Page 39 of Holiday Home 3

“I know what I’m doing. Unlike you,I’vebeen to Vegas.”

“How about you, Anna?” he asked, letting Avril’s glare slide off him ineffectually.

“Have I been to Vegas?” she asked, midway in a journey to the comfortable white armchair near Avril’s side of the couch. “No, I’ve never been.”

Her roommate tracked her as she made it there and sat down. “Not for lack of my trying. You’ve been twenty-one for half a year. We should have gone by now.”

“No, thank you.”

Liam approached the couch and, without asking if he was welcome, dropped himself onto the center cushion. The woman beside him glared at him but remained focused on preventing him from staring at the playing cards, which she began hastily gathering up. Since she’d just made a mess of them, it took her a while to undo her own work.

“How long are you going to be here anyway?” she said.

“Until you or Anna kicks me out.”

“Keep acting smug, and it’ll be sooner than later.”

“I don’t think I’m acting all that smug.”

It was a damn lie, and even Anna gave him a pointed look.

“Okay, well, I’m just in a good mood. So, sue me.”

“You’d be screwed if I did,” Avril warned.

Given how wealthy he knew she was, she was probably right on that account. Holding his hands up in surrender, he quietly watched Avril finish rebuilding the deck of cards. As she scooped it away from the table, he nodded toward it.

“Want to play something?”

Avril hit him with a droll stare. “I so knew you were going to offer something like that.”

He shrugged haplessly. “What can I say? My love for card stock is almost overwhelming.”

“Gross.”

He shrugged again. Rolling her eyes, Avril flicked her gaze toward her roommate.

“How about you? Want to play something? I’m game if you are.”

Something curious passed in a look shared between the best friends, though Liam couldn’t parse it as well as he would haveliked. It frustrated him, but he knew better than to point it out. Ultimately, he knew that once he and Avril did manage to have a private conversation, he’d have questions for her, just as she would him.

But that wouldn’t be now. Nodding, Anna confirmed her willingness to play. Placing his intrigue to the side, he surreptitiously stole the deck out of Avril’s hands, ignored her protests, and began rapidly shuffling the cards.

Chapter Fourteen

Bullshit

From the moment the idea had popped into his mind, he’d already known what game he wanted them to play. Given the circumstances surrounding them, it just seemed fitting. Doubly so because of how excitable the game usually ended up. He hoped it would also clear up some of the stale air hovering in the room. Yet, Avril pumped the brakes before he could get more than halfway through divvying the cards up.

“Hold it, hold it!” she said, finally realizing that she’d blithely allowed him to shuffle the deck. “Give me that, you cheater!”

She made to snatch the remainder of the deck from him, but he swapped the deck to his left hand and interposed his bodybetween it and her grabbing hand. That earned him a glare, and Avril pressed herself into him as she tried to steal the deck.

“I didn’t cheat,” he protested. “I said I wouldn’t do it again.”

“Bullshit,” she grunted, still vying for ownership of the deck.

He grinned. “Dang, you got it on the first guess.”