Page 19 of Dare Me

Boldly, he took another step toward her and was relieved that she didn’t move away.

“There hasn’t been a day since I said goodbye to you that I haven’t thought about you. Every day, Arianna. Every. Damn. Day.”

Her beautiful eyes went wide, but she said nothing.

“When I saw you earlier, I wanted to shove everyone aside and take you in my arms and kiss you like I’ve been dreaming of for far too long.” Swallowing hard, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “In a perfect world, I could have done that. I know I didn’t handle things the right way and you have every reasonto be mad at me, but try to look at this from my point of view. I really thought it was for the best.”

He saw her swallow hard. “You…you really thought about me?”

“Every day,” he whispered as he reached up and caressed her cheek. “Please tell me you understand. Tell me I didn’t completely screw this up. Tell me…”

“Will? You in here?” Liam called out.

Shit.

Dropping his hands, he took several steps away from Arianna and knew instantly that he’d just made things worse.

“Just go,” she told him quietly.

He’d do what she asked, but…he had his own ideas on how to handle this situation.

Walking out to the living room, he found Liam sitting on the sofa with his head thrown back and his eyes closed. “I thought you were going to hang out with your family for a while,” he said casually.

“That’s what I thought, but my parents started arguing about Arianna and then Ryleigh came in and started yelling at everyone about it too and…” He groaned. “It was all too much. So I figured I’d just come here and try again tomorrow with them.”

In the distance, Arianna slammed a drawer shut and that’s when Liam realized they weren’t alone.

“She’s in there?” he asked, and Will nodded.

“Look, I can sleep on the couch tonight,” he began carefully. “It feels mean to kick her out like this.”

Liam nodded. “Yeah, I feel bad about it. Even if she never actually asked if she could stay here.”

“It was sitting here empty. And it’s not like she’s sleeping in your bed.”

That made his friend laugh. “If I know my sister, she’s been sleeping there all along and only moved out when she knew I was coming home. Don’t let her fool you.” Sighing, he shook his head. “I hate making you sleep on the couch after practically dragging you home with me.”

“And I don’t feel good throwing your sister out after what went down at dinner. You know she’s got to be mortified.”

“To be fair, she was using my coming home as a distraction,” Liam explained. “She’s got a valid point and we all know she’s not a child, but that doesn’t mean we all have to be cool with her moving so far away.”

“She’s an adult,” Will said. “If that’s where the job opportunity is, then she should be able to make that decision for herself.”

The words sounded wrong to him because he didn’t want her to move. He wanted her to stay now that he was here. Or maybe he should just go so she wouldn’t be in such a hurry.

Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted.

Arianna. I want Arianna.

Unfortunately, that didn’t look like it was going to happen.

Ever.

“Ari!” Liam called out. “Can you come out here please?”

Will had no idea what his friend was going to say or if he should maybe go down to his Jeep to get his things, but when Arianna came down the hall and stood in the living room looking at her brother defiantly, he knew he needed to stay.

“I’m packing as fast as I can,” she said. “Like I told your friend, I can’t get everything out of here tonight, but I’ll be sure to take enough so he can unpack a bit. Just…give me an hour and I’ll be out of your way.”

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