Page 20 of Silver
“Do you think we can save any of the bed?” Charlie asked as he reached for the blanket and started tugging.
“Maybe. It depends on how much leaked through. I’d not really prepared well. I should have put down a towel at a minimum. Maybe a thicker blanket or a pair of towels with as big as the mess is.” I was forty-two, and I’d never had that big of a mess before in my life. It had to be because Charlie was my mate and we had just claimed each other.
I helped Charlie fold the blanket down and then saw that the mess had leaked through. The mattress was thankfully saved, but it had to be stripped down to the mattress cover, where there was only a small amount of dampness that hadn’t leaked through.
“Umm, are your messes usually that big?” Charlie asked as he looked between the stripped bed and the pile of laundry on the floor.
“No. It’s probably because we claimed each other. Maybe.” I shrugged. “I don’t know why, exactly, but that’s my bestguess.” That caused Charlie to chuckle. I grabbed his hand and pulled him along with me toward the bathroom. Just inside the doorway, Charlie stopped.
“Oh wow. Yeah, so when can I move in?” he asked.
I chuckled. “That easy?” I asked him. The bathroom had been the first thing I had remodeled when I bought the place. I’d been lucky that it was already a decent size, but the layout as it was just didn’t appeal to me. I’d added a separate tub and shower, and the toilet was in its own little room at the far side of the space.
Charlie looked at me with wide eyes. “Seriously? Your bathroom looks to be the size of my bedroom at home.”
I winced. I knew the cottages were small, but surely they weren’t that tiny. “You can’t be serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t,” Charlie said as he hurried off to the toilet. He closed the door behind him, and I took that opportunity to turn on the water in the shower. While it was heating and Charlie was taking care of business, I crossed over to the mirror to look at my claiming bite. Charlie’s little bite was there for all to see, and my gorilla once more puffed up his chest and beat on it proudly. I didn’t know if he yet realized just how proud and protective my gorilla was going to be.
I was going to remain true to what I’d told Charlier earlier. I wouldn’t be possessive, unless someone tried to move in on my mate, and I wasn’t going to be controlling. I understood completely that he’d had a life before me. It was going to be an adjustment for both of us, but I had no doubt that we were going to figure out how to mesh our two different worlds together.
“Did I put it in the wrong spot?” Charlie asked as he came out of the toilet room.
I turned my head and met his worried gaze. “Not at all. My gorilla was just admiring the mark you put on us,” I told him. “The shower is hot if you’re ready to get in. I’ll be just amoment.” I hurried to the toilet, and after emptying my bladder, I flushed and then joined my mate in the shower. He was standing under the steaming spray, his eyes closed and a look of relaxation on his face.
He moved forward just a bit and opened his eyes when I entered the space. “How is it that you have my dream shower with this type of showerhead?”
I chuckled. “Fate,” I told him. There was no other way to explain it. There were several things about my house that I’d often questioned myself about when I was having things remodeled, but now I was positive that they were all because of fate. I’d had this type of shower installed because Charlie would love it. Sure, I’d enjoyed it too, but at the time, I hadn’t originally picked a large rain showerhead. It had been what was available, and I’d been left with little choice. Now, I was certain that was because Charlie was going to be entering my life at some point, and here he was.
“Do you really believe in fate that much?”
I shrugged. “How else do you explain everything that happened this evening? Neither of us really wanted to go on the date, yet here we are: in my shower after having claimed one another. Were you looking for a mate this morning when you got up?”
Charlie slowly shook his head. “Not really. I wanted a mate, but I wasn’t holding out hope that I’d find my mate at the Valentine’s Day event tonight. I just went for the nice meal.”
I chuckled. “And I didn’t even know anything about any of it existed until around three this afternoon.”
Charlie sighed. “You really did get the shorter end of the deal.” He glanced down his body, then wrapped his arms around his waist. “Literally, it seems.”
I wasn’t sure what direction his thoughts went to except somewhere they shouldn’t. I reached for his arms and gentlypulled them away from his body. While I had my hands around his wrists, I continued tugging until Charlie was standing skin-to-skin with me. “I think I got an amazing mate who needs and deserves someone to cherish him just as much as anyone else,” I said while looking down at him. “Sure, I don’t know you well yet, and you don’t exactly know me either. Trust me when I say I am not a morning person. I am cranky and grumbly until I’ve had a couple cups of coffee. I can send people running with just a glare, but I promise that I’ll be the best mate to you I can.”
“That’s it,” Charlie said with a grin on his face. “I knew I shouldn’t have mated a grouchy gorilla. Forget the fact that the sex was amazing, and I have no doubt that you are going to be able to do things to me that I’ve only ever fantasized about.”
I chuckled. “I’ll do whatever it is that you want. Well, within reason. I don’t think I can bring myself to cause you any type of pain. Even if you insisted. My gorilla would most likely force his way out and go into protection mode.”
Charlie smiled at me. Gone was the teasing glint that had been in his eyes just moments ago. “No, I would never ask that of you. I’m not into pain anyway.” Charlie sighed. “I’ve just not had a great track record when it comes to picking guys to date. Not that we’re dating.” Charlie made a face.
“Why won’t we date? Do you think just because we claimed each other on what essentially was our first and only date thus far that I won’t take you out now? I plan on taking you out and showing you off every chance I get.” I thought about it for a moment. “Do you not like to go out? Are you more of a homebody? Because if you are, that’s fine too. We can compromise and go out only once or twice a month.” I wanted to take Charlie out. I absolutely was not going to be someone who hid him away like others had done in the past.
“I mean…I don’t think I’m a homebody. I do like to go out.” Charlie looked up at me, then quickly moved his eyes to my chest.
I took a step forward, moving him with me to where he was standing in the spray again before I moved back so I could look at my mate. “What is it?” We were new, and it was going to take time to get things settled with us, but I really didn’t like that he was so hesitant. “I don’t want to upset you, and if I have, I apologize.”
Charlie’s eyes flew up to meet mine. “No. It’s just…well, can we maybe stay in a bit more these first few weeks? I really enjoyed earlier, and I just think that we could maybe…you know.”
I grinned. I would not laugh at my little mate for wanting to stay in with me because he’d rather get intimate with me than he would be out chatting with everyone else. I moved closer, wrapped my arms around Charlie, and turned us so the spray was on my back and he wasn’t looking up to where it would hit him in the face. “We absolutely can spend the first several weeks staying in. I don’t socialize much, beyond what I do with my family on the weekends. I was actually thinking about that just before you woke up. My family will have to come to terms with the fact that I’m a mated man now, and my first priority is you and no longer spending weekends with them.”
Charlie’s eyes rounded. “Oh no, that’s not what I was meaning.” He frantically started shaking his head. “I would never ask you to give up your time with your family for me.”
