Page 8 of Holiday Home 3
They reached the end of their current aisle and swung into the store’s main thoroughfare. Stacks of enormous televisions stood directly in front of them, all on sale. Almost everything in the store that wasn’t perishable foodstuffs was currently on sale, as was the post-Christmas tradition.
“At least she can be honest with herself and others,” Tess said as they ventured into the first aisle with such foodstuffs—mostly dried and packaged things. “There is something enviable about that level of self-assuredness.”
Liam glanced toward Tess, who was looking away from him, scanning the packaged variety of nuts directly on her left. She sounded slightly downcast at the end, though he couldn’t be sure if he’d misread her tone.
“I would say that I’ve been trying to emulate her a little bit,” he admitted, which drew Tess’s focus back to him.
“Oh? Did ‘acting like Avril’ lead you to your Switzerland scheme?”
His ears burned, but he nodded all the same. “Pretty much. I did my best to channel her spirit when coming up with it. I figured… why not go for it? The worst you could have said was no, right?”
Tess’s angelic features granted him a sight that he’d never grow immune to. Beaming at him, she leaned over and lightly tapped him with her elbow.
“I’ll be honest with you,” she whispered conspiratorially. “I might have pretended to mull it over a little, but there was never really any chance I would have said no.”
Badump.
Liam’s heart soared into his throat for a second, and he needed five more to smooth the excitement rampaging inside his chest enough to respond.
“So, I should be bolder, then?”
“The worst I could say is no, right?”
Tess kept smiling as she pointed him toward some protein bars that she liked. He practically bounced on the air as he headed over to get them.
“So, be honest,” Tess said once he returned. “How was the comparison?”
“The… comparison?”
Rolling her eyes, she glanced over her shoulder. For the moment, they were alone in their aisle. After that, she lifted her forefinger and middle finger to her mouth. He realized what she was referring to even before she’d provided her hint, which she did by tapping her fingers on her alluringly full lips.
The crimson current that swelled in his face blathered loudly that he understood, but she inquired all the same.
“Understand now?”
“Yeah.”
“So?” the effervescent beauty said. “Compare. On campus, if you throw a rock into a crowd of students and faculty alike, the odds are good you’ll strike someone who’s dreamed about kissing Avril Knight.”
“That same rock would end up hitting someone who’s dreamed the same thing about you,” he pointed out.
“Indeed,” Tess smiled wryly. “Not that I’d ever consider kissing one of my students, even if saying such a thing to you makes me sound a little hypocritical.”
“Well, you’re not actually one of my professors, so it’s notreallythe same.”
“Not for my lack of trying,” Tess reminded him.
Liam shrugged as a pair of sparkling blue eyes bored into him. Famously, or infamously, depending on which circle you came from, Bellmore was one of the top schools in the country, littered with prestige and history. If youdidthrow a rock into a crowd there, you’d best be prepared to get sued for everything you were worth by a trust fund baby’s litany of lawyers.
Tess had long maintained that he could have gotten into Bellmore, where she and Victoria were professors, if he’d applied. And perhaps he could have. But when he’d been selecting colleges, he’d really had no idea about what he wanted to do with his life. And so, he’d selected Perrymont, which was hardly a cardboard box and a tin can in an alleyway, though it might as well be to some of the haughty jackasses who attended Bellmore.
As an image of one such asshole, Trent Alden, appeared within his mind, he shook himself out of his thoughts.
“I mean, youcouldhave tried a little harder,” Liam said, earning an immediate snort from the beautiful woman beside him.
“I could have recruited you that way, is it?”
“I would have been about as susceptible to you then as I am now.”