Page 17 of Flake It Til You Make It

“Chill,” Rocco said. “I saidfake, which means we’ve only got to convince everyone we’re getting it on, not that we’re actually getting it on.”

Not that he’d be averse. In fact, the opposite was true. But Taylor’s reaction to him evensayingthe word sex told him everything he needed to know. Taylor might be intrigued by him, but he wasn’t even close to ready to tangle in the sheets.

“Right. Okay.” Taylor cleared his throat. “You really want to do this, then?”

“Sounds like we both need to, now,” Rocco said.

Taylor sighed. “I hate the thought that the council might vote for me and not for this other guy because of this, but I know I’ll be better at the job. From what Mona said, I’m certainly going to be more committed to this town.”

“Sometimes we do shitty things for good reasons,” Rocco said. Shot Taylor a lopsided grin. The certified Moretti grin that never failed to reel anyone in within a ten-foot radius, and it didn’t come close to failing now, either. From his pink cheeks to the tremor of his fingers as he gripped his mug, it certainly seemed to have some kind of effect on Taylor. “Besides, it might be fun.”

“Fun?”

“You know what that is, right?” Rocco joked. “Or are you too buttoned up, too committed, too much of a workaholic—”

Taylor shot him a look, interrupting Rocco’s recital, and this one wasn’t just warm, it was downright hot. “I know what fun is.”

“Alright.” Rocco nodded, pretending that his throat wasn’t suddenly dry.

He liked playing with fire, but only when he was sure he wouldn’t get burned.

“We’ll need to have a plan,” Taylor said, all official. That shouldn’t have been hot, either, but it definitely was.

“You don’t want to just play it by ear?”

“Did you ‘play it by ear’ when you took pumpkin spice off the menu?” Taylor challenged.

Rocco wasn’t surprised the guy had thought it. Taylor wasn’t old, couldn’t be more than thirty, and he was up for a promotion—a position that he was told was really the whole power behind the town—so he was hardly a slouch. But Roccowassurprised he’d said it.

“Fair. Ouch, but fair,” Rocco said. “For the record, Idohave a business plan. A good one, actually.”

“I believe it,” Taylor said, redeeming himself, slightly.

“Alright, so a plan. Like a dating plan?”

“I was thinking about this. First, you gotta get into the town more,” Taylor said. “Let people see you as more than just the idiot who took pumpkin spice off the menu and tried to force-feed them goat cheese.”

Rocco winced. “I think we either need to ban that phrase or . . .” He paused, an idea blooming in his mind. “We should actually make it your safe word.”

Taylor’s eyebrows rose, nearly to his hairline. “My safe word?”

“Well,oursafe word,” Rocco revised. “For example, if I ever do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Too coupley. Or too romantic. Or too much like you want to drag me to bed? Just saygoat cheese.”

Taylor threw back his head and literally cackled.

Rocco had never seen him laugh like that and couldn’t help but pat himself on the backandalso let himself actually enjoy the sound of Taylor’s laugh. The sheer joy in him, that he, from everything Rocco had seen, didn’t let anyone see.

If that was why he wasn’t immediately the front runner for the city manager job, that was probably why.

He kept this part of himself so restrained, so hidden, andGod, it was wonderful. Rocco couldn’t stop staring at him as he laughed.

“What aboutyoursafe word?” Taylor asked when he finally stopped laughing.

“You don’t want to share goat cheese?”

“Gladly,” Taylor said, still chuckling. “So that’sthatpart of the plan, I guess.”

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s the most important part,” Rocco pointed out.

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