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“We could do that too.”

Victoria glanced toward the open doorway leading to the deck. Curiously, she then shook her head.

“No, I’ll ask for it tomorrow morning. When it’s less likely we’ll be interrupted. I'm sure someone will be coming our way in a few minutes. We can play chess.”

Compared to how annoyed he’d felt about the delay in getting to the mud bath earlier, this one didn’t attract a single wince. Instead, aware of the possible meaning behind her decision, it brought butterflies.

“Will that be when you start showing me all those new bikinis you brought for the trip?” he asked.

Victoria slid her gaze back to him. “Yes. As promised.”

Chapter Ten

Inevitable

It was pretty much guaranteed that he fucked someone on the first day of the trip. About as close to approaching a law of reality as a theory could. The Theory of One Man and Four Beautiful Women on an Isolated Island in Fiji. It was a bit of a mouthful. The name could be workshopped later.

Victoria had correctly surmised that they wouldn’t be left alone for very long. Even before they’d made more than a handful of moves in their first match, they saw the rest of their party coming up to regroup on their large deck. Tomorrow morning, hopefully, he’d have a little more time to spend alone with the buxom professor—and his eternal hill to climb when it came to chess, as he now got to lose their match with an audience—before being interrupted. For tonight, however, he wasn’t upset when three more devastatingly beautiful women came to see them. Shocking, he knew.

“Okay, no more chess,” Avril said once Victoria’s endgame tactics, elevated by her being a knight up on him, allowed herto force him into a corner—literally—that he couldn’t come back from. “We’re doing something we can all do.”

“It’s still a little early for dinner,” Tess noted. “Otherwise, we could visit the restaurant or order room service.”

“It’s a little early or late for most things,” Victoria said. “We could walk along the beach, perhaps. The sights are sure to be lovely. We could find a few good places to sunbathe tomorrow.”

Avril moved her mouth from side to side. “Yeah, let’s do that. Then we can come back here, order room service, and play cards or something while the sun sets.”

As no one provided a superior replacement activity, five sets of legs set five sets of naked feet onto the soft, white sands beyond his and Victoria’s deck. For this excursion, they headed north, not wanting to double back toward the resort and other bures.

The sights they uncovered over the walk were undoubtedly riveting. They were places that only a handful of people had ever seen. Billions and billions of lives, and maybe a few thousand individuals could claim to have walked where they now walked. Long stretches of untouched white sand, the ocean lapping in with soft, calm waves. Flanking palm trees, patches of volcanic rock rising in small buffers near the shore. There were some thatch-roofed pagodas near the start, all currently unused, but those faded as they headed farther and farther from the resort.

Not too far into their walk, they reached an area where the volcanic rock formed a barrier against further progress. They could have gone around, heading into the dense tropical forest to circumnavigate it and return to the sand. But they could also go the other way.

Liam and the others turned westward, walking onto the island beneath the ocean, stepping through ankle-to-calf-deep water as they rounded the patch of black rock. Then they were back to it, walking across more expanse of beach. Liammostly listened as the others discussed opportunities for picnics, sunbathing, and swimming. There were other beaches they could investigate, of course, and plans were made to stop by the resort and ask about the more secretive ones. Some could only be easily reached by a boat ride.

In the brochure binder, he overheard, they’d apparently highlighted a place known as Yawini Beach, a hidden cove otherwise known as the Crown of Yasawa. The small island it belonged to sat at the very top—thus the name—of the island chain, more isolated than any other. There was mention of boat rides to reach it or an inland trail for the more adventurous type. Either way, you could end up at the very tip of their island, staring at the small, secluded island. From there, if the tide was low enough, you could easily walk across an elongated sand bar and reach a destination that only a fraction of a fraction of people who’d come to Fiji had ever laid eyes on. Based on the conversation happening around him, Liam expected that five more sets of eyes would be added to the tally before they were through with their vacation here.

The group headed back after a healthy amount of exploration up the coast, which also helped grow their appetites. The sun cast their shadows long against the beach as they did so, closer and closer to offering them all a chance to experience a sunset like no other. It was agreed that his and Victoria’s suite provided the most scenic view, so the plan was to stop by the resort, order dinner, and then receive it just in time to see the horizon begin being painted in vivid oranges and reds.

That was when opportunity came knocking. One that he and Tess Williams took total advantage of. Having been thinking far ahead of anyone else, Tess had brought along her suite’s menu. As they headed back, she passed it around, letting everyone decide what they wanted.

In this, he wasn’t so ready to leap straight into the deep end, so Liam went with a safer option: some pan-seared lamb and white bean cassoulet. With that, at least, he knew what he’d be getting, whereas a few other options left him wondering what would end up placed before him. While he wasn’t opposed to checking out some of the bolder options, he figured he’d wait until another meal before potentially upsetting his stomach.

Fast enough for Liam to wonder if she’d decided even before pulling out the menu, Tess quickly settled on the cream of tomato soup with crab meat. Avril went for the same option. And then things got a little trickier. Both Anna and Victoria stalled on what they wanted. Their indecision persisted even as they came in sight of his and Victoria’s bure.

“How about this,” Tess recommended. “Go see what the chefs in the restaurant would suggest. You could also do a little more investigation about what drinks to bring back so we can end up with something nice to share while the sun sets.”

“Are you going to let Liam have a drink?” Avril asked. “The drinking age here is only eighteen.”

“Why amIbeing asked that?” Tess said, pinching her mouth into a narrow line.

Avril just grinned and whistled toward the sky, leaving the motherly implication hanging. They reached their bure, where they stopped in the sand and continued the conversation. As Anna and Victoria remained undecided, they agreed to go down to the resort—hardly much of a walk—and see if they could be convinced by one of the chefs there.

“Avril, canyoube trusted to bring back somereasonableoptions for usallto enjoy?” Tess asked once Anna and Victoria had started heading down the beach.

“You’re not coming?”

Tess nodded toward his and Victoria’s deck. “Since Liam and I already know what we want, I figured we could grab andspread around towels on the deck. There’s not enough seating for us to gather at the outdoor table, so we could sit on the deck right at the edge of the steps.”

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