Did his shoulders relax somewhat? Was he worried she wouldn’t like his pet? That seemed ridiculous. He was so confident, why would he worry about a cat?
“Thing is, the cat…he…uh…” he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, shaking his head slightly. “He shows his appreciation in…uh…well, when he likes you, he gives you presents.”
“Your cat leaves you presents in the form of dead rodents as an offering of love. Is that what you are awkwardly trying to tell me?” she asked, trying to stop the smile at the idea of this big, powerful man defending perfectly normal pet behavior.
“Yes. He brings me presents in the form of various…wildlife.”
“That’s very sweet of your cat. You must be a kind owner. Cats only do that when they feel the need to pay back what you’ve done for them or out of love.”
He chuckled. “I don’t do anything for the damn cat, Selena. Trust me, he fends for himself.”
“You don’t feed your cat?” she asked, ready to head to the store.
“Of course I feed him. But…I have no idea what I do to deserve all of the presents he brings me. I’m not saying I’m going to do anything differently, just wanted you to be warned.” Before she could reply, he stepped back. “I have meetings out of the office today so I won’t see you, but I’ll pick you up here after work. Say six o’clock?” A moment later, he jogged off, heading towards his house, which was another few miles away.
Selena didn’t have a chance to reply because he was off again. For a long moment, she just stood there, admiring his…um…technique. Yes, his technique. Definitely not his butt. Or his shoulders. Even though both were exceptionally fine! For a man who sits in an office for twelve or more hours a day, Reid Jones was…impressively muscular!
Chapter 5
Selena lugged her suitcase into the bedroom, still feeling guilty about living here, but admitting that the luxury was amazing! Only a few weeks, she promised herself. Reid would eventually get sick of her being around, but this reprieve would give her enough time to find something she liked. Something that was close in to the city, had good shopping nearby, and wasn’t painfully small.
The man was going to take her rent money though! She was going to be firm about that. She’d give him a check and, if the man didn’t cash it, she’d figure out how to get him the cash. She wasn’t going to mooch! No way. Her pride simply wouldn’t allow it.
Standing in the middle of the room, she looked around, wondering where she should put her clothes. She didn’t really want to put them into the dresser. That felt too much like moving in. And since she wasn’t really moving in, just staying here until she found her own apartment, the dresser just felt wrong.
Closet?
Walking down the hallway, she realized that the walls held hidden closet space. Lots of closet space! Opening up the wooden doors, she realized that there were even hangars inside. Padded hangars! Good grief! She was used to buying the plastic hangars one could get at Target…something like twenty for five dollars. These beauties were probably twenty dollars each!
She lifted the stack of dresses and suits that were hanging from the metal bar on the moving box. The suits were hung on plastic hangars that worked perfectly well. No need for luxurious, padded hangars, she thought with a huff as she hauled everything to the closet nearest to the bathroom. Back and forth, she pulled everything out of the wardrobe boxes. At her last apartment, her clothes filled the closet. Here, her clothes barely filled up half of one of the three closets on one side of the hallway!
Having never really been in a relationship per se, she hadn’t actually thought about what it would be like to live with a man. The idea of having a man dressing right next to her…and if that man were someone…oh, who looked like Reid…yeah, that would be amazing! And fun! She could just picture him coming out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his lean waist…or no towel would be even better…pulling on those dress slacks and a tailored shirt. Such a shame, covering up those shoulders!
Selena giggled, walking back to another box, picturing Reid walking into a meeting with nothing on. Nothing to spoil the view of his amazing body as he conducted the meeting.