Page 29 of Holiday Home 4
The urge to confide in Tess nearly overwhelmed all the hard work he’d been putting in to keep things about his future asecret. Just to see how her eyes might light up, he nearly broke his silence. Yet, it was too premature, not the gleeful surprise he envisioned. So, through great effort, he kept his secret concealed.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it’ll be on a weekend day. So it can be proper.”
“I don’t mind, either way,” Tess said, leaning forward to kiss his lips. Both of theirs were dry and slightly cracked. They’d gone too long—how many hours had it been since she’d pulled him into her bedroom?—without taking a break. “Our relationship is hardly proper, anyhow. So, I’m prepared for more unique… situations.”
Liam stared into her eyes, wondering what exactly she was referring to. The two of them, or was it about Avril, or might it even be about what he’d revealed earlier about Victoria? Any of them, all the above? He couldn’t quite tell, and Tess changed the subject before he could think to ask her.
“It’s nice being with someone with your libido and stamina,” she said, kissing him again. “Your willingness to learn, too. It’s oddly thrilling, teaching…this.”
Liam grinned from ear to ear. “I’m happy to be in your class, Professor Williams.”
Snorting, Tess rolled him onto his back, then climbed atop him. Apparently, she still had some reserves of stamina to call upon. Liam wasn’t sure if he did. But that was fine. He still had over a month left before Fiji. More time to learn, more time to work out, more time to impress.
Hovering her mouth over his, Tess’s eyes swirled with mischievous lust and earnest affection. Her teeth gleamed white as she broke into a broad smile, and then they kissed again. Romantic elation blossomed in a room that had gone so many years without. Like the winter defrosting into spring, joy bloomed. And Liam didn’t ever intend to let winter back in.
“You’re my one and only star pupil,” Tess whispered, moving her mouth to his neck. “There, happy?”
“Endlessly,” he whispered back, taking hold of one of her wrists. He maneuvered her warm palm to his warmer chest, and Tess spread her fingers. The rapid drumbeat she felt beneath his ribs was the only sound in the room for several seconds.
Nuzzling her cheek against his, Tess kissed his neck, her smile unseen but felt on his skin. Her joy. And her love.
Physically exhausted though they might be, their emotional highs persisted for the rest of the night. They removed dirty sheets, and then, for no sensible reason, both went downstairs and put them into the laundry together. As they showered, allowing weary muscles and sweat-stained skin to receive the relief of warm water and cleansing soap, he loved her. As they shared a very late dinner of whatever could be thrown together without much effort, during which Liam briefly saw that Avril hadn’t yet responded in the group chat, he loved her. As they threw on the new sheets, eyeing one another across the bed, he loved her. And as they climbed under the covers together, where their hands and mouths relinked for a long while, yes, he still loved her.
They didn’t separate by more than a few feet for that entire time. Never once did they lose sight of each other. As if invisible tethers bound them, they stayed near one another. Neither addressed it; they just accepted it as a new law of the universe. Like gravity, you didn’t try to oppose its existence. You just let it be.
Liam Carr and Tess Williams let their love be. It didn’t need to be mentioned tonight. They both felt it. It lasted right up until two thoroughly exhausted souls closed their eyes for some much-needed sleep and recovery.
It was still there when their eyes opened the next morning.
Chapter Thirteen
Wrong Yet Again
Have a wonderful time with Anna and Avril,” Tess said, holding him in a loving embrace as he prepared to depart her home. It was a little later than he might have intended to head out, but he’d been exhausted. They’dbothbeen exhausted. It’d been nearly ten-thirty when Tess had awoken, and she’d thankfully roused him. Even if he remained slightly sleepy, it was for the best. Thesecondof his Valentine’s Days was waiting for him. Anna was waiting for him.
“She still hasn’t replied,” Liam noted. He’d rechecked his phone upon waking up and multiple other times while he’d rushed through getting dressed and ready to depart. Breakfast had come in the form of two of Tess’s protein bars.
“She knows she’ll have you today, so I wasn’t expecting her to,” Tess said. “In Avril’s typical fashion, she’ll make her attack when it’s least expected. Probably when she has you in a defenseless state later tonight.”
Try as he might to dodge it, a blush slapped itself onto his face. Reacting to a simple callout of his relationship with Avril felt silly. He’d fucked both women at the same time; they knew about each other. It wasn’t a secret, and Tess had escalated things yesterday. Yet, this was still kind of the first time that Tess had so openly addressed that he and Avril were sleeping together.
“You know what you can do though, don’t you?” Tess asked,notaddressing his red face.
“What’s that?”
Tess smiled and set her lips to his right ear. “See to it thatshe’sin a defenseless state all night, instead.”
His ears burned like a lit fireplace, but Tess didn’t relent. She hovered there, waiting for his response.
“Any… professor-ly advice for how I could go about doing that?”
“She has her weak spots, doesn’t she?”
Liam swallowed, then nodded. “Her neck.”
“Then attack it. Again, and again, and again.”
Tess’s voice grew breathier and more sensual with each “again.” He trembled, heart racing. He felt like an indecisive double agent in a spy thriller. It was as if he were trading state secrets with a femme fatale by sharing what he knew about Avril’s weaknesses. As if he knew that Tess herself would eventually make use of this knowledge.