Page 26 of Flake It Til You Make It

“Don’t worry, we’re being monitored,” Taylor said, leaning down a fraction, to whisper it into Rocco’s ear. Hopefully Elaine would assume he was murmuring sweet nothings.

“Huh, yeah.” Rocco flashed him a brilliant smile—though Taylor was beginning to believe that Rocco didn’t own a smile that wasn’t brilliant.

“You keep smiling at me like that, Elaine’ll call Mrs. Lil and Marlene and every other gossip in town and tell her we’re halfway to being madly in love,” Taylor said, nudging him with his shoulder, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

“The smile is kind of a Moretti thing,” Rocco said, a trace of apology in his voice, as they stood in front of the next table. These were supposedly the “light whites,” per Elaine and also the discreet tented sign on the table, though Taylor had no idea what the hell that meant.

“There’s more of you and they all smile all like that?”

“Oh, yeah,” Rocco said.

“Geez.” Taylor couldn’t imagine. “Have you considered trying to take over a small country?”

There was another flash of white teeth, and this one was so potent Taylor swore he felt butterfly wings fluttering in his stomach. “We try to only use our powers for good.”

“Us mere mortals appreciate it,” Taylor said dryly.

Rocco elbowed him, not hard, but not exactly gently either. Taylor glanced up, looking the way Rocco had nudged him. “Is that a . . .”

Taylor laughed. “Uh, yeah. And weirdly, having some guy wandering around in an elf costume is notthatsurprising, at least in Christmas Falls.”

“Wow,” Rocco said.

“Okay, tell me about these,” Taylor said, gesturing to the table.

This time, Rocco poured an inch or so of pale yellow wine into Taylor’s glass. “If you’re not a wine drinker, the sparkling stuff is good, like the prosecco we just tried, but this would be good too. It’s a pinot grigio, from Italy.”

Taylor tried just drinking it with only taking the barest hint of a whiff first and then a little sip. Yeah, itwasgood. Sharp and a little sour, but refreshing on his tongue, too.

Tried to ignore when Rocco sipped it too, putting his lips almost exactly where Taylor’s had been.

Cleared his throat.

If he saidgoat cheesenow, this would stop. And helikedhaving his hands on Rocco. He liked the way Rocco gazed up at him, that intoxicating mixture of faith and delight. Like there was nothing Rocco enjoyed more than watching as Taylor experienced something new that he happened to love, too.

“Next table?” Taylor suggested.

They worked their way around the half-moon, four more tables, and even though they barely took more than a sip, by the time they hit the “mature reds,” Taylor felt a little light-headed and possibly intoxicated.

He wanted to blame the wine, but he had a feeling it had more to do with the guy he was with.

“You good?” Rocco said, licking his lips as he tasted the dark red wine he’d poured himself.

Rocco had lost Taylor around “damp asphalt” and “tobacco” notes, even though he insisted there was dark red fruit too, in the profile.

If Taylor wanted to taste asphalt, he’d go lick the freaking ground.

Still, even if he hadn’t drunk the last round himself, he’d enjoyed watching as Rocco did.

“Yeah, I’m great.”

Elaine approached then. Taylor had to give her full points. He’d felt her gaze on them quite a bit, but she’d actually left them alone. Until now.

“Feel free to pour yourself a glass of your favorite and stay awhile,” she said, gesturing towards some of the empty booths. “I can tell how much you’re enjoying yourself.”

“It’s an excellent list you’ve curated,” Rocco said.

“Thank you. Nice to see it’s being appreciated,” Elaine said with a warm smile. “Have a wonderful evening.”

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