Max couldn’t stop thinking about Olivia as he got ready for their hike on Saturday. Obviously, Olivia was gorgeous and brilliant, but there was more to it than that. Maybe it was just that she challenged him in a way no one had in a while. She forced him to earn her respect, and whenever she smiled or laughed or nodded at something he said, he felt like he’d won something. But she was also so warm and caring, under that perpetually suspicious look on her face—the way she’d noticed something was wrong last weekend was proof of that. He felt such a connection with her already. If he was honest with himself, he’d felt that since the very first night at the bar.

She was the only person he’d felt this easy with, this comfortable with, this happy with, in as long as he could remember. He could open up to her in a way he couldn’t, and didn’t, to almost anyone other than Wes. Sure, he could be impulsive in his actions, but he rarely let himself be anything other than the public version of Max Powell with other people. Why didn’t he mind doing that around Olivia? Maybe because she’d been the only person in years who had looked past his whole senator persona and asked if he was okay. She’d recognized he was a person in there, that he had feelings underneath his senator facade.

He had to admit it to himself: he was falling for her, and the more time he spent with her and the more he thought about her, the harder and faster he fell. And no, that wasn’t taking it slow, but you know what—fuck taking it slow. Slow was a waste of time; he was thirty-nine years old, he knew his own mind, he knew what he wanted. He’d known Olivia for two whole months now. That was plenty of time for him to know how he felt about her.

Was that enough time for her, though? He hoped to find out.

Olivia got to his house at two on Saturday afternoon, and he threw open his door and pulled her inside.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked as she walked in. “You know I’m still not sure about this whole hiking thing.” She was wearing leggings, sneakers, a black T-shirt, and a very doubtful look on her face.

God, he’d missed her.

Before she could step farther into his house, he wrapped his arms around her.

“You are a sight for sore eyes,” he said as he pulled her against him.

“Why, you’re tired of all of the suits in Washington and you’re thrilled to see some yoga pants?” she said as she snuggled against him.

He ran his hands up and down her body and grinned at her.