Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1)(53)

“Nah, you go,” Cole said. “I’ve got things to do.”

“Like hang out with Penelope?”

Cole glanced down at the tiny brunette by his side. Her face was tilted up so he could see beneath the bill of her hat, and she wiggled her eyebrows playfully. She was also completely unperturbed by the butter splatters on her shirt and jeans.

“Yeah,” he heard himself say to his brother. “I’m going to hang out with Penelope.”

He watched as his brother bounded up the steps, turning back as he opened the front door and giving one last happy wave before disappearing.

Penelope started to turn away, but Cole held up a finger for her to wait. A moment later, the door opened again, and a friendly-looking woman with short black hair stuck her head out and gave Cole a wave.

“The residents are supposed to check in and out whenever they come and go. Bobby always forgets this, but he hates it when I baby him by walking him all the way inside. Gloria always watches for him.”

She nodded in understanding. “How long has he lived here?”

“Since I was twenty-five. After college I tried to have him live with me, but it just…he got bored when I was at work. He hates being alone. I hated having to put him in a group home, but—”

“Are you kidding?” Penelope said as they began walking. “He clearly loves it.”

“Yeah.” He swallowed. “Thanks for saying so.”

“This is so not my business, but are your parents in the picture?” she asked.

“They both died a few years ago,” he answered quietly.

“I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “Honestly, even if they were around, I don’t know that things would be different. They loved Bobby, but they alternated between treating him like a burden and a child. He wouldn’t have been happy living with them, and the home he’s in now is expensive—”

“You pay for it? All on your own?”

He smiled. “You sound impressed now, but wait until you see that my apartment doesn’t have a wall separating the bedroom from the living room or the living room from the kitchen…”

“Cole, the fact that you sacrifice your own comfort for your brother’s makes you more attractive. Not less.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her around to face him. “Is that why you’ve got a crush on me?”

“Ah—” She tilted her head down, her hat hiding her face, and he pulled her closer.

“Pen.” He kept his voice light, teasing, but he was oddly eager to have her confirm that what she’d told his brother was true.

She tilted her face up to look at him. “You know you’re ridiculously charming.”

He grinned. “You sound grumpy about that.”

“Let’s just say I’m not exactly loving the fact that I seem to find myself on the verge of joining the Cole Sharpe fan club.”

“Resistance is futile,” he said. He started to dip down to kiss her, only to realize that kissing in baseball caps on a semicrowded sidewalk was logistically annoying.

He stood back up, his eyes locked on hers. “What day is it?”

“Sunday.”

Cole traced a finger along her cheekbone. “Which is the weekend.”

She smiled, and his finger dropped down to trace her mouth.

“It is,” she replied.

He swallowed, preparing to take a risk he hadn’t taken in a long, long time.

“My place is thirty minutes north of here.”

She hesitated, and his heart sank. She couldn’t have known, of course, that she was the first woman he’d invited back to his studio in years. Couldn’t have known how unusual it was that he wanted her to see it. To know all of him.

But it stung, all the same.

I don’t want a boyfriend.

Suddenly her emphatic and repeated statement was starting to feel a lot more like I don’t want you.

“The thing is, Cole…I’m pretty sure I smell like butter.”

He blinked down at her. “Butter?”

She glanced down. “It’s hard enough for me to feel sexy on a good day, but when I smell like a movie theater…”

Cole was torn between relief that she wasn’t rejecting him and the now familiar anger at her lack of self-esteem when it came to her appeal. But it didn’t feel right to bring that up—not here.

“I’ve got good news for you,” he said. Cole lifted her hand to his lips, and before he realized what he was doing, had pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

“What’s that?” she asked warily.

“The good news, my dear, is that I happen to like the taste of popcorn, almost as much as I like the taste of you.”

Her breath hitched a little, and he knew he had her.

“Come over?”

Her wide dark eyes went hazy. “Okay.”

Cole gave in to temptation then. Forgot about the whole kissing-in-hats-is-awkward thing.

He tilted his head and kissed her, and then lingered. And tried very hard to ignore the sudden, forbidden thought that he wished every day could be exactly like this one.





Chapter 19


The morning-after walk of shame was a new thing for Penelope, but luckily, she didn’t have to do it alone.