Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1)(24)

For some reason, Penelope couldn’t bring herself to look at Cole Sharpe when she said it, so she kept her eyes locked on Lincoln, who, God bless him, didn’t look even tempted to laugh.

“Well, what the f*ck’s wrong with those Chicago guys, honey?” he asked.

She laughed. “You’re sweet. But I think we know that men aren’t exactly barging down the door to get at all of this.”

She gestured awkwardly over her frame with her hands.

Lincoln looked her over, and Penelope sighed in resignation over what he’d see. She was wearing a skirt today—a slim gray affair, and a pink shirt—pink! But even still, she knew that the effect was hardly femme fatale.

Hell, it was barely feminine.

No matter what she did, no matter what color lipstick, no matter how high the heels, she never quite managed to escape the little-girl-playing-dress-up effect.

“I’m liking what I see,” Lincoln said.

“Oh my God,” someone muttered. Penelope wasn’t sure if it was Cole or Jake.

Still, Lincoln’s voice was more polite than it was enamored or lecherous, so she merely smiled.

Penelope hadn’t been here long, but she’d caught on pretty quick that Cole and Lincoln both had reps as ladies’ men. She could see why. They were both painfully good-looking.

And yet there was something about Lincoln…something about the way he held himself back and treated women with a deferential respect even as he charmed their pants off…

At least, she assumed. Lincoln hadn’t charmed her pants off. He hadn’t tried, really. And she was glad. He was handsome, and yet Lincoln wasn’t the one who sometimes made her heart beat a little too fast.

“How about the last time you were kissed, Tiny?”

Penelope’s head whipped around toward Cole. “What?”

He shrugged. “You said it’s been a while, but surely it hasn’t been so long that you can’t remember how you like to be kissed. So which is it? Do you like when a man holds your head? Your waist? Your back?”

“Cole!” Jake said in exasperation.

“I, um—” Penelope bit her lip, wondering how the hell she could stay relevant in this conversation without betraying the horrible truth that she didn’t really have a favorite, because she’d always found kissing…overrated.

“Okay, that’s it,” Lincoln said, throwing his hands up before tossing his pen and notebook on the desk.

He got to his feet, then gestured for Penelope to do the same.

“Up,” he said.

“What?”

“Stand up.” His voice was calm. Cajoling. “It’s experiment time.”

“No,” Jake said. “No f*cking way. This is an office, Lincoln, she’s our colleague. HR or no HR, you can’t just go around kissing her.”

Lincoln frowned. “It’s not a romantic kiss. It’s just like when the guy over in the booze section brings in whiskey to taste-test. We’re experimenting. And she can say no.”

“But—”

“No, it’s okay,” Penelope said, holding out a hand to stop Jake’s objections. “Lincoln’s right. It doesn’t have to be weird.”

What the hell are you doing? This is so not you.

Penelope ignored the voice and stood up.

She was comfortable with who she was—really. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a tiny part of her that was tired of being one of the guys. And that same part of her was doing cartwheels because a handsome man was offering to kiss her—no, more important, he was looking at her as someone who deserved to be kissed.

No way she was going to turn that down, meaningless or not.

“Okay,” Lincoln said moving closer. “This is good. Here’s option one.”

“You can’t be serious,” Cole said, his voice pissed.

Penelope glanced at him, surprised by the sharpness in his tone. His face matched his tone—incredulous and maybe a little…angry?

“Ignore him,” Lincoln said, drawing her attention back to him. “Ready for this, darling?”

“Um—”

Lincoln’s hand closed over her face, then gently but strongly…and wow, okay…she understood what he’d meant by the head hold. It was nice.

Lincoln’s mouth closed over hers, and Penelope’s eyes fluttered closed, as she assessed.

It was also…nice. Not exactly toe-curling but…nice.

He pulled back.

“No?” he asked. “How about this one?”

His hands moved to her shoulders, tugging her forward again. Penelope’s eyes closed once more, wondering if this one would be a bit more, well, exciting, but his lips never touched hers.

Instead, he released her altogether.

She opened her eyes in confusion.

Cole was leaning across her desk, his hand on Lincoln’s shoulder, having clearly just shoved the other man away from her.

“Get it together,” Cole said. “Jake’s right, you can’t just go around macking on female employees.”

“Macking on,” Jake muttered from behind her. “Really?”

“It’s a f*cking lawsuit waiting to happen,” Cole growled.

“Uh-huh,” Lincoln said, crossing his arms. “You’ve been an employee less than a month, and you’re worried about Internal Affairs?”