He racked his brain for an excuse to leave, but even if he came up with one, he couldn’t stick Susan with the rest of the work when he’d promised to help. He needed to call Marc. It would suck to admit that Marc had been right, that Riley had fallen for Thorne. He should have backed away as soon as he realized it, but no, he’d gone in for more, encouraging Thorne to let him stay longer, drawing him in by offering more than sex. Then the weekend had ended with that slow, thorough fucking from Thorne, and Thorne using his real name. Riley had nearly come apart.

He should’ve been angry. He should have told Thorne he wasn’t coming back. No matter how much Thorne seemed to truly like him, this was a business transaction to Thorne, nothing more. Thorne was an arrogant ass who wanted everyone to do his bidding. Riley believed he had a kind heart underneath the bluster, but even under the best circumstances, he’d be a bitch to deal with in a relationship. Besides, Riley was way too young to be on Thorne’s radar as an actual partner.

He’d stayed outside as long as he could. Taking a deep breath, he pulled back the screen door. Look calm. Look unconcerned.

“What’s wrong?” Susan asked as soon as he stepped back into the kitchen. He didn’t think she’d even looked at him.

“Nothing. Just a client call.”

“Is he giving you trouble?”

Riley shook his head. “No. Not really, not like you probably mean.”

“Riley?”

Her look said he better fess up. “He’s not harassing me or anything. In most ways, he’s an ideal client, considerate, respectful of me as a person, but he’s rich and spoiled and wants his way.”

Susan nodded like she knew the type. “And what way is that?”

“He wants to hire me for the whole weekend.”

“Hmmm. Sounds lucrative, but I’m guessing you have other plans.”

“Helping you with cupcakes for one.”

Susan waved that off. “I can handle that or get Lilah to help me.”

Her daughter, Lilah, hated baking, especially the more tedious jobs. “No, she won’t—”

“She’ll help if I need her to.” Susan’s tone said he wasn’t going to win that argument.

“I’m not going to break my commitments at the last minute just so my client can have his way.”

“I see.” Susan nodded. “There’s more to this than a change of schedule, isn’t there?”

Why am I so fucking transparent? When he was really into a client that transparency paid off, but the rest of the time it was fucking annoying.

“Riley?” She wasn’t letting this go.

“I like him.”

“That ought to make it easier. Or is a whole weekend too long to have to be ‘Dash’ instead of ‘Riley’?”