Page 6 of Becoming Us

I gave him a small smile. “You’ve only ever called me by my name. Noah. No abbreviations. No pet names.”

He nodded slowly. “What, like Noey?”

The second the words left his lips, I laughed. Even the corner of his mouth tugged up.

Atty was like magic. He could take an ugly memory and obliterate it with something so small it would go unnoticed by everyone but me. I would never not notice. Because in these tiny moments—when he said something so offhandedly—he healed a little piece of me I didn’t even realize I needed.

“No, definitely not Noey.” I pressed a kiss to the side of his lips. “I’ll stick to Atty, if that’s what you want.”

“I like the endearment.” His lips curved into a shy smile before adding, “I just thought it was something else. And for me, it doesn’t come as naturally. Plus, your name’s already short; it’s not exactly nickname-prone.”

“There are plenty of things you could call me if you wanted,” I teased. “I wouldn’t object to anything.”

His brow arched. “Really?”

“Really.”

“You want to be one of those couples who call each otherbaby?”

I pressed my lips together, fighting the grin threatening to break free.

One of those couples.

Atty was back. I had him again. He was kissing me and saying things likeone of those couples—referring tous.

My heart could’ve jumped out of my chest.

“I want you to be comfortable. If you’re comfortable calling me Noah, I love that too. I love how my name sounds coming from your lips more than anybody else’s.”

That made his pale eyes sharpen, their intensity cranking up to a thousand.

He leaned in and kissed me, soft but lingering. “I love how you say my name.” His lips were still brushing over mine. “But I’ll take the sweetheart too.”

I was about to smile when his expression shifted, lips curving into a teasing smirk I’d never seen before. Then he backtracked, chuckling and shaking his head.

“What?” I pulled him closer, mesmerized. There were so many new things to learn from him. I wanted to know everything.

Atty’s face was flushed, and he looked so handsome.

“I was going to joke about calling youthat, but it’s so fucking embarrassing I can’t even get it out,” he grumbled.

I laughed, breathless. And thank fuck for that. If he actually called me baby, I think my head would explode. Or my dick.

I kissed him once more. “Goodnight,sweetheart.”

“Goodnight,Noah.”

He pulled back, and we shared a smile—a giddy kind of smile that was all nervousness in hyperdrive.

Fuck, this feeling was unreal.

Atty bit his lip, suppressing a grin, and got out of the car.

Before walking inside, he did a double take, glancing back at me, the muscles in his back flexing.

My libido went feral. Heat coiled low in my stomach as Mariah’s voice screamed the lyrics ofFantasyin my head, the perfect soundtrack to the rush of jittery, breathless anticipation sparking through me.

As soon as he was out of sight, I groaned, dropping my forehead to the steering wheel and gripping it hard. “Oh my fucking god.”