Page 49 of Cherry on Top

“So, how are we going to do this?”

“Do what?” Enzo asked.

“You know I’m living at the Inn. After . . .uh . . .that kind of evening, do you really think you’d leave me without . . .” Will trailed off, and Enzo saw his gaze dart to his lips.

And okay. Fair.

“I get the feeling you’re only willing to take this so far,” Enzo theorized.

He was only willing to take this so far.

If he kissed Will, he was going to want to do it for real. He was going to want it to be real.

Will nodded. “I don’t want to cross too many lines.”

“Me too,” Enzo agreed. “Not that doing it would be unpleasant, the opposite actually, I just think it would be—”

“Confusing. Complicated,” Will finished for him. “Too confusing. Too complicated.”

“Yes.” Enzo was relieved they were on the same page.

Just another page in the growing book of evidence that his mother hadn’t been completely wrong and they were more than a little right for each other.

Their permanent location notwithstanding.

Obviously Will lived here. And Enzo had made a very serious promise to himself that he’d never live here again. He was frankly happier living out of a suitcase, not having any kind of home at all, than coming back to Indigo Bay forever.

“Alright, so how are we going to do this?” Will repeated. “Nobody would ever believe you’d leave me un-kissed if we were . . .what did you call it? Falling wildly in love?”

“True.” It was a conundrum. Will had a very good point. Joy would undoubtedly be at the Inn. Probably situated in a way that would make it impossible to avoid the inevitable while maintaining their fiction.

“We could just part ways here.”

“And I let you go home alone? I don’t even drop you off at the Inn?” Enzo shook his head emphatically. “I’m trying to prove I’m a better date than I was with Oliver. How would that prove anything?”

Will looked torn. For a second, Enzo was almost tempted to say, fuck it, we both want to do it, for real, and so let’s just do it. How bad could it be?

Bad, because Will would want him to stay. Bad, because he might want to stay.

They were playing with fire here.

“I have an early morning. So do you. We could just use the excuse of our work.”

“How about this? We’ll use that excuse and when you see Joy, make sure to tell her I gave you a very romantic, very private kiss out here, in the park, under the stars. Luca kissed Oliver for the first time right by this statue. Peak romance at work there. She’ll buy it. Then repeat it to my mother, for sure.”

“What if I’m not convincing?” Will actually looked worried about this.

“How about this: we’ll do everything but, and that’ll give you a template for the story you need to tell,” Enzo said and tugged him in closer. They stopped near the statue. Enzo’s body tucked into Will’s bigger one. Maybe if he’d realized just how well they fit together, he wouldn’t have been quite so willing to agree to this. Or to the boundaries. But those ships had sailed.

“What do you mean?” Will asked in a hushed whisper. “What are we doing?”

“This,” Enzo said and tucked his head in close, arms encircling Will’s taut waist. Will’s hand hesitated over his back—Enzo could feel the warmth of it—before he gave up and he swept it up and down Enzo’s back in mesmerizing strokes.

He was hard as a rock and only by angling his hips just enough could he hope to keep it secret. But then Enzo had a feeling Will was doing the exact same thing.

We’re pathetic. Smart but also very, very stupid.

“Okay?” Enzo asked, tilting his chin up, and nobody would look at them right now, Will’s gaze intensely fond, Enzo probably as awestruck as he felt, and think any of this was fake.

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