Take My Breath Away

Tonight was the first time Erica had ever seen Matthew smoke.

And, he looked absolutely sexy doing it. She was smitten all over again. Erica quietly took out her phone and opened the camera app, and brought Matthew into the frame. She zoomed in so she could see him better.

Before she could snap a pic, she met Matthew's eyes through the view screen.

So, he caught her trying to get a pic of the perfect moment.

Erica didn't stop, though. She pressed the button, and the camera took several pics in rapid-fire succession. She had it in burst mode, just in case.

It was not illegal for her to take pictures of her husband.

Erica was used to men smoking. After all, her father was a heavy smoker.

However, Wesley almost never smoked at home or in front of the family. He usually smoked a few cigarettes when he was outside, if he was annoyed, or had nothing better to do.

But Wesley never reeked of cigarettes. Maybe it was because he smoked high-quality cigarettes, or because he didn't smoke too much. More likely it was because he carried disposable wipes to wash his hands with, and breath mints to mask the smell on his breath.

But it still settled on his face, clothes, and hair. So you could tell the man smoked. But it was not too heavy to be repulsive and not too light to be missed.

After a while, Matthew walked around the car to the passenger seat and reached out his hand to Erica.

Looking at his large hand, Erica was a little confused. "What?"

"Your phone," he demanded.

'What's he playing at? Is he going to delete the photos?' she thought. Erica held her phone. "No. And why should I give it to you? I asked to look at your phone twice, but you refused to let me see it. So you can't see mine."

Matthew didn't push the issue. He put his hands back into his pockets and decided to change the topic. He wanted to address some of the stress dividing them. "Tessie and Lenora deserve what they get. I'm not giving in on that."

He couldn't let her have her own way on this, or she'd run into problems later.

"Well, I'm still thinking about it. If you've made up your mind, it's fine, as long as you don't kill them." Erica didn't want to keep fighting with Matthew over this. After all, he had helped her a lot.

'Huh? She caved in easily! What's up with that?' Matthew decided to believe her for the time being. He didn't say anything and sat in the driver's seat.

After he closed the car door, Erica could still smell the faint scent of tobacco wafting from him. It was not overpowering, and mixed well with his cologne.

She took the pack of cigarettes he threw back into the glove compartment and opened it. There were only two cigarettes missing.

She looked at the profile of the glowering man and asked, "Did I

down the eye shadow disk and jogged over to him, trying to give him a closer look.

Her eyelids were of a golden hue and had a metallic sheen. Matthew didn't know a thing about it, so he didn't say anything.

Knowing he didn't understand, Erica blinked her eyes and explained, "I'm wearing firefly eye shadow. Just tell me, what do you think?" She felt beautiful. Not only had she mastered a new skill, but she thought she looked prettier.

Matthew asked in a low voice, "Do you really want my honest opinion?"

"Yes," she said. Of course. Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked.

"It looks like you just jumped out of the Eight Trigram Furnace."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Matthew continued to share his opinion mercilessly, "Remember Journey to the West? Fiery Eyes, Golden Gaze? It reminds me of that. So tell me, can you identify evil now, no matter what form it takes?"

'What? Does he mean that my eyes look like the Monkey King's?'

That was so harsh. Covering her chest, Erica held back the urge to flare up. Why did she even bother to ask him?

"If you really want to learn how to apply makeup, I'll ask Paige to find you a professional makeup artist tomorrow. You can learn when you have time," added Matthew.

Erica shook her head in frustration. She had a little interest in makeup, but this man threw cold water on the fires of her enthusiasm.

"What about the lipstick? Do you like it?" She wasn't going to give up. The man had to redeem himself somehow.

Matthew grabbed her chin and lifted it to get a better look. "No comment." Because he wanted to kiss her red lips so much.

He was afraid he would never be able to kiss her again if he said another word.

She pouted. This wasn't good. 'No comment is worse than any comment, right?' He was just trying to spare her feelings. She must look awful.