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“No,” he said once he rediscovered his voice. “She didn’t mention any specifics, just that you have a habit of getting Victoria gifts that, uh, exasperate her.”
“Not exactly a hard task, given that exasperated, vexed, and irked are her default set of emotions, don’t you think?” Avril said. “You know how it is.”
“I do, but, you know, still. Let’s leave the tormenting for New Year's Eve, maybe?”
“Thinking ahead, I see,” Avril said, grinning at him as they sat in front of an annoyingly lengthy red light. “So have I. Don’t make any plans for the thirty-first, Liam.”
How she said it, voice utterly dripping with guile, threw a lurch into his heartbeat. The last time she’d made plans, he’d ended up getting to show off his card skills in front of four of the most stunning women on the planet. That night, largely due to Avril’s slyness, had officially started the path to Tess understanding his feelings for her, as well.
“What are you planning?”
“You’ll find out when I’m good and ready to share. All of you will.”
The light turned green, and Avril kept grinning at him as she sent them forward. She didn’t spare even a glance toward the road as her foot pressed on the gas pedal. Not nearly so carefree or reckless, Liam’s eyes swiftly deviated toward the road, though it was a straight shot for almost half a mile before the next stoplight—and there weren’t any cars ahead of them. So, adrenaline rushing like rapids through his veins, he locked eyes with Avril.
“What if I want a sneak peek? If anyone should get it, I feel like I should.”
“And why is that?” The car hummed as it smoothly accelerated. Twenty-five miles per hour, thirty, thirty-five.
“We’re basically co-conspirators, aren’t we?”
Forty, then forty-five. Liam’s heart pounded at least three times that number.
“Sure, but then, I don’t recall you ever texting me last night, letting me know how things went between you and Tess. So, you started the trend of keeping the other person in the dark, now, didn’t you?”
Fifty. Fifty-five. The electronic speedometer on her dashboard inched its way ever higher, and the engine hummed smoothly, not the least bit concerned by the reckless game its driver was playing. Comparatively, Liam felt sweat gathering under his palms, and it took all his willpower not to wrench his focus back to the road. Its driver seemed utterly unperturbed.
“So, if I tell you how yesterday went, we’ll be back on even ground? And I’ll get to know about your New Year’s Eve plans?”
“Even ground?” Avril’s grin broadened. “When were we ever on that?”
Sixty. Sixty-five.
In his peripherals, he saw them zoom through the light he’d spotted at the beginning of their recklessness. He almost sagged with relief that it still held green. But would the next? He knew if he glanced ahead of them to check, Avril would “win.” It was an instinct coursing through his veins, mingling with the adrenaline and surmounting anxiety that things were about to end in disaster at any second.
“You know what I mean,” he hastily said. “Do you agree to what I just offered or not?!”
On the final word, fright cracked his voice. As if she needed to think about his offer, Avril pursed her lips. Liam could barely hear anything over the pounding of blood in his ears. The road couldn’t keep going straight forever.
Seventy… sixty-five. Sixty-five.
Avril’s verdant eyes, alight with amusement and clearly relishing in his panic, finally shifted toward where they should have always been. Just five seconds later, she smoothly decelerated as the light a few hundred feet ahead of them shifted orange.
Liam spent the rest of the day wondering if she would have sent them racing through it if he hadn’t made the offer he had.
Queasily, he found himself ultimately believing that she would have.
Chapter Ten
Reaffirmation
As Liam spilled the steamy details about how he’d spent yesterday with Tess, Avril listened attentively. He did his best to be a neutral storyteller and not embellish things or turn into a grinning fool as he regaled her with the tale of the greatest day of his life. He mostly kept it together. Mostly. Everything about yesterday felt almost too miraculous to believe, like the distant haze of an oasis in a desert. However, now that he could share the events with another person, it gave them a certain tangibility. He wasn’t fantasizing; he was recounting history.
“Five times,” Avril said once he finished detailing his exploits. “She really tried to suck the soul out of you, didn’t she?”
Heat burgeoned across his face. That was the other thing he’d experienced throughout his tale: embarrassment. Though, he’d experienced less of it than he might have thought he would while sharing yesterday’s sordid details.
“Maybe,” he said, shrugging bashfully, which felt ridiculous after everything that had just spilled out of his mouth. “I wouldn’t have been upset if she’d wanted to try for six.”
