The Simon Langley Literary Agency was in a very different building to my current place of work. Sleek and next to the River Thames, it felt more modern and had a good buzz to it. Simon’s office was up high, offering an impressive view of the city. I looked out of the huge window in reception while I waited and ticked off all the landmarks I could see from there. And it was most of them.

‘Freya, thank God you’re here!’ Davis came into reception. He was wearing a smart suit and looked nervous but smiled when he saw me. And held out his hand for a firm shake. I followed him through into Simon’s office. He stood up and came to the door to greet me. He couldn’t have appeared more different to Hayley – a man in his sixties with salt and pepper hair, a warm smile, wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

‘Freya, Davis has told me so much about you. It’s lovely to meet you.’

I returned his smile and shook his hand. ‘I dread to think,’ I replied.

Davis chuckled. ‘I told you – she tells it exactly how it is.’

It was still jarring to hear people complimenting my honesty. I had thought I needed to change that. We all sat down in the sofa area of the large office. It still managed to be cosy, with a huge bookshelf, a floor lamp and lots of plants. The view behind Simon’s desk was hard to stop looking at too.

‘I finished He’s Behind You,’ I told Davis after I had turned down any refreshments. ‘And it’s great. But I was surprised by the romantic part after everything you said at the romance conference.’

Simon shook his head. ‘We said yes to the invite for Davis to join the panel there because we were planning to post a snippet of the romance scenes to surprise everyone afterwards. But at the party, as you know, things went awry so we held off doing that. And now his publishers are on the fence about even publishing the book.’ Simon was quiet and calm in how he spoke but his body language screamed of being disappointed in his client. I glanced at Davis and he looked abashed, a far cry from the arrogant author I had encountered at the conference.

‘I can see why you wanted to be at the romance conference now,’ I said, things clicking into place. I knew they had been trying something new by inviting authors of other genres to do that panel with Jake but as Davis had been so critical about romance, I had been confused why he had accepted. Now, it all made sense.