“It is!” I agreed, coming around the table to sit next to Jared. “But I find gardening cathartic and soothing.” I was just about to pull out my chair when Tommy appeared at my shoulder.

“I’ll get that for you,” he murmured, pulling the chair out for me.

Startled by his sudden closeness, I took a deep, steadying breath as I sat down. “Thank you, Tommy.”

“No problem. I’m at your service this weekend. Remember?” He cupped my shoulder in a way that probably looked completely harmless to everyone at the table, but the feel of his hand on my bare shoulder sent a rash of goosebumps racing across the surface of my skin.

“At her service?” my sister James asked. “How does one sign up for this one-on-one service?”

“By the groom’s request,” Jared said before Tommy could respond. “Mom doesn’t have a date for the wedding, so I wanted to make sure she had someone to look out for her. Who better than my best friend?”

When I planned the place settings for this brunch, I’d seated Tommy across from Jared because I figured that the two friends would want to chat. Now, I realized that it meant that he was sitting across from me, too, so that when he winked in response to Jared’s statement, I saw it and the borderline lewd smile that curved the corner of his lips.

“Lucky girl,” my sister Amelia said, a little tinge of judgment in her voice and with good reason. Keeping up appearances was important to Amelia, and attending my son’s wedding without a date just wasn’t done. She’d tried to set me up with numerous men leading up to this wedding, and I’d turned every one of them down. So the idea that my son’s best man would be my escort definitely wasn’t something she would be okay with.

“I told both of you that this is completely unnecessary. Frankly, I find the idea that you think I need to be babysat a little insulting.”

“Don’t think of it as babysitting,” Tommy said, picking up his Bloody Mary. “Think of it as… Mother of the Groom Concierge Service. Here to assist, support, and satisfy your needs.”

It wasn’t unlike the flirting he’d always done with me over the years, so everyone laughed, but my cheeks went hot, and I had to avert my eyes because the idea of Tommy going above and beyond to satisfy my personal needs this weekend had me thinking really filthy things. “Concierge to the Mother of the Groom, huh? In addition to whatever best man duties you have, this weekend? Are you paying this man, Jared?” I asked, a weak attempt at making light of what felt like a suggestive statement.