Page 11 of Holiday Home 4
Fiji, Tahiti, Maldives, Bora Bora, the Bahamas—all five were dream destinations. Liam had never visited any of them. His parents had always been bigger on winter vacations than summers spent on a beach. But with spring break approaching and a scheming woman with far too much money to burn enabling them to visit one of those places, he’d soon turn a dream experience into reality. However,thatwas the cherry on top, not the actual dessert. The four women he’d be going on this vacation with were the real reason he couldn’t wait for spring break.
“I’ve placed pretty much all the points I had left on Fiji,” Victoria said. “It’s been that way since last week.”
“You want to go there that badly?”
“It’s the only place of the five that I’ve never visited.”
It was Liam’s turn to arch an eyebrow. “All while you were dating or engaged to Avril’s brother?”
The second he blurted out the question, he winced. That wasn’t a topic he expected she wanted to talk about.
“That’s right,” Victoria said, seeming unaffected by the reminder of her former fiancé. “I enjoyed all four, and going back wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m in favor of a new location, a new experience.”
Liam nodded, relieved that he hadn’t accidentally landed on a sore spot with his blundering tongue. “That makes sense.”
“Though the choice is ultimately going to be yours,” the composed woman said. “You have enough points to pick where we go.”
“Do I?” he asked, shrugging.
Victoria looked at him flatly, so he shrugged a second time. They both knew she was right; this was just a repeat of his conversation with Anna. Having performed far better than anyone else at Avril’s “casino” on New Year’s Eve, he’d come away with nearly as many points as the other three playerscombined. Even after spending almost half of them on gifts, with a hundred and thirty points remaining, he remained far ahead of anyone else.
He really wasn’t surewherehe wanted to go, so he’d deliberately dragged his feet when it came to spending those points. That way, he could see where everyone else wanted to go and vote with the majority.
But so far, there wasn’t a majority. Victoria wanted to visit Fiji, while Tess and Anna had stuck a smattering of points to pretty much every location. For whatever reason, the Bahamas was the only one without a point to its name yet. With thirty-five points—all of Victoria’s remaining points plus some from Tess and Anna—behind it, Fiji was currently in the lead, though Maldives and Bora Bora weren’t far behind. If he was so inclined, twenty points here, twenty points there, and Fiji would suddenly find itself struggling to keep up.
And Victoria didn’t have any points left to spend.
“I still haven’t puttoomuch thought into it, but I probably should, shouldn’t I?” he said.
“You probably should,” Victoria agreed. “Avril said she’d end voting at the end of February. That doesn’t leave you much time left.”
“Good point. I’ll definitely give it a little thought.”
It was precisely what he was doing right now, in fact. Most notably, a potentially risky idea flapped like a flag in a storm inside his head. It was impossible to avoid noticing. And the more he looked at it, the more fascinated he became.
“Care to convince me why I should pick Fiji over the rest?” he added. “Seems like the perfect time to sway my opinion, no? While I drink thisnon-alcoholicwine.”
He made a show of taking a long drink, which left only a little red in his glass. Victoria shook her head but smiled slightly as she stood up, returned to the counter, and collected the winebottle. As soon as she sat back down, she leaned in and refilled his glass. All the while, her sharp blue eyes remained on him. They were still totally unreadable.
“While it’s not quite the ideal time to visit, Fiji has numerous islands to pick from. I’m sure Avril would pick only the very best for us, once she knows if that’s where we’ll be heading. There’s sun, crystalline waters, as many activities as you can imagine. Shows like Survivor have been filmed on one set of islands, and there’s bound to bea lotof days spent on the various beaches.”
Victoria finished refilling his glass, but she didn’t lean all the way back to where she’d been before. Liam appreciated her for that, and for her guile. The gorgeous woman knew what she was doing, mentioning something as mundane as beachgoing as her final point. It summoned images—several of them. Liam’s blood warmed.
“All the places are beaches, though, aren’t they? Kind of what they’re all famous for. Some of the world's most famous and well-regarded beaches, the whole lot.”
“That’s true.” Victoria paused, expression seeming to waver in a way he’d never seen from her. Before he could consider what that meant, she continued. “But the excitement tobeon those beaches plays a large role in what outfits a woman will bring along.”
His blood warmed? No, it was practically sweltering.
Liam needed another drink to cool himself down, but he didn’t dare break eye contact with the busty—fuck, she was so busty—woman sitting across from him. Like a pitcher on a hot streak, he didn’t dare change a single thing.
Really, a baseball metaphor?he thought.Youhavebeen spending too much time with Avril.
“You’d pick something subpar to bring along if we went somewhere other than Fiji?” Liam asked, though he had hisdoubts that she could look anything other than phenomenal—or that she had any subpar outfits in her closet. She was far too fashionable for that.
Victoria merely shrugged. “Not necessarily. But I might not be as certain to go out and pick up some new ones if we went somewhere else.”
Liam swallowed, noticing how close their knees had come. No, not sweltering. Boiling. How was it so hot in this kitchen all of a sudden?