“No, it’s even worse—I’ve seen plenty of his flaws! He’s hotheaded, he’s impulsive, he has an enormous ego! He’s used to the whole world doing his bidding, in a way he doesn’t even realize; he’s incredibly privileged, which he sort of realizes, but not anywhere to the degree he needs to. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat a vegetable. And his shoes are all just impossibly ugly. He has these old brown suede shoes he wore one day straight from the airplane and I realized he was on the actual Senate floor with those things on and I wanted to throw them in the garbage immediately, but I don’t think we’re at a place yet where I can do that. But the bad part is, I know all of that, and I still get that fucking gooey look on my face when he texts me! I can tell I get it! I try not to get it! But the goo just spreads over my face and I can’t make it stop!”

Now Alexa and Drew were laughing so hard they couldn’t speak, and Olivia joined in.

“I know this all sounds so stupid,” she said as soon as they all recovered.

Drew shook his head.

“It doesn’t sound stupid at all. It sounds exactly like how I felt when I met this one.” He poked her sister in the arm. “At least you’re being more mature about it than I was, and you’re not pretending you’re not falling for him.” He reached across the table and pushed her phone toward her. “Text him back. Tell him we’re almost done with dinner and you’ll be on your way to the hotel soon.”

She picked up the phone and smiled at him.

“I’m glad my sister married you.”

Drew reached for Alexa’s hand.

“I’m glad your sister married me, too,” he said. “What hotel is your senator boyfriend staying at?”

Olivia grinned.

“The Fairmont.”

Chapter Twelve

Olivia walked into the hotel lobby and checked her texts for Max’s room number.

Just getting on the elevator!

She got off the elevator without incident and walked down the hall to his room. But before she could even knock on the door of room 1624, the door swung open.

“There you are.” Max grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

“Here I am,” she said as they wrapped their arms around each other.

“I missed you so much.” He traced her face with his fingertips, like he was memorizing it.