Irresistibly Yours - Lauren Layne Page 0,42
he swiped a thumb over his mouth, probably to remove Meredith’s lipstick.
“See you, baby,” Meredith said, leaning forward to brush her lips against Cole’s cheek.
Penelope noted with no small amount of envy that the woman didn’t have to go up on her toes to reach Cole’s face. The combination of her height and heels put cheek—and mouth—within easy kissing distance.
Everything about the other woman made Penelope feel like a child. The height. The curves. The clothes. The confidence.
Meredith grabbed her purse by the door and Penelope all but scampered out of the way as the woman gave her a friendly smile and sailed out of the office in a whoosh of some spicy, exotic perfume.
Penelope started to follow her, but Cole’s voice stopped her. “Yo. Pope. Get in here. Show me what you’ve got.”
She swallowed and approached the desk as he sat in his chair.
So he wanted to play it cool? Fine. She could do that.
“New girlfriend?” she asked, proud that her voice didn’t betray her embarrassment. Or jealousy.
No, not jealousy.
Annoyance.
No, that wasn’t right either.
Agony. That was closer.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said, plucking the folder out of her hands and flipping through the proofs. “You’re right. These photos don’t work side by side. They’re too busy.”
“You could have put a sock on the door or something.”
He glanced up in confusion. “What?”
She pointed to the door. “Next time you’re going to have sex in your office, give me some sort of warning.”
He lifted his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair. “One kiss hardly equates to having sex.”
“Well, it was quite the kiss.” Who was this snotty, peevish woman running her mouth?
He lifted his eyebrows. “Everything okay? You sound—”
“Don’t say it,” she snapped.
“Say what?”
“Don’t say that I sound jealous.”
“Were you?”
“Why would I be jealous?”
He flung his hands out in exasperation. “You tell me.”
Penelope leaned forward and snatched the folder off the desk, before turning on her heel and marching out of the office.
“Where the hell are you going?” he called after her.
Penelope didn’t stop. Didn’t want to have a conversation until she’d sorted out her thoughts.
And to think, just a couple weeks earlier she’d turned down Adam Bailey’s invitation to go back to his hotel room because she’d been thinking about Cole.
She should have taken up the slutty golf pro on his invitation, she thought, as she slammed her office door shut behind her. She should have—
The door opened again as Cole entered her office uninvited, then slammed it once again behind him.
“What’s going on with you?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said, the single word managing to sound huffy.
“Look, I’m sorry you had to see that, but—”
“It was hardly appropriate, Cole.”
“The only thing inappropriate is Meredith. The woman is up here every other week. Thinks that Oxford is her personal hunting ground for her next flavor of the week. Lincoln’s rejected her one too many times, so she’s moved on to me.”
Penelope pointed an accusing finger at him. “You didn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t want Meredith,” he said quietly, “but Tiny, you can’t go around telling me you hate my kisses and then get mad when I try to give them to someone else—”
“I never said I hated that kiss,” she interrupted.
He broke off, and then his smile was slow and sexy.
Too late, she realized she’d walked into the trap of a very, very skilled seducer.
“Is that so?” he said, in a low, sexy voice.
She rolled her eyes and tried to play it off. “I just meant, it didn’t suck.”
“But you didn’t want me to do it again,” he said, moving toward her.
“I—I didn’t think it was a good idea,” she said, backing up.
He continued moving toward her and Penelope’s butt hit the desk; she was completely out of room to back away.
Cole paused when there were just inches between them.
“That’s not an answer. Do you want me to do it again? Have you been thinking about me? Kissing you? Touching you?”
She could feel his breath on her face as she glanced down to avoid eye contact.
A mistake, because her eyes latched onto his arm.
No suit jacket today, and he’d rolled his dress shirt up to his elbows, exposing forearms covered in crinkly, gorgeous arm hair.
Gorgeous arm hair?
Oh, man. She was in trouble. Serious trouble.
She tried to move to the side, but his hands came up, caging her against the desk.
The posture was an almost exact replica of the scene she’d walked in on just minutes earlier, and it was exactly the reminder she needed that Cole didn’t want her.
He