The Scarlett Legacy (Woodland Creek)(3)

EVIE BREATHED A SIGH OF RELIEF when she woke up to the real world. Her dream world was too frightening to remain in any longer. Nonetheless, she needed to wake up and get ready for class.

Evie peeked an eye open and suppressed a grin when she saw Parker looking back at her from his side of the bed.

All was right with the world when he smiled at her like that. Blood, tears, and agony melted into the back of her mind when she was near him.

Evie covered her mouth and giggled. Who would have ever guessed that Evie Scarlett had one of the most desired men in town in her bed, madly in love with her?

Perhaps her luck was changing.

She could see it in his eyes. Parker Drake loved her… and she didn’t even have to use any magic.

He kissed her on the forehead. “I caught you,” he said, sitting up. He reached for his shirt on the floor and pulled it over his tousled blond hair.

Oh why’d you have to do that? Evie hated to watch him cover his abs. Like a Greek god he towered over her. There was so much to love about his body, but his ripped abdomen was one of her favorite parts.

She sat up on her elbow. “Caught me doing what?” She reached over to her antique nightstand and put her black-rimmed glasses on.

He smirked. “Watching me sleep.”

Laughing, Evie rested her head back on her pillow. “You’re crazy.”

He stood and pulled his pants on. “Am I? You’re the one watching me sleep like a loon.”

Evie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You’re not that hot.” She lied. He reminded her of Thor. He was that hot.

“Liar,” he said and walked over to her floor-to-ceiling window to gaze out into the early morning sky.

“Perhaps,” Evie said with a smirk.

Parker came back. He climbed into the bed and held himself over her body in a push up position. His eyes glanced down at her exposed breasts and back to her face.

Evie kept to herself just how much she adored his blue eyes, hooded with thick dark lashes. His lips were perfectly smooth and full for kissing. As if he could read her mind Parker leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was glad that she was able to push the fact that they had been best friends since childhood away long enough to see Parker as a man — a smoking hot man that she couldn’t seem to get enough of.

He was her first and only lover, and she prayed that they would remain together forever.

Just the thought of losing him frightened her.

The town called the Scarlett family cursed. Evie didn’t disagree. She and her older brother, Wesley were the last of the Scarlett legacy, and they were both cursed in ways the townspeople couldn’t imagine.

One more year and Evie could have the inheritance she needed to escape.

She just hoped and prayed she could stay alive that long.

While Parker’s tongue caressed hers Evie ran her hands through his dark blond hair.

Parker slid his fingers into her panties and she stopped him.

Smiling, she shook her head. “As much as I’d like to go again, I need to get to class.”

“I know. Me too. I have one at nine.” Parker kissed her again. “Tonight then?”

“Mother will be back by then.”

“Oh yes. I almost forgot. Your mother still treats you like a fifteen year old.”

“She just doesn’t want anything to happen to me.”

Evie almost felt like a prisoner at times. After her father died her mother increased her overprotective nature. She didn’t blame her. Their family had seen their share of violence over the years.

At least she had her brother, Wes. He always watched over and protected her and as head of the family now, he gave her more freedom than their mother would.

“I wish you didn’t have to follow her rules. You’re not a little girl anymore.”

“She’s still my mother. I think I’ll always keep her wishes in mind no matter how old I get,” Evie said.

“I think you should move out. Your father left Scarlett Hall to Wes. Where does that leave you?”

Evie shrugged. She would miss the home she had grown up in. There were so many memories in those walls, both good and bad.

“I have an inheritance. It’s okay. I don’t want to live here forever. You know that.”

Parker climbed off of her and started picking up his shoes from the floor. “Well tomorrow then. Just come to my place. You should just move in with me.”

Evie sat up and stretched. Her arms were still sore from the workout Parker put her through the day before. Being trained by a boxer was brutal, but he was determined to make her capable of protecting herself.

If he only knew.

She winced at the pain in her biceps. “All the way in New Town?”

He raised a brow. “What’s wrong with New Town? It’s a lot more fun than out here in the country.”

Evie took off her panties and headed for her shower. “You grew up out here in the country.”

“Yeah, and now I live in the modern era.”

He was right. She did love his loft apartment. It made her almost feel as though they were in another city.

“Okay.” She turned on the water and grabbed her toothbrush while the shower heated up. “Let’s meet tomorrow at the bookstore when my shift is over. We can talk then.”