“Her address?” he repeated, recovering from his shock quickly. “I don’t think so, Ransom. I just won her trust back. Barely. I’m not going to break it.”
Something interesting happened to me in that moment. I felt genuine relief. Not because he wouldn’t cooperate—fuck that, it was another setback I didn’t need—but because I liked to hear that Hallie was reconnecting with her family.
I had to get off the phone and start making my connections in Los Angeles work.
“All right,” I said, powering up my laptop as we spoke. “Have a—”
“That’s it?” Thorne asked, sounding almost offended.
“Huh?”
“You’re just going to take no for an answer?”
I arched my eyebrows, wondering if the fucker was having a stroke.
“I’ve never been accused of being a gentleman, but even my ass was taught no means no.”
“‘No’ always means open to negotiations,” Thorne replied. “‘Get the fuck out’ means no. That’s the rule.”
I sat back, stroking my bottom lip. “All right. Let’s negotiate.”
“Where are you right now?” he asked.
“A private plane. Geographically speaking, we’re above Colorado. Just passed Boulder.”
“She is not going to like the private plane angle.”
“In this case, what she doesn’t know can’t hurt us?”
“Fair enough. What are your intentions with my daughter?”
Fuck her into the next decade?
Beg for her forgiveness?
Ask her out on a date?
I had no game plan. No strategy. I was playing it by ear, and I loathed every minute of it.
“Just talk,” I said through a tight jaw.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Fair enough. “I would like to explain myself and my actions. We parted ways not on the best terms, and I feel that there’s room for an apology on my end.”
“Getting warmer.” Thorne chuckled, and I heard him lighting up a cigar. “Try again.”
“What do you want me to say?” I roared, losing it. “That I can’t stop thinking about her? That I’m obsessed with her? That I want to be next to her all the time? That I know she’s too good for me, too young for me, tooeverythingfor me, and still don’t give a damn?”
Tell me you’re a goddamn psycho without telling me you’re a goddamn psycho,Hallie giggles in my head.
But Thorne just chuckled some more, sounding thoroughly amused.
“Yes. I would love to hear all those things. I happen to think my daughter is a fantastic catch and share the sentiment that she is too good for you.” He paused. “And too young for you, too.”
I groaned, “Let’s cut to the chase.”
“That’s no way to talk to your president,” he mused.