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I’m anything but sure.But he nodded all the same.
The feminine figure standing on Tess’s driveway had waited patiently during their hushed dialogue. When he and Tess started making their way toward her, he thought he saw a slight sideways tilt of her head. However, as they reached her, he could slowly start to make out the details of Annabelle Royce.
She was shorter than Tess by an inch or two, framed slender even in her winterwear except for her bust, which was easily a match for Tess’s. In the dark, her hair, as black as a raven’s plumage, seemed to fade into it as it splashed over her shoulders and down her back. Stopping in front of her, he struggled to make out the color of her eyes without any light, but the alluring fullness of her lips and the porcelain perfection of her complexion caused an immediate uptick in his heart rate. A polite smile shifted those lips as he and reached where she waited for them
“Anna, this is Liam. Liam, this is Anna. Liam and I have been putting up his Christmas lights for most of the day. You arrived just in time; we’ve just finished.”
“Hello, Liam, it’s nice to meet you,” Anna said, warming him up with the smile she aimed his way. “Tess has mentioned you before—all good things.”
“Likewise and… likewise,” Liam answered, smiling back. Technically, it was the truth. He might have only learned about her a few hours ago, but Tess had only sung her praises since then.
“We worked up quite an appetite putting everything up,” Tess said, motioning toward the lights glittering over Liam’s home. “Would you mind if I invited Liam over to join us?”
Without any hesitation, Anna politely shook her head, long tresses shifting around her narrow shoulders. “No, of course not. Thank you for inviting me over, to begin with.”
“Then let’s get out of this blistering cold,” Tess said, leading the process of escaping to her home’s warmth.
Inside, where the cold’s domain didn’t extend, Liam and Tess winced as heat needled their chilled skin. Opening and closing his fists, he found his muscles sluggish and resistant to the commands he gave them. Rubbing his eyebrows, he was almost surprised frost hadn’t started forming on them.
“At least we don’t have to do that again,” Tess said, starting to take off her winter coat.
“Until we have to take the lights down,” Liam reminded her.
“We’ll hire someone to do it for us and stay inside,” Tess joked.
“I wouldn’t mind helping.”
Anna’s statement drew his attention toward her. With proper lighting, Liam confirmed what his squinting vision outside in the dark had led him to believe. She. Was. Gorgeous.
She had a flawless alabaster complexion, devoid of blemish or interruption upon a round, feminine face. He finally discovered that her eyes were mint green, almost semi-transparent in the light. Her features were soft and gentle, but she carried herself with poise and grace that seemed second nature. He got the feeling that she smiled rarely, but when she did, and when it was genuine, not just a polite curve of her enticing lips, it obliterated even the iciest personality.
Even without that smile, he found her all too alluring a figure, especially once the removal of her winter coat confirmed her shapely nature. It didn’t completely put his reservations about what Tess wanted from him to bed, but it at least helped. His gaze naturally slid toward the older woman as she replied jovially about how “she’d keep that in mind” to Anna’s offer.
Only about a minute later, their coats hanging above their shoes in Tess’s entryway, they shifted into the kitchen. Before the fifth minute since they’d entered Tess’s home, Liam found himself banished to the living room while both women—Anna again offering her assistance—began grabbing pots, pans, and ingredients for dinner. He’d also offered it, but Tess had shooed him off to “go relax.” Around the thirtieth minute after entering Tess’s home, flipping through channels on her TV, he understood the full deviousness behind her actions.
“Is it ready?” he asked Anna, noticing her as she quietly entered the living room.
The gorgeous young woman shook her head. “Tess has informed me that I’m no longer needed. She said to let you know it will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“Good to know,” Liam said, smiling, though uncertainty pumped through his veins. “So, how is it having Tess as a professor? I’ve only ever known her as a next-door neighbor.”
“Professor Williams is an excellent educator,” Anna said, sitting on the oversized gray recliner near the couch by the side where Liam was lounging. “I intend to take more of her classes in my junior and senior years.”
It took Liam a second to realize that a question he’d been yearning to know—what Tess’s maiden name was—had deposited itself onto his lap. After emerging from his stupor, he nodded, eager to keep the conversation going.
“She got on me yesterday because I won’t get the chance to take one. I definitely feel like I’m missing out.”
“Where is it you attend?” Anna asked. “Did you consider Bellmore?”
He shook his head. “I decided to go to Perrymont. I wasn’t really sure—and I’m still not—about what I want to do yet, and Bellmore seemed like the wrong place to try and get into without knowing that.”
“I see.” Anna waited a polite moment before saying, “Perrymont is still a very good school.”
“Did you ever consider it?”
“No. Members of my family have been attending Bellmore since my great-grandfather’s time, so that was always my planned destination.”
“My planned destination.” Liam couldn’t help but notice the two distinctly different ways those three words might be taken. While a serenity shimmered around her like a forcefield, making it notably difficult to get any read on her engagement, he thought he might see a particular lack of enthusiasm about this topic. Quickly, he changed it.
