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He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling.
“Anything you want as long as it’s not ‘Commander Torus.’”
“What about ‘honey’?” Molly suggested.
He raised his eyebrows.
“The sweet, sticky syrup made by the insects called bees? Is that a pet name that humans call each other?”
“Yes, because it means you’re sweet—like honey is sweet,” Molly explained.
He frowned.
“But you don’t know what flavor I would be. I think I would probably be salty more than sweet.”
Molly laughed, unable to help herself.
“No, I mean sweet-tempered. Like kind and patient and…and everything you are,” she finished, hoping he would understand.
Torus nodded thoughtfully.
“Thank you—then I’ll take the pet name ‘honey’ as a compliment. What other pet names besides ‘little bird’ would you like me to call you? I have heard some other Kindred males calling their mates ‘sweetheart’ which seems to be in the same vein as ‘honey.’”
“Sweetheart is nice,” Molly agreed. “Or baby or sweetie or really anything but just plain ‘babe.’ That’s what Zach used to call me.” She shivered, remembering the casual way he’d called her that—usually after he hurt her in some small but significant way.
“Honestly, babe, I don’t know what the big deal is—I was just teasing you a little. And I barely touched you! You’re way too sensitive,” he would say after yanking her hair or pinching her or tripping her or doing any of the hundred, mean little things that seemed to bring him so much pleasure.
“Molly? Little bird?”
Torus’s deep voice pulled her back and she looked up to see him staring at her anxiously.
“Where did you go?” he rumbled.
Molly shook her head.
“Sorry, I just had a bad memory, that’s all.”
“Don’t think about him,” Torus told her. Cupping her cheek in his big hand, he looked into her eyes. “Stay here with me, beautiful.”
Molly’s eyes opened wide.
“Oh—did you decide to, uh, add a new nickname to the list?” she asked.
“It fits you,” he murmured.
His eyes held hers for so long that Molly was sure he was going to kiss her. And despite telling herself that she had no wish to do anything sexual or even romantic with the big Kindred, her heart started pounding in her chest. Whenever he was close to her, she could smell that cologne of his—or whatever it was—and it smelled so good it made her want to forget her awful past and jump his bones!
But then, instead of kissing her, Torus had taken the ring out of the little velvet box.
“Can I put this on you?” he’d asked.
Molly had nodded, still too tongue-tied by the intense eye-contact they’d shared, to speak. Then he had walked her back to her suite, although to be honest, she’d felt more like she was floating.
The floaty sensation hadn’t lasted too long though. As soon as Torus said goodnight and she let herself into her suite, Molly had gotten an urgent feeling that someone wanted to talk to her. It turned out to be Lana, demanding “all the tea!”
Molly had stayed up later than she ought to, explaining the situation to her best friend. When she told how Commander Torus had insisted on buying her a ring and had knelt down to put it on her finger, Lana’s mental squeal of excitement made her head ring.
“I knew it! I knew it!” she’d sent over the Think-me connection. “Commander Torus has the hots for you!”
