“Excellent thoughts, Theo,” Olivia said. She put her hands on her sister’s shoulders and spun her around in the direction of the dressing room.

“Okay, we’re all agreed,” Maddie said. “On to the next one.”

When she disappeared down the hallway, Maddie turned to Olivia.

“What if this keeps happening? What if she keeps finding dresses that look good on her and one of us likes, but she doesn’t like them? I don’t want her to get that second dress because you liked it, or the third one because I did. I want her to get one she falls in love with.”

She felt herself tearing up, which seemed silly. It was just a wedding dress.

But it was Alexa’s wedding dress.

Theo put his hand on her shoulder. If he made fun of her for crying over a dress, she might have to kill him.

“Hey.” His voice was more tender than she’d ever heard it. “She’ll find a great dress. You won’t let her down.”

She wiped her eyes and smiled at him.

“Thanks. I just want everything to be great for her, you know?”

The other two nodded. They did know.

She was glad to be here with both Olivia and Theo, two people who she knew loved Alexa as much as she did, and only wanted the best for her. In her years of scorning Theo, she’d somehow managed to ignore what a genuinely good friend he was to Alexa.

Maddie took a deep breath.

“Okay. Let’s all just look at the tiaras and try to relax a little.”

Theo swiveled his head around to look at her.

“That’s how you relax?”

She grinned and looked into his eyes.

“Well, that’s one way.”

He opened his mouth to respond, just as Olivia said, “Here she comes! Lexie!”

Olivia jumped out of her seat. When Maddie saw Alexa emerge from the hallway, she stood up, too.

Alexa glowed like she was lit from within. This dress was pure white, with a sweetheart neckline that gave Alexa plenty of cleavage, but not grandma-can’t-come-to-the-wedding amounts of cleavage. The full skirt had pleats and folds that swayed as she walked toward them. As she moved, the dress floated around her, which made her look like she was dancing with every step. She stopped in front of them, a huge smile on her face, and spun in a circle. The folds of the skirt rose and fell and swirled around her as if they were set to music.

They all grinned at one another without saying anything.

“Why wasn’t this the first dress she tried on?” Olivia finally asked.

Jill grinned.

“We only have one sample in the store, and someone else grabbed it for their client. But I knew she needed to try this one on, so I pulled rank and took it back.”

Alexa turned around to look at herself in the mirror, with Maddie, Olivia, and Theo all behind her. Maddie didn’t even realize she had tears streaming down her face until Theo reached up to wipe them away.

“It’s perfect,” Alexa said to them. “It’s me. It’s mine.”

Olivia laughed.

“She used to say ‘it’s mine’ just like that when she was a little

girl, anytime she really wanted something. But this time, she’s right. It’s hers.”

Twenty minutes later, the four of them left the salon. After four steps down the street, Alexa stopped them.

“I’m not even going to apologize for doing this. GROUP HUG.”

Before she’d even gotten the words out, the other three enveloped her, and one another, in a huge hug.

“I’m so happy. I love you guys so much,” Alexa said. “I’m so glad all three of you were here with me today. Thank you so much.”

“Damn it, Alexa, now I’m crying again!” Maddie said.

“I’m crying, too!” Alexa said from inside the curve of Maddie’s arm. “I expected you to cry—you always cry at Say Yes to the Dress—but why am I crying about a dress?”

“We’re all crying about a dress!” Maddie said.

They all laughed as they let one another go. All four of them wiped their faces, even Theo.

Olivia pulled Alexa into a solitary hug.

“I’m so happy for you, Lexie. It’s everything I wanted for you.”

They continued their walk to the car, with Olivia and Alexa up in front of Maddie and Theo.

Theo slid something small and cold into her hand.

“For the next emergency,” he said. She opened her hand and found a shiny new key in there. She was so emotional right now, she pushed back her reservations about having a key to his place, and just slid it into her purse.

“Let yourself in as soon as you can get to my house later. I can’t wait to get you naked,” he said. “Do you know how much what you said turned me on?”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Which thing I said? The thing about being naked not in your bed? Or the thing about how you’d get a reward?”

He patted her on the butt.

“Oh, those things were good, too. But I meant the best thing of all. ‘Theo is exactly right.’ I’m going to make you repeat that a few times later.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. She wanted to yell, but Alexa was just up ahead.

“Oh, I’d like to see you try to make me do that.”

He smiled.

“Trust me. You’re really going to like the way I make you do it.”

Her whole body tingled at the growl in his voice. She looked at him, but the way he was looking at her made her blush and turn away.

She knew one thing. She couldn’t fucking wait to be alone inside Theo’s apartment with him.

Chapter Twelve

ALMOST TWO WEEKS LATER, THEO WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF HAVING THE same conversation about the rally with the governor’s press secretary he’d had twice before. They’d tentatively agreed to have the rally in Berkeley, but the rest of the group was getting to her.

“Sybil, I completely understand your worries about protestors,” he said. That was a lie; he knew the worries about protestors were all bullshit, but he needed Sybil on his side. “And while, yes, the risk of protestors is marginally higher here in Berkeley, I think the reward is much higher here, too. We have a community here who is really passionate about universal pre-K, and who I know will be fantastic in front of the cameras. I’ve already vetted a handful of parents who will be strong advocates for us and can talk about how universal pre-K has helped their lives and the lives of their children. Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t families like this all over California. I know there are. But I am saying the rally will be a great success in Berkeley.”

There was a long silence on the phone, and he took a bite of the chocolate chip cookie on his desk while he waited. Finally, Sybil sighed.

“I know we keep having this conversation, but you and I both understand how high stakes this whole campaign is. Okay, I’m trusting you here. Start getting those parents media trained.”

He threw his arms up in victory but tried to keep his voice even.

“Will do. Talk to you soon. And let the campaign know that I’ll handle everything with the city of Berkeley.”

He turned to his computer to email the mayor.

He’d just typed Rally is a go for Berkeley! when he heard his door click shut. He glanced up, expecting it to be either Alexa, with some advice for him on the question he’d emailed her earlier, or Peter, his assistant. It was neither of them.

“Maddie? What are you doing here?”

She didn’t answer him but dropped her bag by the door and turned to look at the knob.

“Does this door lock?”

He saved his document and stood up.

“It does, but I never lock it from the inside. Why do you ask?”

She turned around and smiled at him. That wasn’t a smile he’d seen before. She looked wild and sexy, but something seemed off about her.

“Because I want to do this.” She came around his desk, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled his face down to hers. This was like their first kiss, but better; it had all of the passion and urgency of that first time in his living room, but they knew each other now, knew exactly how the other person liked to be kissed. She knew that if she bit his lip, just like . . . oh God, just like that . . . he would go wild. He knew that if he tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged a little, she would make a moan, just like that.

He lost himself in the kiss. He stopped thinking about where he was, and what he should be doing, and everything he was stressed about, and concentrated on this moment, this woman, their lips and tongues and bodies coming together. He could have kissed her for hours. But after not long enough, she pulled back. He started to step backward, but she put her hand on his arm and motioned for him to stay right where he was, and he obeyed her.

She smiled at him, that same wild smile from when she’d walked into his office. It unsettled him. She unbuttoned the top three buttons of the white shirtdress she was wearing, until it fell open to her pale pink bra. As hot as that kiss was, this was taking it too far. And she should know that. What was going on?

“What the hell are you doing?” At any other time, in any other situation, in any other place, he’d be delighted for her to barge in and interrupt what he was doing and start taking her clothes off, but not right now, on a Thursday afternoon, in his office in City Hall.