“Sam,” I grin at her, “Leo hasn’t seen Jules in a long time. Would you take him over to see her and meet Nate?”

Leo continues to scowl at me, but then sighs and smiles down at Sam. “Hi, Samantha.”

“It’s just Sam,” she responds and tucks her arm in his. “Let’s do the obligatory walk away thing where we don’t sense the tension over there and find somewhere else to be.”

Leave it to Sam to not beat around the bush.

“Will, this is crazy. Talk to me. What did I do?”

But he frowns stubbornly and shakes his head again. “Not here.”

“You’re scaring me.” I whisper.

“This is not the time or the place,” he mutters, still not meeting my gaze.

“Time to toss the bouquet!” Jules announces. “Meg, get your sexy ass in here!”

I keep my eyes on Will’s face, begging him to talk to me.

“Go, Jules is calling for you,” he mutters and turns his back on me and walks away.

Fuck.

All the single girls are gathered in a semi-circle before the stage. In this crowd, there aren’t many single girls, maybe fifteen. Sam is nowhere to be found, probably still chatting with Leo.

Traitor.

I paste a smile on for Jules and wait patiently for her to make a big show of tossing the bouquet. I try to step aside so Brynna can catch it, but wouldn’t you know it falls right in my hands.

Sonofabitch.

I just laugh and hold it above my head. Jules hugs me and we pose for photos. The photographer asks for a few more posed family photos, and when the last photo is taken, Will returns to my side.

“Is all the wedding crap over?” he asks.

“Yeah, all that’s left is dancing and getting drunk,” I respond.

“Good, let’s get out of here.”

We spend the next hour making our way through the ballroom, saying our goodbyes, posing for a few more photos, and hugging Jules and Nate.

“I’m so proud of you, kiddo,” I hear Will murmur to Jules.

“Thanks,” she smiles up at him. “And don’t call me that.”

He laughs, a real Will laugh, and my stomach clenches. God, I love his laugh.

I love him so much, and he’s about to break up with me, I just know it.

He escorts me out to the curb and asks the limo driver to take us back to the church where his car is parked. Once inside, Will sits at one side of the limo, and I slide over to the other side, knowing I’m not welcome to sit next to him.

And not being able to touch him is killing me.

So, I’ll let him decide when he wants to talk about what’s eating at him. We sit in silence all the way to the church. He gets me settled into his sexy car, and is silent all the way to my house.

I notice he doesn’t take me back to his place.

When he parks in my driveway, he cuts the engine and we sit in silence, not looking at each other, just looking straight ahead.

Finally, after what feels like forever, I break the silence.

“Will,” I whisper, “please talk to me. I can’t apologize to you if I don’t know what I did wrong.”

He scrubs his hand over his mouth roughly, then abruptly gets out of the car, stalks around to my side, and opens the passenger door wide, indicating I should get out.

So I do.

He follows me to my door, watches me disarm the alarm, and then turns to go.

“Please, don’t go. Will, come inside and talk to me.”

“I can’t talk to you,” he murmurs, not meeting my eyes. “It hurts too damn much to talk to you, Megan. It’s killing me to look at you.”

“What the fuck is going on?” I demand, my hands on my hips. “Don’t be a pussy, Will, just say what the fuck is wrong!”

“You are!” His head snaps up, his eyes pissed off. “I tell you every fucking day how much I love you, Megan.” He moves closer to me, his face inches from mine. “Every single day, I say it. I show you. I make sure you know that I am completely in love with you.”

I swallow hard, my eyes wide, and just watch him as he unloads, while my heart is breaking. I feel tears gather in my eyes.

“But you can’t say it back,” he continues. He throws his arms up and stalks away, but then turns back to me, his mouth set in a grim line. “You can’t tell me that you love me, yet you just stood on a stage before two hundred of my nearest and dearest and told another man that you love him.”

My mouth drops and a tear falls down my cheek.

“I saw you,” he spits out. “I saw you tell him you love him after he whispered in your ear and kissed you, which almost earned him a punch in the jaw.” He rubs his mouth again and then plants his hands on his hips and another tear falls down my cheek.

“I’m so in love with you, Megan, I can’t see straight. You mean more to me than anything. More than my family, more than football. More than anything.” He shrugs and holds his hands out to his sides, as though he’s showing me everything he has.

“But you can’t say the same to me, even though I know you love me. I just don’t think you love me the way I love you.”

He closes his eyes and sighs, and then looks down at his feet. He’s standing before me, in his suit, and I want so desperately to take him in my arms and tell him how much I need him.

How much I love him.

He slowly raises his head and pins me with his sad blue eyes.

“If you can’t love me the way I love you, maybe we’re just wasting our time.” His shoulders sag and he runs his knuckles down my cheek. “Good luck to you, Megan.”

He turns on his heel and walks down my stairs and to his car, and I’m stuck.

What the fuck just happened?

He reaches his car, opens the door, and I spring into action.

“Wait!”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~Will~

I open my car door, my heart in my throat, and have to physically stop myself from running back to her and begging her to forget everything I just said.

I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give me, for the rest of my life, if I can just have her.

But not ever hearing the words come out of that sweet mouth will make me resent her eventually, and that’s something I never want to happen.

Ever.

I love her too much for that shit, so it’s best to cut our losses now.

“Wait!”

She sounds panicked. I clench my eyes shut and grip the car door tightly. Just go back to the house, babe.

“Will, wait.” She’s at my side now. I look down into her tear-filled hazel eyes and it takes everything in me to not gather her to me and tell her everything will work out.