Page 12 of Holiday Home 4

That dangerous idea churned inside his head, a storm ready to become a full-fledged tempest. He couldn’t keep hold of it for much longer; it was going to shatter the prison of self-control he’d wrapped it up in, then batter at his insides until he relented to its wishes.

“By comparison, what do youroldoutfits look like?” he asked.

“I suppose you’d find out if we end up going to Tahiti or one of the other places.”

After answering him, Victoria’s discerning eyes remained locked with his. She didn’t seem annoyed or bothered by his question, however. As good a sign as any… he hoped.

A little more. A little further. Just like on New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Day, actually. That had been when he’d obtained her number. The new year. So far, it’d been as wonderful as anything he could imagine. Was it wrong of him to consider if he could make it even more so?

“If I found outbeforethen, maybe I’d be more interested in seeing some new outfits. That might make me put some points to us going to Fiji.”

“Whatmight make you put some points to going to Fiji?” Victoria asked calmly.

How far was too far? Hewasn’tin a relationship with her, not even close. And… he wasn’t sure how Tess or Avril wouldtake learning that he’d gone and asked Victoria to model for him in some of her bikinis. In person. Perhaps that was the critical part. The way to convince Victoria to give him something of what he wanted, yet not push the envelope too far too fast.

And oh, he wanted this. Badly enough that he could feel his heart in his throat, sweat gathering on his palms.

“You said you’ve been to all these other places, right?” he said, speaking with a form of confidence—restrained but steady—that surprised him. “So, you probably have lots of pictures. Anything you’d be wearing in them would count asoldoutfits, wouldn’t they? So, you could show me all of those.”

“Allof those?” Victoria said.

“Or as many as you want…” Liam trailed off, daring to breathe in a little more of the tempest whirling through his veins. “We could go even further, attach a way for you to guarantee we go to Fiji. I could rate each outfit on how much I like it, from one to five. And that’ll be the same number of points I put into us going to Fiji. So, the more pictures you send, and the more Ilikethem, the more likely we end up on its beaches.”

Silence. Yet not an unpleasant silence. One of the most attractive women on the planet continued to hold his gaze. Very little changed in that regard. Victoria blinked, long eyelashes coming down. When she opened her eyes, she leaned back, picked up her wine, and brought it to her lips. She continued looking at him over the rim of the glass, throat constricting as she drank it deeply—morethan deeply. The entire glass’s contents vanished.

Non-alcoholic or not, Liam sensed that this meant something.

After setting down her glass, Victoria thrilled him with a subtle nod. Immediately afterward, he had to hold himself down to the stool he sat on. An urge to pump a fist in the air nearly overcame his self-control.

“What kind of criteria are you looking for in these pictures… that Imaysend your way?”

Not “may,”Liam thought, heart pounding like an uproarious amphitheater amid an unending shower of applause. They both knew better than that.

“The normal kind,” he said, deciding that he could occasionally benefit from being a little coy. “It sounds like you vacationed a lot in your past. So, I’m sure you have plenty of pictures, right?”

“I have a few albums,” the stunning woman said.

“Great. Pick from them. Whenever you text me one, I’ll rate it, and that’s how many points toward Fiji I’ll add.”

“When will you add them?”

“As soon as is reasonably possible. So, probably at the end of each week.”

“And you’ll add them all at once?”

“I will.”

Contractual specifics set, Liam and Victoria continued staring into one another’s eyes. Instead of feeling nervous and anxious, he felt the exact opposite. Rather than wilting under her gaze, he bloomed with excitement and confidence. Winter faded before the sudden and spontaneous arrival of spring.

The arm that she’d leaned against her island countertop shifted back. It didn’t go to refill either wine glass. Instead, Victoria’s hand moved purposefully toward a slim rectangular shape that stood out against her right thigh. Liam’s breath stilled within his lungs, and he didn’t dare blink as Victoria pulled out her phone.

Her kitchen was well-lit, both by embedded bulbs and natural light, but he saw when its screen popped with illumination. That was all he could see. Victoria kept him from being able to see a thing as her thumb began swiping through what he assumed was a photo album.

Getyourphone out, idiot,a voice snapped at him.

Liam hastened to do so, which caused Victoria to glance up from her phone. Her smile was slight enough to have tricked a leveling tool into believing nothing about her mouth had changed. Yet Liam was certain it had moved a little, and he swallowed dryly.

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