Shaking her breasts the rest of the way out of her dress, she rubbed the very slightest bit of skin against Travis's face. He wanted desperately to suck her nipples, but she wouldn't let him. In a daze of wanting, he hardly realized when Lily slipped another tie around his right wrist and secured him to the iron bedpost. After fastening the knot, she ran kisses down his arm, from his wrist to the inside of his elbow to his shoulder.
This was the first time Travis had ever been in a subservient position in bed, but if it felt this good, it was certainly not going to be his last. "Lily, you're killing me," he said with appreciation, glad to hear her tinkle of laughter in response.
"I sure hope so," she murmured as she got to work on his left wrist. Travis ached for her to kiss the inside of his left arm and couldn't suppress the groan of pleasure when she did. But when, seconds later, her soft mouth was on his cock, he did more than groan.
He begged.
"Suck me, Lily," he urged.
At which point his dick was left cool and bereft as her mouth lifted away. "Am I going to have to put a gag on you, too?" she threatened.
Travis shook his head, loving how in control she was of this game. "No, Lily. I'll be good," he said, trying to keep the smile off his face. "I swear."
"Hmm," Lily said, running one finger lightly up the inside of his thigh, stopping at the undersides of his balls. "How can I be sure?" she said as she repeated the sweet torture that set every inch of his body on fire. "Who is your mistress?" she asked in a hard voice.
Travis's cock grew another impossible inch at her tone. "You," he said when he was able to catch his breath.
She curled her fist around his cock, hard. "And who is my slave?"
Travis bucked up into her hand, unable to find words.
Lily licked his aching head. "I asked who my slave is, Travis."
"Me," he groaned. "I am. I'll do anything you want. Anything."
He could feel her smile, even if he couldn't see it. Lily liked being in charge. What a surprise. And was she ever good at it.
A moment later she straddled Travis's chest, and he desperately wished that he had a free hand to caress her wet pussy. He could smell her essence, and it was the most powerful turn-on in the world.
"I'm going to untie your hand, but you have to promise me that you'll do exactly what I tell you to do."
Travis nodded. "I promise, Lily." Anything to touch her. To taste her on his lips.
She untied his right hand and wrapped his fingers around something that felt oddly like a penis. "It's my dildo," she whispered in his ear, letting her tits brush against his chest.
Travis groaned. "Oh God Lily, please tell me you're going to let me..."
"Be quiet!" she said, and Travis shut up and tried to wait patiently for what was definitely going to be the highlight of his life up until now. "I'm going to spread my legs wide above you, then I'm going to let you guide the dildo into me, one inch at a time."
Travis's hand shook with the need to get to work on Lily's cunt, but Lily was clearly enjoying the torture of making him wait for it. Lord knew he greatly enjoyed her enjoyment.
"I'm so wet, Travis," she said, and as she spread her legs wider above his chest her sweet scent became more potent. And then her finger was on his lips. "Taste me, Travis," she said.
Greedily, he sucked her finger into his mouth, and as he did so she guided his free hand toward her thighs. "Right here, Travis," she said. His finger searched for a button at the base of the dildo, something that would bring it to vibrating life, and finally he found it.
The whirring sound joined their heavy breathing, and Travis felt the tip of his cock grow wet. He couldn't believe it, he was practically about to come into thin air, he was so turned on.
He pressed the length of the dildo against her slick lips and barely slid it against her clit. "I'm coming, Travis," she said, her voice no longer a harsh command, but a plea for release. "Don't stop!"
He couldn't have stopped for the world. Increasing the pressure of the dildo by degrees, he continued to slide the length against her wetness. God how he wanted to be the dildo. She bucked into the plastic sex toy, and as her moans turned into a scream of pleasure, he slid it in to the hilt.
When her tremors slowed, he slid the sex toy out and threw it to the bed. Before she could regain control he simply had to taste her, so he wrapped his palm around her backside and slid her cunt up to his mouth. She settled in with a sigh of pleasure, and he greedily licked and sucked her juices, slipping his tongue into her tight vagina.
He slid two fingers into her, and Lily's muscles held him firm as she began to ride his hand. "Travis, yes, there, again," she cried, as her second orgasm ripped through her.
Travis sucked at her clit even as he rammed his palm against her. He wanted her pleasure as much as he wanted his own. He had no time, however, to dissect this thought because Lily was sliding off his face and retying his bindings.
"Good slave," she said, then she bent down and took his mouth in a savage kiss that shot all the way to his soul. "You taste like come," she murmured as she nipped at his lower lip. "My come." She captured his mouth again and stole the rest of his breath away. When had she learned to kiss like a goddess? he wondered, then he forgot everything but the throbbing of his cock as she wound her hand around it. Her mouth trailed a path of destruction down his chest, stopping to suck his nipples, finally finding his shaft, hard and throbbing and about to blow at any second.
"Lily," he said, "I can't take any--"
"Yes, you can," she said, sucking him into her sweet mouth, laving her tongue around his head, caressing his balls in time to the circles her tongue was making.
Just as Travis reared up into her mouth, about to blow, Lily's mouth was gone, a condom was rolled on, and his cock was in the hot, wet pussy of his dreams. She bent forward and dropped first one nipple, then the other into his mouth as she rode him straight into oblivion.
He shouted her name and everything went black in his mind and he couldn't concentrate on anything other than the vagina that was squeezing every ounce of come out of his dick. He barely heard her scream her pleasure, he barely noticed that he was sucking at her nipples like a hungry babe. He barely knew his own name as he exploded inside of Lily.
Black turned to blue, and everything went dark for a minute as Travis tried to remember how to breathe. Lily must have untied his wrists, because she was in his arms, and he was holding her tightly to him.
Janica hadn't been kidding when she said Lily was going to be a goddess in Italy. Lily was, no question about it, a goddess through and through.
And she was all his.
HIS TAN LOOKS NICE ON ME, Lily thought as she woke up, tucked under Travis's arm. His head was nuzzled into her neck, and she loved the way his soft, warm breath tickled the hair at the base of her head. And to think she had been planning to sleep on the couch. What a waste that would have been.
He stirred, and his hard, hot penis pressed against her thigh. "Morning," he said, rolling her over on top of him.
Even filled to the brim with the glow of Travis's incredible loving, Lily couldn't bat her deep-seated insecurities away. She was too big to be sprawled atop anyone, even if he had been the one to position her there. She had been able to let go and enjoy their little bondage game once she blindfolded Travis. But now, in the bright light of morning, he would see everything she so desperately wanted to hide from him. Lily started to wiggle off him, but Travis stilled her with a firm hand on her rear.
"Where do you think you're going? Don't you think it's only fair if I get to be the master today?" he teased.
Sure she was turning a hundred shades of pink, Lily made a joke out of her discomfort. "I don't want to crush you," she said, faking a carefree, sexy laugh.
Travis's green eyes flashed with regret. "You're not crushing me," he said, but just like that, the spell was broken, and he went soft against her. Stifling her groan of discontent, she feigned happiness.
"Let's
not waste another minute," she said brightly. "I can't wait to comb through every antique shop in town. Give me a minute, and I'll be out of the shower."
She fairly ran out of the bedroom into the bathroom, locking the door safely behind her. Face facts , she told herself, last night was an anomaly. The spell of Tuscany, combined with jet lag and Chianti had wrapped around them both, and they'd done some crazy, albeit wonderful, things together.
But something inside of her, some irrationally hopeful part of Lily's heart, wished that she was wrong. Maybe the first night, at the fashion show, had been an anomaly, maybe even the day by the pool was an accident, but last night...wasn't last night special?
No, not special. Amazing was more like it.
Last night he wanted me like a man wants a woman, she thought, remembering the way they'd ripped at each other's clothes in the olive grove, the moment she'd dropped to her knees beneath the moon and taken his hot length into her mouth, the incredible sensations that rippled through her as Travis had slid the dildo into her, the wholeness of joining together as lovers, the safety of waking up with his arms wrapped tightly around her.
Lily turned on the shower--she couldn't use the bathtub again, not after the memories she and Travis had created there together--and stepped under the hot spray. No matter what, no matter how worried she was about their great sex being a fluke, she was going to have a good time in Italy. She was in a fairy-tale land, after all, with a fairy-tale budget to buy furnishings for a home more beautiful than anything beyond her wildest dreams.
Except for Travis, of course. No question about it, he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
WHEN LILY RAN OUT of the bedroom and locked herself into the marble bathroom, Travis wished he could claim to be confused. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He knew exactly what had happened.
His own past behavior was coming back to haunt him. In a big way.
How many years had he purposefully ignored Lily? He could teach a course in looking right through her. At doing exactly what she had accused him of: acting like she was beneath him.
It had never occurred to Travis to ask himself why he was such a prick before, but today as sunlight streamed through the enormous windows, the rays of light brought uncomfortable clarity with them.
You can't hide anymore, a voice from deep inside told him.
Oddly enough, it was almost a relief. Another small chunk of that invisible burden he had been carrying around with him for so many years was falling away. First last night in the olive grove and now, alone in the bed that bore the marks of their frantic, wicked lovemaking, Travis could feel something inside of him stretching and pulling at its bindings.
He got out of bed and, naked, paced the room. He wasn't going to be able to fit the puzzle pieces together today, because before he could do so, he had to collect them all. Instead of turning his back on what he felt, rather than drown in nameless, faceless sex with some girl who meant nothing to him, Travis searched for the courage not only to acknowledge his feelings for Lily, but to find out what these feelings actually meant.
More than that, he needed to find out what these feelings cost him.
Lily hadn't leapt from out of nowhere onto his radar screen in the past three days. The fashion show had been a major catalyst, certainly, but it wasn't the beginning of Lily's importance in his life.
No. The truth, likely long obvious to anyone but him, was that Lily had always been important to him.
And maybe it was the magnitude of just how much Lily mattered that had been his problem all along.
Lily emerged from the shower, wrapped from head to toe in fluffy cream towels. "Your turn," she said.
Travis caught Lily as she tried to skirt past him. Her eyes were downcast, her movements jerky and awkward. He knew she was afraid of his rejection, that he'd start acting like she wasn't good enough for him again, but they were in Tuscany, just the two of them, where what went on between him and Lily was for their eyes only.
Travis wouldn't think beyond the end of their visit. Even though he'd always been a planner, he hadn't planned on the effect Lily would have on him once she'd touched him. Once he'd touched her.
But first things first, he needed to put a smile back on Lily's lips, and the sparkle back into her big blue eyes.
"I know you're excited to get cracking," he said in a voice filled with sensual promise, "but I'm expecting a rain check for this morning."
He was rewarded with a surprised grin from Lily, and followed it with a smacking kiss on her shower-flushed lips.
"When am I going to have to pay?" she asked, her voice coy, her eyes flashing mischievously.
Travis reached for her towel, pretending to tug it down. "Any more talk like this," he growled, "and you're going to be paying right now." The pulse in Lily's throat leaped to attention, and he couldn't help but add, "I can't think of anything sweeter than tasting your skin, clean and sweet from the shower."
And it was true. Travis had never appreciated a woman's natural beauty so much. He had always liked his women made up and well dressed, not scrubbed clean and smelling of lavender soap.
Lily stilled against him, and he pulled her closer, running his lips down her cheek, to cover the wild pulse in her neck. In an instant, he had her on the edge of the bed, her legs wrapped around him, a condom on, and his cock thrusting hard and sure inside of her. As he shuddered within her, Travis could have stayed inside Lily forever.
This time, instead of pushing the thought away, instead of making an excuse about how Lily's cunt was as good as any other woman's, Travis let the word resonate in his skull.
Forever.
From five days to forever in a heartbeat, it was crazy. But crazier still was the smile that eased across his face and through his whole body.
One puzzle piece was firmly in place. He wondered how many more he would discover throughout the day.
BACK HOME IN SAN FRANCISCO, Janica and Luke were holding a summit at her design studio. Thinking how good Luke looked in her domain, how nicely he filled up the empty spaces with his broad shoulders, Janica turned and fiddled with her espresso machine to hide her ridiculously lustful thoughts. He was her sister's best friend, for God's sake, and had known her since she was still putting bugs in her mouth. For all she knew, Luke had a crush on Lily. And why wouldn't he? Lily was sweet, comforting, the best friend anyone could have. Janica's heart sank even as she hated her petty jealousy. Resolutely, she made sure her fingers were still and calm as she poured Luke's drink and brought it over to the cafe table in the corner.
"You probably know why I asked you to stop by," she said.
Luke nodded and absently picked up his cup and blew on the hot drink to cool it off. "I'm worried about her, too," he said.
Janica paused, not sure how to say what she needed to say without hurting Luke's feelings. After all, Travis was his brother. "Um, the thing is that your brother is, well..."
Luke looked up at her and deftly finished her sentence. "A complete jerk when it comes to women?"
Color crept into Janica's cheeks. "Exactly," she said crisply, wondering where the outspoken version of herself had disappeared to. "And I wasn't sure if you had noticed that..." She let her words fall away. She didn't want to make Lily look bad by saying that she had a crush on Luke's unworthy brother if Luke didn't already know.
Again, Luke came to her rescue. "Lily has a crush on Travis?"
"Bingo," she said, and inwardly cringed. Bingo? What kind of moron said "bingo" when sitting so close to a truly hot guy? "I'm really worried about her. I don't know how she's going to make it through an entire week with Travis treating her like she's not good enough to shine his shoes. Maybe," Janica said, watching Luke carefully, "we should go to Italy."
Luke's face lit up. "Why didn't I think of that? You're a genius, Janica."
Janica's heart grew at least a full size bigger at Luke's compliment. He had never really noticed her before. Sure, he had always been nice enough, but it was the k
ind of nice that you'd be to a puppy. Still thrilling from the genius comment, Janica grinned widely, and said, "Great! I'll get online and make some plane reservations for tonight." Too late, she realized that she was acting way too excited about going to Italy to save her sister. She couldn't bite back a small bit of guilt over her other reason for wanting to go to Italy with Luke: Some alone time with a hottie like Luke would be sheer heaven.
Luke pulled out his Palm Pilot to check his calendar. "Tonight won't work. I'm on call for the next forty-eight hours."
"Can't you switch with someone?"
He looked morose. "No, unfortunately I can't. Everyone has already been on for forty-eight." He rubbed his eyes and looked bleak. "My hours are crazy lately, which is exactly how I got Lily into this mess in the first place. Some best friend I am."
Janica wanted to stroke his broad shoulders and tell him that he shouldn't be so hard on himself, but somehow she kept the urge in check. God forbid Luke find out she had a crush on him. She'd never been a pathetic girl, and she wasn't about to start.
"But I've got some time off coming to me. I could probably take a few days without it becoming too much of a train wreck at the hospital."
"So I'll book the flight for Saturday and we'll get into Rome early Sunday night?"
"Sounds good. Call me with the flight info and I'll meet you at the airport."
Janica nodded, tense with anticipation. Funny how all of a sudden saving Lily from Travis's evil clutches placed a very distant second to being close to Luke for several days.
10
LILY AND TRAVIS'S FIERY LOVEMAKING was the perfect jolt of caffeine for their first morning in Italy. After gulping down scalding espressos at a corner cafe, they hopped in the rental car that Giuseppe had hired for them and took joyfully to the streets of Saturnia. Travis had been to the region on buying trips in previous years, but the sun had never seemed so bright, the sky so blue, the espresso so perfectly bitter. He wanted to show Lily the finest leather shop in the world, the ancient rug factory, the famous gelato stand outside the piazza. Beauty was a gift from him to her. At every turn she surprised him, her decorator's eye finding the little touches that would make his client's house a delight to everyone who entered. Any lingering doubts about Lily's ability to decorate the entire house vanished as she found hand-painted tiles for the kitchen, a whimsical fountain for the courtyard, and soft, sheer silks for the bedroom walls.