Page 33 of Love By The Falls

“What?”

“This is my song. I would run onto the dance floor whenever this song came on in college.”

“Well, then let’s go.”

I rush onto the dance floor and immediately jump into the choreography of the music video. If someone had asked me what the moves were, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them. But my body remembers them. Caleb’s smiling at me. At least my dancing didn’t scare him.

A woman runs across the room and joins me. She knows the moves, too. We laugh as we dance in sync.

Halfway through the song, a third woman grabs both of our hands and pulls us toward the bar. She climbs onto the stool and puts one leg on top of the bar.

“Oh, no,” I say, shaking my head and waving my hands. “I’m not going up there.”

“Come on! That’s how they do it in the video.”

The other woman joins her, and they both reach down and grab my arms. I could have fought them off, I really could have, but I remembered what Jane said, and figured this would be my one and only chance to ‘Coyote Ugly’ on a bar.

The room erupts into cheers and whistles and I’m laughing, too. Caleb is smiling from cheek to cheek, holding his beer up to salute us.

My heart is ready to jump out of my chest, but I finish the dance to the last steps and take a bow.

Caleb stretches out his arms and I fall forward as he lifts me up. Swinging me around, I laugh and cover my face in his neck. “That was amazing,” he says. “So fucking hot.”

“I can’t believe I did that.”

“You did it, baby. That was better than the original video.”

My blood’s pumping and I don’t want to stop dancing. “I want to keep going.” I rush onto the dance floor and look over my shoulder to see if Caleb will join me.

Surprisingly, Caleb follows me onto the dance floor, and I lift my arms in the air and bounce on my toes to the music. Caleb’s movements are slower but still in rhythm. He watches me, and my heart races at the intensity of his stare. I turn my back to him, lifting my hair from my neck to cool myself down, but Caleb’s lips are on me and suddenly it's like someone’s lit a fire between us. My whole body burns at his touch, and he doesn’t disappoint me for long as his fingers caress my hips and my stomach. I grind my bottom to his hips, and he presses me against him.

Closing my eyes, I lose myself to the music and the moment, mesmerized by the sound of his heart beating.

His hands move along to the rhythm but with every caress they move up along my body, up the side of my breasts, between the valley of my cleavage, until his hands are caressing my neck. He pulls me in for a kiss and I forget about everyone and everything around me. I’m lost in the moment and the aura of this man.

“Let’s go back to the hotel,” I whisper, my voice unfamiliar to my ears. It’s throaty and lustful. I’ve never spoken this way to anyone before. It’s sexy and I like how it makes me feel. I like the power it has over him when his eyes burn brighter, and he nods once before kissing me gently on the lips.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

We walk back to the hotel, and I catch a reflection of myself in the window of a restaurant. My smile, my eyes, my straight posture, it’s me, but it’s not. It’s as though I don’t recognize this carefree person whose biggest dilemma the past few days has been which cocktail should I order. I know the bills, the job, the rent, it's all waiting for me back home. But for a little while longer, I get to be ‘Carefree Charlotte’.

9

Charlotte

Three days later…

The warm breeze blows my fedora off my head, and I scramble across the front deck of the boat to catch it. Caleb is faster and snatches it up before it’s lost to the waves of the ocean. He gently places it back on my head and lingers close to my face.

It's hard to breathe whenever he’s near me; it’s getting worse as time passes. My heart stops when his thumb touches my lips right before he kisses me. He tastes like the Montenegro he’s drinking, but there’s nothing bitter about this kiss—only the few hours we have left.

“What time is your flight tomorrow?” he asks when I lie down on top of him on one of the sun loungers. Caleb rented the boat and hired someone to sail it while we gaze out into the green rolling hills and blue skies. His fingers caress my hips, and his thumb slips beneath my black and gold bikini.

I giggle and cover his hand with mine. “Let me touch you,” he whispers. I slowly remove my hand and allowhis fingers to explore. They circle around my inner thighs and below my belly. “So, what time?”

“Mmm?” I ask in a daze, as my thoughts center on his touch.

“Your flight. What time does it leave?”

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