His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3)

by du Lys, Cerys

  "Yes," Asher said. "There's still no cause for concern, though. I understand full well what kind of situation we're in."

  "We don't need to be in any situation. If you remove me from the equation, then you should be able to perform suitable reparation to the company's image. There's no reason to needlessly harm Landseer Enterprise's reputation over something frivolous."

  "You and Elise are anything but frivolous, Lucent. I don't know how to make you understand that," Asher said. "Who do you think is going to do all of these company image repairs, too? My Director of Public Relations? The one who's sitting next to me trying to quit on me?"

  "I appreciate your concern, but there are others who can take my place. I may guide people, and make appearances for large events, but I'm not the only one responsible for public relations, Mr. Landseer."

  Asher pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. This wasn't at all how he intended or expected this to go.

  "Lucent," he said. "Can you just call me Asher? Please? For now?"

  "If you insist."

  "I don't insist it. I want to talk to you as my friend, not someone who works with me."

  "Technically I work for you, Asher," Lucent said.

  Asher laughed. "Are you intentionally being difficult right now?"

  Lucent smirked. "Yes, actually."

  "Because you want me to give in and let you quit. Did I get that right?"

  "Indeed."

  "What do you want to do, though? Ignore me and the company and all of that. Just talk to me for a second. Tell me what's going on with you. If you could do anything right now, what would it be?"

  "Anything?" Lucent asked, brow furrowed. "In regards to anything specific, or...?"

  "Nope. Nothing specific. Just anything at all."

  Lucent paused to consider his options, but not for long. "I wish to apologize to Miss Tanner," he said. "She left me, and I understand why, but I want to apologize to her. I hope I can make amends, though I completely understand if she wants nothing to do with me ever again."

  "What are you going to do to apologize?" Asher asked. "Any ideas?"

  "Anything," Lucent said. "I'd do anything for her. I never meant to hurt her. I never meant to lure her into this, either. It wasn't intentionally, but she's become trapped either way, and it's my fault." He hesitated before continuing. "I feel it may be best if we leave the city for now and head to a quieter and safer area."

  "Anywhere in mind?"

  Lucent nodded. "Yes. Potentially the Caribbean."

  "Um... what?"

  "I own a small resort in Aruba. It should be a safe place for Miss Tanner and I to stay for the foreseeable future. Crime rates are extremely low in Aruba, as well, making it especially ideal. If we go there in secret, there's little risk of being discovered. We shall not be surrounded by any questionable situations. We can remain in hiding while blending in as tourists."

  "Alright, so..." Asher was trying to wrap his head around this. He didn't see any huge issues with going to Aruba, but... Aruba? "You've never told me about this Aruba resort," he said. It was the only thing he could think of.

  "That's the point," Lucent said. "I've never told anyone about the Aruba resort. I collect money from timeshare usage, which is lucrative, as you know. Occasionally I vacation there, as well."

  "You vacation there?" Asher asked. "When exactly was the last time you went?" He couldn't remember Lucent ever mentioning going to Aruba.

  "I fly a private plane out of the country. It's located north of here on a small airstrip."

  "And you just... land in Aruba?" He felt like he was missing something important.

  "I use falsified documents and identification, of course."

  "Oh, right. Of course." Of course? Really? Well, he supposed it made sense in a roundabout sort of way.

  "I should be able to attain some false ID for Miss Tanner, as well. It shouldn't be an issue. I don't wish to cause problems."

  "No, well..." Asher sighed. "I guess that's good. It's good for you and her, maybe. I'm guessing you haven't discussed this with her yet?"

  "Not as of yet, no. I'm hoping she'll accept my deepest apologies first, and then we can discuss it in the morning."

  "I understand."

  That was that, he supposed. Asher frowned, glancing towards his feet. It seemed like this was the reason why Lucent wanted to resign, also. Why not? He could just live in Aruba. Possibly, at least. Asher had a few resorts in that area, so he knew a couple of things, and it really was a good place to hide out, he supposed. Quiet, very relaxed, not a huge party island compared to some of the surrounding islands in the Caribbean. The tourist area was very segmented away from the locals, as well. It should be easy to become lost in the crowd.

  And, besides that, they'd be able to stay for six months without issue. That was according to Aruban law, at least. Non-citizens were allowed to remain on the island for six months out of every twelve. Six months was likely long enough to figure something else out.

  He just really didn't want to be without his Director of Public Relations for six months, though.

  "Asher?" Lucent said.

  "Yes?"

  "I don't suggest this, but if you don't mind the risk, I'm certain I can work from the island with little issue. I have a secure system set up for transferring information outside of the Landseer cloud network. You'll need to access this from the safety of your home, as opposed to easily accessing it at Landseer Tower, but if you're willing to accept that, I'd be happy to continue my business with Landseer Enterprises, albeit covertly. You may say you've hired an outside, temporary public relations assistant. Outsourced, if you will."

  "Are you really going to Aruba?" Asher asked.

  "I don't know. I thought Miss Tanner would enjoy it. It will keep us safe, but free in a lot of ways that are impossible here. There are worse ways to hide out, at any rate. Being trapped on an exotic island seems more pleasurable than being holed up somewhere else. It's infinitely better than my previous idea."

  "Which was?" Asher still wasn't entirely sure what happened, but as long as Lucent was willing to accept fault and ask Elise's forgiveness, that seemed best.

  "I brought Miss Tanner to one of my previous submissive's apartment. Laura and I haven't been involved in years, yet apparently she still holds feelings for me. I was unaware of this, and once Miss Tanner and I arrived, Laura began attempting to act as my submissive again."

  Asher honestly didn't know what to say to that. For all of Lucent's intelligence and thoughtfulness, that sounded like one of the stupidest things anyone could ever do. He stared at the man, one brow quirked up slightly.

  "I fully realize I'm an idiot," Lucent said.

  Asher shrugged. "As long as you realize it, I'm fine with it. I wouldn't suggest doing that again."

  "I agree."

  And that was that. Maybe this was good? Asher had no idea. He wanted to think it might be, but... there was a lot more, too.

  "We'll talk about this in the morning," he said to Lucent. "I think everyone's had a rough day. I'm going to go see how Jessika and Elise are doing. I don't know if she'll want to talk to you yet, but if she does, remember everything you told me, alright? Don't forget. I know that's hard to comprehend; forgetting. Every time I look at Jessika, I feel like I'm falling more in love with her, and I think you and Elise might be the same way, but even then, it's hard sometimes. It's hard to understand just how much you can love someone, and it's hard to realize just how much you can hurt them because of that. The ones that love us are the ones that we can hurt the most. I know you don't want to hurt Elise, but tonight you did. You can't make mistakes like that again."

  Lucent nodded, solemn. Asher held out his hand, offering it to his Director of Public Relations. Lucent took it in his own, and the two men shook.

  "Everything's going to be fine," he said. "We'll figure this out. There's got to be some way to placate the police, prove you and Elise are innocent, and then deal with the media leaks and tapped
computers. It's probably not as bad as it sounds."

  Lucent laughed slightly, despite his serious expression. "Oh, yes, of course. None of that sounds terrible at all."

  ***

  Elise and I continued to talk about this and that. It was simple fun chatting, nothing really important, but it felt important in a lot of ways. This was us and it was who we were. We weren't talking about anything in particular, but we were being real and honest with one another.

  Eventually Asher came in, though. He tried to be unobtrusive, but as soon as it was the three of us, Elise grew quieter than before. Asher and I talked with each other, but Elise kind of just sat there, listening, and nodding now and again.

  After a few minutes of that, she said, "I'll leave you two alone. I'll just go sit in the living room. I don't want to be a bother or anything. Thank you for inviting me here, though. I really appreciate it."

  "You don't have to," I said. "Asher and I are just glad you're alright."

  I didn't want her to feel like she needed to go. She could stay in here with us if she wanted? I didn't really know how to say that, though. Did it sound weird? I kind of understood how she must feel, too. I didn't want her to feel left out or like the third wheel, but it wasn't always the easiest thing to perfectly mix together a conversation between three people.

  Asher must have realized this, too. "If you want, you can stay here. Lucent and I can sleep in the living room," he said.

  Elise laughed and shook her head. "It's fine. I'm sure everything will be fine. Thank you so much for everything, but I don't want to intrude any more than I have."

  She tried to say more, but it came out mumbled and muttered. Elise was a wonderful writer and I enjoyed her style and her writing voice, but sometimes she had difficulty talking and communicating with people. Maybe that's why she and Lucent went so well together; they didn't need to talk to understand each other.

  Elise took a cookie with her before she left, smiling as she did.

  "Good night, Elise," I said. "Sleep well. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

  She turned and waved a little. "Yes. Thank you again. Good night. You too, Asher."

  Asher smiled and said good night, as well. Then Elise left, and it was just me and him.

  "How is she?" he asked. He'd been standing before, leaving the bed to me and Elise, but now that she was gone he came and sat beside me.

  "I think she's good. I think she'll be alright, at least. Tonight must have been difficult for her. There's a lot going on, you know? It's difficult for all of us, but I don't think Elise has ever been in a situation like this before."

  He nodded. "I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do, to be honest. I've tried talking with the police and asking them to stop the investigation, but they're claiming they can't. It's not just a private issue, but potentially an issue towards public safety, or so they say. Because the fire happened during such a large event and was obviously intentional, apparently they're worried it might not be an isolated incident."

  "That's ridiculous," I said. "They think Lucent's going to go around lighting a bunch of buildings on fire?"

  Asher shrugged. He scooted towards me on the bed and kissed me on the cheek. "Who knows? It doesn't help that they can't find him. They're probably going to bring me in for questioning soon because of that. They called while I was at the Tower today, but I brushed them off. Said there wasn't any reason for Lucent to come in today and he worked from home sometimes, so who knew where he was?"

  I faked a gasp, then nuzzled close to him. "I can't believe you lied to the police. You're a felon, Asher Landseer."

  "I didn't lie. How was I supposed to know where Lucent was? I could have found out, but they didn't ask me that. They just told me to tell them if I heard from him."

  "Which you did," I pointed out.

  "Not until just now. He texted me, but you don't hear text messages, now do you?"

  I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm not sure they'd appreciate lies based around a technicality."

  "No, probably not."

  We stayed silent for a moment, thinking. I was thinking about Elise and Lucent, and what was going to happen. But, also, I thought about Asher and myself, too. Before I got too far into it, Asher kissed me. I kissed him back without thinking. He leaned into me, guiding me towards the bed, and I slid backwards, moving with him. Soon, I lay on my back, with him above me, our lips touching, soft kisses shifting between us, back and forth.

  He rolled onto his side, then atop me, his body pressing against mine. I smiled at him and kissed him more, quick pecks, one, another, then a third. He grinned back at me. One of his hands slid smoothly beneath my t-shirt and he held my side, his palm touching my bare skin. I moved my fingers towards the buttons of his dress shirt and began unbuttoning it. Once I had all of them undone, he helped me pull his shirt off.

  "What are you going to do with me now, Mrs. Landseer?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows at me.

  I laughed and slapped lightly at his shoulder. "Shut up. Come lay with me. Let's kiss. Just kissing, alright?"

  "Just kissing?" he asked. He lay beside me again, punctuating his question with a soft kiss.

  "Yes," I said. "For now, at least. I want to kiss you. We don't always have to have sex all the time, you know?"

  He laughed at that. "We don't have sex all the time."

  "I know, but I wanted to make it sound like we did. It's kind of exciting."

  "We had a lot this evening, though, didn't we?" he asked, more rhetorical and contemplative than anything.

  I bit my bottom lip and nodded. "Maybe..."

  "Did you like when I used your toy on you earlier?" he asked. He kissed my cheek, then moved towards my neck, making a trail with his lips towards my chin.

  I lay there and basked in the gentle feeling of his lips on my skin. I answered him with a nod, no words.

  "I'd like to do it again," he said.

  "Right now?" I asked.

  Both of his hands were under my shirt now. He smoothed them up my sides, holding me close. His lips kissed tiny circles around the hollow of my throat, then to the side and up my collar bone to my shoulder, then back again and towards my neck. Finally, he ended near my ear. He took my earlobe between his teeth and nibbled.

  "No, not right now," he whispered. "Right now I'm kissing you."

  I tilted my head to the side and kissed his cheek. He kissed mine, too. We moved our kisses until our lips connected and we were both kissing the same spot.

  "I love when you touch me," I said, speaking soft words in between light kisses.

  "I love touching you," he replied.

  "Not just like this," I added. "I love holding your hand, too. I love when you're working and I come behind you and lean forward with my chin on your shoulder and you reach up and touch my cheek. I love when you put your hands on my hips and pull me towards you for a quick kiss in your office or mine before you have to go to a meeting. I love all of it, Asher. I really do. You make me feel so special all the time."

  "Good," he said. "You are special. That's how I always want you to feel."

  "Do I make you feel special, too?"

  He nodded and our noses brushed together, up and down. "You do."

  "How? Can you tell me? I just want to know. I know maybe it's a hard question to answer without thinking about it, but if you can..." I trailed off. I didn't know what more to say.

  "It's not a hard question to answer," he said. "Not at all."

  I smiled and kissed him again.

  He kissed me back and said, "When we're at home and you're reading or working, I like to try and sneak pictures of you sometimes. I know you know I'm doing it, but it's exciting and makes me feel special, like I've found you all of a sudden and it's a rare event, like a pot of gold under a rainbow or a four leaf clover."

  I laughed. "I make you feel special because you take pictures of me when I'm reading?" I asked.

  He nodded. "I like when I just come upon you at home. When I see you suddenly, and you'
re doing something else, and it doesn't have to be anything in particular. If you're in our bedroom, in the bathroom, brushing your teeth, and I come in and see the light on, then peek around the corner and see you standing there, with your toothbrush in your mouth, looking into the mirror. I like that, too. I like coming down to the kitchen for breakfast in the morning and seeing you sitting at the table, eating. I like going to the library and seeing you sitting at one of the desks, reading. I like finding you taking a nap in our bed, or on a chaise in the library, or anywhere else."

  "Why?" I asked.

  "It doesn't seem real sometimes," he said. "The mansion is so large, that it doesn't seem real. It doesn't seem like you actually exist, and maybe I've just been dreaming the entire time. Every time I see you there, no matter what you're doing, it's like all my dreams have come true all over again. It's real and you're real and it makes me happy. Just seeing you in our home, in my life, not necessarily doing anything special because you don't have to do anything to be special, is what makes me feel special."

  I put my hands on his hips and pulled him closer to me, onto me. He came, moving at my guidance. One of his legs nestled between my thighs, and his other lay on the outer curve of my leg. I pulled at him, trying to move him up, and he inched and scooted upwards along my body until his knee pressed tight between my legs. I felt him there, his leg pushing mine apart slightly, pressing against my feminine core. It wasn't exactly sexual, or at least not yet, but it felt intimate and nice.

  "Do you know how sweet you are?" I asked him.

  "Is that a question I'm supposed to answer?" he asked with a grin.

  "No," I said. "I want to answer it." I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight, nuzzling my cheek against his. "You're sweeter than anyone I've ever known, Asher. I really mean it. I've always thought that way, too, even before. I remember when I first met you, and... well, not exactly when I first met you."

  I blushed for a second, thinking about that, but I forced myself to push through it and continue. "I remember thinking how considerate you were after that. I thought you'd be rude and overbearing, but you weren't. You were kind and generous and thoughtful. You gave me something that no one ever has, and it wasn't something I even knew existed before. I don't know what to call it exactly, but you gave me hope in a way. It's more complicated than that, though. It's..."