In Deep Kimchi (5 page)

“Do you need me to escort you upstairs?” Riley asked.

“No thanks. I know the way.” She left the other three writers sitting there and headed toward the door, not missing the evil stare a young female seated by the door gave her.

* * * *

“What were you thinking, leader?” Satoshi asked after he drew Yori’s attention away from the exit door.

“What do you mean?”

“That author, the dancing?”

“Because she turned down my invitation to join us.”

“So you asked her to dance because she snubbed you?” Takumijo asked. “I don’t get it.”

 
He lifted his glass and saluted them. “Kanpai.”

“Kanpai,” the others repeated.

“No, I did it to get back at her,” Yori confessed. “I figured I’d embarrass her to get even.”

“Very petty,” Satoshi replied. “Not to mention that it backfired.”

Ichiro chuckled, but did not comment.

Takumijo wasn’t as nice. “She has some nice moves for her age.”

“What’s wrong with her age?” Satoshi asked.

“She’s older than he is. Hot, but still much older.”

“Definitely hot,” Satoshi agreed. “And so out of his league.”

Yori punched him on the arm playfully. “You’re supposed to be my friend, and anyway, I’m not interested in her in that way. Amaya would kill me.”

Amaya and Yori had been dating since elementary, and their engagement had been arranged by their parents since they were kids. The two of them planned to marry soon or after Yori completed his military duty.

Takumijo called the waiter over and ordered another round of drinks for them.

Satoshi sighed. He was drunk already and sleepy.

The waiter arrived quickly with their drinks and returned to the bar. Three of them drank Shochu, a drink distilled from barley, while Ichiro stuck to iced tea. Ichiro never ate anything unhealthy and only on special occasions would he drink sake. He didn’t talk much either, which didn’t make sense since he had the voice of an angel. They’d been together for fifteen years and there were still things locked inside Ichiro’s head that he refused to share, and they shared everything except women and underwear.

Takumijo stared at some of the dancers on the floor and then rejoined the conversation, which had veered onto another topic…the upcoming concerts. “Masaaki must be out of his head allowing Mr. Niigata to book us with back to back concerts. When are we supposed to rest?” He sipped his drink.

“When we die,” Yori replied. “Mr. Niigata knows what he’s doing. The more experience we get, the better the reception we’ll receive in the United States. If he wants us to hang out with the authors, we’ll hang out with the authors.”

“Speaking of which, how did you know you had the right people when they entered the lounge? You’ve never met them.”

“Elementary,” Yori explained. “I did my homework and searched their names on the Internet after we met with Masaaki. That’s what a good leader does. One writes paranormal romance, one writes gay romance, one writes historical romance, and one writes erotica. Can you guess which one does what?”

“What type of erotica?” Takumijo asked suddenly, a little more interested in the conversation.

“The real good stuff,” Yori replied.

Ichiro chuckled again and continued to nurse his iced tea.

“What’s so funny, Ich?” Takumijo asked.

“Nothing. I was just imagining the surprised look on Masaaki’s face when he found that out. You know how uptight he gets with that type of stuff.”

“He’d better get over that,” Yori explained. “I heard this new company is only going to feature gay novels.”

Takumijo made a face. “You do a lot of reading, Ichiro. Have you ever heard of any of them?”

“Only one of them,” Ichiro replied. “And I’m not saying which.”

Satoshi gently tugged Ichiro’s long hair.

“Ouch.”

“What else are you hiding from us?”

Ichiro went back to his tea, ending the conversation.

“That’s okay, we’ll find out tomorrow at the meeting,” Satoshi replied.

Yori looked down at his watch. “It’s tomorrow already. We better get up to our rooms before Masaaki wakes up and comes down to get us.” He rose and the others followed, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

Satoshi looked over at the bar. Only the two men remained, which meant the other female must have left shortly after Shaundra Morrison. Like Ichiro, he noticed that she did not drink alcohol. He hadn’t smelled any on her when he approached, just sweet soap and shampoo.

Yori led them out of the door and into the bright lobby to the elevator. Satoshi pushed the button. Shaundra Morrison was the first woman he’d ever seen Yori take an interest in besides Amaya. He sighed. And the two women were as different as night and day. The elevator door opened
. Hmm, this is going to be interesting
. He followed his friends inside the door and it closed behind them.

Chapter Four

Masaaki listened intently as his boss, Goro Niigata, and his new business partner, Harper Kehoe, discussed the opening of their new publishing company while they waited for the eight writers and Aomori to arrive. They were seated in the large board room upstairs on the twenty-third floor at Niigata Enterprises in Tokyo. The main office was in Osaka where they all lived.

The four Asian authors they were expecting all were from Tokyo, a deal Goro Niigata worked out to synch a successful opening and no problems from the Japanese government. Masaaki had already met the two men and women, who all had very big followings throughout Asia. The two females, Chirau Narita and Izanami Kudo wrote romance, and the two men, Hideahi Chiba and Iwao Kimura, wrote romance and horror. Each has stepped out of the realm of their specialty to write yaoi for Niigata and Kehoe
. Oh my word
, Masaaki thought.
Boy love garbage
. At first, he’d thought Mr. Niigata was out of his mind until he’d done some research on the subject of gay romance and discovered that the sales were skyrocketing all around the world.

“Did your authors arrive safely?” Goro asked Harper. He was dressed in a black business suit with a classical pearl button shirt beneath. His jet black hair was parted on the right, differently than he normally wore it…giving him a young, stylish look.

Masaaki smiled. Being around Aomori was rubbing off on him.

“Yes, even Ms. Morrison,” Harper answered. He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a red shirt and grey tie. His dark brown hair was short, revealing a very nice, clean shaven face. His voice was deep and eloquent and had a bit of a western accent. Luckily, both he and Goro were well-versed in English and Japanese and could act as interpreters for the meeting.

“You mean the one afraid to fly?”

Harper chuckled. “Yes, I had to promise her the world to get her to come.”

“The world?” Goro asked.

“Yes, I promised I’d hold her hand all the way here and I even offered her my body if that would help.”

Goro cracked a seldom seen smile. “And she agreed after that?”

Harper continued to smile. “No, Shaundra Morrison isn’t like that unfortunately. So I had to give her the next best thing. I introduced her to a doctor who specialized in phobias and anxiety.”

“You mean you found a doctor who would drug her.”

“Exactly. She slept most of the way here.”

“Was that wise?” Goro asked.

“She’s one of the best authors in the world and a real sweet woman. I couldn’t allow her to miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime because she’s afraid to fly.”

“I suppose you’re right. My wife is also afraid to fly. ”

The door to the office opened and Emiko Hana, Goro’s secretary, walked in. “Four of the authors have arrived, Mr. Niigata,” she replied. “And four more are on the way up on the elevator.”

Masaaki wondered which ones had arrived first. His question was answered when four American authors walked through the door. He looked down at his watch. Right on time. Punctuality was always a good thing.

Harper got up to greet and introduce them. “You guys have perfect timing. I was just talking about you.” He introduced the two men first. “Mr. Niigata and Mr. Fugimoto, this is Jackson Lopez and Riley Hymel, our paranormal and gay romance authors.”

The two authors bowed respectfully. Masaaki liked that they’d taken the time to learn about Asian culture and tradition. The women were introduced next.

“And this is Dorothy Brown. She writes historical and regency romance.” He pulled an African American woman over. “This is Shaundra Morrison, our erotic romance author. Her latest novel,
Temptation,
has just made it to the number one spot on the New York Best Seller’s list this morning.”

The two women bowed, but the one named Shaundra Morrison did not show delight in hearing the good news about her book.

Mr. Niigata bowed to them. “Congratulations on the success of your book, Ms. Morrison. I’m looking forward to your current book with KiNii doing the same thing.”

“Nice to meet both of you, Mr. Niigata and Mr. Fugimoto. I look forward to working with both of you.”

She had a nice voice, kind of throaty and sensual. He guessed she fit the description of what an erotic romance writer should look like, pretty with a nice body. The enamored look on Harper Kehoe’s face meant she was something special to him too.

The authors joined them at the conference table. A few minutes later, Emiko knocked on the door again and brought in the Asian writers. The meeting began after the introductions were over.

It went a lot better than expected and communication wasn’t a problem. All four of the Japanese authors spoke English and two were fluent.

“What exactly is expected of us, Mr. Niigata?” Chirau Narita asked. She was in her mid-twenties, about five-feet-four inches tall and very thin.

“As I explained earlier, the eight of you will be doing numerous interviews at television stations and personal appearances in Tokyo to promote the opening of the new publishing company. On Sunday, you will be taken to one of my fashion magazine companies where you’ll do some photo shoots for the next edition.”

Dorothy squealed. “I’ve always wanted to see myself in a magazine. What do we need to bring?”

Masaaki answered. “Just yourself. Give Emiko your sizes on the way out. We’ll have wardrobe people, hair stylists and makeup artists waiting your arrival.”

Dorothy reached over and squeezed Shaundra’s arm in delight. Shaundra didn’t seem at all excited about the upcoming photo shoot. In fact, she looked quite dumbfounded. He suspected she was still a bit overwhelmed by it all. Harper had explained that she was a bit reclusive. She was calm and composed and just taking it all in.

Someone knocked at the door for the third time. This time, Aomori entered. The two female Asian writers and the American author, Dorothy, started fanning themselves frantically with their hands. Shaundra seemed to shrink deeper into her chair. The first reaction he expected since women always did that when they first saw Aomori. The second reaction, he did not expect. Was Ms. Morrison shy?