Where to go from here

Chapter 14 Necklace

Minnie's POV

I shut the door behind me as I sat there leaning against the door, closing my eyes just to take a breather. I don't think I have had a man in my apartment with me ever.. well, besides the old, creepy manager of the building. But definitely not a handsome, sweet, exotic man. That thought is intimidating, to say the least. I can't seem to help the thoughts of feeling like I am failing again. Mostly because I don't have anything for him, since I never have men over. I feel bad because he needs help and I have no help to extend to him.

I was at least able to give him some food, that I think he was probably over exaggerating about, but it was sweet all the same. I imagine that he is just trying to be nice because he feels bad for me, but either way, it just feels genuine. I take a couple of deep breathes before opening my eyes and heading straight for my closet to get changed as I throw my dirty clothes and wet towel into my hamper. I stare into my closet aimlessly because I don't know what to put on, that would make me look as if I am not putting too much thought into this.

He is here to deal with his father's stuff and not looking at women. It's very insensitive of me to be thinking otherwise. But I just don't want to look like a bum around this handsome man. I normally don't care what anyone thinks, but I just find myself desperately wanting to look nice just in case.. In case of what? who really knows.. It won't be anything beneficial for me because I know for a fact he is leaving this country and probably soon after all this gets figured out, so I need to keep my inappropriate thoughts to myself and take care of the task at hand. That's what Oliver would have wanted.

I slip on my tanktop and shorts, then my zip-up hoodie, since I am not wearing a bra and I never do while I am sleeping. I brush my hair and put a tiny bit of makeup on because I don't want to look all flushed and destroyed by the day like I already feel.. I want to look at least decent.. That's sad that decent is my bar, but that's where we are at after a horrible day such as today. I sneak out past the bathroom door that is still closed with the sound of running water behind it, just to head straight to the kitchen. I grab myself a glass of juice and sit down at the table.

I don't exactly know where else to go. I want to talk with him and hang out a little longer, but he probably wants his space, I am most likely being pushy and even suffocating. He is going to want to run as fast as he can from me tomorrow, thinking all Americans are so suffocating and probably coming off as a tinge obsessive. I huff out to myself hating how I am feeling and acting for literally no reason.. well not 'no reason'.. him grabbing my hand and kissing it was tender, sweet and sensual.. and the look in his eyes when he was talking to me heated up my insides, but as I thought before, this is nothing that should be occuring in my head. That's so insensitive of me.. He just lost his father and I am here oggling at him.. That's not right and I'm a sh*tty person for thinking such things.

I find myself stringing my gem from my necklace back and forth just harassing myself internally. Until I realize I never gave him the necklace that Oliver asked me to. What an i***t. I jump out of my seat and rushing down the hallway just to run straight into a soaking wet body. I gasp out in shock as I realize it's Lachlan's exposed upper body since apparently he is wearing his pants just not his shirt. "I'm so sorry.. I didn't mean to.. I just have something in my pants for you." I say to him instantly hating the word vomit that fell from my mouth. 'Something in my pants for you'.. I'm such an i***t.

"I would like to say I'm sorry, but I don't know if I should.. Does having 'something in ya pants for me' mean something else for ya?" he curiously asks me as I groan out, pinching the bridge of my nose as I shake my head. "No.. but yes.. I'm just an idiot.. I have something for you.. but it's in my pants from earlier." I try to explain it better but at this point I realize that my hand is on his chest and running through his chest hair. I don't know how that happened, but it has and I didn't think I could be anymore embaressed, but here I am looking dumber than ever.

I clear my throat realizing he hasn't moved from me, but is still staring from me then to my hand that's still planted firmly on his chest. I clear my throat before slowly taking my hand off and turning to go into my room leaving him in the hallway. I bend over leaning down and into my dirty clothes hamper as I pull out one item of clothing after the next, throwing them on my floor just trying to find the scrub pants I was wearing before and more importantly the necklace that was in it.

I find the pants pulling them out as I start to search the pants pockets but nothing is in them.. Oh no.. the one thing Oliver asked me to do and I am failing horribly. I groan out throwing my pants to the floor along with throwing everything else out one item of clothing at a time, until I see a glimmer of gold at the bottom. I reach in, straining my body and arm until I can scoop up the necklace into my hand, feeling a sigh of relief leave my lips knowing I didn't lose it, it just dropped out of the pocket.

I get out of the basket and plopping on the floor holding it up to look at it. Until I see that Lachlan on the other side of the necklace curiously looking over at me with a towel in his hair drying it. He just saw me acting like an i***t crawling through my dirty clothes. "That's for me? Ya got me a necklace? That's nice and all, but at least let me take ya out first before yous start buying me jewelery." he playfully states as I feel my face heating up at that thought.

"Well no it's not from me." I start explaining as I see that I have thrown a lot of clothing on the floor, including a thong at his feet as I start to scramble picking up all the dirty clothes I showered my room in just now. "I was asked to give it to you." I keep grabbing one item after the next feeling my face get hotter with each item of clothing I have to pick up until I crawl over to the thong I threw at his feet, reaching out to grab it saying "By your.." just to see him picking up the lacey thong and looking at it before he hands it over to me. "father."

"My Da asked you to give me a necklace?" he clarifies for me as I nod vigorously before dumping the load of dirty clothes filling my arms back into the hamper. I turn around and notice he is closer this time around but I try to not look worse than I already do. I reach out handing him the necklace before letting out a deep breath. He stares at it in his grip as if he is inspecting it. "This was my mums." he says softly to himself, but maybe to me. "When your father was dying in my arms, he scrambled around for the necklace and asked me to give it to you.. I told him he would be able to do it himself but he begged me to give it to you, and I promised him I would.. I'm so sorry I forgot I had it with everything that happened."

"No don't worry about it.. ya got it to me and that is what matters." he says this so nicely to me, making me feel like I'm not as big of a screw up as I feel. I can see his eyes filled with tears as he continues to just stare intently at the golden heart locket. "My mum wore this every day." he says this to me as I feel a small smile emerging on my features. "I'm glad you got it." I say to him as he nods at me before quickly giving me a hug.

This catches me completely offguard, but still nice. Even though I can smell a tinge of my body wash on him, I can also smell his strong natural musk mixed in and it is enticing. I wrap my arms around him for the one time that I will have to do this, and hopefully it won't be weird. When he pulls his body away from me I can see that more silent tears were shed. "What was that hug for?" I ask him as ice melting smirk appears before he explains. "You have just done so much for me. You don't know what all this means to me Minnie.. Just thank you." his voice is so tender that it actually makes me feel good about what I have done for him and his father.

"I don't think I have really done anything but make mistakes one after the other.. I'm a natural mess-up." I declare as he leans in and kisses my cheek causing me to freeze in place. "You're not a mess-up.. You helped my dad as best as you could.. and you have helped me out when I had no one else.. and now you're giving me the most important possession my father had from my mother.. These gestures mean the world to me.. thank you again." he says this softly into my ear like a whisper that feathers over my earlobe, causing my eyes to shut and just enjoy this moment.

"Anything I can do to help." I whisper back to him as he hums out in response before putting the necklace into his pants pocket. I open my eyes to see him smirking at me before stating. "Thanks for giving me what you had in your pants.. It wasn't what I thought, but still special all the same." I giggle at that comment, feeling slightly embarrassed, but since he understood what I was saying it was just funny. "Yeah no problem." I reply before leaving the room and back to the kitchen.

I hear his footsteps approaching as I look up to see he is putting his shirt back on since he already has his pants on. He walks into the kitchen as I instantly offer. "Would you like something to drink?" he smiles and nods as I hop up and heading to my cabinet. I open it up and reaching for the glass just to get intercepted by his hand reaching over mine and grabbing it. I can feel that he is behind me as I turn around to see he is smiling at me. "I want ya to relax.. yous have helped me enough.. so please go relax." he says this to me as I shyly smile at him and nod before I squeak out. "I have orange juice, apple juice, different flavored waters and even some wine if you wanted some."

He shares that smirk with me before saying. "Juice would be fine thanks, no wine yet.. I'm exhausted and need some sleep before I start this little investigation tomorrow." he states pulling the juice out to fill up his glass, then taking a seat right next to me at the table. He pulls out the necklace, staring at it in his hand before letting out a sigh. "What was she like?' I ask him as he smiles over at me. "She was a lot like yous.. She was genuinely sweet and willing to help out anyone that needed it, even if she didn't know if she could do it.. She was strong and determined.. but the most understanding woman I have ever been in contact with." he sweetly states this causing my smile to grow.

"She sounds amazing." I said this to him, causing our eyes to lock. "She was." I clear my throat before asking the hard question. "So what happened to her?" his happy features turn sad before he softly retorts. "cancer can be a b*tch. It doesn't care if yous a good or bad person or if ya are needed or not.. it just takes anyone.. and it took her too quickly." I feel sad about that thought. "I'm so sorry for your loss.. or I guess losses.. If you need anything you need only ask." I say to him as he nods staring at me. "Will do.. thank ya."