Page 1 of Her Supermodel Stalker
Chapter 1
Lexi
I HOLD HIM TIGHTLY, burying my cheeks in his chest to sniff the intoxicating leathery scent...Mmm, Devin,I whisper,you smell good.
When the alarm clock screams and wakes me from my sweet dream, I curse and snooze it. I lie on my side, still holding the pillow that pretends to be a male chest, and sigh. I open my eyes and see the poster of the man in my dreams on the wall. In nothing but a pair of Calvin Klein briefs, his beautiful, tan abs glow in the morning sun that seeps through my bedroom blinds. Devin Gamble. My forever, unattainable crush. I roll to lie on my back, and there he is again, on my ceiling, greeting me with a lopsided smile and making my heart flutter. Yep. I'm that obsessed with him. How could I not? Tall, dark, and handsome, the man is the epitome of a fine male specimen. His eyes are as warm and blue as the Mediterranean ocean he grew up by, his chiseled lips framed in a tantalizing ring of scruff that spreads to his square, determined jaw, and his raven hair-- oh God, it demands to be fisted during passionate love-making.
The one thing I'll never get to see hides in the tiny white fabric under his waist, and that is the reason I climb to bed every night and close my eyes to dream...
Devin Gamble is every woman's dream, at least among his fifty million followers on social media. He is the main reason I haven’t dated in the past three years. Because how am I supposed to care for an ordinary guy with a less than perfect combination, with the flawless image of him in the back of my mind? Sure, there are plenty of guys with his physique, or his good looks, and maybe even both. But they don't have his fearless nature and fierce determination. Besides modeling, Devin is a cliff-diving champion and an accomplished rock-climber. What drives his fans crazy, though, is his kind heart. He’s raised millions of dollars to charity foundations. The only flaw he has is being a womanizer, but then, it would be a crime if a man with his rare assets didn’t satisfy as many women on earth as possible, right?
I give the poster another longing look and get up with a sigh. Time to face reality. I step into the bathroom to brush my teeth, and as I do so, I stare at my reflection in the mirror and gasp. I look horrible! The woman with frizzy hair, tanned skin, and bright green eyes cannot be me! I had a two-week cruise vacation in the Caribbean with friends from high school, and just returned last night. I didn’t notice or mind the change in my appearance so much on the cruise, but now, back to my own house, I am abhorred by my new look. I’m out of hair serum, so I go for the next best choice and put my hair into a ponytail.
There’s nothing I can do about the tan I got from the hours I spent on the deck and in the swimming pool on the ship. I always wanted a tan, but even though I work at a vineyard, I didn’t spend much time in the sun, so my skin had always been pale. Now that I’ve gotten it, I’m not sure it works for me or not. My cheeks seem hollow and my eyes too bright.
Out in the living room, my mom Helen and my four-year-old son Jimmy are already at the breakfast table.
“Good morning!” I say to them.
“Good morning, Mommy!” Jimmy runs to me and hugs my legs.
I bend to kiss him. Jimmy is another reason I haven’t dated. Five years ago, his daddy left us and broke my heart.
“Have you slept well?” my mom asks me while I put a piece of bread into the toaster.
“Yes, I did! Thank God!” My cabin was next to the dance club, and I wasn’t able to sleep well over the trip.
“Mommy, I want to go with you to a cruise next time,” Jimmy says, pouting a bit. “I missed you.”
“I know. I’m sorry, baby. We’ll go together when you’re older. Grandma will go with us, too!” I say, although my mom isn’t keen on cruises because she gets seasick.
“Yay!” Jimmy shouts.
"Whenever I want you, all I have to do is dream…dream, dream, dream…." I sing along my CD on my way to Sun Oaks Vineyard, like what I've been doing every day of my life for the past five years. I've been working there full time since I graduated from high school. My plan was to work over the summer only, but then I got pregnant with Jimmy. I’m kind of stuck with my job, except I don’t feel bad about it. In fact, I like my job. I’ve participated in every step of the operation, from wine growing, harvesting, to winemaking. I’ve worked in the fields, in the office, the tasting room, and the cellar. I’m an assistant winemaker now, but my goal is to become a winemaker, and that, unfortunately, requires a diploma, which is why it is unachievable in the near future.
When the vineyard’s plantation comes into sight, I feel nostalgic. The owners, Mr. Fernandes and his wife put the vineyard out for sale five months ago in order to retire and return to their native country Portugal. It wasn’t easy, though, because the kind couple wanted the new owner to guarantee jobs to the current employees for at least a year after transferring the ownership. The condition deterred every potential buyer until a week ago when I was on the ship in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Susie, my friend, and the marketing manager at the vineyard, texted me and told me they sold the vineyard to an investor.
I park my car at the parking lot next to a two-story red brick building covered with ivy and with the company’s logo plaque mounted above its front entrance. It has a tasting room and a visitor center on the first floor and offices on the second floor.
As a winemaker’s assistant, my job is to provide the winemaker supports, including many duties. I not only take part in wine tasting and evaluating, but also the actual wine-making process in the cellar. On top of that, I do office work such as data entry, prepare work orders, and lab analysis. I normally start my day in the office, do some work on my computer, and then check the wine in the cellar and the lab.
Susie greets me as soon as I enter the office. "Lexi! You look nicely roasted!" she says after a warm bear hug.
“I know!” I giggle embarrassedly. “I spent too much time in the sun.”
"Did you have a good time?"
“Oh, of course. Ate and drank a lot, worked out a little.”
“Wonderful. I’m going to talk my husband into going next summer,” she says with an envious look.
I glance at the clock on the wall, remembering that’ll be a meeting with the new owner. “When will the meeting start?”
“In a minute,” she says. “Let’s go to the conference room.”
As she’s speaking, Susie's eyes shift. At the same time, I hear voices of men behind us and I turn to look. Mr. Fernandes is speaking to a tall man with an athletic built, in a light blue shirt that leaves enough buttons undone to show his strip of tantalizing bronze skin. Although he wears sunglasses, I can tell he’s very handsome, and I feel a familiar tug in my belly. My God! He looks just like the supermodel in my dreams.
“Who’s that?” I ask Susie.
