I was relieved that I’d already organised after-work drinks with Liv so I headed straight from the office to one of our favourite bars and after we’d grabbed a bottle of wine to share, we found a table by the window and I filled her in on Hayley’s New York bombshell. As well as the fact Jake had been behind me when I had talked to her about my love life earlier.

Liv took a long gulp of wine before responding. ‘Well, we don’t for sure know that Jake overheard you…’

‘He made a comment about the weather being dry in New York!’

She tried not to smile. ‘If that was intentional, maybe he has more of a sense of humour than we thought.’ She saw my glare. ‘Sorry! But even if he did overhear, he’s not going to tell Hayley. Your love life isn’t any of their business. It has nothing to do with how well you do your job. Which is pretty damn well,’ she added, confidently, tossing back her dark, shoulder-length hair.

‘I hope you’re right,’ I said uneasily.

‘And besides, he has more important things to worry about than what you say in the office. He has to try to save his career, right?’

‘That’s a good point,’ I agreed, feeling a tiny bit better. But then I sighed. ‘I just wish it wasn’t me that has to help him do it, you know?’

‘There is one bit of good news, though: I’ll be in New York too, remember?’

I looked across at her, my heart lifting. ‘Oh, I forgot! Yes! You’ll be at the conference too.’ Liv’s publisher had organised for her to be on a panel and meet readers there. It was a huge relief that there would be a friendly face around. ‘That helps but seriously…’ I leaned forward and eyed my cousin. ‘How can I be with Jake Richards for five whole days on my own? He intimidates the hell out of me. I mean, why does he intimidate me so much?!’

‘Because you love his books and he’s easy on the eyes. Also, he has that whole moody creative guy thing going on… Don’t tell Aiden I said that,’ she said.

‘Plus, he’s ten years older than me and is so blooming confident,’ I grumbled. I didn’t feel anywhere near enough like a fully-fledged adult yet.

‘I don’t know,’ Liv said. ‘Maybe he’s not as confident now as he used to be – these past few months can’t have been easy. He might lose everything he’s spent ten years building after what he was caught saying.’

‘Maybe. I still wonder why he said those things. Just to look good in front of those crime authors?’

‘Maybe you’ll find out on this trip.’