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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

I sagged in my chair. ‘Is it me or did that make you feel worried about what happened with us last night?’ I was nervous to ask, afraid he would say that we couldn’t kiss again, but also because that seemed like the right thing to do.

‘You’re not my agent but yeah, we are working together. I don’t want to hurt your career, Freya. I feel really bad that Hayley is so pissed off.’ Jake sighed. ‘But I can’t deny that I would like to kiss you again.’

‘Shh,’ I hushed him, looking around anxiously in case someone had heard him. ‘This is too public. And we should prepare for the meet-cute talk.’

‘Didn’t you say that your arrival at Heathrow would have made a good meet-cute?’ he asked. His eyes were twinkling again. I liked seeing this other side to Jake Richards. Although it was making me more attracted to him, which felt dangerous.

‘What when I was sprawled on the floor in front of you?’ I shook my head. ‘I can’t believe that didn’t put you off for life.’

‘It was the penis pencil that got me,’ he said, chuckling.

‘Yeah, my humiliation is hilarious,’ I said with an eye roll. But I couldn’t not smile back. ‘I’m glad it didn’t put you off.’

‘I told you – I’ve never met anyone quite like you.’ He looked at our empty plates; breakfast had passed by in a flash. ‘Come on, let’s plan this panel and then we can talk more about us.’

The word ‘us’ lingered in my brain.

21

The ‘From Meet-Cute to Happy Ever After’ panel was in an even larger conference room to Jake’s first panel. The conference administrator said a lot of people had expressed interest in coming along so they had moved it to a larger room. I wished it was because Jake had won people over but after what Liv said, I was betting it was so they could watch it first-hand in case Jake made another shocking confession or revealed what he was hiding about that conversation with Davis. I felt nervous about that. Jake seemed determined to make this panel go smoothly but I had no idea if that would be enough. There had still been no more contact from Hayley so Jake’s publishers can’t have said anything about a new book deal. Everyone, it felt, was still on the fence about Jake.

And I supposed I was too.

We had half an hour to wait before it was due to start so we sat in the empty room and went over the questions, and what Jake was going to say. Talking about writing romances was easy for him.