Beauty from Pain (32 page)

“
Only if you’re joining
me.”

I walk to the doorway to kiss him. “I’ve
joined you every night for two months. I’m not stopping
now.”

I fill our plates with salmon and rice pilaf
while Lachlan chooses a vintage, and then we meet at the informal
dining table. He pulls my chair out for me and pours my wine. It’s
one of the many routines we’ve developed after living together for
eight weeks.

“
Do you remember me telling you I
wanted to take you to Sydney a while back?”

“
Yes, and you have tickets for the
opera.”

“
That’s
right.
Madama
Butterfly
. It’s this weekend and I
still want you to come with me.”

“
I’m in, but I have to warn
you—I’m no fan of opera. I don’t understand it.”

“
Honestly, I’m not a huge fan
myself, but these tickets are a gift from one of my customers in
Sydney. They’re balcony seats and I’m afraid he has the tickets for
the other seats and will know if I don’t show.”

“
You’re so
considerate.”

“
I’m not being considerate. I’m
being business-minded. I don’t want to insult him and lose his
account.”

“
Well, then, you’re being
considerate in your business-mindedness.”

He laughs at me.
“
Business-mindedness.
Say that fast ten times.”

“
No, it was hard enough to say it
once.”

“
The trip won’t be a total bust.
We’ll do the opera on Friday night and then I have other plans for
us.”

“
Like what?”

“
I’m not telling you. You’ll have
to wait and find out on Saturday, Miss Beckett.”

–––––

I’m wearing a fitted black
cocktail dress and a stole with a pair of tall heels.
Devil shoes.
That’s what
I call them because they’re going to hurt like hell if I walk much
in them. But damn, they make me look great, and that’s what I
want—to be beautiful for Lachlan, even if it’s painful. I can stand
the hurt.

I’m in front of the mirror fastening my
diamond pendant around my neck when Lachlan comes into the
bathroom. “You’re missing something.”

I inspect myself and take inventory. I don’t
know what he’s referring to, but I take the opportunity to mess
with him. “How did you know I wasn’t wearing panties?”

His eyes widen and so does his smile as he
reaches for the hem of my dress to assess the situation. “You’re
not? Well, that happens to be very convenient.”

I swat his hand. “There’ll be none of that
until later. What am I missing?”

He pulls a black velvet box from the inner
pocket of his jacket. “This.”

I look at the box sitting on his opened palm.
“You spoil me, Lachlan.”

“
And you love it. Admit
it.”

I roll my eyes at him. It’s not that I don’t
love being spoiled by Lachlan. I do, but it makes me uncomfortable
when he gives me expensive gifts. Anything housed in a jewelry box
is going to cost big bucks.

It clicks as he pops its top and I see a pair
of diamond solitaire earrings—big ones. I reach out and touch them.
“They’re beautiful.”

“
They are, but you’re more
beautiful.”

He always tells me that. I wonder if he said
that to the others.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing’s wrong.” I hold out my
palm, grinning. “Give me my new earrings so I can put them
on.”

He takes them from the box and
places them in my hand one at a time. I tilt my head to the side so
my hair falls out of the way while I put the first solitaire
in.
Damn, it’s even bigger in my ear. I
wonder how many carats these are? No doubt a lot.

After I put the second one in, I hold my head
upright and Lachlan tucks my hair behind my ears for inspection.
“Even if minor, diamonds always have some imperfections, but you
make these perfect.”

“
Thank you for the earrings and
the compliment.”

“
My pleasure. Are you ready to
go?”

“
I am.”

We arrive at the Sydney Opera House and
Lachlan has made arrangements to park in the concourse section near
the entrance since there is no valet. My feet thank him. Otherwise,
we’d be doing some trekking from the public parking
area.

We’re walking toward the entrance when a man
with a huge camera steps in front of us and begins to snap
pictures. The flash of light is almost blinding as I feel Lachlan’s
hand at the small of my back, urging me to move along.

When we are in the building, I look at Lachlan
and he doesn’t seem fazed by the bizarre incident at all. “That was
strange. What do you think that was all about?”

“
I’m sure it was a photographer
assigned to cover opening night.”

“
The newspaper should teach their
staff to be courteous when photographing patrons. That was rude.
And ridiculous. He acted like he had to snap as many pictures as
possible before you punched him out—like a paparazzi going after a
celebrity.”

“
We should probably find our seats
so I can speak with Mr. Brees, if he’s here.”

In our private balcony section, we’re on the
second of two rows. Lachlan leans over once we’re seated and
whispers, “That’s not Mr. Brees sitting in front of us. You want to
leave?”

Is he serious?
“No. We’re here. We’re dressed up. Let’s act like we know
something about opera.”

“
Oh, I know all
about opera. I’m just not a fan. My mother loves it, so I grew up
hearing it.
Madama
Butterfly
is her favorite, so I know
it inside and out. We can blow this off and go do something else if
you want.”

“
No. I want to stay, especially
since I didn’t know I was with an opera expert. You can explain it
to me.”

He laughs. “Awesome. That’s just what I wanted
to do.”

The curtain goes up, and after just a few
moments, I’m lost. “I have no idea what’s going on.”

“
Okay. It’s 1904 and the man,
Pinkerton, is a US Naval officer. He’s about to marry a
fifteen-year-old Japanese girl they call Butterfly, but he knows
he’s going to divorce her when he finds a proper American
wife.”

“
Well, that’s pretty
shitty.”

“
Don’t blame me. I didn’t write
it. Anyway, Butterfly loves Pinkerton so much, she converts from
her Japanese religion to Christianity. Her uncle finds out she
converted and comes to the house where they are being wed. He shows
his ass, curses Butterfly, and renounces her. The end of this act
is them preparing for their wedding night.”

“
So this is like
bow-chicka-wow-wow, only opera style?”

He starts laughing and earns
several shushes from the row of people in front of us. He leans
closer and I feel a warm rush of breath against my ear as he
whispers. “No,
Madama
Butterfly
isn’t bow-chicka-wow-wow
by any means, but I’ll sure show you some when we get back to the
hotel.”

His promise sends a flood of need between my
legs and I become restless in my seat. Lachlan watches me and
smiles. “Everything okay over there?”

“
I’m good.”

“
Are you really not wearing
panties?”

“
Maybe. Maybe not.” There was no
way I was ruining this great dress with a panty line.

He’s trying to read my face, but he can’t
tell. He pulls the stole from around my shoulders and spreads it
across my lap. “I think your legs are cold.”

No, sir, I’m anything but cold right
now.

“
My hand is cold too. I need you
to warm it up,” he whispers as he slides it under the fabric across
my thighs.

No way. He is not about to do that here … oh,
oh, yes, he is.

I feel his fingers spidering between my legs,
scaling up my thighs to where I ache for his touch. “Hmm, someone
isn’t wearing panties. Shameless.”

I shift back in my seat and he strokes his
fingers up and down, spreading the moisture from my center. “I love
how you are always so wet.”

Lucky for me, it’s dark inside the theatre,
but I still glance around to make sure no one is watching us. With
what he’s doing, I’m not sure I’d care if they were.

His fingers are frustrating, but amazing. I
want to buck hard and ride his hand until I come into a million
shards, but I can’t without drawing attention. It’s slow torture.
“I’m going to give you more, but you have to behave yourself. Can
you do that for me?”

I can’t answer so I nod to show my compliance
and then I feel his fingers start to slide. In. Out. In. Out. I
almost lose it, right then and there, but I hold it together by
biting my bottom lip. His fingers speed and I feel it building.
It’s coming. And so am I as Butterfly prepares for her wedding
night.

38

Jack McLachlan

I’ve never enjoyed opera so much in my
life.

Laurelyn and I leave the theatre a few moments
before the curtain closes. She doesn’t want to face the couple
sitting in front of us on the balcony. She’s pretty certain they
heard her muffled squeal and knew exactly what was going on. I’m
pretty sure she’s right.

We walk across the parking lot hand in hand
and another photographer steps in front of us to take more
pictures. Laurelyn puts her hand up. “I’m sorry, but there are
plenty of other people for you to photograph. Find someone
else.”

The photographer lowers his camera to look at
Laurelyn. I think she amuses him. “It’s okay. I already have what I
need.”

She really has no idea who I am.

When we’re in my car, I take my phone from my
pocket to turn it back on and see almost a dozen missed calls from
Mum, Evan, and Chloe. “Something’s going on because my family has
been blowing up my phone for the past two hours.”

I call Mum first and don’t get an answer, so I
try Evan next. He doesn’t even say hello when he answers. “Jack,
it’s Dad. He’s been taken to the hospital. We don’t know anything
for sure yet, but he could be having a heart attack.”

“
What happened?”

“
Mum said they were at home and he
started complaining of chest pain. She tried to get him to go to
the hospital, but you know Dad. He wanted to see if it would pass,
but it got worse so she called an ambulance. They took him back
about thirty minutes ago and said they’d give us an update when
they know more. Where are you?”

“
I’m in Sydney.”

“
Good. We’re at St. Vincent’s. How
long will it take you to get here?”

“
Not long.”

“
Okay. I’ll come down and meet you
in the lobby.”

I end my call with my brother and I’m numb.
This is my indestructible dad he’s talking about. He just retired
so he could finally spend time with Mum. They were going to travel
the world together.

“
What’s happened?”

“
It’s my dad. He’s been taken to
the hospital. My brother says he might be having a heart
attack.”

Laurelyn reaches for my hand. “Oh, I’m sorry,
Lachlan. Will it take you long to get to him?”

“
No. He’s at St. Vincent’s here in
Sydney. It isn’t far.”

She grabs my hand and kisses it. “You need to
go. Now. I’ll take a taxi back to the hotel.”

She pulls the handle on the door to get out
and that’s when I realize I don’t want her to go. I need her, so I
touch my hand to her arm. “Don’t leave. I want you to be with
me.”

“
You’ll have your
family.”

I swallow before I say the words that will
change this relationship forever. “You’re the one I
need.”

“
But that would mean meeting your
family.”

It does, and I’m okay with that if it means
she’s by my side. “I don’t care. I need you to be with
me.”

She smiles and cradles my face with her hands.
“Of course. I’ll come if it’s what you want, but this is going to
change everything.”

“
I know, but it’s what I
want.”

–––––

I race toward the hospital and we’re there in five
minutes. We enter the lobby and I see Evan waiting for us by the
elevators. “Any news?”

He takes a look at Laurelyn. I know he’s
putting it all together and remembering the photographs, but now
isn’t the time to tell him to stop picturing her naked. “I walked
down right after I talked to you, so I don’t know.”

“
Do they know if it’s a bad
one?”

“
No. It could be something else,
but the tests they’re doing now will tell us how extensive the
damage is if it’s a heart attack. When he comes out, he might have
to be in the intensive care unit.”

Shit, that doesn’t sound good.

Laurelyn squeezes my hand. “I know intensive
care sounds scary, but I think being monitored there after a heart
attack would be standard care, regardless of the
severity.”