“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 fairytale 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 a 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 leapt 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 c**k 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.