Page 71 of Holiday Home 4

Avril was waiting for him at the end of the tunnel, loitering with a knowing grin on her face. Meanwhile, he stumbled upto her, still reeling from the hammer blow to the senses he’d just experienced. Like a decade-old phone, the additional task of walking to her delayed his processing power substantially. He ended up staring at the ground, needing to limit his visuals. All so he could finally comprehend something that had been sodamnobvious.

“So,” Avril asked, verdant eyes aglow with amusement as she spoke, “what have we learned?”

Liam slowly lifted his head. Climbing long, fit legs, shapely hips, a jersey that clung to her hourglass figure with glee, even if she couldn’t stand the player whose name was covered up by tape on its back, a pair of immaculate breasts, a slender throat, and a luscious but cruelly smirking mouth, he finally met her eyes.

He let her hear what she wanted to hear.

“That I don’t pay enough attention to baseball,” he said glumly. “Miss Knight.”

“No arguments there,” she said. “You like ‘em when they’re bigger than what we throw out in this sport.” She playfully gestured with her hands, which lifted her breasts. “Softball might be more your sport. Even that might not be big enough for your tastes.”

He rolled his eyes but had no retort. How couldn’t he have figured this out before now?

The evidence pummeled him. From every side, it struck him. Mercilessly, laughing at his ignorance, his dull, unperceptive mind. Holy. Shit. He could have started to suspect it on theveryfirst day they’d met.

“You offered her tickets because you can offeranyonetickets,” Liam groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Huh?” Avril said.

“Tara—the woman working at the rink. On the first day we met, we went ice skating. You two went back and forth.”

“Oh, yeah,” Avril said, grinning wider. “I wasn’t even working to hide it from you yet. You could have put two and two together and saved yourself so much embarrassment. I’m glad you didn’t, though. The past couple of months have beensooofunny.”

He almost went down on his knees and curled up into a ball. The realization—this stupid realization—it recontextualized so many situations, so many things he’d said and done, how she’d reacted.

“I fucking bought you a jersey for a team that you own. I basically paidyouto buyyoua jersey.”

“Actually, with how the merchandising rights are currently set up, if it’s sold outside of the stadium, the money gets distributed evenly amongst the teams. So, you really only paid my family alittlebit for this jersey. But it looks nice on me, no?”

She made a show of lifting her arms over her head, drawing Liam’s gaze across her alluring figure. Alluring, frustrating, and apparently just as good at him, if not better, at getting others to keep a secret.

“Everyone else knew,” he groaned.

“Well, duh. People I haven’t evenmetknow me. It’s AvrilKnight,Liam.” Clearing her throat, she mimicked a masculine broadcaster’s voice. “‘Will the Knights continue to keep the Bandits in order?’ ‘With how much they’re spending this year, the Knights sure are emptying their castle’s coffers.’ ‘Here’s this photo of owner Rory Knight and Manager Bill Stoors shaking hands at the stadium. The Knights clearly have a lot of faith in this bandit leader.’”

Through gritted teeth, he said, “I. Don’t. Watch. Baseball. News.” Liam knew that wasn’t enough of an excuse. Not by a long shot.

“It was just so fucking funny, though,” Avril said, shaking her head. “Once we realized that you didn’t know who I was. Ijust had to get them to go along with it so we could all see how long it’d take you. A part of me knows I could have kept it going for longer, but you’re going to be on one of my family’s private jets in a week, and it just kind of felt like the right time to spill the tea—right before the start of the season and everything.”

“A private jet?!”

“Yeah-huh,” Avril said. “Anna and Victoria are pretty conscientious about the environment, so I had to convince them we should use it. There isn’t any first-class flying to Fiji from the States, but that’s not what won them over. Mybrotheris going on a trip to Europe, but so is my grandpa. Instead of them piling into the 7500 together, Casey was going to try and use the 6500. Shockingly, he doesnotcare about emissions, or anything other than himself. So, I got Victoria on board by bringing up that the plane would be used one way or another, so why not us instead? From there, I managed to bring Anna over eventually.”

Notaprivate jet. Multiple private jets. Because… because…

“Your grandfather owns the Bandits,” Liam said, planting his face into his palm. It’d been established, yet he still felt the need to say it at least once. “Which makes you a—”

“A billionaire,” Avril said. “Well, the granddaughter of one, anyway. Theonlygranddaughter, too. That brings with it a lot of perks. Perks that you’ve unknowingly been benefitting from for a while now.”

“Oh, God,” he grunted, assailed by an endless stream of those times. One stood out above the rest, causing him to snatch his hand away from his face and meet Avril’s gaze. “That’swhy Trent and his lackeys were so terrified of you. When you threatened them.”

Avril grinned, reveling in that memory. “Oh, yeah, they were. Theyare.You’re well off, Liam, but you’re notrich.That fair?”

“I… suppose?” he said.

“See, a millionaire’s kid, if he were in your shoes right now, he’d probably have given me an even more humorous response than you did. Eyes boggling out of his head more, jaw dropping further, body trembling like he’s in one of those mall massage chairs. Because a millionaire’s kid actually understands what the difference between a million and a billion dollars is. Do you, Liam?”

He shrugged. “No, I guess not. A lot of money, I suppose.”

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