Page 24 of Holiday Home 4

So, with them bending as one, Tess obtained the appropriately shaped pan for the task, set it on her stove, then set it to the lowest possible temperature. After lathering a sauce mixed from salsa, sour cream, and taco seasoning on its surface, she fit it in place on the pan, then began piling on the ingredients—cooked chicken, sliced tomatoes, sliced avocados, cheddar cheese, and iceberg lettuce.

Throughout that time, being no help at all to the actual meal she was preparing, Liam continued kneading her breasts. While they weren’t anywhere as sensitive as Anna’s were, Tess still sighed pleasantly at his touch. He’d gotten good at this. He allowed himself to wear that medal with pride.

“Okay, okay, I think you’ve had enough. For now.” Tess added that last part before he could, sensing that he’d do so if she didn’t. With some reluctance, Liam removed himself from Tess’s glorious body. He didn’t move very far away, though.

Tess didn’t seem to mind.

They ate standing up, using her counter as their table. Bodies barely a foot apart, they stared at one another in silence. Liam felt somewhere between drunk and delirious while staring into those deep blue eyes. Their sparkle, the affection pouring out of them, the quiet promises shifting behind them like smaller waves in the shadow of a larger one; it was almost too much for his racing heart. Eventually, Tess smiled, probably aware of how strongly she affected him just by looking into his eyes. Next, she started up a new conversation. Rather, an old one.

“So, we’re going to be going to Fiji.” It was an observation, not a question, but Liam nodded in confirmation all the same. “Phone, please.”

It was a request, yet Tess’s free hand was already reaching for his thigh, which instinctively caused him to tense. Tess renewed her smile, even more knowing than the last, as she moved her hand around to his pocket rather than the location they both knew he’d rather it have gone.

Once she had his phone in hand, she typed in the password he gave her, then began searching for something. Try as he might to peek over the top of his phone and get a good look at what she was up to this time, he couldn’t see much. It looked like she’d opened his search engine.

“Hmm. It seems we’ll be visiting when Fiji is transitioning out of its wet season. The temperatures rise—70s and 80s—and the skies get clearer.” Tess lifted her gaze, reconnecting with him. “We’ll have plenty of time to lounge on the beach. Lucky you.”

“I feel the same way,” he replied, accepting his phone as Tess handed it back. “It’s been too long since I saw you in a bikini.”

“Unless you’ve somehow convinced one of the others to wear one for you, in the flesh, I’m the only one you’ve seen in swimwear, no?”

Liam nodded. “Just you. You were still married the last time I saw you in a bikini. Up at the pool.”

“I won’t be this time.”

His blood simmered excitedly, thoughts of Tess’s phenomenal figure in a barely concealed state flooding him with dopamine. Too long. The wait until spring break was simply too long. Even if he could visit her every weekend, even if he slept in the same bed as her when he was around, it was too piecemeal for his liking. He wanted more. Needed it. Needed it like he needed food, water, and oxygen.

Tess had become one more necessity for his continued good health. Without her, he’d wither. So, during the week he’d bewith her on an exotic set of islands, he planned to get enough of her for him to survive until summer break. When he’d be home for months. More, assuming everything worked out as he hoped it would.

The giddiness of that thought nearly overwhelmed him. Wanting another taste of the gorgeous woman, Liam set down his half-eaten wrap and leaned his mouth toward the only set of luscious lips that could satiate his needs. However, a fingertip on his lips hampered the effort.

“Finish up,” Tess said, eyes glinting knowingly—and agreeably, Liam thought. Nevertheless, she held him at bay, finger resting on his lips, soft as satin. “We still have a game to finish. The real prizes are still up for grabs.”

Chapter Ten

Her Other Expertise

Lunch consumed, check. Plates washed off, check. Back on the couch, check. The reality that Liam was going to lose this chess game, also check. Check was the right word for it. Had they been playing with regular rules, she could have announced “check” a dozen times by now. She’d probably have also added a “mate” to one of those.

“Are you ready to take those off?” Tess asked teasingly, moving her surviving bishop. She was setting things up to take his surviving knight. In a standard game, that might not have worried him too much. Here, it did. Heneededthat piece. It, his surviving rook, and his queen were the only powerful pieces he had left. He needed them to survive long enough for him to at least take out a couple more of her pieces.

Because he knew he wasn’t going to win. He’d made that determination well before he and Tess settled back on her couch after lunch. Winning was beyond his capabilities. However, Tess had created a game with many more minor forms of victorynested within the overarching goal of victory. And so, Liam had made a decision.

He would inflict as much damage as he could before she neutralized him. At the very least, he’d get either her queen or king. Even if he had to play like a kamikaze pilot to get it.

Of course, an apparent expert like Tess quickly noticed his hard veer into recklessness. One corner of her mouth lifted after he moved his queen out into a far more forward position than was probably safe. And yet…

Tess went after his knight, continuing to play toward the goal of removing it. She knew what she was up to. However, she elected not to punish him. She chose not to play optimally. Part of him felt frustrated that he needed such a concession. He supposed, because of how often they now played card games, he’d gotten a bit used to winning. He didn’t need help claiming victory there. That was his arena. He was the one who offered pity points and openings, not the one receiving them.

After a second, he smothered that part of him, focusing solely on his game plan. That queen or kingwouldjoin the prison camp—smaller than hers or not—that he’d built up on his side of the board. Whatever prize came with it, he’d claim it gladly. Even if it did allow Tess to claim far more prizes in the end.

His knight left the board, and then he ended up in the nude. Wearing a contented look, Tess watched him escape the last of his clothes. It grew more contended as she saw his cock stand up to attention, clearly eager for what it assumed would occur if he could just get that damned king of hers—that was the piece he’d decided he could take a shot at getting.

“It’s not too chilly in my home, is it?” Tess asked, looking but not yet touching.

Snorting, he plopped back down on the couch after folding his pants. “I’m fine. If anything, I’m still a little warm.”

“I don’t think you’ll be cooling down anytime soon. So long as you can manage to get my king like you’re trying to.”

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