“But—”

“You know I’m right on this. If we were the Relationships editors, we’d get flak for going with him, but we’re sports editors.”

“We’ll still get flak,” she grumbled.

“Bad publicity is still publicity. You know that.”

Damn it. Damn it. He was right.

It was just…she hated men who saw one woman while leading another on.

Shake it off, Penelope.

She lifted her hands out to her sides and shook them.

Cole smiled. “Penelope. Are you physically shaking it off right now?”

“Don’t judge, it helps,” she said.

He lifted his arms and mimicked her motions so they were both flapping like birds. “You’re right. It does.”

“What are you shaking off?” she asked.

Cole shrugged. “Nothing. I’m flawless.”

There was throat clearing from the doorway and she turned to see Lincoln Mathis watching them with raised eyebrows.

“Oh, hi, Lincoln!” She let her arms drop to her sides.

“Oh, hi, Lincoln!” Cole mimicked in a breathy voice.

She ignored him, mostly because he had a point. She probably had been a little breathless, but it was 100 hundred percent justified.

Yes, Lincoln Mathis was still the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.

Dark wavy hair, blue eyes that were both friendly and distant, practically begging a woman to fix him. Same went for the shy yet confident smile, the muscled yet lean body.

Penelope felt a blast of misty water hit her cheek and turned around to see Cole holding a blue squirt bottle. “What are you doing? That’s for misting my plants!”

“You looked hot,” he said with a shrug, setting the bottle aside.

She wiped at her wet face with her sleeve. Forget Lincoln. It was Cole she was going to have to learn to survive.

“What can we help you with, Lincoln?”

The other man strolled into her office, sitting in the chair next to her before tilting his head. “Isn’t something backward here? Or did you switch offices?”

“Nope, you’ve got it about right,” she said. “Sharpe stole my chair.”

“And you let him?”

Penelope shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me where I sit when we argue.”

“Discuss,” Cole said. “We were discussing.”

“Yeah? Who won?” she asked.

“I did. Obviously.”

“Exactly. There’s no winner in a discussion. It was an argument, and I’ll concede this round, but—”

Lincoln held up a hand. “How about you two kids settle this later. I’ve got a crisis on my hands for my section.”

Penelope turned her attention back to Lincoln. “Relationships, right?”

“Ah, sure,” Lincoln said. “We can call it that.”

“Well, what do you call it?” Penelope asked.

He said nothing.

“Come on,” she coaxed, “I’m part of the team.”

Lincoln blew out a breath. “Well, the Table of Contents calls it Sex and Relationships. But around here we mostly call it—”

“Chicks and clits,” Cole said.

“We do not call it that,” Lincoln said, glaring at Cole.

“Sometimes we do,” Cole muttered.

“Anyway, we call it—”

“Hey, how come I didn’t get invited to the party?” Jake Malone strolled into the office without knocking.

“Welcome to my office,” Cole said, spreading his hands wide.

“It’s my office,” Penelope said.

“Well, it should be my office,” Cole said. “It’s bigger.”

Jake leaned down until his mouth was near Penelope’s ear. “Poor guy has to compensate.”

Penelope giggled and Cole shot his friend the finger.

“Guys—and gal—focus,” Lincoln said, snapping his fingers. “Cassidy asked me to do a quick filler story after some boring shit about shoes turned out to be a dud, and I’m stuck.”

“All right, young Lincoln, you may ask us sex gods our opinion,” Jake said.

“Actually, I was looking for Penelope.”

Jake looked crestfallen. “I thought I was your go-to sex advice guy.”

“Uh, I’m his go-to sex advice guy,” Cole said. “Lincoln comes to me when he needs fodder for his stories. You’re an old married fuddy-duddy—”

“Who gets sex every night,” Jake shot back. “Can you say the same?”

Penelope couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Cole. Could he say the same?

Cole narrowed his eyes at Jake, who grinned. “Thought not.”

Penelope smiled, enjoying their easy banter.

This was what she’d wanted when she’d applied for the job. This sort of camaraderie. Granted, she was the only female, but they seemed willing enough to include her.

And God knew they didn’t seem to be holding back on their “guy talk” in her presence. Chicks and clits? Really?

Lincoln was pulling out his notebook. “Okay, Penelope, so my article is on the first kiss of a first date…”

“Kissing?” Cole asked. “That seems tame.”

Lincoln shot him a pointed look. “Have you ever gotten laid without it?”

Cole opened his mouth, then shut it, making a rolling gesture with his hand. “Continue.”