Sunset In Central Park (9 page)

James rolled powerful shoulders and shot a glance at Matt. “Why did you take her on?”

“Right now I can’t remember but I’m sure I had a good reason.”

“I’m thinking of going back to law. She can’t follow me there.” James stomped back across the roof and Roxy grinned after his retreating back.

“He loves me, really. Can’t imagine him as a lawyer, can you? These things you have to do right now—do they involve Frankie?”

“No. Not that it’s any of your business, but I need to put in some hours at the workshop.”

“You mean you want to play with your chain saw. I get it. Nothing like power tools for working off tension. Boys with toys. I know all about it.”

“I’m not a boy.”

“Yeah, I know that, too.” She blew her hair out of her eyes and eyed his biceps. “I’m trying not to focus on that side of things. I’ve never worked for a sexy boss before. This is all new to me.”

He sighed. “Roxy—”

“Hey, the boss I had before I got pregnant was sixty-five
and weighed two hundred and thirty-eight pounds. I’m still getting used to the novelty of having something to look at during my working day, so give a girl a break. Go. I’ll be fine. I’m going to finish the decking and clear up. And I’ll make sure James works until the heat fries him to a crisp. Don’t worry about us. We’re the A team.”

He wasn’t worried about them. He was worried about Frankie.

He’d never seen anyone so freaked out.

She’d run away so fast his ego probably should have sustained permanent damage, except he knew that the reason she’d sprinted away was not because she wasn’t interested but because she was.

That cheered him up and he paused to help James move one last slab. “Can you manage here?”

“No worries.” James’s muscles bunched. “A man’s love life has to take priority.”

Matt decided that one of the downsides of working in a small team was that everyone had an opinion on his love life. “I’m going to the workshop. We still have two rustic seats to carve.”

“I get it. Nothing like hammering and sawing to take your mind off problems of the heart. Women, huh?” James gave him a sympathetic slap on the shoulder. “There’s no understanding them.”

“That’s because you’re a dumbass,” Roxy said cheerfully. “We’re easy to understand if you take the time. Oh, and boss? I wouldn’t be too worried.”

“Why is that?”

“Because she was checking out your butt, too.”

That, Matt decided, was the best news he’d had all day.

R
omano’s was crowded, even for a Friday night. Owned by Maria, Jake’s adoptive mother, the Sicilian restaurant was a thriving Brooklyn eatery. Tonight all the tables were full and a line stretched around the block. The restaurant was noisy and busy, the spacious room echoing with the sound of conversation, the clink of cutlery and the occasional shouts from the kitchen. Delicious smells wafted through the space, the aroma of roasting peppers mingling with the Mediterranean scent of oregano and garlic.

Frankie slid into the booth by the window where Paige and Eva were already seated. “I’m in trouble. Serious trouble.”

Eva choked on her water. “You’re pregnant?”

“
What?
No!” Appalled, Frankie glanced around to check
no one had overheard. “How can I be pregnant? To be pregnant I’d have to have sex and I haven’t had sex in—I don’t even remember.” In fact, she did remember. She remembered perfectly, but it wasn’t an experience she intended to revisit. Nor did she intend to share the humiliation with her friends.

You’re a D minus, Cole, with nothing for effort.

That experience was a large part of the reason she couldn’t let this thing with Matt go any further. She had to find a way to stop right now. She had to make it clear she wasn’t interested. Or she had to stop him being interested.

“I don’t remember when I last had sex, either,” Eva said gloomily. “It’s reaching crisis point. There are days when I feel like grabbing the first man I see in the morning and saying ‘do me, now.’”

Paige winced. “Promise me you will
never
say that.”

“It’s all right for you—you’re having hot sex in every conceivable position.” Eva’s hand hovered over the bread basket. “And it doesn’t help that we have to look at your beaming, satisfied smile every day. It’s time for drastic action.”

“Eating bread is drastic action?”

“No one has seen my naked body in such a long time I can eat what I like.” Eva helped herself to warm, fragrant bread. “And by drastic action, I was thinking of something more—creative. Is it too soon to write my letter to Santa?”

“It’s August.” Paige ignored the bread but helped herself to an olive from the bowl in the center of the table. “I don’t think Santa opens his mail this early. Why don’t you sign up for online dating?”

“I want to meet someone the traditional way.” Eva grabbed a napkin and a pen and started scribbling.

Paige leaned over her shoulder, reading as Eva wrote.
“‘Dear Santa, I have been a good girl this year. Too good. For Christmas I would like Very Hot Sex with a Very Bad Man. And a new condom because mine expired last month. Love Eva.’” Paige laughed. “What are you going to do with that?”

“Keep it in my purse until the right moment presents itself.” Eva folded the napkin carefully.

“What if you have an accident and the emergency services find it in your purse?” Frankie asked.

“That would be perfect. I love a man in uniform. So if you’re not pregnant, what sort of trouble are you in?”

Frankie opened her mouth to explain her predicament and then saw Matt and Jake stroll toward the entrance of the restaurant, deep in conversation.

Her stomach did a flip.

Her knees shook so badly she was relieved she was sitting down. She wasn’t ready to see him yet. She hadn’t worked out what she was going to say or how she was going to handle it. “Forget it. Change the subject.” She made a grab for a glass of water. Her hand shook, spilling it across the table.

The puddle slowly spread and Paige held out her hand to Eva. “I need that napkin.”

“No way! Use your own napkin. Mine is about to make the journey to Lapland. It’s going to change my life.”

“Hello, beautiful.” Jake slid into the booth next to Paige, took her face in his hands and gave her a long, slow kiss. “I missed you today.”

Paige smiled up at him, pools of water and napkins forgotten.

“Ugh.” Eva covered her eyes with her hand. “Please, spare a thought for the rest of us who haven’t had sex since dinosaurs walked on the planet.”

Matt slid into the seat next to Frankie.

She held herself rigid, hardly daring to breathe.

Being near him shouldn’t make her this nervous, should it?

She felt the hard length of his thigh against hers and tried to shift away, but she was already pressed up against the wall and had nowhere to go.

“We interrupted your conversation.” Matt reached for the menu. “Eva, what were you saying about sex with dinosaurs?”

“
Since
dinosaurs, not with dinosaurs. My preference is for sex with humans, but that hasn’t happened in a long time. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s depressing. And anyway, Frankie was just telling us she’s in trouble.”

Frankie shot her friend a quelling glare. “Forget it!”

“Why are you giving me that look? We’re all friends here. If we can talk about me having sex with dinosaurs, we can talk about you being in trouble. It’s only Matt, and sometimes it’s helpful to have a male perspective on things.”

Not this time.

“You’re in trouble, Frankie?” Matt closed the menu without looking at it. “What sort of trouble?”

Damn the man. He knew exactly what her trouble was. “I’m not in trouble.”

Eva frowned. “But you said—”

“It was nothing! Forget it.”

“So here’s my male perspective—” Matt pressed his thigh against hers. “It’s a mistake to turn your back on a problem, or run from it.”

Her mouth dried. “Why?”

“Because it’s going to follow you. That problem is just
going to keep right on treading on your heels, so you might as well turn and face it.”

She faced him and saw the wicked gleam in his eyes.

Her insides melted. He was the sexiest man she’d ever seen. “I tend to black the eye of problems that follow me.”

“That’s good. Confront it.” His gaze was locked on hers and she felt her heart rate increase.

“What if the problem refuses to go away?”

“Maybe it’s not a problem. Maybe the problem is that you’re scared.”

“What?” Eva looked baffled. “I have no idea what the two of you are talking about. Can we order before I die of starvation?”

Matt transferred his gaze from Frankie to Eva. “For a woman who never has sex, you have a healthy appetite.”

“Sex isn’t the only form of exercise on the planet, you know.”

Frankie wished everyone would stop talking about sex. Between that and the searing heat in Matt’s gaze, she was ready to combust.

Fortunately, Maria arrived at their table to take their order and the conversation moved on to more general things.

On the surface it was a normal Friday night, but under the surface there was a new tension. And there was Matt’s thigh, pressed against hers. Solid muscle.

He reached across and helped himself to bread. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled back, revealing strong forearms. His skin was bronzed from the sun and dusted by dark hairs.

She imagined those hands on her skin, slow and skilled. Patient.

She imagined those hands holding her face steady as he kissed her.

Oh
God,
she wanted him to kiss her so badly, which made no sense at all because she’d never even enjoyed kissing much. Her mind always wandered and she ended up thinking about plants or books.

“How’s Roxy getting on?” Paige reached for her drink. “Is the childcare working out?”

“Thanks to you. She’s coping well. They gave her a friendly rate, didn’t they?”

“We’re putting a lot of work their way,” Paige said. “They were happy to help. By the way, that dog-walking business you recommended, The Bark Rangers, is brilliant. I met the twins and they’re great, although I will never be able to tell them apart in a million years.”

“Glad it’s working out.” Matt was calm and relaxed. “I’ll let Dan know next time I see him.”

Frankie was relieved by the change of subject.

Somehow she stumbled through the rest of the meal but then Matt suggested gathering on the roof terrace for drinks and a movie.

She needed space, and he wasn’t giving her any. Every time she tried to inch away from him he was right there.

They finished their meal and the general agreement was that they’d go back to the roof terrace and watch a movie, but Frankie bowed out.

“I have work to do.” As Matt was the one who had given her the work, he couldn’t exactly argue with that. And he couldn’t exactly abandon Jake and the others. “You guys go ahead without me.”

That was her plan, but when they arrived back at the brownstone they shared, Paige and Eva didn’t follow Matt
and Jake up to the roof terrace. Instead, they stood on either side of Frankie like bookends.

“It’s time we talked.” Eva took the keys out of Frankie’s hand and let herself into the apartment.

“I think I’m best left alone tonight.”

“I’m not leaving you alone. I’m not good with tension. It unsettles me and keeps me awake and I’m horrid when I’m tired.” Eva pushed open the door and toed off her shoes. She had an enviable ability to instantly make herself at home anywhere.

“Why are you tense?”

“Not me, you. You’re the one who is tense. And we want to know what’s happening between you and Matt.”

Frankie froze in the doorway. “Nothing is happening.”

Paige pushed her inside. “Have the two of you had a fight?”

“No! Why would you even think that?”

“You were scratchy with him.”

“Scratchy?”

“Yes. You made Claws look warm and friendly in comparison.” Eva pushed the door closed, trapping her inside. “Do you have any wine in your fridge?”

“Why? I was going to work and then read my book—”

“Tough. Your book can wait. I’m not leaving until we’ve sorted this out.” Eva made straight for the kitchen and Frankie looked pleadingly at Paige, who shrugged.

“I agree with her. You were scratchy. What’s going on? Is it hard working together?”

“No! And I’ve never had a fight with Matt.”

Eva popped her head around the kitchen door. “You’ve never worked with him before. Everything changes once you work with someone. And Matt can be as controlling
as Paige. Everything has to be done his way. Is he driving you insane?”

“I’m not controlling,” Paige protested, and then pulled a face when they both looked at her. “Well, maybe I am. A little. But in a good way. Because I like things the way I like them.”

Frankie cut them off. “There’s nothing going on and there’s nothing weird. We work well together. He’s smart and creative and—” she shrugged “—we’re a pretty good team.” They were a far better team than she could possibly have envisaged. Not only because Matt was easy to work with, but because they were naturally in tune with each other’s ideas. When it came to garden design, they had similar taste.

“So what’s the problem?”

Should she tell them? Yes, because she had no idea how to handle this. “I think he likes me.” Saying it sent adrenaline shooting around her body. Her heart flew, like a leaf caught up in the wind.

“Of course he likes you. You’ve been friends for years, and—” Paige’s eyes widened. “Oh. You mean he
likes
you.”

“I knew it. Let’s drink to that.” Eva poured the wine, her expression triumphant. “He’s taking things to the next level. He’s had enough of being friends. He wants more. Holy crap. This is exciting. I may not ever have sex again, but it’s good to know that my two best friends are.”

“Wait! Stop!” Frankie lifted her hand. “We’re not taking anything to the next level. There won’t be any sex!”

Paige handed her a glass of wine. “You told me you find him attractive.”

“Matt is a friend. We’ve been friends for years. He respects
my work.” It sounded lame, even to her. “He respects
me
.”

“You’re worried he wouldn’t respect you if your relationship changed?”

“I know he wouldn’t. I don’t want his opinion of me to change.”

“Why would it?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Look at me!”

Eva curled up on the sofa. “I’m looking. I see an attractive, confident professional woman whose major flaw is her inability to comprehend that diet Coke is not a healthy breakfast.”

“If you think that’s my major flaw then you haven’t been paying attention. There is no way,
no way,
I would ever get involved with Matt!”

“Why not? The guy is smoking hot.” Eva shot an apologetic look at Paige. “Sorry. Is that weird?”

“No.” Calm, Paige reached for her wine. “It would only be weird if
I
found him smoking hot.”

“It’s not him, it’s me!” Couldn’t they see that? “Can you imagine what would happen if Matt unzipped my sweatshirt? All my baggage would tumble out. He’d be flattened under the avalanche of issues I keep hidden inside these clothes. Buried alive.” All her hang-ups, her inadequacies, her tension—it would be right there in his hands and she’d never be able to look him in the eye again.

“He knows about the glasses already,” Paige pointed out.

“Yes, but there are other things. Bigger things. And he doesn’t know about those.”

And neither did they, because she’d never told them. And she never would. That was one deeply embarrassing episode of her life she intended to bury deep.

Eva stood up. “Forget wine. This situation needs chocolate cake. I’ll be back soon.” She vanished from the apartment and Paige put her glass down carefully.

“Matt has a few issues of his own after Caroline.”

“I know. But there are issues and there are issues, and mine are—” Frankie gestured with her hand “—big issues.”

“And you think this will come as a surprise to him? It’s not as if he doesn’t know you.”

“Believe me, there’s plenty he doesn’t know.”

Eva came back into the apartment in time to catch the end of the conversation. She was carrying a large chocolate cake.

“This was today’s experiment. It has a secret ingredient. And Matt is more than capable of handling your issues. That man can handle anything. I’ve never seen him stressed.” Eva cut the cake into generous slices. “Actually, that isn’t true. I saw him stressed when Paige and Jake got together, but that’s different. Paige is his sister and all bets are off when it’s a sibling.”