I take a chance. “Hey Google, playLet Love Ruleby Lenny Kravitz.”
Mina’s knowing smile is the blade that cuts the remaining thread of my resolve and as gently as I possibly can with all this desire running through my body, I bend to kiss her lips as Lenny’s guitar starts playing and I start to feel happier than I possibly ever have as we – Mina and me – let love rule.
Epilogue – Eight Months Later
Stillness of Heart
Mina
“Jesus fucking Christ, Mina, no!” Charlie stops walking and thrusts his hips into the empty air in front of him. It would look amusing on any given day, but it looks especially ridiculous with him wearing a bright blue three-piece suit and walking up the grey stone steps of Chelsea Old Town Hall.
“Something wrong, Charlie?” I ask as I continue walking up the steps, possibly emphasising the swaying of my hips.
“When I agreed to wear a toy today, I thought you’d at least let me get into the venue before switching it on.” He hisses barely loud enough for me to hear.
“Well, you thought wrong, didn’t you?” I look over my shoulder and see him struggling to straighten up. Behind him my parents are fast on the approach.
“Everything okay, Charlie?” my mum asks as she steps up next to him.
“Oh, yes, great, thanks, Tanya.” Charlie puts on his bravest smile.
“Bloody uncomfortable things, these suits, aren’t they?” Dad offers some moral support and a pat on the back to my boyfriend as he walks past him.
If only he knew…
“Yes, exactly. I just can’t quite get used to it.” Charlie adjusts the waistcoat under his jacket and he’s convincing, almost too convincing. I look down at the screen of my phone and tap it a few times increasing the toy’s vibrations.
“Argh!” Charlie calls out, thrusting again, and both of my parents’ heads whip to look at him. “Ah, I just… have an itch on my back and I really can’t reach it and it’s ever so uncomfortable and…”
“Let me help you, Charlie.” My father steps down to stand directly behind Charlie and I am suddenly grateful for the noise of the busy street’s traffic eclipsing the buzzing of the prostate vibrator stuck up Charlie’s ass.
Dad dutifully scratches at various places on Charlie’s back while Charlie catches my eye and gives me a series of murderous looks.
“Come on, Hani,” my mother says after a minute or two of my dad scratching and my boyfriend wriggling on the spot, no doubt relieved he has Dad’s hands as a good excuse to wriggle around and try to get comfortable.
But there is little chance of that while I’m around. I glance down at the app on my phone again and change the setting from a constant vibration to a stop-start rhythm that I know drives Charlie wild.
“Mina!” Charlie snaps, and my parents give him only a half-glance as they proceed up the steps.
Charlie leaps up to stand beside me.
“Please switch it off,” he begs, his voice harried, his cheeks red and a single bead of sweat snaking down the right side of his temple.
“What’s the magic word?” I ask.
“I’m not safe-wording out,” he says looking almost horrified.
“Because you like it, don’t you?” I tease. “You like how it teases you in the place you wish my fingers could be.”
He blushes an even darker shade of red. “Just give me a rest, please.” His sky-blue eyes darken. “Or I’ll never make it through the wedding without ripping that dress off you.”
I shiver with anticipation at the thought but then look down at the monstrosity of pink chiffon that I’m wearing. “I’d be very happy if you did that.”
It’s not a terrible dress. Indeed, Aisha could have chosen far worse as her bridesmaid dresses, but it’s so far from the kind of thing I would personally choose to wear with its pastel coral shade of pink, its tight milk-maid style bodice and slightly looser fit on the stomach and hips. The length is mid-calf which is slightly better than full-length for my lack of height, but still it cuts my legs at a less than flattering angle.
But Charlie doesn’t seem to mind. When I walked out of our bedroom wearing it, his eyes grew wide as he studied me from head to toe. Then he wasted no time rushing towards me and scooping me up in his arms, his hands grabbing healthy handfuls of my arse as his mouth dove into my neck and started kissing me. It was only when I was worried he was going to smudge my make-up that I stopped him and pushed him away slightly. It was also because I wanted to admire him in his suit. The rich royal blue colour of it alarmed me at first, especially when I knew I was going to be wearing pale pink, but it’s so perfectly Charlie – colourful, bold and bright – that it took no time for a wide smile to grow on my lips and for me to admire the way it was tailored to his slim physique.
“I’m going to struggle to keep my hands off you today,” Charlie had told me.
