I watched as Remy wrapped a lot of his line around his hand and dropped the hooked and weight line side in. I imitated his movements, trying not to fidget that much. Not that I thought it mattered.
“It shouldn’t be that long,” Remy stated. “I doubt many people come here to fish. That’s why there’s a lot of them in this area. I can’t imagine them being too leery to take the wor—”
I cut him off as one of the fish latched onto my worm. “I got one!” I cried excitedly.
“Set it.” He laughed.
“Set it?” I looked over at him inquiringly. The last time I had fished with my dad was with my Little Mermaid fishing pole, and other than catching little sunfish, I didn’t remember catching anything this large.
The fish swam off with my worm in his mouth, and I had to refrain from cursing.
Remy laughed at my crestfallen expression. “No worries. There’s plenty more to catch. Next time, when he latches onto the worm, and you feel that tug, yank up on it. That should set the fish. Let a little of the line out so he can tire himself out, then start pulling him up.”
“Now you tell me,” I muttered with mock bitterness. “Couldn’t tell me that before I caught the first fish. Were you afraid I would catch the first one? Are you intimated by your little woman showing you up?” I joked with a deadpan expression.
He growled before he kissed me possessively. “Damn right you’re my woman,” he winked at me. I stepped back, looking at him, panting, surprised by the sudden onslaught. “But…” He calmly pulled up his fishing hand. “It’s too late. I already caught the first one.”
I hadn’t even noticed that, while one of his hands had tangled in my hair to submit to his forceful kisses, his other hand had been pulling one in.
I snarled at him playfully. “You are playing so dirty, Murphy! First, you don’t tell me what I should do. Then you try to distract me from beating you. It’s game on! You may have caught the first fish, but I’ll catch the most!”
“Sounds like a challenge. If I win, you sleep with me tonight, and I don’t want to do any sleeping, at first,” he winked at me.
I was so startled by his flirtatiousness that I barked out a laugh. “And if I win?”
“Name your reward,” he said confidently.
I made a great show of thinking. “I’ll have to think about it. Can I get an IOU?” I asked impishly.
He smiled at me with a tad too much smugness. “Sure. I’ll take an IOU.”
It was game on after that. I didn’t know what our goal was, but even if we caught a little more than we could cook or eat tonight, we could always gut them and bury them in the snow. It was cold enough to keep them.
I lost two more before I finally caught one. It was tricky setting those little bastards with a hand line. Well it was for me, anyhow. Remy didn’t seem to have the same issue because he caught three by the time I caught one.
I could barely feel my face by the time we came back into the cave, and my hands and feet were numb. Troy caught five fish, I caught four, and Remy caught…seven. I knew where I was sleeping tonight, but I couldn’t even pretend to be mad. Sleeping with, or should I say no sleeping, with Remy didn’t sound like much of a punishment.
I never realized how competitive I could be until today. Only my pride was wounded. I knew I had a drive within me that drove me to excellence in everything I did. It had been there when I learned how to play the piano or the guitar. I had sat for hours just to prefect my playing. I didn’t believe I was perfect by any means, but I hadn’t got into a prestigious music school by not pushing myself, either. Even my grades had been remarkable do to the fact I had to prove myself.
Today I was determined I would have a rematch. One day Remy and I would go fishing again and I was going to win then. There was no way I was going to let him win again. Not that I technically let him win today, but I couldn’t stay out there any longer, and we had caught more than enough fish for lunch and dinner.
Drake, Jaxson, Noah, and Jace were able to find watercress, cat tails, onion grass, and wild garlic. They had also filled all our canteens while they were out. We were in high spirits as we crawled back into our cave. We transferred the fish and wild herbs like we did the wood, so we didn’t crush them or drag them along the dirt.
I immediately started shedding my outer layer of clothing as I stood beside the fire.
“How’s your feet?” Noah asked as he began removing his clothing.
“Good,” I said between chattering teeth. “I can’t feel them, but I know I don’t have any blisters.”
He stopped undressing and started to help me undress. My hands were shaking so badly that I couldn’t even undo my belt buckle.
“I hope you didn’t get frost bite,” he said worriedly. He stood in front of me and clinically began to remove my clothing, his concern for me outweighed any sexual feelings.
“I hope so, too,” I tried to joke.
“Your lips are blue,” he scolded me.
“So are yours,” I quipped.