Page 5 of Reluctantly Yours

“We were at Bounce on Saturday. It was such a vibe. Oh! And I met a guy.” She takes a sip of her iced caramel macchiato. “For you.”

“For me?”

“Yes! He’s handsome and successful. A finance guy or something. The music was really loud. I didn’t get the details, but I showed him a picture of you and he said he was interested.”

“I don’t love blind dates. You know I’m not the best at going in blind. I need talking points. Areas of common interest.”

“How about you’re both attractive people that are interested in sex at the end of the night?”

“Jules.” I level her with a stare.

“What? It works for me.” She tosses her empty coffee in a nearby trash can before she follows me into our building. “And I already set it up. So you could go and see what you think. No pressure.”

I sigh. “When?”

“Next week. Wednesday. For dinner.”

“Fine,” I say, punching the elevator button.

“This will be good for you. You’ll see.”

A minute later, the elevator opens to reception at St. Clair Press. Jules waves as she takes the hallway toward marketing and I go left toward the executive area where my and JoAnna’s offices are located.

There’s something about the office that’s buzzing today. I’m not sure what it is exactly but there’s something in the air that has me crackling with excitement.

Lindy, one of the romance editors, passes me in the hallway.

“Lacey had her baby early.” She’s gathering signatures on a congratulatory card and offers it to me to sign.

“That’s great.” I smile, feeling happy for Lacey, but also wondering what that means for her position during maternity leave.

I have been subtle—and not so subtle—about wanting the job whenever JoAnna brings it up. This has got to be it and it’s what I’ve come to New York for.

JoAnna summons me from her office with a quick email that reads“Come see me, please.”I quickly stop by the kitchen to grab her a coffee with two hazelnut creamers, the way she likes it, and a black coffee for me—definitely not the way I like it. But today I feel like being like those book editors I’ve always read about, drinking black coffee and smoking cigarettes. I refuse to smoke but I’ll try the coffee.

“So, I’m sure you’ve heard that Lacey had her baby early,” JoAnna says as I place both coffees on the desk.

“Yes. I saw Lindy in the hallway. That’s exciting!” I grin at her. I take a sip of the warm black liquid, trying not to grimace. Black coffee is gross.

JoAnna pauses—probably from the look on my face—but doesn’t say anything. She continues, “I had hoped for more of a transition period, but babies are unpredictable. I have decided that you will be taking over for Lacey while she’s on maternity leave.”

“Yes!” I say a bit too loud and JoAnna looks at me with an amused smirk.Come on, Chloe, keep it together.“I mean, thank you!”

“This won’t be easy. You’ll still be performing all your editorial assistant tasks on top of filling in for Lacey, as well as helping me with the upcoming Books 4 Kids event.”

I should be intimidated by the workload. She’s right, it won’t be easy, but being an assistant editor is my goal, and if I don’t take this chance now, I don’t know when I will get another opportunity.

“Speaking of which, where are we on the Books 4 Kids event?” she asks.

I smile and grab my tablet. My hands still shaking with excitement from JoAnna’s news.

And while I had been slightly intimidated by JoAnna initially, beneath her sophisticated demeanor and flawless appearance, she’s got a heart of gold and is fairly easygoing, unless you’re incompetent. She really has zero tolerance for that.

“Everything is on track. We’ve got all the major sponsor tables accounted for. I just need to collect sponsor checks from a few.” I glance down at the list.

SCM, the event’s main sponsor, and St. Clair Press’s parent company, is one of them.

In an ideal world, the check would magically appear in my inbox.