Page 2 of Friend Me

My ears buzzed. I’d figured Jamila would go to Jackson’s wedding. They’d been friends since college. What did it mean that she’d go with Cooper? Was it a friends-date or a date-date?

It’d be just my luck if she snapped up Cooper right as I’d finally found the courage to do something about my three-year-old crush.

“Um, Marlee?” Tyler asked, straightening his glasses. “Are you okay?”

I blinked to focus. “Fine.” I turned to Jackson. “That was Jamila Jallow. She says she’s coming with Cooper. To your wedding.”

His eyebrows shot up. “He never brings anyone to my parties.”

“I know, right? What’s going on?”

Cooper’s door swung open, thumping into the wall, and the temp stormed out, her face as red as her silk blouse. I’d been a little afraid when the gorgeous woman had walked in on Monday with her designer clothes and shoes that cost more than my weekly salary, but she’d been too preoccupied with fluttering her fake eyelashes at Cooper to answer his calls. She snatched her buttery leather handbag off the desk outside and flounced past us toward the elevators.

“Bye, Lynley,” I said.

“Fuck off.” She veered right, yanked open the door, and disappeared into the stairwell.

I exchanged a glance with Jackson.

“Yeah,” he said, “Cooper has that effect on me, sometimes.”

Tyler said nothing. He hadn’t spent enough time up here on the sixth floor to know that Cooper’s moods were a summer thunderstorm: loud but quickly spent.

The man himself stepped out of his glass-walled office, his nostrils flaring, his jaw like marble. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his tailored black slacks and, gaze on the reclaimed-wood floor, approached us. I ran a hand over my pendant and sat up straighter in my chair.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he turned his crystal-blue eyes on me.

“Marlee?” He shifted on his feet. “It seems Lindsey—”

“Lynley,” I corrected him.

He grimaced, showing straight white teeth. “She and I have agreed she’s not a good fit for Synergy.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Jackson said.

Cooper’s stare stabbed his friend. “If you’d just reconsider sharing Marlee with me…”

“I’d be happy to—” I began.

“Not happening,” Jackson interrupted me. He stared at me, hard. “Marlee has plenty of work already. And you might as well ask to borrow my right arm. Find your own Marlee.” He shrugged. “Or keep one of the temps she finds for you.”

Before he spoke, Cooper took a beat to relax his hands, which had balled into fists. Then he looked at me. “Do you think you could—”

“Done.” I clicked to send my email to the staffing agency.

“Thanks. You know I adore you, Marlee.” And there it was, the heart-stopping smile that turned me to goo on the floor every time. I wanted to dance my fingertips over his strong, stubbly jaw and into his short, sandy hair. Run my hands over his gray striped dress shirt to touch the toned shoulders underneath. Drag my nails down his back and squeeze his—

“Anyway, Jay—” He turned to Jackson, and that was when I realized I’d been eye-fucking Cooper again. “Can we start our ride early? I have a foundation event tonight.”

“I’ll go change.” Jackson shot me a look—he hadn’t missed my wandering eyes—and then gripped Tyler’s shoulder. “Let’s talk tomorrow about your ideas for the fuel burn module.” Because I was watching Cooper, I saw his gaze follow his friend’s hand and then narrow at Tyler. Cooper tended to be the jealous partner in his bromance with Jackson.

“Sure thing.” Tyler grinned at our boss, looking exactly like a Labrador Retriever who’d been told he was a good boy.

Jackson had created the company’s flagship product—an automotive analytics package that made cars perform better and more safely—ten years ago in the dorm room he shared with Cooper at Stanford. A programming legend, he inspired admiration among the developers, and Tyler was president of the fan club. Though Tyler was a legit programmer himself. Jackson didn’t have the patience to mentor many programmers, but he made time for Tyler.

When the two executives returned to their respective offices, I beckoned Tyler closer and checked that no one else was nearby. “I heard Sanjay’s leaving.”

“Yeah?” His lower lip pushed out into an almost-pout. “He’s a good boss. I’ll miss him.”

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