Page 59 of Malachi
He almost walked right past me, heading toward his office — no doubt in search of his beloved whiskey — when he stopped short.
“Eden.” I heard the pain and guilt in his voice, even before he turned around. Slowly, he turned to face me as I raised my eyes to meet his down the hallway. We could barely see each other around the corner of the wall, but still, that guilt was written on his face as clear as the black and white ink of a Sunday press newspaper.
“Eden, I’m sorry, I’m —”
“Stop right there, Malachi Temple,” I spoke firmly, hopping down from the barstool and walking towards him. I squared my shoulders, puffing my chest out and trying to come across as confident as I could against a man that literally towered over me in both stature and presence.
He stopped short as I walked towards him, giving me the opening I needed to continue.
“You will not apologize for being home late. It was your first day working with the Elders. From what I’ve gathered over the last twenty-four hours alone, that would have me running for the hills if I were you. I don’t care one tiny mosquito’s ass if you’re late. So here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to march upstairs and take a shower. Then you’ll come down and have dinner. There is a plate for you warming in the oven. After that, you’re going to teach me how to make you that drink you like so much, because I want to have it ready on occasions such as this.” My order to him was as firm as any he had ever thrown my way. I could feel the pride welling up inside of me. It was nearly impossible not to break this facade and smile, but that would be just too out of character for the moment I was working so hard to create.
After a momentary pause, he shifted, his hands crossing over his chest as the same demanding posture came over him. The one I was becoming so used to.
“Did you just give me an order, Little Bird?” The look on his face would have been a sneer were it not for the slight upturn of the corner of his mouth. It gave him away. Goody, a tell!
“I most certainly did, and don’t you go allLittle Birdon me! Hop to it while I get your plate out of the oven.” Before I could break character and full-on giggle at the moment we were sharing, I spun on my heel and marched back into the kitchen.
I thought for a moment he would come after me, swinging me up into his arms and righting the dynamic we had played at since our wedding, but he did not. Instead, he did exactly as I had asked him to, marching up the stairs. It was only a few minutes before I heard the shower starting. Only then did I break into the world’s happiest grin. I danced in place at the fact that I — Eden Temple, a tiny sprite of a woman — had put Malachi Temple in his place. And he had listened.
I had wiped the smile off my face by the time he had returned, smelling much better at that. He sat at the bar where I had been sitting, finding his plate steaming hot and ready to eat.
“Please tell me your day was better than mine,” he muttered between bites.
“Quite better, I would imagine,” I answered. I had brought in the bottle of whiskey from his office, along with a glass from his liquor cabinet.
“Hard to be worse,” he chuckled derisively.
“Cheers to that!” I chuckled, clinking the empty glass against the whiskey bottle. His eyes lifted, eyeing the amber liquid.
“Go back into my office. There is an icebox below the desk. You’ll find stones in it. Grab three and bring them here.” His dark eyes found mine. There was no mistaking the command in his tone. The game we had played before was over.
I quickly scampered around the bar and made quick work of following his instructions perfectly. I returned, the frozen stones making me shiver as I set them down on the countertop.
“Place the stones in the glass — carefully, as they are stone,” he instructed. I obeyed, the stones clinking gently as I placed them with great care.
“Then fill the glass with two fingers of whiskey.”
“Fingers?” I questioned, confused.
“Here,” he spoke, reaching for the glass. He wrapped his hand around the bottom of the glass, then pointed to the top of the wrapped around finger with his other hand. “One finger.”
I nodded in understanding as he handed the glass back to me. Our hands touched for only a moment, but the spark of electricity was there. It never seemed to take much for it to ignite between us.
I held the glass exactly as he did, noting the fact that his hands were larger than mine. I poured to where I thought his fingers had hit, then doubled it.
Setting the glass back on the counter, my gaze found his, noting the pride in his expression.
“That’s about as perfect as I could ask for, Little Bird,” he commended me, taking the glass and sipping it with a groan of utter satisfaction. “Fuck, I needed that.”
“So did I,” I muttered under my breath at the sound of that guttural groan. I was acutely aware of how achingly empty my core was anytime he made a noise like that. It made me clench and ache to be filled with him.
“What was that?” he asked, though by the look on his face, he had heard me plainly enough. I couldn’t help the blush on my face, but I was done being the blushing virgin of a Zion bride. I was that girl no longer.
No, I was Eden, wife of the Temple Beast. And fucking happy to be her.
CHAPTER16
MALACHI
