEO of Dior. His son Antoine took over since then. Also in 2017, Bill Gates was still at the top of the world's richest list. And if you're disappointed that Christian Grey is no longer interested in making that list, that was the whole point of this story… that it isn't money that makes life worth living, it's love. Peace, everyone.

Chapter 29 Valentine's Day at Ceil de Grey (Christian's POV)

Monday, February 13:

"I'm telling you, bro, I'm head over fucking heels in love with her already, and there's no doubt in my mind that she's the one," Elliot told me earnestly as we both warmed up on treadmills in the Grey House gym, which I had started using more since I needed to keep up with my physical therapy on my shoulder. I had recovered full use of my arm, but it still wasn't as strong as it had been before Jack Hyde had shot me.

"The one, Elliot?" I questioned. "Have you even fucked her yet?"

"Did you need to fuck Ana to know that she was the woman you wanted to marry and have a family with?" he asked rhetorically. No, I hadn't even known I could have such things before Ana, and I hadn't realized I could have it with her. Elliot wasn't as fucked up as I am, but he still seemed to be getting ahead of himself, in my opinion.

Elliot continued, "No, if you must know, I haven't fucked her yet, but I already know I don't want to fuck another woman for the rest of my life. I only want her. It's like the clouds over my eyes lifted as soon as I met her, and I can see more clearly now than I've ever seen. I'm certain that she's the woman I'm going to marry and have children with. Now, all I need to do is convince her of that."

Well, he sounded a bit like a member of a cult, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Who was I to burst his bubble?

"I'm pretty sure she's got an idea of how you feel after all those flowers you've been sending her at work," I told Elliot with a smirk. "Between her and Ana, they've got the executive suite looking like a flower shop. Ana's threatened to start giving them to the janitorial staff if I keep sending her flowers. She looked like she wanted to strangle me when your bouquets started showing up after I promised her not to send any more, but then she realized they were for Holly, so that was perfectly acceptable."

"Was Holly happy?" Elliot asked eagerly. "Did she like them?"

My smirk widened. It was entertaining to see Elliot this wound up. He'd never thought to send a girl flowers before. This was indeed a new Elliot, and I was a little worried, but maybe I didn't need to be. After all, it was something he'd hinted at that night in my penthouse after Ana and I had been shot when Ana had helped him tweak his online dating profile. Elliot wanted marriage, and he was convinced he'd found his girl. I hoped it worked out for him. Besides, I liked Holly as an employee, and she seemed like a decent person. Now that I'd grown accustomed to having personal relationships with the people I worked with, I could envision having her as my sister-in-law.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied to his question with a shrug, trying to appear indifferent. "I mean, what woman doesn't like receiving flowers at work? Well, except Ana, apparently."

"Well, that's different because she works for you," Elliot said. "She's both your wife and your assistant. I can see how it could be awkward for her at work. Holly says everyone loves her, though. Holly loves her. She's convinced that she got her promotion to the CFO's PA because of Ana."

I didn't confirm that fact, but yeah, Ana was pretty damn intuitive that way. She'd known straight away that Holly was the best person to be Sebastian's assistant. And Holly was proving to be invaluable. Sebastian was clearly satisfied with her work. Somehow, Ana had known back then what Ros and I were unaware of, that Holly would impress us, just as she was doing now.

Elliot and I finished our warmup and walked over to the weight machines. He began to bench press while I spotted him, and then we switched. We kept up our conversation between reps.

"OK, tell me what's going on between Mia and the French dude," Elliot said after he'd finished his first set. "I know they had a date last night after the Sunday Brunch service was over. And I also know you're planning on hiring him to work at Ciel de Grey. And I just have one question. Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

I sighed. I'd been expecting this, and here we were. "That's not just one question, El," I told him. "And I'm not happy that they're seeing each other either. But as Mia likes to remind both of us regularly, she is an adult. Besides, she's right that he's probably a perfect fit to run our dinner service. So far, other than being an obnoxious flirt, he hasn't done anything to piss me off. It's not a done deal yet, though. Our Valentine's dinner special tomorrow is basically a job interview for him."

For one night only, Ciel de Grey was going to open for dinner, with a set menu that Louis had chosen himself. It was by reservation only, and all of our reservations had been booked in only a few hours. Elliot and I had a double date booked with Ana and Holly. Mia was going to assist in the kitchen, but Louis was the one in charge. If he could pull it off, which would require him to impress me enough without pissing me off too much, then we would move forward with his immigration documents, which Dad's friend, an immigration attorney, would be filing for us.

"Have you talked to her since they went out last night?" Elliot asked me.

"No, but she's bringing me and Ana a late lunch to my office today after she closes Ciel de Grey for the day," I replied. "You can invite yourself if you want to get the low down from the horse's mouth."

"Did you just use two idioms in one sentence?" Elliot asked me humorously. "That's so… informal… of you." Yeah, he was making fun of me because I'd always used formal expressions because I thought it made me sound smarter.

I flipped him off. "Fuck you," I told him with no heat behind my words. No, I was laughing, too. I liked this new me so much more than I'd ever liked the uptight asshole I used to be. "Do you want to come for lunch or not?"

"As much as I'd love a sneak peak of my girl at work, no can do," he replied. "I have to work this afternoon. But you can fill me in on the details after you talk to Mia. I don't have to ask if you've done a background check on that douchebag, and I know you wouldn't even be considering him for any job, much less the head chef at Ciel de Grey, if there were any red flags. It's just… it's Mia. And she's still… fragile. From the kidnapping and all."

"Yeah, I know," I agreed. "But no, I haven't found anything on him yet, but I'm still digging. So far, he's squeaky clean. But I don't like the bastard. He's a good cook, though, I'll give him that. But it wouldn't matter even if he were Alain Ducasse if I find out that there are any red flags where Mia's concerned."

"Who the fuck is Alain Ducasse?" Elliot asked.

I rolled my eyes. Only my idiot brother wouldn't know the name of one of the best chefs in the world, the one with the most Michelin stars, the one who had even sent food into space for astronauts. "Google him," I told Elliot.

It turned out that Elliot wouldn't have been able to see Holly even if he had made it for the late lunch that afternoon because Sebastian and Holly were in a meeting with the Finance team and our new VP of Compliance going over the details of the upcoming internal audit. It was just the three of us, and since I knew Ana and Mia had gotten pretty close over the past couple of months, especially since Mia's kidnapping and our wedding, I knew we could have the candid conversation that I wanted to have.

Mia brought us each a croque monsieur, basically just a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with the best cheese ever and a delicious sauce, and one big romaine salad for us to share. She served it all on dinner plates she brought with her. She even brought a bottle of Beaujolais with wine glasses. And for dessert, we each had a little cake that Mia called a " financier."

"Why is it called that?" Ana asked Mia.

Mia explained, "When these little cakes were first invented, the bank workers in Paris especially liked them because they weren't sticky, so they could eat them without getting their hands messed up. And people also thought they resembled gold bars."

Ana smirked at me as she told Mia, "Yeah, I can see why you thought Christian would like that."

I simply smirked right back at her. We had decided not to tell anyone, not even my family, that I had given myself a pay cut to create more pay equity at GEH, and that we had already started giving millions to charities that were feeding the hungry of the world. So far, most of our donations had gone to Haiti and South Sudan. And I was happier than I'd ever been when I'd held on to all my money and focused on making more. Now, I wanted to make more money so I could redistribute it to people who severely needed it… the way I had severely needed it when I was a toddler, before the Greys had adopted me.

My life had more meaning now than it had ever had when I was declared the youngest self-made billionaire in the country. Ana and I had agreed that we would never have billions again, not for long anyway. If my net worth topped a billion again, it would be time for another generous one-time donation. But the way we had our ongoing donations set up, I didn't expect it to happen. Ana and I would always have more money than we would ever need, and so would our future children and grandchildren. But we'd agreed that we wouldn't ever need more than several hundred million. Ana had scoffed at that much, but I'd drawn the line at half a billion. I refused to go lower, and I set things up so that our regular giving kept us around there, give or take a few million.

"Anyway, lunch was delicious, as always, Mia," I told her. "And I think I've been patient enough as you've been avoiding answering my questions. But you're not leaving here today without telling us all about your big date with the golden boy."

"Do you have to call him that?" she complained.

"His name is literally 'golden,'" I responded. "And you're still avoiding answering."

"Well, I didn't have sex with him yet, if that's what you want to know," she answered snippily. "I wanted to, though." She gave me that look she has, so I knew better than to even acknowledge that I'd heard her. It would have shut down the conversation, and I still needed to get more information from her."

"Which outfit did you decide on, the pink miniskirt or the black leggings?" Ana asked conversationally. Yeah, she sounded a lot less like she was fishing for information. Maybe that was the best tactic here. Smart girl, she was helping me.

"Neither, actually," Mia answered. "I decided on jeans in the end. I mean, it's February in Seattle, and it was rainy and windy. I paired the jeans with a Vera Wang peasant blouse because I figured the restaurant would be warm, and it was. I wore my heavy raincoat over that. I think I chose well, because Louis was also wearing jeans. And casual was definitely appropriate for where we went."

"Where did he take you?" I asked. I was going for Ana's conversational tone, hoping that Mia didn't put up the front she had been every time I asked her a question.

She smirked at me. "I know what you're doing, Chrissy. But OK, I'll tell you because I know how relentless you are, and I don't have anything to hide. When Louis picked me up, he came in and hung out with Mom and Dad for a few minutes. I guess we were there for about half an hour. They were just chatting about mundane shit like cafes on the Champs-Élysées and the rest of Paris, and how they compared to coffee shops in Seattle."

"I already know that Louis thinks the coffee in Seattle is better," Ana commented.

"A lot better," Mia agreed. "But, as Dad pointed out last night, it's also a lot more expensive. Coffee at a French cafe might not taste as good, but it's a lot cheaper."

"Did he feed you last night?" I asked, losing patience. Just get to it, already, I wanted to say.

Mia smirked at me again, but her answer was forthcoming. "Yes, but we didn't go anywhere fancy, and we didn't stay there very long. We both had the short rib pho at the Phở Bắc Sup Shop. It was delicious. I highly recommend it. But, like I said, we didn't linger after we finished eating. We took a short walk and ended up at the Pratt Fine Arts Center, where he had signed us up for a glassblowing class. It was so much fun!"

That didn't sound safe at all. "You walked… in that neighborhood? At night?" I asked worriedly.

Mia rolled her eyes. "I had both of my CPOs with me, Christian, and I kept them close. Plus, the covert guys that I know you have tailing me even if you haven't told me they're there. Besides, the restaurant was really close to the Pratt Center. The rain had let up, but it was cold, so we didn't waste any time getting there. We were a little early for the class, which gave us time to look around. There are some great artists who have work there. I was impressed."

"What did you make?" Ana asked curiously.

"Some pretty little flower figurines," Mia answered. "Louis gave me his, so I put them both in a vase by my bed. I'll show you the next time you come over."

"It sounds like a really fun first date," Ana commented.

"It was," Mia agreed. "And I really like him. A lot." She glanced at me, looking uncertain. She looked like she made up her mind about something and then continued, "He kissed me when he dropped me off. That was our first kiss. And God, I didn't want him to stop. Holy shit, he knows how to kiss."

I didn't comment, and I'm sure my face was turning a little green. Ana snorted at the expression on my face. But she didn't mention it. Instead, she turned to Mia and asked, "Are you going to go out with him again before he leaves?"

Mia nodded and sounded more excited than usual as she answered, "He got us tickets to a Candlebox concert next Thursday night."

"I thought he was leaving next Thursday," I said.

"I didn't know Candlebox was on tour," Ana said almost at the same time. They both ignored my comment.

"I didn't either," Mia said. "Apparently, it's just a Seattle thing, and it's kind of small, so it was really hard to get tickets. He's stoked. He loves that band. We both do."

"When exactly is he planning to return to France?" I asked in what I hoped was a more neutral tone.

Mia sighed. "Friday," she replied. "And I know it's necessary for him to go so that his immigration status will be legal when he returns to work. But I hate the timing. It is what it is, though. Oh, and he wanted me to tell you about a conversation we had last night over dinner. He said it would be important to you to know about the stuff he told me. I was surprised to learn and I'm sure you will be, too, that Louis comes from a family that will be familiar to you, and not exactly what the background report you have reflects, because Louis said that they're all very protective of their privacy, so they don't make it easy for people to find out shit on them. But he's notified his family's security people that your people will be looking into his background, and he's given them the green light to let you find out who he really is. He wants you to have the freedom to search for shit on him because he knows it's important to you. Go figure, Christian; he's got you figured out."

Her last comment didn't make me feel any better about everything else she'd just said. "What are you talking about, Mia? Who did he tell you he is?"

"Well, he's a Dior, which is a fairly common name, so I'm sure you didn't expect him to be the grandchild of Christian Dior or anything. Well, he was gay, but that's beside the point. No, but it turns out that Christian Dior was a distant cousin on his mother's side, which is where he gets his name, because his parents never married and his birth father wasn't listed on his birth certificate. It's the identity of his birth father that's really interesting."

Welch had not turned up anything of significance in his research. "Who is he?" I asked Mia curiously.

"Have you heard of Bernard Arnault?" Mia asked.

I snorted. Who the hell hadn't heard of Bernard Arnault? "What, are you about to tell me that's his father or some shit?"

Mia smirked. "That's exactly what I'm about to tell you," she confessed. "Louis is not his legitimate child, so he's not listed in the family on Wikipedia or anything. Apparently, his dad had an affair shortly before he divorced his first wife. Louis said they were already separated. Anyway, things didn't work out between his parents, and they'd broken up before he was even born. They never married, and his dad ended up marrying someone else and having more legitimate children before he even knew Louis existed. But for as long as Louis can remember, his dad has always taken care of him, financially. Apparently, Louis wouldn't even have to work if he didn't want to, but his dad wouldn't approve of him freeloading. All of his siblings have a strong work ethic, and so does he. And apparently, his siblings know about him and don't hate him or anything. They just don't publicly acknowledge him.

I wasn't sure whether to tell Mia that I thought this was a load of shit or not. No, I needed to do my own research first. I would talk to Welch as soon as Mia left my office. Billionaire Bernard Arnault was one of the wealthiest people in the world. And those siblings Mia spoke of? Delphine Arnault was the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton. And I knew for a fact that Antoine Arnault was currently being groomed by his father to be the CEO of Dior (yes the same Christian Dior, which Bernard owned). And their younger brothers all had important roles in Bernard Arnault's business empire. Hell, I knew a lot about Bernard Arnault because until very recently, I had wanted to be him. If he'd had an illegitimate child between his marriages, I think I would have known about it.

I didn't let Mia see my skepticism. Instead, I asked her, "Why did Louis tell you to tell me all this personal information?"

Mia replied, "He thinks you're afraid he's a gold digger, or that he's not good enough for me. He wanted you to know he comes from money so he doesn't need me for my wealth, which is actually a lot less than his."

Again, I didn't openly scoff or let her see my disbelief in Louis's motives. I didn't trust him, and I didn't believe he was who he was claiming to be. But I would let Welch do his job before I said anything of the sort to Mia. The truth would come out.

After Mia left, Ana turned to me and said, "You don't believe her. You don't believe that Louis is the illegitimate child of Bernard Arnault."

I shook my head. "Do you think she realized I don't believe it?" I asked.

She replied, "I think she probably knows you have your doubts. I suspect that she's trusting your research to prove it just as much as you're expecting it to prove otherwise."

"Did you believe her?" I asked Ana curiously. Her opinion wouldn't change my mind, but I was curious.

She shrugged. "Why would he lie about something like that?" She answered. "Something so easy to prove or disprove? I mean, he said he's notified his father's people. He must know that you're going to go straight to the man himself. Bernard Arnault, I mean. It's very easy to find out the truth, actually."

Ana was right; it would be easy to set up a conversation with the big man himself. I still had the conversation with Welch that I'd planned to, and he went to work digging for new information. But I also got Ana to contact Arnault's people to schedule a phone call with him. Hopefully, it would be just that simple.

The next day was Valentine's Day, our first together. It was hard to believe that at this time a year ago, I had not even met Ana yet. We hadn't met until March at her job interview. Even though she'd told me that I had to stop sending flowers to the office, this was different. They weren't make-up flowers because I'd fucked up; they were "I love my wife" flowers. I ordered 50 long-stem red roses and a large box of truffles that I knew Ana would share with the office. Apparently, my brother had the same idea that I did, except that Holly's matching bouquet was pink instead of red. I had sent Ana pink roses a week ago. And yellow another day. And lavender another day. I'd pretty much gone the whole rainbow, and then ordered a mixed bouquet. But this one, for our first Valentine's Day, had to be red, just like our wedding flowers had been.

We were scheduled for dinner with Elliot and Holly at Ciel de Grey at 7:00 p.m., so I made sure to finish work promptly at 5:00 p.m. so that Ana would have plenty of time to get home, rest a little if she wanted, shower and change for dinner. As it turned out, she was happy to shower together, which meant I got to fuck my wife before we even went out to dinner. I promised her that the two orgasms I gave her in the shower were the first of many orgasms I would give her before the night was over. She responded with that look that told me she was totally turned on but refused to admit it. Yeah, I'd have her begging for me before the night was over.

"So I take it I'm not in the doghouse for buying you more flowers?" I asked Ana as we were headed to the elevator. We had to walk by the table in the foyer where Ana had placed her Valentine's Day bouquet when we came home from work. Well, her security had put it there, as it was too heavy for her to carry herself. I'd made sure to order a high quality crystal vase, which wasn't light, and fifty roses in water were also heavy. I was glad she'd brought them home, though, and not given them to the cleaning staff. It proved that she was happy I'd sent them. She liked them. She was looking at the roses approvingly, which made me happy.

"Not when you include a card like that, no," she replied. "That was one of the sweetest love letters I've ever seen, and I've read a lot of love stories over the course of my life. You are so romantic when you want to be."

Really? All I'd written was that I love her and am so glad she married me. That she made me want to be a better man. That life was worth living because of her. She already knew all that. But I was glad it had made her happy.

Ana still hadn't had a chance to drive her new Mercedes SUV more than once, but she always preferred to take it when we went out together. Tonight was no exception. She was right that it was convenient that most of our security could ride with us, but I didn't want them to tonight. It was Valentine's Day. I wanted my wife to myself, but I also wanted to hold her hand and kiss her whenever I wanted on our way there, so we got one of them to drive us.

I'd given Jason the night off to spend with his wife. That's right, Jason and Gail had eloped shortly after they'd attended our wedding at Christmas. While Ana and I were in New York, Dubai, and Paris, the Taylors were getting married in Reno and spending their honeymoon in a cabin at Lake Tahoe. Ana had been furious with them for keeping the secret, but not for long. We'd celebrated with them by taking them out for dinner in a "fancy restaurant," as Ana called it. Ana had wanted to throw a party for them, but they politely refused. They hadn't wanted the hassle of a wedding, even a small one. They didn't want, in Gail's words, for anyone to "make a fuss over" them. I agreed but then gave them both another raise without telling them.

Tonight, my own CPOs were Reynolds and Sawyer, who usually filled in wherever needed since he was no longer needed for Ana. I still had plenty of work for him, just not as Ana's CPO. Ana had Pam and Belinda. It was Belinda who drove Ana's Mercedes while Sawyer followed us in one of our Audis with the rest of our security.

The restaurant looked fantastic. It looked great on any given day now that we'd rebranded and reopened as Ciel de Grey for lunch service. But at night, with the city lights in the background outside the large windows, the atmosphere in the restaurant was very different than it was at lunch. Was this romantic? I whispered that question to Ana, and she agreed that the atmosphere was very romantic and perfect for Valentine's Day.

Most of the tables were already full, and the smell of food coming from the kitchen was appetizing. Of course, I had reserved a private room for the four of us. There were no paparazzi in the room, but that didn't mean people wouldn't use their cell phones and post pictures of us on social media, which we didn't want. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why people found us so fascinating.

I wasn't surprised that we'd beat Elliot and Holly here. I was a little surprised that they arrived only a couple of minutes behind us. We hadn't even ordered the appetizer yet. Just as Elliot and Holly took their seats, the server came in with these laminated one-page menus. I thought they could have looked nicer, but the layout and font looked fine. It was easy to read, anyway. There was a note at the bottom that explained that Ciel de Grey would have a more extensive menu when we began opening regularly for dinner. There were five courses being offered tonight, and one set price covered it all. Each course had two options, except the main course and dessert, which had three options each.

"Is this all there is?" Elliot asked unhappily as he looked over the menu.

"It's a limited menu because we're only doing this one night," I explained. "Like the note at the bottom says, when we open in the summer, if we do, there will be a bigger menu."

Elliot pouted playfully. "I'd really wanted wings."

Ana snorted her sexy snort, which made Holly snigger. Ana reminded Elliot, "Ciel de Grey is French, El. They won't have chicken wings, even when they have a full menu."

The server entered again, this time carrying a bottle of wine, which I'd ordered when I booked our room, and a platter of what appeared to be deviled eggs. I glanced at the menu again because I hadn't seen that in the choices of appetizers. As she served our wine, the server announced, "Along with the wine that you preordered, this is our Amuse-Bouche, with compliments from the chef. This one-bite dish is called 'oeufs mimosa' in French, which is 'eggs mimosa' in English, because the topping resembles the flowers of a Mimosa tree."

"Are all of the patrons here tonight being offered this dish, or are we special?" I asked the server. Was the golden boy brown-nosing? I'd told him I wanted the same service as everyone else, not anything special. I wanted to see how he was feeding everyone, not just his potential boss.

"Of course, we're special," Elliot jumped in.

The server answered, "Yes, of course, you are. Everyone at Ciel de Grey tonight is special. And everyone is receiving this dish, with complements from the chef. Chef Louis explained that in France, it is appropriate for the Amuse-Bouche to be complementary, and it doesn't count in the five courses you are being offered this evening. He says it's just a bite to 'amuse your mouth.' Please, enjoy, and I will be back shortly to take your hors d'oeuvre orders."

"Are deviled eggs not hors d'oeuvres?" Elliot asked once the server had left. He was looking confusedly at the menu, which listed two hors d'oeuvres, neither of which was "oeufs mimosa."

"It's a one-bite hors d'oeuvre," Ana agreed. "I like that phrase, 'Amuse-Bouche.' It literally means 'amuse mouth.' That's clever."

"I wondered about that," Holly said. "I don't speak a word of French, except maybe 'merci' and 'bonjour.' But I thought that was probably what the server meant.

"So, I take it that French people like deviled eggs but don't like wings?" Elliot asked.

Ana just smirked at him and shook her head. Leave it to my idiot brother to want bar food at a classy French restaurant.

"The smoked salmon canapés sound really good," Holly told Elliot. "I know you like smoked salmon."

Elliot nodded. "Yeah, I do. And so do you." They smiled sweetly at each other. They must have shared smoked salmon at some point in the recent past.

"You'll like the Alsatian cheese tart, too," I told him. "It's kind of like a pizza. Mia has them on her lunch menu, but I'm guessing the appetizer version is smaller."

Those being the only two appetizers served tonight, other than the mimosa eggs, we ordered some of each. As it turned out, Louis's Alsatian cheese tarts were only slightly smaller than Mia's lunch version, with different toppings than she normally used. These had olives and capers. Mia's version had caramelized onion and bacon. I preferred hers, but Louis's were OK. The canapés were very good, though, so I didn't have a real complaint yet.

For our second course, all of us except Holly had the bouillabaisse, a fish soup that Ana and I had ordered once in Paris. Holly had the potage parmentier, just a basic potato and leek soup. And I hated to admit it, but the bouillabaisse was delicious. The seafood was fresh and cooked perfectly. We were all three impressed with the flavor. This dish would definitely need to make it onto the permanent dinner menu when the time came. Holly liked her soup, too, and I agreed that it would be good to have it as an option, especially since it was vegan, which a lot of people preferred.

The third course was a salad. Ana chose the "niçoise" salad, which was a green salad with sliced tomatoes, boiled eggs, red onions, green bell peppers, olives, artichokes and tuna. I'd decided that after that delicious bowl of soup, I didn't want another dish with fish so soon. But when I tasted Ana's salad, I regretted that decision. That wasn't canned tuna. It was fresh and delicious, with a very tasty dressing. The rest of us had chosen the Parisian salad, which was also good, but not extraordinary like Ana's salad was. It was just a basic green salad with chunks of cheese, sliced ham, and sliced boiled eggs, topped with some croutons that I knew Louis had made himself. They weren't as good as Gail's croutons, but they were OK.

For our fourth course, the main course, we had three options. Elliot and I were quick to decide on the boeuf bourguignon, and I didn't regret that decision. Again, I hated to admit it, but it was some of the best I'd ever eaten. Ana and Holly had both gone with the classic cassoulet, which they both also raved over. It had three different kinds of meat in it, sausage, pork and chicken, along with a ton of vegetables and white beans. I had to agree when I tasted it, the sauce was delicious. There was also a vegan cassoulet, which none of us ordered, which was made with smokey portobello mushrooms. I'd have to look for comments about it in the reviews since it was the only dish being served tonight that none of us had tried.

Actually, as it turned out, we got to sample the vegan cassoulet as Louis came out of the kitchen carrying a tray with small plates for each of us. He greeted us jovially and offered the sample of the one dish that we hadn't tasted yet. I was glad I'd gone with the beef, but the vegan dish wasn't bad. Vegans would like it, I thought. The golden boy watched us as we tried the dish and asked us about the other dishes we'd eaten. He was more attentive to Ana and Holly than I preferred, but Elliot was laughing just as much as they were. Damn, I thought he didn't like the bastard either. Maybe he was playing along to impress Holly. I'd have to ask him about it later.

Louis returned to the kitchen, and then Mia joined us for the dessert course. Dessert also had three options, but there was a fourth option for Valentine's Day that Louis was creatively calling "assiette d'amour," a plate of love, which was simply one slightly smaller serving of each dessert that the couple could share. That, of course, was what we all chose, except for Mia, who had a small bowl of chocolate pots de crème. And honestly, it was impossible to decide which was best of the three, the chocolate pots de crème, the cherry clafoutis, or the vegan apple tart. When Mia asked us which one we preferred, we all had different answers.

"The apple tart, definitely," Elliot answered. "But the one you made at Thanksgiving was better."

"I really like the cherry clafoutis," Ana told Mia. "The tartness of the cherries with the sweetness of the cake is really nice."

"Yeah, I agree," Holly said. "It's a perfect balance. I really like this chocolate stuff, though. I think it's my favorite."

"Which of these did you make?" I asked Mia.

"None of them," she replied. "I assisted. I chopped the cherries and sliced the apples. But Louis made all three of them." She turned to Holly and said, "I agree, the chocolate pots de crème is my favorite. Louis had wanted to do chocolate soufflés, but I knew this was a better choice for tonight."

The ladies discussed the difference between the cooking methods for each of those two chocolate desserts, but I wasn't paying much attention. I didn't want to admit which dessert I liked the best because I thought Mia's desserts were better. Honestly, I think I preferred the cherry clafoutis, but feeding Ana spoonfuls of the chocolate pots de crème was even better than eating it myself. I was just glad that the tablecloth hid my erection, which only grew harder every time Ana took another bite. Each time she took a bite, she made eye contact with me, and I knew that she knew what she was doing to me.

Of course, our conversation over the entire dinner experience had contributed to my growing problem… in a very good way. Elliot was usually the one to introduce a new topic, ranging from songs to movies and other pop culture stuff, but somehow the conversation always turned just naughty enough to make Ana blush. Holly wasn't blushing, though, and she was laughing and joining right in. Yeah, she clearly liked Elliot, too, and she seemed a lot like him outside of the office. She wasn't offended by Elliot's dirty mind, and she even made a few questionable comments herself. I didn't lose any respect for her, though. If anything, I respected her more. With all the innuendo being thrown around during this meal, I was pretty sure my brother was going to get his wish tonight. Holly had already hinted that Elliot would be spending the night at her place. I'm not sure whether she intended to give that information away, but once it was out there, there was no taking it back. I made sure Ana knew throughout our meal what my intentions were as soon as we got home, and I did it very subtly, with touches to her arm and a couple of times her thigh, and through my glances. She knew what I was doing, and her body language told me everything I needed to know, through those glances of her own, the goosebumps on her arms, and her pebbled nipples: she was horny as hell.

I was delighted when we got home that it was actually Ana who initiated things. She took my hand and led me to the bedroom. As soon as the door was closed behind us, she attacked my lips. I could get used to this! In no time at all, we were both naked, and she was riding me. And we lasted for hours!

In fact, we slept very little as we were getting up early to head to the airport for our honeymoon. I had arranged for us to take the week off, and I'd originally planned to spend Valentine's Day in Hawaii, but since I'd wanted to be there for Ciel de Grey's big night, we'd delayed our trip a couple of days. We wouldn't return until next Tuesday, though, so we would still have a full week in Hawaii.

"OK, I have a question," Ana announced on the airplane the next morning. "How serious are you about buying a vacation house in Hawaii?"

"Very serious," I answered. I thought she knew that.

She nodded and continued, "OK, and what kind of house do you want? Do you want it to be big enough for the whole family, like Aspen, or would you prefer it to be a getaway for just us?"

"Why are you asking, babe?" I asked her.

"Well, because I've been looking at real estate in Oahu, and I already made a couple of appointments to see some of them on Thursday. I can make more appointments once I have a better idea of what we're looking for. I just guessed that we'd want several bedrooms. But the houses I like aren't huge. The two I've made appointments for are both five-bedroom beach-front homes."

"That could work, if there's land to build a security house," I told her. "And looking at houses sounds fun, but don't make any appointments for Friday or Saturday. I've already got plans for us for both of those days."

"What plans?" she asked curiously.

I smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see."

I was going to surprise her with an overnight trip to the big island that included a helicopter tour of a waterfall and a volcano. We were going to spend the night at a resort that included a stargazing package. And I knew that she was going to love it all. I only wished we could have taken off more than a week, but I knew we'd return in the summer, hopefully after we'd purchased Ana's dream vacation house.