Page 41 of Cherry on Top

“Fair,” Will said. Still wanted to tell Enzo that he thought it was preposterous that anyone looked at the Enzo of today and still thought about that sullen kid.

Preposterous for anyone to think he couldn’t get anyone he wanted, if he set his mind to it.

Including me.

Will pushed the thought away. This was just to get Giana off their backs. It wasn’t serious. It couldn’t be serious, because in five or six weeks, Enzo would leave Indigo Bay and he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. Considering that Will had just opened a business here, there wasn’t a future there.

“So something in this for both of us,” Enzo said.

Will nodded. “So Wednesday night?”

“Yep. Be prepared to be knocked off your feet by all the pretend romance.”

Maybe the way to go about it was to make it so over-the-top there was no way for Will to want it for real. No way for Will to mistake it for something real.

“I’ll be ready,” Will told him. Took a step closer, then another. Pretended his heart didn’t beat a little faster at the nearness of him. The sharp sweat tang of him. He was hot and gorgeous. And in the eyes of everyone else, his.

“Good,” Enzo said. But he didn’t step back.

“This is where I’m gonna make sure you don’t stand me up,” Will said, lowering his voice and his head, tilting it down so he could graze his lips just over Enzo’s damp temple. Reaching out, he steadied him, digging his fingertips into the taut muscle of his waist.

“Not a single chance of that,” Enzo murmured.

“No,” Will agreed. He knew he should move back, move away, but he didn’t want to. Enzo fit against him even better than he’d imagined, in those hazy, muggy dreams he kept pretending he wasn’t having. No way Enzo slid through them, teasingly delectable, everything Will wanted to take a bite out of.

It was Enzo who moved back, clearing his throat.

“Well, I was thinking we’d go to Rudy’s. Get a nice public steak. Canoodle a bit.”

Will was gonna have to brace himself for that second part.

“Works for me,” Will said.

“I can’t believe I’m asking this,” Enzo said, rubbing his neck, shooting him a sheepish glare, “but where are you staying? Are you renting?”

Will winced. “Worse than that. Well, don’t tell Joy that, because her hospitality is spectacular, but I’m renting a room in the Sweetheart Inn. I keep telling myself I’m gonna find a place and move my stuff out here, but we keep getting busier.”

“Oh, but you know what that means?” Enzo sounded delighted.

“No?”

“It means I can pick you up very publicly.” Enzo rubbed his hands together, clearly excited about this development.

This had been Will’s idea—his apparently very stupid idea—but he asked anyway, “Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah,” Enzo said. “I know I said it before, but get ready. Nobody romances like an Italian, and no Italian romances like a Moretti.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Will said weakly. Not entirely sure that he was.

“Good.” Enzo nodded.

“I . . .uh . . .have to get back to work,” Will said, and Enzo nodded absently, his attention either on romancing or on the mural, his gaze sweeping over the wall already.

“See you later,” Enzo said.

When Will walked back into Cherry’s, his face was flushed and his heart beating a million miles a minute. Not only because it was hot as Hades outside, either.

“You look dazed,” Kate said.

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