𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐓

-𝘥𝘰𝘴

VICTORIA WOKE UP THE NEXT DAY FEELING REFRESHED AND RELAXED. That, and also to a large lick on her face. The action made her jump up in confusion, but that confusion immediately turned into joy when she saw the cutest dog with her tail wagging on her bed.

"Hello there pretty girl," she cooed as she began to pet the pretty black lab. "You must be Ari!"

"I figured this would be a good wake up call," she heard a familiar voice from the door. Looking up, she saw Anthony standing in the door frame looking amused. "Vin told me how excited you were to meet her."

Victoria nodded excitedly.

"Vin was right. You're dismissed," she told him jokingly, making him laugh.

"Okay, princess. I made breakfast, it's ready whenever you'd like to leave your royal bed chambers," he joked back before walking off, leaving her with Ari.

"I think we're going to be good friends," she gushed once again. Ari placed her paw on Victoria's shoulder, making her smile.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she stretched and let out a bit yawn.

"I guess we should go get breakfast, hm?" She said, despite Ari not being able to talk back. Not caring about her appearance, she sauntered out to the kitchen, to be greeted with chocolate chip waffles and bacon, her favorite.

She excitedly ran over to the table where Vincent was already sat in his work uniform. At the moment, he was a waiter at a fancy restaurant until he graduated with his teaching degree. He hated it, but the customers tipped very well.

After filling her plate and drowning her waffles in syrup, she began to dig in. She had a habit of needing every square filled with syrup.

"I don't know how you eat that much sugar," her brother shook his head and continued to sip his black coffee.

"Because I don't have a bitter soul," she joked back, earning a piece of bacon to be tossed in her direction.

"My soul is not bitter, I just don't like 90% of the population," he tried to reason as Anthony sat down across from Victoria.

"It's a miracle you even tolerate me," he muttered under his breath, which only earned him a joking shove.

"Yeah yeah, let's all team up on Vincent," he exclaimed as he raised his hands in defense and stood up. "I'm off to work to earn money for this family. I'll be back around three p.m."

"Byeeee," she told him, dragging out the e because she knew how much he hated that. He flipped her off before walking out the door, leaving the two to laugh and continue eating.

"So, you work from home now?"

"Yeah," he said between bites. "It came with the promotion. I'm a boss now."

"How fancy," she mocked. "They trust you to be in charge?"

His eyes darkened for a moment, but before she could think too far into it, they went back to their normal, amusing glint.

"I'm pretty trustworthy, I'd say."

"Sure," she joked out as she finished her plate and rinsed it off in the sink. Deciding to be a nice house guest, she began to load the dishwasher. She also did so, knowing that she wouldn't be able to relax and read knowing there were dorty dishes.

"You don't have to do that," his voice was suddenly heard from behind her, making Victoria jump up in shock and turn beat red.

"It's the least I can do," she managed to stammer out, feeling nervous from their closeness. Just as quick as it happened, he placed his plate in the sink and walked off to his desk in the living room, leaving a sudden chill due to the missing warmth on her back.

Anthony was, obviously, a very good looking guy. Dark hair, dark eyes, tanned skin, extremely fit. Not only that, but he had such a funny and caring personality, especially with animals. It all made him attractive, and everyone knew it. Their small town, his college, his job, and probably the entire state of California.

However, she didn't wanna to think too much of the gesture. He was just putting a plate in the sink she was standing in front of, nothing more. She was his best friends little sister, and that's all she could be to him.

Quickly brushing it off and pushing the disappointment of her own thoughts down, she finished loading the dishwasher and started it.

"Is it okay if I shower?" She asked him. Although she couldn't see, the question made his body tense up in ways it shouldn't.

"Yeah, you're good," he responded, trying to hide his shaken voice. He should not be imagining her in the shower, but here he was... doing exactly that.

He's never thought of Victoria in such a way, ever in his lifetime of knowing her. But seeing her in her very short PJ shorts and very thin tank top, did very inappropriate things to his brain. As far as he knew, she didn't even have a clue how much her tiny outfit turned him on and fogged up his brain.

This was going to be a long summer, he thought as he powered up his laptop for work, just as he heard the water start running.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, a very oblivious Victoria began humming under the warm water, letting herself be lost in her thoughts. Unfortunately, just like Anthony, her thoughts kept turning into very inappropriate ones about him.

She felt a familiar warmth in her core, making her shiver despite not even having the cold on.

"Don't you dare," she whispered to herself as she brushed it off and began to wash her hair with the strawberry scented shampoo that was left in there for her.

"He's Vincent's best friend" she continues to whisper to herself repeatedly as she went on with the rest of her shower routine, and when she also got out and started her skin care. And when she got dressed and left the bathroom to go to her room.

Deciding it looked warm enough, she grabbed her latest read, her journal, a highlighter and a pen, and made her way to the balcony. When she read, she loved to highlight any quotes that stood out to her and take notes on anything that could help her improve on her own writing.

Little did she realize, that when she passed Anthony's desk and he took one look at her dress which outlined her curves perfectly, his breath hitched and his mind went blank.

"She's going to be the death of me," he whispered to himself, quickly getting back to his emails.