Page 20 of Holiday Home 4

Total Permission

With Liam finally understanding how to proceed, he updated his strategy to include bolder moves. So did Tess. Naturally, this led to more turns where pieces got knocked out of contention. Trades that he’d feared now became attractive options, though he still worried that he might loseallhis pieces before he could take a swing at her king, queen, and rooks. He was already a fair bit behind when he altered his strategy, and becoming more aggressive didn’t suddenly make him a match for a clearly talented player.

Nevertheless, when the moment arrived where he could doom his final bishop for one of her rooks, he took it. While he wasn’t sure, he thought Tess had made a bad move or two just to set this situation up. Well, if she wanted to give him a crack atfinding out what he could obtain if he managed to take out both her rooks, removing the top half of his outfit was a price worth the payment.

“You recall what this means?” Tess asked, wagging his second bishop between her fingers as she plucked it off the board.

“I do,” Liam said. Part of him was thrilled to finally get out of his jacket, which he should have done long ago. He’d been actively hot for most of the game, and it wasn’t like there’d been a reason to keep the jacket on. The loss of his bishops caused him to take offeverythingon his upper half, so why keep on the jacket?

Dumbness, of course. The strip poker-esque rules had somehow gotten his brain to want to avoid taking anything already on him off. At least he hadn’t come over in a stuffy coat. He’d have suffered heatstroke from that.

As he removed his jacket, he briefly lost sight of Tess. However, even as the thin fabric he pulled up over his head shrouded him in darkness, he could feel her eyes boring holes into him. Her desire thrilled him, physically and mentally. Just knowing that she was anticipating the moment he took his clothes off left him feeling woozy. But it was more than just anticipation. She’d outright designed a game where it was all but guaranteed to happen.

She wanted his clothing off, perhaps as badly as he wanted hers off.

Wow.

After his jacket came off, Tess’s eyes locked onto the shirt he’d been wearing beneath it. Wearing a smile, two of her fingers gestured in an upward fashion.

So she commanded, so he obeyed. Leaving his jacket on his lap for the time being, he next gripped his shirt. A moment of indecision stalled him, primarily out of a silly worry that shewouldn’t be nearly as impressed when his shirt came off as he would be when hers did—if he could even manage to take her final bishop—but he kicked it from his thoughts. How many times had she seen him naked since winter break? A lot. And she didn’t seem tired of the sight just yet.

His shirt came off, climbing past his head. He shrugged his shoulders, dropped it onto his lap, and met Tess’s eyes. With relief and glee, he watched the older woman’s attention trail approvingly across his body.

While forty-five days might not be enough to create more than some initial changes in his musculature, he had about as many more before spring break. So, at the halfway mark as he was, and knowing the results he’d been making since he started working out more seriously, he didn’t let himself complain that he wasn’t rippling with lean muscles just yet. He hadn’t been in bad shape when he’d started. Just… not where he wanted to be.

Partly because he’d promised himself he’d manage to fuck Tess entirely in the air at some point. He wondered how close he was to that goal.

That thought flew the coop before he could do more than glance at it. Warm, soft lips marked his shoulder, which snapped him back to reality. Eyes gleaming, Tess had decided it was time for yet another pause from their game. With his torso bared, her lips worked across his body. Letting her have her fill, Liam breathed in deeply, then ran his hands up her sides.

“You’re looking more handsome by the day,” Tess whispered, lips buzzing over his chest on its way to his nipple, which she playfully sucked on for a few moments.

“I can’t be the odd one out when we’re on the beach,” he said, leaning back, which proved the right thing to do. As he settled back on her couch, Tess climbed on top of him. Not just a pause then, but a full-blown intermission.

“Are you planning to turn us all on when we see you take off your shirt?” Tess asked, moving her mouth down to his ribs.

He blushed slightly but didn’t deny it. “Knowing who I’ll be vacationing with, it’s hard not to want that.”

Tess chuckled, further dislodging any worry that she might be jealous or disapproving of his relationships with Avril and Anna. No, he should have never worried about that to begin with. She wasn’t the type of woman to hold a grudge or issue. Their conversations about the importance of communication were more than enough proof of that.

Because we’re in a relationship,Liam thought blissfully.Me and Tess.

“Of the places Avril has selected, all are very romantic,” Tess pointed out. Her hands finally came into the mix, nails lightly skimming over his waist. If he’d lost his other knight at this point, would they have gone a little lower? A certain throbbing pillar in that area believed so.

“Is there one in particularyouwould like to go to?”

Keeping her mouth against his body, Tess shook her head, which caused strands of her hair to tickle his skin. “I’m fine with wherever. I know Victoria very much wishes to visit Fiji, as it’s the only place she hasn’t been to before. Excluding the Bahamas, all the places would be new for me.”

“You and Anna have both given me the same answers, you know.”

“Is that a problem? Where doyouwant to go?”

Liam stayed silent for a moment, and Tess surely knew why. Because his answer was the same as theirs.

“I’m probably going to bet my points toward Fiji, then,” he eventually said. “That okay with you?”

“They’re your points.”

“Yeah, but—” Shrugging, Liam cut himself off.

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