The Scarlett Legacy (Woodland Creek)(25)

Parker looked even more attractive when his blond hair was messy in the morning. Evie ran her hands through his hair, letting the strands slip through her fingers.

“Good. Because I’d find you,” he said, tickling her.

With a laugh, she pulled away. She smacked his hands. “You know I hate being tickled,” she said.

She put bacon on their plates and they sat together at his breakfast bar.

“How did you sleep? Any nightmares?”

Evie shrugged. “I’ve had crazy dreams and nightmares since childhood.”

“Don’t you write them down?”

She took a bite of bacon and nodded. “I have since middle school.”

“That’s right. I remember stealing that journal once.”

“I remember that too,” she said with a grin. “You were such a pest back then.”

“You were so easy to annoy.” He laughed. He drank a gulp of his coffee and closed his eyes in bliss. “God, this is all so good. Thanks, baby,” he said and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.

“I was pretty spoiled back then.”

He raised a brow. “And you aren’t now?”

She laughed.

“Wait. I remember reading some of your nightmares. It was some pretty sick stuff for a little girl to be dreaming about.”

Evie chewed a chunk of pineapple, her smile fading.

“Did any of that stuff really happen?”

Her stomach churned. She stared at her plate. “Which stuff?”

“Not the stuff about wizards, obviously,” he said, chuckling. “But what about the dead bodies you saw in the basement.”

Evie swallowed. How could she tell him that both parts were completely true?

She faked a grin. “It must have come from a movie I shouldn’t have been watching.”

“Yeah,” he said. He checked his watch. “We better get going soon. I want to catch my parents together before dad heads off to the diner.”

Evie nodded. “Good idea. It’ll make it easier that way.”

Parker cleared his throat. He reached into the pocket of his basketball shorts and placed a box on the counter.

“Might as well tell give them the good news early.”

Evie’s face drained of color when her eyes landed on the square, cream-colored box.

Tear-filled eyes flickered up to Parker’s.

Her heart beat so fast that she could barely catch her breath. No words came out of her mouth when her lips parted.

Was this really happening?

The smile on Parker’s face was so big that she couldn’t help but do the same.

He took her hand and stood from the bar stool. Gently, he pulled her to her feet.

Evie covered her mouth with her other hand as Parker went to one knee.

She balled as he opened the little box, revealing a perfect princess-cut diamond on a white gold band.

“Evie,” Parker said, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “I think you know that I’ve loved you since we were kids running around in the woods pretending to be knights of the roundtable.”

Evie laughed. She missed those times. They always made up the best games to play together.

“I was one hell of a knight.”

He kissed her hand. “Yes, you were.” He let go of her hand to take the ring from the box. “But I think you’d make an even better wife.”

She beamed through tears of joy.

“Will you be mine?”

She nodded. “Yes!”

He put the ring on her finger and she let out an elated squeal, tackling him to the ground with hugs and kisses.

Laughing, he held her up by her waist while she straddled him on the floor. “Whoa,” he said. “Easy now, baby.”

She laughed. “I love you more than anything. Oh my goodness. You’re going to be my husband!”

He nodded and kissed her full on the lips. “I was going to propose at the Halloween party, but thought I’d do it early since we are leaving.”

“I’m glad you didn’t wait.”

“Good. Now, how does celebrating our engagement in Paris sound?”

Evie’s jaw dropped. “Sounds like a dream.”

He kissed her again. “Good, because I want to replace your nightmares with only dreams of happiness and our lives together.”

Her heart melted at those words.

How can I be so lucky?

Life couldn’t get any better at that moment. Still, something in her stomach made her feel a bit queasy. Perhaps it was her constant fear that when things were going right that something always seemed to go wrong. She shoved that feeling and notion aside and just prayed that nothing would rip her happiness away.





WES HEARD HER STILETTO HEELS on the tile floor before she even passed the front of his office. He shut down his computers and closed his laptop when Olivia knocked on his office’s door.

“Come in.”

Olivia opened the door and stuck her face in. Her hair was pulled back in a single ponytail and she still wore her lab coat.

Beautiful, he thought. No matter what she did to her hair or how many tattoos she insisted on having, she was beautiful to him.

Her dark eyes glanced around the large office. “You’re not busy, are you?”

“No. I just finished writing up the grant for the St. Delpna’s Foundation.” He tucked his laptop in its bag and stood from his desk.