Page 58 of Dare Me

“Probably for the same reason you didn’t tell your family that you found an apartment. I think he wants to find a place on his own and not share any details until the deal is done.”

“Is Patrick helping him?” she asked with a slightly disgruntled tone.

“Um…”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to lie. I get it. It’s totally fine for Patrick to help Liam, since he’s a guy, and apparently the men in this family have a different set of rules than Ryleigh and me.” She let out a small huff. “I get that my parents are very old-school traditional, but it really ticks me off sometimes. You’d think they’d just be proud of the strong and confident women we are and trust that we know what we’re doing.”

All he could do was nod.

“Part of me still feels guilty because Ryleigh had to bear the brunt of it while I was away at school, but…it’s just frustrating.”

“They love you, Arianna. And it may be outdated and a bit antiquated, but this is how they believe they're showing you love, by protecting you.”

“Stifling. The word you’re looking for is stifling.”

“Maybe you and Ryleigh need to put on a united front and sit your entire family down and just…you know…put it all out there. Like…hey, we get it. You’re concerned, but it’s our lives, and please just be there if we need you.”

Will felt like that was a pretty decent suggestion and imagined the Donovans would respect that level of maturity.

When Arianna started laughing hysterically, he figured he was wrong.

“Oh, you sweet, sweet delusional man!” Crawling on top of him, she gave him a very loud and all-too-brief kiss. “Believe it or not, we’ve already been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. We basically got pats on the head and told that they knew what was best. Why do you think I fought so hard to go away to school and then took the internship on the other side of the country?”

“Yeah, I um…I sort of thought that was an exaggeration at the time…”

She gave him another sweet smile. “Now you know that while I am many things, an exaggerator I am not.”

She was looking pretty pleased with herself and he couldn’t help but smirk because Arianna exaggerated certain things. Not where her family was concerned, he was learning, but there were times she definitely stretched the truth.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he tugged her down close so her breasts were firmly against his chest. “So you mean I didn’t solve this problem for you?” he asked with mock disbelief. “I was certain that I had hit upon the perfect solution.”

“I appreciate the effort, but trust me, they’re not an easy bunch to convince they’re wrong.”

He was beginning to realize that.

“Has Liam mentioned where he’s looking at houses?” she asked and as much as he enjoyed talking with her, he was pretty much over talking about her family.

His hand slowly smoothed its way up her back before sinking into her hair and giving a gentle tug. “I have a suggestion.”

She gave him that sexy little hum that he loved so much. “Mmm…I’m listening.”

“I think from here on out, the bed is a family-free zone. No talk of any member of your family. How does that sound?”

Her smile started slowly and then grew. “I think that is possibly the sexiest thing you could have ever said.”

His laugh was out before he could stop it. “Wow…and all this time I’ve been putting pressure on myself to find just the right words, and all it took was banning your family from the bedroom. Who knew?”

Arianna swatted playfully at his chest before closing the distance and kissing him.

And Will was completely addicted to her kisses.

He had been from that first night when they stayed up all night in the park wrapped up in a blanket and each other.

They didn’t make love that night, but they could tonight.

Again.

Slowly, he maneuvered them until she was perfectly lined up beneath him. And then he took his time showing her all the other things they could do when they pushed the real world away for a little while.

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