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Within his chest, Liam’s elation swelled. It was as easy as breathing for him to nod and say, “I’d stay over all day if you’d let me. You’re way more to me than just an outlet. I’m always happy to spend time with you, even if we’re just sitting on your couch or making plans to go jogging together.”
“And building igloos?” Tess asked, allowing a wry smile to curl her lips.
“Once a year, maybe,” he answered, causing her smile to grow. “I’m still sore.”
“So am I.” Tess tilted her head to one side. “I’m glad to hear you say the things you do. I hope they’re all true.”
“One hundred percent genuine,” he assured her. “You’ll see me over every day if I’m allowed to be. Between my house and the one next door, I know which one I’d rather be at.”
“My open invitation still stands. Once Anna heads home tomorrow, the next two weeks will be a good test of how this… new paradigm of our relationship works.”
“I’m looking forward to it more than anything else,” Liam said, heart racing with the thought of it. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”
“There will be a berth of opportunities,” Tess said. “Though, I need to bring up one final point of possible contention. You might suspect what—who—it is about.”
“Anna,” he replied knowingly.
Tess nodded. “What we’re doing is already skirting a form of betrayal that makes my insides squirm. I asked you to get to know and potentially date her, and yet I’m now making plans for us to practically act like a couple ourselves.” She inhaled deeply for a third and final time. “I need one more promise from you, Liam. As we discussed, if things with you and Anna should progress to any meaningful state, I need you to tell me about it. I know you’ve already told me you would, but I need to hear it one more time—and be able to believe you. I can’t be the one who ruins Anna’s first real chance at a healthy relationship with my selfishness.”
Liam held her gaze, allowing her every ability to see through him as he spoke. There was no uncertainty in his voice nor hesitation. Just as it’d been before, this promise was the easiest to make.
“If Anna and I end up getting serious, I promise I’ll tell you about it immediately.”
The tension that had built up within Tess’s shoulders relieved itself. Her smile showed that she believed him, as well as her exhale. She nodded.
“Thank you, Liam. I believe you.”
It went unspoken what would come of him telling her if this happened, though he could read between the lines. Fortunately, he didn’t have any reason to worry about Tess canceling the physical portion of their budding intimacy over his and Anna’s relationship. What had once been his most significant source of anxiety had now become nothing but a boon to him. Who would have guessed that a fake relationship with a beautiful woman would be the best thing possible for him?
Tess looked toward their igloo’s opening, then sighed. “I don’t believe Anna will return for quite some time.” She reaffixed her gaze on him. “I’m going to ask something of you shortly, but first, I want to do something for you.”
Liam raised his eyebrows, one for each of the mysterious parts of her statement. Tess shifted from a seated position onto her knees. The poignant blue depths surrounding her pupils gleamed as she crawled closer to him.
“Lie back, Liam.”
The blood in his body didn’t know where to go. Some pounded in his ears as his heartbeat kicked up like a Formula One racecar revving its engines. Some rushed straight into his groin, especially when Tess reached forward with her hand and placed it on his chest. The rest remained indecisively frozen around his heart, gathered there like a physical manifestation of his hope.
“Lie back,” Tess repeated, eyes piercing him to his core, hand exerting itself against his chest.
He let her push him onto his back. Thankfully, the towels on the igloo’s floor kept his head from contacting the snow, though it was still cold enough to bleed through it a little. Nor was it particularly comfortable, packed hard as it was.
Those internal complaints evaporated the instant Tess moved her hand from his chest. Not away from his body but further down it.Now, the rest of the blood in his body knew where it was supposed to head.
Upon seeing the visible excitement that must have bled through his eyes, a whimsical smile touched Tess's lips. With him settling as best he could on the uncomfortable ground, he craned his head up to watch Tess’s delicate hand slide across the warm but not obtrusive long-sleeved shirt he’d thrown on underneath his winter coat, which remained tossed aside due to the warmth the igloo provided.
“I wish you’d been able to stay around a little longer this morning,” his voluptuous next-door neighbor whispered seductively. “I was planning to repay you right away.” Her hand, and her eyes, dropped lower along his body. “But I suppose it worked out in the end. At the very least, I suspect this will be a new experience for us both.”
She tilted her chin upward, beckoning his gaze toward the dome of hard snow sitting above them. Liam cracked a mirthful smile.
“Never gotten busy in an igloo before?”
“And you have?” she shot back, matching his smile. “I can’t imagine many people have even built an igloo, much less used it for how we’re about to.”
Swallowing in anticipation, their gazes remained connected. “And… how are we about to use it?”
She answered by teasing the waistband of his sweatpants with her fingers. Slowly, she moved his shirt up a few inches, eying him with sinful delight. Liam sucked in a sharp breath as Tess slipped her fingertips beneath the waistband between him and his skin. As the backs of her nails ran lightly over his skin, he shivered in delight.
“I want you to know that I really appreciate what you did for me this morning,” Tess said, voice dropping to a husky whisper as she hovered her face over his. “I haven’t experienced something like that in a very long time.”
