That was something he hadn’t expected!
Immediately Alexei put down his tea picked up his phone then dialed the President’s Office to ask for a time to see him that evening.
10
London
The dinner was arranged for quarter to eight o’clock but he was late and Thomas didn’t have time to change, so instead he found himself in the study waiting for Nara to join him.
Nara, running late as was the norm, walked into the study just as the clock in the study chimed seven thirty. She was wearing a sexy, short, black couture dress from one of the many famous designers she gave her patronage to.
“By God, she is beautiful,” reflected Thomas as he recovered from the stunning sight she presented.
The silk dress, designed with lace around the front and sides provided revealing glimpses of her bare olive skin from the thigh up to her cleavage in front, had left nothing to the imagination—she was a vision of alluring elegance.
“God knows how much that cost me?” he thought as for all her natural beauty and the ability to look stunning in anything, his ‘wild horse’ as he fondly thought of her certainly knew how to spend it. By definition, she fitted in well with the wives and girlfriends of the Oligarchs that were exiled in London.
To finish off her look, she wore a pair of high stilettos with ankle straps, the color of legendary soles of the designer matching her very kissable made up red lips. “Darling you look absolutely ravishing,” he said as kissed her gently on her cheek so not to ruin her lipstick. He put an arm around her and felt his loins stir as his fingertips traced along the length of her long naked back.
“Thank you, my darling!” she sparkled. “I am pleased you like it,” she followed up with an alluring smile to match her sparkling eyes that seemed to Thomas to be working in tandem with diamonds in her ears and around her neck.
Changing the subject quickly to fight the urge to cancel dinner there and then and take Nara to bed instead, he asked if she knew who the woman was that would be joining them for dinner as Steve’s companion. His personal assistant had told him earlier she was an actress, but he had never heard of her.
“Yes! Darling, she is on the TV Show that Victoria watches—you know, the one with all the singing,” Nara answered straight away with authority.
“That means she’s young then, I suppose?” he said with a twinkle, as he knew Stevie liked his women young and had a reputation of using his position and the casting couch to full effect. Looking at his watch, the small talk over, he said, “We better make a move. I will brief you in the car.”
During the short drive, he briefed his ‘partner in crime’ on the background of the night. Nara listened carefully as he spoke, so she didn’t miss anything. It had filled her with immense pride that the President of Mother Russia saw ‘Her Thomas’ as a key part of his plans to rebuild her country’s status in the world.
For Nara, like the vast majority of her contemporaries of the émigré community, considered him a strong and fair leader in direct contrast to rest of the world that fell outside his influence.
Being street smart, she had learned early on in her life that important men often like to impress pretty girls engaged in pillow talk after sex. Yet it was only after the time when he had made love to her after punishing on that terrible day that Thomas changed towards her in this regard and started to treat her as his sounding board by involving her in his thought forming processes.
Whenever he did, it proved to Nara that she was truly his woman not just Hiskəniz (meaning concubine). It also had the added effect of allaying her fears as to Thomas moving on from her, something that had been festering inside her since he took the decision to send Victoria to boarding school.
Most of the time she had learned Thomas preferred for her to sit quietly and listen, but one thing he always did without fail was to ask her at the end of the night for her impressions on his associates when acting as his hostess. This act alone made her feel special.
“I will not let you down my darling,” she responded in Russian smiling at him taking his hand as he finished his briefing. Arriving at the restaurant, the resident paparazzi readied themselves as they pulled up just in case it was a famous person about to get out of the car.
On seeing it was Sir Thomas Litchfield with his famous girlfriend, the bulb flashes immediately lit up the street as they stepped out surrounded by their bodyguards. Thomas straightened his back and helped Nara out of the Rolls Royce Phantom. They briskly walked together arm in arm into the restaurant, ignoring the volley of flashing lights.
Once inside they entered the bar, Steve, having already arrived with his companion and his own bodyguard quickly spotted them and waved them over to join them.
Expressively, he hugged Thomas first, as was his way, before respectfully kissing Nara on each cheek. Initial formalities out of the way, he introduced his young companion standing just to his side.
“Guys, this is Daniela,” he said.
Thomas and Nara immediately thought that she was incredibly beautiful. Eighteen, she may be, but she came across as an illicit sixteen something they also surmised she almost certainly used to her advantage with certain types of men or women. Both also assumed unkindly that because she was with Steve, a man old enough to be her father and who had a passion for young girls, this was the reason why she was currently starring in the successful TV show set in a high school on the network owned by MNG.
“Yes,” Nara reflected, recognizing a predator instantly. “In looks she maybe a child underneath, however, she is anything, but!” she thought with authority.
“Christ, Stevie, you’re going get into trouble one day!” Thomas thought as he reached the same conclusion as his beautiful companion, just by a different route.
“It is a pleasure to meet you both,” Danielle responded with her best apple pie accent and smile just as she did on her television show, kissing air with each of them in turn after she had said it.
Introductions over, they went straight to the table.
As Thomas slid into one of Nobu’s famous booths, Nara immediately noticed the young girl had made sure her Thomas could see her legs.
“Jelep, I am not letting my Victoria watch her show anymore!” Nara jealously thought. Thomas, who unknown to Nara was into women and not children, blatantly ignored Daniele’s very obvious attempt.
She perked up straight away when she spotted the young girl’s disappointment that he done so.
“That’s right, Jelep! He’s mine,” Nara thought glibly, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t much older than the girl herself when she entered her Thomas’s life all those years ago.
“Why don’t you ladies do the ordering tonight?” Thomas asked.
“That’s a fabulous idea, Thomas!” Steve replied jovially, in support of his friend and business partner.
Much to Daniele’s annoyance, Nara immediately asserted her place as a senior female and did just that. She put the little starlet back in her place by not even consulting with the girl on the food for the night.
Inwardly Thomas chuckled, “God, she can be such a little cow when she wants to be,” he thought having spotted straight away Nara displeasure over the way Danielle had been flirting with him. “But a sexy one,” he added,
With the conversation over dinner touching on places, art, and music, interjected with several interruptions by fans for Daniele, friends of Nara, or business associates of both men, the point had come for them to discuss their business.
Taking her cue from Thomas with one of his famous winks, Nara suggested that Daniele and she go to the powder room. Again Thomas could instantly see it had infuriated the young starlet who had spent the entire dinner flirting with both him and Steve not to mention enjoying the attention of her fans, if not offering much on the subjects of general conversation.