Stella's Seduction

Fred looked at the sheet of paper in front of him and shuddered. There were fifteen names on the list, and all were female. Did Jenna really have to take a maternity leave? He looked up from the paper and eyed the plump woman sitting in front of his office. She was huffing and puffing like a mad woman. The pressure of the office was too much for her in her state. He couldn’t ethically deny her the leave, but he knew that replacing Jenna, even temporarily was a tall task. He looked at the desk in front of him which held a picture of him and a leggy brunette climbing on his shoulders. The picture brought a smile to his face. Even though his head was covered in grey, and his bespectacled eyes were framed with fresh lines of wrinkles, she was laughing despite the disparity of the company.

His phone rang and he heard Jenna’s voice as she seemed to sense his frustration.

“When are they coming?” asked Fred with a tone of resignation.

“Cheer up, boss. It is not going to be that bad. As it is I already shortlisted your list and sorted the names accordingly. Only the first six are coming. It shouldn’t even take till lunch to finish and that too when you are already an hour late.” Jenna pointed out.

Fred noticed the small pencil dot beside the first six names and smiled again. He was never going to get someone better than Jenna. The sooner she comes back the better it is for him.

Jenna was a little younger than his forty six but she had been working with him for almost twenty years. That kind of loyalty couldn’t be replaced. She had her eyes and ears open but refused to react most of the times. She said that the excitement was not good for her spondylosis that she got from typing all those documents for him. Jenna had noticed his being late this morning. Fred thought about it and smiled sadly.

When he had woken up from his bed in the morning he groaned with a hangover. The light stung his eyes like arrows aimed to kill and his head felt like it was going to explode. He wished to sleep in when he felt the warm bodies pressed up against him. He remembered that it was the weekend and groaned once more.

“I am too old for this,” he mumbled.

“We didn’t think so last night”, came a squeaking voice from his side that wrapped a nimble hand around his stomach.

Frederick didn’t remember last night. He was too drunk to remember. Part of his intoxication was deliberate. He needed to liberate his need from his want. He turned to his left to find a brunette with dishevelled hair and golden eyes. He smirked at her boldness as his manhood, already active in the morning light, started throbbing for release. He turned to give her a kiss but instead bit her on the tip of the nose. She giggled but there was another voice in the room.

Fred turned to his right and saw the same brown hair and golden eyes, but these eyes were less playful and more demanding. Suddenly Frederick remembered the twins he had brought back the night before.

“I am sorry ladies, but I think I was too inebriated to recall your names.” he apologised.

The woman on the right gave him a piercing look only to laugh it off a moment later.

“You made up enough for your lack of sobriety,” the girl on the left commented. “I am Natalie and that is Natasha. We are twins if you couldn’t tell.”

Fred chalked out the previous night as one of his many mistakes and knew that he would have to task his security team to get them off his back. Fred’s security consisted mostly of ex-mafia whose family once worked for his. Among them Mark was young, barely out of the army after serving for a few years and he had gained ranks to become his right-hand man.

Frederick asked Mark to send a few of the other men to sort out a twin problem in his New York Apartment.

“Twin,” Mark asked over the phone.

“Do you have a problem, Giovanni?” Fred asked using his last name.

“Of course, not sir. I was just thinking about how many would be needed to sort the problem.”

“I don’t care what you do to them. I need them off my back and I need all traces of the interaction deleted so that no blackmailing can occur. Get to it,” Fred ordered.

This wasn’t Mark’s first rodeo. He knew that the women would be transported to another part of the town after being administered some drug that would remove their memories of the past few hours. The room would be cleaned with a oxygen based cleaning agent to remove all traces of biological remains and a clean sweep would have to be made for all electronic and digital markers. Social media too would have to be purged for all records of the night before where his boss may have been involved. It was not an easy task but his boss provided him with enough resources to get it done.

Frederick always had a one-night only policy when it came to women. It kept them safe. But the women often did not understand that. They often wanted more and that made them a target for people on either side of the law.

It had taken Mark about three hours to get all things in order. Fred had driven to the office himself as Mark also doubled up as his chauffer. He had a few early morning meetings that were accomplished easily with the help of Jenna, the super-secretary. It was an inside joke among them which got solidified when Fred gifted her a T-shirt with the name printed on it, as a Halloween gift. Jenna showed up in the T-shirt, paired with a purple cape for the Halloween party, making Fred spill his drinks. That’s when she had introduced her fiancé, Jose who seemed a bit immature beside Jenna. Perhaps it was his lack of seriousness that kept the balance in the relationship because Jenna had a natural tendency towards mothering others including her own boss. Now they were expecting their first child together. How fast time flows.

When a female voice greeted Fred on the other side of the phone a smile lit up his face.

“Hello”

“Stella, to what do I owe you this pleasure?”

“Jenna told me that you might need help interviewing potential secretaries. When do you need me?”

“I can take a few interviews without causing an incident. I am not that naive, “Fred insisted.

“I am just thinking of chaperoning. I don’t want you accused of sexual harassment.”

“What do you think of me?”

“A walking sex god,” Stella commented nonchalantly as the line went dead.

Stella was Fred’s friend, though the word friend had a very loose interpretation here. She was the best friend of his business partner’s wife and almost sixteen years his junior. Initially when they met Stella had a huge crush on another mutual friend but that faded over time and with it all awkwardness in the friends’ circle. She was basically one with the guys but not because she lacked anything in the looks department. Seeing Stella in a room one would classify her as perfect arm candy, only until she opened her mouth. Her wit was to die for and that is what captivated Fred.

Fred knew that he had a thing for Stella but he was acutely aware of the fact that he was the son of a mafia family who helped police to bring his family down. There were many people after his blood, which justified the army he carried around as his security. The other thing that he was acutely aware of was the age difference. Stella had been out of his league since the day he realized his feelings for her. Their position defined the difference. Stella was the maid of honour at his best friend’s wedding while he was giving away the bride. Now, five years later he still went weak in the knees thinking of that day.

They even lived in the same apartment. That happened because of an incident three years ago. Stella came to Fred asking him for help. Some guy had been stalking her and sending her unwanted gifts and sending threatening messages. Things went too far when Stella received a picture of herself, half-dressed, in the mail. Fred put his security to work and found that it was Stella’s neighbour who was responsible. He insisted that Stella move into his spare room and that had been it.

Now Stella had become an addiction. Weekends when Stella visited her uncle were difficult for Fred and he tried to submerge himself in alcohol and women. Stella was however back for the next few days and Fred at work to do. Fred tried to concentrate on the file that accompanied the list of names which Jenna had provided. They were the credentials for Jenna’s possible replacement. The position would not be temporary though. Jenna didn’t know that yet. Fred reckoned that once there was a baby involved Jenna could use a helping hand. He flipped through the files and knew that all these women had one ultimate target in mind.

They would all be disappointed though. Fred did not have relations with his employees. That was a rule he lived by. He smiled to himself before he heard the knock on the door.

“Come in,” Fred dolled.

The door did not open for him to finish as a brunette woman in her late twenties strolled in with a beaming smile. “You still smell of sex,” she informed him.

“I have needs that need to be taken care of,” Fred explained without telling him that she was the reason for his insatiable needs.

“How old are you again?” Stella asked batting her eyelashes in mock innocence.

“I am fourteen years your senior, Stella. Treat me with respect,” Fred warned but the smile gave way to the underlying humour.

“I would rather treat you with a cuddle, my teddy bear,” and that was her name for him as she pounced on him making herself comfortable on his lap. Fred, however, was far from comfortable but he wouldn’t let it on. He enjoyed the closeness as much as she did. Despite what it looked they were meeting after only two days and yet it felt like an eternity to both of them.

“So among the six applicants all are female, two are married and two are engaged. However, the single ones are the most qualified. What do we do?”

Stella asked at the end of the four-hour interview session.

“You know my no-employee policy, right? I do not date employees and I do not sleep with them. If I did Jenna wouldn’t have stuck along as much as she did.” Fred concluded.

“I like the brunette girl. She seemed very motivated.” Stella provided.

“I don’t know. Her background seems sketchy. Are you sure about her?” Fred asked. “I like Reagan Adams. She is smart, brisque and seems to be efficient.” He suggested.

“She is the one with the black hair and green eyes. right?”

Fred answered with a meaningful nod.

“She seems too perfect. I have a problem with perfect.” Stella mused.

“Are you feeling competition?” Fred jibed her.

Stella scowled back. “You know what, hire her. She seems efficient. She has the most relevant degrees and references. Just hire her and then we can meet for dinner tonight. You are cooking.” Stella retorted.