Page 57 of Holiday Home 4

“I wouldn’t want you to,” Liam said. “There’s no victory without any challenge.”

Based on the width of her grin, he knew he’d said the right thing. The kiss that followed swept him into bliss, as did what followed it. When Tess, her soft, moist lips wrapping around his cock, did indeed end Avril’s current lead before twenty-four hours had passed.

7:03.

That was just the start of the day; Tess merely wanted to start with that lascivious activity, keeping Avril’s reign short-lived. Of course, this time also wouldn’t make it a whole week; Avril would drop the time just below the seven-minute mark the following weekend. Closer and closer toward when Fiji would become locked in as the place where he would spend a week vacationing withfourindisputably sexy women.

Chapter Twenty

A New Mentor

Following the pictures of her in her dress, he and Victoria started communicating regularly. Furthermore, by the end of that week, he owed her twenty-three points. However, he wanted to keep things a little more dramatic—for the others, not for her. So, he brought up waiting to spend them until the last possible second. And to his mild surprise, she’d agreed to it. So, he didn’t spend any points on the final true week of February. That meant that his sixty remaining points remained Victoria’s to earn.

She didn’t need to, though. She was sixteen points away from all but guaranteeing that they visited Fiji. That number, unfortunately, dropped on the Sunday that he didn’t spend any points. With what she had left, in support of her friend, Tesstossed her final five points to Fiji. So, sixteen became just eleven—and one possible wrinkle, Tess unexpectedly throwing her points toward another location, was gone.

That didn’t appear to be on the mind of a woman who was far too intelligent to be unaware of all this.

On Monday morning, he awoke to another enviable gift from Victoria’s beach-laden past. Eleven became eight. That afternoon, she sent him another, and he’d felt compelled by how revealing it was to give it four points, even if it did potentially become the second or third final picture that she’d send him. Eight became four.

You look utterly stunning,he’d texted her after the first.

For the second, a black bikini with shimmering crystals that linked together the straps around her waist and to her shoulders, he’d asked if she’d be willing to bring that one to this year’s trip. The ample amount of her breasts’ sides that it displayed certainly helped thrust it toward becoming one of his favorites.

I could,Victoria replied.It’s not the most comfortable to wear, but it does look nice, doesn’t it?

So nice,he agreed.

The next day, he starved. While he and Victoria chatted a fair bit, no additional pictures graced his screen. There’d been two days the previous week when she hadn’t sent him anything, so it wasn’t quite like clockwork. That said, he still fretted a little bit. Especially when, the next day, on what would have usually been the final day of February, if not for it being the leap year, she didn’t send anything either.

Will I sound like I’m begging if I bring it up?Liam wondered, tapping his pen against his chin while sitting in class. Because of his secretive goal for the fall, he’d been relatively good about staying focused in class this semester, but right now, thoughts of the most voluptuous woman he knew crowded out his attention toward Narrative and Narrative Theory, one of histwo chosen English classes for the semester. Usually, it was a class he didn’t need to work hard to pay attention to, thanks to the professor’s enthusiasm.

Today, nothing could have drawn him out of his contemplation.

He let the rest of the day pass by, only chatting intermittently with Victoria. At the day’s end, he decided to bring it up tomorrow, assuming he didn’t wake up to another wonderful picture of the past.

He didn’t. So, in between classes on February 29th, as he had with Tess and the threesome not long ago, he brought it up.

You haven’t reached the end of your albums, have you?he asked, munching on a sub he’d gotten from an on-campus food truck. Apparently, the city believed that March had already arrived, as a sudden influx of warm weather had swept in overnight. Liam wasn’t complaining. A hundred miles away, he knew that Avril wouldn’t be, either.

Assuming mid-fifties isn’t still too cold for her,he thought, chuckling as he imagined her still swaddling herself in winterwear but surrounded by people in far lighter outfits.

He was about halfway done with his sandwich when Victoria responded.

I spent far too much time on too many beaches to have run out,she assured him.It’s only been two days since I sent you two, one of which you quite liked.

Shifting his mouth from side to side, Liam considered how best to reply. He didn’t yet feel like he knew Victoria well enough to discern the tone in her response, and texting obviously added an additional layer of difficulty to wade through. But remembering how this had all come to be, he chose the bolder route again.

Twowholedays,he sent.It’ll be three soon. That’s a long time to go without. In just three days, people can die from dehydration.

Victoria’s reply, which came in a couple of minutes later, thrust Liam’s brain into overdrive. It gave him some pause, some curiosity, and a wish that Victoria could be only a tiny bit easier to read.

Yes, you do sound rather thirsty right now.

Was it a rebuke, revealing she believed he was pressing too far, or had Victoria’s lips ever so slightly curled upward when she’d seen his message? If this had been Tess or Avril, he would have been confident they were flirting back. With Victoria, he could only hope that was the case. Maybe things were a little in his favor, and even if the idea of betting on such odds left him a little queasy, Liam didn’t intend to retreat.

Like I said, it’s been almost three days. That’s a long time.

And then he waited, trying but failing to swallow his anxiousness entirely. He’d forgotten to keep working on his sub, so it sat on his thigh, sullen about that fact.

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