Chapter 21
21
The ‘From Meet-Cute to Happy Ever After’ panel was in an even larger conference room to Jake’s first panel. The conference administrator said a lot of people had expressed interest in coming along so they had moved it to a larger room. I wished it was because Jake had won people over but after what Liv said, I was betting it was so they could watch it first-hand in case Jake made another shocking confession or revealed what he was hiding about that conversation with Davis. I felt nervous about that. Jake seemed determined to make this panel go smoothly but I had no idea if that would be enough. There had still been no more contact from Hayley so Jake’s publishers can’t have said anything about a new book deal. Everyone, it felt, was still on the fence about Jake.
And I supposed I was too.
We had half an hour to wait before it was due to start so we sat in the empty room and went over the questions, and what Jake was going to say. Talking about writing romances was easy for him.
‘It all sounds great,’ I reassured him once we’d gone over it all. We sat side by side at the table the panel would sit at. I looked out at the empty room full of chairs and thought about how they would all be filled with people shortly. ‘As long as you don’t get wound up by another author again,’ I added.
‘I will stay calm, I promise,’ Jake said.
‘I could never do something like this,’ I admitted, gesturing to the room.
‘Of course you could; you’re really confident.’
‘No, not for public speaking, and not really at work… yet. I am trying. But I really admire the fact you can do this.’
‘I do get nervous, though. I mean, I bottled it yesterday, didn’t I? Talking about personal things is hard for me.’
‘It’s hard for everyone,’ I told him. ‘Opening up and being vulnerable is difficult.’ I longed to feel that comfortable with a romantic partner that I could share secrets with them.
‘It is. Talking about my work is far easier because I am passionate about it.’ Jake looked at me. ‘I feel like you could open up easily, though. With the right person.’
‘Maybe,’ I whispered. I let myself have a quick fantasy that I could open up to Jake, and that he would open up to me.
We couldn’t say any more as people then started coming in. I got up and found a seat, leaving Jake at the table to greet his fellow panellists and the chair.
Liv found me five minutes later and sat down next to me while the room filled up. ‘Uh-oh,’ she said in a low voice. I followed her gaze and my heart sunk to see Davis Mulberry slink into the room. Then he spotted us and came over.
‘Mind if I join you?’ he asked, gesturing to the empty seat beside me and then promptly sat in it without waiting for me to respond. ‘I couldn’t miss witnessing another car crash by Jake Richards.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘The only car crash here is you.’
Davis turned and raised an eyebrow at me. ‘Don’t tell me, he’s worked his charm on you, Freya? Aren’t you fifteen years younger than him?’
‘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.