Take My Breath Away

Carlos took a sip of his coffee and cast a cold glance at the girl in front of him. He regretted not sleeping with her last night. A wide smirk flickered at the corners of his mouth as he watched her anger grow. "You're disappointed because I didn't make love to you, huh?"

The cocky manner of his question made Debbie choke on her drink. After some pause, she snapped, cheeks flushing red, "Save me that balderdash! I've never seen an insensitive jackass like you."

With a sincere heart, Carlos put his cup back on the table, leaned toward Debbie and said in a low, sensual voice, "I'm sorry I didn't satisfy you last night. It won't happen again. I'll let you be the captain of your boat tonight. You can shag all you want."

'I blew it! She only wanted to be on top, which is not a big deal. I should've agreed, ' he thought to himself.

He sat upright and added, "Well, I'll let you explore when we roll in the hay tonight. Fill that house with screams of pleasure till morning."

Debbie's face flushed even more at his needless lewd details. 'The shameless bastard doesn't even mind that his assistant is still here, ' she cursed to herself. With her head down, she retorted in a low voice, "Stop dreaming! I'm not sleeping with you. I'll spend the night in the dorm.

Carlos, however, tapped on the table with his fingers and stated, "Since we're a couple, it's time for you to move into my bedroom now. You need to get used to your identity as my wife."

"Forget about it! I'm moving back to my dorm on the campus. Already, Kasie and my roommates are missing me, while I'm here wasting time with you."

Putting on a serious face, Carlos nodded and said, "Got it. Thank you for reminding me."

Just when Debbie heaved a sigh of relief and thought he had agreed with her, he continued, "Thank you for reminding me that we're still sleeping in separate bedrooms. I know I shouldn't have neglected you for all the three years we have been married. From now on, all that will change. Whatever you prefer, I'll comply, for the sake of love." So far, he had already given her plenty of time, and he believed it was time for him to take her for a wife.

The more time they spent with each other, the more he understood her. If he kept waiting until she was ready to give him children, he might watch with envy while Damon and Wesley send their own to school.

Sometimes, he was a real pain in the butt. Tired of his bullheaded persistence, Debbie leaned over the table and reprimanded, "Stop giving me that bull-crap! Let's talk about something else."

A birthday party? "Whose birthday party?" she asked in obvious surprise.

Acting laconic, Carlos picked up the iPad on the table, powered it on and placed it in front of Debbie.

There was a photo beside a short bio of the birthday girl, Megan Lan, who was turning eighteen.

That was it! There was no more information.

'Is he taking me to the party? Does that mean Carlos doesn't take the girl or her birthday party seriously?' Debbie wondered, but she chose to keep her mouth shut.

When they came back to Y City and arrived at the villa, Debbie received Kasie's call. They chatted on the phone cheerfully, Debbie opening up on how Carlos had come to rescue her.

"And then? In order to thank him, you gave yourself to him?"

After some pause, Debbie answered, "No." Finally, she had someone she could open up to and vent out her frustration. "You know what, Carlos Huo is such an insensitive male chauvinist. Can you believe it? I thought we would make love last night. After great foreplay with lots of kissing and touching, I was ready to give myself to him. But you know what, the bastard started an argument, just at the moment when I thought I was ready for him.

I've never seen such an unreasonable, arrogant man." "What happened?" Kasie asked with genuine concern.

"From nowhere, he mentioned something that I didn't like. To me it was a small matter, but apparently, he's an implacable man and he wouldn't budge. I was so frustrated. The night almost ended in a fight. Not that I'm absolutely free of blame, but I think, Carlos needs to work on his ego. At this rate, he might end up thinking a wife is supposed to be a mindless bootlicker." But Kasie knew Debbie too was stubborn. If Carlos indeed offended her, it would take quite a deal of pleading and coaxing to change her mind. However, Carlos himself was a proud man, and their relationship had been a stormy one for a long time. Neither of them wanted to back down whenever they disagreed.

The unromantic details left Kasie in worry. After a long pause, she finally calmed herself down and said, "Deb, we are girls. And tenderness is our strongest weapon. Power has gotten into your husband's head, and he thinks he's in control of your love as well. You need to act nice, instead of arguing with him."

'Haven't I been a little too nice already?' Debbie rolled her eyes and complained, "Fine! I'll give it a try, if you say so. How do I go about it, anyway?"

"Okay, listen carefully." Taking a moment to clear her throat, Kasie said with affected tenderness, "First, you need to apologize. Whether you were the cause of the argument or not, you need to take the first step. Waiting for Carlos to apologize first is almost impossible, at least, judging from what I know about him. Once you've made peace, it would be good to start off on a high. That's the best time for you guys to bang."

"Wait. 'Bang'? Are you kidding me?" It gave Debbie goosebumps to imagine Kasie's brazenness.

"C'mon Debbie," Kasie coaxed. "Are you some cave woman? Use Google search, if you didn't get what I said, sweetie."

"It's not that I didn't get what you meant. It's the titillating way you put it that makes me doubt you. Jeez, you make me flinch, Kasie Zheng!" exclaimed Debbie, feeling uneasy at her friend's direct manner..

"Take it easy, girl. It's your love life I'm trying to save," Kasie replied.

"Thank goodness, in me, you have a shrink and a good friend, who won't sit on the fence and watch you and Carlos destroy your marriage," she added with a satisfied giggle.

Both Kasie and Debbie knew each other well. They had been best friends for a long time. Banking on that friendship, Kasie urged, "You know countless women in this world want to marry Carlos. Right now, you have the best chance to win his heart. Otherwise, you'll lose him. Anyway, you are a smart girl. I believe you'll hack what it takes to make him your man. Remember that time when you argued with Gail over that collar pin? You acted like a spoiled girl before Mr. Huo, and he bought it."

"But I'm not one of those women..."

"You're just an idiot!"

"Fuck off!" Debbie shouted.

Kasie cleared her throat and said with a smile, "I was just kidding. Don't get mad at me, girl. You need to take care of your husband and satisfy his needs. Don't lie to yourself that you're the only woman he could ever find in the whole world. You should count yourself lucky and fight to keep him by any means. If you lose him, then you'll wake up to what I'm trying to drive into your head, darling."

"Don't worry, I won't!" Debbie said indifferently.

Actually, what she meant was that she wouldn't regret if she lost Carlos to another woman. But on second thought, she hated to think about such possibility.

It was almost 8 p.m. when she hung up the phone. Time for her lessons, where Carlos was taking her through Advanced Mathematics.

But instead of preparing for class, Debbie rolled on her bed, dwelling on what Kasie had said. 'if I start sleeping with Carlos, will it be possible that he won't force me to have so many classes?'

She took out her phone and posted in her WeChat Moments, "I have a dream, and it is to sleep with CH. If he let me down, I'll ask him to kneel on a washboard. If he let's me down, I'll ask him to kneel on durian shells. Hahaha!"

Next, she opened the Weibo app and posted, "Carlos, why don't you sleep with me?"

Kristina had added Debbie as her "Close Friend" on Weibo, and she was able to read her post soon. Upon seeing Debbie's post, Kristina commented, "Do you dare to mention Carlos Huo? That takes nerves."

Already, Debbie has switched off her phone and left for Carlos' class. Little did she know that her posts had become a buzz.

Many of her friends who saw the post in WeChat Moments, took the conversation to group chats. In one of the groups, Kasie mentioned Debbie and commented, "Tomboy, I felt shame for you. You've been married to Carlos for three years, but you are still a virgin. Do you have a problem? Or is it your husband who is the problem?"