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“Who are we to argue with tradition?” he said, all smiles.
“Indeed,” Tess replied, answering his smile with one of her own.
With the help of a stepladder obtained from her garage, it took only a few minutes for Tess to obey ancient tradition. Soon enough, Tess had ensured that Victoria, Anna, and Avril would all experience good luck upon entering her household. Or so the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Celts had believed.
As she climbed down from the stepladder, they both kept looking up at it. Seconds later, and in perfect unison, their gazes met.
“Should we test if it works?” Liam asked, more than happy to stare into the deep azure pools of her eyes for all eternity.
Raising an eyebrow, Tess smiled. “Are you worried you haven’t been experiencing good luck recently?”
Over the past several days, as his self-confidence had flourished, so had his willingness to try his luck at a bit of banter. Repartee might not be an innate gift of his, but he was willing to try and add it to his arsenal. Grinning, he shrugged.
“Definitely not. But what if it canimproveit, even just a little? How could I pass that up?”
“I didn’t realize you were the superstitious sort, Liam,” Tess said, folding her arms beneath her breasts. Today, she’d opted for a simpler look, just some form-fitting jeans and a snug white sweater with some bright red Christmas-themed icons running across it, of course. Regardless, it was no less capable of inciting pure chaos within his bloodstream than any of her other outfits.
Precisely the event occurring within his veins right now. And precisely what encouraged him to speak the following words.
“Okay, I admit it, I’m not. I’m just looking for another excuse to kiss you.”
Tess’s smile shone as brightly as the North Star. “That’s all you had to say, Liam. It’s all you need ever to say.”
“I’ll… keep that in mind,” he said, swallowing.
“Please do,” the beautiful brunette said, stepping closer to him. “A professor’s favorite kind of student is the one who doesn’t make them repeat themselves. It means we can keep the lesson going, giving us more time to teach new things.”
Starstruck, Liam knew he swallowed again, though the blood pounding in his ears drowned out the noise. All he knew of was the closing gap between Tess’s luscious lips and his.
“I will,” he repeated hoarsely. “Promise.”
“Good.” Tess lifted her arms, wrapping them behind his neck as she continued eradicating the space between their bodies. “Very good.”
Her lips tasted slightly cinnamon-y, primarily due to the cinnamon-spiced gingerbread cookies currently chilling in her refrigerator. In a couple more hours, they’d finally go into the oven for a quick bake, where they’d then be ready for the party. Right now, Liam received a special preview of what they might taste like, and he eagerly indulged in every second of it. He wasn’t the only one.
As their soft kiss spiraled into something slightly more bawdry, Tess tightened her clasped arms, yanking his mouth against hers. Their tongues clashed and roiled within the other’s mouth, vying for control like two floods battering into each other, each wanting to shove the other in the same way it had been going. Lust heated their skin, and Liam’s hands did what they always wanted to do when Tess was close.
The gorgeous brunette purred in the back of her throat as his hands sank into her shapely butt. His fingertips greedily coveted her sublime body, and plans to scoop her off her feet and introduce her back to the nearest wall raced up his arms. Tess seemed to intuit his goals and even support them. He felt her rise onto her toes in preparation for his lifting maneuver.
Only for the oak wood two feet to the side of them to rattle scant microseconds before he would have had her in his arms. In fact, he’d already begun to pick her up, only for the horrendous rapping sound to paralyze them both mid-motion.
Their lips rapidly parted, though their eyes spent brief seconds conveying their shared dismay. Tess broke that contact first, unclasping her arms around his neck. Grimacing, Liam’s hands followed suit. The two of them hastily stepped back from one another, straightening their clothes and smothering their flushed expressions.
Another knock impacted Tess’s door. There was no doubt who it was. Liam became that anomalous individual—the one whodidn’twant to see Victoria. At least, not yet, damnit!
Smiling apologetically at him, Tess cleared her throat, exhaled deeply, and reached for her door handle. Obviously, it wouldn’t do to let her waiting friend suffer the cold for too long. Undoubtedly, she’d bring some of it in with her when she saw Liam standing with her.
Chapter Eighteen
Shared Disdain
As Tess opened her door, the cold gleefully stuck its gelid tendrils through the opening. Neither of them was dressed for it, though why should they be? The party was in Tess’s house, and he lived thirty yards to the right. That wasn’t the case for the other three attendees, the first of whom had now arrived.
The time he’d spent calming himself down before Tess opened the door immediately proved purposeless. He realized that just he’d have to get used to being constantly aroused for the rest of the day. His and Tess’s afterparty couldn’t come quickly enough.
Victoria had come to her colleague’s Christmas party in a semi-formal outfit, juxtaposing Tess’s comfier one. The olive-complexioned, incredibly buxom woman wore a heavy beige winter coat over a ribbed black turtleneck jumper. As must be the case for any outfit she blessed her voluptuous figure with, it clung tightly. So did the leather pants she wore, which coveted her long legs down to her ankle-high boots, which added enough height for her to stand as his equal. She completed her look by doing up her sleek black hair and donning a pair of hooped earrings.
Victoria might be allergic to outward showings of merriment, but she knew how to accentuate her ravishing, elegant figure. Every time he’d seen her, she’d been dressed to kill. This being the third such instance, it was enough for him to recognize it as a trend.
