Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) (15 page)

She smiled wider and her heart jumped when he
let go of her hand and reached up to caress her cheek.

“Goodnight, Evie.”

“Goodnight, Traevyn.” He reached for her
hand again and she scooted as close to him as she could get without
being on the arm rest and the stick shift. She lay there for a long
while, just enjoying the feel of his hand on hers. She frowned.
Something had changed in her, something she couldn’t quite place,
but she knew after this night, she would never be able to feel the
same way toward Traevyn again. She closed her eyes and let sleep
over take her, her last conscious thought being that his presence
there beside her felt so right it was unnerving.

Chapter Twelve

It was the soft rays of sunlight breaking
through the fog that first woke Traevyn. His fingers were still
clasped with Evie’s, and she was proportioned so that the upper
part of her body was lying across the arm rest while her head was
resting against his shoulder. He smiled, wondering how she had
managed to situate herself that way. He studied her face for a
moment, then slowly pulled his hand away from hers and tried to
push her gently back into her seat. She turned and curled herself
toward the window almost instantly.

He pushed his seat up and winced at the
stiffness in his neck and the pain in his back. Not to mention his
legs felt completely numb. He glanced out the window at the fog,
which was just as thick, but slightly less menacing now that it was
daylight. He smiled and pulled the blanket off of his lap. He
wrapped it around Evie, whose breath was coming out in white puffs.
He opened the car door and was blasted by icy dampness. He got out
quickly and shut the door so cold air wouldn’t flood the car.

Once outside, he took a deep breath and
smiled. He relished the cold fog. He stepped out into the white
mist and let it swallow him.

* * * *

Evie awoke disoriented and aware of a great
pain in her lower back. Her eyes fluttered open and it took her a
minute to remember where she was. Then, everything came flooding
back to her like a tidal wave. She immediately looked over for
Traevyn, but he was gone. She frowned and glanced at her watch as
she rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes. Six A.M. Where in the
heck could he be at six A.M. trapped in a fog bank? She pushed her
seat up and opened the door, but almost screamed aloud as the icy
morning air attacked her. She grasped one of the blankets and
wrapped it around her like an Indian.

“Traevyn?” she called as she stepped out of
the car. The fog rolled by, touching her skin and lips with the
salty spray of the ocean. She walked around the car. “Traevyn?” she
called again. Tentatively, she ran across the road to the other
side. “Traevyn, where are you?” She took a few steps forward, then
decided she was too cold and turned to head back. She blinked as
she realized that the fog had swallowed the car. She spun in alarm,
but everything looked the same. “Traevyn!” she shouted. She let out
a deep sigh as no reply came. “Great,” she muttered.

Suddenly, her eyes caught something moving
up ahead of her, parting the mist and emerging like he was stepping
through time. Tall and elegant with his spectacular mane of raven
black hair falling around his shoulders and down past his waist,
the ocean air tugging on it ever so gently. Evie couldn’t breathe.
The breath she would have taken caught in her throat and all she
could do was stare. He was so beautiful… He strode up to her, a
small smile on his provocative and arousing mouth. The breath that
she was trying so desperately to take turned into a soft gasp as he
towered over her.

“Evie, what are you doing out here?” he
asked.

She didn’t speak. She just stared up at him,
into his alluring green eyes.

He frowned. “Are you all right? Evie?”

She gave herself a mental shake and her
heart remembered it was supposed to be beating. She snapped back to
the present. “Uh… Y—yes, I’m fine.” She averted her eyes, trying to
keep from blushing.

“What are you doing out here?” he
repeated.

“What are
you
doing out here?” she
asked.

“Walking.”

She frowned. “Walking where? To the nearest
7-11? How can you even see?”

He smiled. “I don’t need to see.” He closed
his eyes. “I just feel where I am going.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Just when I thought
you couldn’t get any weirder…”

He grinned and reached for her hand. “Come
with me. I want to show you something.”

She let him guide her through the fog,
wondering if he’d completely lost his mind. In a few short minutes
he stopped and Evie looked up, keeping her blanket clutched tight
around her with her free hand. Her eyes widened. They were on top
of a high cliff. She could see the ocean below, spraying water up
into the air as the waves pounded against the cliff base. The
slowly abating fog shrouded everything, making it all seem like she
had stepped into a dream.

“This is my world,” Traevyn said. “This is
what inspires me.” He closed his eyes as he listened to the sound
of the powerful waves. “It’s music.”

Evie glanced up at him and
smiled at the blissful look on his face. She looked down at their
entwined fingers and she tightened her grip just slightly, studying
how his fingers felt. She had never held hands with a man before.
Seth didn’t count. He was her brother. And he
definitely
wasn’t a man. Besides,
even Seth didn’t hold her hand unless they were at a funeral, or
one of them was really scared.

“This is me, Evie,” Traevyn continued. “My
heart is that ocean, my passion like those crashing waves. Intense,
dangerous, forever flowing. My mind fills with so many images when
I’m staring out at the violent beauty of the sea. I want to paint
everything.” He sighed and looked down at her. She gave him a
gentle smile and his eyes, usually so distant and sad, filled with
a tender warmth. “What inspires you, Evie?”

At that precise moment, her stomach made a
very audible growling sound. “Breakfast,” she joked.

He arched an eyebrow. “Breakfast?”

She grinned and nodded.

He chuckled and looked back out at the
sea.

She studied his
profile.
He
inspired her. He was a living work of art. There was so much
to see when she looked at Traevyn. Such depth, such wicked, dark
beauty. “You,” she whispered. He looked down at her with a curious
frown and she felt her face turn hot. Had she just said that out
loud? Fantastic. She tried to lighten the moment by laughing, but
the sound was nervous and awkward. “But mostly,
breakfast.”

He gave her a half-smile and turned to face
her. “I shared with you the darkest shadows of my soul last night,”
he said, his eyes gazing intently into hers. “You have a part of me
now.”

Evie again seemed to decide that staring was
the best course of action. How did stuff like that just roll off of
his tongue? She let out a slow breath and shook her head. “Oh
geez,” she muttered.

“What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath and
met his eyes. “All my life I’ve loved Gothic novels. The dark
classics like
Wuthering
Heights
,
Rebecca
,
Jane Eyre
.
I always loved the dark, brooding characters because they had
so much substance. They were intriguing and possessed a depth that
people like my brother, for instance, lack.” She let her eyes
travel over his gorgeous face one more. “Traevyn, you leave them
all behind.” At his thoughtful frown she went on. “Your soul is
deeper than that ocean.” She pointed out towards the sea. “I
imagine it would take someone a lifetime to find the
bottom.”

He gazed down at her, obviously touched by
her words. “No one’s ever tried,” he said.

“Someone should,” she murmured. “I imagine
the journey would be unforgettably beautiful.”

For several heartbeats all they did was
stare at one another. The fog floated listlessly by and everything
was complete silence save the thunderous crashing of the waves
below them. Then, Traevyn took Evie’s hand in his own and brought
it to his lips. He pressed a slow kiss to her knuckles and curled
her fingers around his own, holding their interlocking hands over
his heart.

Evie’s heartbeat was sluggish and she felt
lightheaded. She was also really embarrassed. Why couldn’t she just
keep her mouth shut? She was always spewing ridiculous words out of
her mouth. Words that she would much rather keep to herself. Did
she possess no self control at all?

“Come on,” Traevyn said, putting his arm
around her shoulders. “Let’s go get some breakfast. Should we get
something for your brother also?”

She sighed. “I guess. Hopefully he hasn’t
burnt your house down.”

He smiled and guided them back to the car.
The fog had lifted enough so they could see and he warmed the
engine up while she flung the blankets in the back seat. Doing this
caused the end of one blanket to hit her in the face, and managed
to send her glasses flying to the floor under Traevyn’s seat. She
reached for them on instinct, as did he, and they smacked their
heads together. “Ow!” Evie cried, rubbing her forehead. He winced
and rubbed at his as well. “Here, I’ll get them,” she volunteered.
She leaned forward to reach for them, but it was difficult with
Traevyn’s long legs in the way. She felt around under the seat
until she realized that she was practically lying on Traevyn’s lap
with the side of her face pressed up against a rather private area.
Her face flushed horribly and she sat up. “Maybe… uh…you should get
them.” She cleared her throat.

He glanced at her slyly and smirked. “Oh by
all means, don’t let me rush you.”

She was positive that she turned more shades
of red than a crayon box had in it. She put her hands over her
face.

Traevyn chuckled and retrieved her glasses.
“Here.”

She grabbed them and shoved them on, not able
to look at him out of sheer humiliation.

He cast her a sidelong glance and smiled.
“You should wear red more often, Evie,” he teased. “It suits
you.”

She heaved an exasperated sigh. “I’m always
wearing red around you, Traevyn,” she grumbled.

He grinned and pulled onto the road.

* * * *

Evie had decided that she wanted to make
breakfast rather than just raid a McDonald’s so she and Traevyn hit
a grocery store. When they arrived back at the house, they were
laughing about something and Evie was taken aback as her brother
flew down the staircase and stopped to stand in front of them. He
looked more annoyed than she had seen him look since their mother
had first informed him that he would have to spend the summer with
Evie.

“Where were you guys?” he cried.

Evie blinked in surprise. “We got caught in
some bad fog and had to pull over and wait it out for the night,”
she explained.

“And you didn’t have the decency to at least
call me?” he shouted. “I thought you were dead somewhere!”

Evie raised her eyebrows. She couldn’t
pretend that she wasn’t completely caught off guard by Seth’s
concern. She’d imagined he would have slept through everything and
barely even noticed that they were late.

“What’s
this
for?” He held up his cell
phone. “Come on, Evie! You say I’m irresponsible? At least I would
have called you! You might have thought of that too considering
you’re, like, thirty and used to be a father!” He stabbed an
accusing finger at Traevyn.

Traevyn adopted the same surprised
expression as Evie.

Seth snorted and threw his cell phone down
onto the couch. “You know, whatever.” He strode out of the room and
back up the stairs.

Evie blinked in bewilderment and looked up at
Traevyn. “Geez, I didn’t even think he cared.”

He smiled. “He
is
your brother. You’ve
been stuck together for the past month. He probably feels closer to
you now than he ever has.”

She sighed. “Well I’d better start cooking.
Apology food should do the job.”

“I’ll help you,” he volunteered.

She cast him a suspicious look as they made
their way into the kitchen. “Do you cook better than Seth?”

He made a face. “I could be blindfolded and
drunk and I’d still cook better than Seth.”

She giggled.

* * * *

Evie knocked softly on Seth’s door.

“Dude, go away!” he shouted. “I am so
friggin’ pissed at you right now!”

“Seth,” she called. “Come on, open the
door.”

He huffed. “It’s unlocked. I can’t keep you
out, but I don’t have to sit here and listen to your lame excuses
either.”

She rolled her eyes and opened the door.
“Seth,” she called in an enticing tone, “I made you breakfast.”

“Woo friggin’ hoo,” he grumbled, changing
the television station.

“Oh come on, I made you apology
pancakes.”

“I made pancakes a couple nights ago,” he
stated.

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, but they were
awful.”

He gave a mighty sigh and fixed her with a
scowl. “I did it to help you out at the time, but I’ll be sure
never to do that again.” He angrily stabbed at the channel button
on the remote again.

Evie sat down on the bed. “Come on, Seth. I
said I was sorry. What more do you want?”

He flicked off the TV and
sat up with a frustrated noise. “Evie, listen,” he said, looking
like he was trying to figure out exactly what it was he wanted to
say. “You and I have never really been all that close. We have
nothing in common and, since you’re four years older than me, that
kind of killed us ever running in the same circles. I’ve never
understood you and I did
not
want to come on this trip with you, but I did and
here I am.” He huffed again. “Evie, for one whole week we were
stuck here in this dungeon with no one but each other. Even after
you started making nice with Traevyn, I still only had you. After
you went away to college I felt like I didn’t know you anymore
because you were never around, just like Mom and Dad were never
around, and I hated you for it. At least when you were living at
home you were there. I may not have understood you, but I had you.”
He shook his head, as if trying to centralize all his thoughts into
one main point. “What I’m trying to say is that being stuck here
with you has forced me to get to know you again and, for the first
time in my life, I feel like you’re actually my friend instead of
just my sister.”