Page 62 of Dare Me

“Will Jameson,” she said after putting the glasses down. “I come from a long line of fantastic cooks. We just haven’t had a place for me to showcase my skills!”

If anything, he looked even happier.

“I know that technically I’ve had dinner with your family, so that counts as a home-cooked meal, but I really like the thought of it just being you and me.” Reaching out, he squeezed her hand. “So, what’s your specialty?”

“Hmm…it’s been so long since I’ve had the opportunity to really cook, so…”

“You know what? Surprise me,” he said happily. “I’ll bring the wine and whatever else you want me to, and it will be awesome. I know it!” Standing, he kissed her. “Now, I’m going to go across the hall and shower and change, and I’ll pick you up in an hour. Will that work?”

“Absolutely!” Arianna stood rooted to the spot until he was out the door, then she frantically burrowed through all the packages until she found her purse and fished out her phone.

Muttering a curse, she quickly typed out a text to her sister.

Arianna: HELP! I’m making dinner for Will tomorrow night! What do I do?

It took a solid five minutes for Ryleigh to respond.

Ryleigh: Why would you do that? You can’t cook

Arianna: *eye roll*

Arianna: Which is why I’m saying HELP

Her phone immediately rang.

“I know, I know,” she said as soon as she answered. “It just sort of slipped out and now I don’t know what to do.”

“You know, at this rate, I really might as well be dating Will.”

“You shut your rotten mouth,” she said, but was only partly kidding. “You have to help me, Ry.”

“It seems like that’s all I’ve been doing. Aren’t I telling everyone I’m going to dinner and a movie with Will tonight for you?”

She sighed dramatically. “Yes, yes, you’re amazing and wonderful and saving my ass all over town. I get it. But can you please make something and slyly bring it over here tomorrow without Will seeing it?”

With an audible groan, she agreed. “Fine. I’ll be there around five with…something.”

“Thank you!”

“Just know that I’m keeping track of all this and when the time comes that I need you to cover for me, you need to say yes with no questions asked, deal?”

“Deal!”

Will poured them each a glass of wine as he looked down at all the food Arianna had prepared for them. It had been years since anyone cooked for him and even though he mentioned the dinner he had with her family, it wasn’t the same thing. She had done all of this just for him and he couldn’t believe how happy it made him.

“Okay, so, um…this is a shepherd’s pie,” she began once he sat down. “I know it’s not much or particularly fancy, but withthe furniture being delivered today, I wasn’t sure what kind of time I was going to have, so I went with something a little easy.”

“It looks and smells amazing,” he told her. “And I don’t care if it took you all day or ten minutes; I’m just incredibly thankful that you wanted to do this.”

As he expected, she blushed at the compliment.

“There’s homemade ranch dressing for the salad, and you don’t have to use it, but the Irish butter really is amazing on the dinner rolls,” she suggested.

He couldn’t wait to try it all and after the first bite, he let out an unmanly moan. “Holy crap, Arianna. This is amazing!”

“Aww…you don’t have to say that…”

“I certainly do! I mean…” Motioning to his plate, Will felt at a loss for words. “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything as delicious as this. Maybe we can make this a once-a-week thing? Not the shepherd’s pie specifically, but dinner in? What do you think?” He took another forkful of his meal and almost wept at how delicious it was.

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