His Absolute Arrangement: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #1)

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

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~*~

O
ther 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

~*~

J
essika'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)

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.

A
sher 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 current 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.

"W
ow, 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?"