VINA IN VENICE (THE 5 SISTERS)

by Kimberley Reeves

  Travis stared at the empty space where Vina had been standing and wondered how the hell things had gone so wrong when it seemed so promising just a few, short minutes ago. Shaking his head, he started after her, but she was already slipping inside the door before he’d even reached the columned porch. Travis called out for her to wait, but Vina didn’t hear him. Or maybe she just pretended not hear, he thought ruefully.

  With purposeful strides, he crossed the porch to the door and started to press the doorbell. His finger hovered over the button for several seconds before he slowly pulled it back and let his arm drop to his side. What was he going to do, lay on the buzzer until she opened the door so he could demand they talk it out? Vina was too emotionally distraught to discuss it tonight, and he didn’t want to risk pushing her in the wrong direction.

  Logically, Travis knew it was the right decision to turn around and walk away. But that didn’t make him feel any better about it, or ease the hollow ache in his chest.

  ***

  Vina sagged against the door and pressed her hands to her burning cheeks. She was mortified by her behavior, and cringed at the shameless way she’d pressed herself against him. Oh God, she’d actually been gyrating her hips like some exotic dancer! And poor Travis had been worked into such a state of arousal, he seemed to have forgotten who he was kissing. But she’d seen the look of regret flicker behind his eyes right before he attempted to mask it by saying he wasn’t sorry it happened.

  “I can still taste you…” she heard his husky voice inside her head.

  Oh, this was simply awful! How could she ever look him in the eyes again and not die from sheer embarrassment? How could she go anywhere near him without remembering how it felt to be held in his arms and kissed senseless? Vina touched her lips with trembling fingers. They felt swollen and tender, which wasn’t too surprising considering how feverishly they’d gone at each other.

  And wasn’t that so typically male, she thought scornfully, kissing me like that when he hasn’t an ounce of sexual desire for me? The wretched man took full advantage of the situation just because…because…I was convenient!

  “And so painfully easy,” she said with a groan.

  It was wrong to shift the blame onto Travis. He’d merely responded to the signals she was putting out, and it wasn’t as if he’d tried to get her into bed. So she was suffering from embarrassment and shame, and would probably continue to do so for several days. All she needed to do was avoid being with Travis for awhile until she had her emotions sufficiently under control. Everything would eventually get back to normal and they could both forget the whole regrettable incident.

  Easier said than done. Wasn’t that what Travis had told her? Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t be easy, Vina admitted to herself. Maybe she would always remember the way her lips tingled when he kissed her, and how warm his hands had felt as they’d curled around her waist. And she could forget about erasing the memory of being crushed against his muscular chest or the ripples of pleasure from the feathery kisses he’d delivered to her neck.

  Vina squeezed her eyes shut. I am in big, big trouble.

  She heard the shuffle of soft soled slippers on the marble floor and opened her eyes to see Sophia hurrying towards her. Shoving herself away from the door, Vina made a valiant effort to smile before covering her face with her hands and dissolving into tears. Sophia put her arm around Vina’s shoulder and ushered her into the sitting room, pausing just long enough to flip on the light before guiding her to one of the sofas.

  “Here,” Sophia pressed a tissue into Vina’s hand. “Mop up so we can talk.”

  “I d-don’t want to talk,” Vina sniffed.

  “Travis knew you’d say that.”

  Vina looked at her twin through a blur of tears. “He called you?”

  “A few minutes ago,” Sophia nodded. “He said you needed someone to talk to and that I should ignore it when you insisted you didn’t. Your Travis…he sure is something else.”

  “He’s not my Travis,” Vina denied a little too passionately.

  Sophia quirked a skeptical brow. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Of course I am. We’re friends; that’s all we’ve ever been.”

  “Then why did he kiss you? More importantly, why did you kiss him back?”

  “He told you?” Vina was incredulous.

  “No. He said it was up to you to tell me what happened.”

  “Then how did you know?”

  “Well, we…uh…sort of saw you from the window.”

  “We?” Vina rubbed her temples where a throbbing headache was beginning to form. “Who else was spying on me while I made a fool of myself?”

  “Just me and Kelsey.”

  “I suppose I should be glad I only humiliated myself in front of the two of you.”

  “Yeah, um…there’s some good news and some bad news about that.”

  Vina rubbed more vigorously at her temples. “Go ahead; kick me while I’m down.”

  “The good news is that we didn’t invade your privacy the entire time you were lip locked. I mean, sure we watched until we knew you weren’t going to bolt on him, but then we kind of felt bad and went back to our rooms.”

  “So you and your snoop partner deliberately left the lights off so we wouldn’t know you were there.”

  Sophia grimaced. “I don’t guess you’d believe we were already in Dad’s study and it was just coincidence that we turned off the light when you drove up? No, I didn’t think so,” she sighed when Vina rolled her eyes. “At least we didn’t keep spying on you, so that’s good, right?”

  “If that’s the good news, I’m not sure I want to hear the bad news.”

  “Honestly, it’s not that bad,” Sophia tried to downplay it. “It really was just Kelsey and I to begin with, but Victoriana heard us talking and came in. She did take a peek, but only because we tried to fib our way out of why we were in the study without the lights on. Vic lit into us about it, and that’s when Maria showed up.”

  “Oh God, this just gets better and better.”

  “Don’t worry; Maria refused to look. She said we were silly for romanticizing it and then stomped out of the room.”

  “That’s great,” she grumbled, “now you all know what an idiot I’ve been.”

  “First of all, none of us think you’re an idiot for kissing the hottest hunky dunky this side of the equator. I know you’ve been friends forever, but I can’t believe you’ve never felt attracted to Travis or wondered what it would be like to kiss him.”

  “Maybe,” Vina admitted, “but I never would have acted on it.”

  “Why not? And don’t play the friends card on me, because I won’t believe it.”

  Vina thought about it for a few minutes. “I guess it’s because I knew it would never go anywhere. I would end up as just another casualty in the love life of Travis Malone, and I didn’t want to take that risk.”

  Sophia disagreed. “You don’t know that. You get along so well on both a business and personal level, there’s no reason to believe you wouldn’t fall madly in love with each other if you only gave it a chance.”

  “Come on, Sophia, you know as well as I do that a loaf of bread has a longer shelf life than any woman Travis dates. Besides, if he was interested in a relationship with me, don’t you think he would have said something?”

  “Not necessarily. Maybe he was afraid you would reject him.”

  Vina laughed. “Travis scared of rejection? Not in a million years.”

  “Okay, then maybe he was waiting until he felt the time was right. Like tonight.”

  “No, that was just an act.”

  “A pretty convincing one if you ask me,” Sophia said.

  “You don’t understand. Travis was only acting out the part as if it was a real date. It…it was my fault it got out of hand. I encouraged him to take it further by kissing him back.”

  “So you kissed him back,” Sophia shrugged. “He could have stopped you anytime if he really wanted to.�
��

  “It’s not just that I kissed him,” Vina wailed miserably, “it was the way I kissed him. I practically invited him to make love to me right there!”

  “I think the question you need to ask yourself is why you did it. Was it simple curiosity, a moment of insanity, or were you hoping it would lead to something more?”

  Vina couldn’t even pretend she didn’t know why she’d kissed Travis. The instant his arms went around her, something stirred deep inside that seemed to have a life of its own. She’d felt like a Spring seedling soaking up the sun’s warmth after lying dormant for months under a blanket of snow. And when his mouth settled over hers, his tongue enticing her lips to part and welcome him, Vina couldn’t have resisted if she’d wanted to.

  After the endless weeks of searching for their parents and the devastating grief that followed when they were pronounced dead, she’d been little more than a hollow shell. Travis had breathed life back into her with that kiss, and she’d clung to him, greedy for more. The emotional impact had been overwhelming enough, but the physical affect drop-kicked every logical thought clean out of her head.

  Now that she’d had time to consider the possible consequences of her actions, Vina knew she couldn’t allow any weaknesses she had for Travis out in the open. It wouldn’t do to let her sisters believe she harbored romantic ideas where he was concerned either. All of them adored Travis and would be elated if a more intimate relationship developed, so it was best if she curtailed any notions they had about it right now.

  “It doesn’t matter why I kissed him,” Vina said firmly. “The point is, it was a huge mistake; one that I don’t intend to make again.”

  “If you say so,” Sophia sighed.

  ***

  Travis redialed Vina’s number; the third time he’d done so in the past hour. He lost track of how many times he’d tried to call her over the past two days. It was fruitless, he knew, and every unanswered call only escalated his sense of helplessness and mounting frustration. He’d spoken to Maria the day before, who informed him in a clipped voice that Vina wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t come to the phone.

  “Can’t or won’t?” he’d asked.

  “I’m sorry, Travis, I don’t mean to sound rude, but I really can’t answer that.”

  “Can you at least tell me if she’s going to keep our date for tomorrow’s game, or if she’s planning on standing me up?”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Vina about that.”

  “I’d love to,” he ground out, “but that’s a little difficult to do when she won’t answer her damn phone.”

  “I’ll tell Vina you called,” Maria said apologetically and hung up.

  With less than two hours until kick-off, and still no word from Vina, there were only a few options open to him. He could give the tickets away or take someone else, but neither choice was very appealing. Travis stood up and grabbed his jacket, his chin set determinedly as left his office and headed for the parking lot. If Vina wouldn’t take or return his calls, then he’d just have to go see her in person.

  Twenty minutes later, he was shown into the sitting room by one of the maids, who was apparently unaware that Vina was avoiding him. She offered him something to drink, which he declined, then hurried off to inform Vina he was here. Travis didn’t bother to sit down. As he suspected, the maid returned alone several minutes later to offer an apology.

  “Miss Vina asked me to tell you she still isn’t feeling well and will have to cancel your date today as well as this evening. Is there a message you’d like me to take to her?”

  “No, I believe I’ll deliver it myself,” Travis said as he strode past her.

  “Mr. Malone, wait! You can’t…”

  “It’s okay,” he called over his shoulder, “I know the way.”

  “But…”

  “Don’t worry,” Travis started up the massive staircase, “I’ll make sure to tell her I bullied my way past you.” He’d just reached the top landing when a familiar voice called out his name. Travis turned to find Sophia peering up at him from the bottom step.

  “She doesn’t want to see you,” Sophia said, her tone surprisingly sympathetic.

  “Because I kissed her?”

  She shook her head. “Because she kissed you back.”

  “And now she’s too embarrassed to face me?”

  “You got it. She said it was a mistake that won’t ever happen again.”

  Travis returned Sophia’s broad grin. “We’ll see about that.”

  At least he had one ally, Travis thought as he made his way down the hall to his left. He’d been in Vina’s bedroom several times; once to help hang a picture she’d purchased at an art show they’d attended, and a handful of times when he’d been enlisted to carry boxes and bags from shopping sprees. At the last door on the right, Travis rapped twice before letting himself in.

  Vina was perched on the window seat, looking incredibly lost and vulnerable as she stared out the window. “What did he say?” she asked without turning around.

  “He said…I have never been stood up in my life and don’t intend to start now.”

  “Travis!” Vina nearly fell off the window seat in her haste to stand up. “Wh-what are you doing here?”

  Ignoring her question, Travis closed the door and casually strolled across the room to plant himself in front of her. “You disappoint me, Vina. In all the years we’ve been friends, I’ve never known you to behave like a coward.”

  Color stained her cheeks, but she made no attempt to avert his accusing eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve come down with a bug and didn’t want you to catch it.”

  “How considerate,” he said dryly. “What are your symptoms? Have you been to see a doctor?”

  “It’s not that serious…just a sore throat and a bit of a fever.”

  “You do a look a little flushed.” Travis reached up and let his hand rest on her forehead. “No fever, though. The sore throat couldn’t be from talking too much, since I know for a fact you haven’t answered your phone in days.”

  “I’m sorry,” she sounded genuinely contrite. “It was rude of me not to answer or call you back. And I should have told you earlier that I couldn’t go out so you would have time to…to find someone else to take my place.”

  “You’re right, it was rude. Luckily, I have a forgiving heart and won’t hold a grudge. Provided you can be ready to leave in…” he glanced at his watch, “ten minutes, that is.”

  “Travis, I told you…”

  “I know what you told me,” he cut in. “I also know you’re not sick. You’ve taken the coward’s way out and avoided my calls because you’re embarrassed about kissing me. And before you deny it, I think you should know that you’re a horrible liar and always have been.”

  Vina stared at him for a moment, no doubt attempting to find a way out of the hole she’d dug herself into. “All right,” she finally said, “everything you said is true. I’m not sick. I’ve been dodging your calls because I…I may have given you the wrong impression the other night, and I didn’t know how to handle it.”

  “What impression was that?”

  “You know,” she wrung her hands nervously, “that I…liked it, and…and that I wanted us to be more than friends.”

  “Is that all?” Travis feigned indifference.

  “Well…yes.”

  “Great! Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s get going so we have time to grab a bite to eat before the game.”

  Looking utterly confused, Vina seemed at a loss for words. “I don’t…I mean…we haven’t settled anything…have we?”

  “Of course, we have.” Travis took her hand and headed for the door, tugging her along behind him. “You’re not attracted to me and found my kisses lacking. You’re also uncomfortable because you kissed me back and didn’t know how to tell me it didn’t mean anything to you.”

  “That’s not…”

  “No, I’m fine with it, really.” Travis shot her a s
heepish grin before they started down the stairs. “My ego is a little bruised, but I have to agree that our friendship is much too important to risk losing. I’m not going to lie and say kissing you didn’t invite a few fantasies, because it did.”

  “It…did?” Vina rasped.

  “Sure, why wouldn’t it? I didn’t get much sleep because of it. I kept thinking about how soft your skin was and how I would have loved to spend the entire night exploring every inch of it. With my hands first, and then with my mouth and tongue.”