Page 74 of Dare Me

“Will…”

“No, there’s no other way and to be honest, I don’t enjoy sneaking around like this. I’m not ashamed of us, Arianna! There will never be a perfect time for us to do this. From what I can tell, everyone’s going to be mad at me and they’re going to try to tell you we need to break up. Why prolong the torture?”

Right now, all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and pretend this was a bad dream. “Because I just think we need a little more time to think this through,” she said after taking another bite of her muffin. “Just…give it a little more time. Please. I think if we rush out and drop this bombshell, it’s going to mess with the plans for the resort and I told you I didn’t want to be the cause of that.”

“Waiting isn’t going to change that,” he said as he kneeled down beside her. “Liam’s going to be pissed no matter what, but I don’t think he’ll go so far as to want to dissolve our partnership over it. He’s going to be a dick to me for a while, but he’ll have to get over it.”

“If you had just told him about us a year ago, none of this would be an issue.” The words were out before she could stop them and when she saw the look on his face, she almost wished she could take them back.

Almost.

“Look, I said it from the get-go, Will. You decided to pretend like we never met because you didn’t want to come between me and my brother, and I told you that you were wrong about it. That hasn’t changed.”

Straightening, he let out a long breath as both hands raked through his hair. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re throwing that back at me right now. I feel shitty enough and…” He paced away and it looked like he was going to leave.

“Will, come on,” she argued as she got up to follow him. “You have to admit that none of this would be happening right now if you had talked to me about this on the plane! It wouldn’t have gotten to this point and I could have come home and told everyone how I met this great guy and oh, guess what? He’s a friend of Liam’s! They might not have liked the age difference, but they would have been impressed with what you were doing with your life!”

“Oh, really? Because they’re not so impressed with the here and now! Your brother just told me to my face that I’m not allowed to go near you! And he knows me better than anyone!”

“This is a ridiculous conversation,” she muttered and walked back to the table and sat down. “Can we please just…just give this a week?”

“What difference is it going to make?” he asked, his frustration clear. “What’s going to change between now and next weekend?”

“I don’t know, Will! I just…I don’t want to make a rash decision right now based on one stupid run-in with my brother!” She paused for a moment. “I’ll try to talk to him at lunch tomorrow and start laying the groundwork about you and I.”

He didn’t sit down; he just continued to pace. “How do you plan on avoiding him here in the apartment complex?”

“I don’t know.”

“He’s going to recognize your car. Then what? Did you think about that?”

While she understood why he was frustrated, his tone was seriously getting on her nerves.

“Well, when I leased this apartment. I didn’t plan on having to hide anything. It was all going to be great with no issues. You’re the one who got caught this morning, so I don’t know how this is suddenly my fault!”

Now he walked over. Bracing his hands on the chair facing her, he looked fairly intimidating. “I never said it was your fault,” he snapped. “I’m just trying to figure out the solution so no one bothers you! Don’t you get it? Don’t you see that every damn thing I’ve been doing for over a year is to protect you?” Shoving the chair, he muttered a curse.

“I don’t need protecting, Will!” she snapped back. “I get that you didn’t realize it after only knowing me for a day, but by now I would think you could figure it out! Look at me! I’m a grown-ass independent woman! I know my brothers and parents like to think I’m still a kid, but I’m not! I’ve basically been on my own for years and this last year, I have kicked some major ass in life.”

“Yeah, I get that, but…”

“No! No buts! I already have to deal with one group of people I love who refuse to see me for who I am and all that I am capable of. I don’t want it to be like that with us too!”

His look was fierce, and for a moment, he didn’t say a word. “We’re getting off-topic. This isn’t about how I see you, Ari. This is about…” Throwing up his hands, he cursed again. “Hell, I don’t even know what this is about anymore!”

“This is about you needing to trust me,” she said after mentally counting to ten. “Please just let me handle my family. I know you think you need to step in, but you don’t. You and Liam are friends and I know you’ve known each other for a while, but you don’t know him like I do.”

He didn’t come any closer, and it took a solid minute before he seemed to even remotely relax. She thought they were going to be fine—maybe he’d sit down and they’d finish eating breakfast and then…see where the day took them.

But he didn’t.

“You know what? I…I just think I need some time to think about this,” he said, his voice low and thick with emotion.

“Think about what? There’s nothing left to think about,” she argued. “I’m handling it.”

He took one step back and then another until he was almost to the door. “This isn’t the way I want our relationship to be. We shouldn’t have to think this hard about your family and what everyone’s going to think or say or do. It shouldn’t be this hard, Arianna.”

“Will,” she said, feeling the first twinges of panic. “Come on…it’s not that bad.”

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