Chapter 10

Sitting, Victoria took a few seconds to allow the last dredges of sleep to leave her brain. She still couldn’t believe she had changed her mind and had agreed to spend the night at Ivan’s.

Once outside the parking garage, the cold air did the trick and she felt on high alert, although she remained quiet as she followed Ivan to his apartment. His place was nice, very nice, the ultimate bachelor pad. She followed him across a plush carpet to the living room where a fifty-inch flat screen television

dominated the far wall.

“Have a seat,” he said, nodding toward the sofa. “I’m going to put your luggage in the guest room.” He vanished down the hallway.

She sat on the black sectional, then placed her purse on the glass table and surveyed the room. Paintings of all kinds decorated the other three walls. Some were modern with splashes of colors. Others landscapes, and the ones the wall closest to her were portraits. Her eyes rested on a rather formal picture drawing of a man who looked qui