Page 21

Connections

B

ased on the glances Liam pointed in Anna’s direction, she was only a little nervous about the evening plans she walked toward. After saying goodnight to Anna and Avril, the three of them had propelled themselves toward the northernmost bure on the island. Tonight, it wouldn’t just be his and Victoria’s place.

It wouldn’t just be his, Victoria’s, and Anna’s place, either. As had been the case since he’d gifted it to her, Sammy the Sloth was coming over. She held her relatively effective tonic for insomnia in one arm, her pillow and a change of clothes for tomorrow in the other. She’d also swapped into some nightwear, consisting of a satin shirt and some enticingly short shorts. Assuming things went as planned, they’d all eventually come off.

“Make yourself comfortable, Anna,” Victoria said as they reached their deck, waving a hand toward sliding doors that led to the bedroom. “But it is early to be getting into bed, even if one of us here would clearly be more than okay with it.”

Well, we wouldn’t be going to bed, Liam thought to himself. He kept that thought to himself, for now, capable of seeing that Victoria had more to say.

“Do you know chess, Anna?” she asked.

“I know the rules, but I don’t really have much experience playing.”

“Really?” Liam asked, surprised.

“I know you and Avril like to tease me about this, but I’m not skilled at everything, ” Anna said. “I still only have twenty-four hours each day to live my life, same as everyone else.”

“Then not that,” Victoria said. She eyed him thoughtfully. “What about cards? Something simple. Something where we’re playing against you.”

“Any game where there’s a house dealer is like that,” Liam said, then smiled. “If you want simple, there’s always Blackjack.”

Victoria narrowed her eyes, letting him know she remembered that very first game they’d all played. “Indeed.” She turned back to Anna. “Would you be up for that, Anna? We can pool our wins together when deciding if we won.”

“That seems a little unfair,” Liam said.

“You would know about that, wouldn’t you?” Victoria said.

“I mean, I won’t cheat like last time. That was months ago, too. You and Avril both really hold grudges.”

“Yes, we do,” Victoria confirmed, cutting off his reply with a dismissive flick of the hand.

“I’m up for it,” Anna said, tossing Liam a commiserating smile. “Just let me put my things away.”

“And I’ll get the cards,” Victoria said.

Both women entered the bure, though only one actually disappeared. With the bed centered behind the doors, he never lost sight of Anna. She placed her sleeping assistant and pillow on the bed, then was the first back to him. Victoria wasn’t gone long enough for much of a conversation to occur, but Liam stole a few kisses from the most luscious mouth he knew before the older woman reappeared.

“No cheating,” Anna said lightly as they moved toward the nearby table.

“I won’t,” he said, making a face at both women. He’d only done it the once… technically, and it’d even been for Anna’s benefit. The game of strip poker didn’t count. They’d told him to cheat, as they wanted to try and catch him. Of course, the fact that they hadn’t ever caught him probably didn’t help soothe their “distrust.”

Settling into one of the cushioned chairs around the table, he held out a hand. Victoria stared at his palm for a few seconds, then met his eyes. A spark of some unreadable idea flickered in her eyes as she handed over the playing deck, grabbed an extra chair from another part of the deck, and then brought it over and sat down.

They’d placed themselves on the other end of the table from him, like opposite negotiators staring one another down. Realizing that there was an annoyance that he didn’t want to keep needing to snake his arm around the whole game, Liam delayed shuffling the deck. Instead, standing back up, he removed the umbrella from the center of the table. Leaning it on the railing nearby, he had a better view of the two beauties across from him when he sat back down.

While he shuffled, they watched him like a pair of perched hawks. He sighed loudly.

“Are we going to go until a certain number of wins?” Liam asked, beginning to dole out cards. It was second nature to him, and with the wind having died down, he could have snapped each card to any spot on the table with his eyes shut.

“No need for that,” Victoria said. “This won’t be that kind of game.”

“Do you feel the same, Anna?” Liam said. “We could outvote her, you and I.”

Victoria rolled her eyes. Anna smiled and shook her head. At him, not in answer to his question. She’d be aligning with Victoria. For once, it seemed that they’d just play cards.

How novel that’s become, Liam thought, chuckling inwardly.

As he busted on an eight that he was forced to pick up, the two women each won a point—or shared a point. He didn’t know how score would be kept, or if it was even being kept. He’d leave that to them.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t. After a few hands, he realized he was instinctively tracking everything in his head. A few more later, he realized he couldn’t stop. At that moment, he made a face and sighed, which resulted in Victoria smirking knowingly.

The three of them chatted breezily as the game progressed. With only half as many players present, each round moved far more quickly than the game he’d run for all four women so many months ago. Back then, he’d only really been involved with Avril, and even that had been a confusing relationship to define. It felt like a lifetime ago.

“By the way, Anna,” Victoria said between rounds, “Liam and I have been sleeping without any clothes on while here.”

Liam almost fumbled his shuffle, which would have been even more embarrassing than what Victoria had just admitted.

“O-Oh?” Anna asked, blushing slightly.

“Because of a deal we made during Avril’s strip poker game,” Victoria added.

Anna cocked her head to the side. “I don’t remember that being announced.”

“That’s because it wasn’t,” Victoria said. “I offered it to Liam in secret. To convince him to let me win the game.”

Anna’s eyes widened slightly, as if she were seeing her professor in a somewhat new light. Liam found her response a little amusing. Hadn’t she literally watched Victoria jerk him off earlier that day?

“Earlier, I gave Liam a hard time for his cheating ways—”

“Don’t word it like that!” Liam protested.

“Which felt a little unfair,” Victoria continued, completely ignoring him. “So, this is my way of coming clean.”

“You also tried to get me to be impartial at the tennis match tonight,” Liam said, holding back from dealing the next hand.

Victoria glanced at him. “Yes, but Avril did too, and I knew she would when I did.”

“And I didn’t take either of you up on your… offers. That’s important to mention, too.”

“I suppose,” Victoria said. “Anyway, I wanted you to be aware of that, Anna. In case you’d like us to wear clothes tonight.”

Anna fidgeted slightly but ultimately shook her head. “No, that’s not, um, an issue.” Her voice grew marginally quieter as she added, “I wasn’t expecting a lot of clothes to stay on, anyhow.”

Victoria smiled softly and beckoned for Liam to pass out the next hand. He scrutinized her as he did so. Something was up. Victoria was usually straightforward, but she wasn’t usually quite so blunt—at least, not unless Avril was involved. So, why mention their deal like that?

“Words Liam has been chomping at the bit to hear all day, I’m sure,” Victoria said. “He clearly has a thing for women with our bustlines.”

Annabelle Royce, for all her good manners and properness, still did what all people did when Victoria Moreno was around: she looked at the woman’s incredibly full breasts. Both women wore flimsy shirts over their bikini tops. Anna’s was loose enough to let Liam see one of her shoulders. He’d kissed that shoulder a few times throughout the day.

“I’ve noticed that too,” Anna said. She fidgeted a little more before adding a little more. It was enough for Liam to realize what Victoria’s plan had been all along, from the moment she’d suggested a game of cards. “He’s very good at taking care of them.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Victoria said, peeking at her hidden card. Liam didn’t. He couldn’t have cared less about whatever card he’d dealt himself. “My breasts are fairly sensitive, but not so much that it’s a guarantee that I’ll have a good time.” She threw Liam a look. “But I’ve been pretty happy to let him work on me every evening. He’s more practiced than any of the men I knew when I was about his age.”

Anna’s eyes widened again, yet it didn’t seem to be because she was embarrassed about what Victoria was revealing. No, it was because of something else. Something that Anna now latched onto.

“So am I,” Anna said, then realized she should clarify. “I’m… sensitive, I mean.” Now, she blushed.

“Oh?” asked a woman who’d already known that Anna was more than susceptible to Liam’s efforts. But now, he realized, the playing field was leveled. Anna knew about Victoria too.

She’d forged a connection between them: a wonderful one, as far as Liam was concerned. Two buxom women, two sensitive sets of breasts.

This whole time, that was what she’d been doing. Anna wasn’t Tess, and she certainly wasn’t Avril. The situation she was stepping into tonight must have left her feeling uncertain and unsteady. She and Victoria didn’t have the rapport that every other combination of women in their group had.

And Victoria had known all of this. She’d planned for it. As much as Liam might have wished for the clothes to start flying off immediately, that had never been in the cards.

This, in an unusual sort of way, was the evening foreplay. What was needed. Victoria was soothing tension, constructing the staircase up, and now they might be able to talk about things a little more comfortably. Within the same moment he realized all this, he also realized that the only thing he needed to do right now was shut up and let it happen.

“That works out for us,” Victoria said. “I was thinking about how far I’d be willing to let things go tonight. If we both share this preference, that could be tonight’s focal point—for lack of a better word.”

Anna nodded slowly. She also finally checked her hidden card. This round of Blackjack was moving at a snail’s pace, yet Liam remained apathetic to it. It could never end up being completed, for all he cared.

“That’s kind of where my head was at,” Anna said. “I think the same for you, Liam? Based on what we talked about a little earlier?”

“Yeah, like I said then, I want you two to have a really good time. This is your reward, tonight.”

“That works for me, then,” Victoria said. Upon hearing Anna mention the conversation they’d shared earlier today, he caught a glimpse of approval in her eyes. “And if that is the case, now we could consider some stakes for our game.”

Liam and Anna gave the clever—Liam now had a new attribute to pin to her—professor their undivided attention.

“How many points are we all at, Liam?” Victoria asked.

Too clever, Liam thought, flattening his stare.

“Five for me, four for you, three for Anna. One round ended in a tie between Anna and me, and I’m counting that one as having given no points.”

“How many hands have we played?”

“Ten,” Liam growled, seeing the amusement in Victoria’s eyes. She’d known. All along, she’d known he’d be unable to avoid keeping score in his head.

“So, we’re in the eleventh hand?”

Liam nodded.

“If we convert each win into a point, there’s our currency,” Victoria said. “Nothing for ties.”

“And… what are we purchasing with those points?” Anna asked.

“Clothes coming off, activities being undertaken,” Victoria said. “Does three points per article of clothing seem fair, Liam?”

“Do I have to pick between the two of you each time?”

“Yes.”

“Then make it like it was for my boxers during strip poker. Two locks on every set of clothes I’ve got.”

“That seems a little much.”

“The dealer doesn’t win that much more than the players in Blackjack. If we don't do this, I’ll have nothing left to take off in only a few more rounds.”

“And that would be when other things start happening.”

“Such as?”

Victoria’s eyes shone with an unusual degree of coyness. “We’ll get to that when it becomes more relevant. For now, dealer, I’m spending three of my points to remove one of the locks on your shirt.”

“Noted,” he grunted.

“I’ll do the same,” Anna said.

He supposed he shouldn’t be annoyed. This was literally what he wanted: for the clothing they were all wearing to come off. Not only had Victoria set much of Anna’s trepidation at ease, but she’d also now concocted a comfortable way for them to all end up naked.

And yet, Liam still felt like he was getting ganged up on. It was bizarre and senseless, yet he felt like Avril did when the group all took playful shots at her.

Touche, Professor Moreno, he thought, meeting her cool stare as he pushed his chair back, stood, and gave the two beautiful women with him a show.

“Here,” he said, balling his shirt up, then tossing it into Anna’s lap. “For my cruel, conniving girlfriend.”

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Anna said, smiling as she caught his shirt. “I’m more of an accomplice than the mastermind.”

“Uh-huh,” Liam grunted as he sat back down. “Now, hit, stay, what?”

“You’re not going to spend your points?” Victoria asked.

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve currently only got five. When I spend mine, you’ll both be taking your shirts off. It’ll be the same for what’s underneath.”

Victoria and Anna shared a look, a smile, and quite possibly a telepathic conversation. He wouldn’t assume anything, at this point.

“I’ve got nineteen,” Victoria said, tilting her hidden card to let Anna see the face card that must be there. “You?”

“Um…”

“It’s not cheating,” Victoria said. “We’re allowed to talk as much as we want, share whatever we want. Remember, Blackjack is solely about beating the dealer.”

That was true, so Liam kept his mouth shut. In most casinos, the only card kept concealed was the dealer’s second card. Giving every player a hidden card was usually just a personal preference in home games. The players were more than welcome to show their cards, and in this case, strategize. Going forward, Liam would deal in that official way.

“My total comes out to sixteen,” Anna said. She had six showing, so she must also have a face card.

“I’ll be staying, obviously,” Victoria said. “Liam’s shown card is a nine. So, I think you should probably hit.”

“I think so too,” Anna said, glancing at him.

“Oh, I’m no help anymore, now that we have stakes,” Liam said, leaning back in his chair. His concealed card was a seven, which also put him at sixteen—and forced him to accept another card as soon as the round rotated back to him. But as Anna didn’t know that, she really should hit.

“Now, who’s being cruel?” Anna said.

“Competitive,” he corrected. “I want to see you without your shirt on. That’s a prize I have to fight for.”

Anna blushed but soon asked him to deliver her another card. He did so. And it was a four, which made Liam furious. If she’d stayed, he’d have hit a twenty, then been able to claim the win over Victoria’s nineteen.

Naturally, Anna stopped there. Naturally, Liam threw a stupid Jack of Spades onto his pile of cards and busted.

“That makes two points for me, one for Anna,” Victoria said.

“Yeah, I know. ”