Sunset In Central Park (From Manhattan with Love 2)

“Right again.”

Paige put her plate down. “Frankie—” her tone was patient “—most people would think that meeting someone you like and find hot is a good place to start a relationship from. But you’re saying that makes them wrong for you?”

“Yes. If—when—I mess it up, it would really matter. None of the guys I’ve had bad relationships with before have mattered. I haven’t cared enough for it to matter. That’s what made them perfect.”

“No, Frankie,” Paige sounded exasperated, “that is what made them less than perfect. Are you seriously saying you’d rather have a relationship with a guy you don’t care about and don’t find attractive than with a guy you really like?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Eva opened her mouth and closed it again. “Do you even realize how crazy that sounds?”

“Why is it crazy? When I mess up a relationship with a guy I don’t particularly like and have no feelings for, no one gets hurt. It doesn’t matter. Everyone walks away intact. It would be different with Matt. I like him. I care about him. With Matt it would matter. One of us, or both of us, would get hurt.”

“So your brilliant master plan is to carry on having relationships with guys you don’t like so that when it all goes wrong it doesn’t matter.”

“Exactly. And now that you understand the problem, I need you to tell me how to fix it. Do I ignore it and hope he ignores it, too? Do I talk about it face-to-face? Tell him I’m not interested?”

“You are interested.” Eva finished her cake. “And he already knows that.”

“He can’t possibly know that.”

“Matt is an experienced guy and you are a terrible liar.”

That possibility hadn’t occurred to Frankie. “You seriously think he knows?” She put the cake down untouched.

“Yes, but that’s a good thing.”

“It is not. If he knows, I’m going to have to move to the Arctic.”

“No one is moving anywhere. I have a better idea,” Paige said. “Take the next step and see what happens. You want to kiss him, so kiss him.”

“There is no way I would kiss him. It would kill any feelings dead.” Frankie thought about it. “Which I suppose might be a pretty effective way of handling this situation.”

“Why would it kill feelings?”

&nbs

p; “Because kissing is one of those things that looks amazing in the movies and is deeply disappointing in real life. But it could be the perfect answer. If we kissed, maybe we’d both realize it was a big mistake and get on with our lives.”

There was a brief silence.

“Brilliant idea,” Eva said casually. “Go for it. I’m sure you’ll both be cured in an instant and we can all go back to normal. Now eat your chocolate cake and let’s watch something on Netflix.”

Chapter Six

Just because a man doesn’t ask for directions, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show him the way.

—Paige

Matt was on the phone when he heard the door. Still talking, he opened it, hoping it was Frankie. Preferably dressed in her underwear.

His sister stood there. She was wearing a tailored dress and her perfectly smoothed hair told him she was on her way to a meeting. It was Monday morning, and he knew her day would be planned, hour to hour, because that was how Paige lived her life.

He scanned her face, instinctively checking her color.

It was a habit he’d developed years before when her color had often been an indicator of her state of health. Pale skin and lips with an ominous blue tint had set off alarm bells. She’d been born with a heart condition and even now, after successful surgery and years of good health, he found it hard to break the habit.

It made him overprotective, a trait he knew drove Paige crazy.