There was a gleam in his eyes. “I know.”

“Anyway…the organization.”

He took a bite of his rib and washed it down with his beer. “One day there was this woman who was in the clinic. Her roommate was filling up the woman’s bag with diapers and formula for her kid. She’d been abused by her husband numerous times, and the people at the clinic would keep her there until they had to release her. But they took care of her. Anyway, Simone had a moment of clarity, I guess, and she took off her enormous diamond earrings and gave them to the woman to pawn. It would give her enough money to get away from her husband for at least a few days and maybe get some help.”

“And the woman…”

“Kissed her and thanked her and is now the Vice President of the organization.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“Nope. She pawned the earrings and found a shelter. With that one gift of good fortune, given to her by Simone, who until that day was all about herself, she was able to help herself. So that’s what the organization is about. Helping women get on their feet and away from those holding them back.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“They’ve had some amazing successes. But with every success, there are a few failures.”

“Someone who takes their generosity and takes advantage of it.”

He shrugged again. “Or who goes back to an abusive relationship and ends up dead.”

The blood drained from her head, and she searched for a napkin before he could see the tears form in her eyes. “That’s horrible.”

“It’s reality.” He pushed his plate away. “I don’t understand why women get into those kinds of relationships, but even my Aunt Regan was in one before she married Uncle Zach. The man tried to kill her.”

Darcy shook her head. “I don’t understand either.”

Ed blew out a long breath. “I suppose I should head out.” He stood from the table, and Darcy followed.

“Thank you for dinner—again.”

“Maybe someday we can do better than ribs.”

“Maybe in a few weeks I can take you out to dinner.” The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. This was her boss. She couldn’t be asking him out to dinner.

He only nodded, which made her feel incredibly small.

Ed walked to the door and pulled it open. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, you will.”

There was an odd silence that fell between them. That kind of silence that was usually filled with a hug—or a kiss.

Darcy gripped the door handle as Ed stood in the dark stairwell.

“Well, goodnight,” his voice was soft.

“Goodnight.” Hers was on the edge of breathless.

Ed lingered his stare a moment longer and finally turned and hurried up the stairs.

Darcy shut the door and locked it before leaning her back up against it. She seriously needed to reel in her feelings for this man. In that moment between them, she could have made a complete fool of herself and wrapped him up in her arms and smothered him with kisses.

Just the thought of it had her sliding down the door and sitting on the floor.

She looked around at the fully furnished apartment.

What had she fallen into?

What kind of family gives so freely?

She tucked her lips in between her teeth and bit down to keep them from trembling. It was very possible this family would lead her to the information she’d come to Tennessee for. She was now deeply embedded in the Benson, Benson, and Hart organization—but it was going to come at a cost.

One wrong move and she’d not only lose her job, but Ed was becoming very important to her.

She’d met a handful of his family already, and she was embraced by them. What if the rest of the family didn’t like her? What if they did like her, but found out she was going to use Ed to find her birth parents? What if her birth parents were horrible people, and the reason she was led to Benson, Benson, and Hart was because of something bad they did and not because they just worked there?

It wasn’t supposed to matter. She was just looking for information. But now…now it was personal.

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Darcy’s neck. Perhaps she’d better quickly decide which was more important—finding her birth parents or the feelings she was fighting over Ed Keller.

Chapter Six

Ed sank down onto his couch and sat in the dark. There was no reason, not a one, for him to have gone over to Darcy’s tonight. But he’d shown up anyhow. Brought food. And then he’d accused her of doing things with his own brother.

He scrubbed his hands over his face.

It really didn’t matter. Christian could ask her to marry her, and they could run off tomorrow—that should be fine. But it wasn’t.

There was something about Darcy McCary that had Ed out of sorts, and nothing did that to him—nothing.

It was just circumstantial. It had been a strange week. There had been delays. And no matter how useful and good she was, Darcy was still a new employee and had needed to be trained. He’d needed someone steady to run his office for a long time, and there she was.

He’d admit, though only to himself, even though her resume was impressive, he’d given her the job because he’d felt sorry for her. His whole life he’d had family to pull him out of any situation he’d ever been in. It was obvious Darcy didn’t have that. It was a benefit that she was an amazing assistant. He’d been more productive in the few days that she’d run his office than he had been in a very long time.

It could be her organization, but he knew there was more.

She took care of him, and he’d been looking for someone to do that for a very long time.

The lights from a passing car illuminated the living room, but then it was dark again. Ed looked at his watch. It was getting late and he’d wanted to be in the office early tomorrow, but he couldn’t shut down his mind.

He stood and walked up the stairs to his bedroom.

The bed was still unmade, and there was a pile of clothes on the floor in front of the hamper. With a huff, he picked up the clothes and threw them in the empty basket.

This wasn’t the kind of keeping he’d needed. He knew that, so why was it so important to make sure Darcy was taken care of so she could take care of him?

Ed kicked off his shoes and pulled off his pants. His office keys fell from the pocket and clanked on the floor. That had been one reason he’d gone to her house, he thought as he bent to pick up the keys. He’d made her a set.