CHRISTIAN’S POV

Day One:

I’m in a meeting when my blackberry buzzes.

From: Anastasia Grey

Subject: My Arrival

Date: July 6th 2012 11:13 AM

To: Christian Grey

I have arrived at LAX safely. My flight for Sydney will depart in a little over an hour.

Xx

Anastasia Grey

Commissioning Editor, Grey Publishing.

 

From: Christian Grey

Subject: Your Arrival and Departure

Date: July 6th 2012 11:15 AM

To: Anastasia Grey

I’m very happy to hear you have arrived, Mrs. Grey, and I do hope your flight to Sydney is just as safe. I love you, and miss you already. Please come home.

Christian Grey,

CEO, and desperately lonely husband, Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur. I have packed as many things into these next four days as I possibly could so that I wouldn’t have time to miss Anastasia. I know it is a fruitless effort on my part and now there will simply be an outrageous amount of stress piled on top of my longing for her. I shake my head as I feel the emptiness the thought of her absence always brings up. Get your shit together, Grey. She’s only going to be gone for four fucking days.

When I arrive at home after work, the baby is crying. I can hear my mother and Mia arguing in the living room over what to do and, when I walk past them, I see the nanny standing next to them uncomfortably as they ignore her completely. I should just let the woman go. There is no way between Mia and my mother the woman will ever even touch Teddy.

My mother bounces the baby up and down as he continues to wail, so, I set down the glass of wine Mrs. Jones has poured for me, walk over to her, and reach out for my son. The line in my mother’s brow deepens as she hands Teddy to me and I envelope him in my arms. I bring him into my chest, squeezing him gently as I bounce him up and down.

“Hush now,” I breathe over him and his cries start to dissipate. He grows steadily more quiet while I bounce him until, eventually, he falls asleep. I continue to bob him up and down as I watch his shallow breaths go in and out. I still love the way he smells. I can’t get over his beautiful face, so much like Ana’s. He’s perfect, so fragile in my arms. I haven’t quite mastered this dad thing yet, but my devotion to this perfect little baby is unquestionable.

My blackberry buzzes in my pocket and I look up to my mother, who is already holding her arms out for my son with a stupid grin on her face. I hand Teddy to her, reach into my pocket, and pull out my blackberry.

“Ros?” I answer, walking back towards the kitchen for my wine. The phone conversation is long. There is a problem with the shipyard in Taiwan. The Taiwanese government has been experiencing problems with pirates. Fucking pirates. We’ve had several damaged vessels and even more shipments go missing over the past few months and I’m ready to dump the whole fucking thing.

When I finally get off the phone with Ros, Teddy has been put to bed and my mother and Mia are eating spaghetti on the couch in front of the TV, watching some show where a bunch of whiny sounding girls complain about nothing.

I grab a plate and sit next to them, but quickly find that I have no interest in the show they are watching.

“How can you watch this shit?” I ask incredulously.

“Shh!” They hiss together in unison, waving their hands to silence me. I finish what’s on my plate, take it to the sink, and head off for Teddy’s room.

I don’t know how long I stand over him watching him sleep, but I don’t care. I’m utterly obsessed with him. It’s like when I first met Ana and couldn’t get her out of my mind. Like when I watched her sleeping in the Heathman the first night she stayed with me. I want to reach down and scoop him into my arms, hold him against my chest, but I’m afraid I’ll wake him. So I lean down over the bars of the crib, plant a soft kiss on his head, and creep from the room as silently as possible.

The sounds from the living room have ceased and I look down at my watch. Holy shit, it’s 2 in the morning. I trudge my way up the stairs and strip out of my clothes, not bothering to throw them in the hamper for Mrs. Jones. I’ll just give her a bonus for having to deal with me while my wife was away.

The bed feels too big without Ana and I don’t like it. I try to imagine her next to me, but those thoughts quickly turn into images of her under me. I groan as I feel my erection begin to build under the covers. Ana has been off limits since Teddy was born and six weeks is way too long to go without sex. The strain of my erection against my Calvin Klein’s is uncomfortable now and I sigh as I climb out of bed, head to the bathroom and fix Ana’s face in my mind as I stroke my cock until I come.