Page 16 of Holiday Home 5

“And I’mgoingto ask you for a massage?”

Liam began rubbing her lower back. “Yes. You’re going to be the first one, I bet.”

Victoria ever so barely nudged herself closer to him. If not for how alert every one of his senses were, it would have gone unnoticed. She hadhimpinned, now. Her breast compressed slightly, then a little more.

“What are we betting this time?” the professor asked. If only for a chance to meet her gaze, he couldn’t wait to be in her classroom. That stare stripped away every bit of lethargy and exhaustion whenever he connected with it. He wanted them toshare a look in her classroom, a secret look between student and professor, then jointly remember this very moment.

And why not say something along those lines?

“I’m betting you’ll like my massage so much that you’ll keep me after class to give you another one almost every time.”

Victoria’s nostrils slightly flared as she exhaled. The right spot. He’d blindly landed a bullseye. But that was good enough for him. He was more than happy to admit how lucky he’d been time and time again. Avril had yet to notice how he and Victoria were sitting, floating not too far away, eyes still shut. And if Anna or Tess had seen them, they hadn’t done anything to break his and Victoria’s trance.

“Looking for extra credit so soon?” Victoria whispered, lips closer to his with each spoken word.

“I don’t want extra credit.”

“Then what do you want?” she asked.

Shewanted to be fucked in her classroom. Liam knew that answer as surely as he knew his own name. Professor Moreno wanted a student to fuck her in her classroom. What a delicious idea.

“I want—”

Avril floated into them. Her head bounced into Victoria’s side, which caused all three of them to snap out of their trances at the exact same moment. Victoria proved to be the quickest one among them.

She was off his lap in seconds, standing more in front of him than at his side. She also managed to turn most of the way around before Avril, eyes opening but only sort of able to see them above her head. By the time she’d rolled onto her stomach and brought her feet to the spring’s floor, Victoria had added a good foot of distance between him and her. Liam had only straightened out of his lean—and done what he could not to look panicked. Or aroused. He was both.

“Hello, lovebirds,” Avril said, closer to the truth than she realized. “How are you both enjoying your cleansing soak?”

“It’s been worth every second,” Victoria replied smoothly. “After a long hike, it’s been especially relaxing.”

Staying quiet, worrying that his voice might still be hoarse with desire, Liam simply nodded in agreement.

“Glad to hear it. After this, how about lunch? It’s already pretty far past time for it, and I swear either Tess or Anna’s stomachs rumbled when I was floating near them.”

“Lunch sounds good.”

“Grand! There’s supposed to be this legendary Indian place not far from here. Then we can do a little shopping and take that plane ride to our lovely resort afterward.”

He and Victoria agreed, and Avril headed off to disseminate the good news to whichever woman it was with the rumbling belly. Liam couldn’t help but hope that Victoria didn’t believe in anything like fate or missed chances.Thatworry gnawed at him far more than any amount of hunger ever could.

Chapter Eight

Honeymooners

The Indian restaurant’s food was superb, filling, and, well, free. Avril paid for everything, sweeping away any suggestions to the contrary. Since she hadn’t rushed around paying for everyone’s items at Nadi Market, Liam and the others didn’t put up much of a fight. Doing so would simply be silly—pride alone behind the struggle. It’d be like asking your neighbor to grab a cup of water for your burning house at the exact moment that the firefighters arrived.

After lunch came a couple hours of shopping in Nadi, during which Liam picked up a few things he figured his parents might like to find waiting on the kitchen table the next time they came home. Weeks or months from now. At a certain point, itfelt like they ought to simply get a house in central Europe, then use it as their base of operations for planning their next trip.

Unsurprisingly, Avril led the way. She wasn’t worried about the expense, so she simply purchased whatever she thought looked interesting or nice. That included some tropical flowers, which she handed to each of the three women—and then a fourth one appeared from behind her back when she came to him.

“I would never forget about you,” she said, batting her eyelashes.

So, among the souvenirs he trotted around with, he also carried a bright purple and yellow flower. He wasn’t as brave as the women, who placed them by their ears—what Avril had definitely been aiming for.

They split up a bit, reconnected a couple of times, and slowly accrued a bag or two or three each. They also took plenty of pictures. There were sights all around, and phones enough to capture them. That had been a constant throughout the day, headed mainly by Avril and Anna. That included a group picture or two, and the specific one he wanted to see sent his way was the one they’d taken after their dip in the hot spring, right before they’d showered, dried off, and changed clothes. Avril had gotten one of the employees at the hot springs to snap it for them.

By around three-thirty, they’d hit every local place they could think of. Gathering back together, they all readily agreed to Avril’s silent but inquisitive smile. They were ready to see where she intended for them to stay tonight.

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