VINA IN VENICE (THE 5 SISTERS) (21 page)

“You been here all night?”

“Of course, where else would I…”

The air was forced from her lungs when Travis reached up and grabbed her, mumbling
her name as he pulled her
down
o
n top of him.  One hand slipped around her waist and anchored her to his body while the other cupped her head and guided her mouth to his.
  There was no tenderness
in
his kiss, only a fierce passion that stoked the burning embers inside of her into a rogue brushfire
.  It
seared her from head to toe
, reducing her mind to mush for several minutes before
one disturbing coherent thought wheedled its way through
.

Too late, Vina recalled that Travis thought this was his room. 
C
onfirm
ing
she
had been
here all night
only
made him believe
she had waited for him in her nightie like some
seductress ready to pounce the moment he returned.
  Somewhere in the back of her mind, Vina knew she should tell him the truth and put a stop this right now. 
But with impeccable timing, Travis chose that moment to roll over so that she was beneath him
.

“So beautiful,” he muttered, then lowered his head and
continued to pillage her mouth.

With his hips cradled between her bare thighs, it was impossible to ignore how aroused he was. 
Still, she couldn’t help wondering if
he would be kissing her this way if he hadn’t been drinking beforehand. 
Vina was torn.  Her entire body yearned for his touch, longed
for the intimacy of making love
to
him, but she was completely mortified by the idea of giving herself to him when she couldn’t be sure he even knew what he was doing. 
What if he woke up in the morning and didn’t remember anything?  It was too humiliating to contemplate.

Reluctantly, Vina tore her mouth away from him.  “Travis, we have to…”  Oh!  A delicious tingling sensation distracted her as his lips blazed a trail down the side of her neck to her collar bone then migrated south to the swell of her breast
s
.  His breath was warm against her skin, his kisses moist; the effect on her body nearly
d
ebilitating. 
She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, could barely
even
breathe as she lay there soaking up the attention he lavished on her.

“Travis,” she finally managed to croak, “
we sh-shouldn’t be doing this
.
”

“Why not?”  He nibbled his way back to her mouth and gave her a long, lingering kiss.  “
You want me to make love to you,” he whispered.  “Admit it, Vina.”

If he had continued to touch her and ply her with kisses, Vina was just weak enough
to
have given in.  She
did
want him, so much so that she
was
almost willing to overlook the glaring reasons as to why she shouldn’t
let this go any further
.  Almost. 
If the situation was reversed and she was the one who had consumed enough alcohol to make her words slur, she would have been furious with Travis for taking advantage of it. 

And
no matter how excruciatingly wonderful he was making her feel right now,
she certainly didn’t want her first time to be on the floor
. 
It wasn’t exactly what she envisioned in the erotic daydreams she’d been having
and
, p
lush though the carpet was
, it didn’t compare to the
feathery softness of
the bed
.
  She wanted
him to make love to her,
to fall asleep in his arms and w
ake up in the same blissful position
. 

It might have happened just the way she’d imagined
…
if only Travis
hadn’t gotten so uptight about the Andollina brothers and stormed out of there.  And if he hadn’t compounded it by drinking himself silly.
 
H
e’d made huge two mistakes already
;
Vina
had to stop him before he made
another.

“You’re right,” she said, “I do want you to make love to me
, but I…I think you’ve had a little too much to drink.”

Travis lifted his head
, his dark eyes as solemn as his voice. 
“
Too much maybe, but not enough
to get you out of my head
.
”

Vina’s throat constricted. 
“
You wanted to forget me?”

“Yes…no…
I mean,
I
wanted
to, but it was impossible.  Ah, hell,” he groaned, “that didn’t come out right.”

“
Maybe we should just call it a night and talk about it tomorrow.”

His pupils dilated.  “I agree. 
No more t
alk tonight.”

“Travis, wait!” she squeaked out when he attempted to kiss her again.  “What I meant was…” Vina clamped her mouth shut.

Good Lord, she’d almost blurted out that t
hey should go to bed!
  If he misconstrued her comment about not talking anymore tonight, he
would have taken her suggestion to go to bed as a
brazen invitation
.
  This time, she chose her words carefully.

“What I meant was that I’m going to make you a nice, strong cup of coffee to dilute some of the alcohol.  Then I’m going to make sure you get tucked into your own bed to sleep it off.”

“Kissing you sounds like a much better idea,” he said with a lop-sided grin.

Vina’s heart
did a
back flip
.  It was incredibly tempting, especially when Travis was looking at her as if she was the most desirable woman on earth.
  But he was in no condition to make sensible decisions, and with his mouth so enticingly close to hers, sensible didn’t
seem to register in her vocabulary
either.

“
Oh, no you don’t.  I have enough rug burns as it is. 
Coffee first and then you’re off to bed. 
Alone
,” she said firmly.
 
Vina scrambled to her feet the instant he rolled away from her.
  She held out her hands and helped him up.  “Wait in the living room while I make the coffee.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Travis saluted, his big body swaying precariously.

“Can you make it on your own?”

“
I’m good…” he glanced around the room, his brows drawing together.  “Someone moved the bathroom.”

Vina smothered a giggle.  “It’s down that hallway.  Will you be able to find your way back?” she called after him as he made his way unsteadily down the hall.

“Sure thing.  Assuming nobody moved the living room…”

She should have been furious with him, but how could she? He’d looked so pathetically lost and vulnerable when
he discovered the bathroom wasn’t where it should be. 
So tonight was a loss, she thought with a resigned sigh, there was always tomorrow.
  Scurrying off to the small but well-stocked kitchen, Vina sifted through the basket on the counter contain
ing
an array of packets
of
tea, espresso, and coffee.  She selected a strong Columbian brew and started up the coffee maker then went to check on Travis.

A worried frown tilted the corners of her mouth when she discovered the living room was empty.  It was entirely possible he’d gotten sick and was still in the bathroom, but she couldn’t dismiss the alarming thought that he’d passed out.  What if Travis had fallen and hurt himself?  He could be lying on the bathroom floor right now, unconscious and bleeding from a head wound.  Vina’s imagination was running wild as she
hurried
down the hallway and burst through the bathroom door.

Empty
.  She stood there for a moment, her eyes darting around the room as if he would magically appear any second.  Chastising herself for wasting time instead of
trying to stop him from doing what she suspected was already a done deed, Vina whirled around
and headed for the bedroom. 
Her footsteps faltered as she came through the doorway, a tiny gasp escaping when she caught a glimpse of Travis s
tanding beside
her bed.

He’d stripped off his clothes and left them in a pile on the floor, his
gloriously naked body on full display for a few heart-stopping moments before he pulled back the covers and slipped between the sheets. 
Holy mother of God
, Vina thought weakly.
  Her own body thrummed with sexual awareness
;
the
impulse
to crawl into bed with him so overpowering she actually took a
step forward.

The sound of Travis softly snoring quickly brought Vina to her senses.  She considered trying to wake him
and coaxing
him into returning to his own room, but that would mean helping him dress.  Her cheeks burned just thinking about seeing him fully unclothed again;
Vina
could only imagine her reaction if she
had physical contact with
him in that state.
  No, the best solution was to grab one of the extra comforters from the closet and sleep on the sofa.

It was difficult to function w
ith the vision of bare skin and
toned-to-perfection muscle
s
swimming before her eyes, but somehow she managed to wrestle the comforter from the closet shelf.  Clutching it to her chest as if it could protect her from
her own mounting desire
, Vina crossed the room to turn off the bedside lamp. 
Travis was on his back with one arm thrown over his head
while the other rested on top of the covers that lay loosely over his hips
. 

His face was turned away from her, giving
Vina
a view of his profile; the strong jaw and chin, the slight bump on the bridge of his nose
, enviously dark thick lashes against tanned skin.  Her eyes moved appreciatively over his broad shoulders and bare chest,
following the thin line of hair until it disappeared beneath the covers.  She bit down on her lip, curling her fingers tighter around the comforter to prevent herself from reaching out to touch him.

Frightened by her inability to control the erotic thoughts dancing in her head, Vina
snapped the light off and fled to the safety of the living room.  Her heart was pounding as she stretched out on the sofa and pulled the comforter up to her chin. 
She tried to drive the image of Travis lying in her bed from her mind but was immediately assaulted with a more disturbing image of him standing naked beside it.

Two hours later, she was still
wide awake.  She’d tamped down the strange feelings churning inside of her by blocking out any thoughts even remotely related to Travis.  The only problem was that Travis had been a part of her life for so long, she had to resort to early childhood memories.  Happy as those childhood memories were, along with them came the pain of losing her parents.

Mentally and physically exhausted, she fell into a restless sleep and was jolted awake a short time later when she rolled off of the sofa and landed on the floor with a dull thud.  The sofa was comfortable enough, but way too narrow for someone who tossed and turned in her sleep. 
Rubbing her bruised hip and mumbling grumpily under her breath, Vina stood up and retrieved the comforter then
padded down the hall to the bedroom.

It was Travis’ fault she was feeling so out of sorts it had taken her hours to fall asleep, and it was his fault she’d been forced to make her bed on the sofa and consequently fallen out.  Why should she suffer the night in discomfort while he was cozy as a cat on a down
-
filled pillow?
  The bed was plenty big enough for the two of them, she reasoned,
and since he was deep in an alcohol induced sleep, he probably wouldn’t even know she was there.

Vina slipped into the bedroom, silently making her way around the end of the bed to
the
unoccupied side.  A thin stream of moonlight filtered through the blinds
, allotting her just enough light to see that Travis was still in the same position she’d left him in. 
She wasn’t quite brave enough to sleep beneath the covers with him
so she
eased down onto the mattress, using the comforter she’d brought with her
to cover herself.

Much better, she sighed, closing her eyes
briefly before they snapped open again.  Travis had rolled onto his side and snuggled up next to her, draping one arm across her hips.  She could feel the warmth of his breath on her bare shoulder, but it was the heat of his body seeping through the comforters that made her insides quiver. 
Tomorrow they would work out the horrible misunderstanding they’d had earlier, she decided with firm determination.