Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) (22 page)

She raised her head and winced. “Yeah,” she
muttered. “You broke my fall.”

“I think I broke my back,” he groaned.

Evie smiled and tried to get up, her chest
no doubt hurting from where the wind had been knocked from her on
impact. She put her hand on the ground beside Traevyn’s head to
stabilize herself as she tried to stand, but the pine needles
caused her to slip and she landed on him again, this time pressed
intimately close with her face mere inches from his.

Traevyn sucked his breath in at the sudden
contact and he looked up into Evie’s eyes. She stared down at him,
bewildered. Her eyes… They were so beautiful. So full of life and
love, so soft and compassionate. He reached for the hand that had
caused her to slip and he slowly pulled it up over his head,
stretching her out and pressing her body even closer to his. He
relished the feeling. He had felt nothing for so long. Nothing but
ice. She was all fire. She melted him and set him ablaze.

Evie’s heart threatened to explode right
there. She couldn’t tear her gaze from Traevyn’s. He was looking at
her with such intensity. She couldn’t have pulled away if she
tried. She drew in a shaky breath as she felt him let go of her
hand and run his fingers in a painfully slow course down her arm
and her side. Her skin burned where he touched her, and her always
active mind filled with about a hundred wanton images she did not
need at that particular moment. His hand came to rest on her hip
and a small smirk touched his lips before he squeezed her side.

Evie let out a yell, which only encouraged
him. He squeezed again, tickling her until she was screaming. He
flipped over with a playful snarl, rolling her beneath him. He
buried his face in her neck and tickled her there with his nose as
he continued to squeeze her sides. She squealed with laughter,
writhing beneath him. He grinned and continued his assault,
playfully nipping at her neck. This made Evie gasp and stop
laughing. Traevyn suddenly went very still, as if overcome by her,
by being near her, by the moment in itself. He closed his eyes and
gave in. He lowered his lips to her neck, kissing and nuzzling it
gently.

Evie’s eyes rolled back into her head and
she seriously thought she might die at any given moment. She felt
him run his tongue up her neck and nibble on her earlobe and she
made a small, incoherent sound in the back of her throat. Her mind
continued its brazen assault on her, flooding her with imaginings
of Traevyn doing very wicked things to her in that grand bed of
his.

She forced herself back to the present,
confusion clouding her thoughts. Wait, why was he touching her in
such a manner? He had never been this way with her before. She far
from minded, but it didn’t make sense. She frowned and reached up
to touch his hair. “Traevyn?” she questioned softly.

He raised his head, logic returning to him.
He looked down into her confused eyes and knew he should be
embarrassed at his forwardness, but he wasn’t. He cupped her cheek
in his palm and smiled down at her, feeling warm all over. There
were no shadows at the moment. No evil, lurking demons. Just
beautiful, blinding rays of light.

Evie’s face lit up at the sight of his smile
and her eyes filled with so much warmth that it made his heart
stutter for a moment.

“Hey! You guys all right down there?” Talis’s
voice called.

Traevyn blinked as sense came tearing back to
him and he sat up with a frown. “Yeah!” he called.

Evie sat up also, feeling bereft. She let
out a soft sigh and tried to smooth her hair. She glanced at
Traevyn, who looked rather puzzled. “Sorry I landed on you,” she
remarked.

He slid his eyes over to her and let out a
dry chuckle. “I don’t think I minded.”

She blushed.

He looked down with a sudden, shy smile and
pointed to Evie’s neck. “You have… You have a—” His face flushed
and he touched her neck gently.

Her eyes widened and she covered her neck
with her palm. “Did you give me a hickey?” she cried in horror.

His beautiful, always composed face turned
an even deeper shade of red. “N—No,” he stammered. “It’s just
a…bite mark.”

She sighed in relief. “Oh. Well, I’ll just
tell the others I must have scraped myself.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, obviously
feeling very uncomfortable. “Well, yes, except that it looks
undeniably like a…bite mark.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Oh… Well…we were
only playing around.” She knew she sounded unconvincing even as she
said it.

He gave her a look. “This is my brother,” he
said flatly. “And your brother. You really think they’ll buy
that?”

She sighed. “Not a chance. I’ll just stay
here until it goes away.”

“What are you two doing down there?” Draco
shouted.

“We’re just chilling!” Evie called back,
grateful the whole previous scene had been out of everyone’s line
of sight. “I just totally took out Traevyn! I need to rest! We’ll
be up in a bit!”

“Are you hurt?” Ash’s voice came.

Traevyn visibly bristled.

Evie smiled. “No, I’m okay!” She glanced at
Traevyn, who now looked awkward. She gave him a bashful smile. “I
always knew you were a vampire,” she teased.

He laughed and her words seemed to ease some
of his discomfort. He gave her a soft smile.

Suddenly, someone shouted. It was followed
by a great tumbling sound. Seth appeared skidding to a stop on his
stomach in front of them. Evie arched her eyebrows.

Seth groaned and flipped over, breathing
heavily and staring up at the sky. “Aw man,” he grumbled. “I hate
this stupid sport.”

Evie giggled.

“I don’t know,” Traevyn remarked. “I find it
rather enjoyable.”

Seth frowned and sat up. “What are you
talking about? You’ve been sitting down here on your butt the
entire time.”

Traevyn and Evie exchanged a glance and she
looked down to hide a blush.

Seth rolled his eyes. “Dude, I don’t even
want to know.” He stood and dusted himself off, heading back up to
the top.

Evie touched her neck and smiled to herself.
She could still feel his lips there. She sighed, wishing that was a
regular occurrence. His affection was intoxicating and addicting.
She looked up as she felt Traevyn’s fingers on her hand. He pulled
it to his lips and kissed it, then stood.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go before Seth
starts spreading rumors.”

She nodded and they both started back up the
incline, their minds on anything but pine needle boarding.

Chapter Seventeen

After a nice dinner in Flagstaff, everyone
bade farewell to Draco and Leila and made their way back to Sedona
where it was unanimously decided that a dip in the pool would be
refreshing. It was, after all, well into the triple digits, and
after a long day of physical activity out in the sun, everyone was
dirty and starting to stink.

Traevyn and Evie had remained relatively
quiet with one another since their encounter, and Evie wondered
what he was thinking. What had possessed him to do what he had
done? Was it genuine desire, or was he just lonely? Had he been
overcome by the feeling of a woman pressed against him when he
hadn’t been close to someone in so long? It was difficult to tell
since Evie had long ago come to the conclusion that Traevyn didn’t
really communicate all that well.

Ash continued to be very attentive to Evie
all day, drawing her into conversations about all sorts of things.
He was very charming; she couldn’t deny that, and it was nice to
have someone making advances toward her instead of her typical
gazing in adoration from afar.

She slipped into her swimsuit and headed
outside to where everyone else was lounging by the pool. Talis and
Traevyn were actually sitting in the hot tub, which she really
couldn’t understand, but she supposed that after nearly killing
Traevyn earlier, he more than likely needed to soak his back. It
was probably the same with Talis since he had spent about as much
time eating dirt as Seth.

Ash and Seth were playfully racing one
another in the pool and Ash waved when he saw Evie step out into
the yard. “Evie, come on over!” he urged.

She grinned and made her way to the pool,
eager to feel the cool water against her skin.

* * * *

Traevyn watched Evie and
his heart beat out a strange rhythm at the sight of her. She was
wearing a blue, two-piece swimsuit that showed off her ample
curves
very
nicely. He swallowed uncomfortably and forced himself to turn
his glance elsewhere. He was almost positive that the way his blood
started to burn raised the temperature in the hot tub at least five
degrees. “Something is happening to me, little brother,” he
said.

Talis grinned. “Congratulations, Traevyn,
you’re still a man.”

Traevyn felt his face
flush. “This is strange for me. Evie has been living at my home for
two months. We’ve grown to be close friends. I can tell her things
I can’t tell anyone other than you and Julian. She understands me.
I don’t have to explain myself to her. She just blindly accepts me.
She has from the beginning. I was an ogre, yet she never questioned
me. She told me off several times, which I deserved, but never
questioned my reasons.” He shook his head. “Talis, I’m confused. My
heart…it has been so guarded, but lately…” He didn’t even know how
to explain it. Nothing made sense to him anymore. What had happened
between Evie and himself earlier
really
made no sense.

“Lately your heart seems to beat a little
faster when Evie is around?” Talis questioned.

He met his eyes and nodded.

Talis gave Traevyn a gentle smile, obviously
seeing the genuine terror lurking behind his eyes. Talis knew him
even better than Julian did. He could read him like a book. Talis
knew that the thought of Traevyn leaving himself open for another
blow like the last petrified him. “Traevyn,” he said, “would you
change knowing and loving Amy if you had the chance?”

Traevyn frowned and looked down, wondering
where that had come from. A twinge went through his heart at the
mention of her name, and something deep inside told him to run as
far away from this situation with Evie as possible and never look
back. He forced the thought away, knowing it was a reaction due to
fear. He thought of Amy and the unspoiled years he’d had with her.
She had taught him many things about love. They had been happy
together at one point. He had to force himself to think past the
bitter poison that tainted his memories of her, but he remembered
how his heart had felt so full and warm when he was in love. He
loved the feeling of knowing he was completely devoted to one
person, that she was his and he was hers. And then there was
Leanna. He would never trade his years with his precious baby
girl.

He sighed and shook his head. “No,” he
answered.

Talis nodded. “She hurt you, but your heart
still beats, Traevyn. You’re still alive. You survived. Don’t let
her ruin the life you have left by living in fear of what she did
happening again. You’ve always known your heart. You’ve always
known your path. Since we were kids.”

Traevyn closed his eyes, feeling more lost
than he ever had. “Talis, I lost my path when everything around me
turned to blackness.”

“Yes, but you have light now.” He pointed to
Evie, who was laughing with the others in the pool. “Don’t just
throw it away and return to your shadows because they’re familiar
and safe.”

Traevyn fought a shiver at the thought of
going back to that dark, desolate place inside himself. He looked
over at Evie and Seth, who started to have a splash war with one
another. He needed to spend some time with Evie away from everyone.
He needed to be with her without distraction so he could properly
decipher what he was feeling. He needed to know for sure before he
drove himself mad. He stood. “I need some water,” he announced.
“Plus, I’m starting to stew over here. I’ll be back.”

Talis smiled and watched him go.

* * * *

Evie watched Traevyn head into the house,
thinking he looked strange in swim trunks. He was always so refined
and sophisticated and she’d always thought he seemed so much more
like the old world knight trapped in the wrong time than a modern
man. Seeing him in swim trunks just seemed weird somehow. Although,
watching the play of muscles in his shoulders and back as he walked
was a nice sight.

“Hey, Evie,” Ash’s voice came. “Can I talk
to you for a second?”

She blinked, surprised by the sudden request,
but she shrugged. “Sure.” She got out of the pool and followed Ash
around to the side of the house where it was private.

Ash turned to her with a shy smile and met
her eyes. “Evie, I know I don’t know you that well, but I’ve really
had fun with you since you’ve been here.”

She grinned. “Me too, Ash.”

He scratched at the back of his head and took
a deep breath. “I was wondering, I know tomorrow Talis wants to
take us downtown, but tomorrow night I thought… Maybe you’d like to
go to a movie with me?”

She raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth
to respond, but suddenly became very aware of a presence behind
her. A silent presence she had grown accustomed to.

“Hello, Ashton,” Traevyn’s smooth voice
interrupted.

Ash, who had been busy watching Evie’s
reaction, nearly jumped right up to the roof. “Holy crap!” he
cried. “You scared me to death!”

Traevyn gave him a small, satisfied smile.
“Evie already has plans tomorrow,” he stated.

Evie frowned. “I do?”

“Yes,” he emphasized. “You have plans with
me.”

She blinked up at him. “O—Oh…”

Traevyn stood protectively behind her,
staring down at Ash with a calm, yet menacing look.