“Uh…” Hell. He hadn’t thought this one out. What should he say? He didn’t think I want to be friends because my boss said I should was the best approach.
And to be fair, that wasn’t even the whole of it—he wanted to be their friend because, damn it, he could use a few friends. Or even just one.
Still, a man didn’t go around blurting that out. He needed a reason for being here. An excuse…
Inspiration struck. Thank you, Mollie.
“It’s, uh…well, this is awkward,” Jackson said, glancing at Lincoln.
“We’ll clear out,” Penelope said, starting to stand.
“No!” Jackson lifted a hand. “Stay. It’s just, well, I’ve got this friend…a female friend, and I told her that I’d set her up on a blind date. And I was thinking that since Lincoln here is—”
“A man whore?” Cole said.
Jackson smiled. “I was thinking that since Lincoln was single, he might be interested.”
“Sure,” Lincoln said with a shrug.
“Well, that was easy,” Jackson said, surprised by the man’s quick capitulation.
“It’s like I said. Man whore,” Cole muttered.
Jake clamped a hand on Jackson’s shoulder. “Hold on now, Jackson my man. There’s one thing you should know. If you have any interest in this girl yourself, you’d better speak up now, before she meets Lincoln. He tends to make women a little, uh…”
“Panting? Horny? Hot?” Penelope contributed, earning a light smack on the back of the head from Cole.
But despite all her talk, Penelope obviously had eyes only for Cole. Her eyes drifted to Cole’s crotch, and she all but licked her lips.
Jackson pointed at the couple and glanced at Jake Malone. “Did that just happen?”
“You get used to it.”
“No, you don’t,” Lincoln said. “Jake only gets used to it because he’s always banging his wife in the stairwell.”
Jackson rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m confused. Jake’s wife works here too?”
“Don’t try to sort it out now,” Penelope said. “We need to put together a manual or something. But Jake is right about this friend of yours. If you introduce her to Lincoln, it’s all over.”
“Hey, how about we stop referring to me like I’m some sort of womanizing apocalypse?” Lincoln said as he took an orange off his desk and tossed it from hand to hand. “But yes, do tell us about the girl, Burke. And come sit down. You’re making me crane my neck.”
Jackson stepped forward, feeling slightly uncomfortable, but he did as instructed and sat across from Lincoln.
Penelope Pope beamed at him, and Jackson found himself smiling back. Somehow it seemed impossible not to smile at her. She was cute as hell.
“Okay, so this girl you’re trying to set Lincoln up with…why aren’t you going after her yourself?”
Cole groaned. “Pen.”
“I’m just saying,” she said, waving a hand in Lincoln’s direction. “Mathis here is pretty, but you’re Jackson Burke. Why is this woman letting you set her up with anyone other than you?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Cousin?” Jake guessed.
“Sister-in-law. Well, ex-sister-in-law. Also, my friend—my good friend.” At least until I found out she didn’t have an ounce of faith in me.
And then, even more troubling, Jackson’s mind flitted back to how she’d looked in that red dress. How she’d come storming into his apartment, all temperamental and pissed. Or hell, for that matter, how even the way she rattled off nerdy science terms seemed…hot.
But she couldn’t be hot. Not to him. She was Mollie. Which was why he had to set her up with Lincoln. So that his cock didn’t get any ideas.
“Oh no,” Lincoln muttered.
“What?” Jackson asked.
“Your face,” Penelope said, reaching out a hand and patting his arm. “You’re conflicted over this girl.”
Jackson forced a laugh. “It’s not like that.”
“Famous last words, young sir,” Cole said solemnly. “Wasn’t ‘like that’ for me and Penelope either.”
“Nor for me and Grace,” Jake said from where he was tossing a rubber basketball through a hoop on the back of Lincoln’s door.
“Who’s Grace?” Jackson asked.
“His hot wife,” Lincoln said. “Works in the Stiletto office downstairs.”
Jackson frowned. “Isn’t that where Cassidy’s woman works? Ella?”
“Emma,” Penelope corrected.
“Who’s a hot girlfriend,” Lincoln chimed in. “But I’m guessing the wife title is on the way.”
“And I know what you’re thinking,” Jake said to Jackson. “It’s all very incestuous up in here, which is why it’s so very nice to learn that your girl is outside our circle.”
“Jesus,” Jackson said, rapidly regretting that he’d mentioned Mollie at all. “She’s not my girl.”
“Then tell me about my new lady love,” Lincoln said. “Where she lives, what she looks like, et cetera.”
“Uh…she lives on the Upper East Side.” That was technically true. Probably best not to mention the whole roommate situation just yet. “As for looks, Mollie, she’s…pretty. Smart as hell. Uh, tall, a little thin…great smile.”
There was a moment of prolonged silence, and Jackson glanced around the room to see every person’s lips pressed together as though trying desperately to hold in a laugh.