Page 83 of Holiday Home 3
“I definitely do,” he said; he’d have been lying if he said anything different. “But I think we should hold off doing too much more today.”
“Why?” Anna asked, eyebrows knitting together with worry. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, absolutely not,” he quickly said. “Just put your hand on my neck and feel how quickly my pulse is racing. I’m enjoying this so much.”
“Then… why do you want to stop?”
For a plethora of reasons. For one, the hesitance she couldn’t fully conceal. For two, his own trepidation about how much further he might end up wanting to go if they kept going. And then third, which was the only answer he shared with her, there was where they were right now.
“We’re kind of standing out here in the middle of the hallway,” he said. “Avril or Victoria could wonder what’s taking me so long to get some drinks and come looking at any time. Or Tess could walk through that door back the way you came. We’re… a little out in the open right now.”
Anna looked around them, which allowed her to confirm that such a horrific discovery had not yet occurred. However, she didn’t seem satisfied with his answer.
“We could move somewhere else,” she whispered. “Somewhere more secluded.”
Something was off. He’d stopped massaging her breasts, and their kiss had ended so they could have this very conversation. So why was she still trembling so fiercely?
“I don’t think that’s what you actually want, Anna,” he said. “At least, that’s not what your body seems to be saying.”
A wave of scarlet ran amok across her features, so much so that it almost seemed like it might bleed into her eyes and mottle their unique green. “I’m okay with it, really. You don’t have to take things so slowly with me.”
His head tilted to one side. There’d been an emphasis there, which he didn’t think she’d meant to include. Yet, he’d definitely heard it.
“I don’t mind taking things slowly; I don’t even think we’re going all that slow to begin with. But I want us both to be comfortable about this, and it feels like you’re trying to push past what you’re comfortable with right now.”
He knew he’d hit the nail on the head when Anna’s gaze fell. The question that needed to be asked, however, was why? What was the rush?
“There’s no rush between us, right?” he asked, smiling softly. “I mean, we’re planning to see each other a lot this coming semester. Probably most of the weekends from now until summer, and then I’ll be back the whole time. Right?”
Anna wrung her hands together at her waist. “Yes, right. Of course. I would like that, at least. If you’d visit often.”
“And you’ll come visit me a couple of times? Like your mom said, there are some cool places around Perrymont I could show you. A few fun date spots.”
“I’d like that,” Anna said, lifting her gaze. “I really would.”
“Then there we go. See, there’s no rush? We’ll be spending months together, and we can take things at a pace that’ll be comfortable for us both.”
“All right,” Anna said, eyes shimmering with emotion. Among them was relief, which set his heart at ease. “Thank you, Liam. I’m sorry if I’m more hesitant than someone like Avril is.”
So, it was that,Liam thought. He shook his head, kept his smile warm, and effused it with his many positive feelings for Annabelle Royce. “She’s her, you’re you. And I like you a lot just how you are. I really like kissing you, too.”
Anna blushed fiercely but stopped wringing her hands. “One more before we go back?”
He grinned. “At least.”
Sharing the task of transporting the drinks back, they returned to the room where they had just one more player to wait for a few minutes later, following a few detours caused by far more than just one more kiss. Once along the way, imbuing a bit of Avril’s spirit into the act, he pressed one of the lemonade cans against her upper arm. She gasped at the chilliness and glared at him.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said, grinning.
However, as if to overcome at least one more inner hurdle, Anna dropped his jaw to the floor when she grabbed his wrist. From there, she pulled the chilly can and his knuckles across her collarbone. Shivering, she worked up the courage to lightly skim them downward to one of her breasts, if only for a moment. Still, it was enough to leave them both in such a state that they paused just a few steps from the open doorway. Inside the room, they could hear Avril and Victoria chatting.
Liam nodded toward Anna’s breasts, which drew her attention to the obvious arousal peeking through her dress. His was only slightly less apparent.
Anna had an easier time calming herself down than he did. Setting down the drinks, she breathed hot air into her hands, then covered her breasts. Closing her eyes, she breathed calmly, and when she removed her hands a minute later, she was back to being the prim and proper heiress everyone knew her as.
“A-Avril taught me that trick,” she quickly whispered, face flooded with color.
He only smiled and continued focusing on soothing his body’s excited state, which he accomplished by thinking of the most mundane things imaginable—the frozen food aisle at the grocery store and brushing his teeth. However, he would have to settle for having only mostly calmed his erection down by the time the chatter within the room shifted to what he’d initially feared. He heard Avril begin musing aloud about how longhe’d been gone. She even suggested one of them might need to go looking for him. To deter that, after Anna hastily scooped up the drinks she’d set down, they announced themselves and appeared in the doorway.