Page 64 of Austen Persuaded

“I’m glad you talked to Jardin about it.” I winced. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Lainasuggested it.”

I was about to say more, but a deep voice intervened. “Another agent in the room, eh?” Kylan stood in front of us, sticking out his large hand in front of Sofia as I watched him warily. “I’m Kylan Quinn, from Elliott Literary in New York. I was kind of thinking along the same lines. Getting a feel for how the discussion goes. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name last time?”

“Sofia. Jackson. I wasn’t here last time, so that’s why you didn’t catch it,” she said, smiling at him and smoothing her black hair while looking him up and down.

Is she flirting with him?

And why on earth would I care?

I wouldn’t.

I don’t.

In what was becoming a pattern now, Carlina came over to save me, yet again. “Annie!” she said loudly. “Introduce me to your new friend here. I don’t think we’ve met yet, but I overheard you saying she’s an agent.”

Sofia’s eyes lingered on Kylan just a bit longer before swinging over to Carlina, whom she flashed a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Sofia Jackson. Annie just started working at our agency and brought me along tonight.”

“I have a memoir I want to publish, so maybe you’re the one to talk to?” Carlina said, pulling Sofia aside. “I’m only joking. I’d never subject anyone to reading that, much less publishing it for all to see. But I’d love to hear more about your work.”

Unfortunately, this left Kylan just standing there near me, and when I dared to look up, he was staring at me, his expression impossible to read. Half a minute passed. He might have been about to speak, but I couldn’t bear to listen.

“Everyone, let’s get back to our discussion,” I called out loudly, waving my hands in the air to usher people back to their seats. A muscle ticked in his jaw just before he returned to his seat on the other side of the circle.

Whew,dodged another bullet.

But I couldn’t do this forever, could I? Eventually we’d have to talk.

Nope, nope, nope.

Chapter 17

Iblinked several times slowly, trying to counteract the eye strain I’d been trying to ignore. I had spent the last three hours poring over contracts and royalty statements for several of Laina’s authors. My senior colleague had thought it best to introduce me to the technical and legal side of my job first, reasoning that legal or financial errors were extremely expensive. I couldn’t argue with that. I’d been out of work for a few weeks though and was no longer in the habit of staring at a screen at a desk for hours on end, so my poor eyes, neck, and other stiff body parts were paying the price.

Fortunately, Sofia had given me some interesting tasks to dip my toe into agent work. I was able to tag along to a lunch with one of Sofia’s best author clients and then listened in on a conference call with a few editors that she said I’d get to know eventually. Before Laina tasked me with the contractual review, I’d even gotten a preliminary training from Ambrose on query handling.

Truthfully, I was buzzing with excitement—even with a sore neck—and even a bit sad it was already Friday so I’d have to wait until Monday to learn more about my dream job.

Smiling, I forced my attention back to the long clause still waiting to be read on my screen, but then an email notification flagged asImportant!appeared in the corner of my screen, followed almost immediately by a hum of voices from every direction.

I opened the email quickly. It was from Lucas Mantz, agency president, calling a company-wide meeting immediately.

My heart sank. I’d heard of this happening before. The company was being shut down, or there’d be layoffs. More likely layoffs. And I’d be the first person cut.

I was shaking slightly as I rose to join the other assistants who stood nearby, eyeing me with what was probably pity. Before I could join them, Sofia was by my side, linking arms with me and leading me to the large conference room. I looked up at my tall, usually confident friend, who also looked nervous. We walked in silence, but it was comforting, and I squeezed her arm in gratitude.

Once we reached the conference room, Rainn found me as well and immediately came over. “Annie, hey.” He didn’t speak to Sofia, but he didn’t glare at her either. Sofia in turn didn’t seem to notice Rainn, seeming distracted. I sat on the floor, as there weren’t enough chairs for everyone, and they sat on either side of me. A handful of people in the room were openly chatting, but most people were either silent or whispering. Many were fidgeting or using their phones.

Lucas and the other leadership, including Jardin and others I hadn’t met yet, arrived soon after, taking seats near the podium. Then, Lucas left the room for a moment and returned, followed by another man.

And that’s when my heart dropped into my stomach.

What the—

Why—

He …

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