seemed to shake himself off before joining her.
“Have you reviewed the files?” he asked without preamble. At Sarah’s nod, “Good. And what did you learn?”
Sarah wasn’t sure what to think. She was embarrassed about what happened on Friday, but today Vitaly was all business and from the looks of things, the entire event had been forgotten. Giving herself a mental shrug, she determined that she would do the same.
“Well, I didn’t realize that there was more to your revenue stream than logistics and when I looked at the other businesses, they didn’t make sense.”
“But?” he prodded.
“But they do. The entertainment businesses are ideal locations for client and vendor locations. And the software companies are all working on applications to strengthen your position in the industry. On paper, they look varied, but in reality, it’s all very calculated and …controlled .” Sarah’s voice trailed off unsure where to go from there.
He hadn’t expected her to show up on Friday as he had already excused his staff for the remainder of the day. It was the anniversary of his sister, Anna’s, death and he tended to drink himself to oblivion. His mother had blamed him for her death. It had been a particularly cold winter. As the oldest and thirteen, it was his responsibility to watch his little sister when his parents were at work. Tired of being cooped up in the house, he suggested that they go out to play. Anna had just been getting over a cold and they played outside for hours until their mother came home and screamed at them to get inside. That night, Anna had a fever and by morning, she was coughing. Three days later, her fever had yet to break and the doctor said that she had pneumonia.
This went on for weeks and every night Vitaly would lie next to her as he read her stories. Most of the time she slept or coughed. Eventually, Anna was admitted to the hospital where she died. After that, his mother barely spoke to him and his father eventually arranged for him to go live with his uncle, so he could learn a trade.
He had been drinking for a while when he heard someone get off the elevator. He was surprised when it was Sarah, as he didn’t expect to see her until Monday and certainly not in the state he was in. He was embarrassed that she had seen him like that, but he was determined to forget it ever happened.
As Sarah spoke, Vitaly admired her prowess. He’d only given her thirty minutes and in that time, she had picked up on things faster than some members of his management team. And he liked her choice of words. He did like to be in control. Actually, he demanded it. To lose control would leave him open to exposure. That had already happened once over a woman and he almost lost everything. He was not going to allow that to happen again. He didn’t work this hard and take this many risks to lose everything. He had vowed that he would not allow that to happen again, and he almost did on Friday.
He had gotten lost in his thoughts and was surprised when Sarah touched his hand lightly. As he stared at her, she blushed quickly removing her hand, but her touch created a warmth that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Changing the topic, he brought up his expansion on the east coast, as Sarah shared her thoughts on it and the difficulties he was having navigating around the port unions. As she talked, he again admired her thought process. She became more animated, and he became distracted at the rise and fall of her chest. Her blush had spread down her neck and chest giving her a rosy hue that he found delightful. He admired the swell of her breasts and was distracted as she shifted exposing more leg.
He stopped her mid-sentence as he moved an errant strand of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. When she looked up at him, her blue eyes seemed to grow large as he watched awareness creep across her face. Smiling down at her, “Did you pack a bag as Laurel suggested?”
“Ye…yes,” Sarah