Page 29 of Holiday Home 5

Feeling a little feisty, Liam had one final retort to make. “Fine, but when I eventually win against you, I’m going to get you back on my lap.”

“Ifyou win against me,” Victoria whispered, glancing toward Avril, then extending a hand to push the leaning troublemaker back out of earshot, “we’ll see how the negotiation goes.”

Liam stood up. Four sets of eyes pursued him. Gripping his shirt, he lifted it over his head. The eyes didn’t climb all the way, however. Instead, they lingered on his abdomen, sides, chest, and shoulders. Liam still had more work to put in, and he intended for the summer to be where his definition really wowed the women. Nevertheless, it felt good to see hungry eyes, one or two pairs a little less subtle about it than the others, onhisbody. He knew they were all used to receiving those same looks from him.

Once he was back at his spot, he shuffled and dealt.Now,he cheated. Even with four intense stares focusing on his hands while whirring with rapid, practiced motions, no one declared having seen the several false shuffles he’d gotten in under their noses.

He evaded their increased scrutiny in part because of who he sent up to win and lose. Avril came out on top, and Tess showed she had nothing.

You’re welcome,Liam thought, watching as Tess and Avril huddled together and spoke quietly. While that happened, he noticed VictoriaandAnna drinking from their wine glasses. Hewondered how they were feeling about the game. How they’d feel about it afterward.

What came from his ploy proved to be entirely worth the minimal risk of having been caught red-handed. After a slightly protracted negotiation, Tess sighed—but Liam didn’t believe she was disappointed for even a second. Then, forgetting her own rule, Avril forgot to announce what had been agreed upon. She tilted her head to the left.

And Tess set her luscious mouth against the smooth skin on the right. Not just once, not just twice, but three times when all was said and done, Tess laid successive brief kisses on Avril’s soft neck. Starting low, then climbing halfway, then ending with a kiss right beneath Avril’s jawline.

It was so indelibly erotic that Liam gulped, but no one noticed. Even Anna and Victoria seemed incapable of removing their attention from the sight of one of the sexiest professors in the world kissing one of the sexiest students in the world.

Once it was over, Liam almost complained. As if it were a musical performance, and he wanted an encore. That feeling of desperation faded once Tess returned to her seat, and the next person began to shuffle. The eventwasn’tover. Far, far from it.

Chapter Fifteen

A Clear Winner

Relative to what had just occurred between Tess and Avril, the next few rounds passed without much shock and awe. Both Tess and Anna ended up joining the other women in losing their shirts, allowing Liam to see alluring breasts and luscious figures in every direction he looked. Anna lost to Victoria, and the two shared only a hug—about what one would expect. However, Liam certainly enjoyed seeing the two most voluptuous women on the island pressed together. Tess also took another defeat, though she didn’t even bother negotiating with Avril. She simply removed her shorts and let everyone see her fine, fine figure on display. Compared to the others, she’d changed into lace lingerie after the hot springs. She was the only one without a sports bra on.

Over the next few rounds, Anna defeated him, which led to a short, chaste kiss in front of the others. Was that the first of its kind? In front ofeveryone?Liam wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but it was the first proper kiss of the night. It was only right that it occurred between boyfriend and girlfriend.

Victoria and Avril, trading who won and lost in back-to-back rounds, soon found themselves willing to follow Tess’s lead. When the former inevitably chose to strip down to just her underwear, Liam felt a surge of excitement. Not because it was really any different than how things had been at the mud pool, but because she didn’t bow out of the game afterward.

So far, no one seemed bored or displeased about how things were going. Anna might have separated from him a little bit in terms of how much she’d drank, but she wasn’t recklessly downing glass after glass or anything. Everyone was pacing themselves. No one seemed to want out. That unified Liam’s heart, mind, and soul in a permanent state of celebration. He was like a kid surrounded by sparklers on the 4thof July. Enamored by every sight and sound.

Especially when he dealt the cards out, cheating in multiple ways and putting him in a position where Victoria needed to come over and negotiate with him.

“You cheated,” the buxom, olive-skinned woman said.

“When? How?”

Victoria set her jaw, yet her silence was deafening. As she couldn’t point out precisely when he’d put things into motion nor how he’d maneuvered her into the loser’s circle, she could only concede. Plausible deniability was good enough to keep him safe.

“On my lap for three rounds,” he whispered once she was beside him. Having ultimately refused Avril’s previous aims, she sat on the cusp of becoming the first person to remove three articles of clothing. He wondered which she’d pick.

“For one,” Victoria immediately countered, eyes staring intently at him.

“Two.”

“One, Liam Carr.”

The last name,he thought.When was the last time a professor used my full name like that?

“For one, and I get to kiss your shoulders and back while you’re sitting there.”

Her stare was almost sharp enough to draw blood. There was a hint of trepidation trembling deep in him, but he smothered it. He was aware that this was different than at the hot spring. A little more—not by much, apparently—public. Instead of just Tess and Anna noticing, Avril would also see what happened this time.

However, he realized something. No one expected him to be demure and mild-mannered. Not here, not now. While it might be a little uncomfortable—probably not even that, though—if Tess made him kissherafter she won a hand that he lost, who was he? The answer was self-evident.

The single college-aged guy amid a group of devastatingly beautiful women. Women who were becoming more and more scantily clad by the second. They were all still in this game, all still playing.No onewould be shocked if the horny guy made sure to kiss every woman in the game. It was probably expected, in fact. Anticipated, potentially.

“Alright, deal,” Victoria whispered, then didn’t return to her spot.

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