Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

26. Eden

TWENTY-SIX

EDEN

I stood just outside Gage’s bedroom door. Trent knelt at his bedside as the night pressed at the window, that potent, intimidating man gently running his fingers through his son’s hair as he tucked him in. As he murmured sweet words that made his son giggle.

As he adored him. As he loved him.

As he proved he was made of layers and substance.

Of bone and heart and spirit.

Of beauty and darkness.

Enigmatic.

Mysterious.

Kind and good.

Ferocious and terrifying.

Trent had asked Jud if he would keep an eye on Absolution so he could take a few days off, and after Jud and Logan had left, the three of us had spent the day together.

We’d played out back. Laughing under the tree as we’d pushed Gage on the swing. I’d made them spaghetti for dinner, and we’d eaten at the table before we’d snuggled on the couch to watch a movie as the sun had set.

It’d all felt so natural. So right. Even though I could tell Trent was continually on edge.

Watching.

Listening.

Prepared.

On the sly, he’d check his phone for news, though when I’d asked if he’d found out anything, he’d said he didn’t have any information. That Jud was digging, though he gave me no insight or details, only said that he didn’t have any idea of who was responsible for last night.

I could feel him wrapping me in a hedge of protection. A wall he kept me girded behind, terrified to let me see to the other side to where I knew his past prowled.

Lurking and waiting to devour.

I could feel it.

Sense it in the air.

Almost as intensely as I could feel this .

The love that radiated. So bright and blinding that I felt enraptured by it. Held in its gravity. A force that beckoned and blew and compelled me to take a step forward.

It locked in my throat on a knot of emotion as Trent leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to Gage’s head. “Night, little dude.”

Gage grinned. Ear to ear. Those dimples denting and his eyes flashing in the bare light. “Night, night, sleep tight, don’t you dare let the bed bugs bite.”

Trent chuckled.

Warm and devoted.

“No way are any bed bugs getting in here.”

“’cause you’ll chase ’em away, right, Dad, right?”

“That’s right, buddy. Won’t let anything get near you.”

“Because my dad is the best dad in the whole world. Just like I got the best teacher in the whole world and I love her so much and she’s your girlfriend.”

I wobbled at that, my knees weak as I watched the sweet scene. As they both looked my way and a flood of affection slammed me so hard that I lost balance. My hand shot to the doorframe in an attempt to keep myself steady.

There I stood, so close to everything I’d ever wanted. So close to the dreams I’d all but given up on because I’d believed they were no longer meant for me. That I’d lost my chance.

And I wanted this to be mine.

My chance.

My reason.

Trent looked at me like maybe I could be a part of his, too. Though there was no missing the reservations. The lingering belief that he’d stolen the little joy he had, and it’d be flirting with disaster to ask for more.

Begging for his broken heart to get slaughtered.

I understood it.

I understood it.

And still…

I sucked for air when Trent finally stood.

That imposing body filled the space, and his aura rushed me in a wave of greed.

“One more kiss, Miss Murphy!” Gage called, breaking me from the spell the man cast.

I eased in that way, a smile fumbling on my face as I fought the moisture that kept stinging my eyes. I leaned down and pecked a kiss on Gage’s cheek. “There.”

He grinned, those eyes so brilliant, so sweet. “More!”

I kept crossing all the lines I shouldn’t cross, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care. I just started to pepper kisses all over his face, his nose and his chin and his cheeks and his eyes, making smacking noises as I did.

All while I held a sob deep in my chest. This love that wanted to break free.

Gage grabbed my face in both of his small hands. “My turn! I’m gonna give you a billion kisses, too!”

He smacked little kisses all over my face. Turning me inside out. Twisting me in two.

My heart in his tiny, tiny fist.

I wanted to sing.

I wanted to weep.

“Goodnight, my sweet Gage,” I finally managed to say.

Before I lost it, I tore myself away, holding it in as I moved for the door as quickly as I could. I rushed out into the hall, my back to the door as Trent rumbled a few more words to Gage before the light flicked off and his footsteps thudded on the floor. The door creaked as he partially closed it, leaving it open an inch.

His presence washed over me from behind.

So big.

So beautiful.

Everything I’d ever wanted, and so much I hadn’t known I needed.

His fingers brushed down my arm. Chills lifted.

“Eden?” He whispered it like a question.

I barely managed to peek at him from over my shoulder. “You’re such a good father.”

There was no keeping the emotion out of it. The way my mouth trembled and my spirit shook.

“I’m trying to be.”

“There’s no trying to it. That child…he’s amazing, Trent. So amazing. I…”

How did I tell him that I wanted it? To be a part of it?

Trent pressed his hand to the small of my back as he rounded to my front. His palm moved up my spine until he was cupping the back of my neck. With his thumb, he tipped up my chin.

Understanding filled his dark eyes as tears slipped from mine.

“I see you, too, Eden, and I wish I could give you everything. Everything you need. Everything you deserve. Wish I could heal every broken part inside you. Hold it. And I’m so fuckin’ scared I’m going to be the one to tear you down.”

“I don’t think that’s possible when you’re the one holding me up. Sweet warrior.”

Pain eclipsed every inch of his face.

“What?”

“My mother used to call me that.”

Agony fisted. “Oh.”

He edged in closer, his spirit alive. “I wanted to live up to that. Wanted to so damned bad.”

“You are for us.”

“Eden.”

“What happened to her?” I chanced.

His expression hardened, a barrier trying to drop between us. His words were shards. “Lost her when I was a kid.”

I didn’t push farther, only touched his face. “I’m so sorry. You’ve lost so much.”

That barrier fell for a beat. “No more, Eden. No more losing the ones I love.”

“Are you afraid?” I whispered.

“Terrified,” he admitted.

“Who is after you, Trent? Who would do this?” My chest ached with the thought of someone that evil. That cruel.

His fiercely beautiful face pinched. “I don’t want you to worry about that.”

“Trent—”

Desperation flashed. “Please, Eden. Let me take care of you.”

“I don’t want you to hide from me.”

“Couldn’t if I tried, baby. I need you. I fuckin’ need you.”

His forehead dropped to mine and the words scraped from his mouth. “Tell me you need me, too. Tell me that tonight none of this other shit matters. Tell me nothin’ right now counts except for me and you.”

“Nothing matters right now, Trent. Nothing but me and you. Nothing but this .”

I wondered if he knew that included Gage. Included this little family that was slowly staking its claim on me. On my heart. On my soul. On who I was.

Because the hand at the back of my neck curled in possession, and the other was splaying wide, gripping me by the bottom and pulling me against every rock-hard inch of the man. “Little Temptress.”

I whimpered a needy sound. “It’s me who can’t resist you.”

Trent growled.

Then he hiked me up and into his arms. In an instant, I was pressed to the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist and his mouth devouring mine.

It was a clash of tongues.

Greed.

Lust.

Fire.

My dress was bunched around my waist, and he took the opportunity to burrow his fingers into my bare thighs.

His touch searing me through.

Our movements were a blur.

Impassioned kisses.

Heated hands.

Feverish whispers.

He kissed me as he carried me into his room, pressing me against every surface as we went. Furniture banged and fabric ripped and souls sang.

Hungry caresses and needy touches.

Taking. Taking. Taking.

I was on fire.

Burning.

Dying in the dark haze that was this man.

He blindly fumbled into the nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom.

In a flash, my panties were gone, and Trent’s jeans were shoved around his thighs.

No thought but this.

This.

It was the only thing that mattered.

He covered himself then drove into me.

Overcome.

Like I could be the source that sustained life.

I cried out at the feel of him.

At the full intrusion.

At the bliss.

He didn’t slow. His fingers sank into my bottom as he thrust, my back pinned to his bedroom wall and my arms wrapped around his head.

He filled me and filled me, his heart running in jagged, erratic beats.

Mine raced and my head spun and my body conceded to the power of his.

He took me hard.

Desperately.

Urgently.

Brazenly.

He grunted and gripped and drove.

Never letting go.

The way he’d promised.

“Don’t let me go.” I whispered it as I gasped. As my fingers clutched in the locks of his hair and my spirit writhed and leapt and called out to meet with his.

Trent took me whole.

Devoured and destroyed.

I felt myself flying away.

No longer touching the ground.

The pleasure too beautiful. Too staggering. Too great.

Gathering and building.

Driving me to the highest high.

I lost myself there. In the peaks of paradise. Where I split apart. Where I floated through ecstasy.

Wave after wave.

Trent met me there as he came, as he grunted, “Heaven. Heaven.”

And I clung to him as our bodies bowed and jerked and blazed with this thrill. With the driving sensation. With the bliss that streaked and boomed and sang.

But it was bigger than that. Brighter. This place where we met. Far, far above the middle. In a place that only belonged to us.

My arms curled tight as I slumped against his body.

The two of us drenched, panting, trying to catch our breaths and still breathing the other.

“Heaven,” Trent murmured again.

I hugged him so tight.

As fiercely as he was holding me.

Because I wanted it for him.

Heaven.

Peace.

For him to look in the mirror and not see a monster.

To know he was far more than just redeemable.

I wanted him to know.

To know he was precious to me.