“Do you think two guys who started their own law firm wouldn’t use their rich daddy’s name and connections to get ahead?” Ellie asked. “No, of course not. We all have to use anything that’s to our advantage in this life. Of course you didn’t go public with Max to get us business, you and I both know that. But if some news stories about your new boyfriend give us the opportunity to make sure people know that we’re damn good lawyers, it’s just our way of making lemonade out of the lemons that are the dozens of phone calls we’ve already gotten this morning.” She grinned. “At least one of the stories already out about you calls you an accomplished Harvard-educated lawyer—just the kind of branding we like to see.”

Ellie, as usual, had an excellent point.

“Make sure you answer the phone ‘Monroe and Spencer!’ ” Olivia said.

Ellie grinned.

“Oh, I have been.”

Wes looked up from his phone as Max walked into their apartment.

“If it isn’t ‘now-taken Max Powell’ as I live and breathe!”

Max dropped his briefcase on the floor.

“Shut the fuck up, will you?” He really wasn’t in the mood to joke about this.

Wes laughed at him.

“These headlines are cracking me up. ‘Max Powell, off the market!’ ‘Has the bachelor senator given out a rose?’ ‘Just who is the woman who won Max Powell’s heart?’ ” Wes laughed again. “Wait, here’s another one— ”

Max stopped him before he could go on.

“I don’t want to hear it, okay? I’ve heard enough of them already today.”

Even though Kara had told him she thought people would be interested, he didn’t expect this level of interest in his dating life at all. He’d expected maybe one or two articles about it, but nothing like the volume that there’d been only that day. All of it had been mostly positive, which his staff was happy about, but that didn’t really matter to him—what mattered was that Olivia didn’t seem happy about it at all.

Wes turned to look at him as he went into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong? You knew this was going to happen, right?”

Max got a beer out of the fridge and shook his head.

“I knew something would happen, I just didn’t realize people would care this much.” He dropped down on the couch next to Wes. “I don’t care about the headlines about me, whatever. But when they talk about Olivia like that, it makes me so angry. Especially since I told her it wouldn’t really be a big deal, and … now I feel like a jackass.”

Wes’s eyes widened.