Wicked Seduction

34 Arabian nights

Song for the mood: Dangerous by David Guetta feat. Sam Martin. Swipe left on the image above to listen. A snippet of the lyrics:

I don't know where the lights are taking us
But something in the night is dangerous
And nothing's holding back the two of us

Vera

Dubai, Thursday evening, November 15

"Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet my colleague, Vera Richland," Alistair introduced me to a group of men at the outdoor lounge area of an exclusive club in a luxury hotel.

We had arrived in Dubai that afternoon after a week in Abu Dhabi for an oil and gas conference. I'd been working in the oil industry for about a year and realized that it was still a lonely place for a woman despite the increase of female managers. Evenings with business associates were often male-dominated social events.

"Alistair, when you said you were bringing a colleague with you, you never told us that she would be a beautiful woman!" one of the men exclaimed. He grinned, shook my hand, and winked. "I would have worn a better suit. I'm Omar Khan, from Aventure Petroleum."

Wow. Just wow. I wanted to cup Omar's angular jawline in my hands. The man was strikingly tall and handsome, with gorgeous tawny skin, wavy dark hair, and chocolate eyes that would melt your heart. I could tell that he was fit and athletic, like Alistair, by how his designer shirt and slacks accentuated his physique.

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Khan," I greeted, moving closer to him. Feeling confident, I tilted my head and revealed my signature smile of womanly mystery to Aventure Petroleum's CEO. I already knew of the guy, as I had done my research on his company, a client of ours. "I hear that you want to expand your company's exploration goals."

"Please, call me Omar," he said, gesturing amicability with open palms. "Please, I insist."

"Shukran," I replied in Arabic, thanking Omar. "You can call me Vera."

I glanced at Alistair, who had made himself comfortable on the sofa, and started discussing politics in the petroleum industry with the group. He placed his hands on his knees, observing Omar with a sharp eye.

"Vera, take a seat," he called out. "Have you tried smoking shisha?"

"What's that?" I asked, sitting down to face the glittering lights that decorated the old town of Dubai across the river.

"It's a type of tobacco that you can smoke from a hookah, like the one my colleague, Khalid, is using," Omar explained, pointing at a thin man puffing out white smoke after inhaling from a pipe connected to an intricately decorated instrument with an hourglass-shaped base.

Half an hour later, I enjoyed the relaxing effect of the shisha, flavored with mint, while talking about a possible merger between two dominant oil service companies that would monopolize the industry's service segment.

"It's most unlikely to happen," Alistair declared, while Omar shook his head.

"Scotty, anything is possible in this industry. It will be the year's most striking oil merger bid-"

"It will die a hostile death. The justice department is going to file a lawsuit to stop the deal. I'm telling you, Omar, this merger poses plenty of antitrust problems in many markets," Alistair argued.

After a long pause, Omar turned to me with his charming grin. "Vera, do you think the merger will happen?"

"No, because it will stagnate competition and innovation," I began. "You see, both companies have over ninety percent of their respective revenues from products and services in which they compete with one another. The competition in these product lines will be much less, leaving only one major competitor to compete for the big contracts."