Holiday Home (A Harem Fantasy #5)

Chapter Fourteen

Cheat Away

A fter moving their empty bowls and plates out of the way, everyone shifted in. Forming a circle on the towels, Liam ended up with Tess on his left and Anna on his right. Once everyone was ready, he, not even thinking about asking, picked up the deck of cards, popped it open, and deposited the stack onto his palm. At that point, someone finally had something to speak out against.

“No cheating, Liam,” Tess said.

“I won’t,” he promised.

“But you should,” Avril said.

He tilted his head. “What?”

“When it’s your turn to deal, and we should rotate around rather than let you deal every hand, you should try and cheat. We all know you can do it. If one of us catches you in the act and can say how you cheated, then you automatically lose that round—so start negotiating with the person who caught you or get those clothes off.”

Liam looked around. “Is everyone else okay with that?”

“Why not?” Tess said, shrugging.

“Okay,” Liam said. He looked from woman to woman, making sure they didn’t have any issues. In doing so, he also realized one that only affected him. “I’ve got less clothing on than all of you.”

“Because you don’t wear bras, yes,” Avril chortled. “I was wondering if you’d realize it.” She waved an unbothered hand through the air. “We can just have your boxers count as two points. So, once you’re down to them, you need to lose twice before they come off.”

“And how do you know he wears boxers?” Victoria asked.

Smirking toothlessly, Avril glanced at the woman sitting next to her. “Or briefs. Either’s fine in my books.”

Wisely eschewing getting tangled into further conversation with the younger woman, Victoria returned her attention to him, then nodded. It was enough to get the game going.

After passing out cards, as well as the extra pair that each of them could choose to swap into after the flop, Liam went through all the usual steps of setting the flop. He set down two queens and a king—and he hadn’t cheated.

Yes, he’d purposefully gone a bit extra with his shuffling, though for no real purpose. He realized that there wasn’t any punishment for calling him a cheater, so really, every hand he shuffled might have devolved into four blind accusations. Fortunately, those weren’t the kind of players he was playing with.

However, after dropping a ridiculously unlikely flop, he saw every single one of the women around him narrow their eyes. They were sure he’d cheated, yet none of them could ascertain how. Liam tried not to look amused, but he did share after the round that he hadn’t pulled any tricks. Sometimes, the cards came out like that.

While the others struggled to figure out how to call him out for cheating right out of the gate, Liam peeked at his cards. He had complete trash: a four and a nine, and not much luck with the suits on the community cards. So, there went his hope of a flush.

In a regular game, he might have played some mind games. But no one could fold, so there really wasn’t any point in psyching out the others. Tossing away his two cards, he became the first in the game to collect his replacement cards.

They were better. In that he had a single king in there, as well as an eight. He had a strong pair. That was enough for him to think he was unlikely to lose in the very first round. He might even win.

Because of how ridiculous the flop was, it was pretty easy to tell who had face cards. Avril and Tess followed his lead, replacing their cards. The other combination of professor and student held onto their starting hands.

“We might be in trouble,” he told Avril and Tess. Okay, so maybe he wanted to play some mind games.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Avril said, smiling. “You’ll be lucky no matter what.”

“Hard to deny it,” he said, then burned a card and added the turn to the row of community cards. The Six of Diamonds. Potentially useful, but not to him.

After pausing for dramatic effect, Liam made the final burn, then turned over the river. A measly three. Again, no help to him. He’d just have to ride on the back of his king pair.

“And now let’s all flip our cards over,” Liam said.

Avril had absolutely nothing. The rest of them did. So did Tess, who’d lucked into finding a queen in her backup hand. That pushed her above Victoria’s two pairs. They had their first winner and loser. In a way, it being the two of them, it almost felt poetic.

“Don’t even bother,” Tess said as Avril crawled over to her. “Nothing you can offer will convince me. Not for this first round, anyway.”

“Have it your way,” the beautiful redhead said. “I don’t mind.”

Smiling the entire time, she removed her top. Liam’s cock finally woke up to what this game meant, beginning to stiffen. Tossing her shirt out of the way, Avril stretched her arms behind her back and leaned forward, causing the heavy breasts sitting behind a familiar blue sports bra to bulge forward.

“Next round, go, go,” she said. “Your deal, Tess.”

Tess diligently collected the cards, shuffled, and imitated everything he’d done. This time, Liam came out with a stronger opening hand: he had a jack and a nine, and the flop offered a ten, a king, and a four. Having the means to get a straight, he stayed with his hand. He wasn’t alone; this time, only Anna changed her hand.

He hit his straight. Anna did not hit the ace pair she needed to avoid losing.

The woman to his right looked toward him. What remained of the golden light sitting on the horizon flung itself toward them, shadowing one side of her face. Her eyes wavered, though he also saw courage in them.

“I won’t be as harsh as Tess just was to Avril,” he promised.

She seemed slightly relieved, and they soon became the first whispering pair of the night.

“Is there anything you’d like, in particular?” Anna whispered into his ear. She’d scooted over to lean into him, even cupping her hands before speaking—which was pretty adorable. The others all looked on with interest, especially Avril. Especially Avril.

Trading positions, he whispered back, “How about a hug? We have plenty of time, so I don’t see any reason to rush things. We can get comfortable, make sure we’ll all be okay with seeing things to the, uh, normal conclusion of a game like this. Avril needs to learn a bit of patience, anyway.”

Anna accepted with a nod.

Shifting onto her knees, looking only a tinge flustered, she enveloped him in a warm hug. Her breasts pressed into his side, and he hugged her back with one arm. Once it ended, he checked Avril’s response.

She didn’t roll her eyes or seem bored by the tame deal. However, she did suggest that the negotiating players announce what deal they’d reached going forward, just in case what was agreed upon was a little more complicated than a simple hug.

“If you cheat, I’ll know,” Liam said as Avril began shuffling for her deal.

Verdant eyes glimmered as she met his stare. “Same rules for anyone who tries to cheat, then.”

Reversing her fortunes, Anna won the next round with two pairs. And as further evidence that she hadn’t cheated, Avril received her second loss.

“May I crawl over and have some civil negotiations, or do my shorts or bra come off right away?” one roommate asked the other. She’d already started hooking her thumbs under her shorts’ waistband.

“I’m willing to negotiate,” Anna said hastily.

Avril crossed over to Anna’s domain, and the two began whispering back and forth. This negotiation went on longer than its predecessor had. Even sitting beside them, Liam could only make out a word or two at a time. Anna eventually nodded, and Avril grinned.

“A kiss on the cheek for my best friend,” Avril announced, then followed through with the act.

As she made her way back to her side of things, Liam couldn’t help but feel that things had ended up in a reversed order. Where Avril might have offered more than Anna wanted to start with, leading Anna to lower Avril’s offer to a more acceptable level.

In the next round, potentially leading to the opposite issue, Victoria ended up with the weakest hand. The woman on her right, grinning from ear to ear, happily flipped over her three-of-a-kind.

Victoria looked less than pleased as she shifted over and began whispering with Avril. On the other hand, this might have been one of the spicier combinations. He knew Avril wouldn’t let Victoria have it easy. And as the most invested spectator here, he could only benefit from that.

Unfortunately, it seemed that they came to an impasse. Eventually, Victoria, staring especially flatly at the woman she’d almost become sister-in-law to, returned to her area. Once there, she removed the breezy shirt she’d changed into after their time at the hot spring.

Liam found it challenging to mind overly much. After all, that brought him one step closer to finally seeing Victoria’s bared breasts. Unfortunately, the sports bra she was wearing had a zipper, and it was most of the way up. Yet, on the other hand, maybe someone might offer her a chance to keep it on if she pulled it down a few inches.

With Anna’s deal, the final of the first round, he found himself in a hurting position. He’d had nothing in his starting hand, and he had nothing after making the swap. Less than nothing, even. His high card of a six put him so far from having a chance that he nearly sighed.

The turn and river cards offered him no help. He took his first loss, and Victoria, eyes leveled on him after she revealed her pocket pair of aces, obtained her chance to stand on the other side of the pond. Aware that her eyes were far from the only ones watching him intently, Liam made his way into the space between Victoria and Anna, then leaned toward the gorgeous woman. He tried not to focus on the subtle scent of sandalwood he breathed in from her hair as he put his mouth near her ear.

“Anything in particular you’re interested in?” he whispered.

“That isn’t how this works,” the woman said mercilessly. “You have to make an offer, and then we can start negotiating.”

Heart sprinting about a mile a minute, Liam searched for the baseline he should set with his first offer. Or should he go for a more enticing—to him, at least—opening offer, expecting Victoria to take the role Anna had when Avril had come to her?

He decided to shoot for the moon. Why not? They were playing a game where they’d all end up stripping to nothing eventually, assuming the game didn’t end early.

“I could kiss your neck,” Liam offered.

“I’m sure you could,” Victoria whispered back, then said nothing else.

“Okay, then, how about one on the cheek?”

Victoria shook her head.

“I’d offer a neck massage, but I wouldn’t want to rush it. I can’t stay behind you for ten to fifteen minutes.”

“Can’t you?”

“No,” he said. “Tomorrow, though, I’ll give you my attention for five or six times that long.”

Victoria’s expression didn’t budge. After a few seconds, she revealed what she wanted. “How about you take your shirt off? The others are certain to go easy on you, but I won’t. If we’re playing this game, then we’re going to play it.”

So, it was going to be like that. She’d let him think there might be a negotiation, but like Tess had with Avril, she’d known it wouldn’t go anywhere.

Feeling a little feisty, Liam had one final retort to make. “Fine, but when I eventually win against you, I’m going to get you back on my lap.”

“ If you win against me,” Victoria whispered, glancing toward Avril, then extending a hand to push the leaning troublemaker back out of earshot, “we’ll see how the negotiation goes.”

Liam stood up. Four sets of eyes pursued him. Gripping his shirt, he lifted it over his head. The eyes didn’t climb all the way, however. Instead, they lingered on his abdomen, sides, chest, and shoulders. Liam still had more work to put in, and he intended for the summer to be where his definition really wowed the women. Nevertheless, it felt good to see hungry eyes, one or two pairs a little less subtle about it than the others, on his body. He knew they were all used to receiving those same looks from him.

Once he was back at his spot, he shuffled and dealt. Now, he cheated. Even with four intense stares focusing on his hands while whirring with rapid, practiced motions, no one declared having seen the several false shuffles he’d gotten in under their noses.

He evaded their increased scrutiny in part because of who he sent up to win and lose. Avril came out on top, and Tess showed she had nothing.

You’re welcome, Liam thought, watching as Tess and Avril huddled together and spoke quietly. While that happened, he noticed Victoria and Anna drinking from their wine glasses. He wondered how they were feeling about the game. How they’d feel about it afterward.

What came from his ploy proved to be entirely worth the minimal risk of having been caught red-handed. After a slightly protracted negotiation, Tess sighed—but Liam didn’t believe she was disappointed for even a second. Then, forgetting her own rule, Avril forgot to announce what had been agreed upon. She tilted her head to the left.

And Tess set her luscious mouth against the smooth skin on the right. Not just once, not just twice, but three times when all was said and done, Tess laid successive brief kisses on Avril’s soft neck. Starting low, then climbing halfway, then ending with a kiss right beneath Avril’s jawline.

It was so indelibly erotic that Liam gulped, but no one noticed. Even Anna and Victoria seemed incapable of removing their attention from the sight of one of the sexiest professors in the world kissing one of the sexiest students in the world.

Once it was over, Liam almost complained. As if it were a musical performance, and he wanted an encore. That feeling of desperation faded once Tess returned to her seat, and the next person began to shuffle. The event wasn’t over. Far, far from it.