I thought about younger me curled up in bed falling in love with one of Jake’s stories and how heartbroken she would be to hear that author talking like he was right now. That girl longed for love and the woman I was now still longed for it. Jake was making me feel like I was right when I told Liv romance seemed to be dead. What if I never found it? My heart ached suddenly.

‘I don’t know, Freya. I really don’t know.’ He stood up abruptly. ‘Thank you for going through the interview. I’ll stick with what Hayley told me to say. Even if you don’t agree with it, she’s my agent and your boss, and I trust her opinion.’

I flinched at the implication my opinion was worth nothing. ‘Because a romance reader doesn’t know what they’re talking about,’ I said with a sigh. He had sneered at his readers and that article had shown us all what he really thought about us. I had clung to the hope that wasn’t true but Jake was confirming it right now. He didn’t think I was right because I loved romance, and he clearly hated it. Talk about confirming the idea you should never meet your idols. Disappointment flowed through my veins.

I stood up too. ‘Okay, Jake, let’s go to the meeting and then we’ll do this interview the way that you and Hayley see fit. I just hope it works out for you.’

I got up and turned around, walking towards the exit.

* * *

‘So, it’s been six months since your last book was published and no one has heard anything about you releasing a new book. Do you have one on the way?’

I was relieved that the hotel meeting room had the air conditioning on an extra cold setting because the interview with Jake was not going well, and I would have been sweating from the pressure otherwise.

The interviewer, a woman around my age called Eva, had been batting questions at Jake for twenty minutes, all in a tone that suggested she really didn’t like him, and she was continually veering away from the questions we had been sent in advance, but only slightly so we couldn’t complain but the phrasing was much more negative. I wasn’t sure what to do. Would Hayley have called a halt to the whole thing if she was here? Jake was steadfastly avoiding my eyes so I had no idea if he wanted me to do anything or not so I sat on the edge of my uncomfortably hard chair, across the room from them, my body torn between flight or fight.

‘I have written a new book,’ Jake replied carefully. ‘And I can’t wait to tell you all about it soon.’