Caged Heart (3 page)

When night fell, Tony let her know that they were going to go out to eat. Selene was relieved. She didn't want to be around Dorian because she was falling for the guy, even though she had no chance with him. She was happy to have them out of the house and decided to have that long hot shower which was denied to her the night before.

She got into the bathtub and took out her favorite lavender vanilla body wash. She poured the creamy soap all over her hair, her voluptuous breasts, her thighs and her back. This was one of her favorite past times next to sex…or masturbation and she took her sweet time lathering her body. She felt refreshed when she got out and the past events didn't bother her so much, for the time being.

The bathroom door was parallel to the guest room and as she walked out, she stood in the hallway for a moment staring at Dorian's closed door. She was sure that he wasn't in the apartment this time and wanted to go into the room. She tiptoed out of the hallway and slowly opened the door to the guest room. The scent of his cologne was in the air and she got turned on once again. She walked in and closed the door behind her.

He kept the room neat and his black gym bag lay on the floor. She looked into it and pulled out his white t-shirt. It carried his scent and she held it close to her body to inhale the sweet odor. Selene knew that she shouldn't invade his privacy but she had never felt an attraction to any man like this before. She was starting to accept that Dorian knew she liked him and if he didn't feel the same, then that would be fine. She had dealt with rejection before and could do it again. For now, she knew that he was single and not an asshole...so far. That was enough to turn her on.

Selene took her towel off and got on to the bed. She covered her bare breasts with the t-shirt and lay back on the pillows. Her hair was wet but she figured by the time he got back, the sheets and pillows would be dry.

Dorian's over-sized shirt caressed her naked body as she rolled around on the cool sheets and inhaled his scent. Selene wanted to fantasize about him but instead, she thought about the night before. She wondered why he stood there watching her for so long. She wanted to think that in those circumstances, any man would've probably watched but she didn't have the greatest body and couldn't imagine any good reason for him to watch. He was a well-known UFC fighter and probably had gorgeous women falling at his feet all the time. She couldn't compare to them.

"Maybe it's because he heard his name and found it funny." she thought.

It was embarrassing, yet she smiled to herself as she thought about how silly she had been that night and how silly she was being right now.

"I'm so bad!" she thought. "Imagine if he found me like this."

She wanted to stay a little longer but they had been gone for a while and it would not be a good thing if she got caught. Tony would never let her live it down and as for Dorian; he would probably think she was a weird freak. She folded his shirt and returned it to the gym bag. When she got up, there was a tiny damp circle on one of the pillows but it wasn't very noticeable and would be dry by the time he came back. Everything looked normal as she took a last look around and walked out the door.

***

Tony and
Dorian returned an hour later in good spirits. They were laughing loudly and Selene was under the suspicion that they’d had a few drinks while they were out. She was happy about this because normally, Tony didn't drink since it affected his performance.

Selene was happy to see him cut loose for once. She also felt that she might be more comfortable around them now since Tony would be too tipsy to bother her. She could hear them in the kitchen and she walked out to meet them. They were both dressed handsomely with button up shirts and slacks; they looked like models.

"Hey!" she said, smiling at them from the entrance to the kitchen. "You guys look happy!"

"We had a couple of drinks at the bar and this playa right here got a couple of numbers." he said, eyeballing
Dorian.

"Oh...what'd y'all drink?" she asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"Just some shots of tequila... nuthin' major."

"Tony! And you guys drove?" she scolded.

"We're good baby girl... still in one piece!" Tony chuckled.

"That's not cool!"

"Sorry Mom!"

She threw her arms up and was ready to walk away from them, when Dorian stopped her.

"Hold on a minute. I got you something."

Selene looked at him doubtfully. He reached into a big, gold-foil gift bag rested on the counter and pulled out a clear glass case with 2 dozen white chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of pink champagne. She stared at Dorian’s gift for a moment, not really believing that it was for her.

"This is for me?"

"Yea, Tony said you liked white chocolate... so to thank you for dinner and breakfast I got these for you."

"Wow, you didn't have to do that." she said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Aww ain't that sweet?" Tony smirked.

"Well you deserve a lot more than this for putting up with that fool over there." he laughed and gestured towards Tony.

"Yea whatever... I'm goin' to bed, I'm tired y'all. Night man, don't let her bore you with her smart talk!"

"Yup... see you in the morning.'" Dorian chuckled as Selene sighed and rolled her eyes.

Tony walked away and left the two, face to face.

"That was really nice of you. I'm not used to getting presents." she smiled bashfully.

"Oh don't worry about it... I figured Tony never even thought about giving you anything."

"Well, he offered to pay for my groceries for the next two weeks, so that is something."

"I guess it is." he smiled. "I'll be right back…gonna get undressed."

"Oh...Okay...aren't you tired?"

"Not really. Tony had more to drink than I did. Just gonna get comfortable. Don't move okay." and he walked away towards the guest room.

She thought to tell him that she had to go to bed but she didn't feel threatened by him anymore. He had gotten her a gift and the least she could do was keep him company.

Selene got out two tiny plates from the cupboard and placed two strawberries on each. She didn't want to enjoy her gift alone, especially because he had been so thoughtful. He returned wearing the white shirt that she had played with earlier and she smiled to herself as she grabbed two crystal champagne glasses.

"You don't mind a little dessert do you? I didn't want to eat them alone."

"No, not at all... I wasn't expecting you to share them though." he laughed.

"I'm not mean…despite what your buddies or Tony tell you about me."

"No one's ever said anything bad about you… and if they did, they'd have to answer to me."

"My knight in shining armor!" she replied sarcastically and poured the champagne into the glasses.

"Yup, that's me!"

"You don't mind having a glass with me do you? I know that you drank earlier."

"I don't mind, as long as you don't take advantage of me." and he winked at her.

She didn't have a comeback for that and laughed quietly as she felt her whole face turning red.

Selene quickly took her first sip of the champagne and it was delicious.

"So, what did you do tonight?" 

"Oh nothing exciting... just read a little and relaxed." she said, resting her chin on her hand.

"Didn't you want to come out with us? I was thinking of asking you..."

"I wouldn't want to spoil the men's night out. Besides you guys seemed to have a good time. I might've ruined it."

"I doubt that, nothing special happened.” he said taking a slow sip and licking his lips.

Selene wanted to reach out and touch his wet lips. They looked so soft and inviting; begging to be kissed. Her thoughts remained on doing just that as she bit into the cold strawberry.

"How are they?

"They're really good, thank you again." she said as she chewed on the soft fruit. "You haven't even tried them yet!"

"I was waiting on you to test them out first." he laughed. "Oh by the way, I have your book. I hadn't read that one yet and wanted to take a quick look at it."

"Oh, do you wanna borrow it? I usually read two books at a time. Weird I know!"

"Are you sure? When I leave I'm gonna need something to pass the time on my flights... and I was thinking of buying one of his books."

"You can take it with you. It's an anthology of his newer stories, so you probably won't get bored for a while."

"That's awesome, thanks. I'll take good care of it."

"Hey...I know I probably shouldn't ask you such a stupid question...but aren't you nervous about the fight?

"Nah. It’s just another fight; I've had plenty before it. You are worried about me aren't you?” he asked looking a little happy.

"Well... yes I am. I mean, like I said before, watching someone you care ab... I mean I wouldn't want to see one of Tony's friends get hurt."

She had done it again and was mortified. How was she going to escape that one?

"Well, we can be friends can't we?"

"Oh yea... sure." she said bashfully.

"Don't worry so much. I'll be okay. I've been around for a long time and I know what to expect. Volchev's a good fighter but everyone has a weakness. I just need to stay focused that's all."

Selene looked at him with sad eyes. It was hard enough to watch Tony getting punched and kicked when he fought, now she would have to watch Dorian go through the same thing. She didn't want to see him hurt even though he had been through it a million times before.

"Hey... don't look like that."

"Oh I'm sorry... I was just thinking." she said quietly.

"Tell you what... when I win, we're gonna celebrate with more strawberries and champagne." he smiled.

She laughed at how confident he was and took comfort in that thought.

"Is that a promise?"

"I'll do one better, dinner with strawberries and champagne..." he smiled "... and no Tony to get in the way."

"Alright.” she said nonchalantly, even though she wanted to scream for joy.

It seemed she had landed a proper date with Dorian.

"So I guess I won't be seeing you for the next couple of weeks, right?"

"Well... yea. I've got new Tae Kwon Do and Jiu Jitsu coaches and they're very strict. This is the last time I'll get to kick back before the fight. After the fight I'll get some time off to recuperate."

It was almost 1a.m. and she was starting to feel sleepy. The two had talked for a good while and the champagne had relaxed her even more. She could tell that he was just as tired and suggested that he get some sleep.

"Are you trying to get rid of me Selene?"

"Dorian you're tired. Go to sleep dude!" she laughed.

"What are you gonna go do?" he asked sleepily, running his fingers through his dark hair.

"Probably the same…I haven't been sleeping much lately." she said, hoping he wouldn't ask why.