Huh, I was gonna' say something along that, Tezztor...
All the cats I've ever had the pleasure to own were shy at first and then became more caring and trusting than most dogs I've even seen.
And like Shattered and WZ said, Jaguar sounds just about right for you, Nova. You could go so far as to research heavily in different house-cats, because there are some with extremely distinctive personalities, but that's up to you.