Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1)(21)

Cole smiled back. “Don’t worry, boss. I’m sure I can think of a whole slew of other ways to make your life miserable. When do we start?”

“Hold up there, cowboy. There’s one tiny little hurdle to get over first.”

“Who gets the bigger office?” Cole asked.

“More like…how the hell are we going to convince Penelope Pope to share the job with you?”

Cole lifted his eyebrows. “You haven’t told her yet?”

Cassidy shook his head. “I was going to call both of you in tomorrow.”

Cole stood and headed toward the door, already planning to drag Lincoln and Jake out for celebratory beers. “Don’t sweat it. She’ll agree.”

“How do you figure?” Cassidy asked.

Cole shot his boss a grin over his shoulder. “Haven’t you heard? We’re BFFs now.”





Chapter 7


“No. No no no no. Why the heck would we want our first sports cover story to be about a womanizing prick?” Penelope said, hands on her hips as she paced around her office.

Cole leaned back in the chair—her chair—looking entirely unperturbed as he ate an apple. “Because this is a men’s magazine. And men don’t care about another man being, quote, ‘a womanizing prick’ when he can consistently hit his driver over three hundred yards.”

“Adam Bailey is a first-rate turd,” Penelope shot back.

“Probably,” Cole agreed, swiveling around in the chair like a restless third grader. “But he’s a damn good golfer, and you know it.”

Penelope grunted in acknowledgment and paused in her pacing long enough to tap her fingernails against her desk.

Her desk. She had a desk.

It was such a simple thing—a simple joy, really, having one’s own office to decorate however one wanted, although she hadn’t quite gotten to that, having been here all of three days.

But it was still her desk. Her office.

The happy grin spread across her face before she could stop it.

“Oh no,” Cole said.

She glanced at him. “What?”

“That smile,” he said, taking another bite of apple. “It’s dangerous.”

“How can a smile possibly be dangerous?”

He shook his head. “You’re so cute and clueless.”

Since he’d commandeered her chair, Penelope didn’t feel all that bad about stealing his Starbucks cup and taking a healthy sip.

“Careful,” he said. “Didn’t you have a wardrobe malfunction the last time you drank coffee?”

“That was only because I was wearing high heels,” she said. “I’m very coordinated in these.”

She lifted up her leg so he could see her black ballet flat.

“Sensible,” he said, barely glancing at it. “But tell me honestly, Pope. How badly do you wish you were wearing a tennis shoe right now?”

She sighed and dropped into her own guest chair. “So badly.”

He smiled knowingly.

“You, on the other hand, seem to have settled into fancy office attire quite nicely,” she said, her eyes skimming over him.

“Tiny.” He laid a hand over his heart. “You noticed!”

Penelope rolled her eyes. It was hard not to notice just how well Cole Sharpe wore a suit. Today’s was dark blue, paired with a lighter blue tie for a monochromatic look that looked, well…mouthwatering.

He’d risen to the role of senior sports editor nicely.

No. Co–senior sports editor.

Penelope had felt the tiniest stab of disappointment when Alex Cassidy had told her that her new responsibilities would be shared.

She’d wanted to get this job on her own—wanted to prove that she could.

But, if you couldn’t beat ’em, join ’em, right? And if there was anyone she wanted to join with, it was Cole Sharpe.

Well…

Not join with.

Not that way.

Penelope’s eyes traveled over his lean torso. Well, okay. Maybe in that way, just a little bit.

But she’d meant what she’d said about the two of them remaining platonic. It was good to get things out in the open. Penelope knew all too well what kind of heartache happened if two members of the opposite sex weren’t on the same page about where they stood.

One thought they were headed toward a relationship…

The other had had a secret girlfriend the whole damn time.

“Uh-oh,” Cole said, watching her. “Now the smile’s gone. What’s going on in that little head?”

Penelope sat forward and needlessly adjusted her stapler. “Nothing.”

He chewed his apple as he watched her. “For the record, I don’t believe you for one second. But since I know firsthand how annoying prying can be, I’m going to let that go.”

Penelope watched as he shot the apple core across the room toward the garbage can. The quick swoosh followed by a clank indicated that he’d nailed it.

“You know there’s a wastebasket right under my desk, right? That was completely unnecessary.”

“Please. Manly displays of prowess are never unnecessary.” Cole sat forward. “Okay, so what do we do about this Adam Bailey thing? We’ve been sharing this job for three days, and already we’re at an impasse.”