Take Me (Take Me 1)

“First of all, your br**sts are much more impressive than hers.”

Lily smacked him on the shoulder. “Shh. Not so loud! You’re embarrassing me.”

Travis raised an eyebrow. “What? Don’t you think that Leo has already noticed and admired them?”

Lily crossed her arms across her chest, but not quickly enough to hide her rapidly hardening ni**les.

“No, I hadn’t thought that, thank you very much,” she said, but she couldn’t hide her grin.

“In that case, young lady,” he teased, “you have quite a lot to learn when it comes to men. Particularly any man with Italian blood in his veins.” Travis turned back to the statue and ran his hands down past her waist. “Yup, I’d have to say you are a lusher, much more intriguing package than this broad. No question about it.”

“Lush?” Lily snorted. “When did you introduce that word into your vocabulary?”

Travis took Lily in his arms. “When I made love to you for the first time.”

Lily blushed, but she didn’t pull away when he bent down and gently kissed her lips. The kiss wasn’t so much about passion as it was about comfort. And just as he had all day whenever things felt too right, too good, whenever his new feelings for Lily threatened to overwhelm him, Travis had to fight the urge to let go of her. To run as far away from her as he could.

Somehow, the thought of going back to the life he had always loved so much—the freedom of being with a different woman every weekend, someone who looked pretty on his arm, but rarely was witty enough to make him laugh—didn’t seem all that great anymore?

As if she could read his mind, Lily gazed at him, turning shy and anxious as he grew quiet and pensive.

Amazingly, it was Lily’s uncertainty that made Travis snap out of his mood.

I don’t want to go back to how things were before, Travis thought with sudden clarity. This is so much better.

He grabbed Lily’s hand, called out to Leo that they’d telephone later to arrange for shipping, and said,

“Let’s go have some fun.”

Lily followed him out to their little rental car and climbed into the passenger seat. “I’m already having such a good time, Travis. This whole day has been a dream come true for me.”

Travis threaded his hands into her hair and kissed her once, hard and possessive. He turned on the radio and drove past fields of olives and grapes, whistling to the pop songs on the radio. He pulled Lily’s hand onto his lap and was happy when she left it there, drumming her fingers on his thigh in time to the music.

He tried not to think dirty thoughts, but with her fingers inching closer and closer to his growing erection, he was having a hard time working the stick shift.

He pulled the car into a small gravel lot outside an old stucco farmhouse. He hoped Nonna was home.

The grandmother of one of his previous clients, ever since Travis had met Nonna five years ago on a buying trip, each time he was in town, visiting her was like coming home. And he was certain that she would adore Lily. The gate opened, and she spoke in rapid-fire Italian. Lily emerged from the car, and the woman approached and kissed both her cheeks.

Travis explained, “Nonna makes the best picnic basket lunch in town.” He squeezed Nonna’s hand. “

Cestino per il picnic?”

She nodded with glee. ” Certo!” Nonna looked slyly at Lily. ” E una bella donna, vero?”

“Yes,” he said as Lily blinked uncertainly at the both of them. “She is a very beautiful woman.”

Lily blushed and began to protest, but Travis cut her off. “You don’t want to insult Nonna’s ancient wisdom when she’s about to put together the best lunch of your life, do you?”

“No,” Lily said, as a radiant smile took hold. “I wouldn’t want to insult this lovely woman. Oh, how I wish I could understand Italian.”

Travis and Lily followed Nonna into her kitchen-cum-store. “Next time, we’ll come stay for a month.

You’ll pick it up in no time.”

Lily stopped dead in her tracks. “Next time?”

Travis was at a loss for what to say. He had been stunned when the words came out of his mouth, but they felt so right he had let them fall. And since he couldn’t think of a response, he did the only thing left in his repertoire: He kissed her.

Nonna cackled with glee behind them. Lily pushed him away. “We’re embarrassing her,” she insisted.

Travis, relieved to have sidestepped the awkward moment, said, “On the contrary, she’s loving it. I think you’re the one who’s embarrassed.”

Rising up to his challenge, Lily grabbed him, said “Is that so, wise guy?” and thoroughly French-kissed him. When she finally released him he had to concentrate on breathing for a full five seconds.

Travis hid his smile of victory. “Nope. I guess you’ve proved me wrong.”

Lily kept proving him wrong again and again. From mousy to magnificent in a matter of days—what could possibly be next?

He pulled out a chair for Lily, and they sat at a worm-eaten wood table sipping the glasses of grappa that Nonna poured from a short, round bottle with dried red wax along its throat. The three of them fell into a companionable silence as Nonna cut thick slices of homemade brown bread stuffed with black olives and capers. She pulled a large wicker basket from the hooks on the ceiling and loaded the bread in along with fresh pate, a handful of cheeses, salami, prosciutto, olives, pickles, and a bottle of Chianti.

Lily’s stomach grumbled, and Travis chuckled as her cheeks turned pink. “Every time I get near Nonna I become a ravenous beast,” he said, to try and ease Lily’s hang-ups about food. He leaned close to her and said, in a soft voice full of promise, “Actually, the same thing happens every time I get near you, too.”

Lily smiled, but it wasn’t a big, true smile. It was a trembly little smile that made Travis want to stroke her hair. “I’ll bet you’ve been here with a lot of girls. I wonder how Nonna thinks I compare.”

Travis stifled a groan but couldn’t completely suppress his irritation. “Lily, do we have to keep doing this?”

Lily reddened and faced him. “I’m not the one who’s had dozens, no silly me that’s not nearly enough, more like hundreds of girlfriends! Why is it so wrong for me to assume that you have been here before with at least one other woman?”

Nonna stopped filling the picnic basket. ” Ha un’accelerazione da zero a sessanta in died secondi.”