Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (127 page)

Plus books; a million books. Hidden in a corner
was an ancient-looking card catalog, with a desk and a reference computer next
to it. Did Asher really have a computer just to keep track of all of his
books? Probably, yes, and it did seem useful.

The library in his main house was massive, a two-story
affair with an open center. I glanced up for a moment and saw catwalks on
the second “floor” of the library, with stairs leading up to them,
going all the way around the perimeter of the room. More shelves up
there, more books, more everything. It seemed so magical and I thought
for a second that I’d fallen asleep on the couch in his guest home and dreamed
all of this.

In the center of the library I saw a small dais with a
broken book placed reverently atop it. A glass dome covered and protected
the book. It was a copy of
Dante’s Inferno
, the one I’d ruined the
first day Asher and I ever met.

“You can’t leave,” Asher said.

“Why not?” I asked, somehow managing to push
aside my tears. “There’s no point for me to stay,” I
said. “Every reason I initially came here for is gone now, so I
think it’s best for me to go.”

“No,” Asher said. “I want to hire
you.”

“Hire me for what? I don’t want to be your
assistant anymore, Asher. I don’t want to do that. And even if I
did, I can do it from my own home. I can go into work like everyone
else. I don’t need to live here.”

Asher furrowed his brow. “Jessika,
I…”

“What, Asher?” I asked. “Give me
one good reason to stay, because I don’t think there are any.”

“I love you,” he said, fast; too fast.
“I do. I thought you knew that, and…”

“You don’t,” I said. “You love
the idea of me. You loved that I was willing to give you children, and
you love that I… I don’t know what you love, but you don’t love me.”

“No,” he said. He moved towards me but
I moved away.

“Stop,” I said.

He didn’t stop. He kept coming and I tried to
back away, but there was nowhere to hide. I stood pressed against a
bookshelf, trapped, with nowhere to go.

“Jessika,” he said. “I don’t care
about any of that. I don’t care about children, or money. If I lose
everything, so be it. I understand that it could happen. I take
that risk every single day and I realize that no matter what I do, sometimes it’s
impossible to succeed. You risk everything, but for what? I enjoy
it, my work and my business, but if everything suddenly came crashing down, as
it almost did today, I could live without it.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“I don’t want to live without it, but I
could,” he said. “I couldn’t live without you, though.
Not now, and not ever. You mean so much to me. I want to know
everything about you. I… will you go on a date with me?”

“You’re asking me on a date?” I asked,
trying not to laugh, crying as I did. “I think it’s a bit late for
that.”

“No,” he said. “It’s never too
late. It’s always possible. I want to go on a date with you now,
and next week. In a month from now. In twenty years. I’d like
to ask you out on a date when we’re both old, with gray hair and
wrinkles. Good wrinkles, though, from smiling too much and
laughing.”

“Asher,” I said, hesitant.
“Please don’t do this.”

“I’m doing it,” he said. “I need
to know your answer. I’m sorry for pressuring you, but I need to
know.”

I stood there, quiet, knowing full well I had to deny
him and leave. I needed to.

“Yes,” I said, a quiet utterance.
Louder, I repeated myself, “Yes.” I stepped forward, fell into
his arms. We went to the ground slowly, huddled together. “I’m
so scared, Asher. I’m so scared. I don’t know if I can do
this.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m scared,
too. Please, just give me a chance, though. Please?”

Through my sobs, I asked, “Will you give me a
chance, too?”

He kissed me, lay me on the soft carpets in the library
and pressed his lips to mine. I melted and all emotion abandoned me
except for Asher’s love and affection. Why had I wanted to leave? I
knew full well why, but I was lying to myself about the reason. I didn’t
want to leave just for Asher, I wanted to leave for me, too. This was so
new and unknown and before when it was more of a secret and private it felt
different and safer, but now that it was open and public I was afraid.

We lay on the carpet and cuddled and kissed, and I
don’t know when exactly it happened, but I fell asleep in Asher’s arms, my lips
touching his, comfortable and close.

…

Beatrice and Solomon were arrested and went to
jail. More of a high profile place than anything, and likely far more
comfortable than they deserved, but Asher never wanted them to be in serious
trouble in the first place. He couldn’t understand what had pushed them
so far, but he knew it wasn’t up to him to forgive them, either. They’d
entrenched themselves too deeply in illegal activities to dodge federal
offenses, and there was nothing more he could do.

To help out, Asher had paid the exterminator costs for
Robert’s daughter, too. It seemed like the least he could do for the man
after causing such trouble in the back room. The first day after the
arrest, Robert was shaken up, but after that he seemed peppy enough about
it. Later, the bookstore owner said that all the news coverage and
publicity surrounding the shop caused a boom in business. Asher grinned
when he heard that.

He went to visit Beatrice in jail sometimes,
too. He knew he shouldn’t, but he went anyways. She was actually
friendly with him now. Her father never came to visit her, no matter how
hard Asher tried to convince him. It only seemed to solidify her point
towards him that day in the bookstore. He tried not to think about it.

And, actually, it was Beatrice’s idea for him to take
Jessika to the Solage Calistoga. She’d already made the reservations and
while he could cancel them easily enough, why waste it? Not that he
needed Beatrice’s validation, but she said Jessika was nice and that maybe she
was wrong. Maybe nice people were fine, and maybe you didn’t have to be
rude to people all the time in order to throw your weight around and force them
to respect you.

It was very strange seeing Beatrice like this, but he
liked it. They wouldn’t get back together—in fact they’d already signed
divorce papers and she’d agreed to it readily—but he thought that after she
served her time in prison they could become friends. Maybe they were already
friends now.

Jessika visited occasionally, too. Asher left
her alone in the room with Beatrice once when Beatrice asked him to. He
wandered through the hallways, going to the guest cafeteria. It was a
sparse, utilitarian place, but he liked the hot chocolate they served. He
ordered two cups(one for Jessika later), sat on a screeching metal chair at an
empty table and waited.

It was a little sad here, but hopeful, too. Dark
greys inside, with bars on the windows. Beatrice had her own cell, of course,
and most basic commodities, cable television, access to DVDs and books and most
other things. Still, it was imprisonment. But when he looked
outside, he saw a glimmer of what the prisoners must know. A few birds
chirped and flew around the prison grounds and offered a view of happiness.

…

“Alright,” Beatrice said, completely
serious.

I listened to her and nodded and I felt somewhat
awkward but she’d asked specifically if she could speak with me alone, and then
Asher had left, so…

“I ordered everything. This includes
chocolate fondue, but I don’t expect you to…”

“I know,” I said. “I heard you
that day. I was beneath the bed. Asher told you that, I
thought?”

“Yes. I apologize for that. I enjoyed
hearing about Solomon’s conquests. I know you two never had sex, but at
the time it was exciting to me.”

“Well…” Ugh. Well, what?
“I’m not going to tell you about Asher and I, so please don’t ask.”

“I don’t care if you tell me,” Beatrice
said, snooty. Asher said she was different, but I really didn’t see
it. “I just don’t want you misusing the fondue. I ordered it
for a very specific reason, and if you aren’t going to use it for that then I’d
prefer if you tossed it out.”

“Alright,” I said.

“Alright what?” she asked.

“Alright, I’ll use it for what you intended or
I’ll toss it out.”

“You aren’t going to tell me which?”

“No!”

Beatrice frowned. “I wish you wouldn’t be
so difficult.”

“Can’t we talk about something else?” I
asked. “I didn’t think I was here to gossip with you.”

“Are you going to still have his children?”
she asked, all of a sudden, completely out of nowhere. From what Asher
told me, she’d never asked about this before.

“I… we…” I didn’t know what to
say. “Yes, but naturally.”

“That’s nice,” Beatrice said. She
smiled, and I think it was the first time I’d ever really seen her looking
genuinely happy without a streak of meanness at all. “Well, you can
go now. I have things to do. I would like it if you came back and
told me about your trip.”

…

“Have you thought about becoming a writer?”
Asher asked me.

“Asher, please,” I whined. “Not
now.”

He grinned and looked me in the eyes. Leaning
above me on the bed, he hovered over my face and kissed me delicately on the
nose. “I’m going to wait until you answer me.”

Why? Why was he doing this? Or, perhaps a
better question, why had I agreed to this? We were at the Solage
Calistoga, back at our room, taking a break from our morning fun. For
whatever reason(it hadn’t seemed terrible at the time), I’d agreed to allow
Asher to tie me to the bed. And not with something simple like a silken
shirt binding my hands to the headboard, oh no. He’d gone all out,
apparently having purchased high quality silk rope from a specialty
store. I remember laughing at that, and then laying on the bed,
dutiful. I spread my arms up and to my sides, then did the same with my
legs, and Asher tied each of my limbs to the bed, leaving me spread eagled with
my arms in the shape of a “Y.”

It had seemed amusing at the time.
Exciting! Interesting and fun. And it was all of that up until
Asher joined me on the bed, kneeling between my open thighs with his cock
poised and ready to enter me. But, no, he didn’t. He built me up,
and then he waited there, just barely pressing the head of his member into my
waiting slit. I wanted him to push inside me, but instead he asked me if
I ever thought about becoming a writer.

I pouted at him, my face twisting into something akin
to annoyance and desire. “Please, Asher?” I asked.
“Just a little? I can’t answer you right now. It’s so hard to
think.”

He kissed my neck and my breasts, teasing my hardened
nipples with the tip of his tongue. His cock never moved, though, not an
inch. It remained tightly tucked between my labia, ready to please me but
refusing to do so until I submitted to him. Up, he kissed, back to my
neck, my lips. I kissed him back in a fever of lust, hoping he’d feel my
need and give in to me. He didn’t.

“Just a quick answer,” he said. He
kissed my nose, then each of my eyelids; I kissed his chin and his
cheeks. “Yes or no, that’s all.”

I couldn’t just answer yes or no. The question
required more. “Yes,” I said softly, fully intending on
continuing to say more.

He immediately pushed inside of me, but only a few
inches. I bucked against his obtrusion and gasped.

“Yes yes yes, Asher.” I let out a
lusty sigh and pulled against the rope binding my wrists to the bed. I
wanted to wrap my arms around him and pull him deeper into me, but with my
current restraints it was impossible.

“And?” he asked.

“Are you really doing this?” I asked.
“Are you really going to do this? I don’t know how you can.
You have far more willpower than me.”

“That’s a lie,” he said. “I just
get a lot of pleasure from watching you squirm on the bed. It’s
beautiful.” He leaned down and kissed my ear. “You’re
beautiful, and if you tell me more I’ll go all the way in. That’s all you
have to do. I love you, Jessika.”

“I love you, too,” I murmured.
Steeling myself, I tried to fight against my inherent need. Granted, it
was very difficult, what with about a third of Asher’s cock pressing into
me. I felt it, a warmth, a promise of more. His heat mixed with my
arousal and, to tease me, every so often he flexed his cock, sending a surge of
pleasure and promise through me. If I just stayed still and didn’t say
anything, maybe I could find a way to get myself off. This
was
exciting, but different. If I edged my hips just so, barely moved,
wiggled my lower body up so that my clit barely brushed against his
stomach(though this was far more difficult than it first seemed), and…

“If you don’t answer me soon, I’m going to pull
back out,” Asher said.