Page 4 of Long Story Short

‘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

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.’

I took a sip of wine. ‘And then there’s the question of why should I help save the career of a man who is completely ungrateful about it? If he hates romance, then readers should bloody hate him.’

‘I’m as passionate about romance as you but I think Hayley is right. You need to think about yourself and your career. If she’s seeing this trip as a chance for you to prove to her you can be an agent yourself one day, then you should go ahead and prove it to her,’ Liv replied.

Worry hit me instantly. Could I prove it to her? ‘What if I can’t, though? Jake Richards not only broke my heart when he slagged off romance books, but half the romance community is boycotting his books now.’

‘Well, that should make you feel far less intimidated by him,’ Liv said firmly.

‘What do you mean?’

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