Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek) (40 page)

“I haven’t told her yet. She’s not exactly…future-oriented. I don’t want to scare her.”

Frowning at the dismal look he was undoubtedly wearing, Angie placed her palms on either side of his face and sighed. “Luke, the future is just a path. For two people to be on one path together, all they need to do is head in the same direction—at the same time—and want to take the same turns and exits together. In my case, my path eventually veered away from my husband’s. In yours, it might be as simple as you waiting a little longer for her to catch up.”

“Sometimes I wonder if she’ll ever get there.”

“Want me to light the heart signal in the sky?” asked Angie, straight-faced.

He pinched her side, laughing despite himself. “I forgot what a brat you are.”

Angie squeezed his hand. “Even if it takes time, don’t settle for less than you deserve.” She shrugged sagely. “If we’d stayed together, that’s what we would’ve been doing—settling.”

“I still would’ve gotten the better deal,” he said honestly, stroking her cheek.

“Damn straight. I’m a freakin’ prize,” she preened. “So now stop feeling sorry for your mediocre self and get that girl to marry you so I can stop feeling bad about leaving your ass.”

He laughed and hugged her affectionately. “I’ll do my best.”

Closure—as liberating and eye-opening for hindsight as it was for foresight.

Placing his forehead against Angie’s, he kissed her nose. “Thanks for coming today.”

“Anytime, Luke. You know I’m always—”

Suddenly, a quick motion outside drew Luke’s attention away from Angie.

There was no one there.

There was something on the ground outside his shop, however.

He didn’t know why but he knew he had to see what it was. An uneasy feeling crawled through him. The more his eyes made out the details of the tiny object, the faster he walked.

His eyes hadn’t fooled him. It was a piece of chocolate…a lovingly crafted truffle, carefully decorated and adorned with a tiny gold letter message:
I love dreaming with you
.

Now half covered in dirt. Abandoned.

Deemed unsalvageable by the woman who’d made it for him.

* * * * *

DANI RAN INTO
her office and locked the door, taking in deep gulps of air, failing miserably at stopping the useless flow of tears. She ignored the worried, heavy knocks on the door of first Javier and then the lighter ones, probably from Xoey. Ignoring them all, she sank into the big leather chair that had once belonged to her father.

And just cried.

Her nails clawed at the piece of duct tape holding together the biggest rip in the seat’s leather. The chair was so old and worn, she sometimes wondered why she didn’t just get a new one. After all, it was an awful reminder of the worst moment of her dad’s life. And hers. He’d sat in this very chair reading that note from her mom. Dani still remembered the desolate look on his face, the tears that had run without end, the quiet anguished sounds of his heart breaking.

Curling into a ball, she tried to shut herself off from the suffocating pain seeping in.

Until the fierce pounding on the door rattled the walls all around her.

“
Dani, open this door!
” Luke sounded...furious.

His voice seemed to waver as the seconds ticked away and still she refused to let him in.

“Please, sweetheart,” he said softly, “talk to me. Whatever you think you saw at my shop just plain isn’t.” The heavy sadness she heard made her hand hover over the doorknob.

“Dani, nothing happened that could’ve warranted you doing what you did back there.”

She flung the door open in outrage. “And just what the hell do you think
I
did to
you
?!”

He stood there looking as crushingly sad as he sounded, his hands clutching something like it was a Faberge egg. Looking down, she saw cradled in his hands the chocolate she’d left outside his shop after witnessing Luke’s little reunion with his ex-fiancée.

It was almost unrecognizable now, coated with street dust and debris.

“You gave up on us,” he whispered, his voice bleak.

Dani stared at the chocolate in his hands and started crying again.

Luke stepped in quickly and shut the door behind him. “Please don’t, Dani. I swear, what you saw was nothing like what you’re imagining. She’s just—”

“Your ex. The one who left you at the altar.”

“A day before the altar,” he corrected before blinking, confused. “How did you know?”

“You always have the same look on your face when you talk about her.” She took in a shattered breath and shrugged with forced nonchalance. “You two clearly share something special. I’m happy for you. You don’t owe me anything; we were just fooling around, right?”

“I damn well wasn’t,” he practically shouted through gritted teeth. “And if you expect me to believe you’ve been ‘just fooling around’ with me this whole time, you must think I’m even dumber than you thought I was two minutes ago.”

“I-I never thought you were dumb!” she gasped, shocked. “If my dad had wanted a second go with my mom after she left him, I would’ve supported him.” She tried her best to put on a brave smile. “I think it’s great. Love deserves as many chances as—”

He yanked her to him and placed a searing kiss on her lips. “I meant two minutes ago when you thought I’d let you run out of my life. Dani, you should know me better than that.”

She clung to him for a hopeful second before pushing him away. “No! You can’t do this. You can’t still be in love with another woman and be in love with...” She broke off, eyes wide. “That is, if you’re still even...” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I know I’m not the most romantic person in the world, but I have a heart. You’ll end up breaking it. So please...just go.”

“You,” said Luke quietly, stroking her cheek tenderly, “are such a gigantic fraud.”

“What?”

“You. A fraud. You’re an even bigger romantic than I am.” He gently put the chocolate down and slid the curtain of hair she was hiding behind away from her eyes. “Deep down, you believe in finding the person of your dreams just like I do. Dani, you’re that woman for me. The one of my dreams. In all my dreams.”

With unyielding doubt, she shook her head. “I saw you and your ex together. It’s clear you two loved each other deeply.” Her voice cracked. “And that you still do.”

“Of course I still love her. I always will.” His eyes searched her face. “But that love absolutely pales in comparison to what I feel for you.”

“It can’t possibly! You spent years with her.”

He cradled her face, forced her to meet his gaze. “It’s not about time. It’s just about us.”

“What
about
us?!” She laughed bitterly. “We’re just...God, what are we? Neighbors with benefits? You two were ready to say ‘I do’. A day from getting married. How can you say you want a future with me when you were ready to spend that same future with her?
You can’t have forever with more than one person!
” Her agony raged with frustration.

“My mother did,” he reasoned quietly.

“And so did mine,” she countered bitterly. Her voice was so small, he almost didn’t hear her whisper, “B
ut my father didn’t.
” She gripped her fingers into his shirt. “What if you’re destined to have your mother’s future, and I’m destined to have my father’s?”

He covered her pounding heart with his hand. “Sweetie, I don’t think you realize your heart got broken long before your relationship with that unnamed asshole you still can’t bring yourself to tell me about. Your heart broke when your mom left you all and it never truly got fixed. How could it? You watched your dad continue to love your mom his entire life, even though that love never came back to him. Your heart was already vulnerable before your ex all but destroyed it.” Then he put her hand on his heart. “My heart’s been broken too—a lot. But being with you... Dani, I just love you so much. Every day, in every way, you’ve helped heal my heart.”

Gathering her close, he whispered, “So let me do the same for you. Let me love you.”

Fresh tears glittered her eyes.

“I know it’s a risk. For you
and
me, Dani. Look at my life; I’m a realist about how things never work out the way we expect. And even though loving you may end up crushing my heart, I’m not going to stop believing in forever love or the possibility that you’ll be the one sharing it with me.” He drew in a slow breath and stroked a hand through her hair. “Loving you is something I can’t
not
do in the same way I can’t just stop needing oxygen. Not knowing how long I’m going to keep breathing isn’t going to stop me from taking my next breath.”

She hid her face against his chest, her tears soaking his shirt.

“So maybe I’m not that guy from the movies who knows without a shadow of a doubt that he’ll get the girl and they’ll end up happily ever after. I’m just a guy who loves you so much that, even without the guarantee of the happily ever after, I’ll love you uncontrollably anyway.” He wrapped her up in his arms. “I just hope that one day, even if you still don’t believe in forever, you’ll at least find yourself loving me beyond today or tomorrow too.”

Her heart just about burst out of her rib cage at his words. She responded immediately. Though it came out as a rumbled purr against his skin that paused his hand mid-stroke in her hair.

“What?” he asked.

More inaudible words went into hiding in his shirt.

“Woman, the
very least
you could do after I declare my hopeless, undying devotion to you is speak loud enough for me to hear your response.”

She jerked her head up and mock-glared at him. “You’re so pushy! And unbelievably moronic if you think you’re not even more impossibly, ridiculously romantic than any guy in any stupid movie.” She tried to maintain her composure as a sexy, happy grin transformed his face from handsome to gut-punchingly magnificent. “And those aren’t even your worst qualities! You’re sneaky, old-fashioned, and…insatiable! I have no clue why I already love you beyond just today or tomorrow, but I do.” At the elation she saw lighting his eyes, a small, irrepressible smile snuck past her lips. “I clearly need to have my head examined!” she quipped dryly.

“Well,” he sighed, “not the most romantic declaration of love, but then again, you are Dani Dobson.”

She stomped on his foot and blocked his efforts at a kiss.

Laughing and nursing his now bruised foot, he fell backward onto her sofa, pulling her down with him. “And that’s why I love you so much,” he finished.

Smiling, she curled up against him and finally gave him the kiss he’d been seeking.

“Again,” he urged, moving on to nuzzle her ear. “I want to hear the words once more.”

“You’re pushy and unbelievably moronic—” Dani halted with a laugh when his teeth nipped her earlobe in warning. “And I love you. Beyond just today or tomorrow.”

A happy male sigh hummed out of him. He gathered her in close and tipped her head back. “So that chocolate you made for me was your way of telling me that?”

Shrugging, she answered truthfully. “Honestly, I just wanted to make it for you; I didn’t really think about why.”

“You hopeless romantic.”

She rolled her eyes then grinned mischievously as she reached for the piece of chocolate in question. When she turned back to him, she put on the best puppy-dog expression she could muster without giggling. “You’re not going to deprive me of seeing you taste it, are you Luke? I worked so hard on it.” Blinking, she held up the dirt-covered chocolate to him expectantly.

He looked from the chocolate to her devil-angel expression and then snapped the chocolate up in his mouth, her fingers and all.

“Stop!” she yelped, not letting go of the chocolate. “Spit it out! It has dirt and who knows what else all over it from the ground. Stop! I was kidding!”

He held on stubbornly with lips and teeth, eyes dancing in that I-called-your-bluff way.

“Fine, fine! I’ll make you a new one!”

His eyebrows lowered, silently demanding she up the ante.

She narrowed her eyes and harrumphed. When his tongue licked at her fingers to rush her along, she groused. “I. Am. Sorry.” Her voice melted. “I shouldn’t have just thrown this chocolate away. I will make you a hundred more.” She settled against him much more snugly, enjoyment chiming in her voice when he lit like a fuse. “And I will serve them to you naked, each one after a marathon sex session where I satisfy your every carnal fantasy and then fan you with a palm leaf while whispering the glories of your astounding—”

His mouth let go of the dirt-coated chocolate and sought her lips instead.

After a few hungry kisses, he sighed. “You always manage to turn my win into your own.” He tried to sound put-out, but failed, his smile caressing her ear amusedly.

“Lock that door and I could be persuaded to
let you
win one for a change.”