“Well, that’s not exactly true.” If we were gonna get specific, she’d tied herself to my bed after I’d expressed my need for submission — completely misinterpreting it. After that, I decided that if she couldn’t pay close enough attention when I revealed my most intimate thoughts and feelings with her, it was a waste of time. “We did…connect a couple of times, but it really just boiled down to the fact that we were two busy people who couldn’t make it work. Like I said…”

“You were busy and uninterested,” Darcy finished for me, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Sounds like you’re using work as an excuse.”

I shrugged. “You’ve seen my calendar. If you scroll back through the last twelve months, you’ll see that this is my first vacation in over a year.”

She frowned and pulled her phone out of her Gucci bag. A couple of taps and swipes of her thumb resulted in a series of tsks and head shaking. “I can’t say that I approve of this, Tommy. I think I’ll give you strict instructions to have fun this weekend.”

“That’s the plan,” I said with a nod.

“Speaking of which, you all need to be at the hotel to meet the groomsmen in an hour, and I’m supposed to go for a final fitting at the seamstress. We better go ahead and order.”

I nodded and opened the menu. “What do you usually get, Jay?”

“I usually get the ribs, but that seems a little heavy if we’re going to a steakhouse later. I think I’m gonna get the veggie burger instead.”

“Hmm. That sounds good, but…” I eyed the menu, but nothing jumped out at me.

“How hungry are you, Tommy? If you’re not too ravenous, we can just get a bunch of shareable plates to split between the two of us.”

I shrugged. “Sure, but I still—”

“I’ll order for us,” she said with such decisive finality that it made my dick twitch.

What the fuck was it about that hint of the bossiness that made me want to feed her everything she’d just ordered to her with my fingers?

Darcy ordered things that I probably wouldn’t have chosen for myself — bacon-wrapped dates, whipped feta with fermented honey and black pepper served with triangles of pita bread, a crispy avocado salad topped with shrimp, a celery root pancake, and mixed spring greens. She insisted that I take my share first, but I ended up preparing her plate, which gave me a weird sense of pleasure that had me daydreaming about serving her in other ways.

Once our plates were clean, I ducked inside as the busboy cleared the table to pay the tab. Darcy was already footing so much of the bill for Jared’s wedding. I didn’t want her to feel obligated to cover this one.