So, yeah, I’d really liked the workshops, even if I didn’t find a new hobby because of them. But I was glad Moon had.
“What do you think you’ll make first?”
Moon shrugged. “I don’t know. I found some design templates online for beginners. I may do a sun or something and give it to Elio.”
“Why specifically a sun?”
“His name means the word sun, and he’s a ray of sunshine. Crescent actually calls him Sunshine, and it’s kind of gross but kind of endearing.”
I could definitely see that from them. “That’s actually really fucking sweet. So, if Elio is Sunshine, what is Crescent to Elio?”
He made a fake gagging sound, his arms shaking as he forced a dramatic shiver. “Honey, sweetheart, baby—all of those cutesy, yucky words.”
“Cutesy and yucky?”
“Okay, maybe not yucky. I feel like I’m allergic to all forms of romance, honestly.”
I hummed, turning the wheel as I pulled into my driveway. “What do you like to be called, then?”
The back of his head was facing me as he looked out of the window, seemingly not paying much attention as he rattled a few things off. “Brat, slut, whore, naughty, kitten… Whatever, really. Just not baby. Or sweetheart. Those are too sweet for me.”
I’d already parked, but I couldn’t make the move to unbuckle or take the key out of the ignition, staring at the back of his head as my brain seemed to short-circuit. My cheeks started to heat up, no doubt a blush forming there as it traveled down. “You like when I call you a brat?”
He turned quickly, his mouth wide open, and a much deeper blush than mine forming on his face. “I, um. Oh, why the fuckdid I say that?” He put his head in his hands, groaning loudly. “It just came out. You gotta believe me. I don’t know why the fuck I said all that. Just ignore me. Can we get out now?”
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Moon. I’m the one who asked you. I mean, it’s not like I don’t like some of those too.”
“You like to be called a brat, slut, and whore?”
I frowned at him. “No. I don’t really get anything out of being on the receiving end. Dirty degradation talk to someone else? That, I definitely do.”
“Oh.” His voice sounded smaller, almost a whisper.
I nodded, pretending like this wasn’t just potentially the most awkward conversation we’d had over our entire friendship. I cleared my throat and put my hand on the key but never got to turn it as Moon interrupted me.
“What do you like to be called?”
The question threw me off. I wasn’t sure he really wanted to know, or if he was just trying to save himself from humility. “Uh, you know. Whatever. Baby, honey, the normal stuff…” I trailed off.
“So you were joking the other day?”
“About what?”
“About usually being called Daddy. Do you not like being called that?”
I looked away, trying to clear the nervousness out of my throat. The flutters I’d felt earlier were now more like raging tingles of some kind, tearing their way through my stomach. My tongue was suddenly dry, and if I kept looking at Moon with his sharp jawline, gorgeously proportioned lips with the barest hint of a shine on them, and those deep, cavernous brown eyes, I’d probably lose it. “I honestly wouldn’t know. No one has ever called me that before.”
“No girl has ever called you Daddy while you fucked her?”
I shook my head, holding onto my self-control for dear life. It was so fucking hot in this car all of a sudden, beads of sweat prickling across my forehead. “No, I can’t say anyone has.”
He put his hand on the door handle, pulling it out a bit. “You should try it next time you’re with a girl.”
Or guy,I wanted to say. At this point, there was no way what I was feeling wasn’t some sort of attraction. Moon had held my attention from the very first moment I saw him, though it wasn’t originally based on looks. My gaze had been stuck on him since we started talking to each other in Muffin Haven, and everywhere I’d looked since reminded me of him.
Moon Miller had officially gotten under my skin. He’d found my veins and curled his way in, pumping his way through my bloodstream in a way I didn’t know was possible. I could feel him in my heart, I could feel him in my mind, and I could feel him slowly finding his way into my soul. I’d never stood a chance with him. Never.
We walked up to my house, my keys shaking in my hands as I tried to unlock the door. Fear hovered over my head like a bad omen, a dark cloud shrouding me, full of shame. I still hadn’t unpacked anything new, letting myself procrastinate the memories I logically knew would never truly go away. That was the thing with shame, though. It was rarely logical, clinging onto something so unnecessary, you start to think it is necessary, and it feels like you’re going borderline insane. The ringing in my ears was nonstop today, only getting louder the closer the dark cloud came to me.
