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“I see.” He thought back on all their dates. Kent—or Kent’s name—popped up too often to count.
Nico pulled his hands back, and Luke tightened his grip. “I guess I’m pissed at myself that I didn’t see what I was doing. I’ve been wondering all summer what I needed to do to get you to stop pushing me away.”
Nico finally looked up. His expression was guarded, but not skeptical. “I probably should have said something sooner. It’s just, it scared me how much I liked you. After what happened with Tomas, I was trying to . . . you know . . .”
“Protect yourself?”
“Yeah.”
Luke inched closer. “I realize that to you, every time I helped him it looked like I wasn’t over him. But trust me, I am.”
“I do.”
Luke noticed Nico’s clothes. He’d changed out of his Esposito’s shirt and wore a tight, shiny black collared one. “I like that shirt on you.”
“Really?” He freed his hand and ran it over the fabric. “I figured I’d wear it to dinner. If it’s not too much”
“No, it’s perfect.” He pulled the hand he still held too his lips. “It took me a long time to figure out why you kept wearing plain T-shirts, when the first times I saw you, you were full of color. Your confidence had been knocked. You didn’t trust yourself—trust the world—that you could be true to yourself.”
“People always say I’m too much. But I like bright clothes, and I can be a bit . . . big, sometimes.”
“You mean huge.” Luke cupped the back of Nico’s head and brought their foreheads together. “That makes you, you, Nico. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Nico hiccupped. “All this pretending, Luke? I really wanted it to be real.”
“It was. For most of summer, I was pretending to pretend.”
“Since when?”
Luke wiggled his head but didn’t break the contact. “You had me at our first kiss.”
“We spent the whole summer pretending? That’s when I fell for you too.”
“Only you pushed me away.”
“I was scared.”
“I know.”
Luke put both hands on Nico’s cheeks “To be clear, all those favors were fake. I was asking you out every time.”
“And even though I was worried, I still couldn’t say no.” He put his hands over Luke’s, sending a charge through Luke’s body.
Unable to hold back, he kissed Nico. “Inviting me to the fund-raiser gave me crazy hope. It wasn’t for convenience. It wasn’t to pretend to anyone. You wanted me there.”
Nico laughed and shook his head. “I can’t believe we wasted the last seven weeks.”
“Did we?” Luke arched a brow. “We went out on a bunch of dates. We ate dinner together practically every day. Every night, we slept in the same bed. I couldn’t have scripted a better summer if I tried.”
“When you put it like that.”
“How would you put it?” Luke rubbed their noses together.
“Just like you said.” Nico kissed him, and the contact riddled through him from his feet to the hair at his nape. “Best summer ever.”
Luke slanted those warm, soft lips over his. Arms came around him, clutching him tight, and Nico kissed Luke back with the same urgency and need.
“Come on.” Luke rose from the futon. “Let me change, and let’s go have a real, not-pretending-to-pretend first date.”
Nico got up but didn’t let Luke get away. “Luke?”
“Yeah?”
“I still don’t want to see Kent again,” Nico whispered.
“You won’t.” Luke kissed his forehead. “I promise. You won’t.”
Chapter Seventeen
Luke
Luke: You at the bakery?
Nico: Nope. Helping E with wedding stuff.
Luke: Will you be home tonight?
Nico: Sure will. Anything you want for dinner?
Luke: Just you.
Should he send a silly emoji to make it seem less desperate? Or would that come across like he didn’t want to see Nico? “Ugh!”
“Everything okay, Luke?”
He dropped his phone as he looked up. Chris Rayner leaned against the doorframe and stared into Luke’s tiny office.
“Chris!” He looked down for his phone, and then back up, cheeks burning. “I was just texting Nico.”
“Calm down.” Chris stepped inside and shut the door. “You’re allowed to text people. No one expects you’ll work every second you’re here.”
“Okay.”
“Is everything all right?” He sat in the lone chair in Luke’s tiny office. “I was walking by and heard you.”
“Yeah. Everything’s fine. Thanks.” He kept his gaze on Chris as he reached down to retrieve his phone. “Nico is swamped with wedding stuff. His sister is getting married on Saturday.”
“Ah.” Chris smiled and sat back. “Speaking of Nico, I want to thank you and him for playing with the kids on Sunday. Linda and I appreciated it.”
“Like that was a chore.” Nico especially enjoyed it. “They’re great kids. If that doesn’t sound too suck-upish.”
Chris laughed and shook his head. “Not from you. The whole ride home it was ‘Nico showed me this awesome soccer move,’ or ‘Luke helped me fly like Superman,’ or my favorite, ‘Nico taught me to waltz.’ I think my daughter has her first crush at age eight.”
