While We Were Dating (the Wedding Date, #6)

Jasmine Guillory's novel follows Ben Stephens, an advertising executive in San Francisco, and Anna Gardiner, a famous actress navigating career pressures and a private struggle with anxiety.

Ben works at Legendary, an ad agency. When his boss Lisa and the rest of the team are stranded at LAX, he must deliver a high-stakes pitch alone to a major tech company launching a new phone. Anna, the actress hired as the campaign's talent, drops in unannounced to evaluate the agencies. She is impressed by Ben's presentation and by the fact that he is the only Black person leading a pitch that day. After watching all three agencies, she tells the tech company she wants Legendary, but only with Ben in charge.

That evening, Ben receives two unexpected emails. The first is from Anna, congratulating him and requesting experienced lighting professionals for filming with brown skin. The second is from Dawn Stephens, a 25-year-old teacher in Sacramento who believes they share the same father, Melvin Stephens. She found Ben through a DNA testing service. Ben's father left the family when Ben was a child, and the email unsettles him. He decides not to tell his older brother Theo, a spokesman for the mayor of Berkeley.

The shoot begins in San Francisco, and Anna and Ben develop a flirtatious rapport. On the first day, Ben mics Anna up when the sound technician is delayed, narrating each step and never touching her without warning. Anna notes that this care is rare, especially given how people have felt entitled to her body since her fame increased after an Oscar nomination. After the shoot, the crew goes to a bar, and Anna invites herself along. Both are attracted to each other but resolve not to act on it while working together.

Their dynamic shifts when Anna's brother Chris calls to say their father, who had a heart attack a few years earlier, has collapsed during a trip to Joshua Tree and is at a hospital in Palm Springs. Ben quietly arranges to end the shoot early and drives Anna toward the airport. When the last flight is canceled, he offers to drive the roughly seven hours to Palm Springs. They arrive around 1 AM and find Anna's parents walking out, laughing: Her father's collapse was heat exhaustion, not a cardiac event. With no hotel reservation, Ben charms the front desk clerk into releasing the only available room.

Flooded with relief, Anna kisses Ben. They sleep together. Afterward, Anna begins crying. She explains the tears are from relief: This is the first time she has been intimate with anyone since before a mental health crisis the previous year, and she is overwhelmed that she can feel this closeness again. On the drive back the next day, she tells Ben the full story. During the filming of Vigilantes, a comic book movie, she began experiencing debilitating anxiety attacks triggered by photographers and the pressures of sudden fame. Her father helped her find a therapist and psychiatrist, and she started medication and therapy. Ben listens without judgment and shares that he is also in therapy. When he drops her at her hotel, Anna texts that what happened between them cannot happen again.

Days later, a power outage shuts down the shoot, and they end up at Ben's apartment, where Anna admits she has changed her mind. She stays the night, but the next morning a film crew and paparazzi are stationed on his block. Anna cannot risk being photographed. Ben calls Theo and Theo's girlfriend Maddie, a professional stylist, who arrives with an enormous hard-sided suitcase. Anna rides inside it while Ben and Theo carry the suitcase past the cameras to the car, all of them stifling laughter.

Simon Drake, Anna's longtime manager, soon deduces the relationship and proposes using it for publicity. If tabloids report on Anna's romance, the coverage could boost her profile enough to land her a coveted role in a prestige film directed by Liz Varon. Simon insists Ben must not know the relationship is being leveraged. Anna is initially persuaded but grows uncomfortable. On the last night of the shoot, she confesses the scheme to Ben. He is angry that she planned to deceive him, but he volunteers to participate now that he knows the truth. They agree to continue seeing each other while performing as a public couple.

Staged outings follow: a farmers market, a Lakers game. Simon confronts Ben with a nondisclosure agreement and warns that Anna will discard him after the upcoming Vigilantes premiere. The relationship deepens through honest conflict. Anna pushes Ben to discuss his absent father; he deflects, and she calls him out for using sex to avoid difficult emotions. Ben acknowledges the pattern and tells Anna about Dawn, confessing he has been emailing his half-sister for months without telling Theo. Anna reassures him that love is not zero-sum.

The emotional stakes escalate when Anna introduces Ben to her best friend Penny Malone, a winemaker, at a restaurant in L.A. As they leave, a photographer ambushes them with flash photography. Anna freezes, experiencing a full anxiety attack. Ben calmly guides her to the car and holds her until it passes. At the Vigilantes premiere, Anna discovers her role is far more substantial than she feared. During the screening, a suitcase appears on screen, and she and Ben collapse into laughter at their private joke. In that moment, Ben realizes he is in love with her.

That night, he tells her. Anna begins a response in a tone he recognizes as a gentle letdown. He cuts her off. The next morning, Anna suggests they could get together sometime. Ben declines, saying he does not think that will work. He walks out.

In the weeks that follow, Anna lands the Varon role but feels a hollowness she cannot explain. Inspired by earlier conversations with Ben, she partners with a Los Angeles organization providing mental health services to underserved communities and speaks publicly about her own anxiety for the first time. Simon notices she cannot bring herself to announce she is single and urges her not to let fear keep her from happiness. Meanwhile, Ben confides in his therapist about Anna and Dawn. He meets Theo for drinks and confesses everything: that the relationship was staged, that he fell in love, and that Anna did not reciprocate. He also reveals Dawn's existence. Theo suggests they meet Dawn together, and they send a joint email proposing a visit.

Anna arrives unannounced at Ben's apartment. When she asks if he meant what he said, Ben erupts, confirming every word. Anna tells him she is in love with him. She explains that the feeling scared her, but she realized none of her achievements matter without him. Ben opens his arms, and she walks into them.

In the epilogue, Anna accompanies Ben, Theo, and Maddie to Sacramento to meet Dawn for the first time. Ben is nervous, but Anna squeezes his hand and tells him she loves him. He tells her she makes him very happy, and they go inside together.