Page 19 of Holiday Home 3
“I don’t know. We’re hashing that out now.”
“Wherever it is, you should pick her up from her apartment.”
That gave him pause. His head lifted from his phone, and he stared at the door Tess stood behind.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it’ll feel more like a date if you do.”
Her straightforward response didn’t alleviate his confusion.
“And that’s something we should want because…?”
A moment passed, and then the closet door opened about a foot. Tess stared flatly at him through the opening.
“Because you twoaredating now, remember? You’re not just pretending to be talking; you’ve gone and said you’re her boyfriend. And that means you two really need to look a bit morelike a couple when you’re around each other. Otherwise, you’ll never pull the deception off.”
“We managed to keep you and Avril in the dark,” he pointed out.
“Because we assumed you two were just being… awkward around one another when in front of us. AndIassumed it was because you didn’t want to have anything develop between the two of you because of us. As far as I’m aware, Anna has never had a boyfriend before. For you to become that first boyfriend means there’s something about you that’s different than the others who have tried to catch her eye. Faking it or not, you two need to look more like a couple and less like friends. Tomorrow can be a trial run for that.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll see what she says.”
Nodding, Tess shut the door and resumed her outfit swap. Picking up his phone, sighing a little more softly this time, Liam typed out his response.
Maybe we could go out to eat? My treat. I could pick you up tomorrow, and we can try to treat it like an actual date. We are boyfriend and girlfriend now, after all.
He’d wondered how she’d reply, if there might be a longer delay before he received it. To his surprise, it arrived as quickly as the first had.
All right. I think that’s a good idea too. Would you like to have lunch, maybe?
Sure. How about a little before noon? Sound good?
It does. I’ll see you then, Liam.
As he set his phone down and prepared to share the news with Tess, he paused. Glancing at his phone, he recalled the very first time he and Anna had texted. Rather, when Avril had texted him with Anna’s phone while pretending to be her.
She wouldn’t do that again,he thought, face pulling to one side.Right?
She hadn’t texted him any today, which was atypical. They’d conversed regularly since trading numbers, and he’d expected to hear something from her about what had transpired today by now. The fact that she’d maintained radio silence so far worried him. He had no idea what her next steps would be, but he knew there’d be something. Avril Knight wasn’t the type of woman who loitered about for too long.
“How’d it go?” Tess called, drawing him from his musings.
“We’ve got lunch plans tomorrow. I’m picking her up.”
“Fantastic. And right on time.”
Tess removed the barrier of wood that stood between them. Directly afterward, Liam experienced his most potent adrenaline rush of the night.
Chapter Seven
The Runner-up
Any thoughts of Anna, Avril, or anyone else in the world vanished the moment Tess entered his field of view. His world existed in this one room with this one woman. There wasn’t anyone else worth thinking about. Not if it distracted him from the entrancing sight standing directly before him.
Tess’s smile crept up as she noticed how enthralled he was. Stepping further into the bedroom, she made certain to approach him slowly. It bought him the time to reorient himself, and to come up with a charming compliment for the woman he loved.
“Wow.”