Page 22 of Dare Me

“Dare me.”

A slow smile spread across her beautiful face. She looked over his shoulder before meeting his gaze again. “Are you asking me to dare you to fix this or…something else?”

Now it was his turn to smile. “That’s your call, beautiful girl.” His free hand came up and caressed her cheek.

She chewed her bottom lip as she thought about it and Will tried to take that as a good sign.

“I dare you to…” She paused and he swore he had stopped breathing. “Kiss me.”

He should have hesitated.

He should have told her it was too risky.

Instead, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.

It was hot and wet and deep and everything he remembered. Arianna stepped in close and pressed against him as her arms came up around him. It was intense and urgent and…

Over way too soon.

Slowly, her hands smoothed down his chest before taking a step back. “Yeah, so…I’m going to go inside.”

When she stepped around him, Will gently grabbed her hand one last time. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“Will…what good is saying anything? Nothing’s going to get resolved here. I think it’s for the best if we just let this go. I’m sorry.”

This time when she pulled away, he let her go.

For now.

But come tomorrow, he was determined to figure this whole situation out because one kiss wasn’t going to be enough.

Chapter Four

The next morning, Arianna was relieved to step out of her room and find the apartment empty. She was sure that her brother and Will were already up and out on a run or something.

That just meant she needed to get ready in record time and leave.

An hour later—and definitelynotin record time—she was tossing several bags of clothes into her trunk. It wasn’t all of her belongings, but it was most of it and it meant that Will could move into the room like he should have been able to last night.

“That bouncy house is his problem now,” she murmured as she climbed into her car.

The drive to work was short, but she decided to take a slight detour to pick up some strong coffee since she had almost zero sleep the night before.

Damn you, Will!

“Ugh…why did I have to kiss him?” It was a question she’d asked herself all night long. “Stupid truth or dare,” she mumbled because yeah, she definitely had a problem. Just hearing him ask her to dare him made her tummy flutter and all sorts of sexy images came to mind and…

She groaned again.

“I’m a mess. I’m a stupid, hot mess!”

Honestly, she was disgusted with herself and this was the confirmation she needed to prove why she had to accept that job in Chapel Hill.

If they offered it to her.

“When!” she corrected herself. “Whenthey offer me the position, I’m taking it and it doesn’t matter what anyone has to say. It’s my life and I’m living it my way.”

That was exactly what she told herself all day long and by the time she showed up at her sister’s apartment that evening, Arianna felt like she could take on the world!

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