Take My Breath Away

"Yes, Gwyn likes it a lot," Matthew said simply.

"Oh, I see." Erica nodded without thinking too much.

Matthew, the busy CEO, was such a loving and attentive uncle. He could cook anything his niece liked.

She leaned over the counter opposite him, eating an apple. "Where are you going tomorrow? How long will you be gone?"

"England, for a week."

Her eyes lit up. She wanted to go to England too. "Hey! Didn't you say you were going to take me with you on those business trips? I wanna go!"

"Not this time. I'm on a tight schedule. I'm only in England for half a day, then I'm headed to France and Italy. Maybe next trip I'll have more time, and you can come along." He also wanted her with him, but they'd spend most of their time on the plane. She liked to walk around, take pictures, visit the mom and pop shops, and his schedule wouldn't let her.

Tonight's dinner was pretty simple. 15 minutes of prep, 45 minutes cook time. So, an hour later, two plates of spaghetti, some cream puffs, a colorful fruit platter and a plate of dried fruit were sitting on the table.

Erica picked up a puff and put it in her mouth. Before she could even take a bite, Matthew chided her. "Wash your hands!"

"Well... okay!" She swallowed the part of the puff she was chewing. She savored the taste for a bit before walking off to wash up.

After dinner, Erica decided to relax by watching TV in the living room. She asked Matthew to join her. After a couple shows, the two of them walked into the bedroom.

She took a shower first, and he went to the walk-in closet to change his clothes.

As he unbuttoned his shirt, Matthew looked over at the door to Erica's wardrobe. He saw it was still ajar. He was about to close it for her but something caught his attention. He saw a wine red nightdress hanging in her wardrobe. He walked over and took it out. It was sexy, but he never saw her wear it.

Without a word, he pulled it off the hanger and put the hanger back in the wardrobe. Just as he turned around, something in the corner caught his eye.

It was a rectangular box. He would never have noticed it if he hadn't touched the nightdress next to it.

He grabbed the box and had a closer look.

Half an hour later, Erica came out of the bathroom in patterned pajamas. They had characters from the popular cartoon Boonie Bears plastered all over them.

In the bedroom, Matthew stood beside the bed, hands in the pockets of his pajamas. He stared at the two items on the bed intently.

"Hey, Matthew. What are you looking at?" Curiously, she walked over and saw the wine red nightdress Debbie had bought for her. She felt embarrassed to wear it so she kept it in the closet. She never took it out.

So why was Matthew so interested? 'Wait! What is that thing beside the nightie? It looks familiar...' she thought, confused.

Matthew was wearing his poker face. By now she knew what that meant. He was angry. He picked up the box and asked, "So, is this the reason why you won't make love to me?" It never occurred to him Erica wouldn't sleep with him because of this.

Erica's face turned bright red all of a sudden when she remembered what was in the box. It was the sex toy Debbie bought her the other day! She lunged for the box, trying to wrest it from his hands. "No! It's not..." She was so flustered she could barely speak.

Matthew wouldn't give it to her. He raised it in the air and stared at the agitated girl, still expressionless. "Why are you so upset?" he asked.

How could she not be, now that Matthew found the box? "Look, get your mind out of the gutter. Mom bought it for me. She and Dad went abroad, saw it in a shop window and dropped money on it. I wanted to throw it away..."

"Then you found a use for it, right? Is that why you didn't throw it out?"

'What the hell?' She had never used it; she didn't even know how to use it! "I-I... I forgot it in the closet. Please! Give it to me! I'll throw it away, okay?" 'Oh my God! How embarrassing!' She really wanted to cry. How could she forget to put it in the garbage?

Instead of giving it to her, Matthew opened the box and took a look at the oval-shaped thing inside. "We could use this tonight. What do you say?"

Erica was about to cry. "No, Matthew. I really didn't buy it. I didn't use it either." 'Boo...hoo...Mom, you've really screwed things up.'

Matthew calmly closed the box lid. "Oh, I thought you couldn't wait any longer. It seems I misunderstood you."

"Yes, you big oaf. Why would you think I want something like that?" If it weren't for Debbie, she wouldn't even own one. She'd have no idea where to get it, even. 'Boo...hoo...'

"But..." He paused, smiling evilly. "I think it's better to keep it. It might be useful..." And it might. A bit of spice for their sex life. Matthew was getting more ideas, even though they hadn't actually slept together yet.

"Quit playing around, Matthew. Give it here. I'll throw it away! Give it to me!" Erica jumped up and down in front of him for a long time, but couldn't reach the box held high in the man's hand. She was anxious, angry and shy.

But Matthew didn't give it to her. He took the box and walked out of the bedroom. He was going to make sure she didn't throw it away. He felt the safe might be a better place for it.

Erica grabbed his sleeve and begged pitifully, "Matthew, let's talk about this. Don't do that!"

"Honey, we're already talking. If I didn't want to talk to you, we'd be in bed now." When he saw the sex toy, Matthew really wanted to rush into the bathroom and make love to her, but he managed to hold his desires in check.

"Then give it to me. Please?" she begged.

"No way!"

At the door of the study, for the first time, he stopped the girl from going in and then locked the door from inside.

No matter how hard Erica knocked on the door, he didn't open it until he successfully locked the box inside the safe.

When he came out again, Erica looked at his empty hands and felt like crying.

She was in a bad mood that night and she made sure Matthew wouldn't be able to sleep well either.

The two of them lay side by side in bed. Erica didn't let him turn off the lights. She stared at the ceiling and stewed.

Matthew had to take out a blindfold and put it on to screen out the light.

Erica sat up and yanked it off him. He shot her a look that said "What the hell?" She answered him in a justified tone, "I don't feel safe when you sleep with the blindfold on!"

"Why don't you feel safe?"

"Because if you put on the blindfold, you can't see me. I feel safer if you can watch me sleep!"

"What... What are you talking about?" 'What is that strange logic?' He was confused.

'Forget it. He had a hard and exhausting day.' Erica's heart softened and she turned off the lights.

In the darkness, she lay beside the man, widened her eyes and asked, "Matthew, say I'm the red rose and your goddess is the pure white rose. Now that we're married, do you like the red rose or the white rose more?"

Matthew thought for a while and said, "Every girl has different charms and different sides. They can be the pure white rose and the sexy red rose at the same time. Only a man who knows how to love can make the woman he loves more and more beautiful. That's the thing—I don't love you for who you could become, I love you for who you are."

Not everyone could see the true beauty of a woman. The man who loved her would see her as the most beautiful creature. The woman who loved someone would show off her most attractive charms to them, like a peacock.

Erica sighed in her mind that Matthew knew who he was and how to control his emotions. He knew how to avoid her question. But she wasn't going to give up. "So do you like the red rose or the white rose?"

A caring look flashed in his eyes. "I like both."

"What? Can't you just decide on one?"

Matthew just smiled and didn't explain. She would understand sooner or later.

Erica sighed, "Know how to figure out whether a man is horny or not?"

"No. Tell me."

"Put your finger under his nose. If he's still breathing, then he's horny!" This was true. As long as a man lived, he would be thinking about sex. Matthew was no exception.

Matthew was confounded. Did she really see him like that?