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Perfect Planning
He ached. He ached at every known spot of his body, and a few that he didn’t know. That first languid stretch awake, as his consciousness fluttered back to him, was a mistake. Immediately, he grimaced, muscles twinging, tendons yowling, mind reminding him that it’d warned him about showing off the day before. He dragged a hand over his face, eking out a groan as he rolled onto his side.
As Liam stumbled out of bed and began his morning routine, he refused to regret the aches and pains battering his body, even if he felt like a missile barrage had struck him. He wouldn’t regretanythingabout yesterday. Never.
He brushed, he flossed, he dressed. As he went to uncouple his phone from the charger on his nightstand. It glowed to life and danced a swift jig when his fingertips were mere inches from scooping it up and thrusting it into a pocket.
Avril? It was his first assumption, which flooded his mind with the vivid memory of her in-depth tutelage last night.
Picking up his phone, he yawned and wiped the final bits of sleep out of them. And then he discovered it wasn’t Avril who had texted him at a little past eight in the morning.
Seeing the first few words previewed on his phone widened his eyes and roused him better than any splash of ice water could have. Swiftly, he tapped open and read the rest of Tess’s message.
Hi Liam, this is Tess. I know it’s a bit early, but I’ve decided to try on some of the clothing options we discussed yesterday, and I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to come over and give me your opinions on them.
Liam stared unblinkingly at the message, butterflies fluttering inside of his gut. They survived for only a few moments, solely because Tess sent a quick follow-up text.
Anna’s still asleep. The door’s unlocked.
He didn’t know what he would have done if he’d slept in, only to awaken and see the messages an hour too late. If he’d gotten over there and found Anna awake, thus forcing him to square himself with the fact that this spectacular chance had slipped through his fingers. Maybe she’d texted him because a part of her wanted him to still be asleep. A phone call or the ringing of his doorbell would have undoubtedly been the more assured option to take.
Liam knew she must still have plenty of doubt about what they’d done yesterday. He didn’t begrudge her for having it. Nonetheless, today, just like he and Avril had discussed, he planned to chip away at some of it.
When he left his house, practically sprinting the distance from his doorstep to hers, he’d barely taken enough time to throw on his shoes. For anyone else awake early in the morning, they’d have seen him rushing through the snow in nothing more than some shorts and a shirt—like it was summer already.
Reaching her door, he seized a few quick breaths to steady his racing heartbeat. And then he stole into her home like the Grinch, solely worried about the younger woman sleeping in the guest room upstairs. Peering into her entryway after cracking her door open, he saw no sign of her. Slipping indoors, shivering because of how unready for the elements his attire was, he hurriedly used a towel sitting on her doormat to get the snow off his shoes—and then dry them, as he realized it would be potentially damning if Anna awoke, came downstairs, and saw his shoes at the entryway.
Removing his shoes, he carried them with him as he began to quietly pad his way upstairs, suffering every muscle ache his furtiveness caused. With each meager creak of wood beneath the balls of his feet, his heart boomed louder still. So loudly, in fact, that a part of him assumed Anna would suddenly wake up and wonder if an earthquake was shaking the house’s foundations.
At the top of her steps, just like his, he had the option of turning left or right. The rooms down the left hallway should have a bathroom, closet, and two bedrooms. Their floorplans weren’t identical, but he hoped they were similar enough that this remained the case, and it looked like it did, based on the number of doors—all closed—he spotted. He counted the same number of doors to his right, though one was likely a hallway closet.
One of them, the furthest down the hall, was cracked open. That, he hoped, was the master bedroom.
Liam glanced once more to his left, not knowing what he’d do if Anna stumbled out of the bedroom she’d been loaned and found him skulking like a creep at the top of the stairs. She hadn’t, at least not yet. Knowing he was only increasing the chances of his discovery by standing frozen where he was, Liam made the only choice he could have.
He continued ahead. Brimming with excitement, trepidation, and hopefulness, he crept over the long rug sitting over wooden boards until he reached the slightly ajar door. Taking a steadying breath, he reminded himself of the successes he’d experienced yesterday. Determined to see more of them today, he slowly pushed open the doorway and peered inside.
Tess had a lovely bedroom replete with polished wooden furniture. A standing mirror taller than he was stood in one corner, and a king-sized bed that was neatly made. He didn’t see her immediately, however, though his searching eyes found the adjoining walk-in closet on one side of the room was open, while the master bathroom’s door was shut. The closet’s light was on, as were the bedroom’s lights.
Liam cautiously entered the bedroom, wanting to call out his arrival, but worried that his voice might somehow wake Anna. His eyes scanned the corners of the room, confirmed she wasn’t there, and so he focused on the walk-in closet. Carefully shutting the door behind him, he intended to clear his throat and finally whisper her name. An unrequired effort.
Holding her phone in hand and dressed so sexily that Liam’s breath snagged in his chest, Tess exited her closet. Already changed into one of the outfits she must have wanted him to see, consisting of light pink leggings and a matching sports bra, both of which clung protectively close to her rapturous curves, Liam’s mouth went completely dry. She was looking down at her phone, wavy brunette hair bouncing on her exposed shoulders, not yet aware of how utterly captivated Liam was by the skintight fabric shaped by her phenomenal body.
Her eyes lifted from her phone, a slight frown on her face. And then she noticed him.
“Oh my God, Liam!” she gasped, practically leaping out of her skin as one hand flew to her heart. Flush with shock, she swiftly put her phone on her bed and steadied herself on her nightstand. “You scared me!”
“S-sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to sneak in like this.”
“You didn’t reply to my text,” Tess said, still holding her hand against her breast. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
Liam winced as her words heaped an obvious realization onto his shoulders. “I’m sorry. You’re right; I should have done that.”
Closing her eyes, Tess eventually calmed herself down. When they reopened them, she took as deep a breath as he had outside her doorway.
“It’s okay.” Color crept along her lovely face as she looked past where he stood. “Have you… locked the door?”
Liam shook his head. “No.”
