10. Carmen

CHAPTER 10

CARMEN

With a bounce in my step, I walked into the athletics building. I had only been there once before when I went snooping to see if I could catch a glimpse of him in his natural habitat, but other than that, I hadn’t been before. Thankfully, I remembered where I had seen his office. I knocked on the open door, but the smile on my face slipped when I noticed it was empty.

“Damn,” I mumbled under my breath. My eyes dropped to the bag in my hands. I glanced at the screen of my Apple Watch and sighed. “So much for surprising him with lunch.” I stepped inside and set the bag on an empty spot on his desk.

Next time, I’ll have to call , I thought to myself and had to stop myself from giggling.

Andres and I might not have labeled it, but he said I was his and he was mine. I didn’t need more. The weekend had been incredible.

I glanced around his desk for a note pad or some Post-its.

“There they are.” I rounded the desk and picked them up and searched for a pen so I could leave him a note to let him know I hoped he was having a g good day and that he enjoyed lunch. I picked up a pen by a laptop he had open, and it dropped when my eyes caught the screen.

I’ve been watching you. The confession he’d said in the heat of the moment passed through my head as I tilted my head, trying to make sense of what I was looking at.

I’ve been watching you.

I’d assumed he meant before we got to know one another. My hands shook as I pulled the desk chair back and sat down.

I stared at the screen that was broken into about six smaller ones. A security feed played. A live one. And I knew exactly what he was looking at because I had the same playing in my office on a TV behind my own desk. A desk I was currently staring at.

Andres had been watching the library’s security feed. He’d been watching me, and when I had called security, and we got to know one another, I’d thought he’d stopped.

But he hadn’t.

He’d just started to watch without me knowing about it.

Without thinking, I moved my hands to the mouse. I minimized the screen, and everything inside of me froze. The screensaver of his laptop, the one he streamed the library’s security feed on, was of me. Staring off to I could only assume was the campus. I was sitting on a bench in my favorite spot on campus.

But this had to have been right before the school year ended.

A lone folder off to the top right-hand corner of the screen caught my attention. I shouldn’t open it. I should shut the laptop and take it right to the cops as evidence. Andres has been stalking me?

But I didn’t.

I opened it, and my eyes widened. A multitude of folders were there. One by one, I opened and closed them. Pictures of me. Videos of me walking around campus, completely oblivious to him. But maybe it was the shock or the fact I was obviously sick in the head, because I wasn’t scared.

I wasn’t even worried about my own safety when I opened one named Divorce .

Everything about my failed marriage popped up, and my eyes shut for a moment.

Still, I wasn’t scared. I was hurt.

And ashamed.

He’d learned about Sam and his abuse through court documents. Pictures that had been taken as evidence at the hospital the last time my ex had had a little too much to drink. I stared at the woman in the image, a woman I no longer recognized. One I no longer was.

Broken and bruised. With an emptiness in her gaze, wearing a baggy beige shirt to hide herself and make herself as little as possible.

I’d been so lost back then. Sam had chipped away everything that had made me who I was. Hindsight, he’d done that before we even walked down the aisle. I hadn’t noticed until it was too late.

I looked away and caught sight of my reflection on the screen of his desktop.

I wasn’t that person anymore. I hadn’t been her in a long time.

I started to shut all the windows I’d opened, and just as I stood, about to shut the laptop screen, there he was.

“Andres.” I swallowed. He didn’t move a muscle, but his eyes tracked me. Sliding down my face to the laptop and back to me, until our gaze connected. He stood at the door, so big it felt like he shut the world away behind him.

And even with everything I had found out, what I knew he knew about me, I couldn’t help but think of how beautiful he was. Masculine and strong. Mine, a voice still whispered in the back of my head at the sight of him.

“I brought you lunch.” I pointed at the bag I’d set down on the desk. “I was looking for a pen and paper to leave you a note because I have to be back at the library but…”

“You found a little more than you were looking for?” he filled in when my voice drifted off to nothing.

“Something like that.” I swallowed, and he leaned against the door. I wasn’t sure what to say, but as crazy as it sounded, I wasn’t running. I’d done a couple of crazy things, too. We’d both stalked each other. Sure, his had been for longer but… I shook my head. This was not the time or place to figure it out.

“I told you.” He broke the heavy silence that had fallen between us. “I warned you.” It was obvious by the deep concern in his dark eyes and the way he held his body that he was worried.

“Andres––“ I started to say, but someone walked by.

“Hey, man!” A tall, bulky man who looked familiar came up to him, “Don’t forget we have that admin coach meeting.”

“I’ll be there,” he muttered without looking away from me.

“Is everything okay?” the guy asked, peeking his head inside. “Oh, hey!” The guy smiled. “I’m Red, Red Bridges.”

“Football coach, right?” I asked, hoping I remembered it right.

“Right. Nice to meet you…” He paused, and when I didn’t fill in the blank, his eyes went to Andres, then back to me.

“Oh, umm?—“

“Carmen Villalobos. She’s the school’s head librarian,” Andres introduced. The school’s head librarian. Is that all I am?

“You’re a librarian?” He was clearly surprised. I nodded. “Well, I can see why my players’ GPAs are higher than usual,” he complimented, but by the growl-like sound Andres made, I knew he didn’t appreciate it.

“Don’t you have a woman at home?” My eyes widened with how rude Andres sounded.

“I have a very happy wife at home.” Red Bridges laughed. “You should learn from me.” He smugly grinned before patting Andres on the back. They were saying something without words, and I wasn’t privy to it. But it was obvious Red Bridges was one of the few men in this would who Andres couldn’t intimidate with a look. “What did I tell you about the water here?” he oddly said. A muscle ticked at Andres jawline.

“Fuck you,” he cursed. Red chuckled before turning his attention to me. My hands were still on the laptop.

Why aren’t I telling the assistant coach about what I just discovered? This was my chance. Red would walk away and leave, and then I’d be stuck with a man who had been watching me. Reading the dirty lowdown details about my failed marriage.

“It was nice meeting you, Carmen.” The assistant coach smiled politely, and my chance to leave too went with him.

I knew it before Andres shut the door behind him. I stood and glanced around the office. It had a big window, but with all the blinds pulled shut, it was just the two of us. The clear click of the lock snapping in place made me look at him.

“No take-backs, you promised.”

“I did,” I started, but when I went to say more, he shook his head.

“I know how that looks.” He pointed at the laptop, and I blinked. He was worried I was freaked out. That I was going to run. That I thought he was like Sam when I knew he wasn’t.

Deep down, in my heart and soul, I knew there was no other man like Andres. Not for me. It was crazy. How I felt for him. How much I wanted him and never wanted to not have him in my life. I could easily picture it, our need only growing, both of us obsessed with the other until we grew old.

“But this doesn’t change one thing, Carmen.” He stepped closer.

Slowly and tentatively, like he was approaching a scared wounded animal. But I wasn’t scared or broken anymore. I hadn’t been scared for a long time. I’d thought I was broken and that’s why I hadn’t wanted to meet or date before. But in reality, it had been because I just hadn’t met Andres.

His weird possessive obsessive freaky side matched mine.

It didn’t matter what others might think was right or wrong. Not when I knew. And by the way he neared and reached for my hand, he knew we were right for each other, too.

“I love you,” I found myself blurting out loud. It was crazier than all the crap I had found on his laptop, but I meant it.

Completely and wholeheartedly.

This is right. Righter than right. Andres stopped mid-step but didn’t let go of my hand.

“What did you say?” he asked with an edge to his voice.

“I love you,” I repeated. Suddenly, I wasn’t holding my breath anymore. My body relaxed. There was nothing to fear; I knew that. Not with Andres. “I love you. That”—my chin jerked toward the laptop––“Is it as bad as what I did in your bed?” He licked his lips, and his stare darkened.

“What you did on my bed?” His gravel tone hardened my nipples into tight buds behind the lace of my bra.

“You know.” My face heated up. “I went through your things, and then I was in your bed. I just… I don’t know what it is about you, about us… but––“ I rambled, unable to stop, knowing I wasn’t making sense, yet I somehow knew he got it.

Because he got me.

“You can’t stop it?” Andres filled in the blank, and I nodded. He pulled my hand, and I went toward him. My hand rested between our bodies, not to push him away, but to touch him and feel his heart under my hand.

“That’s how I felt. The screensaver? That’s from the second time I spotted you.”

“When did… I mean—“ I was at a loss for words.

“When did I start stalking you?” His lips twitched. I bit down on mine. This whole conversation was wild, yet I nodded, ready to have it. “A couple weeks before you started seeing me hanging around the library.”

“I don’t understand. Why…”

“I needed to make changes in my life before I stepped in and made a move. When I did and asked you to dinner, you told me to go to hell.”

“I didn’t tell you to––“ He shot me a look, and I pressed my lips together. “Okay, maybe I was a little… sassy,” I admitted. His hands stroked the line of my spine.

“I love your sass.” I blinked. My breathing suddenly felt off. “I love how you dress.” His lips twitched. “Like you take a challenge of putting on every color from the rainbow, and fuck, you make it work.”

“I do?” I asked, loving how much he noticed about me.

“Hell yeah, you do.” His hand rose, and I was leaning into him. “You’re sweet. So fucking sweet, I’m afraid of getting a toothache.”

“I’m not sweet,” I argued.

“You are. And you don’t put up with my crap. You call me out on my shit and—” He swallowed hard. The emotion in his eyes made me feel like I was melting into him. “Carmen, baby, you accept me for me. You see me.”

“Andres,” I whispered. “Baby?—“

“And I know you’ve been put through hell.” His nose flared, and the grip he had on my hip tightened. “I’d never touch you in anger. I’d never raise my voice, and I swear I’d never let you think or feel like you’re anything other than incredible.”

“You’re not Sam.” His eyes softened.

“I know. And I’m really fucking glad you know it, too.” His head dipped, but before his mouth touched mine, his thumb gently stroked my jawline. “I love how much you love what you do. I love how much you read. I love how you treat Stitch, and no matter what, you always go outside and toss the ball for him.”

“You know about that?”

“You think it was just a coincidence I was outside that night?” I opened and shut my mouth. “I love how you play music every night. Even if it’s way too loud. I love how you video chat with your mom every Sunday.” My hand clenched his shirt. He knew me.

Andres really, really knew me.

“But most of all, I love you, Carmen.” I blinked to keep the tears at bay.

He loved me. I loved him. We were in love.

“I never believed in love at first sight. The concept always sounded ridiculous to me. But it was because I hadn’t seen you yet.”

“Smooth talker,” I whispered with a sappy smile, and there was no holding back the tears. Both his hands cupped my face and tilted it up, so our eyes connected. The pads of his thumbs wiped away my tears.

“I’m not. I’ve put my foot in my mouth around you too many times for you to even think that.”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. My eyes dropped to his lips. “You’re pretty smooth when you want to be.”

“I love you, Carmen. It’s fast, and the way I started this has been pretty… unorthodox.” I giggled at his choice of words.

“I don’t care,” I cut him off. “I love you.”

“I love you. Fuck, I love you so much.” His touch was warm and tender, and my eyes fluttered shut.

“We will figure this out,” I whispered, a breath before his lips touched mine. We kissed. Slowly and languidly. Wet and passionate.

“Such a good girl,” he muttered before deepening the kiss.

To say the least, I took a long lunch, and he was late for his meeting.