Chapter 30: Dinner with Elliot & Kate
"I knew I could count on you for the best tacos in the Pacific Northwest," Kate announced to Christian as she and Elliot approached the table where he and Anastasia were already seated. "You must be Anastasia," she said to Ana. "It's very nice to meet you."
Anastasia stood up and side hugged Kate. She already knew what Elliot looked like from the Grey Construction advertisements she'd seen on TV. She was surprised that Kate looked more like his sister than Mia did, with blonde hair, blue eyes, dimples, and a squarish chin. She was also almost as tall as Elliot. They were even dressed alike, in faded jeans and dark green sweaters. Anastasia wondered if that had been intentional. She also noticed that Kate had a very noticeable baby bump.
"Yes, it's VERY nice to meet you," Elliot added as he helped Kate sit down and then took a seat. "I'm Elliot, the best looking Grey brother. Chrissy got the brains and I got the looks."
Anastasia smiled at Elliot's joke and didn't tell him that she disagreed. He was nice looking, but not like Christian. He also must be smart to be a successful architect and business owner, which Anastasia knew he was. But Christian had him beat both in genius and appearance. "It's very nice to meet you both, too. I recognize you, Elliot from your commercials for Grey Construction. Kate, you look familiar, too, but I can't think of where I've seen you."
"News Channel Five, midday weather report," Kate answered.
"That's it," Anastasia agreed. "You're the weather girl?"
"Meteorologist," Kate corrected. "I'm not just a pretty face. I wanted to be a scientist, but my dad wanted me to work for Kavanagh Media. I really didn't want to be a journalist, so we compromised. I stayed in Seattle and studied meteorology at U-Dubb for my undergrad while working part-time at Kavanagh Media. Then I went to Stanford and got a PhD in Earth Systems Science. The weather girl thing is temporary to make Dad happy. I'd rather do research, which I hope to do more in the near future. I don't expect to return to Channel Five after maternity leave."
"Ah, you're Katherine Kavanagh," Anastasia noted. "Didn't you do a documentary about the wildlife on Vancouver Island?"
Kate looked impressed. "I did. It was actually focused on how global warming is impacting the island. You remember that?"
"It was really well done," Anastasia said as she nodded.
"If you liked the Vancouver Island one, you should see the one she did about the polar bears in northern Manitoba," Elliot commented. "It's better, but it scared the shit out of me when I found out my fiancee at the time almost got attacked by a polar bear."
"It didn't almost attack me," Kate disagreed.
"I saw the video footage, Kate," Elliot argued. "That bear wanted to eat you for breakfast."
Kate explained, "We were at a safe enough distance. It was a mother bear making sure we didn't get too close to her cubs. They were beautiful. And I was never in any danger."
"I'd love to see it," Anastasia said. "If it's better than the Vancouver Island one, it's worth seeing. Is it also about global warming?"
"Yeah, that's my passion," Kate answered. "I'm not making documentaries anymore. That was during my PhD. But I still do research on the side, particularly to discover what big industries can do to turn things around. Some of them actually care about such things."
"Like GEH?" Anastasia asked, looking at Christian.
He nodded. "Kate's on our payroll as an advisor."
"Thanks to Christian, I can keep researching the things I care about," Kate admitted appreciatively. "Reporting the weather wouldn't keep me satisfied. What about you, Anastasia? I read that you started a small publishing house. Seems like publishing would be a harder job to do well in than it was in the twentieth century. People don't read books like they used to, now that the internet has taken their place."
Anastasia shrugged. "We have to do it differently than publishers in the twentieth century did, but I disagree that people don't still read books. Some of our books are e-books only, but a lot of people still prefer to sit down with a hard copy of a good book. We do more audiobooks than publishers in the past did. More people prefer them."
"I prefer them," Elliot said. "I listen to books on my way to and from job sites. I've gotten into Stephen King again. I used to love his books when I was a teenager, but then I got too busy to read for pleasure. Now that I can do the audiobooks, I can enjoy them again."
"Audiobooks existed when you were a teenager, El," Christian informed him.
He shrugged. "I'm sure they did, but I never got into them then."
The server brought their drinks and food at the same time, and Anastasia felt confused because they hadn't even ordered yet.
"Good job, Chrissy," Elliot told him. "How did I know you'd call the order in? I tried to bet Kate that you would, but she refused the challenge because she knew you would, too."
Christian shrugged. "I always do."
"Christian always makes the best menu choices. He knows what we like," Kate told Anastasia.
That was all well and good, but Anastasia wondered if he knew what she liked. It didn't matter, though, because she'd agreed to eat the food her Dom chose for her. She only hoped it was something good.
Twenty minutes later, Anastasia had to agree with Kate. Christian had chosen well. This was the best Mexican food she'd ever eaten. There was an assortment of tacos: chicken, pulled pork, brisket, and fish. Anastasia had one of each and couldn't decide which one was best.
Kate clearly had her preference, though, as she'd finished off the rest of the fish tacos, to which she added hot salsa and mustard. Elliot laughed at her over the mustard, but she reminded him that he'd been the one to knock her up, so he could deal with her strange cravings. Apparently, he'd been dealing with a lot of her strange cravings, including dill pickle flavored potato chips with rocky road ice cream, and bananas dipped in sriracha sauce.
Over dinner, they talked first about baby plans. They already had a name picked out for their baby girl, and they weren't keeping it a secret. Ava Grace Kavanagh-Grey was due on the 4th of July, and Elliot was downright giddy. He'd already finished the renovation of her nursery, complete with an indoor treehouse play area. The colors were all bright primary colors. No fru-fru pink shit for his baby girl. Kate agreed completely. She wanted their daughter to grow up strong and confident. They weren't going to coddle her.
Then, they talked mostly about their families. Anastasia told them a bit about her dad and his simple life in Monsanto. She learned that Kate's brother Ethan had gone to high school with Mia Grey, and they'd actually been the ones to introduce Kate and Elliot. Mia was a lesbian, who much like BB had been out since middle school. According to Kate, Ethan was a man-whore, and she'd be surprised if he ever settled down. He'd completed his undergrad in journalism at Stanford while she was doing her PhD, so they'd shared an apartment. Now, he was on assignment in Tunisia investigating migrants and human trafficking. Kate worried that his job was too dangerous, but he didn't want to come home and work in a boring office job at Kavanagh Media.
Speaking of being worried about younger siblings, so were Elliot and Christian, not about Mia, who was almost finished with her JD at Harvard Law, but about Gabriela and especially Carson. Gabriela was sweet and shy, and almost always had her nose in a book. As Anastasia listened to them discuss Gabriela, she thought she sounded an awful lot like her when she was a teenager. The older brothers were mainly worried that Gabriela's twin would get her caught up in his drama. He'd already been suspended twice this year for smoking pot at school, and if he got caught a third time, he'd be expelled. Elliot fretted not that he'd get caught again smoking joints but that he'd move on to something stronger than marijuana, like cocaine or heroine.
They moved on quickly from that conversation, though, not wanting to bore Anastasia with their family issues, or perhaps not wanting to reveal too many details. Anastasia felt a bit envious, even as they expressed their worries, because she was an only child. She'd never known what it was like to worry over a younger sibling, although her mother was at times a bit like a younger sister. She didn't want to talk about Carla, though.
Just before the server brought out the dessert, churros, Elliot said, "OK, enough heavy shit. Anastasia… Coke or Pepsi?"
Anastasia glanced at her drink. "Umm. I'm fine with water."
"No, it's a game," Elliot explained. "Which do you prefer?"
"Oh! Well, I don't usually drink either of them now, but I used to be a Diet Coke fan," she answered.
"Favorite pizza toppings?" Elliot asked.
"Mushrooms, peppers and onions," she answered. "What about you?"
"Meat lovers," he answered, then jumped to the next question. "Wine or beer?"
"Depends on what I'm eating," she answered. "I'm not a big drinker, but I want my drink to complement my food."
Elliot smirked at Christian, then asked Anastasia, "Favorite author?"
"I don't have a favorite overall, but I have favorites in various genres. Growing up, my favorite classic English author was Jane Austin. I also loved Thomas Hardy and the Bronte sisters. My favorite classic American authors were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, and Eudora Welty. My favorite poet was Robert Frost. Today, my favorite authors are the ones we've published at Bennington Steele. If you're into thrillers like Stephen King, you should check out Rebecca Scoffield. Her first novel was The Ashers of Asheville. It's about two brothers. One's a police detective who's trying to catch a serial killer."
"Ooh, I read it," Kate announced. "It was really good. The older brother turns out to be the serial killer."
Anastasia smiled. "I wasn't going to give away any spoilers."
"Oops," Kate said, but she didn't sound remorseful. "It's really suspenseful, though. Even knowing that detail, you'll still like it, Elliot." She asked Anastasia, "Is there an audiobook?"
"There is," Anastasia confirmed. "You should look out for her next novel, too, which will be released at the end of this month. It's called, The Hills of Germantown. There are some supernatural elements that her first book didn't have. It's loosely based on a real family with the surname Hill who lived in the early Twentieth century in a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. It's scary as hell. She does a great job of incorporating southern culture and dialect into both books without sounding fake or making the dialogue hard to read. And she's a master at writing suspense. Really, really good."
As Christian listened to them talk about the plot of the book Anastasia recommended, he was mostly silent, but his eyes followed Anastasia's every word. This was different, and once again he was surprised at himself for liking it. He'd never brought a girl home or introduced a girl to anyone in his family, and he thought it would feel weird, but it didn't at all. He'd never felt this normal in his entire life.
But dinner ended far too quickly for Christian's liking, and he wasn't happy that it was time for Anastasia to go home. He would see her to the door of her apartment, but he wouldn't go inside. If he did, he'd fuck her, and he was determined for her to have a full day of rest from sex after the marathon they'd had the past couple of days.
On the drive to Anastasia's apartment, they made plans for the following night. They both had a busy Monday ahead, but after work, they could see each other again. Christian happily accepted her invitation to dinner and a movie at her place. He'd fuck her in her bed. Yes, he definitely looked forward to that.
"Remember that gray teddy you wore at Down Under the last time you scened with BB?" Christian asked Anastasia. "I want you to wear it tomorrow night for me."
"Yes, Sir," Anastasia answered with a blush. She then added, "I bought that teddy for you. Soft gray for the Gray Wolf. I wanted so badly to present myself to you that night, but BB wouldn't hear of it. But at least you got to see me. I'm glad it pleased you, Sir."
Christian smirked. "You enjoyed everyone seeing you, not just me. Well, they've seen all of you now, Princess. Tomorrow though, that teddy is for my eyes only. Wear a bathrobe to answer the door. I look forward to pealing that bathrobe off you, like unwrapping a present.
"Yes, Sir," Anastasia agreed. It wasn't the time to tell him she didn't own a bathrobe. She could purchase one tomorrow on her way home from work.
It turned out that Christian didn't make it into Anastasia's building when Taylor stopped in front of it because he was on the phone with Barney, who had found the link between Elena and Vincent Wolfe, the child pornographer. Elena had been smart, but not enough to outsmart Barney. He'd found the financial trail that very clearly linked them, meaning that Elena had been providing underage girls and boys for explicit videos. When Christian's fears were confirmed, he was so angry he couldn't even think straight. He wasn't even aware of it when Anastasia said goodnight and went to her door. Taylor was keeping watch, as were her covert guards. Her full-time CPO wouldn't start until the next morning.