Fire In His Eyes (Secrets & Seduction #1)(15)
“You have a cat?” I laughed. He did not strike me as a cat guy.
“Yes, I do. Love that stupid thing, too.” He turned to me with a relieved expression on his face. “She’s on the sofa. Belonged to a friend of mine first, but he did not come back from Iraq.”
“Oh, that was nice of you to take it in. I am sorry about your friend,” I said apologetically giving him a sympathetic smile.
“Don’t worry about it. I have had her for years.” He paused as he placed my bag just inside what must be his bedroom. I saw the cat on the sofa, a beautiful, very fluffy, and monstrous looking long haired white Persian. He then turned back to me. “Well, accept for the six months I lived on base. Anyway, her name is Mrs. C.” He looked up at me mischievously and his eyebrow did that adorable little lift thing.
“Strange name for a cat,” I stated confused as I turned back around from admiring the spacious apartment. The kitchen/dining room/living room area was all open and tastefully, yet simply decorated. As, I turned back towards where he stood it hit me what the C stood for, and then I wrinkled my nose and said,”Oooo, you are so bad!”
He laughed, “Well her name was Cat with a C before I had her, and my roommate’s name is Kat with a K, well Katerina really but everybody calls her Kat for short, so it was getting to be a little confusing, so I changed Cat’s name to Mrs. C. I just made it a little more colorful. A sweet *, needs a sweet name,” he joked. He reached down to scratch the cat on the head, and she purred up at him melodiously pushing her head against his hand. “See that, same reaction whenever you please a *.” Victor had a way of making everything sound dirty, yet enticing.
I laughed my mood lifting a little. I loved his little jokes and innuendos. He strangely reminded me of my sister. The guy had sex on the brain. Awesome, right? I thought so.
“So, the bedrooms are here and here.” He pointed to opposite ends of the living room. “This one is mine on the right. I have my own ensuite bathroom. We got a balcony, but it overlooks Del Mabry, so we don’t use it much. But out back is an awesome Olympic sized pool and really big courtyard. We can grill over there and have parties and gatherings.”
“It’s very nice. I wish I had a pool. I love to swim.” I envied people with pools in Florida. I was saving up to have one built.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as he was done pointing out the various features of the apartment. He broke it.
“So, a movie then. I’m sorry, but I am really tired tonight. I had a rough day, and not too much sleep last night, if you know what I mean, but I will make it up to you tomorrow, Monica,” his usually twinkling eyes, just faintly sparkled at the suggestion.
“That’s fine, Victor. I’m okay with just relaxing tonight,” I told him.
“My roommate went out with her girlfriends so we have the place to ourselves for a bit. She probably won’t be back ‘til sometime after two.”
I sat down on the sofa in the corner as he headed towards the television and flicked it on. He gazed at the media cabinet to the right of the screen and selected a DVD from the many that lined the shelves. “Oh, I love this movie. You like Tom Cruise?” he called over his shoulder.
“Yeah, I do, actually,” I replied. Tom Cruise was sexy as hell, and despite his occasional public displays of weirdness, I thought he was a pretty great actor, but he had nothing on Victor.
“Have you seen The Last Samurai?” he probed as he popped open the case and removed the DVD from its casing.
“No, I haven’t,” I indicated as I got more comfortable on the sofa popping one leg underneath me.
He came over to the sofa and sat next to me removing the pillows and putting them on to the floor, and proceeded to lie down with his legs stretched out and his head in my lap. “Comfortable?” he inquired.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I whispered as I gently began to scratch his back in circular motions.
“Mmm, that feels nice. Keep doing that.” He whispered as he flicked the remote to bypass the upcoming attractions. He pressed play and the movie credits began to appear. “I really am sorry, Monica. I feel bad. I had a rough day, and know you probably hoped for me to be more entertaining. But I just can’t. I have a lot on my mind, and it is nothing I can talk about with you yet, okay?”
“Sure, Victor,” I said. “We all have bad days. No problem.” He sounded so sad that my heart went out to him. I hoped he would feel better and maybe more comfortable around me, maybe even willing to confide in me, someday. But, he had told me this morning there would be no promises. Our days might me very limited, and that someday would probably never come. I continued to brood over that as I continued absently scratching his back.
“Mmm, so relaxing,” he muttered again. “Just keep doing that, okay?”
“Okay,” I muttered. He fell asleep with me scratching and running my fingers across his back within fifteen minutes. I tried to concentrate and enjoy the movie, but my mind was racing ahead of me until I was so lost I couldn’t even follow the story line. So instead of watching the movie I just lay my head back and closed my eyes. After a little bit or so, I found myself getting sleepy; and I, too, began to doze off.
I didn’t know what time it was when I heard a click and glanced towards the door. I saw the knob turning and knew instinctively that it must be his roommate. A woman, very tall, older, maybe in her late thirties or early forties, and little bit on the husky size with short sandy brown hair came in through the door.