Take My Breath Away

Sheffield wrapped his arms around Evelyn's waist, and their bodies pressed against each other. "Evelina, have no fear. I'm right behind you."

Biting her lower lip nervously, Evelyn nodded.

"Miss, mister! Would you like for me to take a picture of you two together? Only twenty bucks for one," a man shouted to them, standing by the elephant and pointing to his camera.

"Sure. Take a few," Sheffield said with a grin.

"All right!" the cameraman said gladly.

"I don't like taking pictures," Evelyn muttered.

Never once in her whole life had her pictures been exposed to the press. Carlos was a protective father.

Evelyn thought that Sheffield would ask the cameraman to leave. But he didn't. "Rest your head in my chest. Then, nobody will see your face," he suggested.

She didn't reply, so he leaned forward and blocked her face. "You're here on a trip. You're supposed to relax and have fun. No matter what you were like in the past, nobody knows you here; you can be yourself and live the way you want. Even though it is only for a few days, you can be happy."

'Live the way I want... I want freedom, ' Evelyn thought bitterly.

The cameraman didn't know what the two were talking about up there. But since Sheffield was blocking Evelyn's face, he couldn't take a satisfactory picture from any angle. After reshooting several times, he started yelling impatiently. "Dude! Don't block your girlfriend. If I can't get the picture right, what are you going to use as a memento of this moment?"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Evelyn explained hastily.

But with the elephant being so tall and her voice so low, only Sheffield could hear her.

He burst out laughing and leaned back to reveal her face so that the cameraman could take the picture. "Evelina, I don't have a girlfriend. If you want—"

"I don't want anything," she declared firmly.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he queried. If she did, that would be a problem.

Evelyn didn't answer his question.

He took her silence for a yes.

He loosened his embrace around her waist and moved back to k

turn. Her father had told her that she could stay away from all the noise for however long she liked.

"I can keep you company while we're both here. Trust me, I will be a better companion than your zombie-faced bodyguard. I'll take you wherever you want to go. What do you say?" Maybe it was because of his experience of overcoming obstacles, or maybe he was just feeling sorry for her, Sheffield wanted her to be happy.

And he was confident that he could put a smile on her face.

'Zombie-faced?' she laughed on the inside. "I'm surrounded by zombie-faced people. That's probably why I'm depressed," she said, only half joking. Her father, her brother, Tayson, her ex-boyfriends. Every man who was close to her was the stern type. Her mother was an elegant woman. Evelyn was relaxed only when she was around Terilynn.

"That is exactly why you should spend more time with me. Laughter is the best medicine," he continued to convince her.

By now, they had made a full circuit and was back to where they had started. Sheffield helped Evelyn get off the elephant.

As soon as she climbed down, the man leading the elephant said to her, "Miss, the elephant likes you. Do you want to kiss him?"

'Kiss the elephant?' Evelyn looked at the huge animal in shock. She looked into its eyes and it seemed to her like the elephant was smiling at her.

'Should I?' She felt stumped.