Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1)(8)

“What are you—”

Penelope broke off as the door swung open and Cole stepped aside. “Tiny, meet the queen bees of Stiletto.”

Four of the most gorgeous women Penelope had ever seen stared back at her.

“Cole, what delightful creature have you brought us?” asked the tall, black-haired bombshell in the corner. The woman’s stunning good looks were made slightly less intimidating by the fact that her mouth was full of donut. She licked powdered sugar off her thumb and gave Penelope a friendly smile.

“Penelope?” This from Emma Sinclair. Thank God. A familiar face.

Penelope had met Emma—Alex Cassidy’s girlfriend—at the Yankees game the night before, and the woman could not have been any nicer. Or any prettier. Slim with long brown hair, warm brown eyes, and crazy-high cheekbones, it was easy to see why Cassidy had fallen for her.

“Ladies, this is Penelope Pope,” Emma said to the other women.

“Ah yes, the Chicago darling who’s giving our Cole a run for his money in the Sports department,” said a blond woman. She gave a little finger waggle at Cole, who winked back.

There was an easy familiarity there that gave Penelope an odd stab of something close to jealousy.

The pretty blonde stood and extended a hand to Penelope. “I’m Julie Greene. That beast stuffing another donut in her face and not gaining a pound is Riley McKenna, the preppy one in the sweater set is Grace Malone, and of course you already know Emma. We’re the Relationships columnists for Stiletto.”

“Um, hi.” Penelope gave a dorky little wave.

There was an awkward moment of silence, and then Cole stepped forward.

“Penelope here has an interview with Cassidy in fifteen minutes.”

“Ohhhhh,” all four women said at once.

“Say no more,” the pretty brunette named Grace said, reaching forward to pull Penelope in.

“We’ll take it from here, Cole, baby,” Julie said, ushering Cole out of the doorway. “It was good of you to bring her to us.”

Was it? Penelope wondered. She still didn’t know what was going on.

And then the door was slammed in Cole’s face, and the four women surrounded her.

Riley walked over—tall enough that she’d tower over Penelope’s five-one even without her mammoth high heels—and, completely unabashed, bent and sniffed in the direction of Penelope’s boobs.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Ri,” Emma muttered.

Riley stood back up. “Vanilla latte.”

“Impressive,” Penelope said.

Riley tapped her nose and winked. “This baby can identify anything.”

“Well, anything edible,” Emma amended. “What do you think, girls? Shall we hit up the team over in Style? See if they have something that will fit Penelope?”

Understanding dawned on Penelope.

These women were going to help her overcome Coffeegate. Four perfect strangers—well, three strangers plus Emma—were helping her for no reason other than to be kind.

“It’s been slim pickings over in Style lately,” Grace said, circling Penelope and tapping her lip. “Lots of runway crap. Nothing interview-appropriate.”

“She can switch shirts with me,” Riley said, her hands already going to the hem of her leopard print V-neck.

Julie scoffed. “You and your big boobs have no place here, Ri. I’ll trade.”

Without warning, Julie whipped her black turtleneck over her head and held it out to Penelope.

Penelope blinked. “I can’t take your shirt.”

Julie shook it. “Of course you can.”

“What will you wear?”

“Your stained monstrosity, of course.”

Penelope balked. “I can’t let you do that.”

“It’s not for all day,” Julie said in a soothing voice. “I just need to wear it across town to Bloomingdale’s. Right, girls?”

“Can we stop and get a burrito?” Riley asked of nobody in particular.

Cole knocked on the other side of the door. “Twelve minutes, Tiny.”

“Tiny. You and Cole are at the nickname stage, hmm?” Grace said with raised eyebrows.

Penelope ignored this, took a deep breath, and awkwardly undid the buttons of her stained shirt. As soon as it was off her shoulders, Julie snatched it and pulled it on.

Penelope hurriedly pulled Julie’s shirt over her head, before watching guiltily as Julie buttoned up Penelope’s own disaster, the front straining a little across Julie’s more ample breasts, making the coffee stain even more noticeable.

Penelope groaned. “You can’t wear that.”

Julie glanced down and then shrugged. “What better way to call attention to the twins?”

Grace reached out and straightened the turtleneck across Penelope’s shoulders. “A little big, but guys don’t notice these things.”

“Thank you so much,” Penelope said, glancing around at all four women. “I really don’t…I don’t even know what to say. If there’s anything I can do to repay you…”

“Actually, there is,” Julie said with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Anything.”

Julie gave Penelope a slightly smug look and crossed her arms over her chest. “How about you tell us why Cole Sharpe is helping a woman who’s standing directly in the way of his dream job?”