Fifty Shades Trilogy 01 - Fifty Shades of Grey

suggestive. How does he switch so quickly from one mood to the next? He’s so mercurial… It’s hard to keep up.
    He motions for the waitress and asks for the check. Once he’s paid, he stands and holds out his hand.
    “Come.” Taking my hand in his, he leads me back to the car. This contact, flesh to flesh, it’s what is so unexpected from him, normal, intimate. I can’t reconcile this ordinary, tender gesture with what he wants to do in that room… the Red Room of Pain.
    We are quiet on the drive from Olympia to Vancouver, both lost in our own thoughts. When he parks outside my apartment, it’s five in the evening. The lights are on – Kate is at home. Packing, no doubt, unless Elliot is still there. He switches off the engine, and I realize I’m going to have to leave him.
    “Do you want to come in?” I ask. I don’t want him to go. I want to prolong our time together.
    “No. I have work to do,” he says simply, gazing at me, his expression unfathomable.
    I stare down at my hands, as I knot my fingers together. Suddenly I feel emotional. He’s leaving. Reaching over, he takes one of my hands and slowly pulls it to his mouth, tenderly kissing the back of my hand, such an old fashioned, sweet gesture. My heart leaps into my mouth.
    “Thank you for this weekend, Anastasia. It’s been… the best. Wednesday? I’ll pick you up from work, from wherever?” he says softly.
    “Wednesday,” I whisper.
    He kisses my hand again and places it back in my lap. He climbs out, comes round to my side, and opens the passenger door. Why do I feel suddenly bereft? A lump forms in my throat. I must not let him see me like this. Fixing a smile on my face, I clamber out of the car and head up the path, knowing I have to face Kate, dreading facing Kate. I turn and gaze at him midway. Chin up Steele, I chide myself.
    “Oh… by the way, I’m wearing your underwear.” I give him a small smile and pull up the waistband of the boxer briefs I’m wearing so he can see. Christian’s mouth drops open, shocked. What a great reaction. My mood shifts immediately, and I sashay into the house, part of me wanting to jump and punch the air. YES! My inner goddess is thrilled.
    Kate is in the living area packing up her books into crates.
    “You’re back. Where’s Christian? How are you?” Her voice is fevered, anxious, and she bounds up to me, grabbing my shoulders, minutely analyzing my face before I’ve even said hello.
    Crap … I have to deal with Kate’s persistence and tenacity, and I’m in possession of a signed legal document saying I can’t talk. It’s not a healthy mix.
    “Well, how was it? I couldn’t stop thinking about you, after Elliot left, that is.” She grins mischievously.
    I can’t help but smile at her concern and her burning curiosity, but suddenly I feel shy. I blush. It was very private. All of it. Seeing and knowing what Christian has to hide. But I have to give her some details, because she won’t leave me alone until I do.
    “It was good, Kate. Very good, I think,” I say quietly, trying to hide my embarrassed tell-all smile.
    “You think?”
    “I’ve got nothing to compare it to, do I?” I shrug apologetically.
    “Did he make you come?”
    Holy crap. She’s so blunt. I go scarlet.
    “Yes,” I mumble, exasperated.
    Kate pulls me to the couch and we sit. She clasps my hands.
    “That is good.” Kate looks at me in disbelief. “It was your first time. Wow, Christian must really know what he’s doing.”
    Oh Kate, if only you knew.
    “My first time was horrid,” she continues, making a sad comedy face.
    “Oh?” This has me interested, something she’s never divulged before.
    “Yes, Steve Paton. High school, dickless jock.” She shudders. “He was rough. I wasn’t ready. We were both drunk. You know – typical teenage post-prom disaster. Ugh – it took me months before I decided to have another go. And not with him, the gutless wonder. I was too young. You were right to wait.”
    “Kate, that sounds awful.”
    Kate looks wistful.
    “Yeah, took almost a year to have my first orgasm through penetrative sex and here you are… first time?”
    I nod shyly. My inner goddess sits in the lotus position looking serene except for the sly, self-congratulatory smile on her face.
    “I’m glad you lost it to someone who knows their ass from their elbow.” She winks at me. “So when are you seeing him again?”
    “Wednesday. We’re having dinner.”
    “So you still like