Love Like This

#1 bestselling author Sophie Love is author of the romantic comedy series, THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR, which includes six books (and counting), and which begins with FOR NOW AND FOREVER (THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR – BOOK 1).

Sophie Love is also the author of the debut romantic comedy series, THE ROMANCE CHRONICLES, which begins with LOVE LIKE THIS (THE ROMANCE CHRONICLES – BOOK 1).

Sophie would love to hear from you, so please visit www.sophieloveauthor.com to email her, to join the mailing list, to receive free ebooks, to hear the latest news, and to stay in touch!

Keira Swanson pushed open the glass doors of Viatorum magazine and walked purposefully inside. It was Labor Day, but she, along with the rest of the writing staff, had been summoned to work at short notice.

Keira knew full well there was no real emergency, nothing big enough to trigger a summoning on a public holiday. But the travel magazine was a hugely competitive environment and her boss, Joshua, liked to “create opportunities to weed out the weak.” Anyone who kicked up too much of a fuss about working on a holiday or looked too miserable during their meetings would find themselves swiftly unemployed. Keira had fought so hard for a writing job, she wasn’t about to fail at this hurdle, even if it did mean leaving her boyfriend, Zachary, at home to host a family brunch without her.

Her black stilettos click-clacked across the pristine, white tiles as she hurried to her desk. The Viatorum HQ was located in the hippest part of New York City, in a huge, old warehouse that had been stylishly repurposed for office use. The windows were enormous, stretching all the way from the floor to the steepled ceiling, where steel beams with large bolts were still in place from the days when it had been used as a warehouse. The open-plan environment meant that every conversation was heard. Even whispers echoed. It also meant that no one dared bring in anything too pungent for lunch. Keira could still recall the moment a new writer, a ditzy young woman named Abby, had brought in a tuna salad on her first day. The second Joshua had caught a whiff of it he’d quickly ensured it was Abby’s first, last, and only day at Viatorum.

Peering across the vast room, Keira noticed that she wasn’t the first to arrive. Nina, her friend and one of the assistant editors at Viatorum, was already hunched over her desk, tapping away at her keyboard. She flashed Keira a quick grin before reimmersing herself in her work.

Keira slung her purse down on her desk and slumped into her chair, careful to make her sigh inaudible. She hadn’t realized working at the prestigious Viatorum magazine would involve so much acting, so much faking interest in conversation, so much pretending to be oh-so-accomplished.

Through the glass partition that separated Joshua from his employees, Keira realized that he was watching her. She wondered what he was thinking, whether he was surprised to see that she was the second person who had responded to his urgent summoning, or whether he was on the hunt to fire someone and she’d just become the prey that had wandered into his territory.

Joshua emerged around the glass partition. He was wearing an electric blue suit and his hair was styled into a quiff. He stalked up to Keira’s desk.

“Have you finished the Ireland research yet?” he asked, not even bothering to say hello.

Ah yes, the Festival of Love article that Joshua had been assigned to write by Elliot, the CEO of Viatorum. It was supposed to be a huge, important project – at least that’s what Joshua had insinuated – though Keira herself couldn’t fathom how a silly fluff piece on matchmaking during an outdated ceremony in a quaint Irish village could be construed as important. Even so, Joshua had been in an even fouler mood than usual and, as his most junior writer, Keira had been tasked with doing all the research he was “far too busy” to do himself.

More like far too self-important, Keira thought silently to herself, as she looked up and smiled. “I emailed it to you before I left on Friday.”

“Email it to me again,” Joshua demanded without missing a beat. “I don’t have time to trawl through my inbox looking for it.”

“No problem,” Keira said, remaining as cordial as ever.

Joshua stormed back to his office and Keira pinged the email containing the vast amount of information she’d gathered on the Irish Festival of Love over to him, smirking to herself as she recalled how silly it all was, how sickeningly romantic.

No sooner had the email left her inbox than the doors swung open and a handful of Viatorum’s writing staff bustled in, each pretending they weren’t peeved to be in the office on what was supposed to be a national vacation. Keira could hear their chatter as they tried to outdo one another with their sacrifices.

“My niece was competing in a baseball tournament,” Lisa said. “But this is much more important. She cried her eyes out when I said I was leaving but I know she’ll understand when she’s old enough and has her own career.”