Page 26 of Holiday Home 5

Anna frowned at the metaphor butstilldidn’t shut the door on the possibility. Nor did Victoria. So, now was Tess’s time to shine.

“Each round of poker can take a long time,” the gorgeous brunette said. “Yes, it’s not that late, but it might be a long while before there’s a true ‘winner.’”

“Liam?” Avril asked. “Have you a solution to the issue of speediness?”

The full attention of the group slid toward him. In a way, it both thrilled and unnerved him. As a matter of fact, hedidknow the right way to speed up the game. And well, he wanted to play this game too.

“Normally, we bet with chips,” he reminded everyone. “With rounds of betting throughout each round. If we want to keep things flowing pretty quickly, then we should cut down on all that. I guess the person with the worst hand would just lose a piece of clothing, nothing more. But to add a little spice to the game, I’d recommend dealingtwohands to each person—anormal one, which they can look at, then a facedown pair they can’t look at.”

So far, so good. No disproving looks, no shaking heads, no refusals.

“After the flop, each of us can make one decision per round: do we want to keep our current two cards or swap to the two unknown cards? That should keep the game a little fun, so you aren’t just immediately hosed if you get a bad hand. It also means there’ll be no folding—we all play to the end in every round.”

“Those rules sound like they fix the pacing problem,” Avril said.

For the third time in a row, a statement went unrefuted.

It seemed that this really was going to happen. There was a momentum to it, coaxed into being by Avril. Yet, it wasn’t wholly because of her. Liam knewhiswork, both words and actions, played a part in Anna and Victoria not shutting this down. This would be a step further, for all five of them.

And so, he wore as neutral an expression as he could manage. A herculean task, given how quickly his blood flowed through his veins. It took all his effort not to vibrate with excitement.

“One more rule, though,” Avril said, lifting a finger. “So that we don’t end up nakedtooquickly.”

Liam’s eyebrows weren’t the only pair to furrow. Wasn’t that… the goal?

“If the one of us with the worst hand doesn’t want to lose an article of clothing, they can crawl over to the person with thebesthand and engage in whispered negotiation with them. They can offer something to that player, say a hug, a kiss, or a promise to sit on the winner’s lap during the next round—anything, really; it’ll be up to the loser and winner to reach a deal that suits them both—and avoid losing a piece of clothing. Only other thing,though, is that what is offered must occur right then and there—so no promising things fortomorrowor a year from now or anything like that. Got it?”

As it had when they’d been watching the sunset, silence permeated the air around them. Perhaps had it gone on long enough, Victoria or Anna might have eventually worked out a single refusal, which might then have snowballed into the entire event collapsing.

But the silence didn’t go on long enough. Drawing a deep breath, then lightly sighing, Tess proved an excellent actress.

“Alright, Avril. I’ll play with these rules. But no promises about anyfuturegames. This is a special night, our first night in Fiji. For bringing me on this trip, against my better judgment, I’ll play along.”

One bead on the abacus shifted toward the left—Avril’s way. It was enough to start letting gravity—inevitability—do the rest.

Following Tess’s agreement, Liam felt safe enough to do the same. He nodded and agreed to play. That left them at three for and two still undecided.

“Very well,” Victoria eventually said, refilling her wine glass.

And then Annabelle Royce, no longer deserving to ever be jokingly called prudish by her best friend again, also agreed.

Chapter Fourteen

Cheat Away

After moving their empty bowls and plates out of the way, everyone shifted in. Forming a circle on the towels, Liam ended up with Tess on his left and Anna on his right. Once everyone was ready, he, not even thinking about asking, picked up the deck of cards, popped it open, and deposited the stack onto his palm. At that point, someone finally had something to speak out against.

“No cheating, Liam,” Tess said.

“I won’t,” he promised.

“But you should,” Avril said.

He tilted his head. “What?”

“When it’s your turn to deal, and we should rotate around rather than let you deal every hand, youshouldtry and cheat.We all know you can do it. If one of us catches you in the act and can say how you cheated, then you automatically lose that round—so start negotiating with the person who caught you or get those clothes off.”

Liam looked around. “Is everyone else okay with that?”

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