''I Do''...Take Two!

by Merline Lovelace

  Travis had the same thought. He watched the two thread their way through the tables and shook his head. “Hard to believe that’s the same kid who got us evicted from the ship museum.”

  “Then tried to check out the severed horses’ heads,” Kate recalled with a shudder.

  “Evicted?” Dawn echoed. “Severed horses’ heads? You’re going to expound on those provocative comments, aren’t you?”

  Kate would have lingered at the table and shared the details of the day’s adventures, but Travis had other ideas.

  “How about we relate our Tommy adventures tomorrow? I had planned to surprise Kate with an evening gondola ride. When we volunteered for babysitting duty, I figured I’d have to cancel the reservation, but we’ve still got time to make it.” He pushed away from the table. “I’ll check with the concierge here at the Gritti to see if they can add two more passengers.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Callie said, rising as well, “but something you and Kate should enjoy together. I’ll take a pass.”

  Her gaze cut across the table and telegraphed an unmistakable message.

  “Looks like I will, too,” Dawn drawled.

  Travis flashed them both a grateful look. Carlo had described the nighttime gondola ride as a small procession of lamp-lit boats accompanied by one containing a singer and several accompanists. It was, according to the maggiore, one of the most romantic gifts a man could give his wife during their time in Venice. Outside the bedroom, of course.

  And after spending the previous evening and all day today with Tommy, Travis wanted this time with Kate. Only with Kate. An urge she teased him about as they made their way back to the Palazzo Alleghri.

  “You didn’t try very hard to convince Dawn and Callie to join us.”

  “Probably because I didn’t want them to join us.”

  “Mmm, I got that impression.”

  He stopped on one of the little bridges that crossed a side canal. Buildings towered on either side of the bridge, wrapping them in shade, while the competing scents of flowers and dank water tinted the air.

  “You know I like—” He stopped, corrected himself. “You know I love your pals.”

  “Yes,” she said softly, “I know.”

  “But I love you more, Katydid.” He buried his hands in her hair and tipped her face to his. “I never realized how much until I came so close to losing you.”

  This, Kate knew instantly, was a moment she would hold in her heart forever. Travis, with the five o’clock shadow on his cheeks and chin and those white squint lines at the corners of his eyes. Colorful laundry hanging from a clothesline draped window to window on the building behind him. The amused grins on the faces of the two young backpacking tourists who edged past them on the narrow bridge.

  “I love you, too.” Desperate to imprint every sensory detail, she placed her palms against his chest and felt the strong, steady beat of his heart. “I’ve spent all these weeks...all these months...trying to figure out how I could live without you.”

  And years worrying about him when he left on yet another classified mission. Panicking every time she caught the tail end of a news flash about a suicide bomber or attack in Afghanistan or Yemen or Somalia. Feeling her throat go tight when someone on the ultra-private special ops spouses’ network she subscribed to became a new widow or widower.

  “The stupid thing is,” she admitted softly, “there’s no real way to prepare for having your heart ripped out. Except maybe to cram in as much joy and happiness as possible when you can, while you can.”

  “Seems to me we did a pretty good job of cramming our first three or four years together.”

  “We did,” she agreed, flooded with memories. “Oh, God, we did!”

  “That’s not to say we can’t squeeze in more.” Bending, he brushed her mouth with his. “Starting tonight, cara mia.”

  * * *

  The moonlight gondola ride more than lived up to their expectations. An astonishingly talented accordion player accompanied the curly-haired tenor. Barrel-chested and exuberant, the would-be Pavarotti filled the air with a soaring mix of operatic and pop classics. Tourists and residents alike stopped to gawk as their small fleet of gondolas glided by.

  In Travis’s opinion, however, the hours that followed blasted the moonlight sonata out of the water. The moment he and Kate hit their suite, they shoved the aquamarine duvet to the foot of the bed and explored the dips and valleys of each other’s bodies as though this was the very first time. They savored every tantalizing taste, every kiss and slow, erotic stroke. As their pleasure mounted, so did their hunger.

  Gasping now, Kate arched her back. Travis burned with the need to bury himself inside her but locked his jaw, eased down her sweat-slick body and spread her knees. His palms raised her tight-clenched bottom. His mouth found her hot, wet center. A groan ripping from far back in her throat, Kate rode the waves of pleasure his tongue whipped up.

  It was long, languorous moments before she could work up enough energy to return the favor. When she took him in her mouth, his taste was hot and salty and achingly familiar.

  Only later, when they both sprawled naked and blissfully satiated, did the thoughts she’d entertained earlier that afternoon drift into her lethargic mind.

  “Trav?”

  His muffled grunt signified either imminent death by pleasure or slowly returning consciousness. Kate chose to interpret it as the latter. Propping up on an elbow, she stared down at the face bathed in the moonlight slipping through the drapes they hadn’t taken the time to close completely.

  “Trav, are you awake?”

  “No.”

  “I was thinking...”

  Opening his eyes, he regarded her warily. “About?”

  “Callie.”

  “Huh?”

  Undeterred by the blank response, she used a forefinger to make little swirls in his chest hair. “And Brian Ellis.”

  “Callie and Brian?” Travis struggled to make the connection. “Did I miss something tonight?”

  “No.”

  “Then what...?”

  “I couldn’t help thinking they’re perfect for each other.” Kate made another twirl in the soft, crinkly chest hair. “Callie’s so good with kids. Personally and professionally. She’s also warm and generous and...”

  “And a woman who knows her own mind,” Travis reminded her, fully conscious now. “Did you pick up any vibe she was attracted to Brian? Or vice versa?”

  “Well...no.”

  Just the opposite, in fact. The only spark Kate had registered was that brief flash when Ellis’s glance settled on Dawn.

  “But think about it,” she urged her skeptical husband. “It’s like some sort of cosmic alignment. Callie’s currently unemployed. She and Tommy connected instantly via dinosaurs. Ellis needs someone to watch his son for the next few weeks and...”

  “And he and Callie are both mature, intelligent beings,” Travis finished. “They don’t need you pushing them into your personal version of a cosmic union.”

  “I’m not pushing.”

  “Sure sounds like it to me.”

  Irritated, she twirled harder than she realized.

  “Hey!” His hand clamped over hers. “Easy there, champ.”

  “Sorry.”

  She couldn’t tell him about her instinctive dismay when Brian had spotted Dawn and done that double take. Or her sharp stab of guilt for thinking her love-’em-and-leave-’em friend might toss Ellis aside with the same carelessness she did the other men who went all stupid over her. Kate owed her loyalty to her friend, not some stranger she’d met for the first time just a few days ago.

  She would never, ever disparage Dawn to anyone, Brian Ellis included. But there was no reason Kate couldn’t drop a few hints about Callie’s warmth and compassion and
training as a child advocate. Or enlist her husband’s help in said campaign.

  Being the stubborn, hardheaded male that he was, however, Travis would agree to share his insider’s knowledge of Callie Langston only if Ellis asked about her...and if Callie agreed to let Travis act as an intermediary.

  “You know she won’t agree to that!”

  “Yes, I do.” Rolling her over, he pinned his wife to rumpled sheets. “Which is why this discussion is moot. And why, Ms. Westbrook, I respectfully decline to take part in any extramarital matchmaking. I’ve got my hands full managing my own.”

  * * *

  Despite his firm intention to steer clear of potential third-party matchups, Travis got sucked in the very next morning.

  As usual, he woke before Kate and found a voice mail from Brian on his iPhone, requesting a return call. Tugging on his jeans, he padded barefoot to the sitting room so as not to disturb his still-unconscious wife.

  “Yo, Brian. What’s up? Mrs. Wells okay?”

  “She was when Tommy and I left her last night.”

  “Still planning to fly home with her tomorrow?”

  “Actually, that’s why I called you. Turns out she’s going to need fairly extensive rehab. Her sister wants her to fly straight to California and stay with her during rehab. Which brings me to the point of this call. How well do you know Kate’s friends?”

  “Almost as well as I do her.” He scrubbed a hand over a bristly jaw as his mind winged back through the years. “I call ’em the Invincibles. They’ve been tight since the second or third grade. When I married Kate, I knew I was getting a package deal. Why?”

  “Tommy and I bumped into the dark-haired one. Callie, isn’t it?”

  “Right, Callie.”

  “We ran into her in the lobby when we came back from the hospital. She was heading out to explore Venice on her own. I convinced her that even though this city is safer than most, it still wasn’t smart to wander around on her own late at night. Took some effort,” he added drily. “The woman comes across as cool and serene, but she’s got a stubborn streak on her.”

  Travis thought of the Callie he’d known for so many years. Quiet. Calm. Indomitable. “I would say she’s not so much stubborn as self-sufficient.”

  “I yield to your better knowledge. Anyway, I talked her into going back upstairs and joining me for a nightcap after I put Tommy to bed.”

  Well, damned if Kate hadn’t pegged the situation after all! Or maybe not. The exasperated edge to Brian’s next comment suggested the nightcap didn’t go well.

  “Callie showed up with the other one. The redhead with the cat’s eyes and killer body.”

  Uh-oh. Travis had heard similar sentiments from other males of his acquaintance. There could be trouble ahead. Big trouble.

  “That pretty much describes Dawn,” he said carefully, “on the outside.”

  “What about the inside? Is she steady? Reliable?”

  He smothered another curse. Talk about a loaded question. He knew damned well that none of the men Dawn had unceremoniously dumped over the years would consider her either steady or reliable. He also knew that he himself still ranked pretty close to the bottom of her favorite-person list after the heartache Kate had gone through these past months.

  Yet despite the lethal sniper fire Dawn still aimed his way, Travis respected the hell out of her for her fierce loyalty to his wife. He also respected the formidable intelligence too often overlooked by the men she attracted like flies, most of whom never saw past that killer body...including those two losers she’d been engaged to.

  “Dawn McGill and I don’t always agree,” Travis admitted, “but she’s one of two women my wife would trust with her life. And in that regard, I’d say Kate’s instincts are 100 percent true.”

  “Good to know. But should I trust her with my six-year-old son?”

  “Come again?”

  “It’s crazy,” Ellis said, sounding even more exasperated. “I still can’t figure out exactly how it happened. One minute, Callie’s asking about the flight tomorrow and whether I needed any help with Tommy or Mrs. Wells. The next, this fiery-haired sex goddess offers to hang with my son so we don’t have to cut short our stay in Italy. What’s even crazier is that I’m actually considering the idea.”

  Just in time, Travis swallowed his instinctive you gotta be kidding! Three seconds’ consideration produced a more rational response.

  “Dawn and Tommy seemed to hit it off pretty well yesterday evening.”

  “Yeah, I saw that. And I know how much Tom wants to stay in Italy with me. He’s a trooper, though. He’ll head home with minimal pouting. But if there’s a way I can keep him here...”

  “Okay, maybe it’ll make you feel more comfortable if I tell you Dawn grew up with three older brothers. I roomed with the youngest in college. Aaron used to brag about what a tough little tomboy his baby sister was. Always climbing trees and insisting she could bait her own hook.”

  “She’s still baiting the hook,” Brian muttered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. What about her work? She’s employed, isn’t she?”

  “She is.”

  “So how can she put her job on hold to extend her stay in Italy for an additional week or two?”

  Travis made another pass at his whiskery chin. “I’m not up on all ins and outs of Dawn’s job. All I know is that she does graphic design for some big health-food company in Boston. She’s damned good at it, too, according to Kate. My guess is it may be something she can do long-distance.”

  “Maybe.” Ellis blew out an audible breath. “Look, I trust your judgment. Yours and Kate’s. I don’t take risks where my son is concerned, however, so I’ve asked my people to run a background check on Ms. McGill. Financials, employment history, criminal record, the works.”

  “Makes sense. In your position, I’d do the same.”

  Travis hung up a few moments later, hoping like hell he was in the room when Dawn found out Ellis was rooting around in her private life. No way he wanted to miss that fireworks display!

  Chapter Ten

  Travis still had a grin plastered across his face when he walked back into the bedroom and found his wife stretching sinuously amid the rumpled sheets. He stood in the doorway for a moment to admire the view.

  Her hair spilled across the pillow in a tangle of tawny gold, and the sparse light sneaking through the drapes tinted her skin to pale cream. Then the sheets slid lower, and Travis’s blood went south with them. He glanced up from her dark-tipped breasts to find her surveying him with a lazy smile.

  “What time is it?”

  “A little after eight.”

  “I suppose I should get up,” she said with another languorous stretch. “Unless...?”

  The sultry invitation hung on the air. Travis told himself he should grab a quick shower before he climbed back in bed with her. Brush his teeth. Shave off these morning bristles. At the very least, call room service for coffee and the pagnottini she’d scarfed down so enthusiastically yesterday.

  Coffee and rolls could wait, he decided as he tugged down his zipper. And he’d just have to make sure his whiskers didn’t scrape off any of that soft, creamy skin. His good intentions detonated, however, when he stepped out of his jeans.

  “Now that,” she purred, “is a sight worth waking up for.”

  The throaty murmur hit with the force of a rocket-propelled grenade. Hunger for her grabbed Travis by the throat and sent him across the room in swift strides. As he yanked the sheet the rest of the way down and rolled his wife into his arms, he realized that what he’d said last night was so friggin’ true. He’d never really understood how much he needed this woman in his life until he’d almost lost her.

  * * *

  Despite his best intentions, Travis scraped
off several layers of Kate’s epidermis before they finally collapsed in a sweaty tangle of arms and legs. She laughed off the irritation on her cheeks, chin and breasts but threatened payback for the angry red patch on her thigh.

  He soothed the sore spot with a kiss before flopping onto his back beside her. Only then did his brain unscramble enough to tell her about Brian’s call. The news that Dawn had volunteered to supervise Tommy the Terrible for the next week or so snapped Kate’s brows into an instant frown.

  “I know,” he said. “I had to breathe deep when Brian asked if she was steady and reliable.”

  The frown disappeared. Fire ignited in her brown eyes. Rising onto her elbows like an avenging Valkyrie, she skewered him with a metaphorical sword. “What did you tell him?”

  “Whoa! Throttle back, Katydid.”

  “What did you tell him, Westbrook?”

  “That you would trust her and Callie with your life.”

  “And?”

  “And I trust your instincts.”

  Mollified, she dropped back down. Travis could almost hear the wheels clanking as she tried to make sense of this turn of events and couldn’t resist yanking her chain.

  “Remind me. What was that you said last night? Something about how perfect Callie would be for Ellis?”

  She punched him in the upper arm. Hard enough to hurt, dammit.

  “Hey!” He rubbed his biceps. “Don’t take this out on me. If you don’t think it’s a good idea, talk to Dawn.”

  She mulled that over for a moment and shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I understand why Dawn bonded with Tommy,” she said slowly. “He’s a mirror image of her when she was young. Adventurous, inventive and utterly fearless.”

  “She’s still pretty fearless,” Travis drawled. “I’ve got the scars to prove it.”

  “Okay, but she’s also...um...”

  “Reckless?”

  “Maybe a little impulsive.”

  “Flighty?”

  “Discerning.”

  “How about commitment-phobic?”