Chapter 35
35
I stared at Davis’s triumphant face in horror. I had been aware of someone watching before the lift doors closed when Jake and I went up to my room. Now I knew who had seen us. And it was the worst person possible: Davis Mulberry. The man with a huge vendetta against Jake and who had been unable to bring him down once, and was likely itching to try to do it again. He could tell Hayley about us. And she wouldn’t consider promoting me then. She would likely fire me instead.
Panic surged through me.
‘Are you joking?’ I said, hoping my voice didn’t come out squeaky. ‘Kissing Jake? What are you talking about?’ I added in my haughty voice, hoping that using that tone and by staring into his eyes, he wouldn’t sense I was lying. I gripped the wine glass tightly in my hand, wishing I could turn back time and not kiss Jake until those lift doors had fully closed.
Davis sighed as he dropped his arm from the door. ‘I hoped you wouldn’t lie to me; I saw you two in the lift, so don’t kid a kidder. What happened? Jake fooled you into thinking he could do real-life romance as good as he can write about it?’
‘Ha,’ I said, knowing that I needed to change tack and act like him, not myself. ‘Fine, you got me; Jake kissed me,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘But what you didn’t see was after the lift doors closed, I slapped him.’
‘You slapped him?’ Davis repeated, unable to stop himself from grinning.
‘Of course I did! Can you imagine? He’s ten years older than me, and we work together; it was highly inappropriate. There is nothing and never will be anything between us,’ I said firmly. ‘Like you said, Jake can’t do an actual relationship and that’s what I’m looking for. I don’t trust anything he says.’
Davis nodded. ‘You’re wise not to, Freya; he’d eat a pretty little thing like you for breakfast.’
‘You’re right. I couldn’t trust him, not after what his father has done.’
‘Exactly. Jake is just like him.’
I feigned a girly giggle. ‘Oh, you’re sweet to look out for me, Davis. Maybe we could have coffee sometime when we’re back in London, I’d love some career advice from such an experienced person in the industry.’ I wondered if I might have overdone it but his chest practically visibly puffed out.
‘I would love to give you advice; why don’t I get your number and we can—’ Davis broke off, looking over my shoulder. ‘Oh, hey, Jake, we were just talking about you.’
I spun around to see Jake behind me, wearing a tense expression.
‘So I gather,’ Jake asked, looking at Davis and avoiding meeting my eyes. I wondered how much of our conversation he had overheard. I really hoped he hadn’t heard the bit about his dad or me not trusting him.
‘Nice try with Freya here,’ Davis said, stepping forwards so quickly, I couldn’t back away from him. He slung an arm over my shoulders. I saw Jake tense as much as my body instantly did. He still wouldn’t look at me, though. ‘But mate, she needs a real man.’
‘You wouldn’t know what a real man is like,’ Jake said through gritted teeth.
I felt I needed to diffuse the situation and fast. Hayley was only feet away. Everyone at the conference was on Jake’s side again. If he started a fight with Davis, it would all be over. I threw on a smile. ‘It’s sweet, you both wanting to look out for me; I am a big girl, though.’ I stepped out from Davis’s arm. ‘Why don’t we go back to the party? I need a refill.’ I waved my now-empty glass. I hadn’t even noticed I’d drained another one. I was now feeling decidedly light-headed. ‘Davis, can you get me one then maybe we can dance?’ I asked him, fluttering my eyelashes in his direction. I was disgusted with myself but I knew I needed to get rid of Davis before Jake exploded.
Davis smiled at me. ‘Sure thing, gorgeous.’
‘I’ll follow you in a minute,’ I said, handing him my empty glass.
‘Don’t be long.’ Davis brushed past Jake. ‘Looks like you’ve lost your touch,’ was his parting shot as he went back into the party.
I exhaled. ‘Thank God I got rid of him.’ I looked at Jake, who finally met my gaze. ‘You almost ruined the whole thing.’
‘Ruined what, Freya? You coming on to that twat?’ Jake demanded, the anger in his tone taking me back.
‘Huh?’ I started at him, confused. ‘He saw us kiss in the lift earlier; I was acting like I didn’t want it…’
‘And why would you?’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, the sharpness in his tone taking me back.
‘Why would you want me to kiss you when I’m just like my father?’
‘Oh.’ My stomach dropped that he had heard me. ‘I only said that because Davis?—’
‘Because you don’t trust me.’
‘I didn’t want him to go out there and tell Hayley about us!’ I said, moving closer and trying to reach for Jake.
He stepped back, though. ‘You said we have to pretend nothing is going on,’ he reminded me. I dropped my arms to my side. ‘Maybe it was never pretend, though. Yeah, you might have wanted to make sure Davis doesn’t run his mouth to Hayley about us but you haven’t given me any indication you want anything to happen after we leave here. In fact, you just want to make sure no one finds out about us. And I thought that was to protect your career, which I 100 per cent want to do too, but maybe you don’t think I can do relationships because of my father. Maybe you just wanted a holiday fling.’ Jake shrugged as though he couldn’t care less either way.
His words felt unfair. ‘What do you want? You haven’t said anything about us after this trip either,’ I pointed out.
‘I just walked in to find you flirting with Davis!’ Jake snapped. ‘Talking about meeting up with him in London, asking him for his advice… Were you just using me, too, to help your career? Using this trip and me to get into Hayley’s good books? Maybe you thought I’d be honest with everyone like you wanted if you slept with me!’
I stared at him, stunned at what he had just said. ‘You think I could do that? I’m that kind of person?’
‘You just seem desperate to make sure no one finds out about us.’
‘I have things to lose; you don’t,’ I snapped back then, annoyed that he didn’t understand why I had to do that. Hayley wouldn’t drop him as a client but she could sack me.
‘Don’t worry, you won’t lose anything.’ Jake turned to go, then looked back at me, his expression and voice cold. ‘Whatever this was, we should just leave it here in New York; you’re right. We’re too different.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, trying to follow him, hurt that he thought I wasn’t good enough for him after all. Talking about our differences… Of course I was aware of them but in his arms, I thought they didn’t matter. Now Jake was shoving them in my face.
‘This wouldn’t work in the real world, let’s face it,’ Jake said. ‘We had fun, sure, but we should go back to just being professional.’
I stopped trying to follow him. I narrowed my eyes. I was furious. And more than a little bit tipsy. ‘That’s fine with me,’ I replied coldly. ‘You’re right. We would never work in the real world. Let’s keep things strictly business between us from now on.’
‘Goodnight, Freya,’ Jake said and with a tight nod, he left the room and went back out into the party as if we’d just ended a work meeting and not basically broken up.
I stared after him in shock at how the last few minutes had changed everything. I could blame Davis Mulberry but maybe he had just expedited what would have happened anyway. Jake thought I’d slept with him to get ahead at work. And I had no idea if he’d ever wanted more than a holiday thing with me. I had wondered if we had a chance after New York but clearly, that was never going to happen.
Walking back out into the party, I knew I couldn’t pretend all was okay and I certainly didn’t want to have to entertain Mulberry or face Hayley in this state. I looked around. Jake was with Hayley again, their backs to me. They clearly weren’t looking for me. I wasn’t needed any more.
I hurried along the edge of the wall for the door, keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact with anyone. Once out of the banqueting suite, I pulled my heels off and clutched them in one hand, scooped up my dress in the other, and like Cinderella, I made a mad dash across to the Waldorf so I could get to my hotel room and cry in peace.
But unlike Cinderella, I didn’t drop a shoe on the floor, I narrowly avoided stepping on a discarded, half-eaten pizza on the pavement, and there was no Prince Charming trying to catch me.