by Aisha Brooks
Russia didn't care if it had particles from wood, or how it was stored, but the FDA had certain standards every company had to keep labeled and had to be able to prove storing methods. He had to get his Russian factory up to code before he could sell it in the USA.
He was tired. He couldn't even go to his home country without woman flocking him, hoping he'd take them back to the US. He wanted a woman who wanted him for himself, but he wasn't even sure how to go about finding one. Everyone knew who he was.
The plane started to make weird noises and bounce in the sky, concerned, Vlad went to the pilots and rapped on the door.
“Sorry Sir, we've hit some turbulence. There's a big storm over Washington D.C. They are recommending we bring her down for the night before finishing our journey to California. They've already cleared us for landing,” his pilot told him.
“If it snows, won't we be stuck here?” Vlad asked out loud, really thinking more to himself than his pilot.
“It could definitely slow us down for a few days, or even a week, Sir. But I don't think it's safe to continue through this storm,” the pilot replied, sounding extremely worried. “My recommendation is we ground ourselves until it is safe to be in the air again.”
“Whatever you think is best Ben; this is why I pay you to fly. Your expertise is invaluable to keeping us safe,” Vlad said with his Russian accent thick as he went back to his seat. The buckle seat sign came on, and he felt the plane lurch as it started going down.
They were near the International D.C. Airport that had a runway just for private jets. The high class escort he'd taken with him for company on the jet was snoring away in the back, he was pretty sure she'd popped some pills, and he was disgusted.
He was getting fed up with all these women just being a pretty face; none of them had any depth to their character. None of them were very intelligent, and while most had pretty faces, beauty could only hold his interest for so long.
Vlad was known for being a notorious playboy that no one woman could get him to stick around. He didn't mind that reputation, it kept women from getting the wrong idea. He'd had a few try to trap him into marriage, but he was careful and their ruse usually fell apart once he wanted them to prove things.
He pulled his cell phone out and texted his assistant to wire the woman with him some money, so when they landed, he didn't have to ride home with her, and so she could get a different plane ticket anywhere she wanted. As long as she was off his plane.
He didn't approve of drug use, and had he known she dabbled with it, he never would have let her come.
Disgusted with himself, he really needed to find a better path in life. Being with a woman for a weekend was getting old, he wanted to settle down, though he knew as a very rich eligible bachelor, finding a woman who liked him for himself and not his money would be a challenge.
Chapter 2: The Storm
Vlad checked into his hotel room, it wasn't in a fancy neighborhood, as the airport and nearby fancier hotels were all booked up due to the weather. He was a few minutes from the airport in a sketchier part of town.
He'd just unpacked; as they said it might be a few days and walked down to ask for some quarters to use the vending machine to get a soda. When he walked into the office, the man who'd been behind the counter had left, and a curvy black girl stood behind the counter. She reminded him a lot of Halle Berry in her prime.
Her makeup was subtle, but she didn't even need it. She had just the right amount of curves, and her face was delicate for a black woman. She was utterly feminine and he was enchanted.
When she didn't seem to care who he was, he approached her with some cash to get dollars.
“Make change?” he asked her making her do a double take.
“'Scuse me?” she said, noticing him finally. “Say that again?”
“Can you give me change for my dollars?” Vlad said again, sliding the money across the counter to her.
“Change machine is over there, if it's not out. Try that first.” She nodded her head to the right, were an ATM and change machine for the laundry were located.
“Thank you... Shelly,” he told her looking down at her chest, reading her name tag.
“Sure, let me know if you need anything else.”
“Have breakfast with me, when you get off your shift”
“I'm not supposed to date customers.”
Vlad considered her answer and realized she didn't say no.
“I can go to a different hotel, and then you can have breakfast with me,” he told her tilting his head, getting a better look at her.
“No, don't do that, my boss would have a hissy fit. I'll have breakfast with you in the morning. I get off work at eight; meet me in the parking lot,” she replied with the expression on her face one of amazement, and then she furrowed her brows and stared hard at him for a minute. “You're not a serial killer are you or part of the mob?”
Vlad laughed. “No, I'm not a serial killer, nor a mobster. I'm just an average businessman; my plane got grounded until the snow storm is over so I can fly back to California.”
“So you're only in town for a few days?” she asked him, looking mildly disappointed but tried to mask it.
“I can negotiate that, it's possible to extend my trip.” He winked at her and then headed back to his hotel room for the night.
He didn't sleep well, instead he was restless, picturing her beautiful chocolate features and picturing her dark lips wrapped around his cock. It made the night a very long, uncomfortable one, and when he got up in the morning he made a point to take a very cold shower.
He walked down into the parking lot, and looked around until he saw there, holding her purse and in a fur-lined wool jacket. Her tight black pants left nothing to the imagination and her large bubble butt gave her a huge hour glass figure since her waist was so tiny.
She waved at him and jogged over to him, blowing on her hands in the newly fallen snow.
“Where is a breakfast place around here?” Vlad asked her, linking his arm through hers.
“Just a couple blocks away, we can drive in my car, or we can walk.”
“Heaters are good,” he said grinning at her, flashing his perfect white teeth.
Nodding she walked over to an old Buick with worn out paint and unlocked the door manually. She hit the lock button on the inside of the doors and climbed in and started it. She waited for him to get in.
Vlad didn't say a word about her car, but wondered what she would think if she knew he had over twenty cars in his garage at home that all were in perfect condition with leather interiors and every bell and whistle he could get in them.
For some reason, he didn't feel the need to tell her, and instead just tried to enjoy her company. It felt like the right thing to do.
She drove the couple of blocks as the heater warmed up, to the Mom and Pop diner down the street.
“I grew up here, my mom used to work as a waitress here. They have really good breakfast foods,” Shelly told him as she pulled in to park.
“Is your mom retired?” Vlad asked her as she turned the car off and the two of them got out.
“She died of cancer. Thirty years of smoking did her lungs in. I'm working two jobs to put my youngest brother through college. He's the only one of us who wanted to go. He wants to be a doctor,” Shelly said sounding proud of him.
Vlad listened to her talk about her family the rest of the morning as they ate their food. She loved her family, he could tell that. He wondered what that would be like, to have someone so animated and full of joy that lit up their eyes when they talked about you.
He'd never had anyone talk about him that way, or even look at him the way Shelly looked when she greeted the waitress who took their order. It was a little old gray haired lady who had known Shelly since she'd been a kid.
Sitting there watching the interaction, he wondered if this is what had been missing in his life. He'd been so focused on making money, and acquiring fancy things in life since he'd gr
own up in Russia dirt poor, he realized he had forgotten that there was more to life than money and the next business trip.
“Shelly, do you work tonight?” Vlad asked her as he refused to let her pay her share of the meal, and covered the bill. She seemed slightly embarrassed to have him pay for her and he was completely intrigued by her behavior.
“I'm off tonight, but I need to sleep for a few hours,” she replied.
“Okay, I can walk back to my hotel, but I'd like to go out with you again, I've thoroughly enjoyed your company,” Vlad said, reaching out to touch her face with his hand. He liked the contrast of his very white skin to her chocolate cheek.
Shelly nodded at him. “I like you too, but this time, you get to talk about yourself. You had me blabbering my life story to you, and I still don't know anything about you.”
“Deal,” he told her. “Dinner?”
“Sure, what kind of food did you have in mind? I can drive if you want, and I know this area pretty well,” Shelly said offering.
Vlad looked at her for a minute smiling. He liked how independent she was, and how she didn't think twice about offering to drive since he didn't have a rental car right now, or how she would pay for herself and didn't assume the man was going to pay.
“Do you like steak?” he asked her. “My treat, I don't even want you to think of bringing your wallet.”
“I know of a couple of places. But they are kind of fancy, if you like that sort of thing,” she told him.
“And you don't?” He asked her, wondering if she didn't like dressing up.
Shelly laughed. “No, I love a good excuse to dress up and wear high heels; I just don't get to do it very often. If you're sure that's what you want to do, I'm fine with it.”
“Good, I'll meet you in the hotel parking lot around six?” Vlad asked her realizing he was a little nervous she wouldn't show up and why it was so important to him that she did.
“Okay, I will see you then,” Shelly replied, and then impulsively, she leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. “Thank you Vlad, I haven't had such a good breakfast in a long time.”
“The pleasure is all mine Shelly,” he told her, and watched her leave.
It was cold as he walked the couple of blocks back to the hotel, but he barely felt it.
Vlad knew he was going to seduce her, he just wasn't sure if he wanted it to stop there. She stirred something in him that he had never felt before.
Chapter 3: Falling For Shelly
When Shelly came back that night to pick him up to go out to dinner, she was dressed in red high heels and a little black dress that left nothing to the imagination. She had red lips and gold hoops in her ears.
On anyone else, it would have looked slutty and like a hooker, but she carried herself with an attitude that said “I'm beautiful and I'm showing it off, you can look, but don't touch” that had Vlad unable to take his eyes off her.
“You look amazing,” he told her as he got into the car, he looked at her long legs and then brought his eyes back up to her face, she smiled at him and the gold and black eye makeup was just obvious enough to accentuate her eyes without being over the top.
“I don't get to dress up and do much very often, so I went all out. I'm glad you like it. The Steak house I picked is about twenty minutes from here,” she said, grinning as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the steak house.
She parked when they arrived and she grabbed her thick winter coat out of the back seat of her car, she put it on and grabbed a gold clutch purse and waited for Vlad to get out of the car and walked inside with him.
“I made us reservations; the wait here can be something else if you don't,” she whispered to Vlad as she gave her name and told the hostess it was for two.
Vlad was still amazed at her ability to think of everything and how efficient she was. He was tempted to offer her a job, maybe he would. A job would keep her close, and he could plan his seduction over time, and see if it could blossom into something more.
He could use a personal assistant. He fired his last one for being lazy and not keeping good records of all of his business dealings. That had been a mess he hadn't enjoyed cleaning up, and he'd avoided handing that off to anyone else after that.
Shelly was making him reconsider.
When they sat down, he decided to go for it, the worst she could say is no, and he'd go back to seducing her and plan B.
“I want to offer you a job,” Vlad told her after the hostess handed them their menu's and left them at the table alone.
“A job?” Shelly said, picking up her glass of water and taking a sip, watching him thoughtfully. “What kind of job?”
“I need someone who can run errands, make phone calls, do personal assistant type work. Someone who's responsible and won't make mistakes or be lazy when it comes to keeping records up to date. Someone who can think on their feet and be independent when it comes to making decisions on how to get things done and when to give me information,” Vlad said then stopped talking to order them a bottle of wine after asking Shelly if she'd like a glass and she nodded.
“That sounds interesting,” she said, sipping her glass of wine when their waiter brought it.
“You'd get to travel all over the world, I can triple your salary that you make now, and I'll provide a company car,” he told her, wondering what it would take to get her to say yes.
“I have a car,” she replied, grinning. “It even runs.”
Vlad nodded. “I understand that, but I'd be willing to give you a much nicer car if you wanted one.”
“I don't need you to try and buy me,” Shelly said looking a little disturbed, the smile slowly fading from her face.
“I'm not trying to buy you; I just want you to say yes.”
“Tell me about the job, not the cars,” Shelly replied giving him a look he couldn't quite decipher.
“I'm in alcohol. Vodka to be precise. I have factories all over the world, including the USA and Russia. I sometimes have to go visit them and I deal with business meetings when I don't. I need someone who can keep my schedule and do the little things I don't always have time for,” he told her sitting back watching her carefully. “I pay well, and I'll provide health benefits, and I will donate to your brother's school fund for you. I want you to come work for me Shelly.”
“This sounds too good to be true. Why?” she asked him.
Vlad didn't answer her right away, instead ordered his food when the waiter came back and realized she made a point not to order the most expensive thing on the menu, and again reminded him that she wasn't like most women he'd gone out with.
“Because I want a chance to get to know you better. I like you. If I give you a job, I don't have to rush off and never see you again. You are obviously family oriented, and I admire that. I don't have a family, and I think what you are doing for your brother is special. It inspires me,” he told her bluntly.
“So you want to mix business with pleasure?” she asked him, cutting her chicken and putting a piece into her mouth to chew thoughtfully.
“I have a big enough business that if something between us doesn't work out, I can still give you a good job where you don't have to deal with me. I can put it into writing so you can't be fired. I wouldn't ask you to give up everything you knew without giving you a safety clause,” Vlad told her and then named a salary that had her choke on her food.
Vlad jumped up and patted her on the back until she stopped choking, and then sat back down.
“Just think about it. My offer is good whether you are interested in me or not. I like you. I admire your work ethic, I like your personality, and I like being around you. Whatever chemistry I feel for you, if you don't return it, that won't affect the job offer I'm giving you,” he told her, desperate for her to say yes. He was terrified if he left here without her, he'd never see her again.
Shelly put her fork down and looked at him. “I went out with you because I liked you. I was not expecting a job offer. I
was expecting some wine, and to go back to your hotel room and have a night of intense passion, because you seem like the kind of guy that would make it count. I need time to think about the job offer, so let's finish our dinner and enjoy whatever happens next, and I'll think about the job.”
“Okay, I can do that,” Vlad said, realizing she hadn't said no and then the sex comment sunk in. He had trouble keeping his eyes off her breasts for the rest of the night.
They finished their dinner and Vlad told her about growing up in Russia, and how he'd been an only child. He talked about how he'd someday like a big family because he thought kids deserved to not be alone growing up like he had been.
