Sleepless in Manhattan (From Manhattan with Love 1)

“Good.” Frankie pushed her glasses up her nose. “So your only other problem is Matt. Have you told him yet?”

Paige felt a rush of guilt. “No. It was just one night and—”

“And now it’s a few nights.” Frankie’s voice was flat. “You should tell him, Paige. Creeping around in a relationship is a really bad thing. Believe me, I know. I was brought up with creeping. It always, always comes out in the end and when it does it’s always hideous.”

Paige knew she was thinking of her mother. “This is different. What would I tell him? We’re having fun, that’s all. We’re both unattached. It’s probably going to end soon. There’s nothing to tell, Frankie.”

“You’re setting fire to the sheets with his best friend. That’s something he should know. What does Jake think?”

It was the one point of disagreement between them.

“He wants to tell him, but I made him promise not to.”

“That’s tough on him. You’re putting him in a difficult position.”

Paige sighed. “Frankie—”

“I love you. You’re my best friend. But I’m worried about you. This is going to come back and bite you. If Matt finds out, he’s going to be hurt and then you’ll be hurt, too. I don’t want that to happen. I like Jake, but that won’t stop me killing him if he hurts you both.”

Paige rubbed her fingers over her brow. “I’ll think about it. I’ll see how it goes this weekend. Before you leave, is there anything new I need to know?”

“Everything is under control. The wedding is organized. They wanted me to recommend a photographer so I called Molly.”

“Good choice.” They’d all worked with Molly at Star Events and found her to be a talented photographer. “We should ask Molly if she’d like to be one of our preferred suppliers. Anything else?”

“Matt asked me if I could quote for designing a roof garden. Victoria, who normally does that for him, is overloaded.” Frankie heaved the bag onto her shoulder. “I’d like to help out, but I understand if you’d rather not overlap business.”

“We’re partners,” Paige said. “You don’t

have to ask my permission. If you’d like to do it, then do it. And I can’t think of anything better than sharing business contacts with my brother.”

“You didn’t want favors.”

“This isn’t a favor. He’s employing our services. I’ll charge him.”

Frankie grinned. “You’re turning into a ruthless tycoon. I’ll say yes then and go over to the space with him and take a brief. It’s a big place over on the Upper West Side and they want to throw a party once it’s done. A kind of ‘roof warming.’ I’ll make sure Urban Genie gets the chance to pitch for that.”

Frankie left the room and Paige settled down to work.

She made it through the afternoon without making any major errors. She put together financial estimates for two events, made appointments to see two new venues and took calls from two people looking for a job. She added them to a list and promised she’d be in touch if, and when, they started recruiting.

Until they were established she didn’t feel safe employing people. She didn’t want to have to lay people off.

She settled down to work on a pitch for a major marketing event and by the time she looked up again the sky was dark and lights had come on all around the city.

She stood up and stretched, her bones aching from sitting for too long in one place.

“You’re working late.” Dani stood in the doorway, her hair tumbling around her narrow shoulders. “Jake asked me to talk to you about what you need. Said you wanted someone to answer phones and stuff. Laura can do that for you. She’s smart. Been with us a couple of weeks.”

“What did she do before?”

“She was at home with kids. Lost a bit of confidence and found it hard to get back into work. Now she’s working for us.”

“You took her on?”

“Not me. Jake. She was a risky hire, but Jake is never afraid of risk. He saw something in her that others didn’t. He’s almost always right.” Dani eased away from the door frame. “I’ll bring Laura to you tomorrow and you can explain what you need. She used to work as a receptionist in one of the big hotels before she had a family. When she gets her confidence back she’s going to be great. You going home anytime soon?”

“Yes. Actually no, probably not.” Paige blinked, realizing her mind had been miles away. “Not for a while. I have work to do.”