It had been a few weeks since he’d shown up at Maddy’s door with that pie and she’d fallen apart for him, so fucking sweet and sexy he still was having dreams about it. In those few weeks, he’d spent every minute he wasn’t working or with his family with her. And when he wasn’t with her, he was thinking about her.

He had fallen. Fast and hard, and he had surrendered himself to it wholeheartedly because, fuck, it felt so damn good. It was like he’d been waiting, like a piece of himself had been on hold without him knowing it.

It was like being able to access a part of his brain he couldn’t before. He was a man of science first, after all. And the brain was where the real capacity for love lay. Not in the muscle that was the heart. It was a revelation, feeling like this. He suddenly understood why Renee was so fascinated with relationships and had dedicated her entire practice to the study of them. Feeling this way, connecting with someone on this level—there was nothing he could accurately compare it to.

He’d followed Maddy around Portland, relearning the city he’d grown up in and loved so much. It was like seeing it through a whole new lens when he was with her. She showed up for one date in rain boots that had little whales blowing sprays of hearts stamped all over them, and they’d ended up in a long discussion about jumping in puddles, and he’d ended up scribbling equations for the arc and propulsion of the water on a napkin as he explained it. She’d taken the napkin from him at the end of the date, tucking it in her pocket and she’d said, for later, when he’d asked her why she was keeping it.

He liked the idea of her keeping a memento from one of their dates. It was sweet and sentimental, like her. And he was far gone enough already, his brain high on all those chemicals that he’d valued enough to get inked on his body, to think about that napkin tucked away years from now, in a box full of things that reminded her of him.

Work was hard for multiple reasons. Charles Palmer hadn’t taken Carter up on his offer to divest himself of his shares, but he had been calling nonstop, leaving messages about wanting to talk about his son. Obviously, Dillon was whining to Daddy about not being banned from the company.

Too bad, Carter thought, as he sent off another batch of emails. They were just a week and a half away from the transplant. He and Nat were planning on making an announcement to the company and the board after the operation, because he wanted to respect his parent’s’ privacy and didn’t want them bombarded with well wishes.

Soon, he’d be done with all this CEO work and back in his lab for good. He’d be recovering and hanging with Olivia and letting her serenade him with endless Broadway tunes. He’d introduce Maddy to his parents and bring her further into his life, where it already felt like she belonged.

“Hey.” Maddy knocked lightly on his open office door before peeking her head in.

“Hey,” he said, his mood instantly getting better.

“I’m about to head home, but I wanted to check to see if you got my email about my idea of doing sex advice videos with Renee before I left,” she said, closing his office door behind her, her smile growing more intimate now that they were alone.

“I think you’re just making excuses to see me,” he said. “Since I emailed you back about that idea yesterday.”

“You got me,” she said, shrugging her shoulders in a way that made the cowl neck of her blue jersey dress move distractingly over her curves. “I do have another reason, though. I wanted to invite you to a party tonight. The Secret Society Lounge is holding their Halloween Ball. Nat and I used to always go when we were in college. So we’re restarting the tradition.”

“I don’t know,” he said, pretending to think about it. “You think you can keep your hands off me for a whole night around Nat?”

She laughed. “I seem to be giving you a mighty big head, mister. I’ll have to rectify that.”

He grinned, loving that she was willing to play into his cheesy jokes. He was not the kind of man who hid who he was—but because of what he did, he attracted a lot of women who didn’t appreciate cheesy jokes. He understood it. He wasn’t for everyone.

As long as he was for Maddy, things were going to be golden.

“I’d love to come, but I really should stay here and finish up some work,” he said. “You and Nat go have fun. Send me pictures, okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “But invitation’s open. I’ll text you the address just in case you get finished early.”

She hesitated for a second. “I really want to kiss you goodbye right now,” she confessed.

“When you say things like that, you make it hard for a man to follow the rules,” he said, thinking about how she was last night, when she’d help him test a new glove with special pleasure sensors on each finger.

She laughed, the husky sound making his cock stir with interest. “I’ll behave,” she said. “Have a good night.” She blew him a kiss, making sure to wiggle her hips as she left.

He watched her go, knowing he was smiling like a fool and not caring. He heard Nat and Maddy leave, the elevator’s bell indicating their departure, and he turned back to his work, losing himself in it for a good few hours. When he looked up and checked his phone, it was nearly ten.

And there was a photo on his screen. A selfie that Maddy had sent him. He opened the picture, his mouth going dry as all the blood in his body flooded to his cock in a rush.

She’d joked about a Wonder Woman costume, but the reality of it was another thing. Fuck. His eyes roamed over the picture she’d sent, over the golden lasso was resting against her long, bare, thigh, and her breasts spilling a little out the top of that bustier.

His phone buzzed, and another text from her appeared:

Are you sure you don’t want to join me? ;)

Helpless to resist, Carter found himself searching for the address of the Secret Society Lounge.

Any self-respecting geek would have done the same.