Page 24 of Holiday Home 5

Liam felt like he might float up to the ceiling at any second. His head was already in the clouds, circling the five-word response Tess had given him, whimsically tossing flower petals to and fro. He’d said it, how he felt about her, but more importantly,she’d said it back!

Even as their bodies cooled after the end of their exertions, Liam didn’t stop feeling warm throughout his entire body. Thatwarmth wasn’t connected to the warmth of his skin. In Fiji or Antarctica, the heat would have stayed the same. It was eternal, unalterable, ubiquitous. It was his love for Tess and his joy to know she loved him back.

She didn’t rescind her words. She didn’t stiffen with the realization that she’d said more than she meant, more than she felt. She didn’t try to patch up the mistake. Itwasn’ta mistake. It was how she felt. She even said it again.

“I love you,” the most wonderful woman in the world said, wobbling on exhausted muscles. Her calves, so pronounced when she flexed, were doing a lot of work keeping them standing.

He’d been wrong. The warmth suffusing every atom in his bodycouldbe altered. It could be made slightly warmer.

“Fiji just might actually be the greatest place on Earth,” Liam said lightly, putting a bit more effort into keeping himself up. He kissed Tess’s back, then removed his head. A few seconds later, even though it caused his cum to begin oozing out of her, he removed his cock from her pussy.

“Fiji had nothing to do with it,” Tess said, not yet bothering to begin cleaning herself up—a more time-consuming process for her than him. “Well, maybe a little. But no matter where we’d ended up, I still would have had the same answer.”

Tess turned around and caressed his face. Her eyes, shimmering like stardust, overflowed with affection and love. She smiled.

“Because it was truebeforethis trip, not because of it. I was just waiting for the right time to say it. I suppose you beat me to it.” She playfully examined their surroundings. “In this unexpected environment.”

“It wasn’t my plan going into things,” he admitted.

“The spontaneity made it better, not worse,” Tess said, and he completely agreed.

“I love you,” he said. He just needed to say it one more time, like she had.

Beaming at him, Tess embraced and kissed him. Seconds later, her lips found their way to his ear.

“You’ll have to handle setting up the towels and everything. You sort of made a mess of me.”

That, of course, caused his cock to stiffen up again. Tess looked down, noticed, and grinned even wider.

“Before I go, though, you owe something,” Liam said.

“I do, don’t I?” Tess said, mouth tugging to one side. Leaning in, she again set her mouth near his ear. “Victoria’s birthday is this week. However, if you want to plan something in advance, you’ll need to figure out which day it’s on yourself.”

Liam’s eyes widened at this new revelation. How hadno onetold him?! However, he met Tess’s teasing remark with force.

“We’ll see if you can resist spilling more details when my cock is filling up your ass.”

He heard Tess swallow, felt her fingers tighten their grip on his arm. Hopefully, that excitement would help her speed through cleaning and redressing herself. They really were cutting things close.

Tess made it back outside onlysecondsbefore the others returned. Liam’s clean-up took only a couple minutes, and then he grabbed the two beach towels in his suitcase and set them up on the deck. Fortunately, keeping the promise she’d made, Avril had convinced the others to swing by the other bure and pick up extra beach towels—enough to cover the front third of the deck when all was said and done. She did her job, and that allowed Tess to make it just in time.

While listening to Tess run the shower inside, probably having detached the shower head so she could clean herself up, Liam leaned against the deck’s railing. Looking southward, hewaited to see a sign of the others returning, which might prompt him to hurry back and warn Tess. But that didn’t happen.

So, like a park ranger looking out from his watchtower at the forest he loved, Liam settled into his balmy mood. The sun was creeping ever nearer to the horizon, the temperature slowly dropping but still comfortable, and Liam had never been happier. For reasons contrary to the day’s most popular purpose, April 1sthad become his favorite day.

When he saw Avril, Anna, and Victoria back on the sand, carrying their towels, he waved and pushed away from the railing. Backing out of their sightlines, he reached the entrance to the bedroom and called out to Tess, who was still in the bathroom.

She appeared out on the deck ten seconds later, looking exactly like she hadbeforetheir raunchy shower sex, a handful before the others appeared at the steps. All smiles, Tess happily helped the others spread out their towels.

While that happened, Avril walked up to him. Without shame, he met her gaze.

“Was it good?”

“Might have been the best it’s ever been,” he said.

Avril smirked, no sign of envy or disappointment in her emerald eyes. “Vacation sex always is.”

“Is that how it works?”

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