Recline complete dream too sweet

I can’t do it not with you

Not even with you

Maybe never with you

And I’d sell my soul for Total control

Total Control – The Motels

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Later that evening it transpires that I have to engage in a little coercion with Jose as well. When Ana calls him I can hear his resistance to her attempts echoing down the telephone.  He comes over all I’m-an-artiste telling her he only does landscapes and not portraits.  Funny how he forgets that, in his more besotted Victim-of-unrequited-love moments, I have seen him snapping photos of Ana when she isn’t watching.  For that reason alone I am so going to get him to sign on for this Grey gig.

Finally I can’t stand the two of them tip-toeing around each other. I grab the phone off Ana, whose jaw hits the ground.  Yeah, yeah, controlling and impatient, that’s my MO.  Within seconds I am reading him the riot act simultaneously threatening not to cover his photographic exhibition if he doesn’t help us out.  Jose and I both know that I could get Levi in a heartbeat.  All prior commitments aside, no photographer worth his salt would miss this opportunity.  I don’t know if he smells a rat but I barrel on regardless because I need Jose there for Ana’s sake. She needs to see Jose and Christian Grey together and, given my morbid curiousity, so do I.

Once the carrot is thrown out there in terms he can understand, Jose’s tone changes and he capitulates all too easily to the Kavanagh charm. I’m not completely fooled. If there is any visible chemistry between Ana and Christian Grey then Jose will ream me out later.  He just won’t do it if there is any chance that Ana might be listening.

Once I have secured Jose’s agreement I thrust the phone back at Ana and make her call Christian Grey. I can hear his abrupt, business like tone when he answers. He is very short on the phone, a trait I recognize in my father and one that I try to emulate myself from time to time.  Ana looks a little like a startled deer but when she says who she is the strangest thing happens.  His whole demeanor changes, and this seductive rumble reverbirates through the phone line and across the room. Now it’s my turn to stand there like a stunned goldfish. What the hell?

Ana finally senses me listening and heads for the kitchen for some privacy.  Watching her I realise that she’s shaken by him. Hell, I would be too, and that kind of surprises me. My curiosity gets the better of me and I follow her quietly. Her body is frozen and there is a tremble in her hand that matches the one in her voice which is all breathy and interesting. She doesn’t notice me standing there until the end of the conversation.  When she turns to face me I see the completely mind-fucked, beet-red look on her face and that precious moment when she finally releases her breath. Oh, girlfriend, you’ve got it bad!

“Anastasia Rose Steele. You like him! I’ve never seen or heard you so…so…affected by anyone before. You’re actually blushing.” I know that I shouldn’t be listening. I certainly shouldn’t be pushing but this is a side of Ana Steele that I have never seen in all our four years of friendship. Anyone would say that this breathless and lusting look suits her but it scares the shit out of me. Poor little innocent Ana has no idea if this guy could be really dangerous.  And if he has spent all these years never being seen with any woman in the social pages then what does he do with the dead bodies?

When I point out the physical effect he is having on her she snaps back at me about blushing all the time.  Bullshit.  Then says something that really worries me.

“I just find him…intimidating, that’s all.” Oh Ana. That is not all and it’s not right. If you are going to fall for a guy don’t let him be someone who intimidates you.

I turn away muttering about organizing space at the Heathman Hotel. It figures that he would be staying there and I know that I am going to have to use his name to get the staff at the Heathman to cooperate. In the end it isn’t difficult. I can hear the saliva dripping off the tongue of the Heathman concierge as I discuss our needs for the photo shoot. Yeah, get your tongue back in your head, dude, you’re one blow job short of becoming Christian Grey’s bitch. Everyone wants a slice of Sir Grey. Including, it would seem, my timid little friend, Ana.

But what is it that you want from her, Mr Grey? Why are you pursuing a graduate student so ardently? And if you manage to get her, what damage are you going to inflict when you drop her in favor of your next shiny toy?

I am brought back to the present by the effusive gushing coming out of my phone speaker as the concierge reminds me about what a valued customer Christian Grey is for the Heathman.  In the end I promise credit to the hotel in the article so the concierge agrees to give us the space for free. Of course, he would have given it for Christian Grey’s continued patronage anyway and he wouldn’t want to risk Christian Grey’s ire by not cooperating with me.   But we both make out that we have struck a good deal.  As I put down the phone I realise that I have been witness to the Christian Grey Effect.  Luckily, with my background, I will be impervious to it.  That will free me up to worry about how to deal with the fallout of Ana’s broken heart.

She was suspicious from the start. With good reason.

This-” Oh Ana. That is not all and it is not right. If you are going to fall for a guy don’t let him be someone who intimidates you…. Is perfect. I feel like this will set the tone for how Kate feels about Ana and CG throughout the rest of the story.