Page 49 of Holiday Home 3
“I bet you could make it a little less boring,” he said.
“Oh, I know I could,” Avril said. “Question is, can you handle what I could give to you?”
Anticipation bubbled within him like a stew reaching its simmering point, but he clamped down on any physical tells of how eager he really was. “Only one way to know for sure.”
“One way?” Avril’s lips curled into a suggestive smile. “Babe, I’ve got a hundred ways to check.”
She shifted forward, placing a knee between his thighs as she climbed onto the couch. Her eyes scintillated as she pressed her hands into the couch to either side of his shoulders. Closer still, she came, bringing an alluringly full set of lips within inches of his mouth.
“So, show me one tonight,” he said, smothering any hoarseness in his voice.
“And no one will be upset or cry foul if I do?” the seductive woman whispered, eyes glimmering like uncovered emerald veins.
“So long as you don’t try and kiss me in front of a crowd again,” he said.
“From how it sounds, we’re only having this conversation because of that. So… I can get it if Tess and Anna are mad at me, but do you really have a leg to stand on?”
Liam flattened his lips exasperatedly and reached his arms around her waist. Yet, as he attempted to drag her onto his lap, she resisted.
“Question, answer,” she said.
“I’ll be mad if you keep trying to piss Tess and Anna off, yeah. So, don’t do that—and stop picking on Anna about howshefeels about me.”
“So, you’ve finally noticed, huh?”
Finally?The way Avril made it sound, he should have noticed earlier than just a matter of hours ago. Setting aside an urge to sleuth some, he held her gaze.
“I’m serious. Let her do things at her own pace. And how did you all end up fighting over something like that, anyway?”
Avril shrugged. “After we got home yesterday, she wanted us to sit down and talk a little more about everything. We did, and it was all going fine until I offhandedly mentioned that she’dneed to get a move on, too, and that I knew she was into you. She’s been pouty ever since.”
“I remember someone else being a little pouty when I got here,” he said, which caused Avril to frown. “You know it’s true. What else was said, Avril? Don’t leave out details.”
After a moment spent fighting with herself, Avril sighed and spun away from him. She deposited herself onto the cushion beside him. Hands going behind her head, she admitted things more to the ceiling than him.
“All I said was that she’d need to step it up if she wanted to compete with me and that I wouldn’t be holding back so she could waffle about for six months. She told me to mind my own damn business, and that’s a direct quote, by the way. That’s really the end of it, more or less.”
“More or less?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“More or less,” Avril repeated adamantly.
“So, were you actually upset because she’s got a point?”
Avril’s sharp gaze dropped from the ceiling to him. “I don’t see how.”
“Yes, you do,” he patiently said.
Scowling, Avril slapped her palms on her thighs. “I’m just trying to help her out some.”
“We all know that. But she’s got to want your help. Otherwise, there’s nothing you can do. If she doesn’t want your advice or assistance, you need to let her do her own thing—her way, her pace. She’s not some helpless child, and she probably doesn’t want people to keep treating her like she is.”
“Okay, but I’m not saying she’s helpless abouteverything.But stuff like this—I’m the expert; she’s the novice. So, it’s kind of dumb of her not to get some help when it’s so easily available.”
“So, like how you’ve been letting me help you practice your dealing?”
Avril added another notch to her scowl. “That is not a comparable issue.”
“I disagree,” Liam said, realizing something that Avril hadn’t. “And I think Anna would disagree, too. ‘You should make use of this resource while it’s available.’ That’s what she said when she left, remember? Maybe you said something like that yesterday?”