‘I was invited to be on the panel discussing writing popular fiction; they thought they would experiment and have one panel that featured authors from all genres to get different perspectives, not just romance.’ Davis shrugged ‘Maybe they thought that would be beneficial for romance writers. You know, learn from the best and all that.’

I rolled my eyes as I saw Jake tense up further at Davis’s very arrogant implication he was a better writer than Jake.

‘I’m on that panel too,’ Jake said with a panicked expression.

Davis grinned. ‘Oh yes, I know, and that definitely was a big reason I agreed to do it. I’ll see you there.’ He grinned and swept past us like he’d just done a mic drop.

I raised my eyebrows, watching him go. Had he come all the way to this conference just because he knew it would piss Jake off? I looked back at him and saw that if that had been Davis’s goal then it was definitely working.

‘Fuck,’ Jake said with a puff of exasperated air. ‘I need to get out of here now.’

I nodded, sensing their interaction had caught people’s attention and we definitely didn’t want this to set us back so early on. ‘Let’s go.’

We hurried out of the door and out of the hotel, crossing the road to the Waldorf and walking towards the lifts, all in silence. Jake looked even more brooding than usual, his eyes smouldering, his shoulders stiff, his mouth set in a tight line. My heart was still racing from that encounter. It had been so awkward. Were Jake and Davis just author rivals? It had felt more personal than that somehow. I was so curious to know why they were such enemies and I was worried about how Davis being here might affect our plan to save Jake’s career. That was going to be hard enough without someone trying to sabotage us.

The lift doors opened, we stepped in and then watched them close, side by side.

Finally, I couldn’t take it any more. ‘Davis Mulberry isn’t one of your friends, then?’ I enquired quietly.

‘Definitely not,’ he said firmly. ‘I had no idea he was going to be on the same panel as me. Hayley didn’t tell me.’ His tone betrayed his anger.

‘Why wouldn’t she tell you?’ I asked, surprised. Hayley was nothing if not a consummate professional.

‘Because she knew I wouldn’t have agreed to do it if she had,’ he replied darkly.

‘Oh.’ I longed even more to know what was up between him and the crime author.

We reached our floor then and stepped out of the lift, walking to our neighbouring rooms.

‘Do you want to back out of the panel?’ I asked reluctantly as I paused by my door and watched him step past me towards his.

‘Right now, I want to,’ Jake said.