Page 42 of Long Story Short

‘I know you fancy him; I can see the lust in your eyes but…’ Liv began. Then she leaned a little bit closer. ‘You look flushed. You’re not telling us something, I can tell.’

‘God, are you a detective now?’ I snapped as I slid pins into my hair, wishing that I didn’t have a family member on this trip; Liv knew me far too well.

‘Freya,’ Liv said, giving me a look that told me to cut the BS.

I sighed. ‘Fine, fine. We have slept together,’ I admitted, turning from the mirror now my hair was finished, bracing myself for their disapproval.

There was a moment of shocked silence.

‘How was it?’ Liv and Tessa asked in unison.

I couldn’t help but smile. ‘Bloody brilliant, if I’m honest. What am I going to do?’

‘It depends if this is just a New York thing,’ Tessa said slowly. ‘If it was, would you be okay with that? I don’t want to see you getting hurt.’

Her question echoed my own thoughts and I had no idea how to answer her so I deflected. ‘Your relationship started on holiday, didn’t it?’ I asked, suddenly remembering that Tessa met her boyfriend in Paris when they inadvertently ended up having to share an Airbnb together. Liv told me all about it because it sounded like a plot of romance novel.

‘It did,’ Tessa said with a shy but happy smile.

‘But they didn’t work together,’ Liv pointed out. ‘What happened to you not wanting to date men as they weren’t romantic and just wanted sex? I thought you were looking for more than just a fling.’

‘This could be more than a fling,’ Tessa suggested.

I sighed. ‘I don’t know. I got swept up in it all maybe. But he’s so…’ I trailed off, finding it hard to explain. ‘I suddenly am so attracted to him. God. I don’t know what happened. One minute, we seemed like the least likely pairing ever to being unable to keep our hands off each other.’

‘Freya, you don’t do flings or holiday romances. You don’t want casual sex. You want to fall in love. Just like us,’ Liv said, gesturing to her and Tessa.

‘No need to rub your fairytale romances in my face,’ I grumbled.

‘I’m just worried that you’ve thrown what you are looking for out of the window because this is Jake Richards.’

Liv and I stared at one another. We never fought but I could feel her concern along with a hint of disapproval. She was right, though. I had been waiting for real romance – was I hoping that sleeping with a romance author would make that happen? Jake had shown me the sights of New York and promised me a New York moment, but no more than that. I had slept with him anyway. After three years of not being with a man. The attraction, the desire had been too strong, being away with him had made it seem like not a big deal. But maybe I was just fooling myself about that. Maybe I was setting myself up to get hurt.

I slumped on the bed. ‘I got carried away maybe,’ I admitted.

‘It’s happened to all of us,’ Tessa said. ‘Just because it’s moved quickly, and you’re away, doesn’t mean it can’t turn into something more once you get back home, right?’

Her sentence hung in the room like a crescent moon that we looked up at in silence.

After a few seconds, it seemed like none of us wanted to answer her question.

‘He’s taking me out so we can have a New York moment,’ I said then. I gestured to myself. ‘Hence getting glammed up. Dinner and drinks somewhere.’

‘Sounds romantic,’ Liv said. ‘And you look gorgeous. He will be lucky to have you on his arm. Just be careful. Don’t let anyone from the conference see anything they shouldn’t. Think of yourself, Freya. And don’t give that good heart of yours away to anyone who doesn’t deserve it.’

‘God, Liv.’ I reached up to touch the corner of my eye to stop a tear from destroying the perfect winged eyeliner I had just applied. ‘You are going to ruin my make-up. I won’t settle for anything less than the kind of romance we read, and you two write about, I promise.’

She nodded. ‘Good girl.’

I choked a little bit, trying not to laugh.

‘Are you okay?’ Tessa asked, frowning at me as I tried to compose myself. But after Jake calling me that in bed, I wasn’t sure I could hear those two words outside of the bedroom with a straight face again.

I nodded as I sucked in oxygen and forced ‘good girl’ out of my mind. ‘Sure. I’ll take your advice on board, guys. I am just going to have fun tonight. I’ll be okay, I promise.’

I got up to go into the bathroom to spritz on some perfume but in the mirror, I caught Liv and Tessa exchange a worried look behind me.

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