Evie giggled and glanced at Talis again, interested in his occupation, but too self-conscious at the moment to voice her curiosity.
They retrieved their luggage and loaded it into Talis’s car without many delays. In no time they were driving through the huge city of Phoenix, Arizona. Evie had never seen a city so stretched out over such a vast area. When they had been flying in and she had gathered the courage to take a quick peek, she had been overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the city. The landscape also amazed her. As a native of Oregon, she had never seen the desert. Now, huge saguaro cactus loomed on barren hills dotted with brush and other, mean-looking cactus with thousands of sharp, long spines that grew low to the ground. It all seemed very foreign to her.
“Ever been to Arizona before, Evie?” Talis called from the front seat.
She glanced toward him and shook her head. “No, this is a first for me.”
“Well, Sedona is the prettiest place in the entire state, in my opinion.”
Evie smiled and continued to watch the strange scenery whiz by.
“There are over fifty art galleries in Sedona alone,” Traevyn supplied.
That got Evie’s attention and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Are you serious?”
Talis nodded his agreement. “It’s a very arts oriented community. That’s why I love it there.”
Traevyn sighed. “So, what do you have planned for us while we’re here?” he asked, leaning his head against his hand and glancing toward his brother.
Talis grinned. “Well, I have this crazy friend who lives in Flagstaff. He wanted to go pine needle boarding in the mountains tomorrow.”
Traevyn frowned. “Pine needle boarding?”
“Hey, I’ve heard of that!” Seth exclaimed. “It’s like snowboarding only on pine needles instead. You take the wheels and trucks off of a skateboard and use the deck, right?”
Talis nodded, meeting Seth’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard,” Traveyn muttered. “Can you honestly see me doing something so ridiculous?”
Talis shrugged. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but go anyway. My friends want to meet you.”
Traevyn snorted his disapproval.
Evie giggled and reached around to the front seat. She squeezed Traevyn’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?” she teased. “Don’t tell me you don’t like sports. And you seem so typical male.”
Talis and Seth both laughed.
“No one in my family likes sports.” Traevyn said, giving Talis a pointed look.
Talis shrugged. “I like everything.”
Traevyn sighed. “I’ll probably end up breaking my neck just from watching.”
The thought of tall, elegant Traevyn anywhere near a skateboard did seem rather…contrasting, to say the least, but Evie was glad Talis had planned things for them to do. Sure, she was there for the gallery opening, but she had never been to Arizona before and she wanted to have some fun.
The drive to Sedona was mostly boring. The cactus was cool when she’d first seen it, but one could only stare at cactus for so long before it became very dull.
Around ten minutes before they reached the city, Evie noticed the soil turned from a pale brown to a rich, red color. When they reached Sedona, Evie stared in awe as monolithic, jagged red rocks jutted out of the earth and towered around the small city like guardians. It was breathtaking, and she instantly wanted to rummage through her things and find her sketchpad, but all of her stuff was in the trunk. She imagined it would be hard to sketch while in a moving car anyway. She made a mental note that, sometime during the trip, she would need to find a good spot to draw.
Talis’s home was small, but nice, with a porch in the front and a pool and hot tub in the back yard. The interior reminded Evie of a lair. Swords and medieval weaponry adorned one entire wall and a mannequin with full armor sat displayed in a corner. There was a gigantic black beanbag chair sitting off to one side, as well as a black leather chair next to the beige sectional, which was the only light thing in the entire house. There were video games strewn everywhere in front of the TV, as well as three different video game consoles. Seth immediately started to drool.
The walls that weren’t covered in weapons were full of Traevyn’s art and pictures of dragons, fairies, and other mythical creatures. A large orange, yellow and black Celtic wall hanging was tacked to the ceiling and the enormous yellow sun in the middle of it seemed to glow down on them.
What surprised Evie the most was that, even though it was cluttered, it was clean. No wrappers or empty containers on the floor. No weird, foreign things breeding on the carpet. That, and the fact that there were no role playing game books anywhere, were the only things that saved it from looking like geek-haven.
She could smell incense burning from somewhere and she smiled. Talis’s house reminded her of some of the hippie, new age stores in Ashland, and she loved it. She decided right then that she adored the Whitelaw brothers, even Julian, even though she hadn’t met him yet. She had no doubt he would be just as awesome in some other way.
Talis scowled as he entered and accidentally kicked a CD that was lying in his path. It skidded across the floor and hit the leg of the couch. “Ash!” he shouted. “Dude! I told you to bloody clean up the place!” He started to grumble incoherently as he shut the door and set down Evie’s bags, which he had been carrying.
“Sorry!” someone shouted from one of the bedrooms.
Talis rolled his eyes. “Well, what the crap are you doing? Get out here and meet my brother, you jerk!”
Evie giggled.
“Sorry,” Talis said to them. “He was supposed to pick up a little.”
Traevyn shrugged with a smirk. “Talis, your place has always looked like this. No need to start apologizing now. Just be sure you put all the weapons away this time.” He gave Evie a pointed look. “Last time I was here I sat on an arrow…point up. That is not something I want to repeat.”
She laughed and glanced over to the hallway as a blond man came bounding out. His ankle apparently caught on something because he tripped and came stumbling into the living room. He cast a perplexed glance at whatever the culprit had been, then looked up at everyone and smiled.
“Traevyn, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he greeted. “I’m Ashton, Talis’s roommate.”
Traevyn smiled and shook his hand. “Good to meet you, Ashton. This is my apprentice, Evie, and her brother, Seth.”
Ashton met Evie’s eyes and his grin widened. “It is definitely a pleasure to meet you.”
Evie felt her cheeks grow warm. The man was very attractive. Sun bleached blond hair that fell kind of shaggy around his face and ears and a build that suggested he worked out regularly. His eyes were a warm blue-gray and his smile lit up his handsome face. A small, silver hoop looped around his left earlobe, and she could see the markings of a tattoo around his right bicep. She briefly wondered what it was and if Talis had done it.
“Uh, we don’t have a guest room,” Talis said. “Just throw your luggage into a corner. I guess…” He scratched his head. “I guess you’ll all have to sleep on the hide-a-bed in the sectional. Unless someone wants to sleep on the recliner or the floor.”
After some arguing and a game of rock, paper, scissors between Seth and Evie, it was decided that Seth and Traevyn would share the hide-a-bed and Evie would sleep on the regular couch part of the sectional since she was the only one short enough to fit.
Evie had been hoping that Seth would take pity on her and let her sleep next to Traevyn, but his selfishness apparently won out over his out of character niceness.
Since they had arrived in Sedona rather late in the day, the first thing they did was find a place to eat dinner. They all decided on a Mexican restaurant that had a man playing people’s requests on a guitar and interacting with the audience. The atmosphere was pleasant and all of them had the opportunity to relax after their travels.
“S
o, you’re Traevyn’s apprentice?” Ashton asked Evie as Seth studied all of Talis’s arm tattoos in mesmerized silence.
Evie nodded. “For the summer. My art history professor chose me for the program.”
He grinned. “What school do you go to?”
“SOU in Ashland, Oregon.” She met his eyes and gave him a little smile.
“SOU is my alma mater as well,” Traevyn interjected. “Evie’s professor was mine years ago, and I agreed to take on an apprentice as a favor to him.”
“How do you like living with my brother so far?” Talis questioned with a knowing smile.
“He’s actually been very hospitable.”
Traevyn chuckled. “Yes, after you ripped me another one about my abhorrent behavior, I decided it would be in my best interests to be more agreeable.”
Evie met his eyes and she gave a shy smile, feeling her cheeks turn pink. “So, what do you do, Ashton?”
“Please, call me Ash. Everyone else does.” He grinned again. “I’m a waiter during the renaissance faire off season, but when the fairs start up again, I’m off with Tal.”
She grinned, intrigued. “What do you do at them?”
“I joust,” he replied.
Talis rolled his eyes. “You joust. Sounds like you’re baking a cake.” He met Evie’s eyes. “Ash is the best jouster I have ever seen. He’s won more contests than I could even count.”
Ash chuckled and waved it away. “Evie, would you like a drink? I was going to get something for myself. Want anything?”
She gave him a broad grin. “Yes, thank you. A strawberry margarita, please.” She had been eyeballing the drink menu earlier and was more than happy to take Ash up on his offer.
He winked at her and headed to the bar.
Traevyn watched Ash walk away with a disgruntled expression before he gave a slight huff and turned his attention back to his brother. “Talis, when are you planning on dragging us up to Flagstaff for this ridiculous sport tomorrow?”
Talis shrugged. “I was thinking maybe around noon or so.”
“Can we leave earlier and go to the Grand Canyon? I’d like to show Evie.”
He nodded. “Sure. Everyone should see it at least once.”
She grinned and held Traevyn’s gaze for a moment before Ash returned with her drink. “Thank you,” she said with a bright smile.
Ash flashed her his beautiful grin.
Evie bobbed her head in time to the song that was currently being played, even though she had no clue what it was. “I wish they’d play Stairway to Heaven,” she said to no one in particular. “That’s my favorite.”
Seth frowned. “You like Led Zeppelin?”
“What’s wrong with Led Zeppelin?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Well nothing, but it doesn’t really go with your mood music and your Lenny Kravitz.”
Talis chuckled and Traevyn smiled.
Evie scowled at her brother. “Whatever.”
Suddenly, Ash, who had apparently gone somewhere, sat back down and the musician said, “This song is for the pretty girl in the pink shirt.”
Evie looked down at her shirt, then blinked in bewilderment as Stairway to Heaven started to weave its way through the restaurant. She looked over at Ash, who winked at her again. She grinned.
Seth glanced from Ash to Evie and frowned. Then he looked at Traevyn, who suddenly seemed to be rather interested in the napkin on the table.
The rest of dinner went by pleasantly and afterward everyone headed back to Talis’s house to unwind. It was decided that everyone would go to sleep early since the Grand Canyon was two hours away from Sedona and no one wanted to be rushed the next morning.
Evie thought that Traevyn had been rather quiet since dinner, but she didn’t say anything about it. Traevyn was, after all, known to lapse into brooding silence every once in awhile.
After Talis and Ash turned in for the night, Traevyn pulled out the hide-a-bed where Seth fell asleep almost instantly and started to snore. Traevyn and Evie exchanged a glance and laughed softly.
“We have all these crazy pictures of him when he was little,” Evie said. “He can fall asleep anywhere in seconds. It’s always amazed me.” She spread a blanket across the couch and tried to figure out where to put her pillow. Either way, one end of her body was going to be really close to Traevyn’s face since her part of the sectional was attached to the hide-a-bed. “Do you want the feet or the head?” she asked.
He arched an eyebrow. “Well, I think the head would be the best choice.”
She giggled and set her pillow down. She went to brush her teeth and wash her face in the bathroom while Traevyn changed, and she took her time getting into her pajamas and going about her nightly routine.
When she was finished, she opened up the door to see Ash standing on the other side in only a pair of blue plaid pajama pants. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were waiting.” She tried to keep from gaping at his perfect upper body. Good lord, he was buff. Six pack and everything… She could see his arm band tattoo now. It was some Celtic pattern and he had a double bladed battle axe tattooed right in the middle of his chest. Something about that was very sexy to her.
Ash smiled. “No, it’s okay. I wasn’t waiting long.” He pointed to her pajamas, which were pink and had karate chopping monkeys on the pants. The equally pink shirt had Girls Kick Butt written across it. “Cute PJ’s,” he commented.
A faint blush touched her cheeks as she looked down at them. She realized she wasn’t wearing a bra either, which made her blush worse. She wasn’t worried about Traevyn. She had been living with him for two months now, and she was usually in her PJ’s when they spent their evenings together. She was comfortable with him seeing her, but Ash was a complete stranger. A hot stranger who had been flirting with her all night.
“Hey, the air conditioner panel is in the kitchen,” he stated. “I know you guys live by the ocean so it’s probably a heck of a lot cooler there at night. It gets pretty sweltering here so if you need to turn it up, go ahead.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
He grinned and maneuvered past her into the bathroom. “See you tomorrow. If you need anything, just ask.”
She smiled and nodded again. He shut the door and she turned to go back into the living room. Traevyn sat on the edge of the bed, brushing out his shining hair. She grinned and went to him. “Can I?” she questioned, holding her hand out.
He looked up at her and smiled. He handed her the brush and turned his back to her. “Braid it, if you would,” he said. “I don’t need it strangling you and Seth in your sleep.”
She giggled and gathered his thick mane in her hands. She sighed as she began to brush it. “I love your hair, Traevyn,” she commented. “It’s so beautiful.”
Her words sent warmth into his heart. “Thank you.”
“It was what first caught my attention when I saw you,” she continued. “I’d never seen a man with such long hair. It was a surprise. That and the fact that you were towering over me in such a menacing fashion.”
He chuckled. “I hated you that day, hated you intruding on my solitude.” He shook his head. That seemed like forever ago. He couldn’t fathom ever hating Evie now. She was the only beautiful thing in his world. “Evie,” he said softly, “I can never repay you for what you’ve done for me.”
She frowned. “Like what? Clean your enormous house and cook you dinner?”
He smiled. “No… Since day one you have seen me, seen through every barrier, every harsh word or action. Your friendship…it means so much to me.”
“I don’t know what I did, really,” she murmured.
He turned to look at her just as she finished braiding his hair. “You made me open up,” he said. “You forced me to face what I was hiding from. You have shown me warmth and compassion and understanding when I offered you nothing but cold resentment. Evie,” he took her hands in his, “you did nothing more than be yourself, which ended up being the best gift
I could ever receive.” He shook his head. “You and Seth… You are both so special to me.” For some reason, his heart felt heavy in his chest, and his chest felt constricted and pained. It was as if his heart was trying to tell him something, but he was unsure of the message. It had been bothering him all night. Since dinner actually… For some reason he couldn’t quite place his finger on, all he wanted to do was have Evie as close to him as possible. It was strange and out of character, and Seth’s blasted words kept ringing over and over again in his mind.
Evie averted her gaze and smiled, but it looked forced. “You are very special to me too, Traevyn,” she murmured. “A very special friend.”
Her voice caught on the word friend, but he didn’t ask her about it. He smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek.
Evie’s eyes fluttered closed and, without thinking, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Traevyn’s eyes widened, but he pulled her into his arms and held her. Warmth filled him, that delicious warmth that he cherished. The warmth that always chased the shadows from his heart. He breathed in the smell of her, a feminine, clean smell that attacked his senses in a dramatic, yet very subtle way. He pulled away and gazed down into her hazel eyes with a sigh. He had his palm against the side of her face, rubbing his thumb across the soft satin of her skin. He let his eyes roam over her before they fell on her lips, supple, full and soft-looking. He could barely remember what they had felt like when she’d kissed him in the car. It had been so fleeting. He imagined they were perfect. Perfect and warm and gentle, just like everything else about Evie… Well, except maybe her fiery temper.
Traevyn realized with some confusion just exactly what he was thinking and he dropped his hand. He cleared his throat. “Get some sleep, Evie,” he whispered.
She nodded and pulled away, but seemed reluctant to do so. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She laid down and pulled the cover over her.
Traevyn turned out the light and climbed under the covers, all too aware of Evie’s head lying perpendicular and very close to his. The smell of her hair attacked him once again, and he closed his eyes. He clenched his jaw as feelings he had thought dead to him came flooding back in a torrent. Desire… It had been so long since he had desired anyone, but the feeling was unmistakable. Where had it come from? Why so suddenly? Had it been lurking close to the surface for some time just waiting to pounce? Something inside him already knew the answer was yes.
Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) Page 15
