"Ow!" Qian Meng screeched loudly, hissing at the throbbing pain.

It wasn't the unexpected spanking that hurt. It was the fact it startled her so much that she jumped right into the open cabinet door above her head.

"Are you okay?" Mo Qingchen asked, clearly trying not to laugh.

She tossed the wipe into the sink and winced as she reached across the counter to her phone stand. She shut off the music that had apparently been playing too loud for her to hear him sneak up on her.

"I hurt my head," she whined, reaching up to feel and make sure she wasn't bleeding.

"Aw… my poor baby," Qingchen cooed, and she knew he was just trying to humor her.

His tone was laced with amusement but it still made her smile. His hands pushed and pulled at her hips to turn her around to face him.

"When did you get home?" she asked as he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her sore head.

"Just now." With a kiss to her forehead, he made her heart beat a little faster in the way only he could. "The place is practically sparkling. You must have had a busy morning."

Qian Meng beamed up at him, proud of her work and happy he had noticed.

She hadn't thought herself capable of housekeeping, not until Xiong Hua started taking time off on weekends. She had never been messy, but since it happened, there was nobody else around to clean the house during the weekends.

Qian Meng and Mo Qingchen divided the work and they were both okay with that.

Somehow, she felt wifely when she helped in the house. She had never considered herself domestic, but she found herself enjoying this normal life with Mo Qingchen.

"I wanted to have everything done so that we can come back to a nice, clean house after the weekend away," Qian Meng explained, hopping up to sit on the counter. "I even changed the sheets, so we don't have to lift a finger when we come back!"

"Clever girl," he answered, pushing her legs open to step between them.

"How was your morning?" Mo Qingchen had to work half a day in preparation for their weekend travel, but she had no doubt he would still be busy. Just like she would.

Everything about their lives was busy.

"Long."

"Long?" she questioned.

"Of course, it was. I was looking forward to having you all to myself this weekend."

Qian Meng smiled at him, pushing her fingers through his messy hair.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, wondering if she should try to make something to eat before they left.

A devilish smirk pulled at his lips, and she should have known what he was thinking.

"Hungry for you…" he muttered, diving in to nip at her lips, kissing her.

She shoved him away, scrunching her nose at his crude remark. "Did you seriously say that?" she asked, laughing despite herself. "So corny."

"Can't help it," he answered unapologetically. "Sex deprivation will make a man do crazy things."

Qian Meng frowned as she played with his fingers, troubled he had voiced something that had been on her mind.

"Did you really feel deprived?" she asked outright.

She had been withholding sex from him because she wanted an explosive vacation that could double as their unofficial honeymoon. Their first honeymoon had been devoid of emotion, so she wanted to overlap those memories.

"I am joking, Qian Meng," he responded softly. She could see that he regretted his playful comment. "I'm not deprived. Just are just… busy."

Qian Meng chewed at her lips. "It won't be much longer," she muttered.

"I know," he whispered back, kissing that spot on her neck that made her quiver. "A weekend away for sex is much better."

Paired with the twinkle in his eyes, his grin was dazzling.

"I can get on board with a weekend of sex," she nodded, reaching to grab his hips. "I can definitely get on board with that."

"Oh yeah?"

She laughed as he yanked her toward him, seeking out her lips with his. He hummed against her mouth.

"I am willing to start right now."

Qian Meng's hands darted for the buttons of his crisp shirt because she would never pass up that suggestion.

"I just changed the sheets," she reminded him as he nibbled on her bottom lip.

A wicked grin pulled at his mouth as he yanked her down from the counter, turned her around, and bent her over it. "I guess we will just have to make do right here."

And they did. Twice.

- - - - -

Because of their schedules, they only had two days to get away for the weekend. They ended up booking something close by. A cabin in the mountains. Mo Qingchen joked about the scene coming out from a horror movie, but nothing sounded better than to be secluded out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but each other.

Besides, Qian Meng knew that there was nowhere safer than beside Mo Qingchen.

"What are you staring at?" Mo Qingchen asked.

"You."

His boyish grin made her want to lunge across the car to smother him with kisses.

"Clearly," he answered, glancing over at her quickly. "Maybe I should ask why you are staring at me, wife."

She raised her brow. "Because I love you."

He laughed as he shook his head. "Okay, crazy."

"No. Really!" she answered, shifting in her seat to face him as directly as she could. "If there is anything I have learned from everything we have been through, it is that we have to cherish the moments we have with the people we love. We never know how many of those we have left behind."

Rebirth and realization had made her determined not to take a single moment with Mo Qingchen for granted.

"Okay. We will make a stop at the grocery store before going into the hills," he said blandly.

And then he paused. "Did you know? You make things right just by loving me the way you do? That is all I need. It's everything," he said once they had pulled up in front of the grocery store.

Qian Meng ripped her seatbelt off and flung herself into his lap.

A twenty-minute pit stop to make out with her husband wouldn't hurt anyone.