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Liam swallowed at the exciting thought, though he knew better than to treat it as anything more than wishful thinking. He couldn’t see it being that simple, not with someone as intelligent and complex as Tess. Still, he wouldn’t have assumed she’d throw open her door to him as quickly as she had, so maybe he could let a few droplets of hope start gathering. Not enough that he’d drink from it yet, but it was more than he’d ever had before.
“All right, I’ll try my best,” Liam said. “There’s a big snowstorm coming in tonight, so that could help. At least we won’t be going anywhere for the next few days.”
“Who’da thought you’d get a blizzard as a wingman, huh?” Avril said. “Now, shifting topics from the woman next door to you to the woman living with me, how’s it goooing? Have you and Anna been texting any? She won’t let her phone out of her sight around me anymore. I wonder why.”
“Oh, yeah, a little.” It was just barely the truth. They’d had the briefest of conversations following their talk at the ice-skating rink, but that was all. She’d just thanked him again for agreeing to her request, and he’d told her he was happy to help.
“It needs to be more than a little, Liam,” Avril growled, poking him hard in the stomach. “You’re supposed to be wooing her, at least a little bit. There’s this Christmas Eve party that Tess is planning, right? Youaregoing to at least get her a gift or something, right? You’d better not half-ass things too much. Got it?”
“Okay, but—and I know I sound like a broken record here—how am I supposed to do that? Anna doesn’t really strike me as the type who wants to trade flirty texts or,”—he gestured at her—“who wants to lay like this on a guy’s lap.”
“So, don’tbeflirty. Be sincere. She’s still a woman, and she seems to like you some. Tell her how beautiful she looks, compliment her intelligence, see if she’ll let you hold her hand. You’ve got all night to charm her, so use it.”
Realizing an immediate issue with that plan, Liam’s mouth twisted. “But Tess will be here. If everything between me and Anna seems to be going great, there’s no way Tess will ever think about any romance with me. She’s not that type of person.”
“You’re overthinking things, Liam. Above all else, Tess wants the same thing I want—Anna to stay the fuck away from Trent and eventually have enough self-determination to pick for herself whom she ends up having a relationship with. Once that’s happened, you can spill the beans all you want. You only agreed to date Anna because of how you feel about Tess; you didn’t want to let her down after she asked you to do it—whatever you decide to say. You already have to tell her how you feel if you ever want to get anywhere with her, so I doubt she overfocuses on this little revelation when you do.”
“Okay,” Liam said, stomach churning with anxiety.
“Relax,” Avril said, finally sitting up. “You’ve got me to help you land your dream woman. Tess will like seeing you be the consummate gentleman toward Anna, too. S’okay, it’ll all turn out great.”
Liam nodded, though his confidence didn’t quite match the gorgeous redhead’s. He had plates spinning all over the place, secrets kept from all of them. The one worrying him the most was the one he’d undertaken for somewhat selfless reasons. If Tess and Avril found out about his deception with Anna, he couldn’t see it ending up well for him. For either of them.
Chapter Seventeen
The Almost Sister-in-Law
While Liam struggled with the queasiness sloshing around in his stomach due to his collection of secrets, one of Avril’s making rang her doorbell. Liam’s eyes flew toward the sound, though Avril didn’t bother getting up to get it. She glanced at him, a new smirk forming on her soft lips.
“Don’t worry; we don’t need to get that. I left the door unlocked.”
“Is it Tess?” he asked. It seemed like something she’d do, sending Tess a message to arrive just a little after she’d called him over.
“Close, but you won’t know this person… even though she knows about you. She’s going to be our fourth player.” Avril smiled at his consternation. “I told you: I love my surprises.”
Liam heard the door click, then an exasperated sigh. It slightly reminded him of how Anna had sounded when she’d found her front door left open the last time Avril invited him over. At least she wasn’t jerking him off this time when her unexpected guest entered the apartment and found him on the couch next to her.
An unexpected guest. But not, as Avril would soon find out, someone he didn’t know.
Eyes as crystalline as icicles, holding the slightest hint of blue in their severity, once more angled his way. The last time he’d seen them—the last time they’d seenhim—he’d been sitting on Tess’s couch, only just returned from a long drive home from college. Apparently, this was the way they would keep meeting.
Victoria showed the very briefest flash of shock at his presence. It was no longer lived than a blink, and then it was covered up behind an austere expression that made Liam swallow uneasily. She was unfathomably beautiful. She wasalsoprobably rather pissed off that he was here. But why was she here?
“Hey, Auntie, how’s it going?”
Auntie?!Liam thought, unable to see even the most minute similarity between the two.
“This is Liam,” Avril continued. “Remember, he’s the one Tess kept mentioning over and over about—”
“We have been introduced,” Victoria interrupted, voice gelid as she stared at Avril.
“Wait, you have? When?”
“At Tess’s, during our movie night. They were catching up after he’d returned for winter break a few days ago.”
“Ughhh, that’s so lame, Auntie.” Avril puffed one cheek out in a pout. “You were supposed to waltz in her all femme fatale-like and throw him off his game when I introduced you two.”
If she’d just glanced over her shoulder, she’d have found that she’d gotten her wish. The last person he’d expected to see was the tall, olive-skinned fellow Bellmore professor. And he would never have guessed she and Avril were related.
