His Absolute Arrangement: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #1)
Cerys du Lys
Published by Cerys du Lys, 2014.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
HIS ABSOLUTE ARRANGEMENT: A SCANDALOUS BILLIONAIRE LOVE STORY (JESSIKA, #1)
First edition. November 19, 2014.
Copyright © 2014 Cerys du Lys.
Written by Cerys du Lys.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword
His Absolute Arrangement
Bonus Scene
A Note from Cerys
Sample (Sequel)
Sample (Concurrent)
Sample (Sweet)
Sample (Spice)
Other Writing by Cerys du Lys
About the Author
Afterwords
Foreword
Sign up for my weekly newsletter here! It's got information about sales, free e-books, and more!
CerysduLys.com/Newsletter
You can also find me on Facebook! ~ (like me) | (friend me) | (book club)
You can friend or follow me on Goodreads, too.
~*~
Other books in the Jessika's Love Story series:
His Absolute Arrangement
His Absolute Insistence
Books in the Elise's Love Story series, the concurrent series that follows alongside this one, involving Elise and Lucent's side of the story:
His Absolute Assignment
His Absolute Betrayal
~*~
Jessika's Love Story, is a standalone series that happens after events that occurred in The Billionaire's Ultimatum and The Billionaire's Paradigm. You do not have to read either of those to follow along with this story, but if you'd like to read about some of the events that led up to this one, you should begin with:
The Billionaire's Ultimatum: His Absolute Need (The Complete Series)
The Billionaire's Paradigm: His Absolute Purpose (The Complete Series)
His Absolute Arrangement
I sat at my desk, fingers tapping on the keys of my laptop, preparing to type. I didn't know what I wanted to write or how to start or where to end, but I needed to write some sort of story, so I forced myself to begin. My fingers moved slow in the beginning, testing and teasing at the keys like an awkward first lover, but soon I gained my stride and the story blossomed beneath my touch.
***
Asher and I escaped. That was the only way I could think to describe what we were doing. The media was in a frantic buzz over what had happened, not only with Landseer Enterprises, but his wife, his Director of Public Relations, and... me. I was a part of this now, a part of his life, and I wanted to be, but the extra stress that came along with it wasn't something that I could have ever planned for.
We were going to be married. It was so soon and sudden, but I felt like I'd known him for so much longer than I really did. We'd spent weeks together, which didn't seem like a lot, but weeks became months and months became years. We'd been together for over six months now, hadn't we? Thinking about that gave me pause, and then I thought about it more. I didn't have time for idle thoughts, though.
In an attempt to avoid the press and paparazzi, Asher and I fled to a small countryside bed and breakfast. We planned to get married at a pond nearby. They had a quaint gazebo built by the water for special occasions like this. I didn't think our wedding needed to be any more special than a summer picnic or a young couple's first declaration of love, but Asher wanted it to be special.
I didn't know how to explain how much I wanted to please this man. He was everything to me; he'd given me everything, including himself. I didn't deserve it. The media called me a homewrecker and a whore, though sometimes they used kinder sounding terms like illicit lovers and secret trysts. The whole thing made my stomach churn in anger and anxiety.
I never meant to do it. I never meant for things to turn out the way they did. Would anyone believe me? It seemed so odd to think thoughts like that, yet they were some of the only things I could think about right now. You'd imagine that on the precipice of one's wedding day, a person would only be able to think about love and marriage and being a bride, seeing the groom, but our wedding was so quiet and private that it almost didn't even seem like it existed.
A little part of me wanted extravagance and luxury. I'd dreamed of being married ever since I was young. I think every little girl dreams of a love like that in one way or another. They want grandeur and perfection; or at least happy imperfection.
Wanting these things made me feel guilty, though. Asher Landseer, billionaire CEO of Landseer Enterprises, young, rich, handsome, reclusive and aloof. He was a little odd sometimes, I had to admit, but I didn't think he was too mysterious or strange. Or perhaps I didn't know him well enough to find him mysterious and strange. Was it possible to find someone more mysterious the more you got to know them?
The thought made me laugh.
"What are you thinking about?" Asher asked me.
We were in the bed and breakfast now. We'd checked in under the alternate names of Max Hollowell and Josephine Dunst, a fresh young couple prepared to begin a new and wonderful life together after their small wedding in this tiny little town.
"I'm sorry, Asher, but I don't deserve any of this," I told him. I sat on the bed, wringing my hands together, staring at my wrists. "I don't deserve you. I don't think we should get married. I should leave. Forever. You should... I don't know. I'm sorry. I really don't know. I know it's not fair to you, but..."
He came in close and touched my chin, holding my face lightly in his hands. With one knee on the bed, he leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. A soft kiss became a harder kiss, harder still, and without realizing it I found myself laying on the bed with Asher's knee nestled between my legs, pressing hard against me.
I moaned into his kiss as he pressed against my crotch with his knee. All thoughts escaped me and the only thing I could think about was kissing him back, giving myself to him, loving him. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go away. I still didn't think I deserved him, but I did want to get married. I wanted to stay, I wanted to try, I wanted to love and be loved. I wanted...
Some small part of my mind reminded me that this was probably why the media called me a homewrecker and a whore. I gave in to Asher too easily, except I didn't in a way, too. We gave in to each other, which was to say that I'd honestly never felt a connection like this with anyone else before. We'd done things that I certainly wasn't entirely proud of, but I could say with absolute honesty that I wouldn't have done these things with anyone else, either.
I didn't want to do them with someone else. I wanted to do them with Asher. I didn't need a big wedding, but I'd always dreamed of one. Except now—right now—if I told anyone I wanted a huge wedding with all of the trim and loveliness that I'd always dreamed of, they'd think me a moneygrubbing gold digger. They'd say I was only marrying Asher for his money, that I didn't actually love him, that I didn't care about him.
I did, though. I cared so much. How could I not? This beautiful, passionate man, who I'd once agreed to become an egg donor for. He was in a loveless marriage with an infertile wife and all he wanted was a child. Why would someone think I was selfish when all I wanted to do was give him his hopes and dreams? I didn't even want anything in return. He offered money, but I couldn't even remember how much. He'd offered stability and security, but my thoughts were only of that curr
ent point in time, of helping him and giving to him.
We'd gone too far, and I regretted it, I felt anxious all the time after, I felt worried and hurt and...
"Stop," he said with a smile, kissing from my lips to my nose, then once on each of my fluttering eyelids. "I love you, Jessika."
"I love you, too," I said. "Asher, I really do. I love you so much. It's just so... it's difficult, and..."
"I know," he said, whispering into my ear. "It might always be difficult, but if so, I'd like to deal with it with you. I want both of us to deal with our problems together. I know I have more than you, and that I'm kind of pulling you into things that are bigger than you've had to deal with before, but we can make it work. I promise."
I laughed. Was he really saying that this was his fault? I felt the same way, that it was me who was to blame, but I was fairly certain my ideas concerning the guilty person in this situation were the right ones.
I didn't have time to contest his statement, though. Asher unzipped my pants and shimmied them down my legs far enough so that he could place his palm against my crotch. His fingers crept beneath my panties, inching towards my sex, and he kissed me, kissed me more, while delving downwards with his hand. His fingertips curled alongside my lower lips and he settled them there against my folds. I gasped and bucked up, not expecting this, but he pressed firmly downwards, keeping the core of my body pinned against the bed.
"Asher," I said, my voice light and airy. "We're supposed to wait until after we're married. This isn't—"
He didn't let me finish. He plunged a finger inside of me and latched his mouth onto mine and any complaint or concern I had melted away at the impassioned sensation he immersed me in.
***
"Wow, our wedding was that depressing, huh?"
Startled, I snapped away from my laptop, nearly crashing into Asher as I pushed my chair out, ready to jump from my seat. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me, leaning into me and leading me back to my chair. I nuzzled against him instinctively, conflicted between feeling confused and feeling calmed.
"It wasn't depressing," I said. "It was emotionally difficult." That sounded better, right?
"And it was getting sexy, I see." Grinning, he leaned in further, reading the last few lines I'd written. "Maybe I can help you remember more?"
I rolled my eyes and reached up, playfully slapping him across the cheek. "Asher, really now? We're both supposed to be working. We can't just..."
My words trailed off. We were in Landseer Tower, the corporate office building that provided a home base for Landseer Enterprises day to day affairs. They'd used a line like that in the tabloids, too, I remembered.
Landseer Tower is home to more than just the day to day affairs of Landseer Enterprises. Asher Landseer, himself, has been overseeing an affair of his own in his corporate building with the as yet unknown Jessika Fevrier.
Granted, I was Jessika Landseer now. We were married, afterall. And "as yet unknown" meant that my status in life was notably less important than anyone else they could think to highlight. Before meeting Asher, I really wasn't much of anything. A temp worker at a day job agency, useless English degree, debt as far as I could see, a tiny apartment, and not much else. To be honest, I didn't even feel much different right now. I still had my useless English degree, though my debt and tiny apartment had vanished, but what else did I have to show?
I had Asher, and I loved him, but...
Asher pulled away from me and found a chair in my office, then brought it over and sat down alongside me. "What's the matter?" he asked. "You've been distant lately. Is something wrong?"
Was something wrong? The thought made me want to laugh. Yes, something was wrong.
"It's calmed down a lot. It's been over a year, Jessika. You shouldn't worry about what other people say," he said.
"Asher, people were calling me a homewrecker. And slutty. And I'm sure there were plenty more happy phrases they used to describe it all."
"I'm not saying they didn't say those things," he said. "I'm just saying that—"
I interrupted him. I didn't care what he thought, but he was wrong. Or, I mean, I did care, but he was still wrong. "I distinctly remember the comments one woman left on one of the articles I read." I cleared my throat and took up the tone of a shocked news reader. "No matter how shitty the marriage is and how awful Beatrice treated Asher, you should never cheat! Jessika! Home wrecker!" I followed with my best attempt at speaking aloud the word "uuuggghhhh," but I didn't think I did it as much justice as the original commenter would have wanted.
Asher just grinned. He sat beside me, smiling like a huge jerk, on the verge of laughing.
"It's not funny," I whined.
"It's kind of funny," he said. "Remember when you stayed in my guest house and threw tissues on the floor. You pulled the bookmarks out of some of my books, too, and left your towel in the corner of the bathroom. Oh, I remember you mentioning you masturbated in my bathtub, too. Did I forget anything else?"
I blushed and mumbled, turning my head away from him. "So you're calling me a homewrecker, too, are you? Literally?"
He shrugged, nonchalant.
"Asher, I know you think it's funny or something, and you laugh it off, but no one's ever called me things like that before. It's not like it was just one time, either. It went on for months." I... I didn't want to talk about this, though. It wasn't even just this one thing, but everything. I had more worries now, more regrets and anxiety and maybe I was just worrying over nothing? Asher said as much, but I didn't know how to deal with it yet.
"I'll do anything to make you happy," he said, smiling softly now. "You know that, don't you? It doesn't matter what happens or what others think, I still want to be with you."
I nodded. I nodded and remembered one of the more recent attempts at bashing me. "Even if I can't give you a child?"
He blinked. I doubted he'd expected that, but the rumors were going around, and those were some of the ones that hurt the most.
"We still have plenty of time. It's not like there's a rush," he said.
"I suppose." Yes, we were still young enough, but... "The whole reason we met in the first place and continued to see each other was because I was supposed to be an egg donor and surrogate mother for Beatrice," I said as a point of fact. "We've been trying for nearly a year now, Asher, and I'm not pregnant. What if there's something wrong with me? What if...?"
"There's nothing wrong with you," he said. Scooting the chair forward, he took my hands in his. "We weren't doing anything special to make it happen, right? But we've been trying harder these past few months, working around our schedules, and doing everything we can, so it'll happen. It doesn't matter when it happens, but it'll happen."
And if it didn't? I'd read some trashy article theorizing that I'd get dumped by Asher just like he'd left Beatrice. Once we talked about bringing in an egg donor and surrogate, he'd start an affair behind my back. Once a cheater, always a cheater. That's what they said. I didn't know if I believed it or not, but the idea still hurt to think about. That people didn't understand, that they didn't care about connections and love and hope and passion. I didn't even hate Beatrice, though it was hard to like her, but even she agreed that she'd never bothered to try and love Asher.
"Tonight," Asher said, interrupting my thoughts. "We've got to start again tonight, don't we? Today's the day."
I sighed and squeezed his hands. "Tonight could be the night, but tomorrow's more likely."
"I've been waiting, though. You aren't going to make me keep waiting, are you?" he asked with a smirk.
"How long have you been waiting? A whole day? It's not as if we don't have sex, Mr. Landseer. Often, too."
"Oh? Mr. Landseer? Is that how it is now?" He snuck in close and kissed me quick. "I think we should both take a few days off, though. Just to be sure. Spend it in bed, relaxing, no stress. Stress doesn't help, so I think if we do that, it'll increase our chances."
"You want to just stay hom
e and have sex as much as possible for four days?" I asked, eyes wide, laughing. "I think maybe that's taking ovulation cycle preparation to the extreme. Not to mention I have no idea if you can even replenish your little swimmers fast enough to make it worth it."
"Little swimmers?" Asher said, snickering. "Did you really just say that?"
"What do you want me to call it? Your sperm? Seed? Cum?"
"Can you say that last one again? Maybe a little sexier?"
"You want to cum inside of me as much as you can over the next four days and impregnate me with your seed, Asher?"
"I'll cum inside of you right here and now if you keep it up. Just toss you across the desk, hike up your skirt, pull your pantyhose down, and spank you right before I—"
Someone stood in my office doorway, mouth agape. They were probably walking by at the time, nothing doing, but upon seeing us sitting there so closely, Asher not even trying to hide what he was saying to me, well... they weren't walking past us now. I saw them out of the corner of my eye and turned to look. Asher noticed me looking and glanced their way, too.
It wasn't anyone I recognized. An ordinary woman, pretty in her own way, with her hair done up in a bun and wearing casual corporate attire. A nice skirt, a blouse, heels. Regular, like me, except for the fact that I had some rich and powerful CEO sitting next to me, telling me how he was going to fill my womb with his child.
Asher went from playful and fun to serious and stern all at once. "Did you need something?" he asked.
"N-no, sir," the woman said. "S-sorry, Mr. Landseer. Mrs. Landseer. I... I didn't mean to interrupt you."
I smiled and shook my head. "No, it's fine. We shouldn't have been so loud. I apologize."
The woman attempted to stammer out a response, but nothing she said made much sense at the moment. Instead of trying more, she waved her hand around and pointed and then she left.
"I should have closed the door," Asher said.
His Absolute Arrangement: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #1) Page 1
