“I…” Riley couldn’t speak. He could hardly breathe. His heart was pounding, and it felt like it was in his throat.

“Dude, you’ve got to go down there.”

“I…”

Marc waved at Thorne and then grabbed Riley by the arm and dragged him toward the door. “Go down there and talk to him right now.”

Riley’s feet wouldn’t work. “I can’t.”

“Yes. You can. I don’t care if you tell him it’s over for good, but you’ve got to say something. If nothing else, the guy has balls.”

The swirl of confusing thoughts in his head dizzied Riley. “We watched it together. He’d never seen it even though he was in high school when it came out, and he never… I’m babbling.”

“Go!” Marc practically shoved him down the stairs.

Riley caught himself against the wall and kept moving. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs he was running.

Thorne turned when he saw him, the music continued to play, but he set the speakers on the roof of his car.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

Thorne raised a brow, that damn sardonic look he was so good at. “I did hope you would remember.”

Riley gestured toward the speakers. “Of course I remember. But why?”

“Why do you think? Because I made a terrible mistake, and I needed to get your attention so I could apologize and see if…” He took a slow breath, and Riley watched his chest rise and fall. “If there is truly no chance, or if there’s some amount of hope left for us.”

“Us?”

“Yes, us; you and me. I was a fool, and I hurt you. I know you may never be able to forgive me, but I’m here to say what I should have said back then. I don’t want to be a client to you. I want to be so much more.”

“Are you sure? Because two months ago it sounded like you just wanted to own me.”

Thorne winced and glanced around. They’d acquired quite a collection of onlookers. He tapped his phone, silencing the music. “Could we take this inside?”

“In the lobby at least,” Riley said, not yet sure he wanted Thorne in his home. And even more uncertain whether he wanted Thorne in his life.

“I never wanted to own you,” Thorne said as the door closed behind them.

Riley raised his brows.

“I can be an arrogant son of a bitch. That’s true enough, and yes, I like getting my way. But what I really wanted was to spend every day with you. To wake up with you. To know you weren’t sleeping with anyone else. To know that when you looked at me like you cared, like it was more than a job, that look was sincere.”

Riley frowned. “Of course it was sincere. How the fuck could you doubt that?”