Page 92 of Dare Me

“You know that right now she’s making more money than both of us, right?”

Groaning, Liam shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Yeah, well…she likes to brag. She’s a big deal at her job and I can’t tell you how happy she is when she comes home every day. We celebrate and…”

“No!” Liam quickly interrupted. “Just…no.”

“No, what?”

“I know we just said we need to communicate, but not about personal stuff. I beg of you. I may be forced to finally acknowledge that my little sister is a grown woman, but please do not make me actually think about it or put any kind of visuals in my head.” He shuddered dramatically.

“Got it. No worries,” Will said with a low laugh. “So, are we good? You’re not going to be breathing down my neck, threatening my life, or trying to convince Arianna to break up with me?”

Reaching out a hand, Liam said, “We’re good. Welcome to the family.”

And for a guy who hadn’t had a family in a long time, those were some pretty sweet words.

One Donovan down, only another six to go…

By midnight, Will had pretty much hit his limit on boundaries and patience. He desperately wanted to talk to Arianna and didn’t think he should wait until morning to do it. Grabbing his phone, he texted her.

Will: Hey. Are you home?

It took almost ten minutes for her to reply.

Arianna: Yeah. I’ve been home for over an hour

Glancing at his door and then the phone, he wondered how he didn’t hear her.

Will: Can I come over?

Arianna: It’s late and I’m already in bed.

Arianna: Rain check?

“Rain check?” he murmured. “Seriously?”

Will: I just really wanted to know if you’re okay. I was hoping you’d come over when you got home to let me know how everything went with your family

She didn’t respond right away, and he figured she must have fallen asleep.

“Well, this sucks.” Tossing his phone aside, he walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, only to realize he wasn’t hungry or thirsty. Slamming it shut, he walked back to the living room and picked up his phone to see if she texted back, but…she didn’t.

With nothing left to do, he shut off the lights and trudged up the stairs to his loft. Stripping down to his boxers, he crawled into bed. Unfortunately, he wasn’t tired and his mind was racing and he had no idea what to do about it. He put his phone on the charger next to his bed and reluctantly got back up and went downstairs to grab his laptop. Maybe working on some design ideas would help take his mind off the fact that this day had pretty much gone to shit and he had no choice but to wait until morning to do anything about it.

Once he was back in bed, however, another idea of how to pass the time came to him.

House hunting.

This apartment was all fine and well for right now, but it wasn’t something for the long-term and if he played his cards right, in six months he and Arianna could move into someplace together. It wasn’t anything they’d had the chance to talk about, so he had no idea what kind of houses she liked or what style she tended to gravitate toward, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t start looking. If the business took off the way he and Liam were hoping, it would be nice if he could design a house that had everything both he and Arianna wanted and build it.

“Hard to do that when she’s not talking to me,” he muttered, but knew he was being a baby. From everything Liam had told him earlier, it sounded like a wild night for the Donovan family. It seemed like a lot of issues had been put out in the open and they were going to have to figure out how to move forward from here as a family.

The whole thing was a little foreign to him considering he’d grown up without a father and had no siblings. As much as he enjoyed hanging out with the Donovans, he would have to say that he was relieved to be an only child. It seemed like there was just so much drama on a daily basis.

After this whole confrontation thing, was Ryleigh going to be able to pick out her own dates and decide if and when she wanted to get married? Was Liam off the hook too? He couldn’t imagine Mrs. Donovan suddenly doing a complete one-eighty and keeping her opinions and her matchmaking to herself. It didn’t seem possible.

Scrolling through houses for sale in Laurel Bay, Will realized he could find something in just about every budget scenario. There were bungalows and there were million-dollar houses. Fortunately, there were also plenty that fell somewhere in between. Living close to the water—the ocean or the bay—could be nice, but it wasn’t a must-have for him. As long as thehouse had good bones and was in a decent neighborhood, he’d be happy to start that way. Eventually they could move on to something bigger, but for a starter home, he wasn’t looking to break the bank.

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