“Will—”
His entire body tensed at the change in her tone. It implied that what she was gearing up to say was something he didn’t want to hear.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” The door flew open, and Aly appeared, hair and makeup perfect, in sweats as the door rebounded and almost hit her. She flinched and stepped out of the way. “We’re running late. Although why I should be sorry that my entire Christmas party is running late is—” Aly stopped when she caught sight of Beth in the kitchen. “Oh, uh, hi.”
Will chuckled. “I got your text. It’s fine. Beth was about to take Andy to her house.”
Aly looked at Beth again before returning her attention to him. “O-okay. Thanks.”
“Think she’ll ever get used to us?” Beth asked, watching Aly rush out of the room.
“Everyone does,” Will assured his sister. Marc had struggled with the big family when he’d first come into the mix. And now it was impossible to tell that he hadn’t always been an Evans. Even his brother’s shy wife Trish had fallen in step with the Evanses.
“Mom.” Steve’s voice echoed through the house. “We’re going to the car.”
“I better go,” Beth said. “Have fun. But,” she paused, “when kids are involved, it gets complicated fast. Make sure you work through the details before Andy finds out about you two.”
Will sighed. “He’s staying with you tonight.”
Beth shook her head. “Okay, don’t take me seriously, then.”
He wasn’t blowing her off. Not really. But he’d spent the last week fighting his growing feelings for Aly. And he was tired of fighting it. There was a chance he might fall hard for her; he knew this. But if he did, he couldn’t see how that was bad for Andy. “I’ll see you tomorrow at swim.”
Beth tipped her head up and stopped. “Marc will probably take him. He’s better at the super early mornings, and he might pretend he isn’t nosy, but he’s going to want to check in with you.”
Will groaned. He lifted his beer and took another long swig as the door swung shut behind her.
As good as another beer sounded, he didn’t want to be drunk at Aly’s party, so the empty bottle got tossed into the trash before he headed into the living room to wait. Light taps of heels on the wooden stairs had him turning in that direction.
The breath whooshed out of him as he tracked every inch of the satin dress. A deep V at the neck left her beautiful breasts straining against the red fabric before it pinched in at the waist. Images of it pooled at her feet crashed through his brain as she stood at the bottom of the steps.
“Is it okay?” She glanced down and smoothed imaginary wrinkles from the fabric hugging her lush hips.
He stalked across the room like a predator, stopping inches from her to force her chin up.
“Okay doesn’t leave a man speechless with his jaw on the floor,” he growled. “You are so far beyond okay that I can’t even see it.”
Her lips parted in anO, and he yearned to mess up that red mouth with his. To leave his mark on her. He moved his thumb to her lower lip, smoothing it slowly over the cherry lipstick. Her gray eyes darkened, and she swallowed thickly, the reaction sending Will’s blood pumping south. But he had a plan for tonight.
* * *
For one quick second,Will’s eyes burned with a fire that lit a flame deep inside her.
But then he glanced away and stepped back. “Let’s go.”
“What if I’m not ready?” she huffed at his unsurprising demand.
He shook his head and languidly perused her body. He paused briefly at the tops of her breasts, which felt heavy under his fierce gaze. She locked her shoulders to fight the shiver that threatened as he tracked down her legs before finally lifting back to her face.
“You’re ready. Because if you look any better, we aren’t leaving the house.” With that, he moved to hold the door open for her.
She took a deep breath. The teasing flirting he’d been doing for the last week had been replaced with something a lot more intense tonight. And although they had agreed to keep this friendly, the way her body throbbed at every growly word from his mouth made her question whether she’d have the strength to resist him.
But the party was a required event, so she headed out into the cold. The car the studio had sent waited out front. Though the studio went all out, the point of tonight wasn’t about having fun. There would be cameras everywhere. Being part of reality TV meant that anything the show deemed worthy became on-camera activity.
The leather cracked as she settled into the seat with Will beside her. He widened his stance, and his smooth navy dress pants pressed into her bare leg. She balled her hands in her lap to keep from touching him, but it was useless. Instead, he rested his warm palm on her thigh. Her breath caught at the simple touch, and a fire rushed through her. She longed for him to move his hand higher.
“Relax.”