More from Victoria Walters

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The Love Interestanother romantic comedy from Victoria Walters. Or read on for an exclusive extract…

Chapter One

What makes a great love interest?

Attractive but flawed

A fully realised character with their own agency

Chemistry and conflict with the protagonist

I looked up from the textbook I was reading – How to Write Romantic Fiction – to check the university library was still empty. I had just opened up the doors and from the past three months working here, I'd gathered that the first hour was usually quiet as students were either rushing to an early lecture or were still in bed recovering from the night before. So, I was using this time to read some of the books as I shelved them from the returns trolley. And this one, used on the Creative Writing degree course, had caught my eye immediately.

I had always wanted to write my own romance novel. But I was stuck with how to create a love interest for it. The leading lady I could come up with easily but the man she fell in love with – a blank.

After I closed the romantic fiction textbook and shelved it, I walked towards the classics section, my eyes moving naturally to some of my all-time favourite love stories. What I needed was to create someone as perfect as Mr Darcy. I sighed out loud. Who wasn't looking for their own Mr Darcy? You had to admire Jane Austen. Not only had she created a character that women were still swooning over in a completely different century to the one she had written him in, but she'd done so never having found a real-life love interest herself.

We had that in common. Maybe that was why I was finding it hard to come up with the male lead in my story. I had no romantic hero of my own to base him on.

I picked up a copy of Pride and Prejudice and slid it back into its rightful place. Ever since I'd read it at the age of twelve, I had devoured romantic stories. I knew what kind of man I fell in love with on the page, so why was it so hard to write one myself?

‘Morning, Liv!' came a cheerful voice in a hushed whisper. I peered around the stack to see Stevie walking towards me, brandishing two takeaway coffees in her hand. I had recently joined as an assistant librarian and Stevie was my supervisor, having worked in the library for two years.

‘I've never seen a more beautiful sight,' I said, walking over to take the cup she offered me with a grateful smile. ‘You're a star.'

‘That, I know,' she said with a grin. ‘I love your outfit today, very librarian chic,' she added.

‘Well, thank you.' I did a pretend curtsey. I always tried to dress up for every occasion. And work was no exception. Today, I wore a pencil skirt with a blouse tucked in, court shoes and black-rimmed glasses. Completing the look was a slick of bright red lipstick and gold hoop earrings visible on one side as I'd tucked my dark shoulder-length hair behind my ear. ‘And I love your headband,' I said to her. She always wore one to push back her blonde hair and today, it was a pretty pearl one.

‘I just got it from Amazon,' Stevie said as she walked over to the desk near the doors, took off her coat and hung it next to mine on the hook.

I took a sip from the takeaway cup and let out a moan. ‘You always find the best coffee,' I told her.

Stevie and I had bonded immediately on my first day thanks to us both hating our real names (Stephanie and Olivia), having an addiction to coffee and being loud and proud bookworms.

‘A coffee place has just opened down my road and, based on this, I think I'll be a regular. Ooh, I need to charge my Kindle,' she said, pulling it out of her bag. ‘I always feel like I'm committing a librarian sin using it but you know what my flat is like.'

I nodded. I'd been round there a few times and the phrase ‘no room to swing a cat' must have been patented after seeing where she lived. It was cute and cosy though, and I knew she loved being able to live on her own. ‘It doesn't matter what you use to read books, it's still reading. Although it is sad you can't even have a bookcase.'

Stevie sat down in one of the swivel chairs behind the front desk. ‘At least I get to live out my library fantasy here.'

‘Ever since I saw Beauty and the Beast, I've dreamed of having my own library but I think this will be the closest I'll ever get living in London.' I looked around and smiled. This was a gorgeous library. Housed in the main building of one of London's oldest and most prestigious universities, it was huge with floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a view of the city, which other people had to pay thirty quid for at the top of The Shard.

I'd worked here for three months and it felt like home already. I had been stuck, knowing what I wanted to do with my life yet being too scared to actually go for it, so when my brother had suggested I move in with him rent-free so I could pursue my dream, I'd bitten the bullet and moved from our hometown in Hampshire. Dan was an influencer, creating online content and earning money from working with brands on TikTok and Instagram, and was encouraging of me trying to write a book. So I could contribute some money though, I'd looked for a part-time job and I had found this assistant librarian position at the university for three days a week. I'd helped out in the library at my own university and had worked in several bookshops since leaving so it had been a great find.

Being surrounded by books all day was quite simply my idea of heaven. Now all I needed to do was make the dream of writing my own come true.

‘Shall I carry on shelving?' I asked Stevie when we'd finished our coffees.

‘Yes, please. I better go through the emails,' Stevie said. ‘Which means navigating our clunky intranet and dealing with students begging to keep their overdue books even longer.' She gave a long-suffering sigh.

‘Ugh, students.' We shared an eye roll. ‘Good luck,' I added, leaving her to it. I still found the intranet tricky to use so I didn't envy her task.

As I shelved books, I thought about the one I'd looked at about writing romantic fiction. What I needed to do was write a man that had readers swooning like I swooned over Mr Darcy and, let's face it, countless men in the pages of my favourite books.

But what kind of man made me swoon?

‘Definitely tall, dark and handsome…' I whispered to myself as I put the books away.

The sound of a conversation nearby broke through my musings. I tutted. It amazed me that, considering how long libraries had been around, people still struggled to be quiet in them.

Holding a copy of Jane Eyre to my chest, I rounded a bookstack.

‘Can you please lower your voices?' I hissed, expecting to see a pair of gossiping students. When I realised it was two grown men I had admonished in my best ‘stern librarian' voice (yes, I had practised it at home), I stopped in surprise.

‘I'm so sorry, Liv,' one of them said, still talking loudly.

My cheeks turned a little pink when I realised I had told off the assistant to my boss – the vice chancellor at the university.

‘I didn't realise it was… sorry, carry on,' I replied hastily.

‘You had every right to tell me off. I have a loud voice and I forgot we're in a library,' Jasper said, looking at me with a warm smile. ‘I'm glad to see you are keeping everyone in order.'

‘Olivia is good at keeping order,' a deep voice with an Irish accent said from beside him.

I had been so flustered, I hadn't paid much attention to the man with Jasper but as he spoke, I turned and looked up at him – even in my heels, he was very tall – and then, if it was possible, my blush deepened. I'd recognise that irritating smirk anywhere.

I couldn't believe it. Aiden bloody Rivers was standing in my library. How? Why?

‘Hello, Olivia,' he said, his Irish accent more pronounced than ever as he said my name.

‘Oh, do you two know each other?' Jasper asked, surprised, glancing back and forth between us.

My eyes narrowed. Unfortunately, we did, but I forced myself to be civil in front of Jasper.

‘Aiden,' I said tightly.

‘We're old family friends,' Aiden said in that easy way of his.

‘I had no idea you were coming in today,' I said through gritted teeth. How dare he show up in my workplace? I hadn't seen him since my brother's birthday.

‘Well, you've always raved about the place so when Jasper called me, I knew I had to come and look around for myself,' Aiden said, his smirk widening as he looked at me.

I took in his green eyes, the way his mouth curved up at the corner, the way his almost-black hair waved slightly around his temples and ears, and the outline of his muscular arms underneath his smart jacket. I rarely saw Aiden wear anything but a T-shirt and ripped jeans and I had to admit a suit looked good on him. Very good even. It was a fault with the universe that the perpetual thorn in my side was really rather nice to look at.

‘And I know you love surprises,' Aiden said with a smile that to Jasper would seem friendly but that I knew meant he was enjoying my discomfort.

‘Oh, do you?' Jasper asked me. ‘I'll have to remember that. And it's great to hear you've been enjoying working here as much as we've loved you joining the team.'

Was it my imagination or were Jasper's cheeks turning as pink as my own? I smiled back at him, flattered by what he had said but annoyed with what Aiden had just told him. ‘Well…' I started, not sure what to say without calling Aiden a liar. I hadn't seen Aiden since May so I definitely hadn't raved about the university. And I didn't enjoy surprises either – they made me nervous. I couldn't plan an outfit if I didn't know what was happening. ‘Why did you say you were here again?' I asked the still smirking Aiden, clutching my book even tighter to my chest in case I felt the urge to lob it at him.

‘I didn't,' he replied.

‘Oh, I'm just showing Professor Rivers around, aren't I?' Jasper said cheerfully. ‘Giving him the tour, introducing him to key staff members…' He trailed off and looked like he wanted to say more but couldn't. ‘Well, I suppose we'd better carry on,' he said, turning to Aiden.

I frowned, confused why Aiden would even want a tour here, but it was too awkward to demand an explanation in front of Jasper, which I felt sure Aiden knew by the smug look on his face.

‘Lead the way,' Aiden agreed.

Jasper glanced back at me. ‘I'm sorry again for disturbing the peace, Liv. Maybe I'll see you in the staff lounge later?' he asked, running a hand through his shaggy fair hair.

‘Oh, yes, maybe,' I said, making myself turn from Aiden to look at Jasper, whose eyes lit up. He gave me a goofy wave and set off for the double doors.

Aiden paused and stared into my eyes for a moment. I returned his stare defiantly, even as I could feel my pulse quickening. I wondered what he was thinking. Then he raised an eyebrow. ‘I know those glasses are fake,' he said.

‘What's going on? What are you up to?' I hissed, my efforts to keep calm disintegrating now Jasper had left us alone.

Aiden was a professor in Film Studies at Bath University and was usually miles away from me. It was disconcerting to have him here on my turf.

‘That's for me to know and you to find out. See you later, Olivia,' he said, dropping me a wink before sauntering away after Jasper.

‘It's Liv,' I hissed, although I knew it was pointless. He delighted in calling me by my full name. I mimed throwing the book at his retreating head then stalked back to the front desk, my blood heated as it always was after an encounter with Aiden.

‘Okay,' Stevie said, her blue eyes twinkling as she stared at me across the desk. ‘Who was that?'