Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Charlee

It played out more beautifully than Charlee could have anticipated. The look on his face when she said check was priceless. Everything after that point was just icing on what should have been her ever loving smug cake.

Just like all the other fantasies about what she wanted to do with him, this had now been included in them. But like all the others, she didn’t think it would actually happen. She was going to just play her best game and impress him that way. It wasn’t until the last moment, and after remembering how he’d followed up his invitation to his party that weekend by suggesting she go with Walter, that she gave into the temptation to do this. Sure he’d been interested in those two sluts Saturday night and at the same time interested in Drew, but her? Oh no. Not Charlee. Apparently she wasn’t even a consideration. Walter could have her.

When she’d gotten home Saturday night, knowing full well that by then someone had already uploaded the play by plays of the games it took Hector to win the tournament onto YouTube, she looked it up out of curiosity. Since Walter had been so sure Kowalewski was a sure win, she was curious to see exactly how Hector had defeated him. She’d seen some of the moves that day, but they moved much too fast for her to catch all of it.

As it turned out, Walter had been right. It was Hector’s strength in speed play that had won the game. Charlee had been so thoroughly disgusted still about Hector and the two girls that night, she’d almost been happy about this revelation. Had the game been more drawn out and not quite as fast, Kowalewski more than likely would have defeated Hector. Not that Hector’s game hadn’t been impressive, it was. She’d give credit where credit was due, but Kowalewski did manage to make him flub a few moves that were obviously not part of Hector’s plan.

She’d taken a look at the game play posted of his game against Bisbee also, but Bisbee was clearly the inferior player in that game. Watching Hector’s game against Kowalewski was far more interesting. It was petty, she knew, but for some reason, she took great pleasure in knowing he wasn’t so perfect after all.

Charlee would never admit to how much time she’d scrutinized that game over the weekend, but it was long enough to figure out what moves were made in haste not only by Hector but by Kowalewski as well. Feeling a little devious but not enough to stop her, she’d even outlined a plan of what it would take to beat Hector, using his own game against him. It was easy once she’d figured out what moves he hadn’t meant to make. Add a few violent pawn moves to make him think her game was self-destructing then, just when he thought he had her, end it. He’d never even see it coming.

The fact that he’d played into it so easily wasn’t so surprising. Like all the lines of attack she put together in chess, this one was as well thought out as her others—possibly more so because of the motivation behind it. What did surprise her was his reaction to it.

After staring at the board in silence for what seemed much too long, his expression went from completely stunned to confused and then downright hard. She squirmed in her seat now, feeling a little anxious. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. She’d meant to get his attention—impress him even. Okay, maybe she had wanted to show him up a little, annoy him as he’d annoyed her earlier, but he looked more than annoyed now.

“Really?” He stood up, still staring at the board. “You put this much effort into this?”

She gulped, staring at his face. Even at a moment like this, it was a struggle to not glance down at that hard body underneath the formfitting jeans and snug shirt. She’d never been this close to anyone so magnificently sculpted. But his eyes were so hard now—angry at her. There was no way she could look away now. This was not the impression she’d meant to make on him.

Surely he knew at this level it was standard to study other worthy players and opponents’ games. Certain that she wasn’t the only one who’d done so already, she shrugged, trying to play it down. “Anyone interested in this game has probably already gone over the game play of Saturday’s tournament.”

Glancing around, she was more than thankful to see almost everyone nod in agreement. It helped her argument, but she was sure none of them had studied his game as obsessively as she had.

Hector glanced around at the others, his hard expression becoming even more severe. “You all did? So was this the plan then? To prove Kowalewski should be the one here and not me?”

“No!” Charlee stood up and answered for everyone. “No one knew I was going to do this. I didn’t even think of it until the last minute. And you won that tournament fair and square. No one’s disputing that.”

“Bruno and Dempsey are about to start,” one of the bystanders alerted everyone in an obvious attempt to take the focus off Charlee and Hector—cut the tension in the room.

Hector didn’t even flinch, his hard eyes still on her. Charlee wasn’t sure she should be glad or terrified that most of them walked away to gather around Bruno and Dempsey, leaving her alone with him now.

Taking the few steps around the table to come face to face with Charlee, Hector stood but inches away from her. Her heart rate spiked instantly like she’d only ever felt it do the day she watched Ross and his friends attack Walter.

“No one’s disputing it, huh?”

With his lips this close to her face and having them pretty much at her eye level, it felt impossible to string even a few words together while concentrating on not staring at those lips. But she had to. “Yes. I, uh . . .” She swallowed hard, struggling to not look away from his still brutal stare. “I just thought it’d be interesting to see if my spin on your game would work.”

The stare softened just a bit, but he lifted an eyebrow then licked his lips, making her eyes immediately glance down at his mouth. “Well, bravo,” he said, glancing back at the board. “I guess you showed me, right? You found every hole in my game and used it to take me down.” He turned to face her again this time with an evil smirk, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Did you like that?”

Her lips literally trembled as she began to shake her head, fluttering her lashes in an effort to come up with a proper response. Taking a few steps back because being that close to him was just too overwhelming, she glanced around at the couple guys still studying the board. Though she was certain Hector’s question hadn’t been heard by anyone else, she still attempted to make light of it with a chuckle that fell flat. “What?”

Hector closed in again, his words a near murmur. “Did it feel good to take me down, Charlotte?” The fact that he remembered her full name would’ve been enough to excite her, but hearing him say it, in that tone, made her nearly gasp. Then he added a final blow by licking his lips again and leaned in even closer. “It’s what you wanted, right?”

Her entire face was ablaze, including her ears, even though no one was paying attention to them anymore, not even Walter. He was now engaged in what sounded like a debate about the game she and Hector had just played.

Charlee cleared her throat—twice. He was still talking about the game, right? She couldn’t even tell anymore if he was still angry. “I didn’t mean anything personal by it if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

Hector seemed hell bent on speaking unnervingly close up to her, because he took another step, closing off the space between them again. This time Charlee stood her ground and didn’t back up, but having him that close put every single one of her senses on alert. Her nose took in the mixture of his masculine scent with what was probably aftershave—a soft but very alluring aftershave.

“You always take that much time studying someone else’s game?” It was low and subtle, but her ears didn’t miss the low chuckle that reverberated from deep within him. “Or am I just that special?”

Unable to take how deeply he gazed into her eyes anymore, Charlee glanced away, noticing how the muscle on his big lower arm flexed. Looking further down, she saw why. His hand was fisted, and he was squeezing it off and on. How something so trivial could actually arouse her to the point she felt flushed was beyond infuriating. Did he know he could do this to her? Was this whole line of questioning—this closely—his way of embarrassing her he obviously thought she’d set out to do to him?

Unbelievably needing to clear her throat once again, she did then glanced back at those eyes that seemed to get darker each time he addressed her.