“Then I’ll get us a taxi,” he says.
“Charlie, I…” My voice trails off when I see the stern look he’s giving me.
“Mina, this is when you start letting me take care of you. You said you were going to try. At my place, I can make you even more food and help you shower inwarmwater, and I can do my teacher training application as you nap and rest.”
This time I don’t even hear the voice that resists this offer. I’m quick and ready to accept. “Yes, please, Charlie.”
I’m full of surprise when he steps over to me and grabs my hand, pulling me up to standing. And we hug. Our first real hug since we agreed to give this thing between us ago. Possibly our first real hug, ever.
And who would have guessed that Charlie Atkinson happens to give some of the best hugs on planet Earth?
Me, I would have guessed that this man made of sunshine would give the dreamiest of hugs, but I never would have thought how much I would love it.
Chapter Thirty
Let Love Rule
Charlie
The return journey to my flat is a much more enjoyable forty-five minutes than those I spent heading to Mina’s. Firstly, I don’t have to balance a saucepan full of scolding hot liquid between my thighs, and secondly, I am holding Mina’s hand and she has an overnight bag beside her. When Mina called HR before we left, she told them she would also be off work tomorrow and so I heard no excuses about her packing a bag. This way I can take care of her a little longer.
Once at home, and after we have both given Goldie a suitable number of head and ear scratches, I lead Mina to the bathroom and I turn the shower on. Steam fills the small space as she undresses and I do my very best to not think impure thoughts as more of her beautiful brown and inked skin fills my view.
“I’ll leave you to it,” I say. “Take your time.”
“No, Charlie,” Mina says slowly and I can see the exhaustion on her face as well as hearing it in her voice. “I don’t have the energy for fucking but I’d really like to feel your skin on mine.”
I don’t need asking twice as I quickly strip and drop my clothes to the floor.
In the shower, I take my time lathering up my pouf and rubbing it all over Mina’s body. She doesn’t want wet hair so I hold it up when it comes to cleaning her neck and face. I smile at her unapologetically when she closes her eyes and relaxes her shoulders as I direct the spray to wash the suds off her body. When she takes the pouf from my hands and returns the favour, soaping up my body, I absent-mindedly trace a finger across the outline of some of her tattoos and it surprises me when that makes Mina shiver slightly, so I turn us so that more of the warm water falls on her body.
We do all of this in silence, but I don’t actually realise we’re not speaking until we’re out of the shower and drying off in my bedroom. And yet I don’t break the silence. I like it. I like that we’re doing the very thing I wanted us to do. We’re giving it a go.
And now it’s time for me to give something else a go.
“I think I need to call my mother,” I say.
“Now?” Mina asks as she dresses.
I pull on a pair of jogging bottoms and a clean T-shirt. “She should have finished work by now and may not have even had a glass of Merlot yet, if I’m lucky.”
Mina gives me a reassuring smile as she pulls on a clean pair of pyjamas, this time in grey and purple plaid. “I’ll give you some space.”
“No!” I say far too loudly and with more panic than I would prefer. “Please stay.”
“You want me to?”
I sigh. “I’m scared I’m going to chicken out.”
Mina’s eyes narrow for a few seconds and I wait for a stinging, caustic response, criticising me for being scared of my own mother at the grand old age of thirty-four. And she would be right. However, it doesn’t come. Instead, her eyes widen and she gives me a lop-sided smile as she comes up and takes hold of one of my hands in both of hers.
“I’ll be here and I won’t let you do that.”
I nod and then, keeping one hand in hers, I use my other to pick my phone up off the chest of drawers and find my mum’s number.
The phone rings three or four times before she answers.
“Charlie! Is Goldie dead?” Mum practically shouts in my ear.
