“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, noting the way weariness had dragged down the corners of her mouth. I knew I shouldn’t think this or say it out loud, but thank fuck that man was out of her life. I could see how he would have worn her down if he hadn’t died and she’d stayed in that marriage. She deserved so much better than that.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she said with a nod. “I’ll be fine. I just need to come to terms with the fact that I have to share this monumental event in my son’s life with that vapid, arrogant woman.”

“Well…whenever you feel like you need a break or you’re worried that you might want to do murder, come find me.”

She chuckled softly. “You don’t have to do that, Tommy. Especially after our conversation earlier—”

“Shh…” I quieted, giving our interlaced hands a squeeze. “I agreed to do this before all of that. Seeing you in action at breakfast and this morning and realizing the lengths you go to make sure everyone is taken care of and how it goes completely unnoticed…” I shook my head. “I’m kind of ashamed of myself for being one of those people who treated you like that was something unremarkable. I’m so sorry, Darcy.”

“You’ve always been so sweet to me. Underneath all of the ridiculous over-the-top flirting, you have always been such a sweet, sweet boy,” she murmured, her light brown eyes searching my face. “But you’re gonna have to knock it off before people begin to think you have real feelings for me. I think my sister James already suspects something.”

I laughed and looked down at our linked hands, our entwined fingers. “Should I be ashamed that people know the truth about how I feel for you, querida?”

She shook her head and blushed hard. “What am I gonna do with you, Tommy?” she asked, her voice a husky whisper.

I shrugged. “Make a list of the things you want and need me to do, and I’ll do my best to fulfill it in the seventy-two hours I’m in town.”

“Tommy… You have to stop,” she scolded.

“I’ll stop if you really want me to, Darcy. Like I said, I’m at your service this weekend. I will do any and everything you ask of me. Whatever you want. I can be discreet. No one has to know what happens between us.”

She parted her lips to speak but then closed them and gave me a contemplative look. Then, as if she came to some decision, she leaned in a bit closer and said, “What if I said I would give this some thought?”

Her voice had dropped into that low, sultry octave, saying those words that made my belly lurch excitedly. “I’d say—”