CHRISTIAN

"Mr. Grey, your two o'clock, Mr. Scott Kennedy is here," Andrea said, popping her head into his office door.

"Thanks, Andrea. Send him in," he nodded, quickly reading through the last paragraph on the financial report he was reviewing to make sure he was completely aware of the facts regarding Mr. Kennedy's company. It was nothing new compared to the information he'd originally been given. He wanted this company, which was based right here in Seattle.. The business had good ideas, good materials, good planning, and good execution. Mr. Kennedy was intelligent and driven and had made a pretty penny off his company. Christian mainly spent him time going after failing companies, but this one was a rare case where he wanting a thriving one. He wanted it and needed it for its ability to bolster his other eco-friendly tech companies.

But there was one problem: he knew Kennedy was going to be a hard sell. He'd built his company from nothing, just like Christian had. Hell, the man had been a high school science teacher when he risked it all to do something he was passionate about. That's why Christian was willing to offer to keep him on, keep him in charge, just under the GEH umbrella. Christian didn't want to lose Kennedy. He had a feeling the company would not be as efficient without him, and it was a field Christian wouldn't be able to properly manage anyway. He'd be struggling to find someone to put in charge of the acquired division, and there weren't many specialist in the field. Kennedy was the best, and he demanded the best. It only made sense to offer him a package deal to come with the company and join the GEH brand.

His office door opened again, revealing a man in his mid-to-early forties, black hair with a few grays sprouting, and notably green eyes. He was tall, fit, well dressed in a tailored suit, and poised with confidence, unlike so many of the groveling idiots who had walked through the door before him. If he was as smart as Christian suspected, he knew he had something Christian wanted. He knew he was holding the cards.

"Mr. Kennedy, it's a pleasure," he said, standing and rounding his desk to greet him with a proper handshake. "Christian Grey."

"Mr. Grey," he nodded. Kennedy stepped aside, and behind him stood perhaps the most beautiful woman Christian had ever seen. She was petite, fair skinned, and brunette, which were all qualities to which he was normally drawn. But she was so much more. She was stunning. She exuded soft femininity. Her features were gentle, the angles of her face smooth and soft. Aphrodite. His own mental version of the Greek goddess of beauty, she looked like she should have her image carved from a piece of flawless marble. She was wearing a sky blue dress that was demure, yet hugged her in all the right places in just the right ways that it still could be classified as sexy. Her grooming was impeccable, not a hair out of place, her makeup flawless. His eyes were glued to her as she stood in the doorway.

And then she looked up. Christian felt his heart, his breath, stop for a moment. It was cheesy, so cheesy, but he swore time stood still. Her eyes were the clearest, most amazing eyes he had ever seen. They were like giant cobalt pools piercing straight into his soul. Mesmerizing. He was instantly drawn to her in a way he had never been drawn to a woman before. He wanted to know everything about her. He was like a man starving. He needed to know her. He needed to. Her own eyes went a little wide as they took in the features of his face, darkening slightly in obvious appreciation, a reaction he was more than used to. But from her, it sent his blood aflame in his veins.

"Mr. Grey, may I introduce my PA, Miss Anastasia Steele."

Anastasia Steele. God, had there ever been a more beautiful name than that? It just fit her. Striking, alluring. It flowed off the tongue like a melody. He wanted to say it. He needed to feel it on his lips.

"Anastasia, it's a pleasure. Christian Grey," he said, extending his hand to her. The timber of his voice was lower than normal, a husky edge scrapping the vowels of her name as it left his lips.

She extended her hand, her shy voice coming out like tinkling bells, like angels singing, only slightly breathy. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Grey." Their hands touched, and it was like an electric shock ran through him the moment their fingers touched. Her fingers were so slender, long and delicate, her nails painted a pale, innocent pink. Beautiful.

He knew he needed to look away, to let go of her hand, but he did neither. And she didn't make any move to indicate she was uncomfortable holding his undivided attention. In fact, her eyes did a little searching of their own, sweeping him from the tips of his cooper curls to the expensive Italian shoes donning his feet, before settling back on his face. Was she feeling what he was feeling? He continued to stare into her eyes, trying to read her, completely overwhelmed by the affect she was having on him. The intensity was stifling. He felt hot, determined want building up inside of him.

He watched the lightest, most beautiful blush creep across her cheeks just before she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, sinking them into it is such a way he had to hold back an audible groan. Fuck, now he was wondering what that plush, pink lip would feel like between his own teeth. Or around his-

"Ana. Sit," the gruff and clearly irritated voice snapped from next to them, drawing them both from their reverie. Kennedy looked down at her with an intensity that made Christian himself uncomfortable. There was something foreboding about him. His body was pulled straight and rigid in a power stance; his green eyes were so dark they were almost black as they bore into the young girl who was now practically wilting in front of him.

Ana yanked her hand from his grip, her eyes hitting the floor, but not before he managed to see the look of dread in them, her cheeks now blazing red instead of the light flush from a moment ago.

"Yes, Sir," she said quietly, following Mr. Kennedy's order immediately and taking a seat on one of the two white leather chairs facing Christian's desk.

"Not there. Over there," he scowled, pointing to the couch on the opposite wall.

"Yes, Sir," was again her quick response as she stood swiftly and moved to the couch.

"I apologize on behalf of my assistant for her behavior, Mr. Grey," Kennedy said.

"She did nothing wrong," Christian said slowly, thoroughly confused by what had just transpired before him.

"She's been taught that a good PA is one that does not draw attention to herself," he said loudly, making a point not only to Christian but to Anastasia as well.

Christian was bewildered by what was taking place right now. What was this man talking about? "Nonsense, Mr. Kennedy. She did nothing of the sort. She was professionally courteous. Nothing more."

"Ana, thank Mr. Grey for standing up for you. He is nobly ignoring your transgression in an attempt to save you from punishment," Kennedy said, her voice cold and hard.

Punishment? For what? He wanted to say something, wanted to insist again that nothing had happened, that she did not need to thank him, but be had the distinct feeling that doing so would just keep making the situation worse.

"Thank you, Mr. Grey," she said, her voice tight, completely missing the warmth that was laced in her brief greeting earlier. And still, her eyes did not look up. The air in the room hung heavy now, a thick tension all around as the three stayed still in the complete silence.

"Shall we? I have another meeting this afternoon, Mr. Grey," Kennedy said, nodding toward Christian's desk.

"Yes of course," he said, his utterly professional persona sliding into the driver's seat for the time being.

And so the meeting went. There was hot debate, that was for sure. He was correct in assuming Mr. Kennedy would not go down without a fight. This was about more than money. He was passionate about his company. Christian could have kept throwing out numbers, but that would have just been insulting. Instead, he knew he needed to find the right combination of numbers and offer the right amount of control for Kennedy to still have. Like Christian, he owned his company outright. He didn't have to answer to a board when he started the company, and so he didn't like the idea of answering to someone now. But Christian was able to convince him that he trusted Kennedy with the company, and as long as things kept running the way they were running, Christian would pretty much be nonexistent to him. Yes, officially Kennedy would report things to new financial branches that he hadn't before, and yes, at the end of the day, Christian had ultimate veto power, but tweaking the benefits and salary Christian was offering him was enough to make those things less of an issue. Kennedy was also worried about his loyal staff losing their jobs. Christian assured that 90% of those jobs were safe, and the rest could probably be relocated to other areas of GEH, so they wouldn't go without. Business would continue as usual for almost all involved. Plus, with Christian's team backing them up, some of the load would be relieved, leaving Kennedy to deal with less of the mundane business part, and more of the stuff he was passionate about that caused him to start the company to begin with.

All these things were discussed, some ad nauseum, until Christian finally had Kennedy nodding his head and shaking his hand in agreement of the merger. Kennedy was a good man who wanted to do good things for the world, while taking care of his employees. And as long as all that remained possible, he was willing to be flexible. And he knew, ultimately, that doing all this under the GEH name would only help increase demand and production, and in the end, that was what was important to him—getting the technologies out there.

As intense as some of the discussion had been, Christian caught himself slightly distracted, attempting to catch the eye of Miss Steele again as she remained silently seated on the couch for the duration. But she steadfastly kept her head down, buried into her tablet, making constant notes of the conversation. Not once did she glance up, not even for a second.

ANA

"I look forward to our partnership, Mr. Kennedy," Mr. Grey said, shaking Scott's hand as they made their way to his office door.

"I do as well, Mr. Grey," Scott nodded. "Come, Ana," he said, not looking in her direction as he nodded his head toward the door. She tried to hurry, knowing that any little thing was liable to increase Scott's anger tenfold right now. She could see it in his harsh, unyielding eyes. Her ass was in for a long night tonight. But she was cut short from her scurry toward the door, feeling the electrical charge in the air as he stepped closer to her.

"Again, it was a pleasure meeting you as well, Anastasia," Mr. Grey said. Short and sweet, Ana, short and sweet. Don't reciprocate things will just be worse.

"Thank you, Mr. Grey," she nodded, never stopping, never looking up as she walked out the door after her boss.

They passed the reception desk, bidding a good afternoon to the two blondes sitting behind the large desk. She saw the one on the left, Olivia, if she remembered correctly, eyeing Scott as he walked past. Nothing new there. He was an extremely attractive man. He had women's heads turning everywhere he went. From underpaid science teacher to entrepreneur CEO. Classic Cinderella story. And he wore the CEO hat like it was tailor made for him. And he did the sexy older-man thing like it was his goddamn job. Perfect black hair, salt and pepper just at his temples, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes crinkled in the most endearing way when he smiled. Speaking of his eyes, holy shit, his eyes. They were like glittering emeralds, fathomless… beautiful. She was sure he'd be richer than Mr. Grey himself if he had a nickel for every time someone swooned over his eyes alone. And he took care of himself, of that there was no doubt. He had a strict eating and workout regimen to keep the fit body that was better than most men half his age. He exuded charm, coolness, confidence, and ease. He knew he was handsome, he knew he was a success, and he played it off like it was nothing, which made him that more intriguing to the masses of women always turning their heads for a better look.

So, yeah, Ana was used to watching him be ogled. It was nothing new. As soon as they passed the desk and were just out of ear shot, she heard him speak.

"How dare you gawk at another man in front of me," Scott said, his voice ominous and low, void of the emotion she knew bubbled just below the surface. "That was the most disrespectful display I have ever seen from you. I cannot fathom what you must have been thinking, gaping like that at a man, any man, but especially a man with whom I am about to do important business, blushing and biting your lip at him like a goddamn hormonal teenager."

"I'm sorry, Sir," Ana said, rushing to keep up with his quick steps.

"And he stood there, pretending you had done nothing wrong, defending you, when we both know you'd made a grievous error, correct?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And he didn't take his eyes off of you the whole meeting. Because of your abhorrent, obvious, deplorable behavior, Christian Grey, my future boss, was focused on you. Do you not think your detestable behavior deserves punishment, Ana?" he asked, coming to a stop in front of the elevator and pressing the button to recall it.

"If you think so, Sir, then yes," she said, head low, eyes downcast, voice timid.

"I do think so, Ana. I think it deserves quite severe punishment," he said as the doors slid open and he stepped onto the elevator, Ana following behind him. As soon as the door slid closed, he turned on heel, taking slow, deliberate steps toward her. Her hand, which was on the rail running horizontally across the elevator wall, clamped down on it to steady herself under his angry gaze. "You will meet me at my home tonight, Ana. You will come prepared to spend hours making your poor judgment up to me. You. are. mine, Anastasia. And you obviously need to be reminded of that fact."

A/N: I have no intention of writing any play-by-play sex scenes between Ana and Mr. Kennedy. I will be alluding to them, even summarizing them where they seem fit. You will know that they do occur. But I'm not breaking down full lemons between the pair. I know it's something a lot of you hate to read, and I cannot foresee it benefiting my story in any way to detail the encounters, so at this point I don't see a reason to include them. Just thought I cut down on the amount of death threats I'd get warning me not to. But again, I will go into some detail with their physicality, when I feel it benefits the story. Obviously it's a huge point of the story that they have a 'relationship' so let us not forget that. If you don't like it, well, you know where the door is. To everyone else, thanks in advance for feedback! This story won't be like my other, for those who read it, where it's super deep into the emotional/psychological aspects of the characters. More external situations/dialogue, less super-deep internal debate and all that. So chapters won't be as long or as detailed because the whole tone isn't the same. Just fair warning not to expect 6,000-10,000 word long chapters with this one lol. But many will be longer than this one.