BooksBarbecue
Back Long Story Short
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 smiled. ‘I don’t want you to but it’s not for long. We’ll be back here later, right?’ I would normally feel embarrassed at him being clothed looking at me naked. I would normally have been covering myself up, listing my flaws silently in my mind, but Jake was admiring me so openly, I didn’t feel the need. In fact, I even liked him looking.

‘I can’t wait,’ Jake replied. He leaned down to kiss me. ‘I don’t want to leave you.’

‘I don’t want to let you go,’ I said.

I watched him leave my hotel room then I turned over to lie on my back and smile up at the ceiling because holy hell, the last few hours had felt like a dream.

The problem was, I had no idea how long I would get to dream for.

27

As I was getting ready, there was a knock on my hotel room door and when I opened it up, Liv and Tessa were there asking if I wanted to hang out. I had pulled on my favourite short, black dress and was holding my hair as I wanted to put it up. ‘Um, well…’ I hedged as they stared at me.

‘Why do you look like you’re dressed up for a date?’ Liv demanded.

I looked down the corridor, relieved it was empty. I certainly didn’t want to become the gossip of the conference. ‘Come in you two,’ I said, stepping aside. They walked in and I shut the door, resuming my seat on the bed in front of the mirror on the wall. Liv flopped down on the other side of the bed, curling her legs up to watch me while Tessa sat down in the chair by the window. I piled my hair up on top of my head and reached for my pot of bobby pins. ‘I suppose it is kind of a date,’ I admitted, avoiding their eyes in the mirror as I carried on doing my hair.

‘God, how did you find a date in this conference? It’s 99 per cent women,’ Tessa joked.

‘You don’t mean…’ Liv said. ‘Freya, are you going out with Jake?’

‘Jake Richards?’ Tessa repeated, looking from Liv back to me. ‘I did not see that coming!’

‘I did,’ Liv said to Tessa. ‘But I hoped I was wrong when I sensed some… chemistry. The way he was looking at Davis Mulberry trying to chat Freya up at the panel earlier, we almost had to break up a fight between them.’

‘I am here guys, just FYI,’ I said, shaking my head.

‘Oh, we know,’ Liv said, turning back to me.

‘We’re just going out for dinner,’ I said, hoping that didn’t count as a lie exactly. I was merely failing to mention our earlier afternoon delight even though I kept getting delicious flashbacks of it.