“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.