Hector (12 page)

“Check,” she said in the most nonchalant manner possible, meeting
his eyes with a smug smile.

Hector’s eyes were instantly on the board. The pawns she’d gone
after so aggressively had actually opened up a file for her rook to put his
king in check. He moved his king to the only place he could,
stunned
that he hadn’t caught that. She had him on the run now. Examining the board, he
saw how she must’ve planned this in advance, because in the next couple of
moves using her bishop and then her knight, she got him.

“Checkmate,” she said then sat back in her seat again, looking a
little too pleased with
herself
.

Chapter 7

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 that most of them walked
away to gather around Bruno and Dempsey, leaving her alone with him now, or be
terrified about that.

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. “Actually, I didn’t study it for as long as you seem to
think.” She was only grateful that he didn’t know her well enough or he would see
right through her.

She was feeling a little perturbed about how
the mixture of playfulness and intensity in his eyes practically burned a hole
through her now. He’d made it categorically clear earlier that he had no
interest in her, so she crossed her arms in front of her. Embarrassing her was
obviously the goal here. “Haven’t you ever studied other player’s games? Maybe
you’re not aware, but it’s pretty much a requirement at this level—”

“As opposed to my level?”
He snapped back. The playfulness in his eyes was gone, the
intensity now prevailing.

“That’s not what I—”

“Let me tell you something, Charlee.” She
didn’t think it was possible, but he moved even closer, forcing her to uncross
her arms or feel his body heat against them. “I may be a casual player for the
most part, but I am familiar with classical chess study.” His eyes were darker
now than they’d been that entire time.

“I didn’t say you weren’t. It’s just that . .
.” She stopped when he very noticeably moved his eyes down from hers and
stopped at her lips then he licked his own again, slowly.

He moved in so close she could feel the
warmth of his breath against her own mouth. Feeling his mouth so close to hers
she could almost taste it, was so intoxicating she froze in place, staring at
his lips. He got so close her heart nearly gave out on her, because there was
no doubt what he was about to do next.
God!
Even knowing with every fiber of her being that she shouldn’t, that this could
only end in heartache if she went there with him, she knew she wouldn’t stop
him. She wanted him to—so bad. Then he stopped suddenly and smirked. “Don’t
worry about it. I know
exactly
what
you meant.”

With that, he pulled back and walked away,
leaving her standing there, feeling flushed, breathless and completely
mortified. She watched as he joined the others standing around watching the
game between Bruno and Dempsey. He glanced back at her where she still stood
frozen in place, trying desperately to compose herself, but he didn’t smile
anymore. He didn’t even give her that stupid smug smirk she expected that said
he knew just how willing and eager she was to have his lips on hers.

The tears stung her eyes now that she realized
exactly what he’d done and why. She managed to finally move. Grabbing her bag
and light jacket from where she’d been sitting, she glanced at the board on the
table where Hector’s king still stood in checkmate. With the tears beginning to
blur her vision, she rushed past Walter toward the door. “Where you going?” he
asked.

She didn’t bother responding but couldn’t
fight the urge to glance in Hector’s direction one last time. He was still
staring at her but not hard like he had earlier. It was an almost remorseful
stare, sort of how she’d felt when she realized how personally he’d taken her
setting him up.

Walking even faster now because she felt like
a complete idiot, Charlee hurried to the door. He may’ve walked right into her
plan, but her victory had been short-lived. He’d managed to do to her in a
matter of seconds what had taken her hours and hours—days of studying his game.
And as far as she was concerned, he’d won hands down. Because while he probably
thought her a pretentious bitch now, she’d never felt so captivated with anyone
in her life.

***

“All I’m saying is if you’re this
upset about it,” Drew paused, tilting her head and pouted at Charlee, “and
clearly you are, there has to be more to this.”

Charlee shook her head, blowing her nose then
dabbing the corner of her eyes with another tissue.

“Charlotte?”

Charlee glanced at her friend. She knew Drew
only called her that when she was being very serious, even though right now all
it made her think of was how it felt to hear Hector call her that.