Page 61 of Cherry on Top

The flush creeping up his cheekbones was a delightful giveaway to what Enzo kept hoping were Will’s real feelings. Even as he told himself he knew this couldn’t go anywhere.

Maybe Will was the opposite of Enzo. Knew how to keep his mouth shut when he should.

But Enzo didn’t ever know when to quit.

“Isn’t this better than camping out in your cramped little office?” Enzo wondered.

“Yeah. Pretty good view.” But Will’s eyes were glued to him, not to the last gasp of the sunset.

“Mine isn’t too bad either.” A freaking understatement.

They swam there for a minute, treading water, regarding each other.

It felt like they were edging way too close to something that wasn’t fake at all.

But then how could it be? They weren’t doing this for anybody but themselves.

Maybe what they needed was another one of those over-the-top fake dates to remind him exactly why they were doing this. Why they kept circling each other. And why it couldn’t be anything more than the deep down yearning that kept tugging him towards Will, even as he knew better.

“We need to go out again.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. Lots of cutesy nicknames, all the cuddles, the whole shebang,” Enzo said. “Stud Muffin.”

Will laughed and flicked water at him. Enzo shook it off, pushing his hair back, ignoring the way Will’s gaze traced his face. Ignoring the way he kept returning that particular look.

Waited a second, until Will was good and lulled into complacency before splashing him back, harder this time.

Unsurprisingly, that kicked off a water fight. Will was as good of a swimmer as Enzo and they circled each other, playing earnestly, but never getting too close.

Enzo knew he was far too aware of how Will was totally naked under the water—and he had a feeling Will was equally as attuned to that particular fact. It meant they kept their distance, but even that didn’t diminish their fun.

When they finally came to a stop, Enzo’s hair dripping as much as Will’s face, he turned to Enzo, suddenly serious.

“If you think we need to.” Oh. The fake date. “But I won’t be able to get an evening off until next week.”

“What about brunch?”

“Brunch?” Will scrunched up his nose.

“Don’t tell me you don’t like brunch.”

“I do. But weekend mornings are for ice cream prep. I can’t take it off. What about Monday night? We’re closed.”

“Alright. Well, this weekend I can work on the mural and when I’m not, I can swan around Cherry’s, staring longingly in your direction.”

“Is that just an excuse for me to feed you ice cream?”

It hadn’t been, actually, but if Will wanted to pretend his ice cream was the only reason Enzo wanted to be around him, then Enzo wasn’t going to enlighten him.

“Sure,” Enzo said. He gestured towards the beach. “Come on, we’d better get out. It’s going to be full dark soon, and even though I stayed out way too late when I was young and stupid, we’d better not.”

There could be sneak riptides, and also critters hiding in the dunes.

Plus it was always better to walk back to town when you could at least see your hand in front of your face.

“You gonna get out first?” Will had the nerve to blush again. Like he hadn’t been the first one to strip down completely.

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