24

SECOND HOUR

"I hope you're not a sore loser, Christian Grey."

Anastasia laid the cue onto the table slowly and gently, never breaking eye contact with him as he followed suit.

"What do you have in mind?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Show me all the recordings of your previous submissive's performance."

His eyes were round as a saucer, "I do hope you don't mean that, Anastasia."

"Oh but I do." She remarked.

"Please don't be upset when you see them."

"And why would I possibly be?" She asked, "Christian, if you think I'd get jealous, then you couldn't be more wrong." She said, "I'm not the jealous type, I don't get possessive. I didn't even label my feelings for you, so don't worry about me getting hurt. Let's just say we're attracted to each other and not define it first, yeah?"

"Okay," he conceded reluctantly and extended his hand waiting for her to take them.

He led her to his office and halted at his desk, rubbing a hand over his face, he went around it and sat on his chair.

"We can always play a second round, right?"

"Are you chickening out on me, Grey?"

"Never."

"Then what?"

"Okay, honestly, I'm just really uncomfortable."

"I get it. I did come on a little too strong without the binding of the contract, I know that." He glared at her for her own acknowledgement, making her giggle at his reaction. "Still, a deal's a deal."

Looking up at the cupboards behind his chair, his eyes surveyed the cupboard doors as if trying to remember which one of them contained the information he needed. Standing up, he reached for one and pulled out a stack of folders.

"Which one do you want to see first?" He asked, his voice full of defeat. Her heart softened at that moment, she wanted to take pity on him.

"How many do you have? Fifteen?"

"No. I've got twelve. Eleven of them performed something, and one of them left a recording for me, with a note attached telling me to listen to it before I get married."

"Which means you're probably never going to listen to that."

"Never say never, Miss Steele." He sang teasingly at her, and she scowled at this mercurial guy before her, wondering just how much did she actually know him.

"So, you've got eleven here. Do you remember all of them?" She asked out of curiosity.

"No," he started to reply, but was soon cut off by the blaring sound of his ringing tone. "Sorry, I have to take this. It's GEH."

"Saved by the bell." She muttered to herself before leaning back in her seat and waited for him to finish his call.

Anastasia stares out of the floor to ceiling window on her side, just looking at the sky blankly. Her mind was empty and there was absolutely nothing to think about right now.

She was brought back to her current situation when she heard a loud sigh and a hand slamming down on to the table.

"Is everything okay?" She asked out of respect. She really didn't want to pry or bound him since it was his business and they were not that close to start with.

"I need to go to the office to sign a few things real quick." He looked really apologetic.

"Oh, on a Sunday?" She registered the information, "then go." She prompted.