Page 18 of Long Story Short

‘You’re not; I just didn’t like how he was being with you,’ Jake said, moving closer to let someone pass by him. The room was crowded but when I returned his gaze, I wasn’t aware of anyone else but him.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked. He was looking at me like he wasn’t taking notice of anyone else either. It was intimidating but in a different way to how he had intimidated me in the past. This was more… disconcerting. Because I liked being his sole focus right now. And that was a startling thought.

‘He was coming on to you.’

‘With a crap line about showing me the darker side of life. And after slagging off romance books! Not really the best chat-up line I’ve ever heard,’ I scoffed.

‘Have you had quite a few then?’ Jake asked, one of his eyebrows raised.

‘Not many good ones,’ I admitted.

‘So, Mulberry’s charms weren’t working on you then?’

‘Why do you care?’ I asked in surprise.

Jake leaned just a little bit closer. ‘If you’re still trying to find a romantic man, he isn’t it. I’m looking out for you.’

‘Well, I didn’t ask you to,’ I said shortly. ‘I can handle myself. And why do you think I’m looking for a romantic man? Oh yeah, you heard me…’ I trailed off as my conversation on the phone flashed back to me. I felt my cheeks heat up because I knew what else he had heard then – the fact I hadn’t had sex for three years.

He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but you have a loud voice when you’re passionate about something, and the fact that men had been disappointing you for years was clearly a passionate topic for you. Davis Mulberry will use you. That’s what he does with women.’

‘And what do you do with women?’ I fired back, still annoyed he felt he had to step in between me and that twat of a crime author in the first place. As if I would be interested in Davis Mulberry! And I was also annoyed with myself for talking about my personal life somewhere it could be overheard. It was yet another power imbalance between me and Jake, and I hated it. I wished he would feel intimidated by me, just once.

‘I’d treat you better than you’d ever been treated before.’

My breath caught in my throat as we stared at one another. Was that a general or a specific promise from him? He used the words ‘I’ and ‘you’… I couldn’t believe he was flirting with me though so I stepped back in case I got carried away. ‘I’ll take your word for it. No need to warn me off Davis Mulberry; he’s the last man I would want. Like you said, and overheard, I’m waiting for something special.’

‘Aren’t we all?’ he replied softly. ‘I’m glad to hear you don’t need warning off Mulberry; he’s not worth your time.’

‘I wish you’d realised that before you let him rile you up at the panel today,’ I said, desperate to stop talking about romance with Jake Richards. It was too crazy. We needed to focus on work. Our relationship was strictly business only.

Jake sighed. ‘I really am sorry about that, Freya. And I have been thinking about what you said. But opening up isn’t easy, is it?’

‘No, it isn’t,’ I agreed. ‘You’re not who I thought you were after reading your books,’ I blurted out.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I suppose I thought that a man who could write so beautifully about love and romance and matters of the heart would be someone whocouldopen their own heart. When I first met you, I thought maybe you were putting on a professional front, that there was more going on beneath this cool guy vibe…’ I waved my hand in front of him, ‘…you have going on. But I think I was wrong all along.’ I turned to go but then my loosened tongue just wouldn’t stop. ‘Oh, I met Kelly Shepperd. I think she’s the only one pleased about the panel today: that you’d finally admitted she didn’t make it all up. But she told me that maybe you let her publish that article because you didn’t want something else to come out. So, I don’t know now, Jake. Do you hate romance or not? Like who is Jake Richards really? And will I ever get to meet him?’ My words hung in the air as we looked at one another.

‘I don’t know, Freya,’ Jake said after a moment. ‘Would you want to meet him?’ he added hesitantly.

‘I know you don’t care about my opinion, but yes, I would like to meet him. Maybe I’d like him a whole lot more than the man you’ve shown me so far.’

Jake visibly flinched at my words but I couldn’t believe he really cared what I thought. Perhaps he did still care about his career though and might listen to me for that reason. I caught sight of Liv then and was relieved I could escape from this intense conversation. ‘I need to speak to my cousin; I’ll see you later,’ I told him in a rush.

I fled again, but I could feel Jake’s eyes on my back the whole way. And I couldn’t decide if I enjoyed his gaze or wanted to hide from it.

All I knew was, I was only able to finally relax again once he wasn’t looking at me any more.

13

I woke up with a groan when the alarm on my phone went off the next morning. I’d had a restless night’s sleep. I kept replaying my conversation with Jake at the party over and over again. Once the sparkling-wine buzz had subsided, I was embarrassed by how direct I’d been with Jake, and how the way he had looked at me had made me feel. Because I was sure he hadn’t been trying to flirt; he’d only wanted to make sure I avoided his arch-enemy. Plus, I knew for certain now that Jake had overheard everything I said to Liv about my lack of both a romantic and sex life.Ugh.

It would have been a perfect morning-after moment to hide under the covers and wish that the rest of the world would disappear. But if I had any hope of working in publishing again, I couldn’t do that. I needed to try to stop Hayley from sacking me and the only way to do that was to face Jake again. We had his reader event later in the day and I had no idea if we’d be able to turn the tide against him.

So, I crawled out of my hotel bed and shuffled into the bathroom, wincing when I caught sight of myself in the row of mirrors above the sink. My skin was pale, my under-eyes puffy, and my hair was wild from my tossing and turning during the night. I also hadn’t taken last night’s make-up off properly so eyeliner was smudged across my face.

I supposed that at least I wouldn’t need to fend off any more bad chat-up lines looking like this. Pulling off my pjs, I turned the shower onto the hottest setting and stepped under the water, hoping it would turn me from a zombie back into something resembling a human being. I stayed in there until my skin pruned, then I got ready for the day, pulling on a knee-length, floral dress with tan ankle boots. I tied my hair up into a ponytail and did my make-up then headed downstairs for breakfast. I knew Liv and Tessa had had breakfast really early as they had events of their own to do so after hitting the buffet, I carried my plate and coffee and looked for a free table.

---