4. Clayton

Chapter 4

Clayton

I never thought I’d meet the beautiful Milo_lovesartandbooks. Never even thought about it. Damn Izzy, but bless her, too. Milo’s even sweeter than I thought he’d be. Welcoming me into his apartment, chatting with me. His pretty blue eyes are so expressive. I want to run my hands through his dark blond curls. This almost feels like a date. Almost .

Milo wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Can I ask you a question?” His eyes drop to the table.

I nod and take a drink of water to give me something to do. “Ask away.”

“Why’d you move here, of all places? I know why I did. It’s because my brother moved here for love and he’s the only family I have left. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made because I’ve never felt more at home and I have a bigger found family. Not that I didn’t have people in Louisville because I did, but this is where I feel at home.”

“If you follow me on social media, and it sounds like you do...”

Milo gives me a sheepish nod.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about.” I grin. “I follow you too and have since I saw the video of you chatting about your top three favorite books of the month all those months ago.”

“Which one?”

“There was a pirate book? I can’t exactly remember which month, but I got sucked into the passion you spoke with. It’s endearing.”

Milo goes pink. “Books saved me. So did art.” He runs his finger over the edge of the table. “But I don’t want to talk about that right now,” he whispers.

“No, sorry.” I want to reach out and take his hand, but I refrain. “Anyway, I broke up with my partner of four years, about six months ago. We grew apart from each other. Then instead of talking things through or ending it, he cheated on me. It was big. People wrote articles on it since I’m a social media star and he’s a model. I got tired of seeing his face everywhere I went in New York. Plus, my sister and my niece live here and I wanted to come back. My sister still doesn’t know I moved home. She just knew I was moving. I wanted it to be a Christmas surprise that I’m here.”

“She’ll love it!”

“My niece is sweet, she’s only five, and I try to fly in every few months to be with my sister, but it got to be a lot trying to coordinate everything. So, I moved everything here.”

“Won’t it be hard to get clients? This is a much much different marketplace than New York.”

“It’ll just be different. I already have a lot set up from networking remotely with a few local companies. It’s not going to be bad, and if it is, I’ll fake it until I make it.”

Milo nods. “You’re smart. My brother fell in love. Then his beau offered me a job at his family bookstore and there was no way I wasn’t taking that. It’d been my dream for so long. And I still get to do my art. I’m practically in heaven. Back home, my life was crashing in around me. My best friend had pretty much abandoned me and the business we’d created. I didn’t want to continue it alone.”

My heart aches and my Daddy instincts make me want to hold him, but I continue to refrain from reaching out to touch him. “What kind of business?”

“Tattoo artist.”

My eyes dart over the bit of ink showing over the top of his collar. It’s a corset with pink ribbons. His hands and fingers are covered in colors, and I know his arms are covered in ink, but his sleeves cover them.

“Obviously, I don’t have my own shop or anything anymore, but I make sure I’m still in compliance with state laws between Indiana and Kentucky, so I can still show up someplace as a guest artist if I want. When I feel like it or get enough requests, I rent out a space and a few of my old clients come to see me.”

“Sounds like a sweet gig.”

“It is when I don’t overwhelm myself. I tend to say yes when I’d rather say no. But enough about that. I’m sorry that asshat cheated on you. No one deserves that.”

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I’m big on talking things through and he knew that.”

“That’s how my brother and I are. He raised me after our parents died and he taught me to always talk instead of keeping things all bottled up. Most of the time, I follow his advice.” He flashes me the biggest grin. “How about I go grab the prints Izzy bought and I’ll met you at your place?”

“Sounds good. See you shortly.”

We both push to our feet and he scurries away as I head back to my apartment. I get a whiff of myself and wonder how he could stand to sit with me for so long.

Not sure what kind of hardware we might need, I just stand around in my living room, scrolling through the notifications my phone, waiting for Milo. So many people want a piece of my time right now, and all I want is to focus on Milo. His pretty eyes, the sweet smiles he gives me, the blush of his cheeks, how open he is. He’s freaking adorable, too. While he’s covered in tats, it doesn’t take away his boyish charm. I wouldn’t mind chatting with him all night.

Soon there’s a tentative knock. Milo grins at me when I open the door. He’s carrying two reusable bags. “I hope you’re ready for this. I brought some frames and mats. Izzy didn’t add them on the order, but I brought them anyway.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Happy housewarming!” Milo cheers. “Please, unless you have frames, I’m happy to gift them to you.” He goes to the kitchen table and starts unloading the order.

“Izzy outdid herself.” There are so many that I have to wonder what she was thinking. Did she buy one of everything?

“They are going to look so good, though.” He starts compiling the art together in different piles, and I see a pattern emerge. Things he thinks goes together, or perhaps he intended to go together. Milo settles into a seat. “For mats, I have white, black, single, and doubles. Which do you prefer? Personally, I like the white doubles, but?—”

“Those always look so good.”

He nods. “And what kind of frames?” He holds up a few, and I chose the sleek black ones.

I sit across from him. “Anything I can help with?”

Milo shakes his head. “I’ll have these matted and framed in no time. You think about where you want them all.” His nimble fingers take the first print from its wrap and fit it with a mat and frame. It’s an eleven by fourteen. A lot of them are that size, with a few ten by elevens and five by sevens sprinkled in. There are several abstracts and landscapes, but it’s the photorealistic ones that blow me away. Milo hums to himself as he works. He really is so sweet, but I can’t assume he’s into Daddy kink. I had noticed all the toys and coloring books in his bags earlier though, however it’s Christmas time and maybe he has niblings to purchase for. I keep watching him, forgetting I’m supposed to decide where to hang the prints. Perhaps Milo can help me decide.

“You know, I’m not very good at decorating anything other than flowers.”

Milo giggles, and the sound goes right to my heart. What is he doing to me? “I’m not very good at it either. My friends Rory and Logan helped me decorate my place. They both have a good eye for things.”

“Do they work with you at the bookstore?”

“Yep! Rory is my brother’s fiance. Logan is his nephew.”

“What does your brother do?”

“Ah, Jacob. He owns a few garages. He still has the one back in Louisville, and he opened one up here, too. Both are doing really well. When I was younger, I helped when I could. I liked working on the motorcycles.”

“You’re kind of a Jack-of-all-trades.”

“A little bit. I wanted to be self-sufficient, and he taught me everything he knew. He’s the best older brother anyone could ask for. Never tried to steer me away from art, even though I knew he wanted to. I think he’s surprised I came with him, but I wasn’t about to stay in Louisville without him.”

“I’m glad the two of you are close. I’m still building back my relationship with my sister. She got upset when I left and I thought she’d never forgive me. But I had to get away, live my own life. And I did. We’re doing a lot better, but her husband left about three months ago. Things got hard for her, which is another reason I wanted to move back home. This way I can help a lot easier than when I was in New York.”

“That’s so sweet.” He looks up at me with those big blue eyes and I get lost.

“She’s family. These two are all I got left.”

“You’re totally going to make their holiday by being here!” He bounces in his seat. “The bookshop has Santa every Sunday if you want to bring your niece.” His brows scrunch. “If she’s into that kind of thing.” He leans in close and drops his voice to say, “Next Monday, Santa will be at the shop after hours for Littles and Middles incase you know any. It was something Rory wanted to start since there’s nothing like this that we know of around here. At the club I used to go to back home, they always had Santa night and—” His eyes go wide and he pushes to his feet as if he wants to run. “Uh, sorry. Sorry. You probably didn’t want to know any of that. I mean, everyone calls you flower Daddy, but?—”

“It’s okay, Milo.”

His cheeks are so damn red. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I can’t assume you’re actually a Daddy.”

“Are Daddies without Littles or Middles allowed to come?”

Milo swallows and nods his head. “It’s a whole mixer thing. You gotta have a pass and it starts at seven. I can get you one.”

“Please do.”

His eyes go wide, so I wink. His gaze drops back to the prints in front of him, but he nods. I have to wonder if he is a Little or Middle. What I do know is that I’m interested either way.

“Would you like to go on a date?”

Milo looks around as if there’s someone else here. “With me?” He squeaks like he had hours ago.

“Yes, you.”

“I’m no one. Just Milo. Just?—”

“You don’t have to be anyone other than you. I’m wildly attracted to you and want to see where this attraction might lead. If you’re interested, that is.”

“Your last partner is a model.”

“Have you seen yourself, Milo? You could walk runways if you wanted.”

He shakes his head. “I’m way too short, especially for a male model.”

Every statement makes my heart ache more. Who made him feel so unworthy? “Things are changing, you never know. But please, don’t ever put yourself down around me.”

“Okay,” Milo says.

“Okay? You’ll go on a date or, okay, you won’t put yourself down?” I tip his head up to look at me. “I hope it’s both.”

“Both,” he whispers.

“Both is good.”

That makes him laugh. “Did you just quote Disney?”

“Nope, DreamWorks not Disney.”

“I always forget that!”

“I think a lot of people do, but it’s okay.” I shrug. “The animation style is practically the same.”

“It really is.”

“Alright, sweet Milo, when should we go on our date?”

“I’m free tomorrow. I get every Wednesday off. But that might be too soon for a date.”

“It’s not. Will you be at the after hours Santa mixer?” I really hope so.

He drops his eyes and nods. “Yeah, I asked for the night off.” He swallows. “So I can participate.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of.” I want to sweep his bangs from his eyes and pull him close. “Tomorrow works for me if it does for you. Izzy’ll be back tomorrow. We’re going to be at my new shop setting things up. Then?—”

“Can I help?” He pleads, and how can I say no to him?

“Are you sure? It’s the busy season for you, isn’t it? You don’t want to spend the day resting? Then we can go on our date.” I really don’t want to exhaust him, then send him back to work the next day.

He nibbles his bottom lip, no doubt wrestling with his answer. “Okay, maybe you’re right. But…”

I tip his chin again.

“But I’m not against hard work.”

“I don’t doubt it, sweetheart. Should we see if we can figure out placement for these pictures ourselves, or should we let Izzy boss us around?”

Milo looks around and yawns. His eyes go wide. “I’m not tired!”

The microwave clock says it’s ten thirty already. We’ve spent two and a half hours together and I had no idea.

“Actually, scratch that. It’s way too late to bang on the wall. I wasn’t paying any attention to the time.”

“Me either. I’ve had a lot of fun.”

“Same here, but let me walk you to your door.”

Milo laughs. “You really don’t have to. It’s just across the hall.”

“I want to. Oh, and let’s exchange numbers.” I pull my phone from my back pocket. We pass our phones to each other. I put my name down as Flower Daddy, making him smile when he sees.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Milo clutches his phone to his chest, and he grabs his now mostly empty bags.

I walk with him to the door, then as promised, to his door. I don’t want to see him go. He must not either, because he closes the door so slowly it’s comical, keeping his head peeking out until finally he grins and shuts me out. I pad back over to my apartment and lock up for the night. It’s already so lonely. And quiet. Peaceful.

Five minutes after I get out of the shower, I get a text from Izzy with the license of her hook up. I send back a thumbs up.

Five minutes after that, I get a text from Milo. A picture of him all snuggled down in bed with rumpled wet hair and a stuffed dragon in his arms. My heart melts.

Milo: Welcome to the neighborhood flower Daddy

Clay: Thanks, sweet Milo