Yeah, it's genuinely not easy -- the book that's about to go on sub is about halfway to being a romance novel, and even that halfway was kind of tricky! (I more or less got myself round the early bits by having both protagonists be competitively flirtatious people who spend a lot of time peacocking around each other for points but don't actually catch proper feelings until two-thirds of the way through.)

I'd love to hear more about the one you're working on, though, if you feel like sharing. :D