Page 23 of Dare Me

“Can I help you with your stuff?” Ryleigh asked as she walked toward the car.

“I would love that! Thanks!” She handed her a suitcase before grabbing a second one. “And tonight, dinner’s on me! Whatever you want!”

Ryleigh’s eyes went wide. “Wow! Thanks!”

It took three trips to get everything inside, and once they were done, her sister groaned.

“This is all of it right? I mean…you didn’t leave anything at Liam’s, did you?”

“Um…”

“Ari! This is even more than the last time!” she whined.

“Okay, okay…I know, but…this is only temporary, remember? I should be hearing back on that job any day now! I am super qualified for the position and my cover letter was amazing, so there isn’t a doubt in my mind that the job is mine!”

But…it wasn’t.

Three days later, she got antsy and called the office and found out the position had been filled.

So besides sleeping on a sofa surrounded by practically everything she owned—Liam had dropped more stuff off—she now had to start looking at jobs again. And while there were aton of positions open for radiation therapists, none of them were in areas she wanted to live.

It was hard not to let this get her down, but…she was definitely feeling down.

And on top of that, pretty much everyone she talked to in her family had nothing but great things to say about Will.

He was so nice!

So friendly!

Super cool!

Blah, blah, blah…and it was killing her.

After leaving her brother’s apartment on Monday morning, Arianna had been fairly successful in not thinking about him. Sure, every now and then she’d think of his kiss or his hands on her face…the weight of him on top of her and how freaking sexy he was…

“Ugh…enough!” she hissed at herself.

“Hey!” Ryleigh called out as she came through the door with a pizza. “I hope you don’t mind that I picked up dinner on the way home.”

Sitting up straighter, Arianna tossed her phone aside. “I thought you worked at the pub today.”

“I did, but after cooking pub food all day, I didn’t want it for dinner. Besides, I…needed to talk to you about something.”

Her sister was always more serious than she was, but her tone was even more somber than usual. “Um…okay. What’s up?”

Sighing dramatically, Ryleigh put the pizza down on the coffee table before plopping down beside her. “So…obviously I know about you and Will, right?”

She nodded.

“And no one else even has a clue, right?”

“Ry, come on. What’s up?”

She sighed again. “Mom sort of has this great idea that…um…” Pausing, she looked like she was going to be sick.

“What? What’s her idea?”

“She wants Liam to fix me up on a date with Will,” Ryleigh blurted out.

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