I looked at the clock on the bedside table and sighed. We couldn’t stay much longer in this hotel room, unfortunately. After breakfast, the conference was having a final morning event to showcase all the authors and their books for the last time. Everyone apart from Jake pretty much had a stand in the room that readers could stop at to buy books or merch, have things signed, or just meet their favourite authors. Jake had refused to have a stand but we still needed to be seen there. It was our last opportunity for Jake to be around readers and the industry, the last chance to fix things. I had no idea if that was possible but we had to try.

And then there was going to be an end-of-conference dinner and party, before we had to pull ourselves together for an early flight home. We’d have to pack after breakfast and check out too. There seemed to be a long list of things to do today but snuggled next to Jake, I wished we could blow them all off.

‘I can feel you thinking hard.’ Jake’s eyes opened. He pulled me closer. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Just thinking about what we need to do today and then we’ll be leaving and then…’ I trailed off because I had no idea what would happen after that.

Jake reached out to brush back a strand of my hair and then cupped my cheek. ‘It’s going to be a full-on day for sure. You enjoyed last night, though?’ Jake asked me softly, drawing his fingertips down to touch my lips.

‘I did,’ I replied. ‘Did you?’

‘You know I did.’

‘It will be strange being at the conference today and not being like this,’ I said, gesturing to us still entwined.

‘Can I keep my hands off you?’ Jake pulled me in for a lingering kiss.

‘You need to,’ I said seriously when we leaned back from each other. Liv’s warnings ran through my mind. I watched as Jake looked confused. ‘I don’t think we want anyone to find out about us here,’ I said. ‘Hayley is still silent. If we can’t make things right, I could lose my job and you could lose an agent. If she found out what we’ve been doing, we definitely would lose everything.’

‘I wouldn’t care if she dumps me; you’ve done more for me these past few days than she would have done.’

‘I can’t afford to think like that,’ I explained. ‘I’m just starting out. She could ruin my career before it even starts,’ I added worriedly. I was already unsure if she wanted me to keep working for her.

‘You really are worried about your career?’

‘She was furious.’

‘Yeah but we’ve made progress since then…’

I shook my head. ‘Not enough. Her silence speaks volumes.’