Dating You / Hating You

Evie Abbey is a thirty-three-year-old talent agent in Features, the film division at Price & Dickle (P&D), a major Hollywood talent agency. She grew up in San Dimas, California, the daughter of a Warner Bros. electrician and a studio hair-and-makeup artist, and has spent her career in the entertainment industry. When her best friend and colleague Daryl Jordan cancels plans to attend a costume party hosted by Evie's former coworker Steph Evans and Steph's husband Mike, Evie reluctantly goes alone, dressed as Hermione Granger. There she meets Carter Aaron, a twenty-eight-year-old agent in the television-writing department at rival agency CT Management (CTM), who is dressed as Harry Potter. The two share immediate chemistry, bonding over movies, matching costumes, and their shared understanding of the agency world. They agree that dating a fellow agent would be impractical but exchange numbers before parting.

Over the following days, Evie contends with her difficult boss, Brad Kingman, vice president and head of Features at P&D. Brad uses a past professional embarrassment, a major box office flop called Field Day for which Evie's client was the lead, as leverage to keep her compliant. He assigns her tasks that benefit male colleagues and addresses her with patronizing nicknames. Meanwhile, Carter settles into work at CTM, where his rising status is confirmed when a colleague's client requests to move to his list. After a week of flirtatious texting, Carter and Evie go on a first date at a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, where their connection deepens. Back at Evie's apartment, they stop short of sex but establish a powerful physical bond.

Their budding romance is upended when P&D acquires CTM in a surprise merger. Both are summoned to the P&D building, where an HR representative announces the consolidation. Evie spots Carter in the audience and realizes they now work for the same company, with significant departmental overlap threatening both their positions. Brad calls them into a joint meeting and delivers a blunt assessment: Their compensation is comparable, and P&D may only have room to renew one of their contracts in LA. He assigns Carter to Features, instructs Evie to mentor him, and effectively pits them against each other. With only five months left on her contract, Evie is especially vulnerable.

The competition sharpens immediately. Brad indicates that Evie is the natural choice to pursue Dan Printz, a major actor leaving his current representation, but Carter sends an early-morning email volunteering for the assignment. Brad awards Dan to Carter, blindsiding Evie. In a subsequent meeting, Evie receives a heavier roster of demanding clients, while Carter gets a smaller but high-profile group. Brad frames the imbalance as a reflection of Evie's superior skill, but both agents recognize the disparity. Determined to compete fairly, Evie quietly forwards a media opportunity from the Hollywood Vine to Carter, giving him a significant advantage in courting Dan.

Their professional tension escalates into a series of pranks. Evie swaps Carter's caffeinated coffee pods for decaf, leaving him barely functional. Carter replaces her hand lotion with bronzer, turning her skin orange. Further salvos include glitter in car vents, tape over phone earpieces, a fake Craigslist ad for Evie's car, a shrunken suit, and a candy-coated onion. Both privately acknowledge the pranks are expressions of their inability to stop thinking about each other.

The rivalry peaks at a Vanity Fair photo shoot for Carter's client Jamie Huang and Evie's client Seamus Aston. Carter, wanting to help his younger brother Jonah, a once-celebrated photographer now deep in debt after a career-ending scandal, replaces the scheduled photographer with Jonah without consulting Evie. Evie is furious at being bypassed on a decision affecting her client. During the shoot, their confrontation in a back room transforms into a sexual encounter, with Carter admitting he cannot stop thinking about her. The shoot goes well, with Jonah's work impressing the Vanity Fair team.

Over the Christmas holiday, Carter and Evie reach a tentative peace through heartfelt texts, each apologizing for past behavior. But when they return to work, Brad deepens the divide by giving Carter exclusive access to five hot scripts and the authority to distribute assignments across the team. Evie recognizes the gender dynamics at play but channels her frustration into productivity.

The turning point arrives at the annual department retreat in Big Bear, a mountain resort area northeast of Los Angeles. Brad treats Evie as his personal event coordinator, assigning her assistant-level tasks while praising Carter publicly. That evening, Carter tells Evie he is sorry for ignoring Brad's condescending treatment of her and for contributing to the dynamic. They kiss at the bar, retreat to her room, and have sex for the first time. Carter tells her he is in love with her.

The next morning, Brad knocks on Evie's door while Carter hides in the closet. Carter overhears Brad deliver a veiled threat, warning Evie she has no strikes left and dismissing her strong performance numbers. Later, Brad privately warns Carter that Evie is a liability, deepening Carter's disillusionment with his boss.

Back in Los Angeles, Evie and Carter are officially a couple, but crisis strikes when Variety publishes an unauthorized announcement of Dan Printz's signing with Carter, crediting Carter individually rather than the agency. Brad erupts, accusing Evie of leaking the story out of jealousy. Evie denies involvement and walks out. Carter goes to Brad's office to defend her, and Brad dismisses his concerns, revealing he knows about their relationship and urging Carter to let Evie take the fall. Carter quits on the spot.

Evie and her friends uncover the real story. Eric Kingman, Daryl's assistant and Brad's own nephew, has built a program that cross-references expenses with invoices. It reveals recurring charges from fictitious companies billed to Evie's expense accounts. One of the fake firms, Roar PR, is the same entity Dan Printz's team identifies as the source of the Variety leak. Brad has been embezzling from P&D by creating fraudulent vendors and using Evie as his unwitting cover, keeping her close because she had witnessed his shady practices at their former shared agency.

Evie enlists Daryl, Amelia Baker, her friend in HR, and Eric to infiltrate Brad's home office. Evie guesses Brad's computer password, a reference to the film where he first poached a client, and copies his financial files onto a thumb drive. They narrowly escape detection when Brad arrives home unexpectedly. The next morning, Eric emails the evidence to the FBI from Brad's own office. Federal agents arrest Brad at P&D on charges of wire fraud, embezzlement, and identity theft, with prosecutors alleging he skimmed upward of two million dollars.

Evie and Carter leave P&D and launch their own agency, Abbey & Aaron. Carter secures Dan Printz's signature on a direct contract, and Evie's top clients, Adam Elliott and Sarah Hill, follow her. Both agents' assistants join the new firm. They set up offices in a building adjacent to P&D, decorating the lobby with Jonah's art prints.

The novel closes on the first official morning at Abbey & Aaron. Carter, wearing the same lucky tie from the night they met, finds Evie reading a contract by the conference room window. They kiss, trade invitations to meet each other's families, and smile into a shared future, their partnership finally on solid ground.