Chapter 6 #2
Belle tried to decide if he was messing with her, but nothing on his face indicated he was.
“Yeah, well, after a lifetime of being inundated with cow gifts, I’m less than thrilled with it.
The second I hit middle school, I decided it was time for a change.
So I introduced myself to my teachers as Belle.
My mom is the only one allowed to call me Clarabelle these days, and that’s only because she insists it would hurt her aunt Clara’s feelings to know her part of the name got cut off. Wanna know where Aunt Clara lives?”
Victor nodded. “Yeah.”
“Paris. I met her all of one time when I was three years old.”
“Sounds like you’re really close,” he joked.
His humor caught her off guard enough that she laughed. “Oh yeah,” she said, piling on as she crossed her fingers. “We’re this close.” As she said those words, she uncrossed her fingers, waving him the peace sign.
“Even so, it seems a shame to shorten it…Clarabelle.”
Belle lifted her finger in warning. “Only my mother is allowed to use my full name.”
Victor’s eyes twinkled just enough that she knew he was going to have a lot of fun with his newfound knowledge.
“I regret sharing that,” she murmured.
He reached out, resting his hand on top of hers, the simple touch causing her heart to race. “I’m just teasing, Sunshine. Your secret is safe with me. Though I meant what I said, I think Clarabelle is a pretty name. Don’t let the Disney cow ruin it for you.”
She giggled. “Okay. I won’t.” Belle took another sip of wine, then leaned her head back against the Adirondack, looking up at the night sky.
And once again, it was Victor who broke the silence. Between his smiles and laughs and chattiness, Belle was sort of starting to question if she actually came outside at all. Perhaps she’d opted for bed and this whole conversation was taking place in her dreams.
“You still talking to that Sean guy?”
Belle turned to look at Victor. Part of her expected him to be looking out at the yard, so to find him studying her face so intently was slightly unnerving.
“We’ve texted a few times.”
“You going out with him again?” The carefree, teasing lilt to his voice as he’d goaded her about her name was gone, replaced by that deep gruffness she knew—and loved—so well.
“If he asks, yeah,” she replied. “I think I told you he’s an auditor? He’s out of town this week, doing a bank audit in Richmond. He mentioned us getting together when he gets back home, but we haven’t made actual plans yet.”
Belle thought herself well-versed in Victor’s scowls, able to understand the nuances behind every single one, but this one was, by far, the darkest and most intense she’d ever seen.
While Belle had plenty of brothers, none of them had ever displayed the slightest bit of protectiveness toward her, so she wasn’t sure how to set Victor’s mind at ease.
If Vivian was here, she’d simply slap her brother on the back of the head and tell him to knock it off.
That was what she always did whenever Victor flexed those big brother muscles at her, but their relationship hadn’t reached that level of comfort.
She wasn’t sure it ever would, because regardless of how much she appreciated Victor’s concern for her well-being, she’d never be able to think of him in a brotherly manner.
Her girlie bits lit up like the Fourth of July whenever they were together, so yeah…she’d never be able to think of him as a brother. Especially not after that post-kiss orgasm he’d inspired the night before last.
That kiss…
While she almost believed him when he said it had been a lapse in judgment, every now and again—like now, when he really did seem jealous—she found herself questioning his feelings. The optimist ran strong though her veins.
“Can I ask you something?”
He nodded in response.
“Are you protective of me?” She should have let the question end there, but the reckless part of her that still wanted that kiss to mean something added, “Or territorial?”
Victor froze, going so perfectly still, he could have been carved from stone.
She shook her head, instantly suffused with guilt. “Never mind. Stupid question. Forget I asked.”
Victor hesitated, and for a moment, she wondered if he was going to answer her anyway.
“I want you to be safe. You’re important to my family,” he said in a careful tone that told her that was as much as she was going to get. And it was enough, because he’d answered the question. Just not the way she’d hoped.
“I’ll be sure to give you more of a heads-up before my next date,” she said quickly, in an attempt to reverse course. While she’d known about the first date with Sean a couple days prior, she’d been too nervous to mention it to Victor, so she’d left it too long.
“You don’t have to,” he said. “I don’t have any nightly plans for the foreseeable future, and you know my workout schedule.”
She did. He’d printed off a copy of his summer postseason training times the first week she was here, letting her know those were the only times he wouldn’t be around to help with Pip.
She lifted one shoulder casually. “I’ll still make sure to let you know a couple days in advance, just in case something comes up that you want to do…or maybe there’s someone you want to go on a date with?” She was fishing in the least subtle way imaginable, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
Victor hadn’t gone out on a date since she and Pip moved in, and Belle couldn’t help but wonder about that.
Was he curbing his dating so that he could remain close to home for Pip, or did he just not date?
He’d never had a girlfriend in the entire time she’d known him, which seemed to confirm Vivian’s assertion that her brother was determined to die a bachelor.
And Vivian wasn’t happy about that. Vivian had dropped name after name of women she thought he might like, handing over phone numbers and suggesting he call them. As far as Belle knew, Victor hadn’t followed up with any.
He scowled. “I don’t date.”
Well, guess that answered her question definitively.
“Why not?” Belle shook her head, trying to backtrack. “Sorry. Again, that’s none of my business.”
Victor took a drink of his beer, and she figured they’d definitely drift into the no-talking part of their evening. So when he spoke again, she jerked a little, not expecting it.
“I used to date,” he confessed, not looking at her. “Had a serious girlfriend for a time. Amelia.”
Belle never knew that. Which was slightly surprising, because Vivian had shared countless stories about Victor over the years, her big brother one of her favorite subjects.
Belle was certain no sister was prouder of her sibling than Vivian.
And given the stories she’d told Belle, she understood why.
Not that Belle needed the stories to know how great Victor was.
He revealed who he truly was through his actions.
In the way he built blanket forts with Pip like they were Frank Lloyd Wright-level architecture.
How he never failed to show up to Pip’s dance recitals in a suit, even though he’d come straight from practice.
How he didn’t always manage to school his features, softening every time Pip crawled onto his lap, kissed his cheek, and told him how much she loved him.
Since Victor had opened the door, Belle decided to walk through it. “What happened between you and Amelia?”
“My career happened.”
Belle frowned, confused. “What?”
“We dated for just over two years. She even moved in here with me for the last year of our relationship. I thought she was the one.”
Belle hated the tinge of painful jealousy that admission caused, because she desperately wished he felt that way about her.
Victor raked his fingers through his hair, the way he did when something bothered him. “I’ve never told anyone this, but…I even bought a ring.”
Belle’s eyes widened because—damn. He really had been head over heels in love with this woman.
“I’d intended to propose at Christmas, but we never made it that far. She was waiting for me one night in mid-November, when I got home from a three-day road trip. Said she’d thought she could do it, but she couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t do what?”
“Spend so many nights alone during the season. Said she hated sleeping in this big house without protection.”
“Protection?”
“Apparently she got scared on nights when I wasn’t here.”
Belle snorted. “She clearly never lived in a sketchy neighborhood in Baltimore. If she had, she would have realized this house is the very definition of safe.”
Victor hadn’t been looking at her, but at her words, he turned, scowling. “I really don’t like hearing about how you used to live in a dangerous place.”
“Then I won’t tell you about the few times I heard gunfire in the street,” she said, with a wink, grinning when his expression turned from dark to practically murderous.
“Never again, Sunshine,” he said forcefully. “You’re never going to live in a place like that again.”
She shrugged, hoping he was right about that. However, after too many nights talking about herself, she didn’t want this opportunity to learn more about Victor pass her by.
“She seriously broke things off just because she was afraid to be alone at night?”
Victor shook his head. “It wasn’t just the nighttime shit. Amelia wasn’t exactly independent. She relied on me for a lot of stuff. She liked being doted on and taken care of.”
Belle bit her tongue before she said what she was thinking—which was, Amelia sounded like a spoiled brat.
While she managed not to convey her thoughts in words, her expression must have given her away, because Victor chuckled.
“There’s a lot of truth to that love is blind shit,” he admitted. “With time and distance, I can look back and see the flaws I didn’t notice in Amelia at the time. The most glaring and obvious one being, she didn’t warm up to Vivian and Phil.”
This time, Belle couldn’t hold back. “You’ve gotta be kidding! Who the hell could ever meet Viv and Phil and not love them instantly?”