Page 7 of Holiday Home 5

Smiling, Tess began rebuilding her side of the board, and Victoria did the same. It was the danger of being too competitive; you ended up stuck in an inescapable spiral when you lost too many matches in a row. Just one more. End on a win. Don’t leave with a loss streak.

Perhaps what Liam was about to offer would help Victoria out. It should also help Tess.

“You mentioned sleeping poorly,” Liam commented.

“I did,” Tess said.

“Do you want me to give you a massage while you play?”

Both women stopped working on resetting their pieces. Mostly empty bowl in hand, he became the absolute focus oftheir world. Tess’s eyes were alight with surprise. Contrarily, Victoria’s piercing stare remained as impenetrable as ever.

Waiting patiently for the lighter brunette's response, Liam felt he had a good position to make his offer. It took out two birds with one stone too. He could help alleviate some of Tess’s aches, and Victoria would find out that he was pretty good—thanks to Tess and her lessons—at giving massages. Right before they landed on a chain of islands where sunscreen would need to be regularly applied.

After a moment, Tess’s surprise gave way to… approval, perhaps? She was the only person who knew about his deals—the outdated one and the current one—with Victoria. She’d even supported him when he’d told her about it, which was equally shocking and thrilling. He’d feared she’d ask him to snip it in the bud. Instead, she was willing to let things between her lover and colleague potentially flourish.

Here was another chance for her to pick up her watering can and help keep the sprouting bud well hydrated.

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Tess said, smiling. “My neck had the worst of it, if you don’t mind putting the bulk of your efforts there.”

“Sure thing,” he said, setting down his bowl on the table’s edge. Acutely aware that Victoria’s gaze followed him, Liam kept a neutral expression as he moved behind Tess. He could smell the faint scent of her shampoo and conditioner as he put himself into position. Without looking up, he could tell that Victoria was still keeping an eye on him.

For something that really wasn’t anywhere near as sensual as some of the other things he’d done with the women on this plane, it still sped up his heartbeat. Looking at the crown of Tess’s head, her narrow shoulders, and the glimpse of the full shape of her breasts, he waited for her to finish resetting her pieces. At the same time, he started rubbing his hands together,chasing away the coolness that had settled in them while holding a porcelain bowl full of yogurt and refrigerated fruits. Once Tess drew her final pawn back into rank, he sent his hands forward, fingers brushing against damp strands of light brown hair, and set his thumbs on the base of Tess’s neck.

Fingers resting on her shoulders, thumb against the back of her neck, Liam went through every step with as much methodical focus as he could muster. He started with light, circular motions, focusing on providing warmth and a little relief. Nothing he did was rushed; he was determined to avoid that misstep as much as any other. Tess was going to get his absolute best. Victoria was going toseehim give Tess his absolute best.

The women began their next match. Liam paid attention to it, mainly to ensure he wasn’t in the way whenever Tess wanted to make her move. Because, like the pieces on the board, he also moved around a bit. After a little while, he shifted to Tess’s right, her left soon to follow, and began massaging the rear of her neck with three fingers, careful not to let them meet her spinal cord. Applying light but firm pressure, he searched for the knots he’d work to exterminate in short order.

He needed Tess to look down slightly during this step, which slightly interrupted the game. Fortunately, Tess could just call out her moves after glancing back at the board, and Victoria moved her pieces for her.

Once he was certain he’d warmed her skin up, he returned to his position behind her. When his thumbs next met the rear of her neck, their scouting mission was over. They were now there to obliterate the tension knots in Tess’s neck. Stabilizing his hands on her shoulders, Liam began kneading his thumbs in firmer circular motions along Tess’s neck.

Just about in every instance, at least based on the techniques he’d been taught, that was pretty much the gist ofgiving a good massage. Warm up the hands, warm up where your hands would be going, locate the tension, apply appropriate pressure, usually in a circular motion. Rinse, repeat, and earn the adoration of your partner.

And potentially from another woman across the table, who seemed uncharacteristically distracted from her match. Matches, as it would turn out. Even in the throes of his skillful hands, which Tess complimented quite a few times during the match, the older professor couldn’t be beaten. With them seemingly having agreed to make their moves quickly, she bested Victoria in just under fifteen minutes of play, before Liam was even ready to begin working on her shoulders.

“Another?” Tess asked, sounding deliciously content as Liam worked the sides of the gorgeous woman’s neck.

“At least one more,” Victoria said. “I haven’t won yet.”

She sounds like I do when I play her,Liam thought mirthfully.

“You seem fairly practiced and knowledgeable, Liam,” Victoria commented as the players reset the board.

“He is,” Tess announced, which caused Liam to fail to withhold a smile. Only Victoria could see it, and her piercing stare seemed extra intense as she continued.

“When did you pick up this skill? Don’t tell me you have another uncle, this one being a talented masseuse.”

She was referencing the uncle who’d taught him every trick in the books when it came to cards. Tricks he’d used back in December, only revealing his skills after marionetting an entire game of Blackjack.

“It’s a pretty recent one, I suppose,” Liam said, skirting the truth. “I figured it’d come in handy.”

Those eyes—geez. Meeting Victoria’s stare was like staring into a blizzard. Right now, it felt as if she intended to stare so deeply into his soul that she lacerated his skin, muscles, andsinew in her journey to locate the truth beneath. Thankfully, as he was in the middle of something that required a fair degree of focus, he didn’t need to keep meeting it. Nevertheless, he could feel its chilling intensity on his face.

“Ah, ahhh, right there,” Tess whispered frantically, shockingly candid with her near-moan of bliss. He’d shifted his attention to the last remaining bastion of tension in her neck, and now he challenged its supremacy.

“And just what’s going on out here?!” someone cried, acting like they’d just stumbled onto something scandalous.

Intentionally, no one looked in Avril’s direction, even though they all knew it was her. From outside his peripherals, Liam heard a huff, then footsteps. The sight of a voluptuous redhead with beads of water clinging to her skin and nothing but a towel around her body—now thatwasenough to distract him momentarily.

---