Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

41. Eden

FORTY-ONE

EDEN

That menacing, intimidating man panted in front of me.

A wicked temptation.

A beautiful wish.

Hungry eyes and trembling hands.

This gorgeous being. If only he could see what I saw.

“Eden.” He rumbled the grunt.

“I love you, Trent. With all of me. With everything. You are my light. The fire that burns inside me.”

His darkly beautiful brow curled.

I took a step in his direction. I swore, I felt the Earth tremble beneath my feet. “There is nothing that could stand in the way of that. As long as you don’t allow it to. I see your demons, Trent. I’ve felt them, and I’ve fought them. And I’ll do it forever as long as you do it for me. You just have to make the choice to love me. Choose me, Trent. Because you and your son? You’ve become my reason.”

Energy lashed.

Shockwaves of intensity.

Strikes of need.

But there was also something else in his expression.

Surrender.

Like maybe he finally understood.

“Kitten.” A big palm cupped my face, and he exhaled. Heated and hard. “Tell me you mean it. Tell me you want this. Tell me I’m not dreaming. Tell me you’re mine.”

My hand covered his.

A quiver of chaos.

A perfect disorder.

My tongue darted out to wet my lips. “I think I’ve been yours since the first time I walked through Absolution’s doors.”

A lure and a trap.

The way I didn’t belong but there’d been nowhere to run.

Sooty eyes flashed, and we began to sway. “It’s not even a choice, Kitten. You stole my heart with a glance.”

“And you owned me with the first whisper of your fingers.”

His nose brushed against mine. “I want to be right.”

“You’re everything.”

He exhaled. “You and me?”

“Forever,” I answered.

His mouth captured mine.

It wasn’t sweet.

It was rough.

Hard and raw.

Darkly beautiful like the man.

I felt it like a landslide.

He hiked me up, pressed me to the wall. By the chin, he forced me to look at him as his hips pressed against mine.

He gazed down at me like I was the sun. “Little Temptress.”

But he was the hope of my eternity. “Sweet Warrior.”

Because that’s what he’d been all along. From day one.

He groaned as he ripped at the collar of my dress and exposed my breast. A moan clawed up from my spirit as he palmed it, as he devoured my neck, the man leaving a trail of sizzling kisses from my jaw down to my nipple.

He sucked and licked and whipped me into a bundle of white-hot nerves.

Desperate hands and a tangle of souls.

Greed and possession.

He tore free my underwear while I yanked at his fly.

Desperate.

“I need you…I need this,” I confessed.

“Never thought I’d get this again.” His was a lament. “Fuck, Eden, love you.”

“Forever.”

He stumbled with me in his arms, turning me until we were falling onto the couch.

Emotion swept.

Overwhelming.

Consuming.

All the pieces shifting to right, where they’d been meant to be all along.

This man had brought me back from the dead. Stoked to life a heart that had never truly beat. Now every beat would beat for him.

I fumbled to shove his jeans down his hips while he shoved up my skirt.

He thrust into me. So big and so incredibly deep.

The air raked from my lungs and a grunt tumbled from his mouth.

I struggled to adjust to the perfect feel of him while he frantically wrapped me in his arms.

“Gonna be right,” he whispered, brushing back the wet hair matted to my face.

“You already are,” I whispered back.

This beautiful, terrifying man.

The one I gave my heart.

My body.

My belief.

Because loving someone was worth the risk.

We didn’t know our days and we couldn’t control our histories.

But we had here. We had now. And every one of those minutes would belong to Trent Lawson and his son.

“Thank you.” Massive arms squeezed me tight.

A crush of affection and gratitude crested from the burly, brute of a man as Jud hugged me against his giant frame.

His words came as a low, tight murmur at my ear. “Thank you for fightin’ for him. For Gage. For saving him. Fuck…for saving all of us, really. You crazy, brave girl.” The last was a tease. An admonition.

I’d gotten lectured for about an hour straight by Logan and Jud not to ever do something so reckless again. I told them I prayed we’d never be back in that position.

But the truth was, I didn’t regret it. Would do it all over again. A hundred times over.

I squeezed him back just as fiercely as he hugged me. “We fight for the ones we love.”

His nod was slow. “And you see him for who he really is.”

I tightened my hold.

A promise.

I did.

I saw Trent for who he was, and I’d love him through it all, no matter what it meant.

Jud peeled himself back then strode over to where Trent waited by the door. The fortress of a man overcome. It was clear he was dealing with his own demons right then.

Jud squeezed Trent’s shoulder.

Trent gave him a tight dip of his chin.

The two were immersed in a silent conversation. Silent understanding.

Like in the connection, every atrocity they witnessed, every fear they’d shared, every hope that had been shattered, passed between them.

Now Trent and I shared in some of that, too.

The trauma.

The tragedy.

A crater in the middle where the ones we loved would echo their presence forever.

My gaze met the ferocity of Trent’s from across the space.

But I believed we had the ability to rise above it.

The suffering and the regrets. The questions and what-ifs.

Gage came bounding down Logan’s stairs, that huge backpack bouncing all over his shoulders.

So sweet he nearly dropped me to my knees. “Miss Murphy, Miss Murphy. I’m all ready to go. I got all my things and my colors and I made you something super extra special while I was waiting on you guys forever. Sheesh. Dontcha know you shouldn’t work so much?”

My heart lifted.

Expanded and danced.

I took him by the hand. “I’m sorry we took so long, but we’re here now.”

And we weren’t going anywhere.

“Okay, good because you know we’ve gotta have all the special times because we love each other so much to the highest mountain and you gotta make time for the ones you love.”

He gave one of those resolute nods.

Cheeks dimpling.

So sincere.

My smile was soft and slow as the fingers on my free hand fluttered through the strands of gold that framed his precious face.

This child—he had my life.

“You ready?” Trent asked.

“I am.” It came on a whisper. A promise.

Yes. I was ready. Ready to move on.

To live.

To love.

To hope.

To believe.

It was time Trent got all of those, too, and I couldn’t wait to share it with him.

I hugged Logan who stepped back and watched us with one of his cocky, playful smirks, though there was no hiding the affection that flooded out as he glanced at his brother then back at me. “Make sure he gets some.”

Gage started jumping at my side. “What’s he gonna get? Ice cream? Please, please, please say it’s ice cream!”

Redness flushed.

“F-off dude.” Trent widened his eyes at his brother.

Logan cracked up. “You know you love me.”

Trent looked between his brothers. “Couldn’t do this life without you.”

Love pressed and rippled. Pushed against the walls.

Ricocheted and amplified.

So much of it, it made it hard to breathe.

For a moment, the three of them just stood silent, like they were giving themselves a moment to finally put their pasts in the past.

Realizing they had a future. That they no longer had to watch their backs or live in fear.

That owl bobbed on Trent’s throat when he swallowed hard, then he shifted a fraction and took my hand.

Inviting me into it.

Then he reached over and took Gage’s.

Joy bounded.

We all clamored out to my rental and climbed in.

We totally got ice cream. The three of us sat together in a little parlor while Gage rambled away.

Hope surrounded us.

Wrapped us in warmth.

Yes, there was sadness, too. A bone deep kind that would probably never heal. A piece in the shape of my sister carved in the middle of me.

Aaron.

My own mother.

Trent threaded his fingers in mine, glancing my way with understanding.

“Together,” he whispered.

I gripped his hand tight. “Together.”

Then all the somberness fled and he shot me one of those wicked smiles. The playful kind. The kind that would do me in.

He dabbed my nose with his ice cream cone.

“Ah, Kitten, you’ve got a little something right here.” He teased it on a low voice before he leaned in and licked it off.

My mouth dropped open in surprise.

He laughed, this rumbly sound that vibrated all the way to my thighs.

I pushed him against the shoulder. “You jerk.”

“What?” He was all feigned innocence.

Gage howled like it was the funniest thing his dad had ever done. “My turn!”

He climbed over the table and did the same to his dad. All except for the licking part. “Dad, you got something right here!”

Laughter filled our table.

Our hearts.

The room.

The softest smile played at my mouth as I gazed over at Trent. “You’re a terrible influence.”

It was so low I almost mouthed it, and then Trent was pressing that delicious mouth to my ear. “I’ll show you terrible influence.”

Butterflies scattered and danced.

Anticipation.

Yearning.

Intent.

“I can’t wait.”

We finished our ice cream and then drove back to my house, the trees shifting in the deepening night, the stars twinkling to life.

Trent grabbed their bags, and I unlocked the door, and we piled inside.

We planned to stay here temporarily.

Or maybe forever.

Because these walls no longer felt like loneliness.

They no longer echoed with the vacancy.

And I prayed, here in this little place, we’d find peace.

Gage went racing for his room , and I helped him put away his things and get ready for bed.

I knelt beside that bed, my heart pressing full against my ribs as I read him a story.

As the dreams I’d once had bloomed.

Blossomed in the most beautiful way.

He grinned that dimpled grin, kissed my nose before he reached out and touched the bracelet on my wrist. “I love you to the highest mountain in the world, Miss Murphy.”

“And I love you all the way back.”

Trent tucked him in, kissed his temple, and tickled him a little before he moved away and flicked off the light.

Then he took my hand, led me to my room, and over to my bed.

This menacing, intimidating man with the biggest heart.

He laid us down and curled the strength of those arms around me.

I propped myself on my elbow so I could look down at him.

At the fierce lines and unforgettable angles.

This man who’d changed everything.

Tongue darting out to lick across his plush lips, he tucked the lock of hair that fell against my face behind my ear. “Can’t believe I’m here with you. After everything. You’re amazing, Eden. Hope you know it’s grace I see when I look at you.”

My chest squeezed.

“I love you…more than you could know.”

“If it’s a fraction as much as I love you, then it’s more than enough.” He grinned a soft grin. One that twisted through my insides and sent need drumming in my veins.

“Hmm…good thing I love you to the highest mountain.” A smile played around my lips as I let go of the tease.

Affection flooded Trent’s face.

Adoration.

“We do this family thing together, yeah?”

I nodded, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth. Warmth flooding fast. “I’ll never think of him as anything but my own.”

The wings on the owl bobbed and danced as he swallowed deep. “Never could have imagined we’d get a gift like you. Good thing you’re stubborn.”

I feigned a gasp. “Stubborn? Me?”

“Refusing to leave without an interview. Fierce little kitten.”

I let my fingertips play along his jaw. “I’m pretty sure had I left you would have come prowling after me.”

“Probably so. Saw you sitting in that booth and knew you were nothing but trouble. Wanted you the second I saw you.”

A hand spread across my bottom.

I suppressed a moan and a giggle, whispered, “Is that all you want me for, this body?”

“No, Eden. I want this kind heart and this quick mind. I want this sweet soul and your devoted spirit.”

Love rushed.

Ran and overflowed.

The man a dark sea where I’d be glad to drown.

I yelped in surprise when he suddenly flipped me and pinned me to the bed, nothing but a wicked, lustful grin looking down on me.

“Of course, I’ll take this tight, little body of yours, too.”

“Good thing because it’s yours.”

His smile softened, and he pressed a tender kiss to my lips, whispered, “Oh, Kitten, we’re gonna have so much fun.”