I couldn’t speak. My face flushed as he turned around, giving me his back and pushed the button for the fifth floor. Humiliation and horror washed over me like I’d just stepped into one of those ice baths that athletes use. I couldn’t believe that not only someone could have overheard me telling Liv all about my dry spell and how men have lost the romance gene lately, but I knew this person.

And it wasn’t just anyone.

It was Jake Richards. Bestselling romance author.

It was as if I’d manifested him by talking about the man with Liv on the phone. Jake Richards had made me fall in love with romance novels but then disgraced himself by slagging off the genre. He was also our biggest client. Hayley, my boss, was his agent.

Fuck!

Staring at the tall, imposing man in front of me, wearing an expensive-looking grey suit, I wished I had the superpower of invisibility. But no such luck. I was very visible and I knew I had been speaking really loudly to Liv. So now Jake Richards probably knew I hadn’t had sex for three years.

‘Uh, morning,’ I said, finally, realising I still hadn’t answered him yet. I was so mortified; my voice came out high-pitched enough that it resembled a chipmunk.

The lift arrived at the fifth floor then and the doors swung open to show a glass sign declaring we’d arrived at the Hayley Harper Literary Agency.

Jake strode out of the lift without a backward glance at me. I watched him go, his long legs striding confidently across the office, and I marvelled at how imposing this guy was. He was also handsome. His dark hair had a few grey streaks in it that somehow made him look even more distinguished and he had designer stubble across his chin that must have taken him ages to style so perfectly. The heady, spicy scent of his aftershave lingered in the lift right along with me. I didn’t want to get out. I half-wondered if I could go back down, call in sick and hide for the rest of the day, but our receptionist, Ellen, saw me then and waved happily.

With a resigned sigh, I stepped out of the lift and attempted to make my face look somewhat normal.

‘Hiya! Jake Richards looked particularly scary this morning; I didn’t even get a formal nod,’ Ellen hissed as I passed by her desk.

‘I think Hayley has called an emergency meeting with him so he’s probably even more tense than usual,’ I said, thinking she was right about him seeming scary. I was nervous when I first met him because I was such a big fan of his books, but those nerves had never gone away because he was so cool and composed all the time.

And I was, well, rarely either, if I was being completely honest.