Chapter 39

‘Stevie, can you come in, please?'

I looked up from my desk as Noah stepped out of his office. Eyes swivelled to me as if our colleagues were watching a tennis match. I got up, smoothing down my trouser suit.

‘Is this it?' Emily stage-whispered to me.

I looked at the time. It was early afternoon. I swallowed hard. ‘I think it might be.'

People murmured ‘good luck' as I walked towards the office. I paused by Gita's desk. ‘Do you want to come?'

She was Deborah's editor and was desperate to know the chart position too. She had looked after her a lot longer than me and it felt strange that I would be the one to get the news.

But Gita shook her head. ‘It's right that it's you, Stevie. Just put us out of our misery soon.'

I nodded and carried on my walk. This somehow felt even harder than that first walk to Noah's office when I thought my first day here might be my last. I was invested now. I loved this job, I liked my colleagues and our authors and my work with Deborah had quickly become a passion project that I really didn't want to have to walk away from. I'd been so sure we could make something of Deborah's book, and we'd achieved more than I knew they had done for years but I didn't know how much more. And I knew Noah's dad wasn't happy with our focus on Bitten, especially after he told us to drop it. I had no idea what he thought of Noah wanting to be with me but I was certain that, as a member of his staff, I might well be his least favourite.

So, it wasn't a fun walk to find out the results of our campaign. Crossing my fingers, I went into the office. Noah was standing by the window, a reflection of that first day I saw him here, while his father was behind Noah's desk, arms on the polished wood. Both men's faces were impossible to read as they watched me as I walked in. Noah must have learnt that from his father. I could feel my palms start to get sweaty as I closed the door behind me.

Mr Matthews gestured to the chair opposite him so I sank into it, grateful I wouldn't have to keep my weight on my shaky legs.

‘We have just been sent the bestseller list for this weekend,' Mr Matthews said without preamble. My eyes flicked to Noah, who was watching me, then back to his father. I wondered if I was still breathing or not. ‘Son? You want to do the honours?' he said, turning to Noah and surprising us both.

Noah looked startled for a moment then cleared his throat. ‘Uh, yes. Yes. We printed it out for you. For everyone.' Noah walked over and moved his hand from behind his back to hold out a piece of paper to me. His brown eyes locked onto my blue ones. ‘Stevie,' he said, his voice low as he passed the paper over.

I looked down at it hesitantly. Then I exhaled and held it up, my eyes scanning the page. I did a double take. Then I looked up at Noah. He was smiling. That dimple looking the dimpliest I'd ever seen. Even though I knew that probably wasn't even a word.

I jumped up. ‘Oh my God. Is this real?' I pointed to the page again, my heart soaring.

‘It's real,' Noah confirmed.

I looked from him to his father who, bloody hell, was smiling too.

‘It's real. It's real! Number three!!!' I shrieked and, throwing the paper in the air, I launched myself at Noah. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the floor, spinning me with a laugh as I kept repeating ‘Number three, number three!' When he put me down, I was breathless. ‘Oh my God, I can't believe it. Noah!'

‘I know.' He was beaming at me. ‘You did it, Stevie.'

‘We did it,' I corrected him again, because I definitely couldn't have done this alone. I looked at Mr Matthews, who was watching us, a little bit shocked. I realised that I was probably behaving very unprofessionally in his eyes, but how could I be chill? ‘Sorry,' I said.

‘What for?' Mr Matthews stood up. ‘Well done. Both of you. Stevie…' He held out his hand slowly.

‘Oh, thank you,' I said, shaking it firmly. I wasn't going to let Mr Matthews think that I had a limp handshake. ‘Can I tell everyone?'

‘Of course,' Noah said. ‘We'll finish up here then we can head to the restaurant. Right?' He looked to his father.

‘Looking forward to it,' Mr Matthews said.

‘Great. Great,' I said, backing away and grabbing the printed bestseller list from where I'd dropped it before he could change his mind and not be happy about this. No word about what would happen at the company now but I was going to just enjoy the win. I looked at Noah again before I left and he winked at me. I grinned back and hurried out, still feeling like I might be in the middle of a dream. I walked out and tried to stop myself from smiling.

Everyone stopped what they were doing as I walked right to the middle of the office, keeping my head down because I knew if I met anyone's eyes, I'd start grinning all along again. The room fell silent.

I held up the paper. ‘I have the list,' I said dully.

Several people stood up. Gita was right by me. ‘Shit, Stevie, how bad is it?' she asked worriedly.

I looked at her then around the room. My eyes fell on Paul and Aaliyah, Lewis, Emily, who was biting her lip, and the receptionist, who had hurried in when she saw me. They all waited with bated breath until I was ready to put them out of their misery.

I waved the paper again and broke into a huge smile. ‘Bitten is number three. We are number three on the bestseller list!'

There was a short silence where the news sunk in and then pandemonium broke out. People cheered and clapped. There were actual whoops. And I was rushed at by a blur of people. I was hugged, clapped on the back, and when Gita and Emily found me, they hugged me so tightly, I staggered and almost fell over. When I whimpered, they finally let go.

‘You bloody superstar,' Emily said, beaming at me.

‘How the hell did you turn our most difficult midlist author into a number three bestseller social media darling?' Gita added.

I couldn't stop laughing. ‘The power of romance books, guys.' I turned around and saw Mr Matthews and Noah had come out of the office. I pulled out my phone. ‘Hang on,' I said, shushing everyone, and then I phoned Ed and put it on speakerphone. ‘Ed? Please tell me you're with Deborah.'

‘I am,' he said. ‘Tell us, Stevie.'

I gave a dramatic pause, everyone smiling around me. ‘Okay, I'm so sorry, guys, we tried our best but unfortunately, we only managed number three.'

There was a pause. ‘Say that again,' Ed said.

‘I said we're number three. Bitten will be number three on the Sunday Times bestseller list!'

There was a scream. ‘Do not joke, Stevie,' I heard Deborah cry in the background.

‘Are you fucking serious?' Ed said at the same time.

‘Number three, bitches,' I said. Then I saw Mr Matthews raise his eyebrows. ‘Anyway…' I coughed and looked at Emily and Gita who were practically wetting themselves.

‘You bloody genius,' Ed said. ‘Deborah can't speak. I've never actually witnessed this before. She's frozen. Debs?'

‘You did it, Deborah,' I said. ‘Well done. And you, Ed. We'll be in touch with a five-book offer,' I added with a grin.

‘Hell, yes,' Gita mouthed to me.

‘I don't know how you pulled this off, Phillips,' Ed said then. ‘If I was wearing a hat, I'd take it off. I better go and make sure Debs is breathing. Champagne next week? I'll be in touch.' He hung up.

‘Great job, everyone,' Noah said, stepping forward. ‘That's the best sales figures for any book all year. And Paul tells me retailers are calling for more copies now they've seen the buzz it's getting so I'm hoping we could climb even higher next week.'

I looked at Paul, who shook his head at me. ‘I'll never live this down, will I?' he said.

‘I don't hold grudges, Paul, but I do feel pretty smug right now, I won't lie. You're going to get Bitten into every shop that sells books now, right?'

‘I owe you that,' he agreed.

Noah's hand grazed the small of my back then, making me shiver. I hoped no one but Noah noticed. ‘Dad has gone to talk to the board in New York. He said he'll meet us at the restaurant.'

‘Okay,' I said, hoping that the chart position would be enough to give us time to prove ourselves here to him and the board. ‘And you two?'

Noah smiled. ‘Getting there.' He looked around. ‘I don't think anyone is going to do any work now, are they?'

‘Probably not,' I agreed. I raised an eyebrow. ‘And you're not shocked or telling everyone to calm down. Have you become a soft boss now? Grumpy Noah has left the building for good?' I asked him teasingly.

‘I'll still crack the whip when it's needed,' he replied in a low voice that made me bite my lip. He grinned. ‘I'm blaming all of this on you,' he said, nodding to everyone's excitement.

I smiled. ‘I'll happily take the blame.'

It was great to finally feel like we were all a team. I just hoped Mr Matthews let us stay that way.