Who knows?

Ignoring them, I take a seat at the kitchen counter, and once Taylor has left the room I ask Gail if Ana ate. “She did, Mr. Grey. An omelet, too.”

“Good.”

As if I’ve conjured her by mentioning her name, Ana appears in the doorway wearing her jacket.

“You’re going?” I ask in disbelief.

“To work? Yes, of course.” She moves closer. “Christian, we’ve hardly been back a week. I have to go to work.”

“But—” I rake my hand through my hair, feeling anxious.

What about yesterday? Hyde! The kidnapping!

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Gail leave the kitchen. “I know we have a great deal to talk about,” Ana continues. “Perhaps if you’ve calmed down, we can do it this evening.”

“Calmed down?” I whisper and I’m immediately incandescent again. This woman is pressing every single button I have this morning.

She flushes, embarrassed. “You know what I mean.”

“No, Anastasia, I don’t know what you mean.”

“I don’t want to fight. I was coming to ask you if I could take my car.”

“No. You can’t,” I snap.

“Okay,” she says, quietly.

And just like that all the wind is out of my sails, and I’m no longer mad, just tired. I was expecting a battle. “Prescott will accompany you.” My tone is softer.

“Okay,” she says, and she steps toward me again.

Ana. What are you doing? She leans up and kisses me, sweetly, at the corner of my mouth. As her lips press against my skin, I close my eyes, savoring her touch. I don’t deserve this.

I don’t deserve her.

“Don’t hate me,” she whispers.

I grab her hand. “I don’t hate you.” Ana, I could never hate you.

“You haven’t kissed me,” she whispers.

“I know.” But I want to.

Damn, Grey. Carpe diem.

Standing abruptly, I grasp her face between my hands and raise her mouth to mine. Her lips part in surprise and I pounce, pushing my tongue into her mouth, tasting and testing her.

She tastes of heaven, and better times and minty toothpaste.

Ana. I love you.

You. Just. Drive. Me. Crazy.

I release her before she can properly respond. I know she’ll never get to work if I don’t back away. I’m breathing harder. “Taylor will take you and Prescott to SIP.” I fight to recover my composure and dampen my desire.

Ana blinks at me, her breathing labored, too.

“Taylor!” I call.

“Sir.” Taylor is standing in the doorway.

“Tell Prescott Mrs. Grey is going to work. Can you drive them, please?”

“Certainly.” Taylor turns on his heel and disappears.

Feeling more myself, I look back at Ana. “If you could try to stay out of trouble today, I would appreciate it,” I mutter.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Her eyes shine with amusement, and it’s impossible not to respond.

“I’ll see you later, then,” I reply.

“Laters,” she whispers, and leaves with Taylor and Prescott in tow.

After breakfast I head back into my study and call Andrea. I tell her I’ll be working from home, as I wasn’t planning to be in the office anyway. She puts me through to Sam and we have a tedious discussion about “owning the message” with regard to Hyde’s break-in.

“No, we don’t, Sam, not in this instance.”

“But—” he protests.

“No buts. This is a police matter. All press inquiries about this incident to them. End of discussion.”

He sighs. Sam is such a publicity whore. “Very well, Mr. Grey.” He sounds sullen, but I don’t care. I hang up and call my dad to tell him about Hyde. We agree to keep up the security for the next week just in case.

“Will you tell Mom?”

“Yes, son. You take care.”

“Will do.”

I hang up and my phone buzzes with a text from Elliot.

ELLIOT

Yo Bro! You ok? Hyde! Fuck!

He’s brief and to the point, as ever. He must have seen the news, or Ana’s told Kate. I call to fill him in on events, and we agree to meet up over the weekend. He wants to talk about something, but not over the phone.

“Whatever, dude,” I say. “And by the way, your girlfriend has been leading my wife astray. She should have been here in the panic room—instead, she was out getting drunk with Katherine.”

“Katherine, eh?”

“Kate.” I roll my eyes. “Whatever.”

“And you’re telling me this why?”

“I don’t know, dude, just sharing my thoughts.”

Elliot sighs. “You’ll have to take it up with her.”

Oh. Have they split up? What does that mean?

He continues before I can ask any questions. “This guy who follows me around. Do I still need him?”

“Let’s see what happens with Hyde over the next few days.”

“Okay, hotshot. It’s your money.”

“Laters, Elliot.”

Ryan and Sawyer give Taylor and me a full debrief. I can’t decide if Ryan is a hero or an idiot for letting Hyde into the apartment. His face is pretty battered, and he has a cut over one eye after their “altercation.” Judging from his bruised face, he must have had quite the skirmish with our intruder. He says he only let Hyde in because Ana wasn’t here. I glance at Taylor, whose mouth is set in a grim line. Ryan put Gail at risk, panic room or not.