“Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Fine. Why do you ask?”
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I shrugged. “No reason.”
After he polished off the first scotch, he went back for a second. Just because I generally refrained from drinking didn’t mean I frowned upon others partaking. Yet, once again, the two doubles and Caine’s quietness while we waited seemed a bit off.
When the lights flickered, the usher showed us to our seats. Looking around the theatre, I told myself again that I probably just felt like a fish out of water. Although I liked the music, the thought of going to an actual opera had always felt pretentious. The place was a designer emporium—I smirked, thinking there wouldn’t be any bootleg T-shirts sold outside afterward like the last show I went to.
Caine must have noticed me eyeing the people around us. He leaned in. “If I take off my jacket and lay it across your lap, I can probably finger you and get you to sing along during the opening scene.”
The woman taking her seat on the other side of Caine looked his way, so I shot him a warning glare and whispered, “Shhh. Keep your voice down.”
He smirked, and when the lights went down at the start of the show, he stood and took off his jacket, giving me a wink. To be safe, I clasped my hand with his when he sat back down.
Music filled the air almost immediately, and it gripped me, catching me off guard. It sucked me in from the first note and didn’t spit me out until the very end. It overpowered my senses—the orchestra, amplified voices, the beauty of the theatre and costumes. I’d expected to enjoy the experience, but I hadn’t expected to be moved to tears.
I was speechless when it was over. We walked to the waiting town car hand in hand.
Caine squeezed my fingers when we were inside. “So, what did you think?”
“I think it was the most magical thing I’ve ever experienced.”
He rubbed his thumb on the top of my hand. “The first time is definitely something else.”
“Thank you for taking me. I’m glad I got to experience that with you.”
Caine smiled. “What did you like best?”
“Honestly, I don’t know how to explain it. It made me feel something I’ve never really experienced. Consumed with emotions—like I couldn’t feel or see anything else.”
His eyes were tender. “I know the feeling.”
I’d felt Caine watching me instead of the show at times, but I was too invested to peel my own eyes from the stage.
“As odd as it might sound, I think what I experienced was love in some form. At least the feeling that being in love gives you—that all-consuming and full feeling, you know?”
“I thought you said you’d never been in love.”
It was in that moment that it hit me. I was figuring it out because I was falling for Caine. Just like the opera, he’d overwhelmed me since the day I met him. It was an inexplicable connection, although I was afraid to admit my realization out loud.
I shrugged. “I’ve read about it.”
Caine’s lip did that little twitch thing I hadn’t seen in a while. “You’ve read about it, huh?”
It felt like he could see through me, so I changed the subject and rounded back to his original question about what I liked best.
“I think my favorite scene was the one where the mother dies. That’s kind of morbid, isn’t it?”
“What did you like about it?”
“The way her husband sang afterward. There was so much pain and emotion in his voice that I just knew he would never find another love in his life.” I covered my heart with my hand, feeling choked up just thinking about that scene. “It reminded me of Umberto and Lydia—the devotion she has for him. At least they had more than fifty years together, but this guy was so young, and the love of his life was gone. It was heartbreaking, but beautiful.”#p#分页标题#e#
Caine nodded and seemed to ponder my comment as he stared out the window into traffic. When his gaze returned to mine, his face was serious. “Did your mother never remarry after your father? You’ve never mentioned a stepfather in the picture before you were adopted.”
“No.” The lie came out before I even gave it a thought. “I had no stepfather.” After I said it, I felt badly for not being honest with him.
But that didn’t last very long because Caine surprised me by reaching over, hoisting my butt out of the seat next to him, and setting me down on his lap. It wasn’t a very ladylike position, considering the elegant dress I was wearing, but I didn’t care. His serious mood had been replaced by playfulness. He smiled wide, and it made my belly flutter.