Page 37 of Holiday Home

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled.

Avril grinned and threw her hands behind her head. She was dressed as if she’d just gotten out of bed, wearing a long pullover top that exposed one of her slender shoulders, a bra strap, and much of her upper arm. It was long enough to fall midway down her thighs, leaving him to wonder if she was wearing anything else but it.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Avril purred, batting long eyelashes knowingly.

Fire fanning over his face, he quickly glanced away from her, which only caused Avril to clear her throat and step even closer to him, expecting an answer from him.

“Just how you’re going to get demolished in our card game later,” he lied, resisting an urge to stare at the effortlessly sexy redhead.

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Avril stepped closer, turning quickly so that she bumped her bare shoulder against him. “Also, there’s no way that’s going to happen. I’ve already thought everything through. Remember what you said about being the dealer against me and Anna?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, I’ve got another surprise or two for that up my sleeve,” Avril said, beckoning him to follow her as they headed for the living room.

“Is it that you’ve also invited Tess over?”

Avril stopped dead in her tracks, then spun around. Bending forward, baggy shirt drooping in such a manner to call his attention toward the upper slopes of her sizable chest, she clasped her arms behind her back and jabbed him with a pointed look.

“She spoiled it? Come on, Tess, that’s messed up.”

“So, it’ll be me dealing versus the three of you? Any other surprises?”

Avril’s eyebrow lifted, and he caught an unnerving upward twitch at the corner of her pretty mouth. “Oh, Liam, don’t you know I love my secrets and surprises? I have oodles of them.” She spun back around and resumed her march into the living room.

He followed dutifully, and it wasn’t long before they were right where they’d ended up the last time he’d visited. Would things end up the same way now as they had then? Liam’s mind summoned dangerous fantasies as they sat down on the couch.

“So, how’d you get it out of her?” Avril asked, immediately turning herself and then laying the back of her head on his lap. Two peerless emerald eyes gleamed up at him, with a knowing smirk sitting below them. “Did youseduceit out of her?”

“No,” he quickly answered, heat expanding in his face at the same rate as Avril’s smile. “She just brought it up while I was at her place last night.”

“The fuck, Tess?” Avril said, folding her arms beneath her breasts. “Can’t tell that woman anything.” Playing the grumpy schemer a few moments longer, she soon refocused the conversation. “Did you visit her, or did she invite you?”

“I visited her.”

Avril’s grin reappeared. “See? Look at what happens when you listen to your Big Sis Avril? Now, spill the details.”

So, Liam did. Recounting last night’s events, Avril proved an apt listener, only teasing him a few times—though he did try and detail things in such a way as to limit how many times she could prod him with her candid remarks. Upon finishing his tale, the torturously beautiful redhead patted him on his thigh.

“Sounds like things are going full steam ahead, but what’s the next stop on the tracks?”

Liam’s brow knit together. “I mean, shouldn’t I keep visiting as often as possible?”

“Sure, sure, but that’s where you’re already at. You said it yourself: Tess has straight up given you full visitation rights. Now, how do you translate that into visitation rights to the specific place you really want to end up in?” Avril smirked. “Which is her bedroom, in case that wasn’t clear enough.”

“I know that,” Liam said, face heating up. “I… guess I figured things would eventually start shifting away from her just seeing me as her neighbor.”

“Eventually?” Avril rolled her eyes, speaking the word as if it were an odious thing. “You and Anna are two hopeless peas in a pod, I see. That’s her favorite word to say. ‘I’ll go to Hawaii with youeventually,Avril,’ ‘I’ll try skydiving with youeventually,Avril,’ ‘I’ll have a threeway with youeventually,Avril.’”

She grinned like the devil she was as Liam’s eyes drastically widened. Given where she was lying, she surely felt the shift beneath his pants, as well.

“I made that last one up, but you get the idea,” she said, remaining amused as he tried to brush away the red on his face. “Eventualities, prospects, potentialities—it’s all nonsense. Yeah, don’t show up for your next visit with nothing on but your socks, but don’t just assume that sitting on the couch a couple nights a week with her will get her to fall for you. You need to be more proactive than that.”

“Okay, so what do you have in mind? You’re the one who told me to go at her pace.”

“Too true,” she said. “But I wasn’t expecting her to practically throw your face into her tits last night while telling you how much she liked having you around, now was I? Clearly,herpace is a bit quicker than I’d assumed it might be.”

While he blushed, she raised a finger, twirling it about as she continued without missing a beat. “Tess is definitely a talker—she’s a professor, for God’s sake. Point the conversation toward romance or sex or how she feels about men half her age.” Avril snickered as he frowned. “Gather some intel, then we can map out a decent battle plan for you. It might be as easy as leaning in for a kiss at the right time. Who knows?”

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