My head whipped right and left, my entire body tingling with anticipation. “Who’s there?”
“A big fan.” The voice oddly carried the same depth ofhis, only more cheerful, playful.
Footsteps approached, and suddenly I was blinded by a burst of light. “What the hell?”
“I’m so sorry again. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
That was definitely nothim.Hewould never apologize like this.Hedid whateverhewanted, took whateverhewanted without permission or care.
The light moved away from my face and became a spot on the floor. Ridiculously expensive, black, Italian shoes and a pair matching of slacks appeared. As I looked up, I saw flowers, and then a familiar smirk hit me.
The cute boy’s.
Only now he wasn’t cute at all. He looked so creepy with the flashlight from his phone focused on his face, like he’d just come out of a cheesy horror movie.
“You sure? Looks like it’s exactly what you’re trying to do here,” I said nonchalantly, disappointment dulling my senses.
He laughed. I didn’t mean to say what I said as a joke, though. “Can we please move somewhere more…” He laughed again, nervous now.
“Yeah.” Wiping my face, I led him to the spot next to the dressing rooms where there were enough lights to make an elephant sweat.
“These are for you.” He handed me the bouquet, a charming smile on his face. No more mischievous smirking.
Dazed for a second—nobody had ever brought me flowers before—I stared at the beautiful arrangement of white and red roses. Then I took them, my hand shaking. “Thank you so much.” It was weird that when he was acting like a creep I could look him in the eye, and now that he was being nice, my cheeks burned, and my gaze fell on the floor. “Is that the part when I smell the roses and it turns out you sprayed them with chloroform so you could kidnap me?”
When he didn’t respond, I looked up. His smile had vanished, and his brow inched as he swallowed.
“Actuallythatwas a joke.” I shook my head. “I’m terrible at it. Obviously.”Nice work, Lina.
“It takes at least five minutes of inhaling something soaked in chloroform to become unconscious. You need something else mixed with it like alcohol or diazepam to make it work.”
“And the fact that you know that is not creepy at all…”
“Oh my God, I was just trying to… I’m…” He threw his hands in the air, chuckling. “Can we start over?”
“Yes, please.”
“Thank you.” He wiped his forehead, sweat beading it. “I came today to listen to your recital. I loved your performance. You were amazing out there.”
“Thanks…um… You came to watchmyrecital? Like specially?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. Okay. I thought you were here because your relative is playing, too.”
“What relative?”
“The one you come to Bellomo for…or is it a girlfriend? Don’t say it. Boyfriend?”Shoot me now.
He just gaped at me, and then he rested his hands on his hips, his suit jacket moving a little to the back, and now I noticed the defined chest and abdomen muscles under his white shirt. “I haven’t met any girl that rendered me speechless quite often like you have, Miss Baldi.”
I blinked, not sure what he meant. “Lina. My name is Lina.”
“I know, and Lina, you should know I’ve been single for about eight months. I never had, never will have a boyfriend because I’m not gay, at all. I come here because I’m an alumnus, not because I have any current relatives in Bellomo…and to be completely honest, I use those alumni meetings and events to come see you.”
The heat from my cheeks and the lights traveled all over my body. “Oh.”
“You look even more beautiful when you blush.” His voice dropped an octave, and I somehow managed to blush even more.
