The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(51)

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.