Page 66 of The Parent Trap

“Smooth.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, except I couldn’t ever visit the jobsite again. I mean, how do you look the man in the eyes after that?”

He laughs. “I can see how that would be awkward.”

“Awkward? It wasmortifying.”

Something in the air between us has shifted, since I told him that story, and I can’t place what. There’s no time to figure it out, though—the helicopter is warmed up and we board, and the pilot, a good friend of Daddy’s and a former military pilot, has us in the air. He asks where we’re going, and Thai tells him San Francisco.

“What’s in San Francisco?” I ask, through the headset.

He smirks. “You’ll see.”

“Oh, a surprise, is it?”

“Of course,” he says. “You wouldn’t agree to anything I suggest, so I’m just not going to tell you. You’ll just have to trust me.”

My first instinct is to make some snappy comment about how I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. But I hold my tongue, because…is it true? Do I trust him, or don’t I? I guess I do—or I’m starting to, at least. The last month he’s been working for the company, he’s been…consistent. Hard-working. Available. He has been…trustworthy.

Ugh. Annoying. It was so much easier to just hate him. Now I have to go around rethinking and second-guessing everything I thought I knew about him, everything I think about him. The snarky comments I instinctively make.

The flight is short, and there’s not much talk—Thai is on his phone most of the ride, texting. Not sure who, and I make a point of not asking.

When we land, there’s a car waiting. I glance at Thai, but he just grins at me. “What?”

It’s a Rolls Royce, new and white and sleek and expensive-looking, a droptop. I roll my eyes at him. “A Rolls?”

He waves a hand. “It’s not mine, just borrowing it from a friend.”

“But…aRolls?”

“It’s fun. You ever been in one?”

I shrug. “No. But it’s just a car.”

“It is not just a car. It’s like driving rocket-powered silk.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“It means just get in and enjoy the ride.” He holds open the passenger door for me, closes it once I’m in.

I shoot him a puzzled smile. “Manners, too?”

He slides in behind the wheel, presses the button, and the motor snarls to life. “Ahhh, the joys of low expectations—the simplest thing will impress! Opening a door? What a gentleman!”

“I feel like you’re being sarcastic.”

“Me? Sarcastic? Never!”

“Where are we going now?”

He just grins. “Surprises all the way. There’s just one rule on this little adventure, Miss McKenna.”

“And what’s that?”

“Don’t say no.”

“But what if—”