Page 21 of Dare Me

She held up a hand to stop him. “No. Just…no. We spent that entire day talking honestly with each other, and when it was time to be truthful, you chose to lie.”

“I didn’t lie…”

“Then you omitted the truth,” she said snarkily. “You realized who I was and instead of talking to me about it so we could figure something out, you decided I wasn’t worth it.” Slowly, she got to her feet. “And that means you’re not the man I thought you were.”

Will stood and took a step toward her. “I made a decision and it was the wrong one,” he hissed quietly. “I made a mistake. Areyou seriously going to stand there and tell me you’ve never made one?”

“Like I said, my mistake was thinking you were an honest guy. A good guy.”

He wanted to howl with frustration, but that would draw attention to them. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure Liam wasn’t coming, he fought the urge to argue. “Can we please just agree to meet up sometime and talk? Please?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Will knew she was doing her best to look defiant.

And he knew he had nothing to lose, so…

“Truth or dare?” he asked.

Her eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

Nodding, he repeated, “Truth or dare?” During their day in San Francisco, it was a game they played all day long and he knew she was a sucker for it.

Arianna’s lips twitched. “Truth.”

Dammit.

If there was one thing he knew, it was to never ask a question you didn’t really want the answer to. So instead of making this personal, he went another way.

“Are you serious about moving to Chapel Hill?”

It was obvious that he’d surprised her and he watched her visibly relax. “Um…yes. I think it would be a good choice.”

“Don’t you like your job here?”

She only paused for a moment. “I actually love it.” Then she smiled. “I’ve had some amazing patients and the medical staff I work with are all wonderful.”

“Then…why leave?”

Sighing, she sat back down. “You were at dinner, weren’t you?”

Before he could stop himself, Will was beside her. “I hated that,” he admitted and boldly reached for her hand. Ariannadidn’t pull away, but the sad look on her face spoke volumes. She was miserable. Rubbing his thumb over her wrist, he let out a slow breath. “I hated every second of it and when you got up and walked away, I wanted to go after you.”

“But you didn’t.” Her voice was so low it was almost a whisper and it seemed like there was nothing he could do or say that was going to make things right between them. Slowly, she pulled her hand from his and stood up again. “I think I’m going to go inside.”

Will was instantly on his feet blocking her way. “This isn’t over,” he gruffly told her.

“Sadly, it is. I don’t want a man who won’t fight for me. I deserve better than that.”

“Then tell me what you want me to do!” he demanded—loudly—and they both went a little wide-eyed. Will knew he was holding his breath and waiting for Liam to come out and ask what was going on, but…he didn’t. “Tell me how to fix this.”

“I…I don’t think you can.” She wouldn’t look at him, and that hurt more than her words.

Reaching down, he took her hand in his again.

“Will…”

“Dare me,” he whispered.

This time she did look up at him. “What?”

---