My sides were hurting from laughing so hard! Either Anastasia's pedal boating experience was exaggerated, or she wasn't particularly good to begin with. In either case, it had been a matter of the blind leading the blind! Half an hour in, with repeated, shouted instructions from an increasingly frustrated Taylor, we finally got the hang of things.
"I thought you said you knew how to pedal boat?" I said to Anastasia as she giggled.
"Well, looking back, I guess Ray did most of the pedaling... And the steering."
Now across the basics, Anastasia and I were pedaling parallel to the shore some hundred yards out, trailed by Taylor in his kayak. The weather warm, and the lake relatively placid, I was confident we could make it back to shore without capsizing.
"Tell me more about growing up in Montesano," I asked, loving the way Ana's eyes sparkled when she spoke about her stepfather, Ray, and the modest town where she was raised. Knowing her mother was a sensitive topic, I did not mention her, and neither did Anastasia. Talk of her childhood morphed into me sharing tales of my own. Anastasia seemed enraptured by stories of Elliot, Mia, and me as kids, but she particularly loved hearing about our adventures at our grandparents' ranch in Montana.
"It must have been blissful spending summers like that," she said after I'd told her about Grandpa Theo's apple orchard and the creek where we swam almost every day.
"It was," I replied. "My parents, grandparents, and siblings still go for a week every summer—but I haven't been in years."
Anastasia turned to look at me. Anyone else would ask me why, but she smiled. "Maybe you will this summer. From what Mia said at lunch, you work too hard."
She was right. In the early days of GEH, I needed to invest every waking moment in my fledgling venture. Back then, time was literally money. But now the business was well and truly established. I had Ros and a huge team I could rely on to keep things ticking while I went away. A week at the Montana ranch could be fun. It had been a while since I'd seen Grandpa Theo and Grandma Adele—and heaven knows my mother would be delighted if I joined the rest of the family for the annual visit. I could already imagine picking apples with Anastasia and making smores in the firepit.
"Maybe I will," I said, lifting my aviators and giving her a panty-dropping smile. Surprised by the intensity of my gaze, Ms. Steele dropped her eyes. Usually, this would please me, yet I reached across and grasped her chin, lifting it slightly until she raised her eyes to meet mine. I brushed the pad of my thumb across the seam of her lips, wondering whether she'd meet me halfway if I leaned across to kiss her. "If I do go, I will tell you all about it," I continued, not letting on that if I went, I'd love her to go with me.
"Who was that woman at your office today? Mrs. Lincoln, I think Taylor called her?"
Caught off-guard, my first instinct was to lie. I wanted Elena and her influence as far away from Anastasia as possible. However, if I hoped to have any future with Ms. Steele, I couldn't start by being untruthful.
"She's a friend of my mother's and a business associate. I am a silent investor in her chain of beauty salons. I used to consider her a friend, but I've recently been trying to distance myself."
"She seems rather... domineering?" Anastasia commented, causing my lips to twitch.
Oh baby, you have no idea.
"You could say that. Now, Ms. Steele, I think it's time we turned around and headed back to the boathouse. While I wouldn't mind spending all day on the lake, our legs might get sore."
Thanks to a slight hind wind, our progress back was quicker than our journey out. It was 3:30 in the afternoon when we pulled up at the dock, climbing from the pedal boat and taking off our life jackets. Stepping out of his kayak, Taylor joined us as we moved into the boathouse to reclaim our bags.
"I thought we'd head straight home?" I suggested. "But if you'd like to change...?"
"No. Home and a shower sounds perfect," Anastasia replied, warming my heart. She'd called Escala home!
"You're early, Mr. Grey," Gail commented when Anastasia and I arrived in the penthouse at Escala just after 4:00 pm.
"Ana and I played hooky again this afternoon," I confided with an enormous smile. "We had lunch with my sister, then since it was such a nice day, we burned off some calories pedal boating on Green Lake."
"Pedal boating?" Gail asked with a surprised expression, before glancing at Taylor. I think she was unsure if I was telling the truth.
"I have the photos to prove it," Taylor replied, sharing a rare smile.
"We had a lot of fun," Anastasia concluded with a giggle. "Once we figured out how to steer the thing. Right now, though, I need a shower and a change of clothes."
"That sounds perfect," I agreed, trying to steer my thoughts away from the idea of showering with Ms. Steele. "We have an hour or two before dinner. How about I look over your CV before we eat?"
"That would be great! Denise had a few areas she wanted me to expand on. Meet you here in half an hour?"
"Deal," I replied. Friday night, and for the first time I was excited to spend the evening with a woman without it involving my playroom. I watched Ms. Steele's ass sashay toward her bedroom, only distracted when Gail addressed me.
"I've not started dinner. Is there anything, in particular, you'd like?"
"Whatever you suggest. Something simple. I thought Anastasia and I might hang out and talk tonight, so perhaps something we could eat at the coffee table?"
An hour and a half later, Ana's CV amendments were complete, and Mrs. Jones surprised us with a larger platter of Dim Sum. Rather than eat at the breakfast bar, we decamped to the great room where I switched on some music and the gas fireplace and we talked as we tried the dumplings, sauces, and other bite-sized delicacies Gail had prepared for us. An intimate dining experience, several times Anastasia lifted a dumpling to my lips with her fork, insisting I needed to try it. As we cleared the platter, we sat closer and closer together.
Everything about this was new to me. Spending time with a woman, talking and laughing? It just wasn't what I was about. Similarly, I'd played hooky three afternoons in a row, all so I could spend time with Ms. Steele. I couldn't remember the last time I'd finished work before 6:00 pm on a weekday, and even then, I'd usually come home to work in my home office for a few hours after dinner. In fact, thanks to my skiving off, there were a few things I needed to catch up on before Monday, so tomorrow I'd need to spend a few hours in my home office. But that was for tomorrow. Right now, I wanted to speak more with Anastasia. Pouring us each another glass of Zinfandel-based rosé, I relaxed back into the sofa and asked more about Ana's career aspirations.
Some time ago, Ros approached me with an idea to acquire a printing firm. With so many subsidiaries, rebrandings, and corporate materials requiring printing, it was a logical step to bring everything in-house. We could integrate it with marketing and graphic design at GEH and save both time and money. But hearing Ms. Steele voice her hopes that one day she might work in publishing opened up another stream of thought. There were a few small publishing firms in Seattle—indeed, one had approached GEH a month or two back, Seattle Independent Press, seeking investment. I'd never consider partnering with a firm on the brink, however, part of Jerry Roach's pitch sprang to mind... they needed reliable access to printing presses as their smaller print runs were regularly being pushed back in favor of larger and more lucrative print runs by other publishers. Despite being a boutique publishing house, association with Grey Enterprises Holdings should be enough to guarantee them access to presses—but if GEH owned SIP and the presses? Well. It would be a win-win.
I pulled out my Blackberry, firing a quick text off to Ros.
Pull up the proposal from Jerry Roach at Seattle Independent Publishing. They should be ripe to sell, and it would be bread and butter work for our printing presses.
"Work again?" Anastasia asked as I slipped my Blackberry into my pocket.
"Yes, but that's it for the night. Now I am all yours."
Anastasia bit her bottom lip again, my eyes traveling to look at it lustfully. Just over forty-eight hours, and I wanted this woman desperately!
"What do you want to do? Do you have any board games? We could play Scrabble? Monopoly? Or perhaps you have Twister?"
I groaned softly. Years ago, Elliot had boasted Twister was a great way to get up close and personal with a girl without being too obvious about it. Not that Ms. Steele was a girl, but I liked the up close and personal idea, and heaven knows Elliot was an expert at getting into a female's pants.
"Let me see what I have," I murmured, suspecting I'd draw a blank. I'd have to send Taylor out now. I'd ask him to get Monopoly, Scrabble, something fun, and also Twister. Pressing the button to the staff quarters, Mrs. Jones appeared wearing some yoga pants and a top. Oh yes. I'd given her the night off. Moments later Taylor appeared behind her dressed in sweats and a T-shirt.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt, Gail. I was wondering whether we have any board games or similar? Ms. Steele suggested we play, but I'm not sure I have any..."
"I've ever seen any in the apartment; however, I have some in the staff quarters. Shall I see what I have?"
Nodding at Gail and pretending not to notice Taylor's annoyed expression as he trailed her back into the staff apartment, minutes later Gail was back with Pictionary, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit – TV Edition, Scrabble, and a reversible Backgammon and Checkers set. Ruling out Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit, I decided on Scrabble and Monopoly. Thanking Gail profusely, I took the two games back to the coffee table where Anastasia was waiting.
Looking at the games, one held in each hand, she said she knew I'd annihilate her at Monopoly, so I suggested we start with Scrabble. What a mistake! The first game took about half an hour and Anastasia defeated me easily. Our second match was even more humiliating.
"I think you're cheating," I teased, pouting just a little. I suppose that's what you get for playing Scrabble with an English Lit. graduate.
"I am not!" Anastasia said, giggling at my pout.
"Oh, I think you are. Do you have a dictionary hiding on you somewhere? Perhaps a thesaurus?" I lunged at Anastasia where she sat beside me on the sofa, gently pushing her back as I pretended to frisk her.
"You'll find nothing!" she teased. "Some of us have a good command of the English language, Mr. Grey."
I mock growled, pushing Anastasia further back onto the sofa. And then, before I knew it, my lips were on hers. Softly, at first, but as she responded, I kissed her more firmly. We were lying on the sofa side-by-side, her half on her back, me on my side beside her. As our kisses heated up, Anastasia looped her arms around my neck, tentatively opening her mouth to mine.
At the first hesitant touch of my tongue to hers, my cock became like granite, pushing against the fabric of my pants. Not wanting to scare Anastasia, I held back, keeping my nether regions from pushing against her hip and my tongue gentle. This was a sweet kiss of exploration and I didn't want to ruin it by going too hard too fast. Besides which, I'd never kissed or been kissed like this before, and I was quite enjoying it. Needing to surface for air, I pulled away, but not before giving Anastasia a brief kiss on the tip of her nose.
"You're right. No dictionaries or thesaurus. I think next time we need to play Monopoly. It's banned at my parents' house as I've never lost a game."
"Never?" Ana asked as I gave her my hand and pulled her up into a sitting position. Neither of us said it, but the kiss was enough for now.
"Nope. You can ask Elliot when you see him on Sunday. He and Mia used to join forces halfway through the game, and I'd still beat them," I announced a little smugly. Physically adept, and without the touch issues I suffered from, Elliot beat me hands down at any sport or game where there'd potentially be physical contact. However, swimming, Monopoly, and running were where I owned him. Much to his disgust, he'd never bested me in any of his many attempts.
"Perhaps we can play it tomorrow night," Anastasia said, looking at her watch. She seemed a little shy after our kiss.
Checking my watch and seeing it was close to eleven, I agreed.
"I have a few things I need to work on tomorrow morning in my office. I'll probably eat breakfast before you're up, but if you're free we could share a late lunch? Security can take you out anywhere you need to go, otherwise, I have a private gym upstairs, the building has a pool on the eighth floor, or you might like to spend some time enjoying the library? I have an extensive and diverse collection."
"I'll find something to do," Anastasia promised with a small smile. Standing up, she shifted the small sauce bowls, chopsticks, and other remnants from our dinner and placed them on the serving platter, taking them across to the kitchen. As she loaded them into the dishwasher, she asked me to pack up the Scrabble set and bring me our empty wine glasses. The dishwasher packed, board games on the coffee table waiting to be returned, and the music and fireplace turned off, we stood in the dim light of the kitchen facing one another.
"Thank you for the best Friday night I can remember in a long time," I said, meaning every word.
"Thank you, Christian. For everything."
We shared a final soft kiss before we parted, her to her room and me to mine.
I woke at five with a smile on my face. I'd slept through the night without a nightmare, or waking to gasp in the night, unable to recall what had startled me. Throwing on a pair of sweats, I slipped upstairs to my private gym, putting in thirty minutes of weights followed by forty-five minutes of cardio to start my day. By half-past six I was in the kitchen, rooting around in the fridge, looking for something to reheat. Usually off on the weekends, if I didn't have a sub to cook for me, Mrs. Jones habitually left a range of easy to prepare breakfast foods.
"Good morning, Mr. Grey. Can I interest you in a cooked breakfast?" Wearing her usual uniform of a knee-length skirt, white shirt, and gray canvas apron, Gail walked toward her kitchen with a smile on her face. Knowing better than to interfere with Mrs. Jones' domain when she was on duty, I moved back to the other side of the breakfast bar.
"Gail? I wasn't expecting you today?"
"Jason is attending Sophie's riding competition in Winlock today. He's not sure what time she's competing, so he left an hour ago so he would be sure not to miss her. With him gone for the day, and possibly the night, I thought I'd keep myself busy stocking up the freezer."
I nodded, vaguely remembering granting him permission to attend a few weeks back. "Well, if you're here, scrambled eggs with greens would be wonderful." Gail's scrambled eggs were superb—probably because she mixed the eggs with cream. I pretended not to notice she did so, and she pretended to believe I was unaware. Not something I'd indulge in all the time, they were a treat I enjoyed.
"Will Ms. Steele be joining you for breakfast?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe cook some for her and keep it in the warmer? I'm afraid I have some work to catch up on this morning, but I hope to join her for a late lunch this afternoon. If you could make sure she's comfortable while I work, I would appreciate it."
Mrs. Jones blessed me with a motherly smile. "Leave Ms. Steele to me. I am sure we'll find lots to do while you attend to business."
"What do we know about him?" I asked Welch. Barney was also on the line and had already told me the count of women who'd been followed by this man then disappeared was now at six. As Taylor had intimated, this was not this guy's first time at this.
"Nothing more than we did yesterday," Welch admitted. "Sawyer has been reporting in. He's monitoring the cameras we placed outside Ms. Steele's studio, and so far, the unsub has not approached the apartment. He was sitting outside this morning. We didn't want to get too close in case we spooked him, so I had our operatives take turns driving past in a variety of indistinctive cars. He was outside from around eight until around half-past eleven and has not been seen after that."
"Your thoughts on the threat to Ms. Steele?" I snapped, infuriated by the lack of progress. My team had been aware of this man since midday Wednesday. Thursday morning I'd told them to make identifying this man their number one priority. Now, on Saturday morning, we were still no closer to identifying him than we were when Anastasia first met Mia!
"If she was living there, I won't lie... I'd be worried. With the other girls, he stalked them for about a week before they disappeared. If we'd been a day or two later, I worry Ms. Steele might have also disappeared. However, with Ms. Steele at Escala and under your protection, I think she'll be ok. From what I've witnessed on the recordings, he targets single, isolated women without family, friends, or resources to fall back on. If it becomes apparent Ms. Steele has friends and people who will notice her missing, then hopefully he'll give up," Barney said.
"Hopefully?!" I say, almost exploding. Hopefully wasn't good enough when it came to Ana's safety.
"The way I see it," Welch said, taking over from Barney, "we're dealing with one of two scenarios. Either this is a serial killer, in which case until he's apprehended Ms. Steele will be at risk..."
"Or?" I interjected.
"Or he's some sort of human trafficker. He may be tracking women like Ms. Steele to abduct them and force them into human labor."
"What do you mean by human labor?" I asked, my voice glacial. "What exactly does that entail?"
"It varies," Welch admitted. "For people trafficked to America, it can mean prostitution, forced work in beauty or escort services, domestic or even agricultural work. For American women and children abducted, they are most often shipped offshore to serve as forced sex workers."
"Where?" I almost snarled.
"It's hard to say, Mr. Grey," Welch replied. "It's often to remote places where English is not widely spoken. In some places they consider a western woman forced against her will a particular prize."
I knew little about human trafficking, especially for Americans abducted then sent overseas. Yet now I knew this happened and that it was just a small part of the overall human trafficking industry, I needed to know more.
"Get me a report on this ASAP. I want to know how and where this happens. In the meantime, monitor this guy. I don't care how many operatives you need to employ! Find him. Follow him. I want to know who he is, where he lives, and how he is implicated in the women who have disappeared!"
Slamming down the phone, I rested my head in my hands. Last night's kisses with Anastasia were playing heavily on my mind. My first 'romantic' kiss, I already felt discombobulated. Head over feet, as the saying went. Unused to such feelings, I put them aside as I reconsidered the investment proposal from Jerry Roach. Reading between the lines, they'd been teetering on insolvency months ago. My usually infallible intuition told me they'd be more than open to an acquisition offer now. Picking up my phone, I called my trusted COO.
"Ros? Thanks for the SIP data. I've looked it over, and I'd like to pursue a takeover of SIP to merge it with Pacific Printing when we acquire it. SIP would give PP the predictable day-to-day throughput it needs to keep things running while still giving PP the flexibility to prioritize GEH projects as needed. Get your team to run the numbers and see what they think."
"Nearly one pm Saturday and still at work... Tell me, Christian, what's your flatmate up to?" Ros's voice was husky and filled with amusement. I could hear her wife, Gwen, laughing in the background. "I thought you'd be spending the day with her?"
"Fuck off, Ros," I said, only half-heartedly. "Anastasia's busy doing her own thing, and so am I."
"Sure she is," Ros replied without even trying to disguise her mirth. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to do my own thing with Gwen, and I suggest you do likewise with Ana."
I told Ros that wasn't how things were between Ana and me, but I was speaking to an empty line. Ros had hung up on me! Wondering how the gorgeous Ms. Steele had spent her morning, I pressed save on my laptop, put away my files, and ventured out into the great room.