Hector (20 page)

“You’re welcome.”

She stared at him for a moment, then her eyes
lifted a bit and she touched his brow. Even something as simple as feeling her
fingers caressing his brow felt incredible. Her touch was so gentle, so sweet.
“Is this a boxing scar?”

He nodded, unable to take his eyes off her
lips. “I got it last year.”

“Will it ever go away?” she said, continuing
to run her fingers over it gently.

“It might if I stop reopening the gash.”

Now she focused on his eyes. “But you’re so
good. I don’t think I saw that guy land even one punch on your face tonight.”

“That’s what scars are for. You learn from
them. I don’t let my guard down nearly as much as I used to before I got it.
But it’s not that. The wound has been reopened a few times since then.” He
shrugged. “I’m getting better. Eventually it’ll heal completely.”

Unable to go even another moment without
tasting those lips again, he went in for another kiss. The door flew open just
as his lips touched hers, and she pulled back immediately.

Miriam stared at them wide-eyed. “Oops.”

“Did you find him?” Leticia was at the door
now with Miriam staring at them as well. Though she was obviously surprised,
she played it off with a smirk, “I guess you did.”

Charlee moved away from the wall,
understandably looking uncomfortable by the interruption. She walked around
Hector and out of the compromising position they’d been found in. “I, uh . . .”

Hector touched her arm. He didn’t want her
fretting or worse leaving because of this. Before he could say anything to them,
the door opened further and Drew walked in. Since Charlee no longer stood
against the wall, and Hector wasn’t pressed up against her anymore, she didn’t
appear as stunned as Leticia and Miriam, but there was no hiding the surprise.
“I was getting worried. You weren’t answering your phone.”

“Yeah, she was a little busy for that.”
Leticia said with a clearly forced smirk before walking out of the room. Miriam
sneered, following Leticia out.

“I’m sorry,” Charlee said. “I turned it off
when we got here and forgot all about it.” She turned to Hector then back to
Drew again. “He was showing me the trophies and stuff, and I forgot about the
time. I have to go,” she addressed Hector now. “I told you we gotta be up early
tomorrow.”

Hector nodded. The disappointment of knowing
he wouldn’t be kissing her goodbye weighed heavily. If it were up to him, he’d
do it regardless of who was in the room, but her he-was-showing-me-the-trophies
comment was an obvious indication that she didn’t want her friend to know what
they’d really been doing. He’d let that simmer for now. She was obviously a shy
girl, and he wasn’t even sure where this would go, if anywhere. He still didn’t
know a whole lot about her other than he couldn’t get enough of kissing her,
and he hadn’t lied when he told her she was different. She was. He just couldn’t
put his finger on exactly what it was, or maybe it was just everything.

He walked them all the way to the door, Drew
taking the initiative after they’d walked a few feet in silence. She began
telling them about her encounter with the talkative older man she ran into
while looking for Charlee. Hector tuned her out, opting instead to sneak smiles
at Charlee the whole way. He’d been in such a cloud, still thinking about
everything that had happened that night. It wasn’t until he was on his way back
to turn off the lights they’d left on in the trophy room that he realized he
hadn’t asked for her number. Now he wouldn’t talk to her until Monday afternoon
at the earliest. He didn’t even know where she lived!

“Damn it,” he muttered, shutting off the
lights in the room.

Asking Walter, the only person that might
have that information in the meantime, was out of the question. He was just
going to have to wait until Monday. Feeling the smallest pang of guilt, he
pushed it to the back of his head. Walter didn’t deserve Charlee, not with the
little effort he’d put into trying to even talk to her. Sure he was trying to
lose weight, and he’d cut his hair and trimmed his brows as Hector had
suggested, but that was hardly enough.

Hector wasn’t sure if anything would become
of this or if he even wanted it to. For now, he’d keep things on the down low
and continue to help Walter get in shape.

Obviously, Hector wouldn’t be helping him
with his efforts to win
Charlee’s
affection anymore.
Even before tonight’s turn of events, Hector wasn’t sure how to help him there
anyway. The guy was oblivious about how to even talk to a girl. There was only
so much Hector could do or had time for. He’d help Walter get into shape
because it’s what Hector did on a daily basis anyway, but he was on his own
when it came to Charlee.

Unbelievably, Leticia and Miriam were in the
lobby when he walked out of the hallway on his way back to the party. He
thought for sure they’d left. They both smiled now. Apparently seeing him alone
had changed their moods.

“Hey,” he smiled back but not in the normal
flirtatious way he would’ve. He didn’t want to encourage anything. The sweet
taste of
Charlee’s
mouth was still on his lips, and
he’d like to keep it like that as long as he could.

“Didn’t mean to barge in on you like that,”
Leticia said as they walked toward him.

The second she was close enough to him,
Leticia reached for his hand. “Are you free for the rest of the evening, or did
she stake her claim for tonight?”

Both of their eyes were telling of how much
they’d had to drink tonight. Before he could begin to even think of a good
enough response, Miriam slid her hand into his other one. Thankfully the doors
to the banquet room opened and out walked Walter and the other guys from the
chess club. The guys did their best to not gawk, but Hector knew this was not
something any of them could ever imagine doing, so he saw the reserved humor in
their eyes. Walter all out smiled, waving. “Thanks for having us, Hector.”

Seeing an opportunity, Hector took it to get
away from Leticia and Miriam. “Hold on. I wanted to talk to you guys before you
leave. I’ll be out in a minute.” Walter and the guys nodded and kept walking
toward the door. He turned back to the girls, pulling his hands loose from
their hold and lowered his voice. “Yeah, I’m kind of taken tonight, ladies.”

Immediately their smiles faded, and Leticia
lifted her brow. “I saw her leave.”

Not wanting to be rude and remembering he did
invite them there with the insinuation that they’d finish what they started last
week, he took a deep breath. “I’m meeting her somewhere else. But you two are
welcome to stay as long as you want.”

He made a mental note to never insinuate
anything to these two again.

“Will you be coming back in after you talk to
your friends?” Miriam asked then smiled wickedly. “Or do we say goodbye to you
now.”

Hell no. Hector wouldn’t even be having
another beer until he savored the very last lingering hint of Charlee in his
mouth. “No, I’ll be back.” This would be the ideal time to wink, but he dared
not. Instead, he started walking away. “You two go on back in.”

Visibly disappointed, the two girls walked
back toward the banquet room. He never would’ve thought he’d be so thankful to
see Walter in his life. Smothering the life out of the guilt that began to
fester, he walked outside to talk to the guys for as long as possible.

Chapter 12

With the memory of Hector still so
clear in her head, Charlee could very easily visualize Hector lying over her,
touching her where her fingers touched now. He was sliding in and out of her
wetness, not her secret toy she had to hide deep in the box with the other
stuff she mailed herself from home.

The idea that this may not be the only
pleasure she’d have of this nature ever was no longer an impossible one. It
usually took longer than this for her to start trembling when Drew was home,
because Charlee was terrified of turning it on for fear her friend would hear
it and know just what a freak Charlee really was. But tonight was different.
Just closing her eyes and remembering Hector’s kisses so vividly, the way his
tongue slid all around like silk in her mouth, her fingers and her toy, even
without power, were all she needed.

Burying it deep inside herself just as her
entire body began to quiver, Charlee felt the spasms shoot through more
intensely than she’d ever had before and struggled to refrain from moaning as
she squirmed under her blankets still sliding it in and out. As the spasms
slowly calmed, her heart still pounded uncontrollably. She lay there for a
moment breathing hard, still thinking about the possibility that one day maybe
Hector would do this to her. For so long, she truly believed deep inside that
she’d never open up her heart to anyone again. But her urges had always been so
insatiable—so much so it was the one thing she never shared with anyone. Not
even Drew. She really believed she was destined to only experience this kind of
pleasure alone.

***

Even after one of the best damn
orgasms she’d experienced to date, Charlee still had
lain
awake most of the night, thinking of Hector and everything he’d said to her.
She should’ve been a zombie this morning. Instead, she felt strangely
invigorated. She would’ve liked to say it was the excitement of getting to work
with the kids today, something she enjoyed so much. But she knew it was for an
altogether different reason.

She’d been almost embarrassed last night to
admit to Drew that she’d let Hector kiss her, even after seeing him with those
two girls. Of course, Drew not only hadn’t passed judgment she helped reassure
Charlee she hadn’t made the biggest mistake of her life. Drew made her promise
one thing: if nothing became of it, she wouldn’t let this take her all the way
back to that dark place she’d once been.

“People make out at parties all the time, and
nothing comes of it, Charlee.” Drew had said then dramatically gasped and
added. “Many do
way
more than just
make out too, you know. So please promise me that if this is all it was for him
you don’t freak out okay? If, and I’m not saying it will, but if this turns out
to be just that, then we’ll go out and celebrate. You got your first time out
of the way.”

Charlee agreed, not wanting to argue, but she
wondered how many of the people that did stuff like this had to face their one
night stands every day. The school chess labs weren’t mandatory every day, but
they had to do a lab at least twice a week. Then there was the U.S. team. They
met less often, but they’d even be traveling together eventually. Things could
get very awkward. She finally decided she wouldn’t do what she normally did and
worry about something that hadn’t even happened yet.

Last night, Drew had watched her very closely
as Charlee gave her the
blow by blow of her make-
out
session with Hector. Well,
Charlee’s
version of the
blow by blow. She’d kept a few things to herself, like how incredibly aroused
she’d been. She’d never felt anything like it. Finally she understood what the
big deal about sex was, and she hadn’t even had the real thing yet. Last night
had been just a precursor, and it’d been amazing.

She really should slow down with the
fantasies. Charlee should be happy that they were not so farfetched anymore.
Even now, she could still easily close her eyes and vividly remember, not just
imagine anymore what it felt like to be kissed by him, feel his tongue on her
neck, making the most private of places tingle in reaction. But as much as she
promised Drew she’d take it all in stride, things had already changed. Even
after last night under her blankets, her fantasies had also gone now from the
most sexual in nature to replaying his words and the look in his eyes when he’d
said them to her over and over in her mind.

“
Trust
me, Charlotte. I know you’re different.
So different.
So sweet.”

Hearing the sound of her own name had never
left her so breathless. But the most breathtaking of all, and she closed her
eyes once again to relive it, was his telling her she was beautiful. Only one
other guy had ever said that to her before, and she’d thought for sure he’d
ruined that compliment forever. But she’d been so wrong. Hearing Hector say it
had been completely different. She’d seen the sincerity in his eyes—felt it in
his kisses.

“Charlee?”

“Um hmm?”
She didn’t open her eyes in response to Drew, simply continued
to picture Hector’s intense eyes looking deep into hers when he’d spoken to
her.

“Please tell me you’re just resting your eyes
because you’re tired and that lovesick smile on your face isn’t what it looks
like.”

Charlee opened one eye and glanced at Drew
who was driving. “It’s not.”

She closed her eye again, hating that she was
cursed with a best friend who was so damn discerning. The girl never missed a
thing. It was a wonder Drew hadn’t foreseen last year’s debacle before it
happened.

The rest of the day, Charlee managed to keep
her mind on her volunteer duties for the most part. It wasn’t too hard. They
kept her busy. But inevitably, she’d find herself daydreaming and even feeling
her body quiver at times with thoughts of Hector’s kisses and the mesmerizing
way he gazed at her all night—that amazing smile.