She pulled back, but with his arms around her waist, she didn’t get very far. “I’m not lying.” She was very aware that her eyes blinked like crazy when she lied. Drew had pointed that out years ago. She was just surprised Hector had picked up on it so quickly.

The half-smile was gone, and he stared at her hard now. “You’re doing it again. Why are you lying, Charlee?”

“How do you know—” she caught herself and rephrased that. “Why do you think I’m lying?”

“Because the only time I’ve ever seen you do that was the night I asked you to pretend what happened between us never did. You said you already had and that,” his jaw clenched for a second, “that you’d had an exhausting weekend, and I know now that it was all a lie. So why are you lying now? Just give it to me straight. I can take it. You’ve had boyfriends before, so what?”

“I haven’t.” He was so focused on her eyes now it completely unnerved her.

“Okay, that’s the truth,” he said smugly. She tried pulling away from him now, annoyed that he really thought he had her pegged so quickly, but he held her tight. Staring at her more concerned now, he asked, “What’s wrong with you? What’s upsetting you this much?”

“I’d had a crush on him for years, okay? Then suddenly last year, he pretended to really be into me. I fell for it completely. Even Drew, who claims to have a sixth sense about these things, thought he genuinely liked me, and it turned out he did it all for some kind of stupid football team dare.” She couldn’t even look at Hector anymore. “It’s incredibly embarrassing to talk about, so can we not anymore, please?”

That hardened look was back, but she knew it wasn’t because of or directed at her. He was thinking about what she’d just told him. He pulled her closer, and she leaned her face against his chest. It felt so perfect to be held by him like this that she never wanted to let go, and she took a deep satisfied breath.

“What an ass**le,” was the only thing Hector said and the only thing either of them said for a long while. When he spoke again, his tone had changed. There was a strangeness in his voice. “I won’t ask you anything more about what he did, but I do need to know something.”

She lifted her head away from his chest and looked at him. He searched her eyes immediately. “You said you had a crush on him for years. This happened a year ago?” She nodded. “And it still upsets you this much? You are over him, right?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. Gawd, he must think her the most pathetic thing on the planet. “I was over him the moment I found out the truth.” That wasn’t exactly true, but she was over him now and had been for quite a while. “It’s just the thought of telling anyone about it,” she lowered her voice, “especially you, is so . . . embarrassing.”

“Don’t be embarrassed, Charlee.” He rubbed her back. “Only idiots actually give into stupid peer pressure like that. I remember hearing about that kind of dumb shit in school all the time. It was always the ass**les who went along with it. And what was so daring about pretending to like a sweet, pretty girl like you anyway? What a schmuck.”

What she’d told him was mortifying enough. She didn’t have to tell him everything. It was just ironic that of all words he could’ve chosen he chose schmuck in this instance. She concentrated on not going into a blinking spasm and shrugged. “So you know now. Can we talk about something else?”

He leaned in, kissing her softly, and then slowly his tongue became more ravenous. She held both hands to his face, kissing him back equally insatiably until she tingled everywhere, but he cut it short, breathing heavily as he pulled away. Rubbing the tops of her thighs, he smiled that breathtaking smile. “You wanna go see something? It’s close by here. I didn’t realize how close you lived to it.”

She nodded, staring at him all dreamily, and she didn’t even care. There was no hiding how she felt about him now, and she didn’t have to anymore.

He leaned in against her forehead again. “Or we can stay here if you’d prefer.” His fingers grazed the bare small of her back now. In this position, Drew’s ridiculously short hoodie had ridden halfway up her back, exposing her entire lower back. The touch of his fingers sent a tingling sensation up her spine, making her shiver against him. “I am not about to ask you to get off me.”

“Oh.” She sat up, realizing she had to move off him in order for him to stand. Okay, maybe she would have to try a little harder to not get so mesmerized by him. It was a little embarrassing.

She scooted back and pulled her legs off his big thighs. Feeling her face warm a little, she wondered what he’d think of her fantasies in which she’d sat on him that very same way many times minus their clothes. The heat moved down from her face to her neck and warmed every part of her body as the reality began to set in. If this were really happening, if she weren’t really going to wake up from this soon and find out all this was just another fantasy of hers, the possibility of her fantasies happening now was very real.

They got in his truck and set out to the mystery place Hector said he’d rather just show her than tell her about.

His truck was an old classic one, something he said his brother had passed down to him. As soon as she got in, he made sure the seatbelt in the middle seat was accessible to her, and Charlee chewed her bottom lip, loving the fact that he wanted her sitting right next to him.