VINA IN VENICE (THE 5 SISTERS) (17 page)

Vina
peered up at him, her
heart
tripping when he dipped his head as if he was going to kiss her.  “
Th-there’s nothing to talk about,” she said, cringing at the breathy sound of her voice.

“You want to know why I changed my mind, why I wanted you to leave?”

Ac
utely
aware of his powerful
body
and how closely meshed they were, Vina was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a straight thought.  Speaking was out of the question.  Nodding mutely,
her pulse raced out of control
as Travis lowered his head so that his lips hovered over hers.

“
This
is why
,” he whispered
. 
“I knew if you stayed, I wouldn’t be
able to
stop myself from kissing you.”

Whether Travis closed the distance between their lips or she did, Vina
wasn’t sure.
  The only thing she was cognizant of was the searing
flames
that engulfed her the moment he claimed her mouth. 
It burned deep in her belly
, the same liquid heat she’d felt the night he kissed her
in front of the mansion
. 
Her arms snaked around his waist, a low moan vibrating in the back of her throat when her breasts pressed more heavily against his chest.

His kisses were addictive, and it didn’t take Vina long to figure out why Travis had been so insistent that she leave.  It was easy to get carried away by passion, t
o
lose herself in
the feel and taste of him.
  It was even easier to surrender
to the aching need inside when Travis
scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.  His hands were warm and gentle
, every caress
a promise for something more.

Except a promise was
all
he was capable of offering
.

“
Vina…honey, we have to stop.”

“
Why do
we
have to…
?”
Vin
a drew in a sharp breath
as
his skillful fingers
played across
a particularly sensitive spot.

“Stop
?
” Travis
finished
for
her
, before launching another attack on
Vina’s
mouth.

“
I want more,” she whispered when he finally came up for air.

Travis rolled onto his back with a groan.  Glancing over at h
e
r distraught face, he gave her a reassuring smile.  “Come here.”  He waited until she was
tucked up close by his side to speak.  “
You have no idea how much I want to make love to you right now.”

Vina
bit back the disappointment.  “But you’re not going to, are you?”

“No.  Please, just…listen,” he pleaded when she tried to pull away from him. 
“
I wasn’t expecting this to happen and
don’t have any way to protect you.
  Even if I had condoms with me, I would want to wait.”

“How do you know I’m not taking birth control pills?”

“Are you?”

“No.” 
Vina’s spirits plummeted.  “Why did you even start this if you had no intention of…of seeing it through?”

Travis cupped he
r chin, gently but firmly tilting her head back so he could look into her eyes. 
“Believe me, sweetheart, you and I are going to
continue this, but not here, not now.  When I make love to you, I want more than a few stolen hours in an airplane cabin.  I want all night with you.”  He pressed a soft kiss to her lips.  “And the next morning…” he kissed her again, “the whole day, and into the evening…”

Vina pulled her head back, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.  “If that’s your plan, we’re not going to get much sight-seeing done in Venice.
”

“On the contrary,” Travis grinned as he reached over and turned off the light, “If I have my way, there will an extraordinary amount of sight-seeing and exploring going on.”

Her insides quivered as
his hand
began making a
slow
path
up her thigh.  “
Would that…exploring part be s
tarting
right
now?”

             
His answer came in the form of a very long and thorough kiss.

***

             
Even groggy from sleep, Travis
recognized the citrusy scent that filled
his nose.  He turned his head
, drawing in another deep breath when he
felt the tickle of Vina’s hair against his cheek
.  He liked waking up with her in his arms
, and the way she
curled up by his side with her head resting on his shoulder and the warmth of her breath whispering across his chest.
 
If only he could tell her how much he loved her. 
             

Soon, Travis promised himself.

A quick glance at
the
glowing hands of the clock on the nightstand told him it was nearly dinner time.  Catrina had informed him earlier that she would give them a wake-up call via the intercom about thirty minutes before dinner was served.
  At the time, he figured a three hour nap would be enough to refresh them for the rest of the flight.  The problem was that once he started kissing Vina, he hadn’t been able to stop.  At most, they’d slept for an hour and a half.

Easing his arm from beneath her head, Travis slipped out of bed and felt his way to the chair where he’d left his clothes.  Vina was dead to
the
world right now and could do with an extra hour of sleep.
  He managed to get dressed and out the door without waking her, then made his way towards the front of the plane to find Catrina. 
There were still several hours left of the flight; delaying dinner so Vina could sleep shouldn’t be a problem as long as Catrina hadn’t started preparing it yet.

He found her in the attendant’s compartment flipping through a fashion
magazine.  Travis was a big man, and though there was plenty of room for a couple of flight attendants, it felt too confining for comfort once he was inside.  Catrina dropped the magazine on the empty seat beside her and rose to her feet, a sultry smile on her crimson lips. 
Now that he was so close
to
making Vina his, it was hard to imagine that he’d ever been attracted to women like Catrina.

“Well, you look rested,” she cooed.  “Where is your…uh…fiancé?”

“Still asleep, which is why I came to find you.”

Misconstruing what he’d said, Catrina sauntered up to him and slipped her arms around his neck.  “And now that you’ve found me, what do you intend to do with me?”

Travis gripped her waist with his hands in an attempt to keep her from pressing any closer.  “I’m sorry, Catrina.  I think
there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“Oh, I understand you all right.  You’re the type that likes to live on the edge, take a few risks.”  She smiled up at him.  “Like locking yourself in the bathroom with me for a quick romp while your fiancé sleeps off the champagne.”

“Catrina, you’re not…” Travis
stopped abruptly when he heard a muffled sound coming from the doorway. 

He didn’t need to turn around to know that Vina had come looking for him
,
or what she’d seen when
she found him.

Chapter 9

Catrina
grinned, looking anything but contrite
.  “Uh, oh, I
think
you just got busted.”

“I have
not
been busted,” his tone was hard, “because I wasn’t doing anything to get busted over.
”  Travis
gripped her wrists and firmly pulled her arms from around his neck.  “
I only came to
see if
you
would
delay dinner for an hour so Vina
could get a little more sleep.
”

“If you say so,” Catrina shrugged, clearly convinced
he had other motives for
seeking her out.

Travis didn’t bother trying to persuade her otherwise.  What did he care if the crazy woman
believed
he c
a
me back here to proposition her?  The only thing that mattered was what Vina
thought, and right now he had a
pretty
good idea what was going through her head.
  Not that he could blame her. 
Discovering them together in the small attendant’s compartment was incriminating enough, but
the real clincher was finding
Catrina draped all over him
.  In Vina’s eyes, it was
irrefutable
evidence of
his infidelity
, proof that he couldn’t remain faithful to her for even a few hours if th
ere was another beautiful woman at his disposal.

“
There’s no
reason
to delay dinner at this point,” he said, f
licking his eyes over Catrina in distaste.
  “Just for the record, I’m not interested in being initiated into the mile high club and
suggest you
conduct yourself in
a professional
manner
for the remainder of the flight
.
”

Catrina smiled, unaffected by his deliberate barbs. 
“You may want to rethink that, loverboy.  I saw the look on your girlfriend’s face
.  It’s going to be quite some time before she lets you back into her bed, assuming she doesn’t break it off with you altogether.”

“I’ll deal with my relationship with Vina.  You just worry about doing your job.”  Travis turned to leave.  “
One more thing
,” he called over his shoul
der.
  “If you do anything to upset Vina again, you’ll
find yourself
in the unemployment line
tomorrow morning.”

Catrina was wise enough not to goad him any further, apparently concluding from his tone that he was dead serious.  He hurried through the lounge
, pausing for a few minutes outside
Vina’s room
to consider what he was going to say. 
Would she believe the truth? 
M
ore importantly, would she even
give him the chance to explain what happened
?  At least he had one s
olid advantage working for him; with no place to run off to,
it would be easier to convince
Vina
to hear him out
.

After preparing a few sound lines of reasoning
that
he felt would successfully coax her out of the room, Travis was thrown off balance when
she opened the door after the first light rap
.  He was even more surprised to discover
she
didn’t look the least bit upset.
 
Which only proved what he and his buddies had concluded long ago: w
omen were a mystery that
would never be unraveled
.

“Come in,” Vina said graciously, taking a step back so he could enter the room.
 

Travis eyed
her warily
as she closed the door and turned to face him
. 
“I…uh…
just wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well,
I thought…I mean, after what just happened…” shoving his hands in his pockets, Travis floundered. 

Maybe he was wrong and she hadn’t seen Catrina clinging to him like a human vine.  No, if that was true, Vina would still be in his room instead of her own.
  Probably a good idea to be up front about it or she might think he really did have something to hide.

“Look
, I wanted to let you sleep a little longer so I went to ask Catrina to delay serving dinner.  I don’t remember exactly what I said, but she obviously misconstrued it and thought that I…well, that I was…which I wasn’t, but she…”

“Thought you wanted a little appetizer before dinner?” Vina supplied. 

“So you
did
overhear what she said.”

“
Yes, but I didn’t realize you were in there with her until I reached the doorway.  I was thirsty and w
ent to
ask for a bottle of water
,
but when I heard
what she said
about having a quick romp in the bathroom, I took that as my cue to leave.”