Sarah shook her head in bemusement. This was all moving so quickly, but she was glad that she didn’t cancel. Once she received her badge, she headed to the elevator. When she walked out onto the tenth floor, she was surprised at the amount of open space as the other floors she was on had offices stacked tightly together like blocks. Walking up to a large desk, she gave the pretty receptionist her name.
Smiling brightly, she introduced herself as Laurel as she escorted Sarah to one of the large corner offices, letting her know that Mr. Chekov would be with her shortly. As she shut the door behind her, Sarah wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. Wandering over to the windows, she took in the breathtaking view of the Santa Cruz Mountains in the background.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” came a male voice from behind her. Nodding, Sarah turned coming face to face with Vitaly Chekov. Well, almost face to face. At only five foot three, Sarah was glad she wore three-inch heels, as she didn’t feel quite so small looking up into his six-foot frame. She cringed inwardly when the only thing that came to mind was Lisa’s description of tall, dark and yummy.
“And you must be Sarah Jenkins?” At Sarah’s nod, she held out her hand to shake. As he embraced her hand, Sarah looked down. His hand was so big that it almost completely covered hers. As she started to pull her hand free, he tightened it briefly causing her to look up. The intensity of his stare made her uncomfortable, as she suddenly realized what prey must feel like when cornered. Loosening his grip, he continued to hold her hand as he drew her over to the couch. Sitting down, he tugged her down beside him as he flipped open a file. Sarah had yet to say anything.
“Relax, I won’t eat you,” he told her as he sifted through the file. Sarah blushed. She was glad that he couldn’t read her thoughts.
“Now, according to your file, this is your first job?”
Sarah started to answer, but had to stop and swallow as her mouth had gone dry. What was wrong with her? She was never this uptight around people.
“This is my first corporate job. My family owns a large cattle ranch and I’ve been working on it since I was old enough to walk.”
“Not really the same as logistics, is it?”
“On the contrary, Mr. Chekov, despite the dress code and the smell,” Sarah said as she wrinkled her nose in remembrance, “Raising cattle for sale IS all about logistics. Besides having to keep track of several thousand cattle, we have to monitor their health, we deal with the government regularly; there’s marketing, vendor relations, tremendous amount of sales is involved when we are selling off large numbers to make room for more, and of course the transport, and that doesn’t include all the HR stuff as we maintain a regular staff of about twenty workers, plus an additional thirty during peak times.”
As Sarah took a breath to continue, he interrupted her.
“Okay, I get it,” he said with a smile. “And please, call me Vitaly.”
Sarah blushed as she nodded her head. Vitaly looked at her. She was passionate, articulate and lovely when she blushed. Making a quick decision, he continued.
“Now, originally, you had applied for the position in marketing, but I’ve changed that. Normally, I maintain a personal staff of four, but one is out on maternity leave, another was recently let go and my secretary and receptionist are unable to travel because of family obligations. I’m in need of someone with your academic background and obvious passion. There will be a tremendous amount of travel involved at times as well as long hours. You will of course be compensated for your time as well as any out of pocket expenses that you may incur while doing your job. You will learn about all aspects of my organization in a short amount of time. Is that something of interest to you?”
Sarah opened and closed her mouth before she was finally able to speak. Thinking fast, this was an opportunity too good to be true. She had no coursework. No boyfriend. Why not? Nodding her head, “Yes, Mr. Chekov, er, Vitaly, I am VERY interested in this opportunity.
“Excellent. That pleases me. There is one thing,” as Sarah looked up, he continued, “I can see from the pallor of your skin and the dark circles under your eyes that you were up late and drinking. Is this a common occurrence?”
“Oh, no, sir,” Sarah responded immediately. It was my twenty-first birthday yesterday and I just broke up with my boyfriend, so I over-celebrated. It won’t happen again.”
“Good to know. Now, go home, get some rest. Report to Human Resources tomorrow promptly at eight. You will spend the remainder of the week with the other new hires in training. I want you familiar with all aspects of this organization before you dive into the project files. Oh, and you have a passport, yes?” At Sarah’s nod, “Good. Now go.”