Page 75 of Cherry on Top

Turning towards the door, Will pictured a whole lot of unsexy things, and he was nearly there, when Enzo said, “One sec.”

Will should’ve protested, but how could he, when Enzo’s mouth was already on his, a brief but hot kiss, Will’s lips still tingling even as he pulled away.

“One more for the road,” Enzo said seriously, and Will groaned a little.

“I’ll meet you at the Inn, at what . . .ten?” Enzo questioned as Will reached out and latched onto the door handle like if it was solid and real under his fingers, then maybe he wouldn’t reach for Enzo, instead.

Will nodded and opened the door. They were safe now. Mostly. “Ten sounds good.”

“See you then,” Enzo said with an extra spicy smile as he sauntered past Will.

When Will finally returned to the kitchen and to Kate, his spatula was nearly entirely drowned in brownie batter.

She gave him a speculative look. “Christen your office?” she asked.

Will shook his head. “Of course not,” he said firmly. “We just . . .needed to . . .uh . . .talk. Privately.”

Kate chuckled under her breath. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you were doing. Talking.”

“Hey,” Will said, both embarrassed and smarting from the fact that his employee, his manager, thought he’d just fucked off to screw in his office. He wasn’t that kind of boss. He wasn’t that kind of business owner.

“Yeah?”

“I wouldn’t. I won’t. I don’t,” Will told her firmly. “Cherry’s means a lot to me. This thing with Enzo is . . .” Intoxicating. “New and exciting, but Cherry’s is still my priority. Always.”

Kate looked over at him, respect in her expression. “I didn’t mean to . . .you know what I meant.” She sighed. “Sorry. I really didn’t think you’d be unprofessional. But the way you were wrapped around each other when I came in . . .it was like nothing else existed.”

Nothing else did exist.

“I . . .well, uh . . .like I said. It’s pretty new.” Will bashfully rubbed his neck. Couldn’t tell Kate just how new it was. They were already supposed to have been doing this for nearly two weeks.

“Right,” she said knowingly.

He dug his spatula out of the batter and ignored how Kate laughed when he tried to scrape it off before taking it over to the sink to rinse.

Gave himself a little pep talk while he was at it.

You can think about the way Enzo felt like and tasted like and looked like, but you gotta get some work done too. It can’t happen again, if you don’t.

What he couldn’t think about was how Enzo was just outside. Only a few steps away.

He lasted all the way through prep. He got the baking done by the skin of his teeth. Helped Kate open. Make more ice cream. He ate lunch, mechanically shoving crackers into the container of chicken salad he kept in the walk-in for days he didn’t want to go out.

The difference today was that he desperately wanted to go out. To see what Enzo was doing. To just plain see Enzo. But he resisted.

All the way past lunch, to the lull of the afternoon.

Kate didn’t tell him to take a break. But after reviewing a handful of resumes for his new part-time employee and updating Cherry’s website with the new flavors of the week, he finally gave in.

Ducked outside, ignoring Kate’s knowing glance.

It was unsurprisingly hot, sun shining in his eyes as he rounded the corner.

Enzo was there, halfway up the wall, lounging on the scaffolding like the height didn’t bother him one bit, sucking down a water bottle with force.

He’d shoved a hat on his curls and taken off his shirt, his back a long tanned line, smooth and perfect.

Will swallowed hard.

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