From the moment Charlee had spotted Hector with Walter in the parking lot, her heart had gone wild and her entire body literally went warm everywhere. In the past week, her fantasies about this guy had crossed over to another level. The times she touched herself privately now had become more often with him being whom she pictured doing the touching. But she told herself it was only because she truly thought she’d never see him again. And when she Googled her fantasies, she was reassured that erotic fantasies like the ones she’d been having were perfectly normal. But now, seeing him again, she felt almost mortified as if he could read her filthy thoughts. It was irrational, she knew, and though she hadn’t been able to resist looking at him, she’d barely been able to for very long because of those damn fantasies.
Charlee hadn’t even told Drew about them, and she normally told her everything. She’d considered telling her this past weekend when she and Drew had drank a couple of wine coolers and Drew made a few confessions of her own. But even Drew’s confession wasn’t bad enough. Basically, Drew had been one of those dumb girls in high school and actually sent her ex-boyfriend a photo of her boobs when she’d always said she would never do such a thing. She said she’d felt so stupid after sending it, and that’s why she never even told Charlee about it until now.
That still wasn’t bad enough for Charlee to share what she’d always thought was a little freaky about herself. Even now, Charlee felt the heat creep up her spine at the very thought of sharing this with anyone. She’d been around the guy for all of five minutes, and already late at night with her door locked deep under her blankets and in her freaky mind, he was doing to her things she’d only read about and caught glimpses of when she accidently went into a porn site on her computer.
She reasoned that it was because he was quite possibly the most gorgeous guy she’d ever seen. Why not choose him if she was going to fantasize about anyone? As the days passed since she’d seen him last and the details of his looks were beginning to get fuzzy, she’d come to the conclusion that she was probably building him up to be more amazing than in reality. But seeing him again today only confirmed something she hadn’t thought possible—he was even more perfect than she remembered.
Sitting there now, watching him from across the room, she felt almost star struck. It was as if the star of one of her favorite shows, or in Charlee’s case her scandalous fantasies, was right here just a few yards away, and he was even more beautiful in person. Her eyes gazed downward from his face to that body. As Drew had so eloquently put it earlier, “The guy was built like a brick shithouse.” Apparently that was a good thing—a very good thing indeed. Just watching him even from this distance made her gulp.
Not only was she sitting here shamefully intrigued by a guy based on his looks alone but there was something new adding to her excitement. It was rare. No. It was unheard of, at least in her experience, to see a guy like him at a chess tournament, but not only was he here as a spectator it appeared he might actually be a contender. Her jaw had nearly hit her knees when she saw Walter walk back to a confused-looking Hector and walked with him over to the registration tables. Just as mystifying was the fact that someone like Hector would be hanging around the likes of Walter.
Walter was obviously not competing, so there was only one other explanation: Hector was a chess player—one good enough to be competing here. Geez! Why did that excite her so?
“Take a picture, why don’t you?” Drew said, nudging her.
Charlee straightened out in her seat, immediately tearing her eyes away from Walter and Hector. “Hmm?” She glanced around casually, trying to appear completely unaware of what Drew meant.
“Oh, stop,” Drew giggled. “You haven’t taken your eyes off him since we got here.” Drew turned her head to Walter and Hector’s direction. “Can’t say I blame you. Mr. Muy Caliente is quite the eye candy.” Drew leaned in and whispered but not soft enough. “You know what they say about Latin lovers.”
Charlee nudged her and glanced around, feeling a little alarmed. “Will you stop? O.M.G., someone’s gonna hear you.”
“So what?” Drew looked around at the people sitting near them with that feisty little glare of hers. “Who cares?” She turned her attention back to Mr. Muy Caliente and clucked her tongue. “You think he’s here to compete?”
“Looks like it,” Charlee said, glad that she had reason to gaze at him again. “That’s where you register to get your badge and number.”
They’d already established earlier that Hector was the same delicious guy that had knocked Ross out, but Charlee hadn’t told Drew much else about him, not even what little Walter had told her about him, and especially not that he was a boxer. She hadn’t even shared his name with Drew. It was silly, but she and Drew had always sort of shared and lusted over the same unattainable guys together. For that very reason—because they seemed so unattainable—it didn’t matter if they both fantasized about the same guy. But this time she didn’t want to share. No other guy had ever invoked such fantasies in her. And she just didn’t think she’d be as giggly and enjoy hearing Drew’s fantasies about Hector like she usually did about other guys. Just listening to Drew referring to him as Mr. Muy Caliente had her pressing her lips together tightly already.
Thankfully her BFF had the attention span of a tick. She was already checking her phone for texts or any Facebook updates, no doubt.
“You better respond to anything you need to, using that phone now, because once the tournament starts, all phones are to be shut off completely.” Her dramatic friend looked up at her with the horrified expression. “Drew, you act like this is the first tournament you’ve been to.”
“Yeah, but watching you is different I don’t get so bored. And I almost always make sure I get there when I know it’s nearly over. This is different. I don’t even know these people.” Drew looked at her with a suddenly content expression as if she just remembered something. “But you said this was a fast one right?”
Charlee shook her head, exhaling softly. “No, I said these are speed games. They are shorter. Thirty minutes versus four to six hours. But there will be lots of them until everyone is knocked out and there is only one player left standing: the winner.”
Drew was nothing if not dramatic. Her shoulders slumped, but she didn’t say what Charlee knew she was thinking. She knew she should’ve just come alone. Her car was working now, but Drew had insisted on accompanying her. “You don’t have to stay, you know? You can take off if you want. Go get those boots you wanted at the mall, and just come back for me later.”
“Or I can give you a ride home.”
Both Charlee and Drew turned around to look at Walter. Charlee glanced at Drew, who was already beginning to smirk, but her smirk morphed instantly into a bigger smile. Charlee had seen her do that many times, and she knew what it meant. She was up to something. “So who’s your friend, Walter?”
Charlee closed her eyes for a second, praying this wasn’t Drew’s way of calling dibs on Hector, not that Charlee thought either of them had a chance with him. Drew was cute enough, and her socializing skills were light-years ahead of Charlee’s, but even Drew had never been with someone like Hector. The guy was way out of both their leagues. Well, at least Charlee thought so, but judging by Drew’s comments and the way some of the other girls in the auditorium were ogling him as well, she wasn’t the only one that couldn’t keep her eyes off him.
Glancing around casually, Charlee did her best to appear uninterested in knowing any more about Hector than she already did, but it was almost impossible. She was already bracing herself for what else Walter might let her in on.
“Oh, that’s Hector.” He glanced back in Hector’s direction then back at Drew before finally looking at Charlee. “You didn’t tell her about him?”
Drew glanced back at Charlee then shrugged and responded before Charlee could. “Well, I know he’s the guy that knocked Ross on his ass, but what’s he doing here?”
“He’s in the tournament.” Walter informed them as if it weren’t a big deal.
It was a huge deal. If he won and took Vladimir’s place on the team, it meant Charlee would get to see him on a daily basis. She stopped mid thought to swallow hard. She might actually get to talk to him—maybe even become a friend or at the very least an acquaintance.
A little worried that Drew seemed too interested but incredibly grateful that she was the one doing all the asking, Charlee hung on Walter’s every word now. Unfortunately, he didn’t offer much else except that he didn’t know how good Hector was, so he wasn’t sure what his chances were. Drew got a text, so the interrogation about all things Hector was momentarily dropped.
Charlee took advantage of Drew’s distraction to gaze at Hector again. She’d never felt so drawn to someone in her life. What was it about him? Obviously his looks had a lot to do with it, if not everything, since she didn’t know much else about him, and she’d never even spoken to him other than to say thank you. But there had to be more. She couldn’t be that shallow, could she?
“So what’s his deal?”
Charlee brought her attention back to her best friend, who was now putting her phone away. Drew’s eyebrows lifted as her gaze went from Hector to Walter. Apparently, she wasn’t done with her inquiring about Hector. As much as Charlee wanted to know more about him, she almost wished Drew would stop. She didn’t like that she was so damn interested in her fantasy guy.
“What do you mean?” Walter was doing that weird thing with his head again, moving it slowly up and down, and he was biting his lower lip.
Drew rolled her eyes. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
Great, Drew was interested in him. But Charlee had to admit she was glad Drew asked. A guy like Hector had to be spoken for. She could tell already, based on the looks he was getting here, he could easily walk out with any girl he wanted tonight. Sure it was a chess tournament, not a social event, but this guy could probably walk into a funeral and pick up. Maybe this would put to rest her insane fantasies once and for all.
“I dunno,” Walter said, glancing back in Hector’s direction and chuckled. “You might find this hard to believe, but the guy’s always been pretty popular with the ladies.”
Drew rolled her eyes again this time, smiling and exchanging glances with Charlee, who was now feeling completely uncomfortable about the subject. “Oh, yeah, that’s real hard to believe.”
Her best friend turned her still-lifted eyebrow over in Hector’s direction. All three of them watched now as he took his seat at one of the tables set up for the tournament. He smiled at his opponent as he shook his hand. God, there had to be something wrong him; even that smile was incredible. Charlee actually hoped Walter would tell them he was a criminal of sorts or maybe he was a big conceited jerk. He certainly had every right to be conceited.