He stood up, but Olivia reached for his hand and pulled him back down.

“I wasn’t saying that … I mean, I wasn’t not saying that … I’m just surprised, that’s all. I didn’t realize …” She threw her hands in the air. “I just thought you were trying to get into my pants! Which, if it wasn’t clear, you were succeeding at!”

Max dropped his face into his hands again.

“Please, don’t remind me, or I’ll lose all of my willpower here.” Then he looked straight into her eyes. “Not that I don’t want to get into your pants, because good God do I ever. As I assume you noticed.”

Olivia smirked at him. She had noticed, as a matter of fact, but when he pulled away, she’d sort of forgotten all about that.

He grinned back at her, and then his smile faded.

“If this isn’t what you want, I completely understand, and no hard feelings. It’s especially tricky because of my job—I don’t know if you want to sign up to be a senator’s girlfriend. And hell, I don’t even know if you’re interested in me like that.” He paused and looked at her. Shit, she’d sort of forgotten about that part. She was only really thinking about the Max in front of her, not the senator part of him.

“Anyway, I’m not asking you for anything huge now, or any sort of commitment or anything like that. But I am telling you that I like you a hell of a lot, Olivia Monroe. I like everything about you, I like spending time with you, I like laughing with you, especially when you’re laughing at me, I like eating pie with you, and I really, really liked kissing you. Do you … will you give me a chance?”

Olivia looked at him for a long beat. His hair was still tousled from their kisses, his shirt had a lipstick smear on it, and his eyes were the puppiest of puppy dog eyes. Damn it, how could he give her those eyes and still look so sexy?

“Can I think about this?” she asked. “I didn’t expect any of this, and I’m just … I need to think.”

He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips before he stood up.

“I understand,” he said. “But I’m going to hold next Saturday night for you. Just in case.”

When she closed the front door behind him, she could still feel the pressure of his lips against hers.

She had a hell of a lot to think about.

Chapter Six

Olivia got to work on Monday morning and walked straight into Ellie’s office.

“If this is about the Dewan case, I just sent you an email about it,” Ellie said, without looking up from her computer.