Travis nodded. ” Si, Nonna.”

“What?” Lily slapped her open palm onto the table, jumping with surprise when she looked down at her hand and realized what she’d done. Somewhat sheepishly, she said, “How do I say sorry in Italian?”

“Scusi.”

” Scusi, Nonna,” she said, her big blue eyes filled with repentance, then narrowed them and turned back to face Travis down. “Go ahead, I’m waiting. What’d she say?”

Travis cleared his throat and tried not to laugh. Now was not the time for humor, not when Lily looked mad enough to castrate him. “She said you go from zero to sixty in ten seconds.”

Lily’s mouth dropped open. “Me?”

Travis nodded.

“She must be mistaken,” Lily said, dropping her hands to her lap and clasping them together primly. “I’m very even-keeled.”

Travis pried opened her hands and squeezed them between his own. “Trust me, Nonna means it as a great compliment. In her day I’ll bet she was a real firecracker.”

As if Nonna understood his words, she winked at them over her bony shoulder. “And by the way,” he added, “since you were wondering, you are the only woman I have ever brought to see Nonna.”

Lily raised her blue eyes, a small flicker of hope shining through. “Do you swear?” she whispered.

He placed her hands on his heart. “Cross my heart, Lily.”

Nonna sighed and handed Travis the picnic basket. ” Divertirsi!”

Lily thanked Nonna with the only Italian words she knew so far, but her ” Tante grazie,” was cut off by the woman’s spontaneous hug.

Travis pulled Nonna into a hug next and made a mental note to send a generous gift to the wonderful woman. Then he picked up the picnic basket with one hand and Lily’s hand with the other. He was still smarting from her attack in Nonna’s kitchen, but at the same time, he wasn’t clueless enough to think he hadn’t brought it on himself. He couldn’t think of a single time in the past twenty years that he had done anything that would have captured Lily’s trust.

So then why was he suddenly so desperate to have it?

“Got anywhere special in mind for the picnic?” she asked, as they drove back down the hill from Nonna’s farmhouse. “Or should I be keeping my eyes open for a rock wall in a patch of shade?”

Travis took his eyes off the narrow road to grin at Lily. He was glad her good mood was back. “I think you’ll like the place I have in mind.” He took a sharp left at a crumbling shed.

As the road became bumpier and less maintained, Lily said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to kidnap me.”

“No one will ever find you out here, my pretty.” Travis faked a maniacal laugh.

Lily giggled as they crested the final hill. Travis stopped the car in front of a wide, tall cypress bush next to several other beat-up cars. He grabbed the basket and motioned for Lily to follow him down a narrow footpath. “It’s through here.” Although Lily looked doubtful, she followed him.

Moments later, they were standing on the banks of a small, stunning lake. Several couples and families were spread out along the grass while their babies threw sand up into the air with miniature shovels. “It’s so beautiful,” Lily said softly.

She caught sight of the large wooden swing on an ancient oak tree and ran over to it. She slid onto the wooden seat and swung herself off the ground.

Travis gave her a firm push. She gasped, “Not so high, Travis!” as she flew up into the air, but when she came back down he pushed her hard again and again, until her hair was flying free behind her and her skirts were up over her knees and she was laughing.

Travis couldn’t resist her laughter, so he let her come back down to earth and, when she landed, he caught her in his arms and kissed her.

Travis’s stomach grumbled loudly. “Guess it’s time to eat,” Lily said, her breath warm against his ear before she pulled away and reached for the woolen blanket that Nonna had given them to sit on. Lily spread it out on the soft grass and unloaded the food.

“My God,” she said as more and more wrapped packages emerged at the bottom of the basket. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention to what Nonna put in here. There’s enough food to feed an army.”

“Nonna knows I’ve got a big appetite,” Travis said with a wink, trying to step carefully around the food minefield by turning the focus to himself.

“Well,” Lily said with a laugh, “I’ve certainly noticed that you have a big appetite for something.”

Travis made a show as if to pounce on her, but she just laughed and stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth. “Eat,” she said, so he relaxed back into the blanket and watched the sunshine play off the calm lake as he munched on the crust.

They ate companionably in the dappled shade beneath the huge shelter of the oak tree, and Travis couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so content. Sated, he stood up and drew Lily into his arms.

“Dance with me, Lily.”

“Travis,” she said, her laughter coming out in warm puffs against his neck, “everyone will think we’re crazy.”

He pulled her close, then dipped her until her red locks nearly brushed the ground. Gently curving her back toward him, he said, “They’re too busy thinking I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Lily stiffened in his arms. Travis wondered why his compliments had such an adverse effect with her.

Most women lapped them up like cream. How could she doubt that what he said was true when he had been fighting men away from her left and right?

Travis surveyed the flowing layers of red-and-lavender silk that caressed her curves. Her dress dipped low to expose the creamy flesh of her br**sts. The hem twirled sexily around her slim ankles, which were encased in strappy sandals, and her brightly painted toes peeked out with every step.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”

Lily kissed his cheek softly. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear, sending chills through him, straight to the rapidly growing bulge between his legs.

He ran his hand down her back. “I can’t keep my eyes, or hands,” he said, with a mischievous smile, “off you today.”

Lily shook her head and tried to pull away. “It’s not me that’s beautiful,” she protested. “It’s Janica’s dress. She’s so talented, she could even make a hippo look good.”