Page 96 of Holiday Home 3
Chapter Thirty-Five
Starting Strong
The most wonderful year that Liam had ever experienced, entirely because of its final month, ended with him surrounded by four of the most stunning women in the world. After finally reaching the conclusion of their poker night, they all abandoned the table and headed to the bar. He and Avril were the only ones with shoes on by that point.
There, having all brought their drinks, he ended up in the center of their line as they waited for the final minute of the year to trickle by like morning dew. Anna and Avril stood to his left, and Tess and Victoria adorned his right. There was plenty of room for them to stand and lean against the counter, yet a combination of libations and maybe something else pulled everyone toward him like gravity. Anna’s shoulder brushedagainst his, and then Tess did the same with hers. Avril grinned, threw her arm around her roommate, and leaned upon her. Even Victoria seemed unable to escape the gravity well, leaning upon the counter with both forearms.
“So, who’s kissing whom?” Avril asked as the countdown timer announced that there were only about forty seconds left of a year as amazing as it had been shocking.
“We don’t have to kiss anyone,” Anna said, black tresses bouncing against her shoulder as she shook her head and sighed.
“But we all should. We should all drain our glasses and kiss whoever we feel like kissing. It’ll bring good luck to all our relationships.”
“On the cheek,” Victoria said, staring adamantly at the redheaded instigator. Her eyes briefly passed over him, and he knew she was recalling what they’d talked about at that Costco several days ago.
“That should be fine,” Tess agreed. “We can all kiss one another on the cheek.”
“Boo,” Avril said, though she had no more time to argue.
When the countdown reached ten, the number ten appeared in black, bold lettering on the screen they were watching. Number nine was a brilliant green. Every number after was a different vivid color, all on their way to a sparkly golden zero surrounded by fireworks and jubilant cheers.
Liam’s heart raced to zero far more quickly than the countdown did. Holding his water in one hand, his other hung by his side. Warm, soft, and serendipitous, fingertips brushed against the back of it. Glancing to his right, he saw that Tess kept her attention on the countdown, even as her hand sought to slip into his grasp. He made sure she knew only success before the countdown reached three.
He beamed and raised his drink as the ONE planted in the middle of the screen became ZERO! The women around him didthe same, and everyone drank heavily. One year ended, another began. His started with far more kissing than the last one had.
As they set their drinks down, Avril made sure she was the first to deliver a kiss to each one of them. Starting with Anna, she noisily popped her lips against her roommate’s cheeks, then started sidling across the line to replicate the task with each of them. During that time, he and Tess separated their hands.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered into his ear as she delivered heat and wetness to his cheek as she pressed herself against his back. After she mirrored the act on the other side of his face, then grumpily harumphed until returned the favor to at least one side of her face, she moved down to “the professor who would definitely make sure she got an A.”
“Happy New Year, Anna,” he said, knowing their time out of the spotlight would be brief.
She beamed at him in response. “Thank you, Liam. Happy New Year.”
“May I?”
She nodded, and he brushed aside her dark hair. Seconds later, he placed a soft but meaningful kiss on her cheek, just inches from the corner of her deliciously full lips. As he pulled back, she swiveled her mouth around quickly enough that their lips brushed together for an infinitesimal speck of time. Liam smiled and waited for her to kiss his cheek.
He and Tess behaved far better. A simple transaction, her first, then him, occurred. For now. The plan to return to her home before too much longer glittered between their eyes. It’d be their chance to start the new year with fireworks of their own.
After he kissed Tess’s cheek, she moved over to share just a hug with Anna and then some whispered conversation. In the spot one beyond her, a tall woman in a marvelous dress glanced at him. She’d just finished warding off Avril’s attempt to “upgrade” to a quick peck on the lips when their eyes connected.One of her first smiles of the year, slight but still stunning, belonged to him.
After looking at him for a moment, she did away with the shackles around his ankles with a minor flick of her wrist. Excitement burgeoned within him as he took over the spot Tess had just vacated. A small part of him complained about missing if the two professors had shared more than a hug.
It vanished quickly enough. Once he stood next to her, Victoria wasted no time. She laid a hand on his arm and leaned toward him. Liam briefly lost himself amid the magnetic pull of her dazzlingly pale eyes. They were as penetrating as ever, so they must have seen the excitement coursing through him. That didn’t stop her, nor did it reverse the course of her smile.
Victoria pressed her warm lips against his cheek, and he breathed in. The redolent scent of lime and orange scampered up his nostrils, though it was eternally secondary to the soft feeling of Victoria’s lips against his skin. She pulled away a moment after she’d arrived, and those piercing eyes of hers admired his reaction.
She turned her head but not the rest of her body. The distance between them barely changed. A handful of seconds passed before he realized she intended to let him return the favor.
Elated beyond belief, Liam hurried his lips forward, brushing aside a bit of Victoria’s lustrous hair with his hand. Her eyes tracked him as he leaned in, set his lips against her cheek, which he found slightly wet already, to which he blamed Avril, and completed the set. All four women, and only about two minutes since the new year had started. It was quite the beginning, and he squirmed with excitement for what might be ahead of him in the days, weeks, and months to come.
After kissing her, he didn’t retreat as far as he ought to have. He was in a room with three other women, all of whom he wasvaryingly intimate with. He didn’t want to undo the fabulous start to the new year with potential conflict, which could arise if anyone noticed how intoxicated by Victoria he seemed. And yet, Victoria’s soft skin seemed to glow more radiantly than usual, and he didn’t dare rip his gaze away. Furthermore, even though he had, she had yet to let go of his arm. He began to notice other things, too.
Her lips were slightly parted and moist, and her eyelashes fluttered lethargically. Or… erotically. It was transfixing, and Liam swallowed without intending to. It didn’t help that, since escaping her heels, she’d lost some of her height, causing him to look down as he hovered near her. The captivating swell of her breasts beneath her tight dress acted like an anchor on the end of his nose. Her stunning eyes, her parted lips, her magnificent body—she was more intoxicating than any drink Tess knew how to make.
Blessedly, the things occurring between them happened over the course of just a few moments. Moments that went unnoticed, or at least unmentioned, by any other spectators.
Next, Victoria noticed his plight. She dropped her gaze down to her cleavage, then chuckled softly upon bringing her eyes back up.