“Oh, Ana.” I cannot bear the distance between us. I reach for her so she’s in my arms and angle her head. My lips seek and find hers. She groans into my mouth, her fingers in my hair as I push her against the elevator wall. “I hate arguing with you.” I want every inch of her. Right here. Right now. To know that we’re okay.
Ana’s response is immediate. Her hunger and passion are unleashed in our kiss, her tongue demanding and urgent. Her body rises and presses against mine, seeking relief as I lift up her skirt, my fingertips skimming her thigh and feeling lace and warm, warm flesh. “Sweet Jesus, you’re wearing stockings.” My voice is hoarse as I slide my thumb across her stocking line. “I want to see this.” And I pull her skirt right up so I can see the tops of her thighs.
I step back to enjoy the view and press the elevator’s emergency stop button. I’m panting. I’m wanting, and she stands there like the fucking goddess she is, staring me down, her eyes dark, carnal, her breasts rising and falling as she drags air into her lungs.
“Take your hair down.”
Ana yanks at her hair tie and her hair spills down over her shoulders and curls at her breasts. “Undo the top two buttons of your shirt,” I whisper, growing harder and harder. Her lips parted, she reaches up and slowly, too slowly, undoes the first one. Pausing for a beat, she lowers her fingers to the second button and undoes it. Unhurried. Tantalizing me further and finally revealing the soft swell of her breasts.
“Do you have any idea how alluring you look right now?” I hear the need in my voice.
She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and shakes her head.
I think I’m going to explode. I close my eyes and try to bring my body to heel. Stepping forward, I place my hands on the wall on either side of her face. She tilts her face up, and her eyes meet mine.
I lean closer. “I think you do, Miss Steele. I think you like to drive me wild.”
“Do I drive you wild?”
“In all things, Anastasia. You are a siren, a goddess.” I reach down and grasp her leg above her knee and hitch it up around my waist. Slowly I lean down, pressing my body into hers. My erection sitting at the sacred junction of her thighs. I kiss her throat, my tongue tasting and savoring her. She wraps her arms around my neck and she arches her back, pressing into me.
“I’m going to take you now.” I groan and lift her higher. Grabbing a condom from my pocket, I undo my fly. “Hold tight, baby.”
She tightens her arms around my neck and I show her the condom. She bites down on the corner and I tug, and together we rip open the foil packet.
“Good girl.”
I step back a little and manage to slide on the damn condom. “God, I can’t wait for the next six days.”
No more condoms.
I run my thumb over her underwear.
Lace. Good.
“I do hope you’re not overly fond of these panties.” And the only reply is her heavy breathing in my ear. I push my thumbs through the seam at the back and they tear apart, allowing me access to my happy place.
With my eyes on hers, I take her, slowly.
Fuck, she feels good.
She arches her back and closes her eyes and groans.
I pull back and sink slowly into her once more.
This is what I want.
This is what I needed.
After such a shitty day.
She didn’t run.
She’s here.
For me.
With me.
“You’re mine, Anastasia.” The words wash against her throat.
“Yes. Yours. When will you accept that?” Her words are a sigh. And it’s what I want to hear. What I need to hear. I take her, fast, furious. I need her. With each little cry, each pant, each tug of my hair, I know she needs me, too. I lose myself in her and I feel her spiral out of control. “Oh, baby,” I moan, and she comes around me, crying out, and I follow, whispering her name.
I kiss her, holding her, as my composure returns. We are forehead to forehead and her eyes are closed. “Oh, Ana, I need you so much.” I close my eyes and kiss her forehead, thankful that I’ve found her.
“And I you, Christian,” she whispers.
I release her and straighten her skirt and I do up the top two buttons of her shirt. I punch the override code into the elevator keypad and it jolts to life. “Taylor will be wondering where we are.” I give her a wicked grin and she tries in vain to smooth out her hair. After a few futile attempts she gives up and opts for a ponytail.
“You’ll do,” I reassure her, and zip up my fly and slip the condom and her ruined panties into my pocket for disposal later.
Taylor is waiting when the doors open.
“Problem with the elevator,” I say as we step out, but I avoid eye contact with him. Ana scampers off to the bedroom, no doubt to freshen up, and I make my way into the kitchen, where Mrs. Jones is preparing dinner.
“The Saab is here, Mr. Grey,” Taylor says, having followed me into the kitchen.
“Great. I’ll let Ana know.”
“Sir.” He smiles. He and Gail exchange a look before he turns to leave.
“Good evening, Gail,” I say, ignoring their look, as I slip off my jacket. I hang it on the barstool and sit down at the counter.
“Good evening, Mr. Grey. Dinner will be ready shortly.”
“Smells good.”
Damn, I’m hungry.
“Coq au vin, for two.” She gives me a fond sideways glance as she takes two plates out of the warming drawer. “I’m just checking that Miss Steele will be with us tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll fix lunch for her again.”
“Great.”
Ana returns to join me at the kitchen counter and Mrs. Jones serves us our dinner.
“Enjoy, Mr. Grey, Ana,” she says, and exits the kitchen.
I fetch a bottle of Chablis from the fridge and pour each of us a glass. Ana tucks into her food. She’s hungry.
“I like to see you eat.”
“I know.” She pops a piece of chicken into her mouth. I grin and take a sip of wine. “Tell me something good about your day,” she says when she’s finished chewing.
“We had a breakthrough today with the design of our solar-powered tablet. It has so many different applications. We’ll be able to make solar-powered phones, too.”
“You’re excited about that?”
“Very. And they’ll be cheap to produce and distribute in developing countries.”
“Careful, your philanthropy is showing,” she teases, but her expression is warm. “So is it just in New York and Aspen that you have property?”
“Yes.”
“Where in New York?”
“TriBeCa.”
“Tell me about it.”
“It’s an apartment. I rarely use it. In fact, my family uses it more than I do. I’ll take you, whenever you want to go.”
Ana stands and collects my plate and puts it in the sink. I think she’s about to wash up. “Leave that. Gail will do it.” She looks happier than when she got into the car.
“Well, now that you are more docile, Miss Steele, shall we talk about today?”
“I think you’re the one who’s more docile. I think I’m doing a good job in taming you.”
“Taming me?” I snort, amused that she thinks I need taming.
She nods. She’s serious.
Taming me.
Well, I’m certainly more docile since our assignation in the elevator. And she was more than happy to contribute to that encounter. Is that what she means?
“Yes. Maybe you are, Anastasia.”
“You were right about Jack,” she says, and leans across the kitchen counter, regarding me seriously.