Unmasking Charlotte (a Taboo Love series) (4 page)

Chapter
One

Calvin

I never thought that I would see the day. Family and friends are gathered here at my club - Club Masquerade - tonight in celebration of my best friend, Nick Santino, and his girl, Delilah Sampson’s engagement. Not that I never thought I would ever see him engaged, but rather, I never thought I would see friends and family gathered together. In my club. Without masks. You see, Club M is an exclusive club that you can only attend by invitation or through a very extensive background check. Once approved, the rules of the club are very strict. Anonymity is paramount, therefore, everyone must be masked, and nobody is allowed to speak. So you can see why being surrounded by an unmasked, boisterous crowd could throw me for a loop. Throw my family into the mix, and this is sorta fucked up. In my opinion.

But I digress.

I’ve never seen Nick so happy. I smile to myself. I’m so glad that he’s finally found the woman of his dreams. The night is still young and everyone is having a blast as The Plain White T’s are rocking the house. I glance around at all of the smiling faces and settle on the gorgeous blonde dancing with my buddy, Parker Hamilton. She is Delilah’s best friend, Charlotte Fisher. The same woman who caught my eye months ago when she came into my club with Delilah. Those piercing blue eyes of hers have been haunting my dreams ever since. After the song is over, Charlotte separates from Parker and heads to the bar for a drink. I make my way toward the bar to see if I can talk to her without making a complete dumbass out of myself.

For a moment, I’m taken back to when I first laid eyes on Charlotte. She and Delilah came to Club M for the first time. I swear the rest of the people in the place faded away and it was only her standing there. Her sun-kissed hair was down, curling slightly as it flowed over her shoulders. She had the most pie
rcing crystal blue eyes I’ve ever seen, and that night, her pouty lips were accentuated by red lipstick. Her mask was navy blue, just like the short, tight dress she was wearing.

When Nick had asked me to find out the name and number of the girl she was with, I checked out who they both were. Since I’m the owner of the club, I have access to everyone’s real name for security purposes. That’s when I found out that it was Delilah that Nick was going after. So while he was chasing his now fiancée, I decided to do some chasing of my own.

While Nick and Delilah danced, I broke my own rules and texted Charlotte. We teased and flirted with each other for a little while before I decided to end it for the night. I was not going to break any more of the rules that I swore to keep inside my club – don’t shit where I eat and no texting or screwing women in my own club. That right there is bad business. I already broke the no texting rule, but there was no way I was going to break the bigger of the two, the no screwing rule. I was horny as hell from the texts, and if I wanted to keep rule number two, then I had to stop talking to her.

I ended the conversation politely, saying that I had to get going because I had to work early, which she took pretty well. She never saw
who she was talking to, so she had no idea that I wasn’t really leaving. She only stayed for another half an hour after we finished texting. I promised myself that I would pursue her outside of the club since I knew who she was and how to get to her. I tried on a couple of occasions to talk to her whenever we met up through Nick and Delilah, but she always found a way to blow me off.

Tonight, though, I at least want to dance with her. I sidle up next to her and lean against the bar. While she’s not looking, I check out her tight body in those leather leggings and off the shoulder shirt she’s got going on.
Mmm, hot damn!

“Having fun?” I ask over the music.

Charlotte turns my way and smiles. “Yeah, this is great, Calvin. Thanks for all of this.” She lifts her arms and waves them around the club, causing her chest to rise along with them.

I nod and stifle a groan. I focus the conversation back to Nick, trying my best to not embarrass myself, or scare her away, with a hard on in the middle of the party. “My pleasure. I love seeing my best friend so happy.”

“Me, too. They are really great together,” Charlotte says, her smile turning soft as she glances over at Nick and Delilah.

“Do you think I can get the next dance?” I ask straigh
t up. I don’t play games or mince words; I like to get straight to the point.

The change in her is immediate. Her whole body tenses and her smile fades. What the hell? I’ve only asked her to dance, it’s not like I said, “Hey, let’s go up to one of the rooms and fuck.”

“I don’t know about that,” she says, her voice weirdly void of all emotion.

I frown. “It’s just a dance, Charlotte. I’m not asking you to come home with me.”

Something flickers in her eyes for just a second, something that I can’t read.

“It’s
Charlie and I…uh…I have a boyfriend,” she stutters and I have the feeling that she’s lying.

I cross my arms over my chest. “You do? Who? Is he here?”

Charlotte glances around quickly. “Ah, yeah…it’s Parker. Parker is my boyfriend,” she says quickly.

I narrow my eyes at her. “You’re dating Parker? Why hasn’t he ever mentioned it to me?”

“We’re…ya know, trying to keep it on the DL because of him being famous and all. So don’t say anything to him, he would kill me if I told anyone about us,” she says, wincing convincingly.

I can’t decide if she is telling the truth or not. On one hand I feel like she is lying
, but then on the other, that sounds like Parker. He doesn’t like his relationships to be public. With being as famous an actor as he is, he is really careful to keep any woman that he’s with under wraps.

“I’m sure Parker wouldn’t mind if his best buddy dances with his girl,” I press.

Charlotte nibbles on the inside of her cheek and her eyes widen a bit. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I don’t think I would feel right,” she finally says.

My first instinct is to call bullshit, but if I’m wrong, then I’ll make an ass out of myself. I better just let it go. I nod.

“Alright, fine, can’t say that I didn’t try,” I say with a flirtatious smirk and a wink.

She blinks at me for a moment before giving me a tight smile and running off with her drink. Whatever her deal is, she’s unavailable and I need to get over my little crush. It might just be that she doesn’t date black guys and she doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to say it and sound like a bitch. I’ve had plenty of women do that to me, no matter if they find me attractive or not. I don’t discriminate
, though - a woman is a woman. Doesn’t matter what color, shape, or size. I love them all; they are all beautiful. My mama taught me right.

Charlotte

Holy fucking shit! How does he do that? How does he transform my whole body
into goo by just talking to me? I refuse to glance back at Calvin as I make my getaway. That man is too attractive for words and if things were different, I’d be all over that. But I’m scarred…damaged…there are too many things about Calvin that remind me of HIM.
I can’t let him unmask me, it’s my only defense.

The man is smokin’ hot
, though, and my body knows it. It’s on fire right now. He didn’t even touch me, yet I feel scorched. I can’t tell you the last guy who’s made me feel like this. Now that I think about it, I don’t think that any guy has ever made me burn so hot just by talking to me. I shake my head at the insanity of it. The one guy that I will never touch is the one guy who lights my fire. What kind of shit is this?

I make my way over to Delilah where she is sitting at a table, resting her feet. She smiles knowingly at me as I sit down next to her. I roll my eyes at her.

“Don’t even start,” I groan, knowing exactly why she’s looking at me like that.

“He’s a good guy, Charlie. I do
n’t understand why you won’t leave the past in the past and let him take you out,” Delilah says.

I make an aggravated noise. “I can’t, LaLa. I might have told you what happened to me, but you have no idea
as to the extent of the damage left behind…” I sigh.

“Are you afraid of him?” Delilah asks, her voice concerned and quiet.

“No, I’m not afraid of Calvin. I just…I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. Besides, now is not the time for it,” I say with finality. It’s not the time for that conversation.

Delilah nods in agreement and changes the subject.
“So, did you know about this?” she asks, motioning toward the festivities going on.

I raise a cocky
eyebrow. “Did I know? Of course. Who the hell do you think helped Nick plan this? That guy is clueless!”

Delilah throws her head back and laughs. I laugh
, too. Seeing her so over the moon in love with someone warms my heart. I’m grateful that my best friend has found happiness. I just wish I could find a little bit of my own.

The party has finally died down, and I am ready to go home and pass out.
I’m one of the last ones to leave. Parker had snuck out without my knowledge, the bastard! So now I have to try and sneak out without Calvin seeing me. No doubt he will be curious as to why I’m leaving alone. I just pass the bar and almost make it to the doors when I hear Calvin’s deep voice call after me.

“Hold up, Charlotte!”

Damnit! Why does he have to call me that?

I reluctantly spin around to see him trotting toward me. “Dude, it’s Charlie
, not Charlotte,” I huff.

“You a
ren’t really walking out to your car alone are you?” he asks, eyebrows drawn together in disapproval. He totally ignored what I just said to him.

I raise my eyebrow at him. The man
has to be at least six feet five inches because I’m five feet eight inches and he towers over me. I actually have to tilt my head back to look at his face. His eyes are gorgeous; they are a light caramel brown framed in thick dark lashes. His skin is more of a milk chocolate or coffee with a lot of cream. A perfectly trimmed goatee frames his delicious mouth. And his body is a whole different subject - broad muscular shoulders and back, biceps as big as my head, and who knows what kind of washboard abs he’s got going on under his shirt, because there is no doubt that he’s got ‘em. He’s freakin’ yummy.
Shit, I am in trouble with this one.

“Ah, yeah. I am. S
ooo goodnight,” I say with some attitude as I turn, hoping he gets the picture.

“What happened to Parker?” h
e asks and I can hear that he’s following me.

“Oh, he had to run, his agent called,” I lie and wave my hand dismissively.

“Well, I’ll walk you out. This isn’t the greatest of neighborhoods,” Calvin says.

Fuck me! He
has to be all chivalrous and shit, too? Can the man get any higher on the hotness meter? I think not. I mutter a “thanks” and let him follow me out to my car. Once there, I unlock my car and turn to face him.

“Thanks, Calvin,” I say with a tight smile.

He smirks and winks. “No problem, sweetness. And if you ever feel the need to get rid of Parker, you know where to find me.”

I roll my eyes, making him chuckle. Even
his chuckle is sexy. I stifle a shiver of pleasure and get into my car. Calvin backs away as I pull out. I glance in my rearview to see him shove his hands into his jean pockets, his smile quickly fading. If I could kick myself, I would. I feel guilty for lying to him, but I can’t tell him the truth. He really wouldn’t leave me alone if he knew the truth. He’d probably try to fix me. Well, that’s not possible, because I’m broken beyond repair.

A little more Charlotte
…

Murphy’s Law. If this morning is any indi
cation of how my day is going to go, I am screwed. My alarm clock never went off this morning. I just happened to wake up because I heard the garbage truck outside. When I peek at my alarm clock, my eyes widen like saucers and I spring out of bed. My heart starts to race in panic. I have never been late to work before, and I am not going to start today. I jump into the shower as quickly as possible to learn there is no hot water. How can there be no hot water in New York City? It’s not like I live in the boonies or somewhere that doesn’t have hot water heaters.
What the hell?
I rush to get dressed, only to find that my cat peed in my favorite pair of black wedges. Yes, I have a cat. Didn’t I mention him before? His name is Horse. Delilah actually named him when we were seniors in college. She named him after an ex of mine that I made the mistake of telling her was hung like a… anyway, I got Horse from that ex. Well, maybe “got” is not the right word. He gave him to me. Okay, he didn’t necessarily “give” him to me either. My ex actually broke up with me because he said I liked his pussy better than I liked him. So I left. With his pussy.

I guess Horse is pissed at me for some reas
on. No pun intended. Not that it takes a lot to piss off a pussy. Most are evil. Okay, pun intended there. I grab a pair of my black heels. I don’t think I will be walking to work today, so comfort is not an issue.

I throw all
of my shit onto the kitchen counter so I can make myself a bagel and coffee to go. No time to pack a lunch. And wouldn’t you know it? I am out of coffee.
Motherfucker!
I grab my bagel and fly out the door.

I usually walk to work, but
since I am so rushed, I decide today is the perfect day to drive my VW Beetle convertible. She’s bright yellow, so I named her Daisy. Sorry, useless piece of information. Anyway, of course, today of all days, Daisy has a flat. I kick her tire in frustration a little too hard for my toes’ liking and head to the corner to flag down a cab.

So, let’s recap here: No alarm
, No hot water, No black wedges, No coffee, No Daisy. Can this day get any worse?

I get to work with
seconds to spare. I store my purse, run to the kitchen for my much needed – and well-deserved – coffee, and then get back to my desk before my boss arrives. I just sat down at my desk when my phone beeps, letting me know I have a text. I glance at it where it is sitting next to my computer and see that it’s Delilah, so I pick up my phone and swipe my thumb across the screen to open it.

LaLa: Meet me for lunch, we need to finish our chat!

Shit!

Charlie: I’m really busy today, rai
n check?

LaLa: You will not avoid me, Charlie! Lunch today, 1:00

Charlie: I’m not avoiding, veerrry busy…

LaLa: Don’t make me
start tweeting to the whole world that u named your vibrator

I gasp out loud. That bitch!

Charlie: Don’t u dare bring Shemar into this!

Yeah, that’s right, I named my vibrator
Shemar, after Shemar Moore from
Criminal Minds
. Can you blame me? That man is fine!

LaLa: And don’t think I didn’t notice that Calvin looks an awful lot like Shemar Moore. Coincidence? I think not ;)~

Oh no! She wouldn’t.

Charlie: I don’t know what u are talking about

LaLa: I am pretty sure Calvin follows my twitter. Just sayin’

Charlie: You wou
ldn’t!

LaLa:
Try me! Lunch, 1:00, TODAY

Charlie: Fine!

LaLa: Great! See u then ;)

And my day just keeps getting better.
I snarl at my phone. Delilah can be an evil bitch sometimes. I know she means well, but still, she’s threatening to tell the whole fucking world about Shemar. And how the hell does she know that I think Calvin looks just like him? Dammit, that’s straight up mean! She’s lucky I love her. Meanwhile, I am going to kill this Murphy’s Law guy if I ever meet him!

At 1:00, I meet up with Delilah at our usual place, a cute little coffee shop not
too far from either of our jobs. The place has a great soup and salad combo and they also make a delicious Panini.

“Alright, so cough it up,” Delilah says before taking a bite of her salad.

The pain in my ass forced me to meet her for lunch today so that we can “talk” about our unfinished conversation from the other night at her engagement party. Thank god I only have an hour for lunch; maybe I can stall and not have to fess up.

“Cough what up?” I ask, playing stupid.

Delilah gives me a bored look. “Charlie,” she says simply and I know I’m not going to get away with it.

“Dammit,” I hiss, putting down my Panini. “Fine. You know the first night we went to Club M and you went off to dance with Nick?”

Delilah nods and waits for me to continue.

“Well, I
texted with a few guys. One asked me up to a room, so I went…”

“You
said that you didn’t meet anyone.” Delilah frowns.

“I lied.
I was so embarrassed by what happened that I couldn’t bring myself to tell you about it.” I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.

“What could possibly be that embarrassing that you couldn’t have told me, your best f
riend in the world, about it?” she replies with a bit of a bite and I know that she’s pissed that I didn’t tell her sooner.