“He isn’t a pompous asshole YET, you mean. So far he’s smart and funny and hot and listens to me, but that all seems far too good to be true. Max seems far too good to be true, Ellie! Men like him always have this vision in their head of who they think I am and what they want me to be and why they want to date me, and then they get to know me better and decide I’m too loud, or too intimidating, or too ambitious. They don’t want the real Olivia. He must be bullshitting me about all of this. He’s a politician, after all; they’re good at that. I know his whole sunny, positive, golden-retriever-fighting-for-justice thing can’t last! And what if he really is thinking about running for president like people are saying? In that case, he’s definitely not to be trusted: there’s no way a candidate for president would want a Black woman with natural hair and big hips on his arm!”

She’d been perfectly happy about the idea of a fun little fling, and Max had to ruin it all.

Ellie nodded.

“Mmmhmm, sure. Then why are we having this conversation again?”

Another good point for Ellie, damn her.

“Because I was so stunned when he said he wanted to date me that I said I’d think about it! He said he’d hold Saturday night for me, and I said I’d let him know by then. And now I have to figure out what I’m going to let him know!”

Ellie’s smile widened.

“So you’re thinking about it. You wouldn’t be thinking about if you didn’t like him.”

She was thinking about it. She was thinking about it too much, as a matter of fact.

“Yeah, I’m thinking about it. I shouldn’t be, I should have just said no right away. But … he was a very good kisser. And he’s a lot more interesting and smart than I expected him to be. Fine, yes, I like him. And, I don’t know, he seems to really like me.”

It was more than that, but she wasn’t sure if she could explain it to Ellie. Somehow, she felt connected to him, which seemed ridiculous. But even from that first interaction at the bar, they’d been on the same wavelength. She’d thought it was just attraction, the same kind she felt with plenty of other guys she’d had flings with. Now she didn’t know anymore.

Plus, no man had done this kind of full-court press on her in a long time. She had to admit she really enjoyed it.

Ellie just sat there and looked at her silently as Olivia thought through all of this. Finally, she put down her coffee.