I’m a Tiffany & Co girl myself. It’s all about that iconic blue. And Audrey, of course.

I’m not going to let anyone put me in a cage.

Holy crap, Mathis. Did you just quote Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

He smiled, and hit her with another movie quote. Poor cat! Poor slob! Poor slob without a name.

You sure you’re not gay? Never known a straight man quite so in tune with Holly Golightly.

“Mathis.” Lincoln looked up, saw Alex Cassidy standing in his doorway. Despite the fact that he’d just gotten back from a two-week honeymoon with the love of his life, he looked as businesslike as usual.

Next to him was a woman Lincoln had never seen before.

No, he mentally responded to Daisy’s text. He was not gay. Because the heterosexual in him could absolutely appreciate that the woman in front of him was as perfect a specimen as it was possible to get. Penelope’s description had been dead-on, right down to the measurements.

“This is Taylor Carr,” Cassidy said. “Starting today as new sales account executive.”

Lincoln stood and went around his desk to shake Taylor’s hand, pretty sure he heard Penelope mutter “I’d tap that” under her breath.

“Lincoln Mathis,” he said, shaking the woman’s hand.

She had a good handshake, her gaze forthright as she met his eyes. “Nice to meet you. You’re an editor?”

He grinned. “The sex guy.”

Cassidy cleared his throat. “The actual section is called ‘Women and Sex.’ And it’s not just sex.”

“Absolutely not,” Cole chimed in. “A lot of our features are simply pictures of naked women. Tasteful. Of course.”

Penelope nodded enthusiastically.

Taylor laughed, the sound low and throaty. It was seductive, and Lincoln was pretty sure it was meant to be. This woman was used to wrapping men around her finger, although there was something refreshing about her honesty. Most women who were so outright sexy tried to pretend that they didn’t know it. Taylor Carr definitely knew it.

“I did my homework before accepting the job,” she said with a smile. “That beach babe feature you did was quite classy.”

Lincoln grinned back. “See? Cassidy, you hearing this? That’s what I’m talking about.”

Cassidy rolled his eyes behind Taylor’s back, and there was a pregnant pause in the room—a moment of expectation, and he knew it all rested with him. Everyone from Taylor to Penelope was eagerly waiting to hear what flirtatious quip he’d throw out next.

Instead, Lincoln held his tongue. Flirting with women he knew would have no interest in him was one thing. Responding flirtatiously to a come-on in a bar so as not to wound an ego was fine too. But he wouldn’t flirt with a woman with invitation in her eyes that he had to see every day. He had no intention of leading on a perfectly nice woman.

Taylor’s smile changed, shifting from enticing to merely friendly, and he could practically see the way her brain shifted him from potential mate to colleague category.

“Nice to meet you,” she said with a nod, smiling at the group before turning and exiting his office. Cassidy followed her, and Lincoln turned back to his desk, just in time to see a sulking Penelope slap a twenty into Cole’s gloating palm.

Lincoln stepped forward, nipping the crisp bill out of his friend’s hand. “Explain.”

“Penelope here was sure you’d be all over that,” Cole said, tilting his head toward the way Taylor had exited.

“And what were you sure of?” Lincoln asked.

Cole’s eyes smirked up at him. “That your interest is currently tied up elsewhere.”

Lincoln stilled, his first thought that Cole had somehow found out about Katie. But no. If his friend did know, he was sensitive enough not to have that shit-eating grin on his face. Which meant Cole must be referring to…

Penelope leaned across the desk, making a grab for his phone. “Is Cole right? Is it Daisy who’s had you glued to your phone for the past two weeks? What’s your passcode?”

“None of your business,” Lincoln said, plucking the phone from her hand and shoving that and the twenty-dollar bill in his pocket. He had the strangest memory of Daisy asking for his phone’s passcode, and him telling her Katie’s birthday without a second of hesitation.

Strange, since he counted Penelope and Cole among his closest friends, whereas Daisy was…

…What?

What was Daisy?

They’d texted every day since she’d flown back to North Carolina, and until this moment, he hadn’t thought a thing of it. It wasn’t as though he’d made a conscious decision to start up a long-distance friendship; it had merely happened.

And yet, somehow in just two short weeks, their bantering about everything from the weather to his dog to Game of Thrones binge-watching had become the highlight of his day.

Lincoln felt a stab of savage shame. What was he doing? He was engaged. And though nothing had happened between him and Daisy, nothing was happening, he couldn’t deny that he looked forward to her text messages just a little too much, thought about her just a little too often.

He swallowed. He needed to go see Katie. Tonight. He’d drive up tonight. Rarely did he visit outside of his scheduled last-Sunday-of-the-month routine. Once a month was about all his battered heart could take.

But he needed to see her. Needed to remember her.

“Linc. You okay?” Penelope asked quietly.