Page 32 of Long Story Short

‘Ten,’ I snapped back.

I felt Liv lean over to listen to us.

‘And you work together.’

I really hoped I wasn’t blushing. ‘What’s your point?’

‘I can see the way you look at Jake,’ he said so astutely, I was stunned. Davis sighed. ‘I need to warn you, Freya. He’s always been a ladies’ man. Likes to break hearts wherever he goes. Women seem to get very excited by the idea of him writing romance novels, he uses that, pretends he’s all about romance and love and finding that happy ever after when he just wants to get them into bed.’

My eyes drifted to Jake, who was talking to the authors beside him as everyone got ready to start the panel. The doubts I had niggled more. He was charming and he knew I loved his books. I’d even admitted earlier that he was my favourite romance author. Was he using my longing for a happy ever after to get me into bed? He knew it had been years since I’d had sex as well. I tried to remember the way he looked at me and how that kiss between us had felt. That had been real, hadn’t it?

‘It’s pretty heartless,’ Davis added. ‘I’d never lie to a woman like that.’

I tore my gaze from Jake to give Davis a disparaging look. ‘No, you just give them a cheesy chat-up line.’

He shrugged. ‘At least I don’t pretend I’m after something special like Jake does just to use women. You don’t deserve to be treated like that.’

The panel chair called for quiet then so Davis had to shut up. I crossed my arms and exhaled slowly to try to calm down. The problem was, I wasn’t sure if I was more pissed off with Davis Mulberry or Jake or myself for kissing Jake last night. It had been an electric kiss. And I wanted to believe that Jake was a hopeless romantic like me. But all I really knew was that he claimed to love romance but was keeping a secret about why he allowed the world to think he didn’t.

‘Jake, why don’t you start?’ The panel chair pulled me out of my thoughts. ‘What is a meet-cute for you and how can people wanting to write a romance novel create a good one?’

‘Well, meet-cutes are basically the inciting incident in a romcom. A meeting between who will be the two love interests, setting the tone and course of their journey to a happy ending,’ Jake said. He looked over at me. ‘I think if you want to write a good one, you need to make it memorable, make it funny or cute, and establish some conflict so readers want to see what happens to the couple who have just met.’

I tried not to let his words affect me, remembering what Davis had just said, but it was hard when they were accompanied by such a smouldering stare in my direction. I had joked we had a meet-cute when I was sprawled on the floor in front of him at Heathrow but I realised our meet-cute was Jake overhearing me talking about my love life to Liv at work, and getting into the lift with me afterwards.

Meet-cutes could lead to a happy ever after or they could lead to heartbreak.

And I had no idea which one I might get if I kissed Jake again.

22

Jake’s second panel thankfully went smoothly. The conversation was good and when it came to questions at the end, most focused on actually asking for writing tips. But there were a couple directed at Jake that made me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

‘What do you think about people who say romances are too predictable, that once you have the meet-cute, it’s too obvious there will be a happy ending?’ one woman asked. ‘I mean, we know you haven’t exactly been complimentary about writing love stories so you must have a view on that?’

Davis chuckled beside me. ‘They are completely predictable.’

‘Why are you here to listen to how to write one then?’ I whispered back, annoyed at him.

‘As if I would need any advice,’ he hissed back.

I just rolled my eyes then leaned forward to listen to Jake’s response to the question.

‘You go into reading a romance knowing there will be a happy ever after, yes, but the journey to get there isn’t predictable. You can relax reading it knowing you’ll get the pay-off at the end but the drama, the conflict, the chemistry, the slow burn in the middle, that’s the story. It’s life itself, isn’t it? It’s about the journey, not the destination. That’s why I haven’t become tired of writing love stories,’ Jake said with passion. Everyone was listening hard. He was so good at speaking. ‘My latest one, that I hope I will be able to bring out soon if you would like to read it, is about two people who meet years previously with no clue that they will become special to one another. It’s calledWhen I Met Youand it’s a story of how you don’t know when you meet someone how they will affect your life.’

Glancing around, I was relieved to see some of the readers in the room smiling. One in front of me whispered to her friend that she hoped they could read that book. I smiled. He had made people curious about his novel and that could only help in encouraging his publishers to offer him a new deal for it. I grabbed my phone and quickly typed out a post about what Jake had said and I shared it on the agency’s social media, tagging him. I’d get him to share it afterwards so everyone following him online could read what he said.

The other question that made me nervous was: ‘How do you think you can still give writing advice for romance writers if you don’t respect the genre?’

Jake looked at the person asking the question. ‘I said yesterday that what I said wasn’t what I really think. I was trying to distract someone from something I didn’t want them to know. I made a big, stupid mistake to say what I did. I have written ten romance books. Why would I do that if I didn’t love reading and writing romance? It would be a pretty miserable way to have spent my working life. I know I upset a lot of you. I am so sorry about that. I want you to remember how you felt reading one of my books. If you enjoyed reading them then hopefully, you will realise that I enjoyed writing them.’ He then turned to me and I gave him a nod. That had been a good answer.

‘Jake gave me some great advice when I was starting out,’ one of the other authors on the panel said then. ‘And he read one of my early manuscripts. That meant a lot to me, and I believe the reason I got my first book deal was because of the feedback he gave me. You can’t fake that kind of interest,’ she added with a grateful smile at him.

‘You’re really talented,’ Jake told her.

‘Probably shagged her,’ Davis whispered in my ear.

I refused to respond to that.

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