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“So I’ve heard.”
Avril patted his hand, a clear sign that he was to release her. Reluctantly, he obeyed. As his hand retreated, Avril glided her fingertips over his forearm.
“But then, where’s the challenge in proving what’s already proven? I already know I could effortlessly seduce Tess. But helping her horny, wide-eyed neighbor land her hook, line, and sinker? Now, there’s a challenge worthy of my efforts.”
Liam rolled his eyes, which earned him an immediate jab to the side. There were two critical parts of the story he hadn’t shared with Avril. Firstly, he’d avoided detailing his and Tess’s conversation about Anna, choosing to gloss over it just in case she didn’t take it well. Given what Anna had explained to him about her best friend’s doggedness when it came to her love life, he knew it was for the best to avoid cueing her into their agreement.
The other part he’d omitted, however, he now shared.
“You might not be needed anymore,” he said.
Instantly, Avril’s peacocking expression tightened into scrutiny. “Huh? Sorry, I must have misheard you just now.”
He shook his head, hiding his smile as best he could. “You didn’t. Now that we’ve got things going, Tess is eager to give me a few helpful hints on how to satisfy her—so I can earn those achievements I told her I’m after. She said so herself.”
“Oh, is that so?” Avril grumbled.
“It is.”
Liam could already fathom that Avril hadn’t spent much of her life wondering if a man was no longer interested in her. It wasn’t precisely true here, and she was bound to realize that after a moment or two spent on the backfoot. Regardless, seeing her consternation flit across her attractive features was a rare opportunity, and one he greedily snatched.
The maverick beauty poked her tongue into the inside of her cheek, doming it. Seconds later, her cunning reignited within the emerald gleam of her eyes.
“You can do that if you want,” she said, shrugging. “But then you’ll lose any chance of surprising her since she’ll know everything you’re learning. All you’re doing at that point is proving that you’re attentive, which is different than being proactive.”
“I’m notthathopeless. I know how to self-teach.”
“Pretty ineffective if you ask me. Studying alone versus utilizing another professor’s personal tutoring.”
It was his turn to shrug. “Maybe. Though, I don’t think most professors would threaten to steal their pupil’s spot in the other professor’s classroom like you did.”
Avril opened her mouth, yet in a rare turn of events, she didn’t have a witty retort preloaded. As she floundered momentarily, Liam took advantage of her vulnerability.
“Of course, it’s not like I’m looking to lose my secret weapon,” he said, holding his hands up. “So long as she stays on my side. It’s really only if I’m worried about her swooping in and causing trouble that I’d have to reconsider things between us. I’m sure you understand, Professor Knight.”
He might have somewhat undercut his Machiavellianism by grinning as he uttered that final sentence, but he couldn’t help it. It’d plainly been a joke from the outset, but imagining Avril trying to seduce Tess—well, it was half-ridiculous and half-arousing.
In response, the gorgeous woman beside him sighed stridently. “Fine, fineee, I won’t cuck you.”
“Promise? Because Iamkind of worried about it now that you’ve made me realize it was a possibility.
“Yes, I promise.” Avril rolled her eyes. “Happy?”
“I’m relieved beyond belief,” he answered, miming wiping sweat from his brow.
Snorting, Avril finally shut down her car’s engine. “I’ll see about what lesson I think you need to learn today while we do our shopping,” she said, finally glancing down and noticing the erection under his pants. “Mister Fire Hydrant.”
Chapter Eleven
Centurion
They worked swiftly to escape the cold’s torment once they emerged from Avril’s car. Given that the seductive redhead had traded functionality for fashion, her teeth spent most of their sprint into the mall chattering noisily. She’d shoved her hands into two side pockets on her jacket, head hunched forward, shivering the whole while. Even after they’d stampeded through the sliding doors and left the wintry afternoon behind, she continued shaking.
Instinct dictated Liam’s following action. Stepping closer to her, he opened his arms. Avril spent only a moment in hesitation, during which a glimmer of something difficult to judge kernelled within her eyes, but he lost sight of it as she hastily stepped into his embrace.
As she pressed herself into his warmth, thrusting her hands under his coat to find his body warmth, his arms circled her narrow back. Accepting the chill clinging to her curvaceous body as the price for their closeness, his heart rate spiked as she turned her head and laid her cheek against his chest.
They spent several minutes mingling like this, warming each other without saying anything. Eventually, Avril shifted, though it wasn’t to escape his embrace. She pulled off her beanie, stowing it away in her jacket pocket. Naturally, just moments later, Liam’s gaze dropped to the crown of her head, where long, fine strands of auburn hair drew his lips downward. The contact chilled his lips, but he didn’t mind. And for kissing it as softly as he did, he earned a pleased hum—and a little more.
