Page 41 of Holiday Home 4

Setting her cone down, she eyed him as she moved through the swinging door and returned to his side of the store. Because of how tightly she’d tied it, the apron contoured to her phenomenal figure, and Liam didn’t fail to admire it. A smirk appeared on Avril’s lips.

“Alright, I’m here,” she said once she stood beside him. “Now what?”

Now what, indeed? Liam rapidly considered his options, then picked the one he felt would provide him with the most entertainment yet might also potentially catch Avril off guard.

“Here you go,” he said, then handed her his ice cream.

Almost instinctually, playing her part as an employee well, Avril accepted it, then stared down at two scoops of mostly uneaten vanilla ice cream confusedly. When her verdant eyes came back up, she foundhimsmirking.

“What?” she grunted.

“There’s something wrong with my ice cream.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Is too.”

Avril glared at him. “There is not. You were just making stupid faces with every bite.”

“Was not, and there is, too,” he said firmly. “Go on, take a bite. I’ll prove that it tastes weird.”

Suspicion sat around Avril like a shroud of smoke. He could see the cogs turning in her mind, wondering what game he was playing. It was rather fulfilling, being on this side of things, knowing what she didn’t, waiting for her to waltz into his trap.

He even had contingencies for if she tried to shove the ice cream back into his hand. However, they proved unneeded.

“Fine, but if it tastes anything but amazing, I’m gonna make you add a twenty fromyourwallet to that tip jar.”

“Fine,” he said. It was an expense worth the prize.

Still looking at him suspiciously, Avril collected a healthy amount of ice cream onto his spoon, then brought it to her lips. It paused there, her scrutinizing stare narrowing, but Liam didn’t give anything away. So, a moment later, Avril took a bite of delicious ice cream. She savored it, let it melt on her tongue, and then swallowed it.

“It tastes as good as it always does,” Avril announced.

“No,” he said adamantly, “it tastes weird. Take another bite.”

“You’re on a short lease, whatever it is you’re doing,” Avril grunted, though she ultimately let him continue having his way. The scene from moments ago replayed itself.

Avril deepened her voice once she’d swallowed this bite. “It. Taste. Good. Yum. Yum. Nothing. Wrong.”

“You’re just not getting it,” Liam sighed, throwing his hands up. Grabbing his ice cream and spoon from Avril’s grasp, he scooped up a third bite, then extended it toward her.

“You haven’t gone looney on me, have you?” Avril demanded, folding her arms. “What kind of bit is this?”

“Not ‘bit,’ take abite,Miss Cavewoman,” he said, grinning.

Rolling her eyes harder than he’d ever seen her do, Avril leaned forward, mouth open, and accepted the third bite of ice cream.

That was when Liam struck.

Before it could melt on her tongue, even before she could fully pull away, he struck. He’d intentionally held the spoon back, forcing Avril to lean toward him to collect the ice cream on his spoon.

Scheming 101. Distract, befuddle, strike.

His mouth pressed into hers before she knew what was happening. Like she’d done to him earlier at her apartment, he came in for a kiss when she wasn’t prepared to defend herself. However, he didn’t redirect at the last second. Not one bit. He did the opposite.

While her eyes widened, his tongue pushed into her mouth. He pushed it into the ice cream on her tongue like a determined driver trying to make it out of their neighborhood following a blizzard. It chilled his tongue, but that, too, was a price worth paying.

Avril’s defenses came up sluggishly. That gave him all the time in the world to deepen the kiss, to maneuver them both so that he could press her back against the counter, and to absorb the shock emanating from her eyes. He wasn’t sure what was more satisfying, the taste of ice cream mixed with Avril Knight, the surprise his tactic had evoked, or what came after. Because Avrildidregain her composure, and as she was not the type to stay on the defense, after regathering her routing forces, she came back with a charge of her own.