Follow Your Heart (Catalina Cove #4) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,12
Madaris had done so. If their paths crossed while he was in Catalina Cove, he would make sure she called him by his given name, Roman. For some strange reason he wanted to hear her say his name.
The production assistant broke in to his thoughts. “Senator Malone? Please follow me.”
He followed her, and a part of him wished he’d been following Victoria Madaris instead.
* * *
VICTORIA LEFT THE meeting she’d had with her boss to find several people—all women—gathered around one of the television monitors mounted on the wall. “What’s going on?” she asked Bronwyn Lewis, the producer of the evening news show.
“Take a look.”
She glanced up at the monitor. Senator Roman Malone was being interviewed by Norma Roadie, the person who’d replaced Victoria on the morning talk show, Hello, New Orleans. She liked Norma and was glad Mr. Richards had acted on her recommendation for Norma to replace her.
“That man is definitely good-looking,” one of the women said. “Hell, I would have voted for him just on looks alone.”
“Hey, don’t forget his body. He is so friggin’ built. Why is he still single?” another woman asked.
“You should have seen how he drank water straight from the bottle. It was such a turn-on,” Terica added. “He caught me staring.”
Victoria said nothing as she stared at the monitor like everyone else. They were right—Roman Malone was good-looking. She had noticed that right away, even before Terica had told her who he was. He had looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him at first. And just to think their families were close. Small world. How long had it been since she’d seen him? She was certain the last time she’d been in her teens and wearing braces.
“Don’t tell us he has you speechless, as well,” Roxanne Chambers said to her, grinning. “Too speechless to answer my question.”
Victoria turned her attention to Roxanne. “Sorry, what did you ask?”
“I wanted to know what you thought of his body?”
Victoria glanced back at the screen, as if she needed to check it out again in order to give her opinion. “It’s nice.”
“Nice? Is that all you have to say?”
“Yes, that’s about it.” She definitely didn’t want to say that in addition to how great he looked in his suit, the senator had smelled good, as well. Then they would want to know how she’d managed to get close enough to get a whiff of him.
“We know you don’t care for politicians, Victoria, but even you have to admit Senator Roman Malone is one handsome man. I wonder if he has a steady girl.”
Victoria ignored the conversation around her as she kept her attention on Senator Malone. Unlike the others, who were ogling his body and wondering about his love life, she was listening to the way he was handling the interview and what he was saying. He was definitely a charmer and was even answering questions that the last politician they’d had on this show had evaded. Roman had no problem stating his opinion on any subject Norma asked him about, regardless of whether his position was a popular one or not. She liked that. She also liked that most of his positions reflected hers.
She also liked that he looked directly at the person he was taking to. So many times, people would look at the camera, as if they wanted to make sure they were seen.
“Well, his interview is almost over,” Terica said, grinning. “I think I’ll just wait out here in the hall, just in case he needs something else.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. Sometimes it amused her how women could get carried away at the sight of a good-looking man. Looks were good but they weren’t everything. She much preferred a man who not only looked good, but was also good character-wise.
She had grown up surrounded by good-looking men. So much that in some cases their looks had gone to their heads. At least her brother Nolan was no longer out there, but she didn’t want to think of the number of other single Madaris men still left in her generation.
Deciding to leave the gathering and go to her office to get prepared for her noonday show, she said, “Well, I’ll be going to—”
“So the two of you do know each other.” Terica presented it as a statement rather than a question.
Victoria noticed it got quiet and all eyes were on her. Leave it to Terica to share that with everyone. “Yes, our families are close. My uncle and aunt are his godparents. However,