Take My Breath Away

Without any hesitation, Sheffield devoured the dessert, and afterward he took a deep breath and patted his belly. "That was some seriously rich chocolate! The taste? Amazing."

"You said you didn't like desserts. Why are you pretending to enjoy it?"

"I like sweet foods!" Sheffield declared. Then he stabbed his fork into a piece of tiramisu in order to prove his point.

Evelyn was positive he denied liking sweet foods. At least, he did the last time that topic arose. "You said you didn't, though. Remember when I brought you a dessert at work, before we got back together?"

"I was pretending. You wanted to get back together with me, and I wasn't going to make it easy for you. But really, how could I not eat something you got me? I ate all of it."

Evelyn's mind wandered back to that day. "But I threw it away. That's gross!"

With no intention to hide what he did, Sheffield told her, "I got it back. Besides, you tossed it, box and all. It was still in the package. It's almost like you never threw it out."

Evelyn was surprised to hear that. "All right. But your assistants! They probably saw you do this. They must be wondering why their boss dug through the trash to find something to eat."

"Who cares? The point is I didn't waste anything you bought me!" He didn't care what other people thought of him. He only cared about Evelyn.

Evelyn didn't know what to say. "Anyone tell you you're stubborn?"

"No. They wouldn't say something like that. Not if they wanted to keep their jobs."

"You're really stubborn!" She envied his determination.

"Thank you, honey. I'm flattered!"

They agreed to dine on French cuisine. Sheffield made a reservation at Bateaux Parisien, the floating restaurant on the Seine River, in advance. Alain Ducasse served as the chef at that floating restaurant. He is the godfather of French cuisine, preferring locally sourced ingredients and a naturalistic approach to cooking. He's a nine-star chef, and is considered to be among the best in the world.

The dinner also doubled as a boat tour. During the meal, they could enjoy viewing histor

e their engagement.

"You can't be pregnant yet. I need to work harder!" He paid attention to how she felt, and felt her pulse from time to time. As near as he could tell, she wasn't pregnant.

Evelyn pinched his hand and answered, "Let nature take its course."

"Yes! Sounds reasonable enough."

By then, they came to a place quite familiar to Sheffield. "Hey honey, come here!" he said. Then he took her into a dirty, run-down alley.

There were two families living there, and two old bikes were parked at the door. It looked like nothing special.

"This is where I used to have gang fights. The principal liked to come around with a flashlight to bust us. My classmate lived in the innermost alley. As soon as the principal arrived, we hid in his house. Anyone who couldn't walk, we just dragged 'em in there with us. The principal couldn't find us, but someone reported us later."

"Did you get in a lot of fights?" she asked. It sounded like Sheffield used to be a bad boy.

With a smile on his face, he said, "Yeah. I learned martial arts in the dojo at the beginning, guided by teachers. I sharpened my skills by getting in street fights."

"Okay." Evelyn had nothing else to say to that.

"Let's go. There's nothing special here. Wanna see my old school?"

"The school you and Gillian went to?" She remembered that he once said he and Gillian were the popular kids at school.