Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) (12 page)

She studied his face while he wasn’t looking
at her. She knew it was stupid, but it took her breath away every
time she looked at him. No man on Earth should be so divinely
beautiful.

“Evie,” he said suddenly, his voice serious.
“I’m sorry about just leaving you the way I did last night. I feel
rude for it, but I was having a difficult time—”

“Traevyn,” she interrupted,
“you absolutely do
not
have to explain yourself to me. I understand. Besides, you’ve
never had a problem being rude before. Don’t start caring now.” He
met her eyes and she gave him a teasing smile.

He smiled and looked away. “So tell me a
little about yourself, Miss Austin,” he said. “You are a junior in
college, correct?”

She nodded. “One more year to go and I’ll be
unleashed on the world. Frightening, isn’t it?”

“Do you plan on staying in Oregon?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve lived there
my whole life. It would be nice to get away. I’d love to travel,
see the world.”

“Traveling is a love of mine as well. I get
so much inspiration from beautiful places. Where would you most
like to go?”

“Italy,” she replied without hesitation. “I
want to drink wine, eat pasta and paint everything.”

He chuckled. “By ‘drink wine’ I hope you are
not referring to five dollar bottles of White Zinfandel.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I think I might
manage to branch out a little.”

He grinned with ease. “And do you have a
young man to have a romantic adventure with while you are
there?”

She giggled. “No, unfortunately.”

He frowned. “No one? You have no one you are
interested in?”

“No one I can have is more like it. My best
friend Meg’s brother has been the object of my affection for years.
Maxim deBoer…” She shook her head and sighed. “He’s married. It
sucks.”

He gave another soft chuckle and began to rub
her other foot. “And why is this Maxim deBoer so special?”

“He’s intelligent, first of all,” she said.
“Very literate. He’s a novelist. And he’s quiet and gentle. He
isn’t loud and obnoxious and flirty. He’s just…Maxim. He just
always seemed so beautiful to me, so genuine and real.” She
shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s stupid.”

“No, it isn’t,” he countered. “Our world is
full of fake, shallow people. Depth and uniqueness are refreshing.
That’s how you are. Genuine and real. No pretenses. I admire
that.”

She met his eyes and grinned. “Thank you.”
For some reason, his words made her feel warm all over.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“A little better. Just
exhausted.” She eased herself up into a sitting position and
reached for her water glass. She forced down a few swallows, then
turned on the TV. “What do you want to watch?” She flipped blindly
through the channels until she recognized a movie she loved. “Oh!”
she exclaimed. “
V for
Vendetta
!”

Traevyn smiled and sat back. “You like
political movies about revolution?”

“I love this movie,” she commented.
“Besides, Natalie Portman’s character is named Evey. I mean, come
on.”

He chuckled. “We’ll watch this then.”

She scooted closer and offered some of the
blanket to him. He accepted and they watched a little of the movie
before Evie’s eyes started to feel heavy. Without even realizing
it, she leaned her head on Traevyn’s shoulder.

He glanced down at her and put his arm around
her. “Put your feet up. Lie down,” he said gently. “I don’t
mind.”

She obeyed and rested her head on his lap.
She knew she should feel awkward, but she didn’t. For some reason,
when she was with him, it just felt right to her somehow. Natural
and easy. Even when he was being sullen and brooding. Even when he
was barely speaking. She closed her eyes as she felt his fingers
begin to caress her hair. She was starting to realize that she felt
the most comfortable with him when he was being warm and gentle. It
was rare and fleeting, but she liked it very much.

* * * *

Traevyn knew that Evie had fallen asleep,
but he remained there for awhile. He watched the movie, but didn’t
really pay attention to it. His mind was spinning with the
realization that he enjoyed having her close to him, touching him,
trusting him. It was troubling.. How? How could she affect him the
way she did? He had made himself a recluse, a loner, a cold, dead
man. He had done it to protect himself, to keep the pain away. How
was it that she made him feel warmth and tenderness without doing
anything at all? When had she gone from being an annoyance to being
dear? How was it that, when she was around, he felt like he could
breathe again instead of feeling like he was suffocating? Maybe
because she saw him. Maybe because she saw his art. Maybe because
she cared. Or, maybe it was like she had said. She was genuine and
real. Whatever it was, it was beautiful.

He slowly eased Evie off of him and turned
the TV off. He gathered her in his arms and carried her up the
stairs and down her hallway. Seth apparently heard him coming
because he opened his door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Evie,
where—“ Traevyn shushed him softly and he blinked up at him. “Is
she okay?”

He nodded. “She has food poisoning. She’s
resting now,” he whispered.

Seth frowned. “You should have woken me up.
Evie doesn’t like to be by herself when she’s sick.”

“It’s all right. I took care of it. Go back
to sleep, Seth.”

He nodded. “All right. Hey, thanks man.”

Traevyn gave him a small smile and nodded.
He continued into Evie’s room and set her down on the bed. He
pulled the covers over her before standing back. He reached down,
removed her glasses, folded them, and set them on the nightstand.
He took a quick glance at her room and smiled at all the papers and
books she had strewn everywhere. Several of them were his. His own
art book sat on the dresser and he ran his fingers over it on his
way out. With a sigh, he closed the door and headed back down to
his bedroom. He still felt empty inside, but he also felt slightly
more human than before.

Chapter Ten

Traevyn was in the kitchen when Seth trudged
in still half asleep and wearing only boxer shorts. He sat down at
the table and yawned.

“Morning, dude,” Seth muttered.

Traevyn smiled. “Good morning.” He turned
back to smearing jelly onto a piece of toast.

“What are you doing?”

“Making Evie breakfast,” he replied.

Seth frowned. “You sure she’s gonna want to
eat after barfing her guts out all night?”

“It’s just toast. And the ginger ale will
settle her stomach.”

Seth nodded, then smiled mischievously. “What
did you make me?”

Traevyn turned his gaze to the teen and
raised an eyebrow. He glanced around the kitchen for a moment, then
grabbed a banana and threw it to him. “Bon apatite.”

Seth stared at the banana. “Gee, thanks,” he
grumbled.

Traevyn smirked and carried the plate and
glass out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He knocked softly on
Evie’s door, figuring that if Seth was awake, she should be awake
also.

“Go bother someone else!” came a shout from
within.

Traevyn raised his eyebrows, then knocked
again.

Evie let out an annoyed snarl. “Why are you
knocking, you idiot? What’s the matter with you?”

He chuckled softly and opened the door just
enough to stick his head in. “I beg your pardon, madam. I will
leave you in peace shortly.”

Her eyes widened. “Traevyn!” she cried. “I’m
sorry! I thought you were Seth!”

He opened the door wider and stepped in.
“Good to know. I brought you some breakfast.”

Evie put her hand over her stomach and made
a face. She set aside the drawing she had been working on, turning
it face down so Traevyn couldn’t see it, and she smoothed her hair
self-consciously. It was still bound in the braid he had put it in
the night before.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Like I did about a million crunches.”

He smiled. “I brought you toast and some
ginger ale. The ginger ale should help settle your stomach.”

She looked up at him and he met her gaze.
She smiled, tenderness radiating from her eyes. Traevyn’s heart did
something funny at the way she looked at him. Something it was not
accustomed to doing. It seemed to stutter like a car engine trying
to turn over. It took his breath away and he averted his eyes. He
cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Think you can eat?”

She nodded and reached for the plate. “Thank
you. And thank you for being so thoughtful last night. Having you
keep me company made me feel better.”

His lips quirked and he glanced at her
sketch pad. “What are you working on?” he asked, reaching for
it.

“Nothing!” she all but shouted, slamming her
hand down on top of it.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled devilishly.
“Well, now I have to take a look.”

“No you don’t. Leave it alone.”

“I’m supposed to be the master, aren’t I? And
you my lowly apprentice. Let me see it.” He reached for it
again.

“Traevyn, come on.” She tried to push his
hand away. “I’m just messing around. They’re just stupid sketches.
They aren’t even a big deal.”

He flashed a smile that he knew reflected
the mischief he felt. “Then you won’t mind me taking a look.” He
grasped the corner of the sketchpad and started to pull it toward
him when a pillow met the side of his head. He shook his head,
grinned and yanked the sketchpad to him. He dodged Evie’s next
swing and stood quickly, sauntering over to the dresser. He leaned
nonchalantly against it and gave her a pointed looked. “Eat your
breakfast,” he commanded.

Evie stared at him in dismay. She averted
her gaze to her lap and started playing with her fingers.

Traevyn smirked at her, then opened up the
sketchpad and flipped through it absently. There were sketches of
various people he didn’t recognize and several of Seth. There was
one of his house, which was quite good, and several of the view
from the terrace. He turned a page and saw one of himself. He
blinked in surprise.

He was on the terrace with his back turned.
It must have been that first night he and Evie had actually shared
a conversation. He turned the page and there were more of him.
Different angle sketches of his face. When had she done these? Had
she silently been watching him from the shadows? He turned the page
to see the one she had been working on when he’d come in. It was a
larger sketch of him smiling. He peered closer at it. The detail
was incredible. It was like looking in a mirror. Although, he was
not accustomed to seeing himself smile.

He glanced up at Evie and smirked at her
obvious discomfort. She was doing everything in her power to avoid
looking at him. She was actually pretending to be very interested
in her toast. He closed the sketchpad and went to set it back down
beside her.

“I have been…uh…trying to work on faces.
That’s why there are some of Seth in there. There’s a lot of you
because you’re features are so…um, dramatic.” She stole a glance up
at him.

He sat back down on the foot of her bed and
smiled. “They are excellent. When did you start the latest
one?”

“This morning,” she murmured.

He frowned. “What were you drawing off of?”
he asked in amazement. “I’m pretty sure I don’t have any pictures
lying around with me smiling like that.”

She wanted to invert. “My…memory,” she all
but whispered. She loved to remember his beautiful smile. It was
something she liked to revisit and, while he did seem to be smiling
more now than before, she had yet to see another grin like the one
she had seen on the beach. She wanted to capture the image while
she still had the details in her mind.

He arched an eyebrow. “Your memory? That’s
incredible, Evie.”

She felt her cheeks turn hot. Because she
couldn’t think of anything else to do, she flung her pillow at him
again. It hit him in the face, then fell in his lap. He blinked and
Evie giggled.

“You’re awfully ornery for being so sick
last night,” he commented.

She shrugged and took another bite of her
toast. She couldn’t believe that Traevyn had actually
hand-delivered her breakfast. She remembered how kind and attentive
he had been to her the night before. She remembered falling asleep
on his lap while he stroked her hair, feeling like it was the most
natural thing in the world for her to be there. She also knew that
he must have carried her to bed because she did not recall getting
there herself.

He cracked a small smile. “Maybe I could
sketch you sometime.”

The bite that Evie had been swallowing
lodged in her throat. She looked up at him. Okay, she didn’t know
what was wrong with her, but the way he had said that… Soft,
gentle, his voice sounding almost like a lover’s caress. It was
wrong. How could someone say something so simple and have it come
out so sexy? She forced a smile and swallowed her toast with a
gulp. “Why in the world would you want to do that?”

An enigmatic, almost teasing smile flashed
across his face. “I want to study your dramatic features.” He
stood, anticipating that the pillow he must have sensed was heading
his direction again. He chuckled. “No, really. Let me sketch you
sometime. All right?”

She gave a bashful smile. “If you really want
to.”

“It would be good for me to practice faces
as well. I haven’t worked on them for some time.” Evie nodded and
he sighed. “In a few days I have to go to San Luis Obispo. Some of
my work is in a gallery there, and I need to deliver some new
paintings. I’d like you to come with me.” She looked up at him with
a quizzical expression that made him smile. “It would be good for
you to know the ropes of the business end of being an artist as
well as the artistic end of it. It’s roughly a three and a half
hour drive. We should be there and back in a day.”