Temper (Knights of Fury #3) - Chantal Fernando Page 0,79

now? Your stamina is insane.” I cover his mouth with my hand. “Don’t even say anything.”

Resting on my knees, I catch my breath before looking out at the beautiful view, the reason why I had to walk for over two hours. “I forgot how amazing it is up here.”

The area is unusual and gorgeous, especially amidst the desert. Temper looks out over all the greenery, the lush forest, the green sky and the large lake. “Definitely worth the trek.”

He wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer to his side, and we just take in the view, and the moment. It’s nice to think that this is just the beginning, we have so much to experience together, so many firsts, and many more adventures.

“I’m glad we decided to do this,” he admits, taking a picture of the view on his phone. “I don’t know why you thought staying in bed naked together instead was a better idea.”

“That was you,” I say with narrowed eyes. “You’re the fiend here.”

“Can you blame me? Have you seen you? Keeping my hands off you is a hard task, and sometimes I seem to fail at it. Plus, a week, remember.”

“How can I forget? We should take a selfie,” I tell him, pulling out my phone. “Can you take it? You’re so tall I probably won’t even be able to get your head into the shot.” He takes the camera from me, and takes not one, but a few photos, which I appreciate. “Thanks. We look cute together.”

“You’re only realizing that now?” he asks.

We have some water and a snack then head back down the mountain. The closer we get to the end, the sooner it means he’ll be leaving without me. I will miss him, but I’ll see him soon enough. I only have one thing on my mind right now, and that’s getting him back for the prank he pulled on me in the car.

He’s not going to know what hit him.

* * *

In the middle of the night, dressed in all black, armed with a flashlight and my sidekick sister, I drive to the hotel and park next to Temper’s car.

“This is going to take a long time,” I admit, wincing. “But going to be so worth it. He’s going to flip out. I wish I was going to be here in the morning to see his face.”

“Definitely going to be worth it,” she responds, handing me a huge pack of Post-its. We both get out of the car and start to cover his entire car in little multicolored Post-its.

“Okay, this is going to take longer than I thought.” I groan, but smirk when I see how it’s starting to look. “I’d be so pissed if someone did this to my car.”

“It’s pretty funny,” my sister says, laughing to herself.

Once we’re all done, on the one that covers his door handle, I write:

Checkmate.

Giggling, we get back into our car and speed home.

* * *

Before I even wake up properly, I can hear my mom’s and Temper’s voices. Groaning, I roll out of bed and head downstairs. They haven’t had a chance to have a conversation without me, so I don’t know if I should intervene and save him or let them just have it out once and for all.

“You know, you could tell her this isn’t a good idea,” my meddling mother says to him. “She’s safest here, with her family.”

“She’s old enough to make her own decisions,” Temper says to her respectfully. “And I’d love to have her near L.A. with me, so I’m not going to talk her out of that. If she told me that she wanted to stay here, then I’d respect her decision either way. It’s whatever she wants and whatever will make her happy. I know you’re sad that she’s leaving, but you aren’t losing her. She’ll visit and stay in contact, and it’s only a few hours away. It’s not like she’s moving to a different country.”

“She’s blinded,” Mom replies, and it’s then I realize that she’s not actually listening to what we’re saying. She can’t see out