Page 5 of Never Let Go (Forbidden #1)
Chapter Five
LAUREN
A fter getting off the stage, I grab a towel and a bottle of water to try and cool off. Even after spending the last four years pole dancing, I still work up one hell of a sweat. It’s the only way I’m able to keep my curvy body in shape with all the food I eat.
Swallowing the last of my water, I throw the bottle in the trash and stroll to the dressing room. The other girls are all flitting around—hair, make-up, applying body glitter—which is so hard to wash off, by the way.
Esme’s in the center of the room yanking her leggings on before she heads home. “Motherfucking, bastard things,” she grumbles under her breath causing me to snort.
“Uh, Esme? You okay there, hun?” This girl has always had the ability to make me cackle with her crazy antics.
“Whoever invented these fucking things had to have been a man. Do you know how hard it is to put my beautiful thick thighs into these things? I feel like Ross from Friends with the leather pants. Hey, Destiny… find me some talc will ya!” she shouts, her hand slipping and slapping her on the forehead.
Annnd I’m done.
The laugh I’ve been holding in can no longer be contained, bursting free as I laugh so hard tears stream down my face, ruining my makeup at the image of Esme greasing herself up.
Once I’ve managed to compose myself, I stand up and change out of my corset, putting my bra on before deciding that I really need to use the restroom. The water I’d drunk, apparently, going through me rather quickly.
As I’m heading down the hallway I hear a noise. Everyone is either out front or in the dressing rooms, so I’m hit with a feeling of apprehension.
I swear these hallways need better lighting because, fuck, it’s dark out here.
I spin around trying to find where the noise came from, when I see a tall figure appear from the shadows.
I can’t see him clearly, but I can tell from his build and the way he holds himself that he’s one of the guys here with the bachelor party tonight.
They all had this kind of… aura about them, and he’s giving off the same vibes.
“Fuck me sideways. Give a girl some notice before you sneak out of the shadows like that. I’m all for shadow daddies but for fuck sake,” I shriek, clutching my chest and wondering if I’m going into cardiac arrest—I hope not, I’m too pretty to die.
I’m not even going to think about the oversharing of my love for shadow daddies. If he’s creeping around in the dark, he’s got to expect me to react that way, right?
“Sorry,” the mysterious man chuckles. “I saw you on stage and—fuck, I don’t even know what I was going to do,” he says as he swipes a hand through his hair .
He steps further into the light, and I gasp.
My mouth falls open and I stand there stunned.
I’d caught glances of him while I was on stage and we may have even locked eyes for a moment, but between me dancing and the flashing lights, I wasn’t able to get a good enough look, and fuck if I don’t stare.
The man is freaking gorgeous.
Tall, muscular, tattooed, dark hair—did I hit my head and wake up in one of my romance books because, damn .
He looks older than me. I’m twenty but I’d put him in his late thirties/early forties. I’ve never been into older men before, but I suddenly feel like I could be converted.
His dark hair is closely shaved at the sides, a mop of hair on top which is just begging for my hands to be run through it. Blue eyes surrounded by dark eyelashes that rest on high cheekbones and full, luscious lips complete the absolute god that stands before me.
I pick my jaw up off the floor and clear my throat.
“Erm, yeah… I mean… okay,” I stammer, my brain clearly not engaging with my mouth as I gape at the gorgeous specimen in front of me.
“I’m finished for the night and we don’t offer private rooms,” I tell him quickly, before he gets the wrong idea.
I’ve been propositioned too many times to count, but something about the guy in front of me is different.
He doesn’t creep me out the way other guys do. Why? I don’t know.
“Good to know,” he laughs as he stalks further forward, hand outstretched. “I’m Caleb.”
I stare at his hand for longer than is probably polite, I blame my pussy for taking over my brain. I’m no virgin… I mean, I lost my virginity to Chad Montgomery in the back of his SUV when I was eighteen, but it was so uninspiring I never did it again.
Shaking my head from my errant thoughts I place my hand in his, a bolt of something, almost like static shock, races up my arm at the contact. What the fuck? I quickly remove my hand from his grip and hold it to my chest, taking a step back and bumping into the wall behind me.
“Lauren,” I say, and I wonder if maybe I should start using an alias while I’m working, like the other girls do.
Caleb moves in closer, the blue of his eyes becoming brighter the closer he gets.
Eyes that, I swear to god, I lose myself in for a minute.
The nearer he gets, the more I need to look up at him.
I’m 5’4” but he’s got to be 6’2” easily.
I crane my neck to get a closer look—chiseled jawline and dimples.
Fucking dimples. Caleb smirks at me, catching me checking him out.
He’s so close now that if I were to stand on my tiptoes our lips would touch.
When did he get so close?
I take in a deep breath to slow my racing heart, but my eyes roll to the back of my head instead. The man smells amazing—leather, wood and cinnamon. I don’t think I’ve ever smelt anything like it before. I love it and my pussy agrees.
I open my eyes and see Caleb watching me, lust filling his gaze before resting his hands on either side of my head, and leaning in to whisper, “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
I’m not sure whether my brain decides to take a leave of absence, and my pussy takes over or if it’s him that makes the first move, but suddenly we’re kissing—hands groping, teeth clashing, tongues dueling—kinda kissing.
My hands tangle in his hair, and I press myself closer to him, deepening the kiss.
Caleb groans into my mouth and I don’t think I’ve heard a sexier sound. My panties are soaked, and my pussy is throbbing, begging for him to touch me.
He brings his hands down to grab my waist when footsteps and laughter bring me back to the hallway—fuck, the hallway!
I drag myself away from his lips, gasping for air. Caleb gazes down at me, his pupils blown wide with desire and I gulp at the intensity. I disentangle myself and take a step back.
“Sorry, uh—fuck,” I manage to choke out. “I’m gonna”—I gesture behind me—“go.”
I swivel on my heel and run the hell away. I hear “Wait” being shouted behind me but I keep going.
Basically jogging to get away from the mind shattering encounter, I grab the door handle to the bathroom, practically ripping it off its hinges in my haste to get inside. I slam the door behind me, rushing to the sink and splashing cold water on my face.
What the fuck just happened? I don’t do shit like this.
I peer up at my reflection, my hair’s a mess, my pupils wide and my makeup—that I’d painstakingly reapplied after the Esme laughing incident—is smudged. I breathe in and breathe out slowly.
There was something about Caleb that I just couldn’t say ‘no’ to. The attraction that I’d felt toward him as soon as he stepped out of the shadows was instantaneous.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve dated since Chad and his SUV.
Hell, I’ve been hit on at the club more times than I can count but nothing like this has happened—the overwhelming need to be as close to someone as possible.
Usually after two dates I’m done. I just don’t feel…
anything. But with Caleb, I wanted to climb him like a damn jungle gym.
The bathroom door opens pulling me from my thoughts…