Take Me (Page 24)

Lily stared at Travis, shocked by what she’d done, but obviously not as shocked at Travis, judging by his confused and bewildered expression. Smiling, Lily called out, “I’m fine, thank you. I lost my footing for a moment.”

She heard the click of the attendant’s heels as she moved away from the door. “Strictly professional, Travis,” she said as she slipped out the door and walked back to the bar, a new spring in her step.

“Another gin and tonic,” she said as she savored her victory. God it felt good to best Travis, she thought with a giggle. No doubt he was going to kill her for embarrassing him like that, but right then, with a cool fizzy drink in her hand, and Italy awaiting, for the first time in her life Lily really didn’t give a damn.

Unfortunately, the rest of the trip seemed to go on forever. Especially when Travis blatantly flirted with the pretty stewardess after making it clear that he and Lily were only business partners. She had watched them as surreptitiously as possible through barely open eyes, a blanket tucked up around most of her body and face to hide her spying. It didn’t help that Travis kept “accidentally” brushing up against her to reach for the window shade, or to pick up his pen, which he dropped a dozen times throughout the flight.

Every time his body came in contact with hers, goose bumps covered her skin, and her traitorous ni**les went hard.

Landing in London, picking up luggage, going through customs, boarding a small plane to Rome, the limo ride to their hotel: Everything was a blur for Lily. She couldn’t remember ever being so tired. Or horny, a niggling little voice whispered to her. All she wanted was to stand under a hot shower and crawl under cool sheets to sleep away the nightmare of being so painfully close to Travis and yet so far because of her own stupid rule. But even grumpy and sleepy, the magic of Tuscany started seeping in the minute they began to wind through the ancient streets in the long black limousine that picked them up at the airport.

She had pressed herself all the way against the corner of the limousine’s backseat in an effort to stay as far away from Travis as she possibly could, but the light playing off the cypress trees and golden hills drew her like a moth to a flame. She rolled down her window with the touch of a button and let the sweet smells rush across her face.

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured to herself, having, for the moment, completely forgotten about Travis.

“Yes,” he said, that low hoarse voice of his thrumming straight through her. “It is, isn’t it?”

Lily couldn’t help from turning to look at him, such was the pull he had over her. “Simply beautiful,” he said, staring straight into her eyes.

Lily bit down on the inside of her lip to keep from either yelling at him for teasing her, or worse yet, from kissing him. There was no way he could be talking about her being beautiful, she knew that with every fiber of her heart. Especially not after her little performance in the airplane bathroom. Why did he have to kiss her like he needed her to breathe one minute, then mock her the next?

Chapter Seven

Travis gritted his teeth as Lily turned away from him again to look out the window. He wasn’t particularly interested in getting the silent treatment for the next five days. Maybe after she got a few hours of sleep Lily would be her normal self. The only problem was that Travis hardly knew what “normal” Lily was anymore. Normal Lily was supposed to be a wallflower who didn’t have an ounce of guts. But from the first moment she had stepped onto the fashion runway on Saturday night, Lily had become a new woman to him.

Travis cursed himself for his rash decision to hire Lily to decorate his clients’ house. If he hadn’t been so wrapped up in the need to sink into her again, if he hadn’t had to prove to himself that he could make her come—he could make anyone come until they went blind with pleasure, how could he have possibly doubted himself?—he could have thought straight and done the smart thing by dropping Lily back out of his life. As it was, he had definitely been thinking with the wrong head.

When he had decided to take Lily to Italy, he had planned to screw her brains out for five days straight.

He’d intended to keep her mouth filled with his cock, his hands full of her incredible br**sts, and both of them so exhausted that they never even left the hotel. He could have cared less whether or not they found rugs or tables or couches. His client’s house could be a barren wasteland at this point, he was so focused on doing Lily.

He still couldn’t believe that she had actually shoved him onto the toilet in the airplane. He could tell by the way she had responded to his kiss that she wanted it as much as he did. The things he was planning to do to her in that small cubicle… But then she had to ruin everything by growing a spine. Or, he thought with a rueful smile, at least a small part of a spine.

How could one woman—Lily, no less—be messing so badly with his mind?

Travis searched the rolling hills and pink-tinged buildings for clarity, but no answers were forthcoming. All he knew was that as soon as they got to the hotel he was going to take a quick shower and head straight to the nearest bar. If he was lucky, he would meet some pretty young Italian girl who could clear his mind with a few hours of meaningless sex.

It wouldn’t be meaningless with Lily, a voice in his head said, and Travis started in his seat. He shot a glance at Lily to see if she noticed his sudden movement; but, thankfully, she was leaning back into the seat, her eyes closed, her breathing soft and even.

Of course sex with Lily had been meaningless, he told himself.

Just because he wanted to watch her eyes change color as she exploded beneath him, just because he wanted to hear her say how much he had pleasured her didn’t mean that sex with her was any more important than his last affair with… whatever her name was had been.

Just because he’d never felt so complete with any other person, not even his brother Luke, didn’t mean that he needed her. It didn’t mean that he suddenly wanted to be her friend. And it definitely didn’t mean that he was going to keep his dick in his pants for five days. If not Lily, someone. Although, he asked himself, Why not both?

The limo pulled up outside their hotel, the sumptuous Villa Rossi. Their driver opened the door and reached for Lily’s hand to help her out, but when he saw that she was fast asleep he turned to Travis with a smile.