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Back Long Story Short Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
  49. 47
  50. 48
  51. 49
  52. 50
  53. 51
  54. EPILOGUE
  55. THANK YOU!
  56. MORE FROM VICTORIA WALTERS
  57. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  58. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  59. ALSO BY VICTORIA WALTERS
  60. Boldwood Ever After
  61. About Boldwood Books

‘Why would you want me to kiss you when I’m just like my father?’

‘Oh.’ My stomach dropped that he had heard me. ‘I only said that because Davis⁠—’

‘Because you don’t trust me.’

‘I didn’t want him to go out there and tell Hayley about us!’ I said, moving closer and trying to reach for Jake.

He stepped back, though. ‘You said we have to pretend nothing is going on,’ he reminded me. I dropped my arms to my side. ‘Maybe it was never pretend, though. Yeah, you might have wanted to make sure Davis doesn’t run his mouth to Hayley about us but you haven’t given me any indication you want anything to happen after we leave here. In fact, you just want to make sure no one finds out about us. And I thought that was to protect your career, which I 100 per cent want to do too, but maybe you don’t think I can do relationships because of my father. Maybe you just wanted a holiday fling.’ Jake shrugged as though he couldn’t care less either way.

His words felt unfair. ‘What do you want? You haven’t said anything about us after this trip either,’ I pointed out.

‘I just walked in to find you flirting with Davis!’ Jake snapped. ‘Talking about meeting up with him in London, asking him for his advice… Were you just using me, too, to help your career? Using this trip and me to get into Hayley’s good books? Maybe you thought I’d be honest with everyone like you wanted if you slept with me!’

I stared at him, stunned at what he had just said. ‘You think I could do that? I’m that kind of person?’

‘You just seem desperate to make sure no one finds out about us.’

‘I have things to lose; you don’t,’ I snapped back then, annoyed that he didn’t understand why I had to do that. Hayley wouldn’t drop him as a client but she could sack me.

‘Don’t worry, you won’t lose anything.’ Jake turned to go, then looked back at me, his expression and voice cold. ‘Whatever this was, we should just leave it here in New York; you’re right. We’re too different.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked, trying to follow him, hurt that he thought I wasn’t good enough for him after all. Talking about our differences… Of course I was aware of them but in his arms, I thought they didn’t matter. Now Jake was shoving them in my face.

‘This wouldn’t work in the real world, let’s face it,’ Jake said. ‘We had fun, sure, but we should go back to just being professional.’