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Tanner shot a quick glance at Everly. She smiled as she said, “I will. I’ll be right there if you need me.”

“Okay. Goodnight.” He turned over onto his side and closed his eyes.

After a few moments, Tanner raised his eyebrows. Ashton looked as though he was asleep, but Tanner didn’t know if it was physically possible to just shut down like that.

Everly ran her hand over the kid’s hair and said, “Love you, Ash,” in a low voice.

Ashton muttered something that could be,love you, Mom,without even opening his eyes.

Everly smiled at Tanner and jerked her head toward the door. Once they were out on the landing, she pulled the door almost shut but didn’t close it.

“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Tanner asked.

“He’ll be fine; he sleeps like a log. Once he’s out, he’s out.”

Tanner chuckled. “And he goes out like a light?”

“He does.”

“What do you think then, darlin’? Do you want a drink? Or are you ready for bed?”

“How about a drink in bed?” The gleam in her eyes made him forget that she was such a great mom and had him right back to being the guy who couldn’t wait to get a girl into bed. No, scratch that – he no longer wanted to getagirl into bed – he wantedhisgirl inhisbed.

~ ~ ~

They said goodnight to Ford, and Tanner grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the liquor cabinet in the dining room. When they got back upstairs to his room, he closed the door behind them and leaned back against it.

Everly went and sat on the edge of the bed.

“You doing okay?”

She smiled. “I am. I’m just trying to take it all in. I never dreamed that I’d be back here again so soon and definitely not like this – with Ashton.”

Tanner grinned and came to sit beside her. He poured two glasses of bourbon and handed her one.

“He’s an amazing kid.”

“He is. He’s taken a shine to you.”

Tanner nodded slowly.

All her breath caught in her chest. He looked … worried. “What? What’s wrong? Don’t you like it? Is it a bit much?” She hated the idea that the way Ashton so obviously adored Tanner might be off-putting for him – even though she could understand it.

“No! God no. I love it. I love the way we clicked right from our first sneaky little phone call.”

“What then? Because you don’t look thrilled. It’s okay if he’s too much for you. I don’t blame you, I understand, but I don’t want him to …”

“Slow down, darlin’.” He cupped her cheek in his hand and held her gaze with his.

She sucked in a deep breath and waited.

“If I looked worried, I was. But not for the reasons you’re thinking. Ashton’s awesome. He … we ... we just clicked. I don’t know how else to say it. You’re right; he has taken a shine to me, and the feeling’s mutual. It’s not too much for me – far from it. What I’m worried about is that might be too much too soon foryou.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand. What might be too much?”

“You heard how he kept calling FordUncle Ford, right?”

“I did. I didn’t know if I should pull him up about that, but Ford didn’t seem to mind, and he was just so excited and thrilled about it that I didn’t want to rain on his parade. At least not tonight, I thought we could figure it out over the weekend.”