Cover

Dedication

To my editor Emily Yau – thank you for all your support on this book!

1

And I knew when we kissed, I had found the love of my life. And it wasn’t a happy ending after all.

It was just the beginning for us.

I closed the book with a contented sigh as the Tube train pulled into my station. I hastily stuffed When I Met You by Jake Richards into my bag, jumped up and alighted, following the throng of my fellow commuters onto the long escalator, tapping my card at the barrier at the top, and walking out into the fresh air. I left Oxford Circus station and passed by the shops that were a dangerous temptation every day and headed down a side street towards my place of work.

It was a bright June morning and the sign of sunshine, coupled with the warm, fuzzy feeling I always got at the end of reading a romance novel, left me beaming as I walked to the office. My smile broadened further when my phone buzzed in my bag and I saw that it was my cousin Liv calling me.

‘Morning, Liv,’ I greeted her as I slowed my pace to chat. I pushed back my wavy, auburn hair off my face, wishing I had tied it up.

‘Hey Freya, where are you?’

‘Walking to work… I just finished the new Jake Richards book on my way in.’

‘Oh my God, how was it?’ Liv asked eagerly. She not only was a huge romance reader like me but we also made our living from romance books. Liv was an author, and I worked for a literary agent specialising in the genre.

My chunky ankle boots clip-clopped along the cobbles on the road where the tall, white building that housed the Hayley Harper Literary Agency stood. ‘It was so swoony, Liv. When the couple finally kiss and declare they love each other at the end, I had tears in my eyes. It’s gorgeous. I think it might be his best book but who knows if it will ever see the light of day?’

‘Hmm. I still can’t believe he said what he said,’ she agreed, darkly.

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. ‘It kind of broke my heart a little bit,’ I confessed. Jake Richards wrote the most romantic stories and he had always been one of my favourite authors.

But now, I wasn’t so sure.

‘His readers are all heartbroken; I wonder if Hayley can get this book published,’ Liv mused.

‘Time will tell,’ I said, pushing open the door to my office building and heading towards the lifts that would take me up to the fifth floor. I had been assistant to Hayley Harper for six months after Liv recommended me for the position. Liv was one of Hayley’s clients, and her romance-writing career was off to a great start, although she had a long way to go to reach Jake Richards’ heights. I was confident she would one day, though. I loved her writing, and was so grateful that after trying to get a job in the publishing world for a year, she helped me get this one. And I was determined to become a literary agent myself one day.

‘I just don’t understand how someone who can write a story like this one seems to hate romance. This book is so full of heart.’ I sighed wistfully. ‘God, I love reading romance but sometimes, it does make me hate being single.’

‘I’m sorry, Freya. But look, I felt the same way and then I got together with Aiden. It will happen for you too. You’re too lovely not to find someone special.’

I smiled as I pushed the call lift button. ‘You’re biased as you’re family but thank you. I can’t help but wish it would happen sooner than later. This dry spell is going on a long time.’

‘Dry spell?’

‘I haven’t had sex for three years.’

‘Three years! But I thought you were on the dating apps?’

‘I am but seriously, Liv, none of the men on there appear to have even heard the word “romance”. They all want to start sexting or sending nudes or meeting up for “Netflix and chill” straight away. What happened to going on a date first? Buying a girl dinner? Or even giving a compliment that isn’t “you look like someone I want to fuck”?’ I continued ranting down the phone, the passion in my voice making it increase in volume as I waited for the lift.

‘Ugh. That does sound horrible. Men should definitely read romance novels…’

‘They really should. I have to go; the lift is here. And I need to start work.’

‘Okay. I was just checking we’re still on for drinks tonight?’

‘Definitely. See you at the bar at seven.’ I hung up, stowed my phone in my bag and when the lift doors opened, I stepped in and turned around.

And froze.

Because I was now face to face with a familiar figure who I hadn’t realised must have been standing behind me waiting for the lift too. Our eyes met, then he stepped in beside me.

‘Morning,’ he said with a curt nod.

I couldn’t speak. My face flushed as he turned around, giving me his back and pushed the button for the fifth floor. Humiliation and horror washed over me like I’d just stepped into one of those ice baths that athletes use. I couldn’t believe that not only someone could have overheard me telling Liv all about my dry spell and how men have lost the romance gene lately, but I knew this person.

And it wasn’t just anyone.

It was Jake Richards. Bestselling romance author.

It was as if I’d manifested him by talking about the man with Liv on the phone. Jake Richards had made me fall in love with romance novels but then disgraced himself by slagging off the genre. He was also our biggest client. Hayley, my boss, was his agent.

Fuck!

Staring at the tall, imposing man in front of me, wearing an expensive-looking grey suit, I wished I had the superpower of invisibility. But no such luck. I was very visible and I knew I had been speaking really loudly to Liv. So now Jake Richards probably knew I hadn’t had sex for three years.

‘Uh, morning,’ I said, finally, realising I still hadn’t answered him yet. I was so mortified; my voice came out high-pitched enough that it resembled a chipmunk.

The lift arrived at the fifth floor then and the doors swung open to show a glass sign declaring we’d arrived at the Hayley Harper Literary Agency.

Jake strode out of the lift without a backward glance at me. I watched him go, his long legs striding confidently across the office, and I marvelled at how imposing this guy was. He was also handsome. His dark hair had a few grey streaks in it that somehow made him look even more distinguished and he had designer stubble across his chin that must have taken him ages to style so perfectly. The heady, spicy scent of his aftershave lingered in the lift right along with me. I didn’t want to get out. I half-wondered if I could go back down, call in sick and hide for the rest of the day, but our receptionist, Ellen, saw me then and waved happily.

With a resigned sigh, I stepped out of the lift and attempted to make my face look somewhat normal.

‘Hiya! Jake Richards looked particularly scary this morning; I didn’t even get a formal nod,’ Ellen hissed as I passed by her desk.

‘I think Hayley has called an emergency meeting with him so he’s probably even more tense than usual,’ I said, thinking she was right about him seeming scary. I was nervous when I first met him because I was such a big fan of his books, but those nerves had never gone away because he was so cool and composed all the time.

And I was, well, rarely either, if I was being completely honest.

‘Not surprised after what happened,’ Ellen said, shaking her head.

‘I know, right? I’ll see you at lunch,’ I told her, walking on into our open-plan office, looking over as Hayley stepped out of her private office to greet Jake. She gave me a quick wave before disappearing in there with him and closing her door.

I headed to my desk and hoped that Jake had more things to worry about than my lack of a love life and would forget everything he might have heard by the lifts. I wanted to be my most professional self when dealing with him, but my rant this morning had completely obliterated any success I might have had so far at doing that.

Smoothing down my summer dress, I sat down at my desk and thought about Jake’s latest book. I had begged Hayley to let me read it. I had genuinely loved it but I wasn’t sure if it would, or should, be published. Three months ago, an article had circulated like wildfire after Jake was overheard talking about the fact he hated writing romance. He was quoted by the journalist as saying, ‘My readers are stupid for believing in happy ever afters. But I’m happy to take their money anyway.’ His fanbase had rightly been furious and his publishers were now being cagey about offering him a new contract. I knew Hayley was meeting him this morning to discuss how they could fix the fallout and get him a new book deal.

But did he deserve a new deal?

His words had stuck a knife into my heart, confirming what I’d said to Liv about modern men having seemingly lost the romance gene. It was like Jake Richards had destroyed all the happy ever afters he had written in one fell swoop. It had made me question whether happy ever after could ever exist in real life. If my favourite romance writer didn’t actually believe in love then maybe I needed to give up on finding it for myself. And that was an incredibly depressing thought.

Hayley’s office door opened then and she leaned out and called my name. ‘Freya, can you come in for a sec please?’

I turned around and swallowed hard. ‘Uh okay,’ I called back, wishing I could refuse. I really didn’t think I could look Jake Richards in the eyes right now. I prayed he hadn’t told Hayley about what I’d said in the office. Surely, he wouldn’t do that? I really didn’t want to have to find out but Hayley was waiting for me so I stood up, took a deep breath, and walked into her office.

As I closed the door behind me, I hoped that I wasn’t about to be sacked from my dream job.

2

In Hayley’s office, I took in my boss where she was sitting behind her desk. She looked like the tough cookie she was with her short, blonde hair, bright-blue glasses that made her eyes look even more startling blue, and today, she wore a sharp, dark suit. Hayley was in her forties and I aspired to be as successful as she was one day. Opposite her in a chair sat Jake, whose eyes turned towards the door as I walked in. I was too nervous to look back at him and so I kept my gaze on Hayley instead. I did wonder though what Jake thought of my summer dress and boots combination. The two of them looked so smart and business-like in front of me; I suddenly felt even younger than my twenty-five years.

‘Freya, I have good news…’ Hayley began. ‘I want you to go to New York.’

‘New York?’ I repeated in shock.

She nodded. ‘Yes, next week. I realise it’s short notice but I have my sister’s wedding and I tried to tell her I couldn’t come but she used the words “never speak to me again”.’ Hayley rolled her eyes. I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. ‘So, I need you to go instead. And what did you think of Jake’s new book?’ Her eyes left me and fixed on Jake. ‘Freya read it over the weekend.’

‘Oh.’ Jake turned in his chair and I felt his eyes on me. ‘Is that so?’

It took my brain a second to take in everything Hayley had just said. I was still stunned about her telling me I needed to go to New York, let alone asking me to tell Jake what I thought about his book. I felt under pressure from their gazes.

I swallowed hard and forced myself to focus on Jake’s question. ‘Y… yes,’ I stuttered a little before finding a stronger voice. ‘I thought it was beautiful. I honestly had tears in my eyes at the end.’

‘There. See?’ Hayley thumped the desk and I jumped a little. ‘I told you it’s one of your best books, Jake.’

I risked a peek at Jake and he was still looking at me.

‘I’m glad it won you two over but we have no idea if my publishers will ever agree to bring it out,’ he said finally, moving his gaze from me and onto Hayley. ‘But you think this will work?’

‘I do,’ she replied briskly. ‘I pulled in all my favours to get you into the conference and your publishers will see the romance community still want, no they still need, Jake Richards’ books in their lives. So…’ She turned back to me. ‘You’ll go to New York, Freya? I remember you said you’ve always wanted to go. I’ll need you there for five days.’

I nodded eagerly. New York was definitely a bucket list city for me. I was convinced I’d watched every film or TV show set there, and read every book that used it as a location, so it was somewhere I’d always wanted to see for myself. Excitement pumped through my blood at the thought of it. And not only would this be a trip that work would be paying for; it was for five whole days! ‘I would love to go.’

‘It’s a very overrated city,’ Jake said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest like he was bored with our conversation.

I decided to ignore that comment and not let him dampen my good mood. ‘What do you need me to do there?’ I asked then, thrilled Hayley’s sister was getting married so she had to send me instead of going herself. I couldn’t believe she’d almost cancelled going to her sister’s wedding but then again, she was a self-confessed workaholic so it wasn’t a huge surprise.

‘I’ve managed to get Jake onto the programme of the Romance Readers Club’s international conference. It’s a chance to show readers and Jake’s publishers that he still loves romance, that he will always be one of the genre’s biggest players, and that the article…’ she said, her voice bitter on the word, ‘was incorrect. So, I need you to go with Jake and help us to do just that.’

My mouth fell open but no words came out. I would be going to New York with Jake? Suddenly, the trip didn’t seem like the dream come true it had a few moments ago.

‘I have told Hayley I’m unconvinced this will work,’ Jake said then.

‘Nonsense,’ Hayley said, waving her hand dismissively. ‘Of course it will work. You will charm everyone there and they will forget all about the article.’

I couldn’t stop the snort that left my mouth. I tried to turn it into a cough but I’m not sure I pulled it off.

‘Look, yes, things have been difficult the past few months since that bloody article went viral,’ Hayley said, throwing me a warning glare. I didn’t dare look at Jake. ‘But this is why this trip has to happen. It’s an opportunity to repair the damage from it and build Jake’s reputation back up to where it was before, and secure a new book contract. You need to convince everyone you’re still the king of romance, Jake. And Freya, you’ll be there to logistically make sure it all runs smoothly, but also offer any advice along the way to get Jake’s fans and publishers back on board. You both have got this.’ She sounded so confident while my brain started to get foggy. ‘And you can use the company credit card for everything, first class all the way…’ she added, giving me a smile. ‘Okay, Freya?’

I couldn’t smile back. I shifted uncomfortably. ‘I guess, if you can’t go…’ I said, but the enthusiasm had left my voice.

‘Great, start organising everything. Make sure you liaise with Jake,’ Hayley said. ‘Call me if you need anything, Jake.’

‘I will.’ He got up as I walked to the door, and we left one after the other. As we walked away from Hayley’s office, I felt my nerves increase and I turned towards my desk, Jake moving past me towards the exit.

‘Freya.’

I paused in surprise at him addressing me directly, and looked back at him.

He looked down at me, our height difference almost as large as the ten-year age gap between us. ‘You’ll email me the details for the trip then?’

I was still a bit stunned about having to go on this trip.

‘Yes?’ Jake prodded when I stayed silent. He sighed in frustration, clearly indicating that I irritated him.

‘Yes,’ I said, nodding. ‘I will organise it all, don’t worry,’ I added as confidently as I could manage.

‘Hmm,’ he replied. ‘Well, at least the weather in New York looks good at the moment. It’s supposed to be dry all week.’

Did I imagine that he emphasised the word ‘dry’? Was it a warning he had overheard my conversation with Liv about my dry sex spell?

‘See you,’ he said before I could respond and carried on walking back towards the lifts.

A minute later, when Hayley came out of her office, I still hadn’t moved from the spot where he left me.

‘This has to go well, Freya. Jake’s career is hanging in the balance. I hope you know how important this conference is to us all.’

I finally woke up from my shocked trance to frown at her. ‘But does he even want a new contract?’ I asked. ‘That journalist heard him say that he hates writing romance books.’ I couldn’t even fathom why someone would hate writing them, especially someone who could write one as well as he could, but there we were.

Hayley shrugged. ‘His books make us a lot of money. So, you need to do all you can to make sure we can keep that going, okay?’

‘Okay,’ I found myself saying because she was impossible to argue with. And what could I say anyway? No, I can’t go because Jake Richards knows how long it’s been since I last had sex and how I think I’ll never find anything close to the romance in the books he writes…

Hayley eyed me. ‘You want to be an agent yourself so why don’t you view this trip as your audition, if you like?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Prove to me you can handle more responsibility, make a success of this trip with Jake and we can talk when you get back about how we can move you from my assistant to being an agent,’ Hayley said.

My heart leapt at the possibility of a promotion. I wasn’t at all thrilled at having to work so closely on my own with Jake – I found it hard to communicate with him and I didn’t understand why he had even said those things about romance books. But Hayley was offering me a chance to step up. A chance I was desperate for. ‘Really?’

‘Show me how much you want it, Freya.’

‘You know I do. I will work really hard out there,’ I said, determination to impress my boss setting in.

Hayley beamed at me. ‘Right answer. And Jake is a pussycat. You tell him what to do and he will do it; he wants to fix this. He’s fully on board. So, get everything booked and next week, you’ll be on your way to New York. Kind of exciting, right?’ She left me, sweeping back into her office, and I watched her go, wishing I could feel the excitement she was talking about.

Hayley thought that Jake was a pussycat?

If you could mistake a tiger for a pussycat.

I had no idea how I was going to even talk to Jake, let alone tell him what to do. Even though I had a big reason to try to do it now.

My dream trip felt like it had the potential to be more of a nightmare instead.

3

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