Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3)

by Brieanna Robertson

  He stared at her for a moment before grabbing the book and turning it to the back page where a picture of Leanna right before she had died resided. One of her smiling as her golden hair curled around her face to make her look like a cherub. “This was my little girl,” he choked out. “This was my life. My heart doesn’t beat like it used to anymore. The sunlight is dulled. I ache inside every day of my life and I fear it will never go away.” He clutched the book to his chest as a sob was torn from his throat. He hung his head and let himself cry. He opened the last recess of his soul for her, let her see the ugly, black pain that he carried within him. The sorrow, the guilt, the emptiness.

  He let it out as he let her in and, as she held him to her, running her fingers softly through his hair, a kind of calm overcame him. It came with knowing he did not bear the weight of his burden alone. He had someone to lean on, rely on. Trust. He had someone he could trust with the darkest part of him. That was something he’d never thought he would have.

  As the worst of the sobs abated, he let out a shuddering breath. “I miss her so much, Evie,” he whispered.

  She pulled back and smoothed his hair, wiped his tears. “Tell me about her,” she coaxed. “What was she like?”

  A pained smile twisted his lips as he began to tell Evie about Leanna. He spoke about her love for life, her laugh, how she loved to dance, her favorite color, favorite animal, favorite food. He found pictures in the book to coincide with his stories. He laughed, he cried, but most importantly, he remembered. He remembered Leanna for what she was. He remembered her life and not just her death. For hours he spilled his memories of her, not running from the pain they brought, not fearing tears. He let the emotions come and flow through him, accepted them, and continued on.

  At the end of it all, he was exhausted, but strangely at peace. He turned the last page of the baby book, realizing he’d made it through. He expelled an enormous sigh and closed it. He felt Evie’s hand rubbing his back in consolation, and he gave a meager smile. The ever-present ache in his heart was still there. It always would be, but it didn’t feel like a piercing knife anymore. He hadn’t realized that half the reason he’d hurt so much was because he’d never talked to anyone, never shared himself. He’d held everything inside and let it eat at him like a cancer for years.

  “Are you all right?”

  He closed his eyes. Her soft voice again. His anchor. His light. He nodded slowly and turned his head to look at her. “I might need to have more talks about this in the future.”

  She gave him a gentle smile and caressed his face. “That’s fine, Traevyn. You can talk to me whenever you want. That’s how we heal.”

  He bent to rest his forehead against hers and sighed. “My little apprentice,” he said. “She is so wise. You came here so I could teach you about art, but you have taught me about life. I am the real student.”

  She took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. “When it comes to life, we are all students.”

  He met her eyes, then lowered his lips to hers in a slow, tender kiss. He relished the feel of her supple lips. A knock on the door interrupted them and they pulled away from one another. Traevyn’s eyes lingered on Evie’s, saying a hundred different things.

  “Uh…guys?” Seth’s voice came. “I don’t mean to interrupt whatever it is you’re doing, but…I’m starving!” He wailed the last part.

  Evie laughed and rolled her eyes. “Heaven forbid he make something for himself.”

  Traevyn shook his head. “Unthinkable.”

  She stood. “I’d better go make something.”

  He followed as she started for the door and took her hand. “I’ll help you.”

  She grinned and they headed downstairs together. As they reached the kitchen, Evie started to pull things out and hummed softly to herself. Traevyn went to her and enfolded her in his arms, holding her tight.

  She blinked in surprise and tried to give him a questioning look when he pulled away, but she didn’t get a chance. His lips met hers with blinding passion and he kissed her deep and thorough, pressing her to him and tangling his fingers in her hair. She clutched at the front of his shirt as he continued to dominate her mouth and her legs started to feel wobbly. This was the kind of kiss she had only ever dreamed about, the kind of kiss she’d never thought she would be on the receiving end of. She felt like he was trying to devour her very soul.

  One of his hands cupped her cheek and the other one snaked around her back. He explored her mouth to his heart’s content, running his hand along the luscious curve of her hip. He backed her up against the island in the kitchen and turned his attention to her neck.

  Any kind of coherent thought that might have been hanging on in Evie’s mind fled. She couldn’t focus on anything save Traevyn’s lips and heated kisses. She sighed in pleasure and leaned back, offering him free reign to do and go wherever he wanted. She couldn’t have stopped him if she’d wanted to… And she definitely didn’t want to.

  Her elbow hit the edge of a plate and sent it crashing to the floor. Neither of them paid it any attention. She slipped her hands underneath his shirt and ran her fingers lightly up his sides, then back down, grazing his skin with her fingernails. He drew in a sharp breath and moved his lips back to her mouth.

  “Evie, are you all right?” Seth called from the living room. “I heard something— holy crap!” He spun away from the doorway as soon as he entered. “I’m blind!”

  Traevyn managed to separate himself from Evie for a moment to shoot Seth’s retreating form an amused look.

  Evie put her hand over her heart, as if doing so might still the pounding. “Seth,” she breathed. She cleared her throat. “We were just…uh…making dinner.”

  Seth made a strangled sound and threw his arms in the air wildly. “La, la, la la!” he shouted as he all but fled back into the living room.

  Traevyn chuckled and met Evie’s eyes with a devilish twinkle in his own.

  Evie arched an eyebrow. “I think I’d better make dinner alone.”

  He gave her a playful pout. “You don’t want to do that.” He slipped his arm around her waist again and pulled her up against his body. “Do you?” He pressed his hips suggestively against her.

  Evie’s throat went dry and her head swam. No, she didn’t want to make dinner alone. She didn’t want to make dinner at all. She wanted to go back upstairs. His eyes seemed to hold all sorts of hidden promises and she desperately wanted to explore all of them.

  He ran his hand down the length of her hair and his face grew serious. “Thank you for making me feel alive again, Evie. All you have done…” He shook his head. “Words don’t exist to express my gratitude.”

  She sighed, resting her head against his chest. Suddenly, a great reverberating ring filled the house and Evie lifted her head with a frown as Traevyn clenched his teeth.

  Seth came into the kitchen carrying the gong mallet. “Star—va—tion,” he stated.

  Evie rolled her eyes and pulled away from Traevyn. “You know what?” she muttered. She opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a carrot. She handed it to Seth. “Enjoy.” She took Traevyn’s hand and started to lead him out. “Come on, we’re going out to dinner.”

  Seth stared forlornly at the carrot. He looked up at Evie. “No way, come on! Traevyn did the exact same thing to me with a banana!”

  She grinned and couldn’t help herself. “I really don’t need to know what you did with Traevyn’s banana, Seth.” He made a strangled noise and Traevyn shoved her lightly with a halfhearted scowl. She giggled.

  “Come on, guys!” Seth cried.

  She grabbed her keys and a light jacket and headed for the front door. “See ya later.” They both disappeared out the door, leaving Seth standing there in dismay with his produce.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Traevyn awoke as if something had startled him, but he didn’t know what. He frowned as he stared up at the ceiling, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. He heard the waves in the dis
tance, pounding out their soothing rhythm, but they refused to calm him tonight for reasons that he couldn’t place. He tried to remember if he had been dreaming and he immediately thought that it had to have been about Leanna or Amy. Why else would he have awoken so suddenly with a fine sheen of perspiration across his skin?

  A vision of Evie flashed before his eyes and he blinked. Evie… Had he been dreaming about her? The memory of their passionate kisses in the kitchen invaded his thoughts. His heart started to pound at the recollection of her soft lips against his, her beautiful body beneath his hands…

  He swallowed painfully and sat up, shaking his head. His hair fell over his shoulder in a half-braided mess and he frowned. What had happened to his hair tie? He raked his fingers through it in irritation and flung it back behind him, contemplating hacking it all off for a moment. It was too heavy and too hot.

  No, he couldn’t do that. He loved his long hair, and so did Evie. He thought of how she tangled her fingers in it when they kissed, how gently she brushed and braided it…

  With a frustrated growl, Traevyn stood and paced for a few restless moments. She was plaguing him. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. It had to have been in the low forties and his body felt like it was on fire. He felt like he was back in Arizona. He sighed. He needed a glass of water. That would help.

  Turning abruptly, he headed for the door, pulling off his black silk pajama shirt and flinging it to the floor. It was just too bloody hot.

  * * * *

  Evie flicked on her bedside light and squinted at the clock. Good lord, it was two AM. She sat up and sighed in frustration. She had been tossing and turning for the past two hours and had only managed to doze for about twenty minutes. What was her problem? All she could think about was Traevyn. Her mind kept replaying the way he had kissed her. Reality was so much better than her fantasies, but man, she needed her sleep too.

  She grasped for her glasses and shoved them on, then sighed again and flung the covers back. Maybe if she wandered around and drank some water or something…

  She yawned as she headed down the hallway, the wooden floorboards cold on her bare feet. She stretched as she approached the staircase, then jumped and let out a startled squeak as she saw Traevyn standing at the end of his corridor, shrouded in shadow with his raven black hair falling around his bare shoulders. “Traevyn,” she whispered, drawing in a shaky breath. “What are you doing?”

  “I couldn’t sleep.” His eyes focused on her, taking her in. He wanted to groan aloud. She was so perfect it hurt. Desire inflamed him. He was sure he would incinerate.

  “Me either,” she said. She swallowed and her eyes roamed up his torso. “I…uh… was going to get some water. I just keep tossing and turning.” She met his eyes. “Why, um…why can’t you sleep?”

  “Too hot,” he rasped. He couldn’t tear his eyes from her. He just wanted to be near her. His hands ached to touch her and, at that precise moment, he did not want any part of her body unkissed.

  She frowned, feeling flushed under his gaze. His eyes held that promise again. That promise of all those secret and wicked things she wanted to explore. Her heart picked up its pace as he stepped closer to her, his tall frame towering over her and exuding raw sensuality. “Too hot?” she repeated.

  He nodded. “Oh yes.” Without warning, he bent and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her back down the hallway.

  Evie wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close to him, stunned and dazed, but far from unwilling. He carried her effortlessly all the way to his room and set her down on his bed, leaning in to give her a hungry kiss before she even had a chance to formulate a thought. It was a savage kind of kiss, and her world spun as his tongue plundered her mouth. Her hands slid up his shoulders as she twined her arms around his neck and he gently pushed her back so that she was lying against several soft pillows.

  He broke the kiss and came up to lie beside her before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her full up against him, seeking her mouth once more. As soon as her body touched his, all her blood was set aflame. She trailed her fingers down his spine, relishing the feel of his smooth skin and the way his muscles moved and played beneath it.

  Traevyn brought one hand up to cradle Evie’s cheek and threaded his fingers through her hair. He softened his kisses, making them sensual and seductive, taking her breath away until she thought she would die.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, trailing his lips down to her neck and throat.

  She shivered as his fingers slipped deftly beneath her shirt to caress up her side and across her stomach. He kissed down the column of her throat and ran his tongue in an agonizingly slow stroke across her collarbone. She gasped. Her mind was spinning out of control, making it impossible for her to focus on anything other than his touch and his kiss.

  He painstakingly pulled the strap of her tank top down over her shoulder and kissed her there. He nuzzled her neck, grazing her skin with his teeth. “I love you,” he purred. “I want you.” He left her neck to press kisses along her exposed stomach, pulling down the waistband of her pants so that he could access her hip bone as well. He spent a few seconds there before his hands deftly removed her pajama pants altogether.

  Evie squeezed her eyes shut and, somewhere within the waves of passion that were crashing over her, a shred of rational thought crept in. She tangled her fingers in his hair and frowned, trying to come back to reality, even though she really didn’t want to. Traevyn ran his hand slowly up her leg and nibbled on her hip again, teasing the edge of her panties with his teeth. Holy cow, she really didn’t want him to stop.

  She sighed in bliss and attempted to make her mind go blank, but when she felt his fingers begin to take her panties down the same path as her discarded pants, she grabbed his hand to stop him. “Oh my gosh,” she breathed, trying to bring her wildly spinning mind to some kind of halt. “Traevyn, we have to stop.” She hated saying those words.

  He pulled away and came back up to look into her eyes. “Too fast?” he murmured.

  She shook her head. “No.” She frowned. “Yes. I mean…” She sighed. “Kind of.”

  He gave her a gentle smile and touched her face, even though it killed him to just lie there when everything inside of him was screaming for him to peel all of her clothes from her body and get drunk off of her. “What is it, Evie?”

  “It’s just… I always wanted to wait.” She frowned, embarrassed. She felt way too prudish all of a sudden. He would probably think she was completely stupid.

  “You’re a virgin?”

  She swallowed and met his eyes. She nodded uneasily.

  He gave her a very soft smile and leaned in to press a tender kiss to her lips. “That’s wonderful, Evie.”

  She blinked. “It is?”

  He nodded, caressing his hand down her shoulder and arm.

  Her cheeks turned pink. “I just always had these crazy fantasies of a romantic wedding night when I’d get to experience everything with my husband. I never liked the thought of comparing my husband with someone else. I know it sounds old fashioned, but I want to marry the man I give my heart to and I think that, if I love him enough to be with him forever, he should be the only one to ever have all of me. It’s like a gift, you know?”

  His fingers ran a torturously slow course down her side again and Evie thought that his eyes seemed to hold a soft light.

  “I have never dated casually,” he said. “Whenever I date someone it is because I feel I may have a future with that person. I am a one woman man. I do not say ‘I love you’ unless I am sure that I speak truth.” He met her eyes. “Evie, I would not be with you unless I had intentions to one day marry you.”

  Evie’s heart stuttered and she felt the color drain from her face, but from surprise more than anything else.

  “I hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable,” he said. “I don’t, of course, mean right now.”

  She shook her head numbly. “It doesn’t make me feel uncom
fortable,” she whispered. Her throat felt like sandpaper. The thought of being married to Traevyn was like heaven.

  He ran his fingers across her jaw and down her neck, breathing a soft sigh. “I will wait for the divine bliss that is you,” he said. “It may kill me, but I will.” He smiled.

  She bit her bottom lip.

  He nuzzled his nose against her neck again. “I just wish that I could give you the same gift, Evie.”

  She smiled and her heart melted. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. “The gift of your heart is enough for me,” she murmured. “It’s the only gift that matters.”

  He tightened his arm around her, needing to feel her pressed against him. He still felt like he was smoldering inside, but he tried to tame his savage impulses. He admired and respected Evie for her decision and would not try to manipulate her into changing her mind just because his body was screaming at him. And it was screaming. He had been celibate far too long.

  He forced his carnal thoughts away and contented himself just to hold her. Maybe he would start taking a routine dip in the ocean every morning. That sounded like an appealing option. “Will you stay with me?” he asked. “I need to feel you next to me, Evie. I can’t stand being away from you.” His hand drifted back to her stomach where he idly caressed his palm over it. Her skin was as soft as rose petals.

  “Of course I will,” she whispered. Part of her was kicking herself for telling him to stop. It was Traevyn Whitelaw for crying out loud! How many people got that opportunity? There was no way to tell this early in their relationship if they would last. What if they didn’t and she had passed up intimacy with him? She would regret it forever.

  She sighed. But what if they did make it? She would only ever know Traevyn. Traevyn’s touch, Traevyn’s kiss, Traevyn’s body. She was much more willing to take the chance and wait. The reward would be so much greater in the end. She wanted all of Traevyn forever. She wanted a lifetime with him, not just several moments of passion. Although, sleeping with a famous artist did make for good back-to-school gossip. That would get Barrett deBoer off her back for sure. She giggled at the thought.