Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1)(62)

Her stomach twisted. “Cole, I—”

He took a step forward, his hand resting against her cheek. “Let’s forget about the way that one ended. I vote for a do-over.”

His mouth melted against hers, and she sighed.

There was no snow this time, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was Cole, the warmth of his hand, the heat of his kiss. The way his tongue flicked out to touch hers as though he needed the taste of her.

He pulled back slowly, his thumb rubbing against her cheek as he held her gaze. “Those damn eyes of yours,” he said roughly. “They undo me.”

Penelope made her decision. “Do you want to come up?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “It’s Monday.”

“It is, but, um, do you want to come up?” she repeated.

He tenderly ran a finger along her hairline. “So badly, but—”

“But?”

He grinned wickedly and leaned down to kiss her nose. “You hold back from me more easily than I’d like, Penelope Pope. I want you begging for me. No matter what day of the week.”

“Wait, so you’re walking away?” she asked, unable to keep the glumness from her voice.

“Only for tonight. Gotta give you a chance to see how you feel about that.”

He gave her one last wink before he walked away into the night—whistling, for God’s sake—and Penelope realized that she didn’t need a chance to explore how she felt about his leaving.

She felt horribly, painfully empty.





Chapter 23


Cole was 110 percent prepared to hate Evan Barstow.

Not just because of the sketchy way the man had gotten his new job, although stealing someone’s portfolio and presenting it as your own was Villainy 101.

No, what really pissed Cole off about this Evan character wasn’t what he’d done to Penelope’s career but what he’d done to her heart. That Evan had been dumb enough to choose another woman when he had Penelope Pope standing right in front of him.

Moron.

Still, Evan’s loss was Cole’s gain, so Cole was determined to at least pretend to be civil.

But halfway through dinner, Cole’s resolve to play nice was weakening.

Because Penelope was playing too nice, considering how the man had treated her. And considering that she was supposed to be dating Cole.

Granted, his being her boyfriend was a lie. As she’d pointed out at least a half dozen times in the past week, Cole wasn’t actually her boyfriend.

Fine.

Cole had absolutely zero qualms about lying to this son-of-a-bitch for the sake of Penelope’s pride. He was doing a damn good job with his lie. He’d held doors for her, dropped plenty of casual, possessive touches, called her sweetie.

But too late, Cole was realizing that the charade they were putting on for the sake of Penelope’s pride was having a disastrous effect on Cole’s own ego.

This whole thing made absolutely zero f*cking sense. Cole had spent most of his adult life avoiding serious relationships. He didn’t have time for his career and Bobby and a woman.

So why did it bother him so much that the only way Penelope would think of him as a boyfriend was if it was pretend?

And why did he want to punch Evan in the face every time he was on the receiving end of one of her smiles?

“So how long are you here, Ev?” Penelope said as she took a bite of fish.

“Just until Sunday for this trip,” Evan said, leaning back in his chair. “But I’m planning on making quite a few New York trips in the near future.”

Penelope nodded at this, seemingly preoccupied with her dinner, but Cole was watching the other man. Noted the way Evan’s eyes lingered speculatively on Penelope, as though she were part of some grand master plan.

Evan Barstow was a good-looking dude.

This alone didn’t bother Cole. What bothered him was that Evan looked an awful lot like Cole.

Evan was bulkier. And maybe an inch taller. But the dark blond hair was similar in both color and cut. Brown eyes, like Cole’s. The rest of his features a little closer to Cole’s than he’d like. Plus, they were both sportswriters….

Cole was struck with an obnoxious thought: What if he was some sort of look-alike rebound?

Was Penelope still so hung up on this * that she’d settled for the closest New York version she could find?

The thought burned.

“So, how long have you two been a thing?” Evan asked, transferring his gaze to Cole.

“Not long,” Penelope said quickly, before Cole could answer.

Cole stifled a surge of frustration. What was the point of them playing this little game if she was all but waving the available flag at Evan?

“And you met at work?” Evan asked.

“Penelope and I applied for the same job,” Cole said before Penelope could answer.

Sound familiar? he silently added.

“Oh yeah? How’d that work out?” Evan said with an uninterested little laugh, as though he hadn’t once applied for the same job as Penelope.

Cole slowly, deliberately reached around the back of Penelope’s chair, and rested his hand on the nape of her neck, as he turned to stare at her adoringly.

“I’d say it worked out pretty damn well.”

She glanced at Cole and gave a nervous little laugh. “We both ended up getting offered the job, actually. Co-editors.”