In Deep Kimchi - By Imari Jade Page 0,11

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