Sleepless in Manhattan (9 page)

“No.” Matt glanced up, his expression stony. “You are not taking my sister on the back of that damn machine.”

Paige opened her mouth but Jake spoke first, his tone mild.

“That ‘damn machine’ is a top-of-the-range piece of artistry. Its engine is—”

“Its engine is precisely why my sister isn’t going on the back of it.”

Jake raised his eyebrows. “I have a spare helmet. I’ve given women rides before. They’re still alive.”

“They’re not my sister. Are we doing movie night on Saturday?”

Exasperated, Paige glared at him. “Matt—”

“Of course we’re doing movie night,” Eva interrupted, soothing the choppy atmosphere. “Can we watch something romantic for a change?”

“I was thinking horror.” Matt typed a reply to one of his emails. “
Silence of the Lambs
, or maybe some Stephen King—”

“No way!” Eva recoiled. “I
hate
horror. Unless you want to wake up and find me shivering in your bed because I’m too scared to sleep alone, you’d better pick something else. No serial killers. No dead children. Those are my rules. Can we watch
Sleepless in Seattle
?”

“Not unless the reason they’re sleepless is because there’s a serial killer on the loose.” Matt’s phone rang. “I need to take this.” He strolled away to answer it, leaving Paige simmering.

“What is wrong with him?” She turned to Jake. “I’ll take that offer of a ride.”

Jake gave a faint smile. “No way. If the two of you are going to fight, that’s great. Always invigorating for the rest of us, but don’t put me in the middle of it.”

Making a mental note to take it up with Matt later, Paige opened her laptop. “The event part of our business is straightforward, but on top of that I’ve written down everything a corporate concierge should do.” While Matt was occupied on his call, she showed Eva. “Anything I’ve missed?”

Jake glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t see sex anywhere on that list.”

“You’re not funny. I’ve made a list of companies whose executives are all cash-rich and time-poor.”

Eva poured coffee into mugs. “But why would they use
us
?”

“Because we’re going to make their employees more productive. And their lives so much easier they’re going to wonder how they ever survived without us. I did some research online last night—do you know how many working hours are lost because employees are sorting out their personal lives at work?”

“Mine don’t.” Jake accepted a cup of coffee from Eva.

“I bet they do. You don’t know about it because you’re the boss. The moment you walk into the room they minimize the screen.”

“You’re suggesting I’m not in touch with what’s going on in my own company?”

“I’m suggesting that most people are now working such long hours and their work/life balance is so totally skewed that they’re forced to sort out personal issues while at work. We can help with that.”

“Work/life balance? What the hell is that? I need to go,” Matt said as he hung up the phone, straightened his tie and checked his reflection in the gleaming surface of the microwave oven. “I’ll see you later.” He paused as Frankie walked through the door. She was wearing cargos and a clean T-shirt, her hair a tumbled mass of fiery curls over her shoulders.

Paige saw her brother’s eyes linger on Frankie’s hair. Then he scanned her face, taking in her taut expression.

“Everything all right?” He spoke quietly and Frankie said something that Paige couldn’t hear, but she saw her brother nod and move away without pushing the subject further.

Her brother, Paige knew, had a seriously low opinion of Frankie’s mother.

On the few occasions she’d come to see Frankie in the apartment, Matt had made it his business to be there. Frankie would probably rather have endured the humiliation of those moments in private, but knowing how it affected her, her friends tried to be present whenever Gina Cole made one of her impromptu “parent” visits.

Paige was touched that Matt insisted on being there to support Frankie. She’d even occasionally wondered if there was more to the gesture than another example of her brother’s protective nature, but that thought hadn’t lasted long.

Matt needed, and expected, trust in a relationship.

Frankie trusted no one. She was the first to admit she was so twisted when it came to relationships she could have been used as a corkscrew.

“Are you sure you won’t stay, Matt?” Eva gestured to the table. “I declare this breakfast meeting in session. Anyone still in this kitchen in two minutes will be eating my oatmeal.”

Matt and Jake bumped into each other in their attempt to make a quick exit.

“Why are men so averse to healthy eating?” Offended, Eva spooned creamy oatmeal into bowls and added almonds and berries.

“Probably because diet cola tastes better.” Frankie sat down and picked up a spoon. “If I eat this, will you stop nagging me?”

“Maybe.”

Paige pushed her laptop across to Frankie. “Take a look at my list.”

Frankie dug her spoon into her bowl and read. “Damn, we’re good. And
you’re
good, putting all this together so fast. Are you sure we can do all this?”

“If we can’t, then we know someone who can. I’ve already started a spreadsheet for suppliers, venues, etc. We have a lot of contacts and several people have been in touch, wanting to work with us. Turns out Star Events had irritated more than a few people.”

“Wasn’t there a noncompete clause in your contract?”

“Only if I resigned. I didn’t. Matt already checked that for me. I’ve gone through all our competitors and looked at their biggest events over the past year. I’ve added those names to another list.” She leaned across and opened another file.

“You’re all about lists.” Frankie glanced at it. “And that’s a long list.”

“I started with all the companies that have given Star Events business, and then listed their competitors and companies linked with them. So far I have seventy names. Clear your diaries because we’re going to be busy.” She raised her coffee mug. “To us.”

Frankie lifted her mug. “Urban Genie. Your wish is our command.”

Eva lifted hers, the contents sloshing over the table. “May the wishes overflow.”

“Like your coffee mug,” Frankie said, and reached for a cloth.

* * *

L
ATER
THAT
DAY
in his offices in Tribeca, Jake emerged from one client meeting and was preparing for another when Matt strolled into his office.

“I need to talk to you.”

“I’m busy.”

“It’s about Paige.”

He didn’t want to think about Paige.

He was careful never to touch her, but last night he had.

He could still feel the slight shake of her hand under his and smell the light summery perfume she always wore. Her perfume always messed with his senses. It made him want to strip her naked, throw her down in the nearest field of wildflowers and do very bad things.

“I won’t take her on the bike if it bothers you so much, but you should let her make that decision on her own. You’re overprotective.”

Matt sprawled in the nearest chair. “This isn’t about the bike. It’s about the business. The business you told her to set up. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking she needed more control over her life. You saw her—she was feeling powerless and scared. I reminded her that she could take back some of the power, that’s all.”

“You made her angry.”

“Yeah, I made her angry. Better angry than crying.”

“She wasn’t crying. I have never seen my sister cry, not even when she was going through all that trauma when she was ill. Not once.”

Jake, who had trained himself to spot female tears at a thousand paces, wondered how Matt could be so clueless. “She was on the verge of losing it. And if she had, she would have been mortified. She was already feeling bad. She didn’t need to feel worse. What she needed was to be galvanized into action, and there is no better motivator than anger. You should be thanking me.”

“You made her angry on purpose?” Matt ran his hand over his jaw and swore softly. “I didn’t see that. How come you know so much about women?”

“Extensive experience along with an extraordinary gift for driving women crazy.” His phone rang and he silenced it with a stab of his finger.

Matt eyed the number on Jake’s screen. “Brad Hetherington? You really are moving in illustrious circles. You need oxygen up there?”

“No, I need shovels to dig my way out of the bullshit.”

“You’re not taking his call?”

“I would, but you’re sitting in my office. And sometimes it pays to be a bit elusive. I have something he wants. Make him wait and he’ll pay more.”

Matt shook his head. “How does it feel to have everyone queuing up at your door?”

“It feels busy.” Jake leaned back in his chair, looking at the man he regarded as a brother. “So did you just come here to punch me for making your sister angry or was there something else?”

“Something else. I want you to help her with her new business.”

Jake stilled. Caution seeped into every bone of his body. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you were the one who pushed her into it. You owe it to her not to let her fail.”

“What makes you think she’ll fail?”

“The fact that she equates asking for help with weakness. We both know that running a business is a steep learning curve. The more you ask, the faster you learn. My sister has turned independence into an art form. She is never going to ask. So you have to offer.”

No way.

Jake tapped the desk with his fingers. Nudging her in the right direction was one thing; getting personally involved was another. “She won’t want my help. You heard her last night.”

And he knew it wasn’t simply a need to be independent that would prevent Paige from asking him for help.

Neither of them mentioned it but the past simmered in the background, coloring every interaction.

She guarded herself around him and that suited him just fine.

“I don’t know anything about running a concierge service or events management.”

“You should. You attend enough events.”

“To network, get drunk or get laid. Sometimes all three. I don’t plan them.” It was like standing on the edge of quicksand knowing that if you stepped in the wrong place you were going to be sucked in too deep to escape. “You have as much business experience as I do. You help her.”

“She thinks I’m overprotective, and she’s right. I try not to be, but I get it wrong. Every damn time. Remember when she was learning to drive?” He saw Jake wince and nodded. “Yeah, that time. I’m too worried about her to be objective.” Matt stood up and walked to the window. “Great view,” he said absently.

“I’m usually too busy to look at it.”

His friend didn’t take the hint. “To me she’s still that little girl with a heart problem. I can still see her in the hospital, blue lips, struggling to breathe.”

“If you’re going for emotional blackmail, don’t. It’s not going to work.”

Except the words conjured up images Jake had worked hard to forget, along with a ton of other stuff he never wanted to look at again.

“It’s not emotional blackmail—it’s the truth. I want to cover her in bubble wrap and fix everything. I always have. Right from day one.”

“That’s because your parents gave you the responsibility.” Jake stood up and joined his friend by the window. “They trusted you to keep an eye out for her. That’s a hell of a burden.”

And he’d always thought it was a tough deal for his friend.

Matt frowned. “It isn’t a burden.”

“Maybe it’s time to let Paige live her life and make her own mistakes. Instead of trying to catch her before she falls, you could wait until she does and then pick her up.”

“I don’t want her to be hurt. I don’t want her to fail at this.”

“You’re too afraid of failure. I guess that comes from having overachieving parents. Failure is part of life, Matt. Success teaches you nothing, but failure teaches you resilience. It teaches you to pick yourself up and try again.”

Matt dragged his hand through his hair. “You used to be as protective as I was. Hell, you once spent an entire night sitting by Paige’s hospital bed when I couldn’t make it. Or maybe you don’t remember.”

He remembered every moment. “I realized that protecting her doesn’t do her any favors. She doesn’t want to be protected.”

But he did protect her, didn’t he?

He protected her from himself.

He knew he was capable of hurting her. He’d done it before.

Neither of them mentioned it, but he was well aware of the pain his rejection had caused. He knew it had changed her. Gone was the openness he’d found so refreshing. With him she was always slightly guarded and he made it easy for her to be that way by ensuring their relationship always skirted on the edge of antagonistic.

Matt turned away from the window. “Maybe she doesn’t want to be protected, but I want you to help her. I’m asking you as a friend.”

And their friendship was the reason he didn’t want to do it.

“Why can’t you do it?”

“Apart from the fact she automatically ignores anything I say to her, there’s the fact I’m a landscape architect. I can design her a breathtaking roof terrace, complete with dramatic water feature and a swing seat, but I’m no expert on digital marketing and I don’t have the ear of every top executive in the city. You do. You could open doors.”

“Which she would then slam in my face.”

“You have the ear of Brad Hetherington.” Matt waved his hand toward Jake’s phone. “That guy virtually owns Wall Street. His business alone would make Urban Genie successful.”

Jake thought about the rumors floating around. “Trust me—Paige doesn’t need Brad Hetherington in her life.”

“Personally, no. But professionally? The guy has deep pockets. And so do any one of the many other companies you work with. She doesn’t even need to know you’re helping. Pick up the phone and make a few calls. Half of Manhattan owes you favors.”

“I’m always transparent in my business dealings.” But he hadn’t been transparent in his relationship with Paige, had he?