Page 51 of Always Red (Chasing Red 2)

I cupped the pendant in my palm. “Caleb, this is terribly expensive.”

His eyes turned dark and intense. “I would sell everything I own for you.”

My breath caught, my hand falling limply to my lap.

How could I respond to that? But even if I knew what to say, my throat had closed up. He reached out and rubbed my lower lip with his thumb, back and forth, back and forth. I held my breath, waiting for his kiss. Wishing for it. But then he leaned back against the bench, his gaze returning to the fire like he wa

s contemplating something.

His mood had changed.

Unsure, I waited for him to say something. Anything.

After a moment, he spoke. “Want to hear a story?”

I scooted next to him, our sides touching. I waited for him to reach for my hand, but he didn’t. “Of course.”

He took a deep breath. “Once upon a time, there was a boy who had everything,” he began, his voice becoming deeper and warmer. “Or so he thought. One night, he decided to walk in the forest. He was bored, restless. There was something missing in his life, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. And then he saw a tiny, beautiful bird on the ground. Her wing was broken.

“He picked her up very, very gently and took her home. He nursed her until her wing healed. He put her in a cage to prevent her from flying away and hurting herself more. And to prevent others from hurting her. You see, the cage was like a shield, a form of protection.

“They were together every day after that. She sang for him, and it made him happy. After a few days, she was healed. Still, he kept her in the cage, worried that she’d be hurt again. But then she stopped singing.

“The boy knew what he was doing was wrong. He was keeping her for himself. He was being selfish. She made him happy, filled those missing parts of himself, and made him feel content. He wanted to keep her, to own her.

“But he found that he couldn’t endure it when she was sad, when she was lonely. He realized that all he wanted was to give her happiness, even at the expense of his own. So he opened the cage.” He paused, raking his hand through his hair. “And he let her go.”

His eyes looked so sad, and they pulled me to him. I wanted to touch him, give him comfort, but I was scared that I would ruin the moment.

I would forever regret that I didn’t trust him and had left him before.

He took another deep breath. “She flew away and left him.”

Now I reached for his hand, lacing our fingers together. “Did she come back?” I managed to ask.

A small smile flitted on his lips. “Yes,” he replied, the sadness in his eyes disappearing. “She did.”

I smiled back.

“Sometimes I want to put you in a cage,” he confessed. His eyes were intense, passionate. “But you were the one who captured me. And I would gladly stay there and belong to you.”

Something powerful was forming inside me. And it was drowning me deeper and deeper. But I didn’t want to come up for air.

“I know I’m not exactly a prize. I’m stubborn and impulsive. Immature. I say and do stupid things all the time. But…”

I looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

“But please stay with me,” he said softly. “Stay.”

My heart melted. I knew this time I wouldn’t be able to stop the tears. He got up suddenly, and before I could say anything, he was kneeling in front of me.

I could hear the blood pounding in my ears as I watched him.

My eyes widened as he presented me with a small jeweler’s box, like an offering. I noticed that he didn’t look nervous anymore. He looked, I realized, like a man who had been looking for something his whole life but had now found his answer. He looked as if peace had settled in him, calm and purposeful.

My breath caught as I saw a ring lying in a bed of velvet. White diamonds surrounded a tear-shaped ruby in almost the same design as the necklace. Two tiny butterflies encrusted in diamonds flanked the dazzling red stone.

“Red, will you be my wife?”

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