Sunset In Central Park (From Manhattan with Love 2)

“It’s called intimacy, Frankie. It’s what happens when two people know each other well. And for the record, I don’t think it’s weird.”

Finally, she looked at him. “You don’t?”

“No. But as we’re being honest with each other, it’s only fair to tell you that you’re wasting your time.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have beautiful eyes, and they’re beautiful with or without the glasses. And to save you examining that comment in minute detail I can tell you that yes, it was a compliment.” He removed his arm and opened the door, gently nudging her through it. “Have a think about working with me and thanks again for feeding my cat.”

Reining in his protective instincts, he closed the door before he could do something inappropriate like haul her into his arms.

There was plenty of time for that.

This was only step one.

It wasn’t as if they weren’t going to see each other again. And at some point she was going to realize that he still had her glasses.

Chapter Three

A compliment is a gift. Accept it gratefully.

—Eva

Beautiful eyes?

He thought she had beautiful eyes?

Frankie wandered through Manhattan’s flower market in a daze that had nothing to do with the early start or the fact she hadn’t slept.

“I love this place.” Paige slipped her arm through Frankie’s. “It’s calming, isn’t it?”

“What is?” Frankie wasn’t concentrating. She couldn’t stop thinking about the moment she’d been trapped between Matt and the door. He hadn’t actually touched her, but he might as well have because she’d been so agonizingly aware of him it had been almost impossible to breathe. The avalanche of unfamiliar feelings had come as a shock. It wasn’t as if she was the kind of person who thought about sex all the time. Hardly ever, in fact. She’d accepted that it didn’t play an important role in her life, and even though she was intelligent enough to know that at least part of the reason for that lay with her parents, she hadn’t ever considered that it might change.

But it was changing. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Matt was changing it. He hadn’t touched her, but she’d found herself wanting to touch him. She’d wanted to grab him and kiss him, an impulse that had left her more than a little freaked out. Fortunately, she’d managed to stop herself, but what she hadn’t been able to stop was the strange feeling inside her, the almost breathless excitement that she associated with Christmas Eve and the last day of school. Being close to him seemed to flick a switch in a part of her she’d never accessed before. And she had to remind herself to breathe, something she’d managed to do without prompting up until this point in her life.

Paige elbowed her. “You’re not listening to me. You need strong coffee.” She dragged her into the small coffee shop and ordered two espressos. “This will wake you up.”

Frankie didn’t tell her that her problem wasn’t going to be solved by coffee.

She wasn’t sure how to solve it. Two cold showers hadn’t worked.

They drank the coffee and Paige talked about new clients while Frankie tried to forget the hard strength of Matt’s body against hers and focus on business.

Boosted by caffeine, they tackled the flower market. Nestled between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, the market was a hidden jungle of plants surrounded by soaring tower blocks of glass and steel. It was five o’clock in the morning but despite the early hour, the place was bustling with people.

They went into one of the many stores and Frankie leaned forward and stuck her nose in a bunch of blooms. “These are perfect.” She picked a large bunch and stashed it on a metal shelf to buy later, before carefully selecting another bunch.

“They’re pretty. So did you speak to Matt?”

Frankie almost dropped the flowers. How could just hearing his name make her clumsy? She was like a teenager in the throes of her first major crush. Except that she’d never felt this way when she was a teenager. “I wrote him a note, but then he showed up while I was feeding Claws and I scrunched it up because I’m a coward.”

“He didn’t say anything?”

“He said a couple of things.” Unsettling things. Things that had danced around her brain and kept her awake when she should have been sleeping.

You have beautiful eyes.

She’d been so taken aback by the compliment, she’d said nothing. Eva would have made a lighthearted remark in response. Paige probably would have done the same.