Take My Breath Away

Blair wanted to hide her excitement, so she looked out the window and picked up her lemonade. When had Wesley developed feelings for her?

The restaurant service was top-notch. They didn't have to wait long to get their food. Blair was in such a good mood, she felt like she could eat three turkeys, de-feathered or not!

She went for the spiced salt mantis shrimps first. That turned out to be frustrating. The shell was stubborn and refused to come off. She even started using both her hands and her teeth—not ladylike or hot at all. 'It's mocking me. I never should have ordered this.' She was annoyed but didn't want to waste food either.

Wesley picked up his chopsticks and was about to eat when he noticed that Blair struggling with the shrimp shell. He wiped his hands on a wet towel and took the mantis shrimp from her. "Allow me," he said, gallantly. "What?" Blair could have sworn she misheard him.

"Let me peel it for you. You can eat other things while I'm doing this." He took the shrimp and began to peel it.

Blair was surprised and touched.

No one had ever done this for her before.

He was decent and thoughtful. This was the man she liked. She had no doubt now—she had good taste in men. And yes, sometimes he could be a jerk. But most of the time she had to admit he was good to her.

Lost in her thoughts, she wiped her hands on the wet towel, picked up a spinach beef roll and held it up to his mouth. He stopped peeling the shrimp to look at her, confused.

Meeting his eyes, she said, "You haven't eaten anything yet. Try this." She moved it closer.

Wesley decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He opened his mouth obligingly, and she popped it in. He chewed it, and nodded his assent.

Blair grinned happily. But before she could put her chopsticks down, she found that someone was watching them.

The restaurant had a large French window. And you could see through that window into the mall.

A few soldiers had the day off. They were gathered around, laughing, carrying on. They were dressed in casual clothing, as they were off-duty.

There were more than ten of them pressing their faces tight against the window. Some wore a goofy smile. Some were snickering. Some watched them with an envious look in their eyes. Some just stood there, lips apart, too stunned to react.

Blair was astonished to see so many faces staring at them. When she recognized some of them, she calmed down a little.

But it occurred to her that they must have seen her offering food to Wesley. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. She forced an awkward smile and nodded to them. Only then did she realize that her chopsticks were still in her hand, in full view of the peeping Toms. She dropped her hand quickly and shifted in her chair.

Wesley saw those overeager soldiers too, but paid little attention to them. After throwing them a glance, he went on peeling the shrimp. "Oh, I guess! If you must, you must!" he said.

"Huh?"

Blair couldn't make head or tail of what he said. But she soon knew what he meant. Within two minutes, the soldiers all swarmed in like buzzing bees.

"Whoa, small world! Fancy meeting you here, Chief!" one soldier uttered.

"No wonder Chief turned us down. He's on a date," a second teased.

"Chief, why don't you introduce us?" a third complained.

Then he turned to Blair and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm—" Before he could finish, another soldier nudged him aside and said to Blair, "Hi, we've met before. I was one of the instructors at your university. The military training?"

Their enthusiasm overwhelmed Blair. She swallowed her food quickly to greet them.

"I'm actually not Wesley's girlfriend. I bought him dinner to thank him for helping me," she explained.

But the soldiers looked at each other and snickered, as if Blair were joking. They didn't buy it at all.

Even Talbot didn't believe her. Nor Bowman. "Now Blair, don't be shy," Talbot said. "Chief, can we join you?"

Wesley didn't reply. He put the peeled shrimp on Blair's plate and wiped his hands. The soldiers widened their eyes in surprise and started talking quietly about it among themselves. "I never knew Chief could be so thoughtful. When we ate shrimp, we just ate the shells, too."

Blair heard them, not sure what to say.

Just then, Wesley called the waiter over. "We'd like a private booth. Do you have any?"

The waiter nodded. "Yes, sir. We have one left. This way, please."

The soldiers were thrilled to eat with Wesley and Blair. It was a treat to eat with their boss, but with a beautiful lady too? Bowman was eager to help. "Let's move Chief's dishes there," he prompted.

"Right, right." In the blink of an eye, the dishes on the table were all gone.

"Do you mind?" Wesley asked her on the way to the booth.

Blair understood what he was referring to—inviting his men along to dine with them. "Not at all." She shook her head.

"Now you can order more dishes. They're not picky eaters either. Order whatever you want," Wesley continued.

Blair was happy. Now she could order everything that caught her eye. And she wouldn't have to waste a morsel.

She didn't enter the private booth until she had placed the order on her phone.

When it was done, she walked in to see everyone was seated. But upon seeing her, the soldiers stood up in unison and greeted her. "Nice to meet you, Blair."

Their voices echoed through the room and traveled beyond the door and the walls. Little did they know, everyone else in the restaurant heard them. They looked around, wondering what that sound was. After a short while, when everything was quiet, they returned to their meals.

The translator was usually composed, now she wasn't. Before she could respond, someone pulled out the chair next to Wesley and said with a big smile, "Hey Blair. Over here!"

Blair was flustered. "Th-thank you," she said.

When she sat down, Wesley glared at the soldiers, and said, "That's enough."

The soldiers took their seats and started bombarding Blair with questions.

Blair never talked much during social occasions. Even at parties where she knew everyone, she just preferred to listen. But at this point, she couldn't pull her usual wallflower act, because they wouldn't stop.

After a couple of minutes, she found out that talking to the soldiers was actually fun. She answered their questions honestly as she ate. They were pretty non-judgmental, and in some cases funny. It was quite pleasant.

"Is Chief nice to you? Who wears the pants in the relationship? You or him?" Bowman couldn't help asking.

That was the golden question. Each of the soldiers pricked up their ears, waiting for her reply. They all wondered what Wesley the Devil was like when he was with a woman.

To help maintain Wesley's dignity and authority, Blair answered, "He's nice. And of course he's the boss. I listen to him, because he'd beat me up if I don't."

"Bwahaha!" The soldiers roared with laughter.

Wesley looked at her, wondering, 'You listen to me? Since when?'