He was in trouble. He and Mollie had spent the weekend together. In bed, mostly. But there’d been other stuff too. Bingeing on Breaking Bad episodes. Gorging on delivery food. They’d even gone to the gym together, and it had felt surprisingly…normal. Hell, everything about the weekend had felt normal.
Which he supposed, made sense. He and Mollie had always been comfortable around each other.
But the sex part…that had felt right too. More than right. It had felt fucking fantastic. They hadn’t been able to get enough of each other. If anyone had told him just a month ago that he’d be having the best sex of his life with Mollie Carrington…
Jo shook her head and smirked. “Must have been some weekend. Shouldn’t you be buying her coffee?”
He’d already brought Mollie coffee. Of course, she’d been fresh out of the shower and warm, damp, and naked, which meant the coffee was cold by the time she’d gotten to it, but still…
“You said Cassidy’s around?” Jackson asked, jerking his brain away from the memory of naked Mollie before his stirring cock turned into a full-blown erection.
“In his office,” Jo said, attention already back on her computer.
Jackson started to head that way, but Jo’s voice stopped him. “Hey, Jackson.” He turned, and she lifted her cup. “Thanks.”
Jackson gave her a wink, which made her roll her eyes. “Just what this office needs. Another charmer.”
Cassidy’s door was open, and he glanced up at Jackson in surprise. “Burke. You’re in early.”
“Not really. I always get in around this time.”
“Huh. How come I never see you?” Cassidy asked.
Because I usually head straight to my office like an antisocial jackass. “Got a minute?” Jackson asked, ignoring the question.
“Sure, come on in.”
Jackson sat down, depositing his laptop on the floor before leaning forward and clasping his coffee cup between both hands. “I’ll do it.”
Cassidy frowned. “Sorry?”
“The interview. For the magazine. I’ll do it.”
Cassidy leaned back in his chair, folding both hands over his trim stomach as he studied Jackson with cool green eyes. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?” Cassidy asked.
“Shit, I don’t know, man. Do we have to talk it out?”
“I just want to make sure you’re not feeling pressured into it. Your job is safe either way, and—”
“Boss, do I strike you as the sort of man who could be pressured into something?”
“No, but you do strike me as an intensely private man who will make the interview process as painful as possible for Cole and Penelope.”
Jackson lifted a hand. “Best behavior, Scout’s honor.”
Cassidy’s eyes narrowed slightly as he gave Jackson the same skeptical look Jo had. “What’d you do this weekend?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Jackson said, keeping his voice casual.
“Ri-i-ight,” Cassidy said, dragging the word out. “So if you’re positive about the interview—”
“I am.”
“All right, then. I’ll tell Penelope and Cole the good news as soon as they get in.”
“Great.” Jackson picked up his bag and stood. “Also, I was thinking for my next piece, I could do a look at the way different sports shape your body. Thought I could feature you in the section on scrawny soccer players.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Cassidy deadpanned. “Just make sure you get a nice selfie for the part about bulky, no-neck football players—”
“I’m going to stop both of you right there before you embarrass yourselves any further,” Lincoln said from the doorway.
Cassidy and Jackson both looked over at him.
“Dude,” Jackson said. “What are you drinking?”
Lincoln held out a plastic cup filled with pale pink froth. “Strawberry Frappuccino, extra whip. Want some? Or is your manhood threatened?”
Jackson shook his head and headed out of Cassidy’s office, unsurprised when Lincoln fell into step beside him.
“How was your weekend?” Lincoln asked. Jackson ignored him, and Lincoln gave a dramatic sigh. “Are we fighting?”
Jackson spun around, getting in Lincoln’s face so quickly the other man nearly dropped his pastel beverage.
“What the hell, man?”
“You stood her up,” Jackson snapped.
Lincoln didn’t even flinch as he brought his drink up to his face and took a long slurp from the green straw. “Yeah? How’d that work out for you?”
Jackson shoved him. Not hard, but hard enough to let Lincoln know he meant business.
Lincoln’s smile dropped and his eyes hardened, showing a side Jackson hadn’t seen before. “Watch it, Burke.”
Jackson ignored this. “I don’t know how the hell things work in New York City, but where I’m from, decent men don’t stand a woman up twenty minutes before they’re supposed to pick her up. And they sure as hell don’t do it by calling her roommate.”
“Hell, man, you think I don’t know that?” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “If I thought for one second this Mollie girl was actually looking forward to me taking her out, I’d have been there with fucking flowers.”
“How could you possibly have known what she wanted? You wouldn’t, because you never showed.”