Page 31 of Holiday Home 5

Liam ended up winning against Anna again, then quietly asked if she’d be okay stripping down to the same stage as the rest of them. She was, and now all five of them returned to equal standing. Parity. The next time they played this, and Liamneededthem to play this again, they ought to start at this point.

“Feels like we need to keep upping how much the winner asks for by a little bit, or else we’renevergoing to have any losers,” Avril noted.

No one disagreed.

Even more than that, as if someone on high had also heard Avril’s suggestion, Liam got to be involved in the next three outcomes.

First, he won against Avril. That was pretty simple.

“I don’t want you to be the first toreallyescalate things,” he whispered into her ear. “But I think it’s fine if you’re the first person to go topless.”

Avril hid a grin against his ear as she whispered back. “You’re becoming more and more impressive by the day.”

She escaped her sports bra not long after. They’d pretended to go back and forth a little, but it felt purposeless. Who would honestly believe he’d asked for more than Avril was willing to give?

Liam felt no shame in keeping his eyes pointed directly at her breasts as she bared them. Just as Avril clearly didn’t mind revealing herself, showing off her enticingly full breasts. Winking at him, she tossed her bra onto one of the nearby lounging chairs and settled back down.

Next, Tess also lost to him, which left him waffling far more than he’d been with Avril. He wasn’t sure what he wanted from Tess. Well, he knewwhathe wanted. He wanted her to kiss him, obviously. But that wasn’t really an escalation, not at this point.

“Any ideas, sir?” Tess asked huskily, scooting in close beside him. No one batted an eye as she pressed herself against him, waiting for his answer.

“I want to kiss you, but that’s not enough, right?” he whispered.

“Probably not,” Tess said. “I’m in your hands right now, unless I want to go topless myself, so why don’t you push for more? We can kissanddo something. Or maybe the kiss can be a little more than a kiss?”

“How about some touching?”

“Yes,” Tess whispered, excitement infectious in her sultry voice.

“You touching me, or me touching you?”

“You touching me,” Tess whispered. “Make what you want obvious, Liam. Let the others know what’ll happen—what you’llwant—if you win against them next. Don’t be worried.”

Just a little later, he did.

“Tess and I are going to kiss one another,” Liam announced, almost feeling dizzy as he told the others of this, “and I get to touch her anywhere I want while it’s happening.”

Showing barely a hint of regret that her much younger next-door neighbor had “convinced” her to go so far, Tess positioned herself onto her knees. Eyes glowing with an infectious thrill, she skimmed her lips across his. The arousal around them felt aswarm as if the deck had caught on fire. Their kiss began, deep, passionate, and watched by three other women.

He didn’t waste any time. Leaning into the kiss, he reached around and gripped Tess’s ass, then began to knead her amazingly full proportions. It hadn’t been too long since he’d felt her shapeliest weapon, but that didn’t make him any more immune to the sensation. Electricity raced up his forearms as he worked his fingers, pressed in his palms, and shivered with delight.

On the other side of their little circle, from the corner of his eye, he saw Victoria watching. For once, her poise appeared fractured. Was she wondering how things had gone so far tonight, or was she currently grappling to control her own arousal? Was it spiraling out of control, as his was?

Her gaze dropped, and at first, Liam assumed she was focusing on how his hands were so gleefully fondling her colleague’s amazing ass. A slight head tilt brought Liam into a better sense of awareness.

As dark as it’d become, a dazzling spray of stars and the deck’s lights illuminated them all. Every part of them. Including the red handprints on Tess’s ass, which were far too vivid to have been caused by a bit of groping. Liam felt a spike of two opposing emotions: worry and excitement. Victoria continued to stare at Tess’s butt for the rest of their kiss.

By the time the kiss ended, they were both breathing heavily. For a second, he forgot about Victoria’s scrutiny. For a second, he could only stare into Tess’s eyes. The words they’d shared earlier resounded in the space between their eyes, and they almost kissed again.

“No, no, no,” Avril said, throwing a card at Tess’s back. “Play by the rules. If you want another naughty make-out session, you’ll have to earn it the right way.”

Tess blushed slightly as she climbed up from him, aware of the statement she’d just made about their relationship. Clearing her throat, she returned to her seat. Liam missed the taste of her lips already.

Finally, he lost to Victoria, who held a hand up even before he’d started heading toward her side. For a second, he feared that maybe he and Tess had pushed things too far and were both in store for chastisement.

“One of the locks on your boxers,” Victoria said. “I won’t make a deal with you this round.”

Eyes widened around the group. Liam, on the other hand, felt a bit of relief. Even though she’d seen the evidence of what had happened while he and Tess had been alone earlier, she didn’t appear upset. She was still engaging with the game.

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