The mayor came over to congratulate them, and there was a flurry of handshakes and hugs from city council members and other staffers. Just as he was about to gather up everyone to head to the bar to celebrate, he heard Alexa say, “Drew?”

Theo turned and saw the doctor who had shown up the night of his birthday party. He’d thought that guy and Alexa had broken up for good a few weeks ago, but here he was, standing in front of Alexa with a hopeful and scared look on his face.

“Um, Olivia?” Theo said under his breath. “I think we should all get the hell out of here.”

“Alexa always said you were one of the smart ones.” Olivia slung her overnight bag on her shoulder. “Maddie? You joining us for drinks? I have a feeling we’ll have a few things to celebrate tonight.”

Right, of course Maddie would come, too.

Theo buried himself in his phone on the walk to the bar. He returned a few celebratory emails from allies and sent out the press release he’d had ready to go, about how gratified the mayor was to see that the city council prioritized the marginalized children of Berkeley. But the whole time, he was aware of Maddie, the sound of her voice, the ripple of her laughter, the sway of her body as she walked ahead of him. He tried not to eavesdrop on her conversation with Olivia, but he couldn’t help it. They were talking about Maddie’s new dress. Obviously.

Why the fuck did Maddie have to be in that thin, clingy dress, anyway? It might be July, but it was July in Berkeley. It was too cold tonight. She should be in an oversize sweat suit. Something warmer. Something that would make him stop remembering what she looked like without anything on at all.

He needed to just pretend Maddie wasn’t here. Oh God, but he couldn’t ignore her all night—what a jackass move that would be. He had to say something to her, but he had no idea what to say. He tried to put that out of his mind as he walked into the bar.

“First round is on the mayor,” he said. He pulled the crumpled bills the mayor had given him out of his pocket and handed them to the bartender.

“Good job, boss,” his assistant, Peter, said. Theo grinned and fist-bumped him.

“Thanks, but the real heroes are the Monroe sisters. But really, thanks for everything you’ve done on this over the past few months.”

He made his rounds with everyone else from the office, to thank them for their hard work, and they all had that same gleeful, almost high look on their faces he could feel on his own. Working in politics had some terrible lows, but every victory was so sweet.

Everyone made it to the table after a while, and Olivia sat down next to him, with Maddie on the opposite side of her. Good, this way he couldn’t even see her.

“Thanks for giving me the push to make it to this,” Olivia said, clinking her glass with his.

“Thanks for doing it,” he said. “I’m so glad you managed to get here.”

“Me too. I wouldn’t have missed seeing that look on my sister’s face when the city council voted for the world.” She laughed. “Or the look on her face when she saw Drew standing behind me, actually.”

“How’s life in the big city?” he asked Olivia. “Getting sick of New York yet and ready to move home to California?”

She gave him a twisted smile.

“Actually, yes, but don’t tell my sister that. She would get way too excited and think I was heading home immediately. But yeah, I’ve been missing California more and more these days, which is why I’ve managed to do a business trip up here or to L.A. at least every few months. And it’s getting harder to go back to New York every time. No imminent plans to move back, but . . . we’ll see.”

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see news alerts; a few reporters had their stories already up.

“Hold that thought,” he said to Olivia. He scanned the stories, and only that one guy who had it in for the mayor said anything negative; everyone else thought the program sounded great. Just as he checked in on Twitter, he got a tap on his shoulder.

“We getting good press?”

He looked up to see Alexa’s euphoric face. And Drew standing behind her smiling just as big.

“You bet we are.” Theo stood up and gave her a huge hug. “You did it, Lex.”

She squeezed him hard and let go.

“We did it.” She laughed. “Don’t think that I’m trying to be modest here—it sure as hell was my idea and it never would have happened without me—but I needed everyone here and more to make it happen.”

He gave her another quick hug and glanced at Drew.

“Sit down, we’ve got a lot to celebrate.”

Drew pulled up extra seats for him and Alexa, and everyone scooted around and rearranged themselves to give them space at the table.

And somehow, as all of this happened, Theo found himself sitting next to Maddie. Of course.

Why had Olivia chosen just the wrong moment to go get another drink? If she’d been sitting there when they all moved around, Maddie could have just made sure Olivia was between her and Theo. Or if Maddie had thought quickly enough, she would have gotten up then and moved over to talk to Drew. But no, Olivia came back right when everyone was scooching around to make room for Alexa and Drew, and there was nothing Maddie could do to avoid sitting next to Theo without making it obvious.

It was probably better it happened this way—they couldn’t avoid each other forever. They might as well get the awkward thing over with now, so that the next time they saw each other at a party, they could go back to cheerfully ignoring each other like they had for years.

It had been six weeks, and she still couldn’t believe she’d slept with Theo Stephens. If she hadn’t been sore for days afterward, she would have tried her best to just chalk it up to a fever dream.

Why did the sex have to be that good? Why did even that first kiss have to be so good? If Theo had been a shitty kisser, there was at least a ninety percent chance she would have taken a step back, said, “You know, Theo, we both know this is a bad idea, don’t we? Happy birthday, and thanks for the dance,” and walked out of his apartment.

But noooo. Her whole body had hurt for days, because of the way he’d pushed her legs apart, and . . . No, stop it, Madeleine. She could not sit here right next to him and fantasize about that again. She needed to get ahold of herself and remember this was just Theo. Boring, full-of-himself, pedantic Theo. That night had been some wild aberration.

“Hey,” he said.

She turned toward him, and his smile was neither the sexy grin from that night, nor the smirk from the next morning. It was nervous.

“Hey,” she said back.

“Thanks for coming tonight. I know Alexa was glad to have the support.”

Yeah, Maddie knew that, too, since Alexa had been her best friend for more than twenty years. What was he even doing, thanking her in that condescending way? Did he think she would have missed this?

Her face must have shown her thoughts, because the smile dropped from his face.

“I didn’t mean . . . I mean, obviously you were going to come. I just meant . . .” He sighed. “Sorry. I was trying not to make it awkward, but I’m not great at that. I should have texted you the next day, just to, I mean, I don’t want to be that asshole, but I didn’t have your number, and I obviously couldn’t ask Alexa for it, but . . .”

As delightful as it was to see Theo stumble like this, she needed to put this guy out of his misery. She smiled and put her hand on his arm.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. And thanks for everything you’ve done for Alexa tonight, especially getting Olivia here. I know that meant a lot to her.”

Now he smiled that same goofy smile she’d seen on his face a few times at his birthday party.

“That’s so nice of you to say, thank you.”

Why was he so strangely attractive when he smiled like that?

Ugh, what had gotten into her? Why was she suddenly finding Theo attractive? A man dances for you ONE TIME and you just want to take his clothes off every time you see him after that?

Maybe it was just something in the air tonight, what with whatever had happened with Alexa and Drew back in the city council chambers. Or maybe it was that Theo’s clothes tonight were excellent, even better than usual. She’d never seen him in a suit before, and his gray suit was immaculate. His tie, a blue one with a leafy green pattern on it, was loose at his throat. His hair was shorter than it had been the night of his birthday. He must have gotten a haircut for the city council meeting. She hated that she found that so charming.

Good Lord, this was absurd. It was just because she’d been too busy over the past few months to go out with anyone else, so her brain was stuck on the last guy she’d slept with, who happened to be sitting next to her. All she needed to do was get out of here and text one of the dudes in her phone and by the next morning she’d never think this way about Theo again.