Sleepless in Manhattan (From Manhattan with Love 1)

He’d talked to her about it, before she’d created a rift between them.

“This is exciting.” Eva gave Frankie a light punch on the shoulder. “I’m going into business with my two best friends. Maybe you could give me a fancy title. That would make my day. How does Vice President sound?”

Paige felt a flicker of tension. Being responsible for herself was one thing, but being responsible for both her friends was something else entirely. Jake, she knew, employed hundreds of people in several cities across the globe.

How did he sleep at night?

How did Matt sleep at night?

Paige glanced at her brother and he gave a faint smile of understanding.

“Ready to ask me for help yet? You might find I know a thing or two if you ask me. And Jake deals with start-ups all the time. He gives advice and he invests. We both have contacts. We can talk to a few companies—get you introductions.”

Paige didn’t want to ask Jake for help.

Even that brief conversation had left her feeling unsettled. Asking for help would mean getting close to him, spending more time with him. There was no way she was up to that.

“You’ve helped me enough. I want to do this on my own. I can do this, Matt. You’ve been bailing me out of trouble since I was four years old. It’s time I did something on my own.”

“You do plenty on your own.” He sighed. “At least let me help with the legal side. Company setup, tax, insurance—as Jake said, there’s a lot to think about.”

It made sense. “All right. Thank you.”

Matt stood up. “I’ll call my lawyers in the morning. You need a business plan—”

“I’ll work on it tonight and tomorrow.”

“Talk it through with me. And we need to talk about funding.”

“Matt, you’re smothering me.”

Her brother gave her a long look. “I’m offering you business advice and financial backing, and before you turn it down you should probably check with your business partners.”

“I want you to help and advise,” Eva said immediately, “especially if you’re not going to charge. I’ll cook for you in return. In fact I’ll do anything except look after your psychotic cat.”

“I’ll look after the cat,” Frankie muttered. “She’s suspicious of humans and I get that. If you’ll help, I’ll care for the roof garden all summer.”

“You already do that for me. And you do a great job. I’d employ you in a heartbeat.”

Paige glanced up from the list she was typing on her phone. “You’re poaching my team before we’re even officially a business?”

“All the more reason to use me in an advisory capacity. I’m less likely to steal your staff.”

“Fine! You win. You can advise. But no hovering over me. I want to do this myself. If this is a success I want it to be because of me.”

“But if we fail, then we could blame him.” Eva’s cheeks dimpled. “I’d be happy to bask in success but losing my job twice in one week would dent my confidence horribly.”

Paige heard the uncertainty in Eva’s voice and a blaze of determination shot through her. She’d do this right. Whatever it took,

she’d do it.

“We still need a company name, and we need it to say what we do.”

“We do a bit of everything from the sounds of it,” Eva said. “Whatever you want—your wish is our command.” She said it with a dramatic flourish and Paige put her phone down.

“That’s it.”

“What is?”