Page 59 of Cherry on Top

Only after leaving Indigo Bay had he learned how to truly be Enzo Moretti.

“It’s definitely an irony that Indigo Bay is where you came to find yourself,” Enzo said wryly. “But I’m glad you did. Don’t get me wrong—there’s nothing wrong with this place. Actually as small towns go, it’s pretty neat. More accepting than I ever expected it would be.”

“But?” Will asked.

“Sometimes I think the problem isn’t this town, it’s me,” Enzo said quietly.

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” Will declared it firmly, with a confidence he shouldn’t possess. After all, they didn’t know each other all that well. Not yet, anyway.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know enough. I know someone who maybe doesn’t get Eliza’s story, but still senses the way it makes the rest of us feel, who understands the way love and hope intertwine together, isn’t a bad guy.” Will’s gaze was warm.

“It was your idea,” Enzo joked. It was easier to tease than it was to sit here and just feel Will’s earnestness. Not because he didn’t enjoy it; but because he wasn’t sure he deserved it.

Will raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not painting the story only because you asked me to,” Enzo corrected. “If the cutest guy you’ve seen in ages tells you what you to paint, you don’t say no.” He shot Will the most charming smile he possessed. “At least not right away, you don’t.”

Will flushed. “I’m not cute,” he stuttered.

“You totally are. And if you don’t believe me, go look in a mirror.” Enzo barely managed to tear his eyes away from his tanned handsome face. Which really, said it all, considering the glorious sunset in front of them. “See, you feel better already, don’t you?”

“Yeah, actually,” Will said. “Being near the water helps, always. But it helped to tell you, too.”

“Good.” Enzo nodded. “The ocean always helped me, too. Something about how it’s so consistent, no matter what, no matter what changes, it’s always there.”

Will nodded.

“Don’t get to it as much as I’d like, these days,” Enzo said. “But back when I was a teenager, me and a few others would raise hell on this beach. Throw bonfires. Drink too much shitty booze. Tear our clothes off and go skinny dipping in the dark.”

“That’d be a sight to see,” Will said.

“Not so much, back then,” Enzo admitted. “I was a skinny little brat. Very full of himself, despite that.”

He could feel Will’s gaze skim over his body now. And yes, he had grown into himself, finally. Physically too.

Maybe he’d never have broad shoulders like Luca, or a face that made grown men weep, like his cousin Ren, or the spectacular golden brown eyes of Gabe, another cousin. But he could look in a mirror now and not feel like he’d ended up the runt of the Morettis. A non Moretti.

“Somehow, I doubt that,” Will said, tone full of amusement.

Enzo was tugging off his T-shirt before he could decide this was insane and they most definitely should not be doing it. The line between the two was already blurred enough. So, he thought, what’s adding a little water to it?

“Well,” he said, “you game?”

Will looked shocked. He hoped it was more because he’d taken his shirt off unexpectedly and not because of what he’d seen underneath. “You mean . . .go skinny dipping? In the ocean?”

“Come on, don’t tell me a coast boy like you doesn’t know how to swim?” Enzo teased, standing. It was still warm, with the last of the sun’s rays continuing to heat the air, and the ocean was definitely warm enough to swim in, considering it was June and these beaches were packed with people during the day, doing exactly that.

Though it wasn’t like that had stopped Enzo when he’d been that young, punk kid. They’d gone in all kinds of weather, stupid and reckless.

This was reckless too, in an entirely different way.

“I know how to swim,” Will said slowly.

“There you go,” Enzo said. He tucked his T-shirt and sweatshirt together.

Still, Will looked uncertain. Way too uncertain. Enzo decided it was time to put his money where his mouth was and reached down, flicking open the button on his jeans.

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