CHAPTER 18

Taylor and Sawyer saw that as their cue to leave and let them talk. They left out of the door and closed it behind them.

Ana still had her fur coat on and was standing looking out the wall window at the snow moving and the snowy weather front about to hit. She was trying to wind down from his yelling at her and she knew she lashed back at him hard in return. Christian was scared now and she knew that but was not backing down. She thought, 'I tried to save myself from getting shot and helped the man to get help. I know I did nothing wrong but, he was trying to act all dominant and CEO on me for doing the right thing. He was scared because of me being put in front of a gun, but it was not the first time and may not be the last time a gun gets aimed at me. I know he isn't used to it and hates all of this gunplay. I get that. His feelings are so new and his protective side was coming out to chastise me like a fucking sub would put up with. He is going to have to learn to respect and trust me even in dangerous situations or this isn't going to work. My qualifications were good if not better than his own men watching over him and he is going to have to realize that.'

He walked up behind her and said in a cracking voice, "Please don't leave me, Anastasia. Please. I don't think you're a fool or am questioning your experience as a profiler. I… I was scared of you being in an unprotected position of being killed again. I don't understand how you can forgive someone sent for the second time to kill you and then put yourself out there to help pay for their therapy?"

Ana said flatly without turning around, "I am entitled to help anyone I deem worthy to save on my own dime. It's not your decision or money. It's not like I moved him into my apartment or something stupid like a bubble headed fool. I can take care of myself and had my gun point blank in the kill shot when he got on the elevator before he even pulled Elena's gun. With my training and reflexes, he would have had a 75% higher chance of death in statistics than me in that situation. I had the positioning trajectory already mapped out with the emanate death percentage already calculated as soon as he pulled the gun. I am trained in some things better than your security is and probably equal to the rest. If you're going to jump all over me and talk condescendingly to ridicule my decisions without asking me why I made that decision, we won't last very long. You're going to have to learn to trust me in these kinds of situations or we will never work." He got upset and more agitated.

He was running his hands through his hair frustrated and she could see him in the reflection of the window. Christian asked her, "Why did you make that decision to help him?"

She said stoically, "Because Christian, he was just like you when I met you six months ago. Needing someone to show you a different way to live. I put both of you in touch with someone who both of you can trust not to hurt either of you. That's what Elena looked for, someone with low self-esteem, damaged trust issues, desperate for some kind of special attention or connection and going through pubescent sexual angst. That's the perfect victim for a pedophile. He was reaching out desperately to me because he lost his domme, his security blanket and it was a last ditch effort to get praise or acknowledgement from her. I blew up the fucking bubble in his mind of how was viewing her as the innocent victim. I made him see that logically she was the one stealing, molesting kids, running prostitutes. I then showed him my wound in my arm that she did and told him the truth about my thirty six stitches she did to harm me. He shifted emotionally. I felt it. When he handed me that gun, I got his trust and I wasn't going to throw it away or him away like trash. I sent him to the top psychologist in the state who is a good friend of mine. He will be safe if he goes to see her. That's why I did it. He deserves to be saved just as much as you did."

He was angry, conflicted and a bit jealous that she would help Marty. She explained herself and what happened step by step. Ana got someone else to treat him. He did feel special that she was "giving him the hands on approach" like she called it and that she told Marty she could only help one man at a time. It was himself. Christian knew she was better trained than his security and he overreacted saying things that flew out of his mouth without thinking.

His head was down feeling bad about how he said all the things the wrong way and made her mad at him. He said sadly, "I'm sorry, Anastasia for overreacting like I did. Please don't hate me or leave me."

Christian reached out and touched the back of her coat. She turned around and held out her arms. He grabbed her and buried his face in her neck. Ana could feel his desperation rolling off of him. He was holding her tightly to himself. She had her arms wrapped around him rubbing his back and the back of his head.

Christian said into her neck, "I love you so much. I don't ever want anything to happen to you. I don't think I could stand it."

She whispered in his ear, "You're going to have to trust me Christian."

He pulled back and began possessively kissing her to make sure she knew how much he needed her. Ana shrugged off her coat and purse dropping onto the floor. She was going to show him the only way he would understand that she wasn't leaving him. She broke the kiss, grabbed the door locking fob out of his little top desk drawer and locked the door. It was 1:45 pm.

Ana said looking at him in the eyes, "You have Mia showing up at 3:30 pm for her business plan presentation. It's 1:45 pm, if you fuck me real fast and hard on your desk we can get cleaned up and back to work before she comes here. I did put another pair of panties in my purse." He ran over to his desk and cleaned it off.

Christian looked at her and she unclasped her belt and dropped it. She peeled her dress up, was standing there in her black lacy panties, black lace holster corset, thigh high black holdup stockings with lace at the top and her Jimmy Choo burgundy high heels. He grabbed her and ripped off her panties pocketing them. He pushed her back, lifted her up on his desk. Christian spread her legs looking down at her and her braid laying spread out on his desk as his hands were rubbing her thighs. He stopped and undid his pants.

He said with dark dilated eyes while panting already from excitement, "I'm going to fuck you until your scream."

Christian entered her as she moaned from the fullness. He began to thrust into her and was pounding her hard with her legs spread so wide. She was squeezing and contracting around him. He loved fucking her and the muscle control she had.

Christian leaned over her as she unbuttoned his shirt and rubbed his pec muscles while lightly pinching his nipples. He was groaning, moving his hips, slapping their skin and thrusting hard. He said huffing looking into her eyes, "Never leave me. I can't live without you touching me."

Ana started to cum and called out, "Yes! Oh Christian!" Christian pulled out of her and flipped her over taking her from behind pounding her as she just finished coming and was building up for another. He was hitting her g spot right on the money at the right angle. He reached around her massaging her clit, wet his finger in his mouth and put it in her rosebud. She was moaning and crying out as he was pounding her.

Christian pinched her clit and she came screaming his name, "Oh God! Christian! Yes! Yes!" He came straining so hard calling her name and collapsed on top of her.

He said panting with his face on its side in the middle of her back, "Don't ever go away."

She said breathlessly, "I won't, baby." Christian smiled, turned his face and open-mouth kissed her skin.

After a moment or two, he sat up and admired the sight of her with their cum dripping out of her pussy. He sat in his chair and started masturbating her with his finger with their mixed cum as she was bent over the desk. Ana began moaning and moving with his hand. He was smiling watching her fuck his fingers as his thumb masterbated her clit. Christian speed up.

He said in a deep sexy voice, "You don't know what it does to me seeing my cum run out of you. I am just going to have to make you come one more time for me with our cum before I clean your pussy so heavily soaked in my come." She was moaning, whimpering and mewling louder because she was so sensitive.

He was sitting in his chair and said deeply, "I think my baby likes her pussy masterbated with my come. Tell me you want more, baby?"

She said moaning, "Oh baby, more! Yes, just like that!" Christian sped up and reinserted his finger in her rosebud pumping in and out.

Ana shouted while overstimulated, "Harder and faster, Christian! Oh God! Yes! Fuck me with your fingers! Ah! Ahhh!!!" She came so hard she squirted. He loved watching her do that. He had done that a few times before to subs but not his Anastasia. Her body was shaking and trembling and collapsed on his desk. Christian kissed her ass cheeks.

He stood up and said, "Stay there, baby, I'll be right back." He went to the bathroom, washed his hands, wet a cloth and cleaned himself. Christian rinsed it out, zipped up his pants and went back to his desk with the wet warm cloth. He started wiping her up as she moaned from being so sensitive right now squeezing out everything for him to catch. He saw that her come had hit his pant leg a little near the floor when she came that last time. It made him grin. She marked him.

When he was done cleaning her, he got up, rinsed the washcloth out and washed his hands again. Ana stood up and put her fresh panties on from her purse and put on her dress. Christian picked up her coat and purse off the floor feeling the weight of her coat and put his hand in, but felt the gun handle. He just sat both items on the chair. She picked up the chain belt and put it on. She looked at him and noticed his face changed to a frown when he was moving her coat and purse.

Ana said looking at him, "Don't worry. I will make arrangements to dispose of it safely. Del can come get it sometime this week. He'll probably run it for prints and serial numbers before."

He said with his hands in the air looking at her, "I didn't say anything, I swear. I know you want to get rid of it." She took her gun out of the pocket and put it in her corset holder. She put Elena's gun in her purse with the safety on.

—--

Christian and Ana both went to conference room 'A' and found Mia all set up and ready to go. Ana was proud of her. Mia was wearing a Ralph Lauren black belted mockneck jersey midi dress and a pair of Louboutin black high heels. She looked very professional and all business.

They both sat down and got comfortable at the conference table. There was a slide projector, and spread of paperwork and trays of food samples covered in plastic.

Mia smiled at Ana and winked at her. She had set up to reserve the slide projector she got from Andrea last Friday for the presentation. She had slides made for her business.

Mia asked looking at them, "Shall we begin?" Christian nodded completely blown away by Mia acting so professional and serious.

She took two packets of papers in a resume transparent plastic presentation file folder with the bar down the spine holding it together. Her logo was printed out in color on the cover page.

Mia hit the switch and dimmed the lights in the room. She clicked on the button fob and her business logo came up on the screen that she and Ana had designed together. It was in bright pink elegant script letters outlined in black on a white background. It was a scrawled chef's hat swirling into fancy cursive lettering with a cake outlined character at the end of the swirling lettering scrawl. It said "Chef Mia's Secret Bakery".

The next slide showed the business statement was "Welcome to the best kept French secret in Seattle."

She said seriously, "This is my business statement pitch."

Mia clicked the fob with pictures of the other bakeries in the downtown area and said, "The other independent bakeries, unless they are in the wedding cake business, in the area don't have delivery service catering to the businesses district in the area. The only ones that do are all franchised. My bakery's products will be above their quality and you can trust after the first few bites they will become addicted. It's just getting their attention and getting them in the door that will be the first thing to do. My products will speak for themselves." She hit the fob and a picture showed a glass storefront case in a bakery with doughnuts and cakes.

She said confidently, "There are only a select three specialty bakeries in the downtown area and none of them are Paris culinary trained. From my research the only French bakery in the area is in Bellevue. As an independent bakery I will have the advantage, especially in delivering to morning meetings and luncheons once established. I will not have to charge top tier prices like the names of the elite hotels catering to the economic landscape or the four French caterers that are competing against one another. My product advertisement will attract more clientele from off the street and local businesses while leading to reputation inevitably. A better product at a better cost without the international chain of hotels relying on their name or the national franchise doughnut shops with a cheap product as a threat to push away competition."

Mia handed Christian the sample menu she had drawn up with pricing from the software she had printed out and another paper showing the cost breakdown on product costs per count to the ingredients cost for the products she would make daily and increase or decrease accordingly. She also had the prices of the equivalent products from the hotels, pricing of the four caterer's and the cheaper ones from the franchises. She had him turn the page to the details of providing her insights into the competitive landscape of Seattle, explaining how her pricing strategy would position her bakery within the broader market. Mia placed her trays in front of them with a tray of savory and a tray of sweet pastries. Ana and Christian both started nibbling. Ana has skipped lunch.

She put up slides showing a sample flyer, business card, sample menu and a standard ad for the newspaper. It was to outline her marketing and sales strategy. She provided an in-depth overview of the key tactics to employ to reach potential customers and showcase her understanding of how to connect with the target market through various sales channels.

Mia said, "I believe ads in the newspaper, and flyers for advertising on the street to start with a flyer delivery service to distribute to downtown businesses and cafes. I have listed the advertisement projection costs on page ten."

She hit the fob and showed four slides of buildings. She said, "I have four locations in mind for my bakery but hope I can retain one of the properties before they are sold. Elliot has already sent out his contractors to look at the property condition and cost estimate for renovations on page twelve in the packet."

Christian asked, "You already consulted with Elliot? That's quick moving, Mia. You have surprised me." He took another bite reading the packet. She smiled to herself.

Mia brought up slides showing her financial projections, flow charts to show sales, the number of customers ratio, expenses, and profit projections. She had potential income statements, and cash flow forecasts for at least three years in her packet.

She said to them, "I know that these are projections with only acceptable milestones to accomplish first to be realistic. I estimate myself that if I can get the attention necessary the timeline could be shortened depending how fast I get on my feet. I consulted to seek advice from Ana of course, commercial real estate agents, Elliot's contractors, and consulted with experienced bakers to help guide my decision-making."

Christian said, "That's impressive. Do you have any overall cost estimates?"

Mia said putting up another slide showing basic cost breakdown, "I estimated that it would cost any one walking off the street $500,000 bare minimum to get a basic business up and running, but that is without backing capital, employee salaries, owning the building and property or the delivery vehicle. I will be rolling the funds over back into the business I estimate for at least the next three years depending how well I can do. The bottom line I will ask for is a three million dollar investment so be completely safe. I will wait on my delivery vehicle to insure getting the business up and running first."

Christian was completely blown away at the time and investment effort she put into the presentation. She had provided him with enough information in the packet and explained in detail everything he needed to know. The pastry was outstanding of course, but her projections were quite realistic. She talked like she had taken a business class and that had him stumped.

Christian asked curiously, "How did you put this all together and clearly understand it so well? It's like you took business classes on the side."

Mia said smirking glancing at Ana, "As you know, Ana helped me develop the plan from scratch and we had been working on it in our spare time over the last ten or eleven weeks. Ana was teaching and showing me how business works with outlines on what I needed to gather in my research in order to do more accurate projections by comparison. She showed me how to do a cost analysis that's on page twenty one." Christian flipped to page twenty one. He was completely overwhelmed that his baby sister could pull this off in such a formal way, even when talking to him professionally. He never saw her so focused and trying so hard to impress him. He looked over at Ana and knew she had taught and given his little sister direction, focus and the tools for her to learn how to do that. He was grateful that Ana came into their lives, but changing his little sister was a miracle to him.

Christian said to Mia, "Let me go over everything you have here and I'll get back to you before the end of the week, ok?" Mia nodded and started gathering up her things into a box she had.

Christian said walking up to her, "Mia," she turned to look at him. He continued, "I want you to know how very impressed and proud of what you have done and accomplished here today. I have never seen you so very focused and professional. You're amazing."

She put her box down, wrapped her arms around him and said, "You have no idea how much your respect for me means to me Christian. I love you for saying that to me." He hugged her back. Ana smiled watching them.

Ana said, "You can leave us the samples, Mia. I missed lunch going to the doctor's office." She began piling the pastry on the cellophane so she could have the empty trays back.

Mia said giggling, "I think you're my number one fan, Ana."

Ana gathered it up, eating one and said, "Damn straight. I have always been proud of you since I've met you." Mia grabbed her and hugged her.

Ana said seriously, "Don't squish my goodies, Mia." All three of them laughed.