Page 36 of Long Story Short

I nodded. Davis gave me the ick so Jake had nothing to worry about there. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t right about Jake and how he was with women. Not to mention the fact we did work closely together. This burgeoning attraction between the two of us was complicated. ‘I suppose he did make me curious about you and past relationships…’

‘I’m curious about you and yours too,’ he replied. ‘We have so much time to talk about all that. Do we really want to talk about the past now? When we have all this…’ He gestured with his free hand at the city around us.

I looked ahead at the skyscrapers glistening in the summer sun and knew that he was right. We had limited time here, after all. ‘Okay then, what did you have in mind?’

We looked at one another and I realised that had come out far more suggestively than I had planned. We giggled like we were teenagers or something, no mean feat considering I was in my twenties and he was in his thirties, but there was something about us being hand in hand on the bridge after an incredible kiss that suddenly made me feel giddy.

‘Race you to the next bit,’ I said, pointing to the archway ahead. ‘Winner chooses what we do next.’

Jake looked at me for a moment like I was crazy, and maybe I kind of was right now, but then he grinned. ‘Deal.’ He dropped my hand and took off unexpectedly.

‘Cheater!’ I yelled and tore after him.

People watched us with a mixture of amusement and annoyance as we raced together along the bridge. My hair swept out behind me in the breeze as I tried to catch up with Jake’s long legs. We were both laughing as we ran towards the archway of the Manhattan Tower. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had run for anything other than a Tube train. It was kind of exhilarating, even though I was even more breathless than I’d been when we kissed. Jake glanced back at me and grinned like he was having just as much fun. I knew I wouldn’t catch him, but I didn’t give up and kept running until I joined him by the archway.

Jake clutched the rail as I skidded to a halt in front of him and tried to inhale as much air into my lungs as possible. ‘That probably wasn’t a fair contest given our height difference.’

‘And my lack of any exercise beside walking to work in the mornings.’ I tilted my head and squinted through the sunshine at him. ‘I suppose you have a personal trainer and go to the gym every day?’

He chuckled. ‘I definitely don’t. I’m a writer; I like staying at home and drink far too much coffee. But even if it wasn’t fair, I won so I get to pick what we do next, yes?’

I put my hands on my hips. ‘I’m afraid to even ask what you’re going to pick…’ I had a sudden thought he might suggest we go back to our hotel, and I wasn’t sure whether I would want to agree to that.

‘I don’t know about you but now I’ve mentioned coffee, I think we need to grab some food and drink. Okay?’

I nodded in agreement.

‘And I know the perfect place to take you after we get back to Manhattan. Come on.’

Jake held out his hand again and I took it, and we walked over the rest of the bridge. I looked behind me as we left, the bridge rising up behind us, and knew I’d never forget walking across it. I always knew it would be an incredible experience but having the best kiss of my life halfway across it had made it even sweeter.

24

We walked from the bridge to a quiet side street and a tiny coffee shop that had a long queue outside. As we waited, Jake told me that this was his favourite place to get a coffee the last time he’d come to the city. ‘I came here on a research trip for my bookMeet Me in New Yorkand discovered this place.’

I knew that was about two years ago as I had read that book while I did the rounds of interviews for a book-related job. I’d been starting to get frustrated and down, wondering if I ever would be able to work with books like I had always wanted to. I had started readingMeet Me in New Yorkafter a particularly bad interview where I had arrived late thanks to a sudden Tube station closure, been directed to the wrong floor by an unhelpful receptionist, and then proceeded to knock a bookcase of books over. I had sunk into my bed that evening and opened up Jake’s novel, grateful to escape into a life that wasn’t my own. ‘That book really cheered me up after a bad day,’ I told him. ‘I remember the characters have their first kiss over a cup of coffee.’

‘This is the place that inspired that scene,’ Jake said. He smiled at me. ‘It’s kind of crazy to think of you reading my books.’

‘Yeah I guess you can’t feed me a romantic line from one of your characters because I will know it’s not really you saying that.’

He laughed. ‘I’ll watch myself. But just because one of my character’s might have said it, all those lines were written by me and I’d never say anything romantic to you that I didn’t mean.’

‘I think dating a romance author could be dangerous,’ I replied. ‘Oh, not saying we’re dating but you know what I mean; if you tell me romantic lines, I might get carried away…’ I said then cringed at myself. ‘See? I always get carried away and say stupid things in front of you!’

‘I told you – I like the fact you say what you’re thinking. Back on the bridge, I was dying to know what you were thinking after we kissed,’ Jake reassured me with a smile. ‘And maybe I want you to get carried away, Freya.’

I was still staring at him as we reached the front of the queue and were asked for our order. He wanted me to get carried away? This man really was trouble…

I ordered an iced coffee as it was such a lovely day and Jake ordered a latte then we both got a cream cheese bagel. Jake led us to the Battery – a park where we found a bench overlooking the Hudson River. We sat down and as we started to eat and drink, Jake pointed out the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

‘So surreal,’ I admitted, shaking my head at the fact that I was looking at such an iconic landmark for real. We sat in silence for a minute, drinking and eating, as we took in another amazing view.

The silence was a contented one. Which for me was unusual. For maybe the first time in my life, I didn’t feel the need to shatter the calm by talking or trying to find out what the person next to me was thinking, or believing that I needed to entertain them. It again felt so far out of my comfort zone; I wasn’t sure what was happening when I was around Jake but I hadn’t experienced anything quite like it before. I liked it, though.

After a minute, Jake turned to me. ‘Are you okay?’

I met his gaze. ‘Yes. Why?’

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