Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan Page A

times from predatory women poised to take advantage and bleed him dry. She’s better than a bodyguard.” He scanned the table of food. “Don’t you have chips, Ev? Something greasy that’s going to clog my arteries?”
    Frankie pushed her glasses up her nose, leaving soil on her cheek. “Not all women are predatory.”
    Jake’s hand stilled over the bowl. “It was a generic comment. What the hell is wrong with you? I know you’ve had a tough day, but that’s no reason to turn into Cactus Woman.”
    Paige was about to say something soothing but her brother gave a brief shake of his head and walked over to Frankie. He dropped to his haunches next to her and said something.
    Paige couldn’t hear the words but whatever he said earned a quick smile.
    Frankie murmured something back to him and Paige relaxed.
    Whatever her brother had said seemed to have calmed things down.
    He had a knack for saying the right thing.
    Jake reached for a beer. “To playing it safe.”
    Paige ground her teeth.
    Jake, on the other hand, had a habit of saying what he thought, regardless of time or place.
    She felt like emptying her champagne over his sleek, dark head. As usual he seemed to be deliberately trying to goad her.
    “Your bedside manner needs serious attention, Jake.”
    “I’ve never had complaints.” Dark lashes shielded the glitter of amusement in his eyes and the spasm of sexual awareness shocked her. She should have been used to it by now. Kissing Jake had featured large in her fantasies for almost a decade, even when she’d tried hard to switch the fantasy to something less dangerous. She imagined him using all that raw power and muscle to pull in a woman, all that charisma and hot sexuality to make sure she never wanted to step away. Although she’d long since stopped hoping anything would happen between them, she’d discovered that sexual attraction wasn’t something you could easily switch off. There were days when she wished he would kiss her just so that she could stop fantasizing. Everyone knew reality never came close to fantasy and she would have given a lot to have her illusions crushed.
    The breeze lifted her hair and sounds of laughter drifted up from the streets below as people walked home after a night out. Lights glowed in windows, dogs barked, a siren shrieked and a car door slammed. Life went on.
    She thought wistfully back to this time yesterday. She’d been planning what to wear for her interview, excited about her promotion, planning the future.
    And now she was unemployed.
    What was she supposed to do tomorrow? Get up, get out of bed and do what? Spend the day job hunting? Even if she found another job, it wouldn’t be with her friends.
    She tried to imagine how it would feel to not be working with Frankie and Eva.
    “How much money would I need to set up a business?” She blurted out the words, her heart racing.
    “You’d have some up-front costs,” Jake said. “Mostly legal. I’m willing to pay for that. I believe in you.”
    Matt rose to his feet and sent Jake an incinerating glare. “Get him a bowl of chips, Ev. Enough to fill his mouth so he can’t speak.”
    “I want him to speak.” Paige knew that if she wanted a straight answer, she had to talk to Jake. He didn’t protect her the way her brother did. “You really think I could do it?”
    “If you adjust your attitude.” Jake took a swig of beer. “You’re too risk-averse. You cling to control like a climber on a rock face. You want guarantees and you won’t find them running your own business. You want safe, and there is no safe. There’s risk, a ton of hard work, sometimes for nothing. Businesses fold every day. It’s not for the fainthearted.”
    If she’d been Claws, she would have scratched him. “I’m not afraid to take a risk if it’s for something I want badly enough. And there’s nothing wrong with my heart. It’s as strong as yours.” And it was beating hard in her chest, as if to back her up.
    Why