We arrived in California the next day. From the minute we arrived, we were exhausted and ready to go home. We had a few hours before the rehearsal dinner so I plopped on the couch and gave myself permission to take a nap.

After my interesting conversation with Will yesterday about size, I couldn’t get him out of my head. I saw everything. Everything. A part of me wanted to see more than what I had seen. A part of me wanted to feel his bare skin on my own.

Being in the car with him was overwhelming. I had to restrain myself from clawing at the window, trying to get out. Even though we had the console dividing us, he was entirely too close. I was afraid to even reach for the radio station - even though he asked me multiple times to change it if I wanted to - because I didn’t want to risk him touching me. Or me touching him.

The whole thing was a mess.

Thank goodness Thea had no idea about our internal struggle. And I used the word ‘our’ because it was clear he felt the same way.

Will mumbled something about taking Thea to the pool and left the minute my head hit the pillow. I was out for an hour and forty-five minutes. I hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep the past two nights. How could I? Even during the second night, when Will volunteered to take the floor - insisted was probably a better word to describe it - I could hear it. I could hear the small part of me I thought I lost after my fallout with Stan. And her voice started getting louder and louder and louder.

Go sleep next to him.

God, he had such a nice ass.

I would love to see him strip off the towel and dance around with it on purpose.

Shit.

Even his breathing turned me on, which either meant I was dangerously attracted to what I thought were masculine attributes like deep but smooth breathing, or I needed to get laid. Probably the latter.

Maybe this wedding was a blessing in disguise.

When I woke up, I spotted Will, walking from the bathroom in slacks and no T-shirt. Lord Almighty, the torso on that man. Broad shoulders, arms with valleys and peaks, a toned, rippling chest, a six-pack despite the fact that at his age, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had gone soft in the middle. I couldn’t even guess how to handle him. And spending more and more time around him was not the easiest thing for me to do, though it was easy on the eyes.

The only thing I wished he would change was the fact that he didn’t spend nearly as much time with his daughter as he should have. I thought part of it had to do with the fact that she looked so much like Megyn. Regardless, that wasn’t Thea’s fault and it was clear to me how much she wanted to be around her father. I, of course, did not feel as though I had any right to tell Will how to parent his own child. If anything, I was making an observation. He could do with it what he wanted.

But I still had not told him yet.

“Bea, why are you staring at my dad?”

My eyes snapped over to Thea, currently standing at the foot of the couch in a beautiful dress that came to her calves, a lavender color that went beautifully with her dark hair and light eyes. I had only seen Megyn in that one photograph still lining the hallway, but I knew she was beautiful. Having parents as perfect as she did, it did not surprise me in the slightest that Thea was growing into a stunning young woman.

Another reason why it was so imperative for Will to be in his daughter’s life.

Will, hearing his daughter’s question, turned to give me a stare with a charming raised eyebrow.

“I thought I saw a stain on his slacks,” I said slowly. “I wanted to get a good look before saying anything. I know how much your father loves those slacks.”

Will gave me a look that said he knew I wasn’t telling the truth. The curve of his lips told me he was amused by my lie, and potentially curious about why I would lie in the first place. I refused to acknowledge his stare, his silent question, because if I did, I would talk more than I should, and if I talked more than I should, this entire vacation - was it a vacation, though? - would be much more awkward than it already was.

“What time is it?” I asked quickly, throwing my legs over the side of the couch and standing up. “You’re both getting dressed? Why did no one wake me?”

“Daddy said you looked so peaceful, he didn’t want to ruin it for you,” Thea said, a mysterious smile lighting her face before she disappeared in a book, finding a comfortable place on the chair next to the couch.

I glanced over at Will, who continued to stare at me, an indecipherable look on his face. He almost seemed lost in thought. When he realized Thea had said something about him, he blinked, snapping out of his daze.

“Yes,” he said before clearing his throat. “It’s time to start getting dressed, Beatrice. You know how Mo is if we’re even one second late.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been late to anything in my life,” I said as I walked over to the closet to retrieve my dress.

“Well, let me tell you from personal experience, it’s not pretty,” he muttered.

I couldn’t help but notice that he still hadn’t put a shirt on and it took everything in me not to let my gaze linger. I did not need Thea calling me out again in front of her father, or worse, if Will noticed my hungry stare himself.

I hid a grin as I disappeared into the restroom, dress in tow.