Page 4 of Dare Me

But he didn’t.

He’d promised to keep in touch.

But he hadn’t.

For weeks she’d tried reaching out to him but never got a response and there had been no listing for a Will Jameson in Washington D.C.

Or anywhere.

At least, not her Will.

Chasing after a guy who clearly didn’t want her wasn’t her thing, but every now and again, she wondered just what had gone wrong. How could someone fake that kind of connection?

Why didn’t he want me?

Yeah, that question had been messing with her the most. If it weren’t for her family—minus Liam—Arianna didn’t know how she would have gotten through the last year.

True, no one knew about Will—except her sister—and there was no way she was going to share with anyone that she’d met this great guy who just disappeared off the face of the planet after spending twenty-four hours with her.

Being part of a large Irish-Catholic family meant that you were supposed to find someone to love and marry and have a bunch of kids with. For most of her life, Arianna had gotten around anyone pushing that tradition on her. She’d gone away to college and then took an internship on the other side of the country and thoroughly enjoyed having her privacy and independence. But ever since she’d come home to Laurel Bay?The hints and not-so-gentle nudges for her to find a nice guy to settle down with had been constant.

The only plus side to it? It meant her parents were leaving her sister Ryleigh alone for a little while. Apparently, she was their prime target for the last four years, and poor Ryleigh was at her wit's end. So for now, Arianna was willing to take one for the team and go out on some dates to make her parents happy. They didn’t need to know that she was still harboring a bit of a broken heart. She’d get over it eventually.

Maybe.

And now that she was an adult, no one was scaring guys away like they used to. Just thinking about all the boys her brothers had harassed and threatened back in the day was enough to make her roll her eyes. They never truly succeeded in making anyone run or break up with her, but it was cute how they tried.

Now, no one was getting chased away. If anything, whenever she was down at their family pub, Donovan’s, Patrick and Jamie were practically sending eligible guys her way! It had actually become a bit of a fun family game and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if even one guy had given her even a hint of the feels, but…they hadn’t.

Damn you, Will Jameson!

Flopping back against the pillows, she tossed her phone aside with disgust. She couldn’t keep doing this to herself. The smart thing to do would be to delete all those pictures and just forget about the whole thing. Maybe she’d be able to focus on meeting a nice guy if she didn’t keep pulling up Will’s picture and making comparisons.

Maybe.

Her phone chimed again. “Dammit, Mark, I said I’d let you know,” she murmured before grabbing it. Her sister’s name popped up and it made her smile.

Ryleigh: So? How was your night?

Rather than texting her back, Arianna simply hit the call button.

“I wasn’t expecting you to call,” Ryleigh said with amusement.

“Well, I know why I’m home and in bed by eleven. What’s your excuse?”

“The date went that well, huh?”

“Mark was really nice, but…”

“Ugh…not again, Ari. They can’t all be nice guys that you have zero interest in. It’s just not possible!”

“Sadly, it is,” she said wearily. “We had a great dinner and then he wanted to take me to some bar where a friend of his was playing in a band.”

“Say no more. I hate when they have a friend in a band,” Ryleigh replied. “It never goes well.”

“Exactly.” The sigh was out before she could stop it. “Look, I’m more than happy to keep going out with these guys if it takes some of the pressure off of you. I know Mom and Dad have been pressuring you to find Mr. Right…”

“And Gram and Pop,” Ryleigh interrupted. “They joined the campaign too.”

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