Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (124 page)

“Jeremy,” Asher said, calm and
collected. “Jessika and I have been… how should I say…”

“Yeah, yeah, you guys are going at it. I’m
no dummy, you know? That’s fine. She’s nice and I like you,
Asher.”

“So why are you going on about the kissing?”
I asked.

“Well, it happened! What do you want me to
do, lie about it?”

I harrumphed. “I guess not. I don’t
know.”

Asher chuckled. “It’s fine. I
understand the situation. I’m not upset. It’s more amusing than
anything. You’re really different, you know that?”

I glared at him.

“In a good way! A wonderful way. I
love it.” He reached over and took my hand in his, squeezing my
fingers. “I really do, I love you. Not even Jeremy and his
good looks can pull us apart.”

“I don’t know, man,” Jeremy said, tousling
his hair. “I’m pretty ridiculously good looking. I could give
you a run for your money.”

I looked at Asher, daring a glance into his
eyes. He smiled and squeezed my hand again. “I didn’t mean to
kiss Jeremy,” I said. “I mean, I meant to, but…”

“It’s fine,” Asher said.

“Alright, so now that this mushy crap is out of
the way, can we figure out what’s going on? What do you want to do?
Do we go to the bookstore? Do you think that’s where she
went?” Having finished his breakfast, Jeremy chugged what was left
of his smoothie.

“Yes,” Asher said. “If neither of
them are there, I’m sure the owner will be, right?” He looked to me
for confirmation.

“Yes, they’re open every day but Sunday.
They close early today, but we have plenty of time,” I said.

“Right. So we’ll go, and if nothing else
I’ll talk with the owner. Since you’re acquainted with him, I think this
will go well, Jessika. Maybe we can get some help from him. He
might know something.”

“Alright,” I said, nodding.

“Sounds good,” Jeremy agreed.
“I’ll drive, of course. No funny business in the back seat, though,
you two.” He wagged a finger at us.

He looked so ridiculous that all I could do was laugh.

…

We arrived at Robert’s bookstore shortly after it
opened. Unfortunately, no matter how much I liked the place, it was never
very popular. Robert spent most of his mornings tidying up and
re-organizing. Except when I came in, in which case he usually chatted
with me and we talked about new books or authors and things like that while I
helped him out a little. I never worked there, he never paid me, but I
enjoyed it still. It was fun and I liked Robert.

Before we got out of the car, Asher took my hand in
his and stared at me with a strange kind of look. I didn’t really
understand it and it scared me. “Jessika,” he said, “if
something happens I need you to stay safe, alright? I can handle the
situation if it goes badly, but I want you to keep enough distance that you can
find safety if need be.”

I smiled at him and laughed lightly.
“You’re talking like this is dangerous,” I said. “It’s
nothing, Asher. Don’t worry about me. We’re just going in to talk
with Beatrice. It’s like a business meeting, I bet.”

Just talking, right? Nothing more than
that. Accusations, yes, and perhaps a heated discussion, but what was
Asher thinking? It worried me that he was worried, and I didn’t
understand it. This wasn’t… this wasn’t… I didn’t actually know what
this was, but I knew deep down that everything would be fine.

“I’m sure you’re right.” He kissed me
on the lips, lingering. “I’m worried, that’s all. It’s
silly.”

“You two getting out?” Jeremy asked.
“You want me to stay here or come in?”

“It’s probably best if you stay here,” Asher
said. “If Beatrice sees all of us, it could seem overly
confrontational. I want to settle this as peacefully as possible.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Asher opened the car door on his side and stepped
out. He stood to his full height and brushed down his suit jacket,
peering at his surroundings. I watched him, enthralled. Asher was
the kind of person who looked commanding in almost any setting, I
realized. In Landseer Tower, yes, and in his home, of course, but when I
saw him look like that now, standing on the street having just exited the car,
I realized this was him always. It wasn’t something he did intentionally,
it was a part of him.

He jogged around the car to my side and opened the
door for me. When he reached inside, I took his offered hand and let him
help me out. He smiled and kissed me again, this time on the forehead.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I’m ready,” I said.

We walked to the front door of the bookstore, side by
side. No hand holding this time, not like when we’d left his office the
other day. I understood, since we needed to act discrete and not upset
Beatrice, even if she’d done more than her fair share of upsetting both Asher
and I, but still. I would have liked to have the feel of his hand in
mine, that tiny bit of comfort.

Asher opened the door for me and I stepped
inside. Robert had finished setting up my area since the last time and I
nearly rushed over in glee to investigate what he’d done, but I stopped
myself. At the counter, older, with fading red and grey hair, stood
Robert.

“Jessika!” he said, smiling wide.
“Wonderful for you to stop by. I’ve added some new additions to your
shelves. Do you want to see?”

Asher stepped in behind me and nodded to Robert.

“Oh, did you bring a friend?” Robert
asked. He never missed a stride and moved out behind the counter to greet
us both. “I’m Robert,” he said, holding out his hand.

Asher took his hand and shook it.
“Asher,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You look familiar,” Robert said.
“Have you been here before?”

“No.” Asher shook his head.
“It’s a lovely place, though. Jessika has said nice things about
it. I’m hoping to become more of a frequenter. I always enjoy a
good book.”

“Well, Jessika’s been a great help here. I
should probably pay her, that’s how useful she is, but, well…”

I shook my head. “No, no. I like
it. I just come in for fun.”

“I know. I appreciate it. Shall we go
see the new additions to your section? Maybe your friend will find it
interesting. I’d love to—”

“We didn’t actually come for that right now,
Robert,” I said. The confused look in his eyes hurt to see, but I
promised myself I’d make it up to him later.

“I was hoping you’d know my wife,” Asher
added, taking control of the conversation. “Beatrice Landseer?
Or do you know a Solomon Royce? He works for me, and…”

“Oh,” Robert said. “Oh!
You’re
Asher
. Asher Landseer. Yes, I recognize you.
I… this isn’t really… I should have tidied up. It doesn’t always look
like this, you see, and…”

“No, no. It looks wonderful. It
reminds me of my library at home. I’d love to look around after, but I
have pressing matters to attend to with Beatrice and Solomon right now.”

Robert nodded. “I think they’re out
back. It was a surprise when they first came here, actually. I
don’t know what brought them, but they’ve offered to help me out quite a
lot. I’m sure you’re aware, since you’re Beatrice’s husband. She’s
a little harsh sometimes, but I think deep down she’s a good person.
Should I go get them?”

“Oh, no. Jessika knows her way around,
right?”

I nodded. “You can stay here for the early
morning rush, Robert. We’ll only be a second.”

Robert guffawed. “Early morning rush.
Right! I think having you four in the store is the most people I’ve had
this early in the morning in years.”

I grinned. “We’ll buy four times as much
before we leave. How about that?”

“That would be wonderful,” Robert
said. “You don’t have to, of course, but that would be
wonderful. Your wife and that other fellow are in the back, Mr.
Landseer. It’s a little hectic over there, so please pardon the
clutter. I use it as storage for extra bookcases mainly.”

“I’ll show you,” I said to Asher, tugging on
his jacket sleeve. To Robert, I added, “Thank you, Robert.”

Robert nodded and shuffled back around the counter,
fiddling with a few of the books stored back there.

I led Asher through the bookstore. We passed by
my section briefly and I whispered to him about it, explaining how Robert had
set it up for me. He smiled and glanced at a few of the books before we
pressed on.

Robert’s bookstore was mostly orderly, but nothing
like a conventional bookstore. He set up little reading areas behind
bookcases shaped into rooms, with blank spaces as doors. Asher and I
walked past the children’s reading area, where some local parents brought their
younger kids for special readings after school, and then through the gaming
room. That was my idea, too, even if I knew nothing about it. The
older kids, high school level or so, loved playing these trading card games and
adventures and dragons or something, so why not give them a place to do it
here? The bookstore was nearly an impromptu after-school daycare in those
regards, but Robert seemed to like it. He made a few sales from it, and
it filled the store with more people and kept him busy.

There were a few more cornered off spots, also, and we
passed those on our way to the back warehouse; a romance readers group section
and a sci-fi/fantasy one, too. I fondly remembered one time when there
was a group of romance readers trying to discuss something in their section
while a bunch of fantasy lovers had decided to come by the bookstore before
heading off to a movie premier. The fantasy guys(and one girl) had
dressed up as characters from the movie and were making a bit of a ruckus,
play-acting out scenes. The romance people huffed about it to Robert and
he let them use the book club room until the fantasy movie-goers left to catch
their flick, but the looks on their faces were priceless; a little upset, a
little confused, and kind of laughing but not quite.

We arrived at the entrance to the backroom.
Nailed to the door was a sign that read “Employees Only.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I think
Robert’s just hired you. You’ll make a good librarian.”

Asher grinned. He stepped forward and twisted
the doorknob, then opened the door and gestured for me to go ahead. I did
and he followed behind me, closing the door after us.

Rows upon rows of bookcases greeted us inside.
Some were fine, stacked next to each other in no particular order, but others
were rickety and on their last legs. A few broken shelves lay in a pile
to the right, tossed their carelessly to await their fate in a heap on the
street when garbage day came. The backroom was an old, small warehouse of
sorts, where the previous owner had stockpiled goods and received truckloads of
supplies through a single loading dock far in the back. Robert didn’t use
the loading dock often now, since he never ordered enough books to find it
necessary, but the large door was still there.

Voices crawled through the air towards us, creepy,
wispy sounds, and the lights overhead illuminated the storage area with a pale,
faded glow. Beatrice and Solomon were talking to one another, sounding
far off and away.

“After this weekend the insurance policy for
every resort will lapse,” Solomon said. “If they don’t receive
payment by early Monday morning, that part is settled. Then we send the
exterminator to that bookstore owner’s daughter’s house. We’ll have him
fix the girl’s bed bug infestation, but he’ll collect some of the bugs and keep
them stored. We don’t need a lot for this plan, since it’s mostly smoke
and mirrors, anyways. A couple infested rooms at Landseer resorts will do
the trick. Asher will, no doubt, find out, but with the unfortunate loss
of insurance, it’ll be a financial burden to eradicate every hotel and vacation
resort. Not to mention the exterminators aren’t going to actually do
anything and will just put down generic foggers without insecticides as opposed
to treating the problem properly.”

“I’ve arranged for someone to follow them
today,” Beatrice said, confirming Asher’s earlier suspicions.
“I doubt it’ll lead to much, but we should have some juicy photos heading
to the tabloid news sources after that. They can mess around with the
pictures if necessary and make it look worse than it is.”

Solomon laughed. “Good, good. Careful
with that, though. We don’t want Asher to file a lawsuit that he might
win.”

“Oh, of course not. I’ll
reluctantly
confirm everything if asked, which someone’s bound to do, and start the divorce
proceedings that way.”

I gritted my teeth, becoming so extremely frustrated
at what I was hearing. Did they really expect this to work?
Granted, it seemed like it should, especially if Asher and I never found out,
but… Argh! It annoyed me so much. How could either of them do
this? Why would they? They were just so relentlessly vindictive
over nothing and I didn’t understand it.

And exploiting Robert’s daughter’s bed bug problem for
their own gain? I knew Robert and his daughter probably couldn’t afford
to hire an exterminator on their own, so they must have put an ad up somewhere
asking about a discounted rate or something like that. Solomon and
Beatrice swoop in, pretending to be nice people and…