He’d fallen in love with this idea in the last two minutes. Now he just had to convince Olivia.

“Ellie was lecturing me the other day to take a few days off,” she said. “But Hawaii? You know, I’ve actually never been. It was always too expensive for us to go there on vacations when I was growing up, and then I’ve been on the East Coast for so long and Hawaii is so far from there I didn’t even really think about it. Isn’t that kind of far for a five-day trip, though? And isn’t this kind of last-minute?”

Max ignored that last question.

“It’s a shorter flight from L.A. to Hawaii than it is from L.A. to DC—okay, barely, but it is shorter—and the amazing thing about flying to Hawaii is that, because of the time difference, you can take a nine a.m. flight from LAX and be on the beach by noon.”

Well, that was a slight exaggeration, but it was worth it. He could already see the glimmer in her eye.

“I like the sound of that. Go on.”

Shit, that had been his main selling point; he hadn’t had to sell anyone on Hawaii in a while. What to say?

“Second, I know a great hotel there—we won’t have to deal with press or anyone who gives a shit about either one of us. We’ll just lie by the beach or snorkel around and look at sea turtles, or lie by the pool drinking mai tais and eating poke, and it’ll be perfect.”

She pressed her lips together, in that way he knew she did when she was fighting back a smile.

“Beach, turtles, mai tais, poke … I love all of those things. But …” She stopped and looked at him. He tried to make his eyes extra pleading, and she laughed out loud.

“If you think those puppy dog eyes are going to win me over … well, you’re correct, but to be fair, I was mostly already won over by all of that other stuff. Are you sure we can get a room in your dream of a hotel at this late date, though? It’s summer vacation, isn’t everyone in Hawaii?”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Let me make a call.”

Five minutes later he hung up the phone with a grin on his face.

“We have a room at the hotel from Friday until Tuesday. Are you in?”

With a smile on her face, Olivia looked up from her phone.

“I just double-checked with Ellie to make sure there’s nothing crucial, and she told me she’d fire me if I don’t take this trip, so … I guess I’m in.”