yourself a break? I’m sure those photos you just took—which will be posted everywhere—will bring in tons of volunteers and money, and will do an incredible job to spread the news of the good work we do here.”
He shrugged.
“Well, I hope so. That’s the goal, anyway.”
She smiled at him.
“It’s a great goal.”
After they were done at the food pantry, Max and his staffers dropped her back off at his house, before they took off for a parade on the other side of L.A. He would meet her back at his house before they headed out to the fundraiser. She had no idea how Max managed to go to three events in a day and stay sane.
She sat down on Max’s couch with her laptop in her lap to work on their pitch to Clementine. It wasn’t for two weeks, but their PowerPoint and script were mostly already done—at this point both she and Ellie were just tinkering with it, but neither of them could help it; they both wanted to get it perfect.
The next thing she knew, she woke up to the sound of the front door closing. She opened her eyes to see Max walk into the living room and smile at her.
“Hey.” He moved her laptop off the couch and onto the coffee table. “Get some good work done on the pitch?”
She nodded as he pulled her into his arms.
“I did. And I got in a very good nap. How was the parade?”
He kissed her on the shoulder.
“Very exuberant. Did I tell you this morning that you look incredible in that dress? Because I kept thinking it, but we were with my staff the whole time, so I can’t remember if I said it out loud.”
She pulled off his tie.
“You did say it, as a matter of fact, right after I got dressed. But I’m happy for you to say it again.”
He smiled as she unbuttoned his white shirt, which he’d somehow managed to keep crisp through all of that cooking and a parade outside in the July heat of Los Angeles.
“Do you know the only thing you look better in than that dress?” He pushed her back on the couch. “Nothing at all.”
She smiled as she ran her hands up and down his warm, firm chest, and then down to his waistband.
“I think that could be arranged.”
She couldn’t stop touching him. She’d seen him last night and this morning, but that didn’t make a difference. It was like he was a magnet, drawing her to him, and she was powerless to resist.
“How much time do we have until we have to be at this fundraiser?” she asked as he tossed her dress onto the floor.
“Plenty of time.”
She closed her eyes as his hands roamed over her body.
“Oh thank God.”
Forty minutes later, they got out of Max’s big shower, and she pulled her shower cap off.
“Okay, but really—what’s tonight going to be like?” she asked.
He rubbed a towel over his hair.
“Did your old law firm used to have holiday parties?”
She opened the drawer where she kept all of her toiletries.
“Yeah—lots of standing around, holding a drink in one hand and a plate in the other, and trying somehow to shake hands with people. Occasionally someone would get too drunk and make a fool out of themselves, a few boring speeches, frequent low-level sexual harassment, the usual.”
Max nodded.
“It’ll be a lot like that, hopefully without that last thing. Though—incredibly—the egos will all be bigger.” He combed a dollop of gel through his hair with his fingers. “The good thing, though, is that I always get to arrive late and leave after exactly an hour. It’s amazing what you can get away with as a senator, I’m telling you.”
He gave her that cocky grin, and she couldn’t help but grin back at him. Damn, she loved this man.
As soon as they walked into the party, though, all of her fears and what-ifs from earlier in the day came back to her with the first words out of their host’s mouth.
“Senator Powell! This must be Olivia! Shouldn’t your woman be in blue, not red?”
No So nice to meet you, no Hi, Olivia, my name is Asshole, not even a Would you like something to drink? before he was calling her Max’s woman and assuming Max had decision-making power over her wardrobe.
Max ignored the last sentence, and put his hand on her back.
“Olivia, this is a very old friend of mine, Cary Thompson. Cary, this is my girlfriend, Olivia Monroe.”
Olivia forced her