Effie’s whole face lit up. “You want to hear it?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Caine chuckled at Effie’s delight as she leaned over her plate and began her story. “It was 1960 and I was about to turn twenty-three. I was playing Maria in West Side Story. I was also completely infatuated with my asshole of a director, Albert Reis. Of course I didn’t think he was an asshole at the time.” She gave me a girlish smile. “I was sunk deep in my crush, but Reis wasn’t interested. So, one night after the show when this handsome, wealthy industrialist from my hometown stopped by my dressing room to pay his regards, I agreed to go on a date with him. Nicky was fun and sweet and he was a real gentleman with me, but I took him for granted. I kept him on a string, all the while hoping the enigmatic and artistic Reis would finally pay me some attention.
“I forgot Nicky got wealthy for a reason. He was smart—a perceptive cookie, my Nicky. He realized I was infatuated with Reis and he broke things off with me.” She appeared sheepish as she remembered the moment. “He was really mad at me. Told me to go to hell. I was shaken up by it. I didn’t want to hurt him … but I didn’t realize until he went back to Boston and was in all the society papers for philandering around that I was shaken up because I actually had feelings for him.”
My breakfast forgotten, I rested my chin on my hand and whispered, “So, what did you do?”
“I found out when his next trip to New York was and I cornered him at his favorite restaurant. I told him I wanted him back.”
“That was brave.”
“Maybe. It was also fruitless. Nicky told me he wasn’t some toy I could just set aside and then pick up as soon as another girl reached for it.”
“Oh boy.”
“Exactly. I had to work my butt off to get him back. I made sure I was at all the same parties and I made certain sure that he knew I was there for him.”
I grinned. “You wore him down.”
Effie surprised me by shaking her head as she dimmed with regret. “I really hurt him. He’d fallen in love with me, you see, and I broke his heart. I’d lost his trust. He wasn’t sure of my affections anymore, and the fact that I was a damn good actress didn’t help him believe me when I said I was for real. Plus … I was never very good at making myself really vulnerable. So he doubted my sincerity.
“Anyway, he started dating this one girl in particular and, well … that hurt. A lot. They were together for only a few weeks, but everyone kept telling me how serious she was about him. One night we were at the same party and rumors met my ears that he was planning on proposing to this girl. Well, I couldn’t hide how I felt. I was so used to being able to turn on a smile even when I was sad, but not then. I had to get out of there. Our friends and acquaintances realized what was going on and it was a spectacle for them, you know. Word made it to Nicky about my reaction and he was concerned enough to come after me.” She rolled her eyes, as if mocking the drama that had played out between her and her late husband. “Finding me in floods of tears finally got through his thick noggin and he believed me when I told him I loved him.” Her grin was wicked. “Of course his passionate reaction to that news meant we had to get married, if you know what I mean.”
Caine groaned beside me. “Effie, a monkey would know what you mean. No sex talk. It’s disturbing.”
She just laughed. “Anyway, the moral of my story is that sometimes you’ve got to let yourself be vulnerable even when it’s the scariest thing in the world. You can reap the rewards—I’ll tell you that.” Her pointed look toward Caine did not go unmissed, and he braced himself.
I squirmed uncomfortably.
I knew Effie’s advice was well-meaning, but there was a time and a place to push the boundaries between me and Caine, and too much too soon would have him running in the opposite direction. Deciding to pretend I missed her point, I pushed my plate back. These breakfasts were the only real time I imagined Caine got to spend with Effie, especially with me taking up what little free time he had. I decided to give them privacy. “Well, I’m stuffed. I’m going to have a shower.”
Effie smiled gratefully at me and Caine’s own expression was warm, tender almost. It took everything within me to restrain myself from caressing his cheek as I passed him.
Slowly, Lexie. Slowly but surely, I reminded myself.
When I wandered back downstairs after my shower, the table was cleared and Effie was nowhere to be seen.
Caine approached me and I stilled at the predatory look in his eye. “Where’s Effie?”
“She had a book club meeting to get to. She told me to tell you she’ll see you soon.”
“Oka …” The word died on my lips as Caine drew to a stop in front of me and felt under the Red Sox T-shirt for his tie. He yanked on it and the sweatpants instantly began sliding down my hips. With satisfaction etched into his features, Caine forced the pants down my legs and then bent down to his haunches to pull them off. I stared at him, confused, as he stood back up.
“The T-shirt looks better on its own,” he explained.
His actions suggested I was sticking around the apartment for the day. “Aren’t you busy?”
“Probably, but let’s pretend I’m not.”
Delighted, I grinned up at him. “So you want to hang out? Like normal people?”
“Neither of us will ever be normal, but we can certainly hang out.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” He looked around his apartment. “I’ve never just … hung out before.”
“Hmm.” Sensing I needed to take control of the situation, I stepped past him and stared over at the TV corner. “We could watch a movie.” That was something that normal couples did. In fact, it sounded so normal I had butterflies of excitement fluttering around in my belly.
In answer Caine strode across the room and opened his DVD cabinet. “What do you feel like watching?”
I made my way over there and bent down beside him. Eyeing the movies, I felt overwhelmed not only by the choices but by the fact that this was happening. I was spending the day with Caine, dressed only in his T-shirt, and he was prioritizing me over work just as he had done last night. Surely that was huge. I bit my lip to contain my giddiness and began looking through his foreign movies.
After selecting one about World War II, Caine set up the movie and then flopped down on his sofa so he was stretched out along it on his side. My initial instinct was to gaze down at him uncertainly, as he’d never really invited casual affection before.
But I was over uncertainty.
I’d decided I was over that this morning and I was sticking to it.
Decision made, I curled up on my side in front of him and relaxed when his arm snaked around my waist to pull me closer.
For the first fifteen minutes of the movie I found it difficult to concentrate on anything but the fact that I was cuddling on the sofa watching a movie with Caine. My awareness of him was heightened even more than usual—his hard body pressed close to mine, the steady, slight rise and fall of his chest against my back, the clean fresh scent of his skin and the hint of his cologne …
Eventually, however, I relaxed completely and allowed the film to draw me in. I was enjoying the fraught story and the coziness of the situation, but was beginning to realize where the plot was going and what it would eventually lead to. Somewhat familiar with foreign movies, I knew they could be more sexually explicit than our homegrown fare, and I wondered how I’d deal with watching a sex scene with Caine when the two of us were still so hyperaware of each other.