Page 16 of Flake It Til You Make It

He was teasing, just like he had last night, and Rocco liked it, maybe a little too much.

Well, at least if you end up faking it, it’ll look really convincing.

“I’ll make you anything you want, even pumpkin spice,” Rocco said, leaning across the counter. Taylor stuck his hands deeper into his coat pockets. “Anything at all.”

“How about uh . . .that apple cider? That sounds good.”

“You got it,” Rocco said. He didn’t bat his eyelashes flirtatiously. After all, he was a goddamned professional.

Taylor watched him carefully as he grabbed the cider from the fridge under the counter and heated it up in one of his metal pitchers, then as Rocco swirled homemade caramel sauce into a cup. He didn’t ask Taylor if he was enjoying his beverage here or taking it to go. Maybe thatwasn’tprofessional, but he wanted Taylor to hang around for at least the time it took for him to enjoy his drink.

“Did you mean what you said last night?” Taylor asked quietly.

It wasn’t hard for Rocco to know which thing he was asking about.

But he wasn’t against making Taylor work for it, a little.

“Which thing I said?” Rocco asked, feigning ignorance as he carefully poured the cider into the mug. He topped it with whipped cream and another swirl of caramel sauce. Setting it on the counter in front of Taylor, he gave in to the temptation and shot him a single smoldering glance.

“Uh, you know,” Taylor said, stammering again a little.

“One sec. Let me make a coffee and I’ll join you. That corner’s quiet.” Taylor looked like he was about to say something like,all your corners look quiet, but before he could, Rocco added, “And yes, I know. It’s quiet today. But hopefully, we can fix that.”

“That’s the idea,” Taylor said.

Rocco quickly made himself a latte and then joined Taylor at one of the tables.

“So you changed your mind,” Rocco said.

Taylor shot him a look that promised he wasn’t nearly as cold as he presented as being. “I never made up my mind,” he retorted. Took a sip of his cider and gave Rocco an approving nod. “This is delicious. I had this probably half a dozen times before you bought this place and it never tasted this good.”

“I know,” Rocco acknowledged. “I changed a few things.”

Taylor chuckled. “Are you incapable of leaving anything as it was?”

“Pretty much. I like to improve things. It’s a personal strength and apparently also a failing.”

“This town isn’t big on change,” Taylor said gravely.

“Believe me, I’ve learned that. The hard way.”

“Well, I think you were right about one thing. Wecanhelp each other,” Taylor said.

“Oh?” Rocco raised an eyebrow.

“Remember how I said last night there were no other serious, qualified candidates for my job? Well, scratch that. Someone applied this morning. Someone who was born here, isnotyoung, and has a picture-perfect Christmas card family.”

“Ouch.”

“It doesn’t make me a worse candidate, necessarily, but it does give me more competition. I’ll need to work harder to look better in the city council’s eyes.”

“And that’s where I come in.”

Taylor nodded. “That’s where you come in. You make me look settled and happy, because God forbid anyone could be settled or happy without at least a partner.”

“Hey, sex makes a whole lot of people happy.”

Rocco enjoyed watching Taylor choke on his cider. “That isn’t . . .I didn’t mean . . .”

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