Page 60 of Holiday Home 4

They also played quite a few chess matches. Late in the evening, an hour went to play, discussion, and suggestions for what he should look at next. Unsurprisingly, as a teacher, Victoria was detail-oriented. She covered every topic she considered essential to its fullest, which meant Liam read some rather lengthy messages after each of their games. In-person, he imagined it’d be a little easier to consume her explanations, especially with a tactile chess board and pieces to work with. She left him with a couple of recommended videos—he assumed she’d looked them up in her spare time, and he was incredibly grateful to her for doing so—to watch later, detailing the benefits of each video, as well as if the channel owner had other videos worth investigating.

At the night's end, he wasn’t sure if he would take to chess as quickly as Anna had to Texas Hold’em, but he knew he had all the tools necessary to succeed. It was on him. If he could learn at a good pace, then put it all into practice when he faced Tess down the road. He needed to beat her. At least once. Hopefully, far more than once, though.

These things all continued into Friday. With just two days left before the end of their vacation voting, he owed Victoria forty-seven points. Assuming she didn’t close the valve for these final two days, she was guaranteed to sail past fifty.

The real question was: how farpastfifty did Victoria want to reach?

Seemingly, the answer was pretty far.

She surpassed fifty at noon on Friday. While Liam counted the seconds before his final class of the day, which would allow him to start making his way back to the same city as all these deliriously beautiful women he’d been texting all week, Victoria decided that now was the time she wanted to surpass fifty.

While he studied in his dorm, prepping for the no-longer-so-distant midterms on the horizon, his phone’s screen flashedwith life. In it, he received another enviable glimpse into Victoria’s past. Based on his knowledge of events, she was around Avril’s current age in most of these photos. That’d been about a decade ago, which meant he could actually ballpark her current age—not that he intended to bring that up at any point.

In this picture, she was sitting on the edge of a pool, legs in the crystal blue waters. Her hair was bound in a ponytail, and a bronze bikini covered her olive skin. Some of it, at least. As was always the case with the most buxom woman he knew, there was so much to salivate over on display.

At the precise moment that the picture had been taken, she’d seemingly just noticed the presence of the person over her shoulder, glancing in that direction. A slender smile sat on her lips, and he felt a bit frustrated that it was probably Avril’s brother who had been allowed to take this picture. A lot of them, probably, as she’d been on her vacationing spree when dating, then engaged to Casey Knight.

But that was a decade ago,he reminded himself.She won’t be engaged to anyone when she’s on a beach with you.

None of the women would, even if one of their fathers, despicable as he was, had done his best to change that fact.

That’s another easy four,he typed out.You make it look effortless every time.

Given that the scale goes up to five, apparently not,Victoria responded.You’ve yet to find anything worthy of that point value.

Knowing that he wouldn’t get any studying done while this conversation was in progress, Liam pushed away from his desk and left his room. Grant was in one of his classes, so he was alone in the dorm. Deciding to pop open his fridge, he started making himself something to eat.

If I believed you’d sent me the absolute best of what you have, I would’ve given any number of those previous picturesa five,Liam typed out. In the back of his mind, a part of him, small but familiar, gaped at how easy it was for him to type such a message now—and to a beautiful professor at a prestigious university, of all things. It most likely helped that he’d done far more with another beautiful university professor—the same university, in fact. And that he outright had her blessing to have the deal he did with her colleague.

You believe I’ve been holding out?Victoria replied.

While deciding he’d have a smoothie for lunch, Liam glanced at her question.Just don’t get too far ahead of yourself,he reminded himself. After grabbing the needed ingredients from his fridge, collecting some protein powder, and setting everything up by his blender, he chose the following words carefully.

If you really wanted to guarantee that I had no choice but to give you five points, I know you have some pictures on your phone that could do it.

His blender was at full throttle when he got her reply. Glancing over, hand on the lid, thumb still on the button, he read a response that made his blood move quicker than the liquid contents inside the blender.

Some of those aren’t appropriate to send to a college freshman.

It took all his willpower to keep his hands where they were, his mind aching to set them back on his phone. It knewexactlywhat he needed to say back. The seconds he spent finishing the blend, then pouring it into a glass were torturous. He couldn’t handle waiting long enough to take a drink, however.

So, then some of them are,he pointed out, feeling anything but calm about what he’d just typed out, though protected from Victoria learning this thanks to him being a hundred miles away. He wasn’t sure if he’d have been able to say those words aloud.

Victoria’s reply was succinct but bristling with possibilities.

Some.

Laying a hand on his heart, which pounded far more than it did after he got done in the gym, Liam took a steadying drink of his smoothie. It continued, changing from a single drink to him gulping the whole thing down. His heart was no calmer afterward than before.

Well, there’s the answer, then. We’ve got until Sunday night before the voting ends.

Yes, we do,Victoria replied.

Hands shaking slightly, he managed to ask,I’ll still see you on Saturday, right? For my first in-person chess lesson?

Yes, you will,Victoria confirmed.

But he would see her again before Saturday. Later that night, while cuddling with Tess on her living room couch, he received a vibration from his phone. However, he failed to notice it. Not just for a few minutes either, but for an entire hour. He only discovered the message when he and Tess separated from one another following the end of their movie.

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