Page 33

A Matter of Inches

Liam almost didn’t believe it. Mouth hanging, he almost knuckled his eyes, then looked again, sure that he must have made a mistake in announcing that one word—that one word he’d been hoping he’d finally be able to say. But if he had, Victoria didn’t call him on it. She didn’t say anything. She merely nodded, placed her forefinger on the top of her king, then knocked it over.

For a little bit, Liam just sat there, absorbing the meaning of that act. If he’d been a little more focused on the future, he might have spent that time reliving how he’d made it here. That might have improved his chances of further wins, not just this one-off. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and putting his brainpower toward examining his victory didn’t happen.

“Congratulations,” Victoria said, extending her hand across the board.

Blinking, Liam returned to the present. Staring at Victoria’s hand momentarily, he pulled himself out of his stupor and shook it. During and immediately after, he examined her reaction.

Per usual, he was left without much to hang onto. Victoria appeared neither frustrated nor amused by his achievement—one win among seventy or eighty losses, a smattering of draws, and three or four times that if they included their online matches. He could only guess at her emotions and thoughts on this unexpected turn of events.

“Maybe we should put a chalkboard or whiteboard somewhere so we can physically mark down how many times each of us has won,” Liam said lightly. He mimicked making a single tally mark, then placed his invisible piece of chalk on the table, its singular duty done.

Victoria shook her head, allowing the briefest of smiles to flit across her face. “If we did that, my wrist might get sore from tallying all our previous matches. How about we just do it with numbers? I can get us a board.”

He’d been mostly joking, but he didn’t mind her running with his idea. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take another month before he could update his half of the board.

“Do we still have time to play another match or two?” Liam asked, checking the sky. It was transitioning into soft, warm oranges, especially when he looked westward. “We’ve got next week too.”

“Don’t you want to claim your prize?”

“I do,” Liam said. He wanted it so badly. “But what if I win another match? That’ll mean I get two pictures.”

Staring at him for a moment, Victoria lurched into motion and began rebuilding her side of the board. Liam did the same, unable to hide a mirthful smile. They were all so competitive. Even Anna, in her own way.

In what must have been the shock of the century, Liam did not win another chess match. He got four more chances, which translated into four more vicious defeats. And they were undoubtedly vicious. Victoria played these games more relentlessly than earlier, and his defensive tactics proved too brittle and inflexible to stave her advances off.

It felt a bit like getting an unexpected punch in on a far better fighter, who then rubbed their thumb across the bruise, nodded, and proceeded to spend the rest of the fight pummeling you like a punching bag. But he’d gotten that one blow in, and that was all that mattered. His goal had been met, meaning he could collect his prize.

Victoria surely didn’t forget about that, even if she got to work out any “stress” that her unexpected defeat might have caused. If it had, Liam felt it was probably mainly about the loss itself, not what would be coming about because of it. And that left him in a good mood, even after four successive defeats.

“Are you comfortable stopping here?” Victoria asked, following that fourth crushing defeat. “Or would you like to keep trying your luck?”

“I think I used all my luck up, unfortunately,” he said, reaching across to offer her one final handshake on the night.

Next, he needed to outline the minor change he had in mind for his prize—and pray, pray, and pray that she was willing.

After laying their pieces to bed inside the board, he and Victoria shared a long look. She spoke up before he’d finished deciding on how he wanted to approach the alteration he wanted.

“Shall I send the picture tonight or tomorrow?”

“As soon as it’s ready,” Liam answered, possibly a little too quickly, too animated.

Victoria showed no signs of minding. “As soon as it’s ready? ” she asked. “These were taken years ago, so they're all ‘ready.’”

“Well, I wanted to talk about that, actually,” Liam said, fingers moving anxiously in his lap. “For the second five-point picture, I was hoping to do something a little different.”

“Oh?” She still maintained her usual unreadable composure. “How?”

Those piercing blue eyes of hers seemed to bore into him, even if the fine eyebrows above them hadn’t knitted together into a frown. He wondered if she’d ever had a student with enough gumption to stand before her, suffering beneath that icy gaze, and request some extra credit—and if so, had it worked out for them?

Well, he was asking for far more than a chance to bump his grade up a little. Maybe there’d be a day where he could even try his luck at extra credit. It’d be months or years out, though. Right now, he needed to keep his courage a little longer. He needed to believe she’d say yes.

Liam realized he’d undoubtedly become far more optimistic than he’d once been. He doubted most people would dare to hope for the things he was hoping for.

“I was thinking that you could replicate the first picture,” he said, spying no change in her expression as he spoke. “A comparison between then and now.”

He still didn’t know if the original picture was from then. But he was more than willing to pretend that it was. He’d happily act as though he was oblivious to the likelihood that Victoria had recently pulled off her top and bra, laid on her bed, covered a narrow part of her amazing breasts with one forearm, and snapped a picture for him. He could happily pretend if it meant he had a better chance of getting this second picture.

“That’s all you want?” Victoria asked, tilting her head ever so slightly. A first sign of emotion, curiosity, maybe slightly veering toward confusion. Compared to some of the others that his request might have caused, he’d take it.

No, idiot! Liam’s mind shouted. It’s more than that!

It was. It was! Victoria hadn’t so much as balked at his request for a current picture of her topless. In his mind, that sealed his suspicion about the previous picture, but he didn’t spend his time marveling at what that might mean. He stayed on track, chugging along like a determined steam engine with a schedule to keep.

“Maybe with your arm slightly lower this time?” he asked, clutching his hands beneath the table. How pronounced must the veins in his neck be right now? He felt as tense as iron.

Victoria examined him wordlessly, and he took that with a spoonful of optimism, too. It wasn’t an immediate no. Which meant she was thinking about it. Which meant he had a chance.

“By how much?” she eventually asked.

As he assumed Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez always did, Liam swung for the fences. “Four or five inches?”

“No.”

“Three or four?”

Victoria didn’t deign to respond.

“Just one or two?” he asked. That was Negotiating 101, right? Ask for more than you knew you could get, then what you did want would seem more reasonable when you asked for it.

Victoria’s silence began to erode his hopes as surely as time, wind, and waves eroded an ocean cliff. He did his best to mimic that cliff, staying unchanging as stone for as long as possible. He hoped she didn’t see how disappointed he’d be if she shook her head, even if that was ridiculous. At worst, he’d get another scandalously arousing image of Victoria’s stunning body. He was pretty much at the bottom of a list of people who were allowed to feel miserable.

“I’ll see how the picture turns out,” Victoria said.

“Okay,” Liam said, unable to resist beaming at her. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Yes, I can tell,” Victoria said, one corner of her mouth rising slightly. “Keep practicing hard. Next week, I intend to claim another day you’ll have to help me in my garden.”

“Next week, I’m planning to get another picture of you,” he fired back, overwhelmingly happy. “Right before I get to see the real thing in Fiji.”

Victoria allowed her eyebrows to rise. “Is that how things are going to go?”

“Well, yeah,” he said, not realizing how his previous statement could be taken. Not just that he’d see her on Fiji’s beautiful beaches, wearing those promised bikinis, but that he meant to see her as she’d looked in her most recent picture—and the one she would be working on making for him later tonight. “That’s the main reason we’re going to Fiji.”

“It is, is it?” Victoria asked, amusement subtle but present in her voice. “I suspect this week will be tough on you, then. The final week before a long-awaited trip always seems to stretch into an eternity.”

“It’s the same for you?” he asked. “You’ve wanted to go to Fiji far longer than I have.”

“I suppose it is,” Victoria said. “We’ll just have to survive a little longer.”

Liam nodded. He knew very well that the gift he’d receive later tonight would manage to tide him over for that week yet also increase his impatience for next Sunday. Eight days remained until then, and then an unparalleled paradise, a week unmatchable in his entire life, would surely follow.

But he had some more paradise to obtain while still in the States.

He received it precisely one minute before midnight, which caused Liam to wonder if Victoria was slightly crueler than he’d believed. Even though he’d spent his evening with Tess and could never complain about that, he found himself checking his phone regularly. Each time, the lack of an attached picture from Victoria Moreno prickled him with distress, as if he’d just realized he was sitting on something hard and sharp. He must have physically fidgeted enough for it to attract notice, for Tess eventually asked him if something was wrong.

“Just a little antsy,” he said, knowing it was safe to reveal the truth. “I won a match against Victoria earlier, so I’m expecting another picture.”

“You won a match against her?” the gorgeous brunette professor said. “So soon, too. How much time have you been putting into chess?”

“A couple hours a day, maybe?” he said, though that might be underselling things. Grant and his other friends back at Perrymont had made joke after joke about him spending more time on his phone watching chess videos and playing online than a sex addict would on porn sites. Of course, if they’d known why he’d suddenly become so invested in the game, he doubted they would have done anything other than nod in agreement.

“That’s a lot of chess,” Tess remarked.

“You and Victoria are both really good at chess. If I’m going to beat you anytime soon, then I’ve got to put the work in.”

Smiling, Tess leaned into him and kissed his cheek. “Well, just don’t get burned out. However, if Victoria’s also rewarding you when you win against her, which I believe you’ve just said she is, that might not be an issue. The thrill of victory, pictures, and a chance at anything you want from me? Worth more than prize money, isn’t it?”

“The only tournament I’m interested in would only have three players participating,” he agreed. Appreciating his enthusiasm, Tess helped distract him from the lack of a nearly nude professor on his phone for almost half an hour. Nothing too exciting, at least not compared to what he and Avril had done earlier in the day, but more than sufficient in bringing his focus back to this house.

Humorously, he was playing an online chess match when Victoria finally sent over the picture. Beside him, Tess slept soundly, having kissed him goodnight a while ago. Still too charged with the hope that he was right about receiving his reward tonight, Liam had sought any way to distract himself from counting the seconds.

When it arrived, he was closing in his sixth win in a row, a nice little streak to cap off the day. He’d never given up in a match—of anything—so quickly, leaving the app mere milliseconds after he saw her message pop up.

11:59.

She’d really made him wait until the last possible minute.

But of course, she could have asked him one simple question had he complained. Was it worth the wait?

Undoubtedly.

For this one, she wasn’t lying down. The image contained the sight of Victoria Moreno’s incredible body, cutting off right as it reached her neck. He saw a little of her hip and the jeans that clung tightly to them. The same ones she’d been wearing when he was over at her house a little while ago.

Her dangerous curves, olive skin, the unmistakable work Victoria put in to keep her figure so stunning, he noticed all those things. He didn’t focus on them, however. Not initially, at least. He couldn’t. The choice she’d made didn’t allow it.

With her right forearm, she covered the same breast. The only thing covering her left was the hand of the same arm. Technically, she’d refused his request. He’d asked her to move her arm a little lower. Instead, she’d made her slight adjustment by moving up.

He could see the beginnings of her left breast’s areola underneath her pinky. It was slightly darker than her skin, taunting him that there was more to see. There was more to see. Victoria had chosen to grant him that gift.

Her fingertips covered only a small part of her breast, which looked so full and heavy, so in need of attention—a massage or two, at least. He’d been learning from Tess when he was here and squeezed a few videos and articles about them into his already busy schedule. He’d find a way to get in a bit more practice, a bit more knowledge, before the trip to Fiji. He needed to be ready when—not if, but when—his dream of putting his hands on Victoria’s enormous tits came true.

Her fingertips did not cover all of her nipple, however. A slight gap between her ring and pinky fingers allowed him to peek through and spot another form of paradise. One that set his mouth to desert settings, parching him with just that tiny peek. An intentional one. Absolutely intentionally. He’d never been so thirsty in his life.

His cock woke up immediately, growing rigid in nearly record time. All of him did. He’d been trying to distract himself from worrying moments ago. Now, he couldn’t even fathom what would be able to put him asleep, barring a face mask and a heap of sedative gases flowing into his lungs.

Satisfactory? Victoria’s message asked.

I would have given it six points, he replied, more than ready to heap on the praise. Fuck, he couldn’t help but imagine what she’d been thinking when she’d taken this picture, if she’d tried out a few, then ultimately selected this one from the lot. If she’d been hoping he’d notice and reply to this one quicker than he had the previous one.

High praise.

I’m just being honest, Liam typed out. You look so stunning.

My breasts look stunning, you mean. I’m not in this picture.

Aren’t your breasts, torso, and arms part of you? he asked.

A rather large part, Victoria replied. As is evident by how little my arm can keep hidden.

Liam grinned at the rare appearance of one of her jokes, yes, but also at the plain fact that she hadn’t tried all that hard to keep everything hidden. Yeah, she’d picked that picture for a reason.

It hit him on the side of his head, the mistake he’d made. He’d gone and forgotten the compliment he should have led with.

Oh, yeah. You look delicious too.

My breasts look delicious, but my food can’t get the same compliment? Victoria asked, catching him off guard with a second joke in a row.

It was totally delicious. That’s why I ate everything on my plate.

But it didn’t get the compliment then, Victoria said, and he didn’t quite realize she was teasing him. Victoria Moreno, teasing someone. Avril would have thought that hell had frozen over. Only now, after I’ve brought it up as a complaint. Even though it’s the one you’ve been allowed to test the deliciousness of.

Fortunately, Tess kept her room cool, and the AC purred quietly through the vents set in the ceiling. She liked heavy covers, however, which meant that Liam’s body temperature soared. Carefully, doing his best not to wake Tess, he removed the covers, then decided to relocate altogether.

He ended up downstairs, grabbing a drink of water in the kitchen as he typed out a response that could backfire. He was going past simmering now, and he hoped Victoria could forgive him. Instead, he hoped she wanted him to do so.

Well, my imagination has convinced me that you have the tastiest breasts imaginable, so that’s why. Are you going to tell my silly, over-the-top thoughts that they were wrong about your delicious breasts?

Reality rarely exceeds imagination, Victoria said, yet Liam could feel the rhythm in their replies syncing up.

Rarely, but in this situation? he hastily typed out, leaning against Tess’s countertop, staring at his phone excitedly.

In this instance, it’s possible, Victoria replied. Doused in oil, a match flickering before him, he felt on the cusp of being set ablaze.

I knew it. It’s why I’ve been calling you delicious for so long.

Yes, that’s why you’ve used that specific compliment so much. It certainly wasn’t a flubbed compliment, which you’ve now maneuvered into feigning as deliberate.

Guilty as charged though he might be, he’d never admit it. The worst-kept secret in existence would go with him to the grave. I just knew it fit, that’s all. A perfect fit for a perfect woman.

Your compliments have certainly escalated tonight, Victoria replied.

I wonder why? he almost typed out. However, he decided to go a different route.

Just ensuring you’re aware of how marvelously beautiful and wonderful you are.

Were you thinking that I might be lacking self-confidence, Liam?

No, no way, he sent back. If you can casually tell me that you’re going to destroy me in chess over and over, then you’re not lacking in that department. Or any department, Professor. Besides, the last person who ought to be humble is you. Not after the absolute gift you just sent me.

It wasn’t a gift, Victoria reminded him. It was a prize. You took it when you defeated me earlier today.

Part of him knew she was reminding him of this because he shouldn’t start begging for freebies. Simultaneously, he knew she was reinforcing his confidence.

To the victor go the spoils, huh? Liam said.

That was what happened, yes, Victoria said.

Her simple reply sent a surge of primal desire racing through his veins. What would a woman of her height and voluptuousness look like in a cavewoman’s outfit, barely wearing anything at all? It was a somewhat odd thought, yet he envisioned it all the same. And some of the bikinis he expected to see her in weren’t so far away from that level of exposure. Some might be more revealing.

I just need to improve so I can win against you more often. With spoils like these, I’m going to end up addicted.

My garden will be all the better tended as you try your hardest to get enough supply to become addicted, Victoria replied. Punching down isn’t great practice, and Tess and I have started playing again on Thursdays. Between that and some online play, I will be closing my weaknesses. You’ll have to earn your wins, every single one.

That’s how I want it, he said, even though he really wouldn’t have minded if she wanted to be a bit more generous. It makes it taste even better.

You and your tastebuds, Victoria remarked.

I’m a connoisseur of fine tastes. Even the ones I can only imagine the taste of.

Victoria’s final response of the evening arrived shortly thereafter. Even if that disappointed him, the message itself did everything it needed to do. He became hopelessly addicted to the taste he’d imagined, desperately hoping that the wait for Fiji—for the chances that Fiji would bring—wouldn’t be as painful as Victoria had said it might be.

May your imagination get as close to the taste of reality as it can. Have a good night, Liam.