Page 132 of Malachi
“Cheers to that!” I agreed wholeheartedly. I took a long swig of my drink, wincing at the bite and burn as it slid down my throat.
For the first time in my life, I knew it was true. And I was fucking excited to see what tomorrow would bring.
CHAPTER30
MALACHI
“Eden, I said I would handle this,” I grumbled, pausing the swing of the mallet before it hit the tent stake again.
“I’m fine, Malachi,” she argued, hitting the other tent stake with a rock she had found.
“I’ve got this,” I grumbled.
“And so do I,” she pushed right back.
“Do you have to be so difficult?” I groused.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Dammit, Eden! Let me do it!” I grumbled, feeling annoyed that she just wouldn’t listen. I wasn’t mad at her, but Jesus Christ, the woman could be stubborn as an ass—even worse than me.
“And why can’t I do it?” she argued, shooting me a look. Yup, there it was. Stubbornness in all its glory.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’re hurt?” I chuckled, rolling my eyes at her endless source of persistence.
“Malachi Temple, it’s been six weeks since I sprained my ankle. I’m healed up now, with almost no pain in my foot. And besides, I don’t need my ankle to drive a tent stake.” She literally turned to me, hands on her hips, and sassed every damn word. I had half a mind to take her over my knee and spank her until she apologized.
Who was I kidding? That would only turn her on and make me want to fuck her. Then the tent would never get finished.
“And you’re my wife and my submissive. So, if I tell you to sit the fuck down and let me do this, then you should listen,” I sassed right back, completely unable to keep the smirk off my face. I couldn’t help it. She was cute when she got snarky and smart-assy.
“Let’s be perfectly clear, Malachi. When have I ever listened when you’ve told me to stay put? From day one, can you tell me a single time? Hmm?” she giggled, and I couldn’t help but smile. She was not fucking wrong there.
“Fine. But just do the one. I’ll do the rest. Okay? Can we at least agree on that?” I offered, attempting a compromise with the only woman more stubborn than myself.
“Fine. I’ll agree to that,” she agreed, but I could see it on her face. She was proud to have won that round in her mind.
Twenty minutes and two more half-assed arguments later, we finally got the tent erected, and unloaded our rucksack from the truck. I couldn’t begin to express how good it felt to be out in nature again after all this time. It had been too long. Far too long.
“It’s gorgeous here,” she sighed, pulling out a water bottle from our small cooler.
“I know. I’m glad that gas station attendant suggested it,” I heartily agreed. We had only decided to go camping a few days ago and had left the hotel with our belongings packed in the truck and absolutely zero plan.
“Who knew there were so many camping options out here?” she asked, looking around the makeshift campsite. It had originally been my idea to find a campground, but the attendant had given us a nice morsel of information, telling us about this place, where we could camp and not be surrounded by other people and a fuck-ton of campers or RVs.
“I’d seen a few signs back in Zion, but I didn’t realize it was such a popular pastime. I had never been further than St. George until a few weeks ago. Granted, neither had you,” I reminded her, taking the water bottle from her and taking a sip. It was a beautiful warm day, but I was fucking thirsty after putting the tent together.
“Truer words, my love. Truer words,” she agreed with a sigh.
“What happens now?” she asked, stepping back into the tent. We needed to get the bed set up. We opened up our two sleeping bags, laying one on top of the other and zipping them up together to make a big bed for the two of us. Not that I planned to sleep in it until much,muchlater that night. No, I had far moreprimalplans intended for our night.
“Now, we go fishing! If you’re interested, that is,” I said with a smirk. I fucking knew she was interested.
“Really?! Oh, Kai, really?!” she squealed with excitement when I nodded. I full-out belly laughed as she stood and did the most absurd little happy dance. It was something I had learned about her over the past weeks of life post-Zion. She was an odd little duck, and I loved discovering every one of her quirks.
We had talked about fishing all those weeks ago, after we had first been married. I had offered to take her fishing and had been surprised that she had never been before. It wasn’t something women were allowed to do in Zion, apparently. I’d never paid much attention to it. But our plans had been waylaid, and we’d never gotten back around to it. How could we have, with all the shit that went down? We’d had bigger fish to fry, you could say.
“Yeah, I mean it. Let me grab the gear from the truck, and we’ll head out to the river,” I explained.
