Hector

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.”