Page 18 of Dare Me

He looked at her warily. “You get what?”

With a shrug, she took a long drink of water before responding. “That our time together meant more to me than it did to you.” Another shrug. “That you meant more to me than I did to you. So…don’t worry, I’m not going to tell Liam anything and if all goes as planned, I won’t be here in Laurel Bay for much longer.”

The look of utter shock was almost comical. “But…your father just said…”

“I’m a freaking adult! No one wants to accept that, but there it is! Arianna Donovan is an adult and she can make her own decisions! And considering how things are going here, it’s definitely for the best that I move.” When she went to turn away, Will grasped her upper arm and spun her around to face him.

It was a bold move, she’d give him that, but when she looked at him, it was like she forgot to be angry. All she wanted to do was kiss him and make him see she was worth fighting for, that he’d made a mistake and simply forgot their chemistry.

“It’s not for the best,” he said gruffly. “You shouldn’t have to move away. I’ll go. I’ll tell Liam that I changed my mind and that this was a mistake. He already knew I was hesitant to come here.”

And that was all the confirmation she needed.

The last thing she needed was to be hit over the head with the fact that she’d been wrong about him.

Them.

Everything.

She’d wasted an entire year on a man who didn’t want her and now she felt like a complete idiot.

Pulling free of his grasp, Arianna took a step back. “Trust me, it really is better for me to go. I can’t stand having everyone telling me how to live my life. And it seems like you and my brother have a solid business idea, so…yeah.” Taking another sip of water, she let out a shaky breath and tried to figure out the best way to pack her stuff and leave without crying.

Unable to help herself, she looked up at him and saw the heat and intensity in those eyes that had haunted her for so long.

Damn him.

“I’m going to pack. Obviously I won’t have everything out of here tonight, but at least you’ll be able to sleep in the guest room and put some of your own things away.” When he didn’trespond, she added, “Maybe you should go down to your car and start bringing stuff up.”

This time she didn’t wait for him to reply; she simply turned and walked to the guest room. The only perk to all of this was that she wouldn’t have to spend another night on that crappy mattress and then almost smiled knowing it was Will’s problem now.

And he deserved it.

Gah…she hated being petty, but…maybe when her heart didn’t ache so much, she’d feel differently. But for tonight, yeah…she was more than okay thinking like a mean girl.

Will stood rooted to the spot for a solid minute and wondered just what exactly he was supposed to do and before he could second-guess himself, he went after her.

He found her in the bedroom tossing clothes into a suitcase, her back to him.

“I can sleep on the couch tonight,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to do this, and I’m sure your brother would agree.”

She let out a snort without looking at him. “Trust me, he wouldn’t. He’s just like my father and he’ll expect me to be the obedient daughter and return home to Mommy and Daddy and do what they tell me to do. God, I should have stayed in San Francisco.”

Taking a tentative step into the room, he moved next to the bed so she’d have to look at him. “I hate that I’m making this worse. Talk to me. Please. Tell me what I can do to make this better.”

Glaring at him, she replied, “There’s nothing more I want you to say to me, Will. Believe me.”

Frowning, he asked, “What does that mean?”

Arianna sighed loudly as she straightened. “Seriously? Um…gee, in the last several minutes, you’ve basically acted like my overprotective family, made decisions for me that no one asked you to, and admitted that you didn’t want to come here to Laurel Bay because you didn’t want to see me!”

“That’s not what I said!” With his own sigh, he moved closer to her. “I didn’t want to come here because Ididwant to see you! I knew you were going to be pissed at me and your brother would kick my ass if I even hinted at being interested in you! Even if we never told anyone that we’d met before, you don’t think we’d catch any grief over this? I’m nine years older than you! I’ll admit that I don’t know the rest of your family at all, but after that whole display at dinner, I’m pretty confident they’d have a lot to say if I came sniffing around you!”

“Sniffing around? Really?” she mocked and Will had to fight the urge to smile because he loved the snarky side of her.

“You know what I’m saying. Things would be complicated and the last thing I wanted was to mess around with your life like that.” It was the truth. She might think that this was about him not wanting her, but that wasn’t it at all.

And maybe he needed to tell her that.

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