Chapter 5
SARAH
‘Let’s get cracking on the brainstorming, shall we?’ Ben said. ‘But first, I’ll get us some coffee and snacks. Deal?’
‘Okay,’ I said.
Ben nodded, got up, then left.
I blew out a giant sigh of relief.
Coffee was actually a good idea. That would give me at least ten minutes to gather my thoughts.
Ever since I’d seen Ben again in the hallway when I was chatting to Jane and Jackson, my brain hadn’t felt like it was functioning properly.
First it was scrambled by how he good he smelt, then when Jess was briefing us on important work stuff, which was what I was here for, my eyes kept being drawn to those ridiculously sexy forearms, then his lashes and dimple.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I liked his cocky swagger.
And don’t even get me started on how firm and muscular his chest felt when I prodded it with my finger.
Gah.
What the hell was wrong with me? The man was a certified twat.
And I couldn’t keep getting drawn to smooth-talking tosspots. My ex had the gift of the gab, and falling for his charms had got me a one-way ticket to Heartbreak City.
Yeah, Ben was obviously hot, but he was also a walking red flag.
Some people got the ick about men who wore tight trousers or picked their nose. But the ultimate ick as far as I was concerned was anyone who disrespected romance novels. I didn’t expect everyone to read them, but I thought it was wrong to insult a genre just because it wasn’t your own cup of tea.
There was no way I could get past that. Not even for a one-night stand. No matter how much inspiration it might give me for my book.
No way.
Never gonna happen.
My phone chimed, snapping me out of my thoughts. I pulled it out of my bag and tapped the screen.
It was an Instagram message from a new bookstagrammer friend called Brianna. I clicked on the notification.
Bri123xlovebooks4ever
Hey Sarah,
Thanks SO much for the books you sent me. That was so generous of you. Can’t wait to get started soon. Thanks again! Xoxo
My heart bloomed and I typed out a reply. It was sweet of her to message.
I tried to gift at least three books a month to aspiring bookstagrammers. I remembered how hard it was getting started, especially if you didn’t have money to buy paperbacks every month. So now that I had a decent following, I tried to give back to the community that had helped me to grow.
And because I was genuinely passionate about spreading the romance joy, I also donated at least two books a month either to a charity shop, a little book library or the book swap bookshelves they had in train stations.
I always carried spare paperbacks too, just in case, and sometimes, if I saw someone reading romance on the bus or train, I’d pull out a book and give it to them.
Plus, I reasoned that I’d have to buy new books every month to replace the ones I’d donated, right? Otherwise, I’d have gaps on my bookshelf, which as any bookworm knew was a serious crime. I was just trying to be a law-abiding citizen, that was all.
Then again, who was I kidding? The day I had gaps on my shelves was the day someone should check that the real me hadn’t been abducted by aliens.
I’d already arranged for all of my books to be delivered to Sunshine Bay. If I thought it was hard to shut my suitcase with my clothes and other stuff, I’d literally need a lorry to transport the amount of novels I’d accumulated over the years.
Talking of books, that reminded me. I had to find one for Ben to read.
Ugh. Part of me wanted to give him one that’d blow him away so that I could say I told you so because I’d love nothing more than to see him begging for forgiveness and apologising for ever dissing romance.
But the other part of me couldn’t be bothered wasting my time trying to convert him.
Jess had asked me to do it, though, so I would. Reluctantly.
‘Hey.’ Ben came back into the office clutching two coffee cups and two paper bags.
As I took in the sight of him, I swallowed hard and reminded myself for the hundredth time that it didn’t matter if he was pretty, he was a dick.
If you sprinkled glitter on a turd, of course it would look better, but underneath it’d still be a lump of shit. I just had to remember that.
‘Milky coffee with one sugar and a double-chocolate and cherry muffin.’
As he put both on the table in front of me, I frowned.
‘How did you know how I take my coffee and that those muffins are my favourite?’
‘I’m a mind reader.’ He tapped the side of his head and smiled.
Jesus. Why did his teeth have to be perfect too?
I hated him.
Okay, maybe considering he’d just bought me coffee and cake, two of my favourite things—after books, of course—I should tone down my animosity towards him a bit. Just temporarily, though.
‘Only joking!’ He smiled again. ‘I forgot to ask you, so I called Jess instead.’
That was… nice.
‘Well, I hope you didn’t disturb her, but, well, er, thanks.’
‘Pleasure. So…’ He pulled out his chair and sat down. ‘Shall we get down to business?’
I raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
‘What?’ He frowned, then smiled. ‘I just asked if we should get down to business, referring to the brainstorm. If your dirty mind thought I was referring to something else, then that’s a you problem, Jeffries.
I told you, I won’t go there. Flirty Ben has left the building for good.
Serious Ben is all you’ll be getting from now on. ’
‘Good,’ I said, batting away the slight twinge of disappointment that had stupidly popped up.
‘I’ve got a load of social media posts to draft today, so I’d like to get as many ideas down as possible before lunch.
Let’s start with the retreat. Do you have any more info on how many rooms there are and stuff, so I know what we’ll be working with? ’
‘I do indeed.’ Ben sipped his coffee, then took his mobile from his pocket. ‘They’re working on the site right now, so we can’t visit, but basically the plan is to have three large rooms on the ground floor along with a kitchen and bathroom. Then upstairs there’s space for six bedrooms.’
‘What about bathrooms?’
‘The bedrooms will be ensuite with a shower.’
‘Great.’
‘So it’d be good to have your thoughts on what the rooms on the ground floor could be used for.’
‘I think we should have one social room, a quiet room and maybe use another as a dining room? Or if the kitchen is big, maybe it could be an open-plan kitchen-diner-type style so it’s more sociable. People can cook and talk, that kind of thing. What do you think?’
Ben scrubbed his jaw.
‘The open-plan kitchen could work. So you’d want a social room, like with a big TV and music system if they want to party?’
‘Party?’ I shouted. ‘Of course not! People will be coming to read, not rave!’
‘I don’t get it. Why would people choose to pay money to come and sit with a bunch of strangers and read for an entire weekend?’ Ben’s brow furrowed.
‘So much to learn,’ I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes. ‘The point is that it enables like-minded people to connect and make friends. And you get to chat about the books together afterwards—hence the social room. It’s fun.’
‘Right…’ Ben said. ‘Sounds like we have very different ideas of fun, so I’ll have to take your word for that…’
‘Oh, let me guess. Your idea of fun is hanging around a pool ogling scantily clad women in bikinis, right?’
‘Who wouldn’t enjoy chilling by the pool in the sunshine with a cold beer and some company?’
‘There’s more to life than sex, y’know!’ I spat.
‘Whoa, who said anything about sex?’ Ben raised his eyebrow. ‘Sounds like someone has sex on the brain. And even if I was referring to that, which I wasn’t, why do you have such a negative opinion about it? Aren’t romance novels full of spicy scenes?’
He’d touched a nerve about the sex thing, but I couldn’t let him know that, so I focused on his other annoying comment instead.
‘I thought you said before that you’ve read romance novels.’
‘Yeah. I’ve skimmed a few. I have to sleep in the library room at Theo and Jess’s place, so when I’ve been at a loose end, I’ve had a quick look.’
‘Well, if you bothered to really read them, you’d know that they’re not “full of sex”!’
‘Hey, listen, I’m not judging! I think it’s a positive thing. Nothing wrong with well-written spicy scenes. They’re entertaining and educational. That’s not what I have a problem with.’
‘So what is it, then?’
‘Like I said, it’s the fact that on the whole, the books are so unrealistic.’
‘It’s called fiction for a reason!’ I clapped back.
‘I know, but it’s not packaged that way. It makes people think this fairy-tale, soulmate forever stuff happens in real life, which just isn’t true. And the storylines are so repetitive. What’s with the enemies-to-fucking thing?’
‘It’s enemies-to-lovers!’ I corrected.
‘I mean, they always dislike each other for some stupid reason, like he accidentally stepped on her big toe ten years ago and she’s hated him ever since.’
‘That’s a stupid example.’
‘And what’s with the accidental pregnancy thing?
Like, hello? Do you not know how babies are made?
Oh, and what’s with that fake-dating bollocks?
I mean, how many people do you know who’ve actually had to fake-date someone in real life?
Precisely zero! And of course, how could I forget about the one-bed thing?
Like seriously? Just find another hotel.
Or an AirBnB for fuck’s sake. It’s not that difficult.
So yeah, it’s not the sex that’s the issue, although let’s be honest, some of the positions aren’t feasible without resulting in a trip to A&E, but hey, neither is a lot of the stuff they do on porn and people still watch it, so… ’ He shrugged.
My blood was boiling so much right now I was surprised it hadn’t melted my skin. I wasn’t a violent person, but I wanted to throw my coffee in Ben’s face.
I wouldn’t, of course. Not only because it was too pretty to ruin, but because my coffee was too delicious to waste on him.
And I needed to keep my job. For some misguided reason, Jess seemed to vouch for Ben, and he was her future brother-in-law, so I had to be professional.
‘Are you done?’ I crossed my arms over my chest.
‘Pretty much.’
‘I’m going to say this as calmly as I can.
Ben, I think you are a monumental dick. I’m not sure if you’re deliberately trying to wind me up or if being a twat comes naturally to you, but either way, you’ll be delighted to know that you’re succeeding.
I thought my ex was a tosser, but you… anyway, it will come as no surprise that I disagree with everything you said.
Romance is realistic. And so are the tropes.
Are you not aware of how your brother fell in love?
Jess and Theo’s story is straight out of a romance novel.
Hello? Enemies-to-lovers? That’s them. And look at Jane and Jackson?
Classic childhood-friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance. ’
‘Maybe, but what I said about the other tropes was true.’
‘Er, your comment about the surprise pregnancy trope was crap too. Ask anyone who’s ever had a split condom or tried and failed to use the unreliable pulling out method, or whose pill hasn’t worked or they just got caught up in the heat of the moment.
No contraception is a hundred per cent effective. ’
‘Okay, I’ll give you that. But there’s no way you can explain the fake-dating one.’
I paused. He’d got me there. The truth was I didn’t know a single person who’d ever needed a fake date or boyfriend, but that didn’t make reading about it any less enjoyable. I lapped that shit up.
No way that I was going to let Ben know he’d just won a point in our romance trope battle, though.
‘I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s about escapism.
It doesn’t have to be real. Monsters aren’t real.
Or witches. But there’s still millions of books and films about them and no one bats an eyelid.
And does it even matter? As long as people are reading books and enjoying them, isn’t that what’s important? ’
I couldn’t believe that not only did I have to work with this fool, I also had to choose books for him and convert him to reading romance.
I hated everything about my old life. The thought of going back to my old town and job made me want to break out in a cold sweat. But being forced to work with Ben was making me reconsider my decision to move here.
Honestly, the way he was pushing my buttons, I wasn’t sure how long I could keep my cool without losing my shit.
I’d do my best to get through this brainstorm session, but straight afterwards I’d speak to Jess. There had to be another way.
I’d happily prepare a hundred-page presentation and a book’s worth of ideas for the retreat and bar if I could be left to do it on my own. I didn’t need annoying Benjamin Buttface’s input.
I hoped Jess would trust my judgement enough to agree.
But if she didn’t, I had no idea what the hell I was going to do.