Page 48 of Dare Me

“There are tons of available apartments! Granted, they’re not all right here in downtown Laurel Bay, but most of them are within ten minutes! Hell, here’s one that two blocks from where you work!”

“Seriously?” she asked, grabbing the laptop from her. Once she scanned the listing, she became pissed. “Son of a bitch. Why wouldn’t he tell me about them?” Scrolling through more listings, she stopped. “There’s even another one open in Will and Liam’s building! What is wrong with our brother?”

“The list is endless,” Ryleigh replied as she took the laptop back. “Honestly, Ari, I think you’ll feel differently if you had aplace of your own.” Pausing, she gave her a weak smile. “Just…think about it, okay?”

Arianna still didn’t see the point, but was willing to let this go for tonight. Rather than look over her sister’s shoulder, she went and grabbed her own tablet and moved back over to the large upholstered chair and got comfortable. “Go back to work. I’m sorry I interrupted you.”

“No worries. I really didn’t have anything to do. That was just an excuse to give you and Will some time alone.”

That just made her feel worse. “Then I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you.”

Ryleigh looked up and smiled. “It’s okay. I love you and I just want you to be happy.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know.”

“And I love you too.”

Her smile grew. “And I love hearing that.” Pausing, she glanced down at her screen. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to head inside and watch some TV in bed. It was barely nine o’clock, but Ryleigh always went to sleep early. She stood and stretched. “Night!”

“Night!”

Once she heard Ryleigh’s bedroom door close, Arianna stood and began making up her makeshift bed on the couch. It took all of five minutes, but she longed for the day when she could just walk into her own bedroom and crawl into a real bed.

“It’s a sad dream, but there it is,” she murmured as she got comfortable and picked her tablet up again. It was crazy how many apartments were available and most of them were within her budget. Staying in Laurel Bay—or close to it—would be easy, but this situation with Will wasn’t.

After a while, her eyes started to feel heavy and she got up and grabbed a bottle of water to keep next to the couch andturned out most of the lights. The small lamp on the end table was enough for her so she could keep searching for a few more minutes, but she was losing the fight to stay awake.

Off in the distance, she heard her cell phone ping with an incoming text.

Will.

With a tired huff, she got up again and fished her phone out of her purse, but didn’t look at it until she was comfortable on the sofa and under the blankets. And when she read his opening message, she smiled.

It was a photo of them on the boat in San Francisco.

Will: It wasn’t the view of the bay that made this a great trip. It was the company.

Her heart melted a little and she knew she wouldn’t need the night to think about staying in Laurel Bay temporarily.

Arianna: I’m sure my sister will make an excellent tour guide.

She added a winking emoji, so he guessed she was trying to make a joke.

Will: I don’t need a tour guide. I’ve seen enough ocean views to last a lifetime.

Will: Unless you were offering. In that case, I would find the Carolina coast riveting

Arianna: LOL!

Arianna: The most facts you’d get out of me is that’s the ocean and that’s the beach

Arianna: Or I’d possibly point out a fish or a dolphin

Arianna: I’m not very exciting

Will: I disagree

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