Eternal Love: (The Cursed Series, Book 4)

by Kara Leigh Miller

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT:

  Stranded

  I WOKE UP AND STRETCHED MY arms above my head. For a cheap hotel, this bed was surprisingly comfortable, and I’d slept better than I had in a long time. Having Trent snuggled next to me helped, too.

  Propping myself up on my elbows, I glanced around. Trent wasn’t in the room, and I frowned. We’d been driving for the past two days and were less than seven hours from home, but it had been late last night, and I’d begged Trent to stop so we could both sleep. There hadn’t been any large chain hotels, so we ended up finding a small, secluded motel in the middle of nowhere.

  I’d called Aunt Beth the day I’d left Malibu, and she wasn’t too happy that I was driving home—she thought I was making the road trip alone because I still hadn’t told her Trent was with me—nor was she pleased that I’d be missing a few days of school.

  “Morning.” Trent walked in, his hair and shoulders covered with snow. “So, bad news. A blizzard is moving through, and almost all the roads are closed. Looks like we’re stuck here for at least a day or so.” He held up two grocery bags. “Good news is I got food.”

  That meant I’d have to call Aunt Beth again and let her know I was stranded in a blizzard, which wouldn’t make her any happier. I really needed to tell her I was with Trent, if for no other reason than to ease her worry.

  My disappointment about not making it home today was brief. “How is being stranded in a motel with me bad news?”

  He grinned. “Oh, it’s not.” He set the bags on the table, brushed the snow from his shoulders and shook it out of his hair. “I just know you’re eager to get home.”

  “Yeah, but getting home means I have to go back to Aunt Beth’s, and you have to go back to your house. I’m not eager for that to happen.”

  “Me either.” He kneeled on the bed and gave me a long, slow kiss that turned my brain to mush. “I really like our sleepovers.”

  “Me too.” I smiled and welcomed another kiss. “You got food for me, but what about you? When was the last time you fed?”

  “I’ll be fine.” He stood and disappeared into the bathroom and returned a moment later with a towel that he used to dry his hair.

  “That doesn’t really answer my question,” I said.

  Yawning, I climbed out of bed and pulled back the heavy curtain. The sky was dark and angry, vomiting snow hard and fast. The wind howled and whipped the snow around so violently I couldn’t even see the parking lot clearly.

  Trent slipped his arms around my stomach and nuzzled my neck. “I’m fine. I promise.”

  Sighing, I leaned into him. “You can feed on me, if you want.”

  He hadn’t bitten me again since the night he’d claimed me, and I did have it on my list to bite me for pleasure. Maybe he figured biting me to claim me was good enough. If that’s what he truly thought, I’d be disappointed, but I’d also be okay. I didn’t want him to do something he really didn’t want to do.

  “Don’t tempt me,” he said, spinning me around to face him.

  I smiled, but he scowled.

  “I’m serious, Chloe. Biting isn’t just addictive for you. If I drink from you too often, I’ll crave it more than I already do,” he said.

  “You crave my blood?” I asked.

  With the way he acted, I never would have known. He hadn’t seemed at all bothered by it. In fact, he’d done it and that was that. We never really talked about how it affected him.

  “Of course, I do.” He kissed the tip of my nose.

  “Does this mean you’re not going to bite me again until you change me?” I asked.

  I tried—and failed—not to pout. Even though getting bitten stung, it also felt really good, and I longed for the closeness Trent and I shared when he bit me.

  He groaned. “You’re killing me.”

  I laughed and snaked my arms around his neck, bringing my body closer to his. “It is on my list,” I said. “And you said you were going to cross off every item.”

  “I know.” He flexed his hands on my waist and drew me even closer to him. “And I will. I promise.” His eyes twinkled. “But right now, how about we climb back into bed and have a movie day?”

  “I get to pick the movies,” I said, breaking away from him and dashing to grab the remote.

  Trent laughed and kicked off his shoes. He changed out of his shirt, and for a moment, I completely forgot about finding a movie to watch. I was too distracted by the sight of his hard stomach and muscular torso.

  His smile was knowing and warm and slightly amused. I couldn’t help how good he looked, or how I couldn’t stop staring. Finally, when he yanked a new shirt over his head, I turned my attention to the TV.

  I flipped through the channels and stopped on one that was having a New Year’s week movie marathon. I scrolled across the guide to see what was playing, and I let out an excited squeal. Sweet Home Alabama was on later that afternoon.

  “I’m making you watch this,” I said.

  He eased onto the bed and lay on his side, head propped in his hand. “We can watch whatever you want.” He rested his free hand on my leg.

  We watched the final twenty minutes of whatever movie was currently on, and then we watched one about a secretary who was secretly in love with her married boss. When the second movie started, I took a shower and ate one of the muffins Trent had bought for me. He was still on the bed, though he’d rolled onto his back. His head was propped up on pillows.

  I climbed onto the bed and snuggled up to him just as Sweet Home Alabama started. I knew this movie by heart and could recite every line. Excitement bubbled up inside of me.

  “You’re going to love this movie,” I said, twisting to look up at Trent.

  He smiled, showcasing his dimple. “I love how excited you are right now.” He kissed my forehead.

  I cuddled closer. Trent dragged his hand up and down my arm, every so often stopping to play with my hair, and he kept stealing glances at my face.

  Halfway into the movie, I sat up and hugged a pillow to my chest. Trent leaned over so our shoulders were touching. He really couldn’t not touch me in some way. Not that I was complaining. I loved the feel of him, no matter how small or innocent the touch.

  My gaze was glued to the TV, and I watched with rapt attention, laughing and sighing at the appropriate times. And, of course, crying. I always cried during certain parts. Much too soon, it was over, and the credits scrolled across the screen.

  “I love that movie,” I said with a happy sigh.

  Trent had spent more time watching me rather than the movie, though, and I doubted he could even tell me what it was about.

  Setting the pillow aside, I wiped the remaining tears from my eyes. “So, what did you think?” I was eager to hear him say he loved it as much as I did.

  “My God, I love you,” Trent said with all the seriousness and wonder of child who’d just discovered something new.

  “I love you, too,” I said automatically. Saying those words to him were as simple and natural as breathing.

  “No, I really mean it,” he insisted.

  “And I don’t?” I laughed. What had gotten into him?

  “Watching you during that movie… the way you smiled through the entire thing, even at the sad parts when you had tears streaming down your face. The hope in your eyes. The way you’d sigh every so often, like everything was right in the world.” He stood and shut off the TV. “You always amaze me.”

  “Thanks. I think.” I narrowed my eyes, tracking him as he moved around the foot of the bed toward my side.

  “Every single day, you bare a little more of your soul to me, showing me more and more of who you are, and I don’t know how it’s possible, but every day, I fall more and more in love with you.” He dropped to one knee.

  There was only one reason he’d be down on one knee like that. My eyes widened, and my heart raced as I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. This was it—he was going to propose. Unlike the first time I thought he
was going to do this, there was no fear. Only anticipation.

  Trent took my left hand, which was now trembling and clammy. “You are everything I have ever wanted, everything I thought I’d never find, everything I thought I’d never be able to have.” He licked his lips and met my eyes.

  His were so sharp and piecing yet filled with a love so deep I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it, whereas mine were red and puffy and once again filled with tears.

  “Chloe Marie Madison,” he said, his voice like velvet.

  I shivered at the way he said my name.

  He gave me that sexy smile that always made my knees weak. “I love you more than anything, and I want to spend eternity showing you just how much.” He produced a gold band with a solitary diamond in the center. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes.” The word came out strangled, though, because I could never speak coherently when I was crying, so I nodded, too, wanting to make sure there was no confusion about my answer.

  “Yeah?” He raised a brow.

  “Of course, I will,” I whispered. I could feel my pulse pounding in my throat as he slipped the ring onto my finger.

  “Oh, thank God,” he said, relieved, letting his shoulders sag dramatically. “For a second, I thought you were going to say no.”

  I laughed, the sound coming out as more of a sob, really. I couldn’t believe he was making a joke right now when I was still so overcome with emotion and too stunned to speak. I swallowed hard and stared down at the ring.

  “Do you like it?” he asked, nodding at my hand.

  “It’s perfect.” I sighed. “It’s not too big or flashy.” It was rather beautiful in all its simplicity.

  “Big and flashy isn’t you.” He brushed a lock of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear, his hand lingering on my neck.

  “I love that you know that about me.” I smiled.

  He rose to his feet, placed one knee on the bed near my leg, and sought out my lips. I clutched his face, holding him to me. Using the force of the kiss, he maneuvered me backward until we were both on the bed again.

  I tugged at the hem of his shirt, and he yanked it off, rewarding me with a view of his perfect body. Would the sight of him ever stop stealing my breath? I adjusted so I was flat on my back. Trent was poised above me, weight suspended in his arms as he began to lower himself.

  “Stop,” I said, and he pulled away. “No, don’t move. Just, stay right where you are.”

  He gazed at me with a curious expression, but he did as I asked.

  My gaze traveled the path of my fingers as I trailed them up his arms and over his biceps, then across his chest and down his stomach, memorizing every inch of flesh and muscle. He exuded strength and compassion with every word and action. He was everything I’d ever wanted, too, and now, he was going to be my husband.

  “I can’t believe I get to spend an eternity with you,” I whispered in awe as I slid my hands around his waist and up his back.

  “I think stuck is a more accurate description.” A teasing smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.

  Smiling, I lifted myself up on my elbows, bringing my face inches from his. “Call it whatever you want. It doesn’t change the facts. We’re in this together. Forever.”

  “For eternity.” His eyes darkened with lustful hunger. “Do you have any idea how happy you’ve made me, Chloe?” All the teasing and joking was gone from his tone.

  “No. Why don’t you show me?”

  That low, guttural, sexy growl I loved so much rumbled from his chest, and then he kissed me, pushing all his thoughts and emotions into my head.

  Nerves so strong, I suddenly felt nauseous, but there was a compulsion he couldn’t ignore. Now was the moment to propose. It was clawing at him, propelling him down onto one knee. Don’t mess this up, he thought; tell her how you feel, how much she means to you.

  Trent lowered his body, and with his weight came another onslaught of feelings.

  Love so strong and pure he couldn’t even make sense of it. Frustration that he couldn’t put the depth of his feelings for me into words. I then saw myself through his eyes. Sitting on the bed, eyes filled with tears, hand trembling but frozen in place, yet I was a picture of beauty to him. Me saying yes. His heart filling with even more love and so much happiness it consumed him. Pride and excitement that he’ll get to tell everyone I said yes.

  I broke away with a gasp. “You have to stop doing that.”

  “You told me to show you,” he said innocently.

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  He smiled, a spark of desire igniting in his eyes. “Oh, I know what you meant.” And then his lips were on mine again.

  I LAY ON MY side with Trent behind me. His arm was draped over my stomach, and his breath was warm and steady against my neck. My left hand rested on the pillow near my head, and I couldn’t stop staring at my ring.

  I was engaged!

  Trent lightly kissed my shoulder, and I sighed with contentment. “That ring was your mom’s you know.”

  I froze, blood rushing into my ears. “What?” I twisted around so I was facing him. “It was?”

  He nodded and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, his hand lazily roaming down my arm and side, over my hip, then back up. “Your dad gave it to me. He said it was the ring he’d given your mother when he proposed. It was all he could afford at the time, but then he upgraded the year after you were born.”

  Tears spilled down my cheeks.

  “He saved it all these years so he could give it to you someday.” Trent wiped my tears but more fell. “I can’t seem to say anything without making you cry.” He frowned. “I’m sorry. I figured you’d want it, but if not, I’ll buy you a new one.”

  “No,” I said too harshly and cradled my hand to my chest. “I love this ring. I loved it the moment I saw it, before you told me it was my mom’s. Knowing that just makes me love it—and you—more.”

  “Then why are you crying?”

  “Because I’m happy.” I laughed. “All I had of my mom’s was a picture of us and her ashes. And now you gave me this.” I touched the ring. My throat burned with the effort of holding back more tears, and I swallowed to ease the pain. “Don’t you dare buy me another ring.”

  “Okay,” he said, holding up a hand in surrender.

  “Thank you.” I pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

  “I have the matching wedding bands, too. Both of them. Your mom’s and your dad’s.”

  Maybe it was silly to be so emotional about getting my parents’ old wedding rings, but my mother had loved my father with her whole heart, and she’d never fully recovered after he’d left us. I used to hear her crying herself to sleep at night, and I’d dream about growing up and bringing my father home so we could be a happy family again.

  These rings symbolized a time in my life when things were right, when there was nothing but love and happy memories. The fact that my father had saved them all these years meant more to me than anything else he’d ever done. He could have easily tossed them away when he left, or when he married Larissa, but he hadn’t.

  He cared enough about me—and my mother—to hang onto them, to one day come back into my life and give them to me. There was no way Trent could know how much these rings meant to me.

  “I want to wear them,” I said. “When we get married, I mean.”

  “We can do whatever you want.” He put his finger under my chin and tilted my head enough to be able to kiss me. “All I care about is that you’re happy.”

  “I am.” More than he’d ever know. “For weeks, I’d tried to figure out how you’d propose. When. Where. What you’d say. And I never once imagined it would happen like this,” I said.

  “Are you disappointed? I mean, I can take the ring back and make a big, grand gesture if that’s what you want.” There was an undercurrent of humor in his tone.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Everything about today has been so perfect.” I cupped his cheek. “I
can’t wait to be your wife.”

  “Then, as the future Mrs. Halstead, I suggest you pick a date so—”

  “March fifteenth.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “That soon?”

  It was only two and a half months away, which probably wasn’t a lot of time to plan a wedding, but I didn’t care. “Is that a problem?” I asked.

  “No,” he said slowly. “But I thought you’d want to wait until after we graduated, at least.” He tilted his head. “Why March fifteenth?”

  “That was the day I moved here and met you,” I said.

  “Oh, you mean the day you assaulted me at my locker.”

  “It was an accident, and you know it.” I laughed, remembering how embarrassed I’d been, how calm and charming he’d been, how the entire school had turned the ordeal into a huge thing it wasn’t.

  “Mm-hmm.” He scooted me closer. “March fifteenth is the perfect date, then. As long as you promise not to punch me again.”

  “I promise to only punch you if you absolutely deserve it.” I patted his chest.

  He laughed and placed his hand over mine. “And I promise to only make you cry happy tears for as long as I exist.”

  “Deal.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE:

  A Family Disagreement

  I ARRIVED HOME TWO DAYS LATER, tired, and so ready to sleep in my own bed. After dropping Trent at his house, I headed to mine.

  Abby was still in school for another half an hour or so, and Uncle Dean was still at work. But Aunt Beth’s car was in the driveway when I pulled in. I parked, killed the engine, then lugged my suitcase inside.

  “I’m home,” I said.

  Aunt Beth rushed out from the living room and gave me a giant bear hug. “Finally,” she said. “I was starting to worry.” She released me and gave me the once over. “You’re all right?”

  “I’m fine. Just tired. As much as I want to see the world, I really hate traveling.” I laughed.

  Hopefully, when I became a vampire, my outlook on that would change, because I really did want to see so many different places.