Page 2 of Long Story Short

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.’

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