Page 33 of Dare Me

Their conversation flowed and it was almost as if no time had passed from San Francisco until now. They joked and laughed and by the third stop, Will took her hand in his and she didn’t pull away.

They’d purchased pots, pans, dishes, flatware, towels, sheets, pillows, curtains…and at least a dozen other things all before lunch. After stopping for a quick bite at a diner, they’d gone on to several furniture stores to look for the big-ticket items.

It broke her heart a little how he looked at things from a practical angle rather than whether he actually liked it. She’d commented on it more than once and he’d simply shrugged and said it didn’t really matter to him as long as he had a place to sit or a place to eat or a place to sleep.

“Ugh, I do not get you at all,” Arianna said as they strolled through the sofa section of the store. “When I get a place of my own, I am going to want every single piece of furniture to be something I love.”

Will stopped in his tracks and looked around. “Okay, what makes a sofa swoony?”

That made her laugh. “I didn’t say I’d swoon over it…”

“Just…humor me. Show me the finer points on picking furniture.”

Releasing his hand, Arianna moved through the rows of sofas and living room displays until one caught her eye. Turning, she grinned at him. “Now, I’m sure you’d be more than happy with some sort of recliner thing that all guys like.”

“Very true.”

“However, you’re going to have people over and need a place for them to sit too.” Pausing, she thought about his floor plan and frowned. “I don’t think you can have a recliner and a sofa. The space isn’t big enough. So…”

“This wasn’t about me,” he reminded her. “I was curious what you’d pick for your own place.”

“Oh. Right. Hmm…” Glancing around again, it took less than a minute for her eyes to spot the perfect sectional. Reaching for his hand, she dragged him down the aisle and stopped in front of a smaller sectional with a chaise. “This. This right here is whatI’d pick. Depending on the size of my place, I’d want this exact one or maybe something a little bigger.”

“O-kay…”

Arianna sat down and bounced on the cushions before leaning back against them. “Oh, yeah. Super comfy! And then when you want to put your feet up, bam! Chaise!”

Will reluctantly sat down, but then seemed pleasantly surprised. With a nod, he said, “Okay, now I see the appeal.”

After that, picking out furniture went fairly quick. He bought a sectional, end tables, a TV stand with lots of storage, even though the TV would be mounted on the wall, a small dining set, and a couple of lamps.

And that was just the first furniture store.

He picked out a bedroom set at the second one and everything would be delivered by the end of the week.

By the time they climbed back into the Jeep, Arianna was exhausted and hungry again. “Okay, what’s left?”

Beside her, he sighed. “I think we’ve done enough damage for today. Tomorrow we’ll deal with the mattress store and buying a TV.” Turning his head, he looked at her. “Want to grab some dinner?”

“I seriously do, but I don’t know if I’ll stay awake long enough to enjoy it.”

“We can grab some takeout and go back to my place and eat,” he suggested.

“One small problem?”

“What’s that?”

“You have no place to sit except the floor.” Then she laughed. “And that doesn’t sound appealing at all.”

“Well, there’s another option.”

“I’m listening.”

“Liam knows I don’t have any furniture yet and he’s in no rush for me to leave, so why don’t we just eat at his place?”

Ooh…that did sound like a good idea.

“Done. What do we want? Pizza? Chinese? Mexican?” Pausing, she grinned. “Anything but pub food. I donotwant to deal with my family if we don’t have to.”

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