He stroked her nipples, and she sighed. He draped his leg over hers.

“Mmm, I would say twelve hours.” He kissed her neck, and she turned over onto her back to give him more access. He smiled down at her. “So that gives us about two more hours.”

She moved her hands up and down his back.

“We’d better not waste a minute, then.”

A while later, when Maddie woke up again, she kept her eyes closed. What the fuck was wrong with her? Was there some sort of force field around Theo’s apartment that led straight to his bed?Was there an invisible sign when you turned onto his street that said in big letters BAD DECISION CENTRAL? How had she ended up in his bed again?

And why was she still there? They’d had morning sex, for the love of God!

She needed to pull the plug on this immediately. She forced herself out of bed.

When she came back from the bathroom, Theo was in the kitchen. Making coffee, she assumed. She pulled her clothes on and went to the doorway of the kitchen.

“Um, is there enough coffee for me?” she asked.

Why did she ask that? She should have just snuck out the door while he was making coffee. Now she was stuck here.

He gestured to the two cups waiting by the kettle. He was shirtless, with those gray sweatpants on again. Did he have anything on underneath them? No, Maddie, no, she was not going to let herself think about that.

“Plenty of milk, no sugar, right?”

She nodded. “Right. Wait, don’t you have to go to work?”

He picked up his phone and waved it at her.

“I sent ten emails while you were in the bathroom. I have to make it to the office eventually, but I have time for coffee first.”

The kettle whistled, and he made coffee for both of them, then handed her the milk from the refrigerator. She poured some in her cup and passed the milk back to him.

It was weird: any other time if she’d woken up in a guy’s bed after a night of really good sex—or honestly, even moderately good sex—and was now in his kitchen drinking coffee with him, she’d be hoping he’d bring up when he was going to see her again. She’d certainly figure out a chill way to make sure he had her number. And now it was the opposite—she was trying to figure out a chill way to make sure he knew this was never going to happen again, despite what it had seemed like in his bed this morning . . . and last night . . . and that night six weeks ago.

But he beat her to the punch.

“Look, Maddie,” he said. “This was really fun, but we both know—”

“That we can’t do this again.” She nodded vigorously at him. “We absolutely both do know that. It was the fairy dust, remember?”

He smiled and took another sip of coffee.

“It was.” He wrapped both of his hands around his mug. “Okay, great. I just didn’t want it to be weird. I mean, next time we ran into each other.”

She shook her head.

“No, it’s fine. We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.” She drank from her mug, barely tasting the coffee. “What time is it?”

He looked down at his phone.

“Almost eight thirty.”

She gulped down the rest of her coffee and set her mug on the counter.

“I have to go. I have a client coming by at ten thirty, and I need to look presentable by then.”

He looked her over as he raised his mug to his lips. She could tell he was smiling even with his mouth hidden.

“You look great to me.”

She ignored the warm feeling that spread over her.

“Mmm, yes, high praise from the half-naked guy over here.” She changed the subject. “Oh, do you have any idea where my purse is? I didn’t see it in your bedroom. I didn’t leave it in the car, did I?”

He thought for a second, and a sly smile broke out across his face.

“I think you may have dropped it by the front door?”

“Oh.” Right. Yes. When they’d first walked into his apartment the night before, he’d pushed her up against the door and pulled down her panties and . . . Right. She must have dropped her purse then. No wonder she couldn’t find her panties in his bedroom, either. “That, um, makes sense.”

He grinned at her, and she blushed and looked away.

“Here, I’ll walk you to the door.” He set down his coffee cup and they walked to his front door. She scooped up her hot pink underwear from the floor by the door, and put it in her purse, abandoned in the corner.

“Okay, good luck with work today. See you around,” she said.

He opened his front door for her.

“You, too.”

Maddie got in her car, still blushing as she remembered exactly how her pink underwear had ended up in the hallway. She’d never expected Theo to be quite so . . . forceful. It was too bad that all of that was wrapped up in someone as pedantic and annoying as Theo.

Why did he have to be so condescending in the kitchen this morning anyway? “This was really fun,” like he was letting her down easy. The gall of him. He’d been eager less than an hour before to have sex with her again, and then he handed her a cup of coffee and sent her on her way like her time had run out? How the hell had she ever let herself sleep with someone who thought he was so much better than her? She deserved better than him!

Men. Why hadn’t women invented a world without them yet?

Chapter Four

Ten months later

THEO KNOCKED ON ALEXA’S DOOR, WAITED FOR A FEW SECONDS AS HE listened to the music and laughter inside, and then pulled it open. The engagement party was in full swing. He walked in and waved to a handful of his coworkers as he looked around for Alexa or Drew. Or Maddie.

He knew she was going to be there tonight. Maybe tonight would be the night she would seem just annoying and bitchy and full of herself again. Instead of all those things and also the hottest woman he’d ever seen.

He’d spent, conservatively, at least an hour a day for the past ten months kicking himself for letting her leave his apartment that morning like that. Why had he even said that thing about how they both knew it couldn’t happen again? They both didn’t know that! He didn’t know that! He’d be thrilled for it to happen again, even though, yes, it was a bad idea for so many reasons. But no matter how bad of an idea it was, he couldn’t get her out of his head.

It’s not like—he got to this point every time he thought about that morning—if he hadn’t said something, Maddie would have been all in. She didn’t like him! She’d made that clear repeatedly! He needed to get over this.

“Theo!” There was Alexa, talking to her mom in the living room.

“Congratulations again.” He handed her the bottle of champagne he’d brought and hugged her. “You know how happy I am for you.”

She hugged him back.

“I do. Mom, you remember Theo, don’t you?”

Her mom hugged him, too.

“Of course I do. I always sort of hoped . . . well, never mind that now. Good to see you again, Theo!”

Alexa shook her head and walked away. She beckoned him to follow her.

“Come to the kitchen with me. I’ll get this in ice and show you where all the snacks are.”

He looked over at the cheese plate on the coffee table and the charcuterie platter at the table over by the TV.

“More snacks than those?”

Alexa laughed.

“Oh, those are just the starter snacks. Come on.”

He followed Alexa into the kitchen, where a tall Latino guy wearing an apron was taking something out of the oven.

“Drew, slide the cookie sheet that’s in the fridge into the oven while I put these on a platter.” He turned when they walked in. “Alexa, are you sure about marrying this guy? He’s useless in the kitchen, you know.”

She stuck the bottle of champagne into a big metal tub filled with ice.

“I know, I know, but at least he takes direction well. But then, neither of us is a real cook like you.” Alexa turned to Theo. “Theo, you remember Carlos, right? He was there with Drew the night of your birthday party last year? Carlos’s engagement present to us was to make a bunch of our favorite snacks for tonight. Thank God, because if either Drew or I had tried to make pigs in a blanket and baked Brie and gougères, this would be a disaster.”

That was an excellent engagement present. He’d only brought champagne and general anxiety. Theo picked up one of the pigs in a blanket and popped it in his mouth.

“Thank God I got here on the early side. I wouldn’t want to miss any of this food.”

Drew grinned at him while he handed Carlos some tongs.

“I told Alexa to warn you, man. Carlos over here has many hidden talents.” Drew glanced at Carlos and his smile got bigger. “As a matter of fact, you might have seen him on TV recently. Did you see that JumboTron proposal at Dodger Stadium? The one where the girl said no?”

Carlos turned between Theo and Drew, a tiny pastry puff between his tongs.

“That was NOT me. I was not the proposer, anyway. I just happened to be sitting behind the couple, that’s all.”

Drew smirked.

“Oh yeah, sure, that’s all.”

There was definitely a story there, but he might have to wait to get it from Alexa on Monday morning.

“Where are the other platters you said you had?” Carlos asked Drew.