Chapter 53: Chapter 53

The time Charlee got to spend alone with Carolina, Hector’s mom, who insisted Charlee call her Caro, wasn’t nearly as nerve-racking as Charlee had expected. She did ask a lot of questions about Charlee’s family, her plans for the future, and, most awkwardly, her feelings for Hector. But all in all, things had gone well. Charlee had decided yesterday, when she agreed to no holding back or guessing games, she would be completely honest about her feelings. And since this would likely get back to him, she kept her response as true and uncomplicated as she could without sounding too sappy.

Trying to keep herself from blushing, she chewed the corner of her lip and smiled at Caro. “Your son is very sweet, and I’m very glad I met him. I like him a lot.”

Apparently that wasn’t enough for Caro. She stared at Charlee with a smirk so mischievous it made Charlee nervous. “What about love? Have you ever been in love, Charlee?”

“All right, Mom,” Hector said, walking in the back door, once again saving Charlee when she’d needed him most. “I should’ve known better than to leave her with you so long.”

“What?” Caro spun around to face him, her hand quickly on her hips. “I’m just making conversation.”

“Yeah, yeah,” He walked up to Charlee, immediately taking her hand in his, and kissed his mom on the forehead, almost as if to mollify her as he whisked Charlee away with him toward the back door. “That’s enough alone time for you two. I have some more friends who want to meet her.”

Charlee smiled at his mom with a look of regret that their conversation had been cut short, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. She’d never been so relieved in her life. If she was really going to stick to the being honest and upfront thing and Hector hadn’t walked in at that moment, she may’ve had to admit the truth. With every kiss, every touch, every deep breath she was forced to take from just being near him, she was falling harder and more profoundly than she ever imagined was possible for Hector already.

This was something she wasn’t ready to admit out loud yet. It was almost embarrassing, but the truth was they’d become official yesterday, and already he’d brought her to meet his mom today. The frightening speed in which this “relationship” was getting serious was coming from both sides. She’d have to keep that in mind as her wary heart feared her feelings for him were light-years ahead of where they should be.

“So did she grill you good?” Hector asked as they stepped out into the yard.

“It wasn’t too bad.” Charlee smiled then laughed at the astounded look on his face. “It wasn’t.” she insisted. “But your timing was, as usual, perfect.”

He slowed down and peered at her now. “Really? You know you’re still gonna have to answer that question eventually.” He stopped, leaning in and kissing her softly. “Only I’ll be the one doing the asking,” lowering his voice to a whisper, he pulled her close to him, “because I really want to know.”

“Get a room!”

Both Charlee and Hector turned to a smug-looking Gio as the rest of the gang laughed. Charlee glanced back at Hector, who wasn’t laughing. “I usually use that one on him and Bianca.” He smirked now. “I’m sure he’s been dying for a chance to use it on me.”

They started toward the patio table where all his friends sat except for Abel and Noah, who were over by the grill. Ironically, seeing the women with Gio at the table, knowing these were the people closest to Hector—the very ones she’d been reading about all this time online and now it appeared she may be joining their group—made her even more nervous than meeting his mom.

After meeting them all, Charlee sat and chatted with the girls who picked both her and Hector’s brain about the U.S. chess team. They all seemed genuinely sweet and very curious about her relationship with Hector.

“Okay, you have to tell us how this happened, because there is no way Hector would be bringing a girl to meet his mom unless he was serious,” Roni said, leaning on her arms against the table as soon as Hector walked away when the guys called him over to the grill.

“Yeah,” Nellie sat back, taking a sip of her beer. “I wasn’t aware either of the Ayala brothers did serious.”

All three women stared at her. Roni and Bianca’s eyes were full of anxious curiosity while Nellie seemed a little on the skeptical side.

As usual, hating to be the center of attention, Charlee felt her face warm. “Well, it was and it wasn’t sudden.” She had to smile at the confusion in their faces.

Explaining quickly and briefly how they’d known each other for over a month now and how things had been a bit complicated, she told them how she, too, hadn’t thought he did the exclusive thing. “In fact, he sort of made that clear early on, and then, I don’t know. He called me yesterday out of the blue and said he wanted to talk to me.”

She gave them a very brief rundown of the agreement they’d come to yesterday then smiled. “And here we are.”

“Well, good for you,” Bianca said. “You stuck to your guns and forced him to give into things your way.” She turned to Roni and Nellie. “For all his talk of never inviting any girls to a friendly gathering or even the Friday Night fights because they might get the wrong idea, I knew he’d give in eventually.”

Charlee wasn’t sure she liked the use of the word forced. Clearly, Hector had made up his own mind. She’d forced nothing on him. But she focused on Bianca’s last statement now. Hector told her about the girl at the fight the night of the keg party, the girl he said had been the only other girl he’d ever even come close to having a relationship with. He’d been concerned that Charlee might not be over Danny—someone that as far as he knew she hadn’t been in touch with in over a year. It never even occurred to her to ask if maybe he still had feelings for this girl. The fight he’d invited her to, after all, had only been a few weeks ago. And according to Bianca, unless he wasn’t concerned about girls jumping to conclusions, he’d never invite any of them to even a fight. Not only had he invited this girl but he had her sit up front with him.

Pushing the thought aside, she concentrated on the conversation, glad that the curiosity had moved from Charlee and Hector to Nellie’s love life.

A few hours later, Charlee said her goodbyes to everyone. The only one she hadn’t said goodbye to was Abel, who was busy on the phone off to the side of the yard. He got off the phone just as Hector and Charlee had begun to walk off toward the side gate.

“I’m in,” Abel announced, walking back toward the group.

“In what?” Hector asked what clearly everyone else was wondering since they were all looking at Abel curiously.

“The cruise,” he held up his phone. “My publicist just okayed it. I’m good to go that week.”

Hector laughed. “As if there were ever any doubt.”

Charlee had no idea what Hector meant by that, but as funny as he thought that was, Abel didn’t laugh. As usual, his expression was unreadable. Ignoring Hector’s comment, he slipped his phone in his pocket. “You guys leaving?”

“Yep,” Hector waved.

“Nice seeing you again, Charlee.”

“It was nice see you again too.” Charlee responded, still baffled that she’d so easily and so quickly been accepted into this group of people.

Painless and uncomplicated was what Charlee had been shooting for at most when she decided to do this that morning. But meeting his friends and family so quickly and being completely unprepared had far exceeded her expectations. She hadn’t even had Drew to help her plan her strategy to not screw this up, and she’d gotten through it. In fact, after all the curious questions from both his mother and the girls, Charlee had been able to relax and enjoy the rest of the barbeque. And her pasta salad had been a hit.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Hector asked as he climbed into his side of the truck.

She turned to him and lifted her empty salad bowl. “They liked my pasta.”

Hector laughed, lifting her hand that was already entwined with his and kissed it. “That’s what has you smiling so big?”

Charlee shrugged, unable to tone down the smile. “Well, that and everything else. I was so nervous about how this would go, and it turned out great. I really like your friends. They’re so down to earth, and your mom is a sweetheart.”

Pulling out of the driveway, he glanced at her pinching his brows. “You were nervous? I didn’t pick up on that at all.”

“I was a wreck, but I think I’m getting pretty good at disguising my lame fears.”

“No,” Hector shook his head adamantly. “Let’s not start that. No disguising anything. Remember no guessing games. I suck at them.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder, amazed at how quickly this felt so perfect. “Okay,” she said, taking in a very gratifying deep breath.

Thoughts of the girl at the fight with him came to her again. But she’d since decided to leave well enough alone. This day had gone too perfectly, and she didn’t want to sour it up with that kind of talk. Besides, it wasn’t as if she were worried about it. Bianca’s comment about Hector not ever inviting any girls to even the fights at the gym had only made her curious as to why he’d invited this girl. Curious—not concerned. But she did make a mental note that if it did begin to bother her she wouldn’t be letting anything stew, not with Hector being so adamant about his no guessing games rule. She actually liked the rule.

Her insides had begun to simmer as they got closer her place. Knowing she had the house to herself for the entire night and as fast as things were moving already, she wasn’t sure what to expect. As his hand caressed her thigh, her heart began that thumping that had started to become less severe the more comfortable she felt with him. But now here it was pounding away at her chest as he drove into the driveway of Drew’s dad’s home. Switching the ignition off, he turned to her and smiled. “My mom likes you.”

“I like her,” she smiled back, already feeling the comfort easing back by just looking into his smiling eyes, “and your brother. He’s a bit more serious than you are, but he seemed sweet enough and very polite when he did talk to me.”

Hector raised an eyebrow, running his fingers through a strand of her hair. “That reminds me. I still have a lot to catch up with. I don’t even know if you have siblings.”

She leaned into him and kissed him softly. “Well, if you’re not in a hurry, you can come in, and I can tell you about myself.”

The smile he already wore brightened even more. “I’m in no hurry at all.”