Take My Breath Away

'Gifford, you should be happy you have such an awesome sister. After all, I'm giving up about a week's sleep for you.' Erica was almost moved to tears by her selfless act. Sometimes, she even amazed herself.

"Deal!" Matthew agreed readily this time.

Erica grinned happily and presented her husband with the apple in her hand. "To prove you don't hate me, take a bite of this!"

Matthew recoiled in disgust. "Not now. I need a shower."

Erica had to get out of the way and began to eat the apple by herself. She felt so bored being alone.

That night, she was looking forward to making love with Matthew. To her surprise, he went straight to the study after his shower and stayed there till midnight.

A few days passed, but he didn't seem interested in touching her.

In A Country

Gifford was minding his own business when he heard Chantel had been kidnapped. Fortunately, he was not busy and had time to deal with it.

He'd gotten a mysterious phone call from a man saying he wanted Chantel to be his mistress. But she told the mystery man she was Gifford's woman, so the man needed permission. The man gave him an address where they could meet.

So, Gifford saw no choice other than to head there.

He was in such a rush, he forgot to think tactically. He was led by his heart, not his head. The address guided him to a villa. He stood in front of the place, lit a cigarette, and began to wonder whether he was walking into a trap.

He had barely taken two puffs of his cigarette before he heard a cry for help. Thick smoke poured from the villa. "Help! Help!"

The voice belonged to none other than Chantel.

The gate he stood at was locked. Gifford decisively stubbed out his cigarette, and looked for a way inside. The wall that the gate was bolted to was made of brick, and he was able to scale it easily.

The smoke grew thicker and thicker, and the cries for help got louder and more frantic.

In moments, he was at the front door. He kicked it open and knew he'd been tricked.

The door was not locked at all. It shouldn't have been that easy to open it!

But it was too late for him to back out of there. Chantel had been hiding behind the door. She rushed over and held him tightly.

At the same time, she sprayed something onto his body.

When he pushed her away, a spray bottle with no logo fell to the floor.

The fragrance was familiar to him. It was the same scent Chantel had on her in the hotel room. It was a chemical that numbed the will even as

the money? But she's a girl," Hyatt stammered, like that explained everything.

The girl cried and said that her parents were mean to her. Now her phone had broken and she didn't have the cash for a new one. He did kind of have a crush on her and wanted to keep chatting with her. So he lent her the money.

"When did you do that? She ever talk about paying you back?" Erica thought the girl might be taking advantage of him.

"Not yet. I haven't asked her for the money. I lent her the money less than a month ago."

Erica pondered this for a bit, and finally came up with a plan. Patting him on the shoulder, she said, "Be a pest. By the time it's two months, ask her about it. If she doesn't get it to you then, ask her again a month later. If she still doesn't have it, leave it to me. I'll track her down!"

Hyatt came from an ordinary family. His mother was a teacher, and his father was a bank manager. They still supported Hyatt, and paid for his college. That didn't leave a whole lot leftover to live on.

"Okay!" Hyatt agreed. That was all she could do for right now, and it seemed to cheer him up.

"Let's go shopping!" She wanted to buy something to make Matthew happy.

'It's nice to have friends. Especially someone like Hyatt. We like doing a lot of the same things. Might as well do them together!'

"Are you going to buy something?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Erica was so clumsy she couldn't cook or make something for Matthew, but she could buy things. Things like couple pajamas, couple water glasses, and so on. She liked spending money on things like that, and Matthew let her. So she wanted to buy something else along those lines.