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? "Come on in and meet everyone," Goro told the young men.
Masaaki looked them over as they entered. Luckily, they had taken the time to dress appropriately. Normally, they would just toss on some jeans and T-shirts, even though they had fancy clothes at their disposal. Today, each was dressed in suits with their hair combed, and in dress shoes no less. He wondered what was up and whose idea it was.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Aomori. From the front, the group leader, Yori Morioka and lead vocalist; Satoshi Hayashi, piano player and tenor; Takumijo Yamazaki, bass-baritone and lead choreographer, and last but not least, Ichiro Yoshida, tenor and music composer."
The band members bowed to their guests.
"Have a seat," Goro told them. "I'll introduce the others."
Yori sat down in a vacant seat next to Shaundra Morrison while the others sat on the opposite side of the table as Goro introduced the authors to the singers. Once Goro finished, he caught the singers up on what they'd missed.
"So, what's on the agenda for tonight and tomorrow?" Harper asked.
"Mr. Niigata has arranged for you to see Tokyo's nightspots, and tomorrow, a tour of the city," Masaaki explained.
"Clubbing?" Izanami Kudo asked. It was the first time she'd spoken.
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Masaaki asked.
"No, it's just that, well, won't Aomori be mobbed when someone recognizes them?"
"We've already taken care of this, and they never travel anywhere without guards."
Dorothy looked around the room like she expected to see some guards hovering nearby.
"They're positioned outside in the lobby. We have to protect them from our other employees as well. You'd be surprised how many, male and female, want to get next to these young men."
"Can't say that I blame them," Dorothy admitted. "They're gorgeous."
Satoshi stifled a chuckle and Ichiro blushed. The other two singers didn't respond because they were smart enough to know better, but Masaaki could imagine what they were thinking. He'd have to protect them from this one too. Make a note to self - don't allow band members to be smothered by old cougar.
"Clubbing? What the hell am I going to wear?" Shaundra asked as she went through the dresses she had brought along for the trip.
Someone knocked at her door. Shaundra left her bedroom to answer it.
The bell boy who had assisted her with her luggage stood on the other side carrying two large boxes.
"What's this?"
"Mr. Kehoe sent these," the young man explained. "He said it's for you to wear tonight." Shaundra took the boxes from him and placed them on a table in the suite's living room, got her purse to tip him, and then closed the door behind him when he left. She picked up the boxes and carried them into the bedroom "What in the world?" she asked, staring down at them. "What did he go and do?" She opened the first box and gasped. Inside was a black mini dress, matching black underwear, and stockings. "Oh no, he didn't." She held the dress up to her and walked over to the mirror. "This is positively shocking. I'm going to be run out of town in this." She twirled around, still holding the dress up to her. "It's cute...for a twenty- year-old." She laid the dress out on the bed so it wouldn't wrinkle and then examined the underwear. "French cut and just the correct size.
Deviant." The other box contained a pair of high heeled, black, strappy pumps, size eight and a half, and a matching black clutch. There were also silver earrings, bracelets and a necklace. "Hmm, he's going out of his way to impress someone."
A card fell out of the tissue as she pulled it out of the box. "I expect to see you in this tonight and I don't want any of your sass about being fifty,"
signed Harper.
Shaundra cracked a smile. Her publisher knew her very well. "Oh, I guess I don't have any other choice." She wondered if he supplied clothes for the other writers as well. Hopefully, he allowed someone else to choose Dorothy's clothes.
The telephone rang.
Shaundra moved away from the bed to answer it. "Hello."
"Hey, Mama."
It was Tricia, her youngest daughter.
"Hey baby, what's up?"
"How's Japan?"
"I don't really know. I haven't seen much of it yet. We arrived late last night and I'm still out of sorts from the time change." She paused. "So how are things back home?"
"Pretty much how you left it. Juanda is still upset that you left town and left her with the twins, and of course, Donald called."
"What did he want?" It irked her to no end how he called behind her.
"He just wanted to know if you arrived safely."
"I left him a message when I arrived, just like I left one for you, Juanda, and the boys. It's not my fault he didn't return the call."
"When are you going to end it with him? It's obvious even to me that it's been over between the two of you for quite some time."
Shaundra sighed. "You're right. I guess I'll do it when I get back. In the meantime, don't feed him any unnecessary information."
"You mean about you and Harper?"
"There's no me and Harper."
"Um hmm," Tricia replied like she was older and wiser than her twenty-four years. "You're just saying that because you think we'll go all militant because he's a white man."
"No I'm not. Besides, I brought all of you up not to let something like that be an issue. Harper's my boss and nothing else."
"But you'd like it to be something else?"
"No, I mean, I don't know. He's handsome, rich and he picks out nice dresses."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
"You're going to fill me in later, aren't you?"
"Yes, but right now, I have to get off this phone and get dressed."
"Where are you going?"
"Out clubbing."
Tricia giggled. "Don't break anything and don't get drunk."
"Who is the parent here?"
Tricia giggled again. "Who are you going clubbing with?"
"A bunch of authors. We'll be lucky if they don't toss our old butts out."
"Have fun."
"I'll try to call you when I get back if it's not too late."
"Bye, Mama."
"Bye, baby." Shaundra hung up the phone and trotted off to the bathroom for a bath in the luxurious sunken tub. Sometimes being a writer really did have some cool perks.