Puzzle maker Peter Find isn't thinking about falling in love anytime soon. Truth be told, he's happy with his job, his mundane life, and being single. He works, has a few drinks at The Hoffstetter Inn after his shifts, and spends quality time alone in his small apartment.
Then a mystery man by the name of Waverly "Wave" Yorkshire introduces himself to Pete at the inn. Unfortunately Wave has the wrong guy on his radar. This doesn't stop Pete from thinking him charming, and Pete begins to follow and spy on the man.
Soon Pete's new hobby gets out of hand, though. He finds himself mixed up with a few ugly Russians, government secrets, and a heap of danger. Will Pete live long enough to have The Charmer as his boyfriend? Or will Wave's secrets cause his early demise?
Aunt Ruby and I have dessert at The Hoffstetter Inn this afternoon. She enjoys a slice of triple chocolate, peanut butter pie and I have a fruit salad with a half scoop of cottage cheese, attempting to watch my waist. Low and behold, Waverly Yorkshire walks into the inn's restaurant.
He spots me at the four-person table with my aunt.
I spot the revolver at his right hip, under his leather jacket.
His handsome face illuminates with a smile: adorable, model-like, nothing shy of perfect.
I smile in return and feel giddy, similar to a high school boy with a crush on the chiseled quarterback. I don't know why I stand and provide him with a handshake since he's practically a stranger to me.
Wave ignores my outstretched arm and hand for a cordial shake. Rather, he pulls me against his hulking, superhero chest and shares a hug with me: powerful, overwhelming, and perfectly large in every way. It's like being hugged by a muscular giant; a total turn-on for me.
Immediately, Aunt Ruby's eyes open like a police cruiser's spotlights in a dark alley and she inquires, "Is this your sexy boyfriend?"
"A friend," Wave says, releasing me. "For now, just a friend."
"My God, the two of you make a handsome couple. You must be boyfriends. And you must get married."
I chuckle, embarrassed, and sit down.
Wave handles the awkward situation with grace and tells my aunt, "He's special to me. We'll see if I become special to him."
I introduce Aunt Ruby to Wave. Wave shakes her hand, being polite and says, "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Ruby."
"It's more of a pleasure for me, stud," Aunt Ruby admits. She looks up at Wave's handsome face and grins. As if on cue, she lowers her gaze to Wave's center. "You look like Thor. I bet you have a big hammer in your pants, and I bet you know how to use that hammer, too."
Because of her comment, completely caught off guard, I accidentally bump my right elbow against my drink on the table and it makes a liquid mess.
Our waitress, a Miley Cyrus look-alike, is nearby and comes to my rescue. She squeaks past a hulking Wave and begins to clean up the spill.
Aunt Ruby tells Wave, "Look what you made my nephew do. He's so excited to see all of your muscles, he spilled his drink."
Wave chuckles and politely excuses himself from our twosome. I watch him walk away from our table. He heads to the right and ends up at a semi-illuminated round table where a middle-aged man sits alone: dark eyes, brown wavy hair that looks too thick, and a darker shade of skin. When the man stands, he says something in Russian to Wave.
Wave shakes the man's hand and responds in Russian.
The two men laugh and sit down at the table.
Wave sits down. In doing so, he removes a black, palm-size box from his leather jacket and passes it to the Russian.
It's an action I shouldn't view: Wave with a possible boyfriend, giving him a gift, sharing and exposing his relationship to me; the unsurprising details of his life unfolding right before my eyes; something I find oddly puzzlingly that I surely can't see myself in involved in like a threesome. Never. Certainly not with Wave and his lover.
Aunt Ruby breaks my attention and says, "I can see you under a man like Thor. That guy is a charmer."
"Aunt Ruby!" I snap at her. Honestly, I want to meet Wave inside the men's bathroom at the inn and kiss him, without the company of his boyfriend. It's a prominent feeling that rushes throughout every part of my body. Pure attraction, adrenaline-filled filth, and an uncertain connection that I have to the superhero-like man who my aunt calls a charmer.
She laughs.
We both finish our desserts and leave the inn, happy to be together.
Following lunch, I ditch Aunt Ruby with utmost respect and tell her to find her sister. "I'm sure she's at home watching reruns of ER. We both know how she loves that show and has fallen in love with George Clooney."
"Your mother watches too much TV. She needs a better hobby."
Wave exits the restaurant. The Russian boyfriend follows him. I drop three twenties on the table and decide to follow the pair. I kiss Aunt Ruby goodbye and leave. She says something to me that I can't hear, leaving her in my dust.
