Bella's Hunt

NINETY-THREE

"Are we there yet?" I ask, starting to get really annoyed with Hunter. We've been in the car for almost an hour and his mysteriousness is starting to piss me the hell off.
"Nope," he shakes his head as he places his hand on my thigh. I sigh softly as I lean my head back against the headrest.

"Can you at least give me a hint as to what we're doing?" I look over at him with furrowed brows, just to see him shake his head again. I slouch down in the seat and cross my arms over my chest, "No fair."

"Just be patient, baby." He squeezes my thigh, sending a wave of shocks through my body and I try to mask it. "We're almost there."

I look over at him again with a raised brow, "Is everything that you did today all for what you planned?" I ask.

"Yup. So, you better appreciate it. 'Cause I could've died." He states bluntly and my eyes widen.

"What?!"

"But, I'm not dead. Calm down." He laughs loudly.

When the car begins to slow down, I look out the window to see that we're surrounded by a bunch of trees. I turn back to Hunter with furrowed brows, but his seat is empty. I climb out of the car to find him standing at the back of the car, digging through the trunk.

"Oh, god. You've brought me all the way out here to murder me, haven't you?" I gasp and he looks over at me with a large smile.

"Yes, it's been the plan all along!" He plays along and I smile back at him before walking around the car to see what he's doing. My brows furrow when he shuts the trunk abruptly and turns to me.

"You're being sneaky," I state, suddenly nervous about what he has planned.

"Yes, I am. But, all for good purpose. Now..." He sighs as he reaches forward and pulls my beanie down so that it covers my eyes. "Don't move your beanie until I tell you to."

"Is this why Lydia made me wear it? So you could use it as a blindfold?"

"Yes, now," I hear him opening the trunk again and a couple moments later it closes, "give me your hand, Bells. And let me lead you to your surprise."

"Please don't make me regret this," I beg as his fingers lace through mine and he begins tugging me away from the car.

"You won't, baby, I promise," he tells me as we begin walking.

A couple minutes later, we're still fucking walking. "Hunter, where the hell are you taking me?" I groan loudly.

"This is your kidnapping. You're not supposed to be talking." He hushes me.

"Well, you didn't put duct tape over my mouth, so I can talk all I want," I state and he squeezes my hand.

"Watch your step," he mumbles and I feel his arm going upwards, signaling that he's stepped up higher than I am at. He pulls me up with him and begins leading me again.

"How much longer?"

"Not too long," he answers quietly as he pulls me forward and I groan softly, getting really tired of the surprise. I really hate surprises.

After a couple of minutes, we come to a slow stop and I feel Hunter tense. My brows furrow and I begin tugging at my beanie before he tells me that I can take it off. "Are you-" My breath catches in my throat when my eyes land on the large patch of ice right in front of us.

A frozen lake.

I look over at Hunter with wide eyes, zoning in on the two pairs of ice skates in his left hand. He smiles down at my nervously as he holds my pair towards me.

"How..."

I'm at an extreme loss for words. He has blown my mind.

"Here," he pulls me towards a large broken tree and forces me to sit down. "I already tested the ice. Well... Blake and I did. He almost fell in, but the rest of it seemed pretty sturdy." He states as he begins tugging off my boots and I just stare at him with wide eyes.

When he gets my skates on my feet, he looks up at me. His brows furrow when he meets my eyes, "What's wrong?" He asks and I can hear the nervousness in his voice. "Do you not like it?"

"I love it," I answer quickly. "But... how did you find this place?"

"That's a secret." He winks at me and my brows draw together.

Hunter begins putting on his own skates and I just watch him in complete awe. "You planned this whole thing?" I ask and his head snaps towards me as he laces up his skates.

"Lydia may have helped just a little bit."

"Just a little bit?" My brow arches on its own and he smirks at me.

"Would you let me be romantic please?" He stands up slowly and grabs both of my hands, pulling me off of the large log. I nod quickly as he begins leading me towards the ice, taking shaky steps.

"You made sure that it's steady?" I ask, tightening my grip on his hands.

"Yes, I'm sure. Trust me, okay?" He raises his brows at me and I force a smile, even though I'm extremely nervous. When he pulls me out onto the ice, his hands latch onto my waist and he pulls me closer to him.

A nervous giggle falls from my lips and I look up to see him grinning at me. "It's safe, I promise." He tells me as he begins tugging me forward since he doesn't know how to skate backward. Taking his words as the truth, I grab his hands and lace our fingers, causing him to look down at me with wide eyes. I spin around quickly and begin skating backward, pulling him along with me.

He shakes his head at me, a wicked grin spreading across his lips as we skate closer to the center of the ice. "How far did you check?" I ask, glancing behind me quickly before looking back up at him.

"Not the whole thing, but almost to the middle. Just... don't pull me too far," he says with a small laugh. I smile up at him and he looks down at me with complete heart eyes.

We skate around for what seems like hours, and Hunter doesn't even fall down once. Which I found pretty impressive. When the sun started setting, he pulled me off the ice and we sat down on the log, watching the sunset over the lake.

I lean my head against his shoulder and he quickly places a kiss on my forehead. "I love you, you know that?" He whispers against my skin and a smile graces my lips.

"Yeah, I know," I say softly as I lean back so that I can look up at him. "I love you."

He smiles in return before tilting his head down and pressing his lips against mine. My hand instantly goes up to cup his cheek and he smiles against my lips. His arm slides around my waist and he pulls me up onto his lap, both of his arms surrounding me and pulling me into his chest.

"Thank you for doing this for me," I mumble against his lips. "Best surprise ever."

"I'm glad, baby," he chuckles before bringing his lips back to mine. My hands snake up into his hair and he pulls me against him tighter.

When his hands slide under my sweater, I pull back and stare at him with wide eyes. "In the woods, seriously?" I raise a brow when I meet the large grin he's wearing. "In the middle of winter?!"

"What's wrong with that?" He asks smugly, drawing circles on the small of my back with his frozen fingertips. When did he take off his gloves?

"Maybe getting hyperthermia?!" I smack his shoulder and he laughs loudly.

"Well, how about we go to the cafe about twenty minutes from here and get some hot cocoa?" His brows raise at the suggestion and I nod quickly, loving the idea.

"That sounds absolutely perfect!"