Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek) (9 page)

It was plain as day that Dani was reeling. She put a few more feet between them, closer to the door. But she didn’t look like she was escaping, rather…re-arming.

Luke watched the emotions swirl across her face like a riptide while the rest of her stiffened, armored up cool and composed. Within ten seconds flat, a calm expression had settled on her face like a bulletproof shield.

What a transformation.

Luke could only assume it wasn’t the easiest thing for Dani to be both a tough brewpub owner and adorably cute at the same time. He figured that’s why and how she perfected the I-don’t-take-shit-from-anyone stare.

The same stare she was using on him now.

“Mr. Bradford,” she said politely. “In this neighborly business dispute, I think it best that you go back and learn all the details of this unfortunate matter from your worker first. We can then meet at a later time to discuss how to find an amicable solution, perhaps even one that is mutually beneficial.” The murder in her eyes went down to third degree manslaughter. “Might as well make lemon ale from lemons, right?”

She took out her smartphone and opened up her calendar. “Though I’ll be in the brewery tomorrow, I do have time to squeeze you in for a meeting in the afternoon.” She gave him a borderline friendly smile while briskly putting her phone back in her pocket, as if it were already a given that he would accept her terms.

Whoa. She was good. She managed to be as professional as a ruthless CEO and as likable as the girl next door while consistently establishing the upper hand by ‘inadvertently’ making him feel like a slight nuisance on her time, both present and future. Masterful.

“
Ms. Dobson
,” he replied without missing a beat, “that is very neighborly of you, and undoubtedly good advice. I’ll go talk to my shop manager straight away. I do appreciate you fitting me in for a meeting tomorrow.” He stuck his hand out cordially. “Until then, please know that all of us at Desert Confections are again, deeply sorry that we got off on the wrong foot with you. Maintaining a strong relationship with our neighbors is a huge priority for us.”

She mutely accepted his handshake, visibly surprised by him.

Geez, she must’ve done business with some real assholes in the past for her to be this unprepared for his eating humble pie. Wondering if she was given a hard time in the beer world because she was a female, suddenly, Luke was fiercely impressed by Dani, knowing she’d probably done her fair share of putting ego-tripped men in their place.

“Okay, well then, good day, Mr. Bradford. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Abruptly, she turned and pushed through the employee doors, presumably to leave him there to watch her walk away.

The woman was full of tactical moves.

Just one slight hitch. He was still grasping her hand, effectively tethering her to him with gentle but firm fingers. Reluctantly, she turned back to face him, her expression unreadable.

“Now that our business personas are done chatting, can you and I talk?” he asked quietly.

“About what?” Dani’s professional mask was already starting to crumble. This time, her step away from him through the doors
did
look like an escape.

“About us.” He joined her in the open doorway, uncaring that they were now standing in full view of everyone in the dining area. “If brewmaster Danica Dobson wants to march away from the owner of Desert Confections to show him who’s calling the shots, that’s fine. But don’t use this as an excuse to walk away from me, plain ole Luke. None of this has to affect us, Dani.” He tapped the phone in her hand pointedly. “Or what we’ve barely gotten started.”

Dani looked from her phone back to him, turning pink at the reminder of her sext message to him earlier. “Some women might go for this whole you-dom, me-sub action, but I’m not one of them,” she sliced through her teeth. “Release my hand. My workers are starting to stare.”

He didn’t let go. Instead, he shook their joined hands in another handshake. “Hi, I’m Luke Bradford, Luke for short. I own the chocolate shop next door. Pleasure to meet you.”

She frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Meeting you again. Seems to me, if we’d done it right from the start, you wouldn’t be so mad at me, Luke, the man you scorched into melted butter with your kisses the other night.”

That icy facade she had been using as a shield cracked before his eyes. He watched the chill slowly melt as she shook his hand back, albeit guardedly. “I’m Danica Dobson,” she said finally, “brewmaster and owner of this brewpub. I prefer to go by Dani. Nice to meet you too.”

The relief that washed over him finally allowed him to let go of her hand.

Dani shoved that hand into her pocket like it might run off on her if she didn’t. “You’re absolutely right, Luke. We got off to a bad start, both professionally and personally—”

“Tricky start,” he interjected. “Not a bad start. I loved how we met.”

A moment of silence passed before she admitted, “Me too.”

Her eyes gentled for a second before narrowing back on that frickin’ note in his hand. “That doesn’t mean this isn’t going to take time to sort out. Your worker was way out of line this morning in her interviews.”

“I already told you, I’ll talk to her. Dani, I really am sorry, and I’m sure Quinn is too.”

“Yeah, she looked it,” replied Dani with just a touch of satisfaction in her voice.

He grinned, impressed. “If you managed to scare my shop manager then you’re even more amazing than I thought. And here I thought you were already pretty darn incredible.”

The direction of their conversation made Dani look around at the customers and workers around the room sliding curious glances their way. “Maybe we should talk later...on the phone.”

“And by text?” he offered.

Her eyes turned wary. “What?”

“I think you should follow through with that threat of yours and reply to my text message first,” he said softly. “I already have about a dozen more I want to send back to you.”

She ducked her head, hiding the smile that was already teasing the corners of her mouth. Rolling her eyes in that cute way he was starting to love, she turned and headed to the brewery, leaving him standing in the dining area with the promise of a soft, “You asked for it.”

“Can’t wait,” he called out to her retreating figure as it veered down a back hallway.

Without turning back around, she just lifted her hand and waved back at him in acknowledgement.

Knowing half the brewpub was now watching his exit as well, Luke made sure he was out of eyesight all the way around the building before he drew to a halt. Jesus, he’d just gone all in with nothing but a pair of deuces; he was damn lucky she hadn’t called him on it.

Now he had to corner Quinn and find out what the hell was going on.

* * * * *

THE NEXT AFTERNOON
, armed with all the information regarding the videotaping, and Quinn at his side, Luke walked up to the roof deck of Ocotillos for his meeting with Dani.

The moment he saw her, he took note of two things. One, Dani could light up the room when she laughed. And two, the gritty, tatted-up musician that sang there regularly—the one currently hugging Dani and tickling her ribs mercilessly—had just become the first person Luke had ever felt compelled to punch in the face in greeting.

“Are we early for our meeting, Ms. Dobson?” asked Luke with biting formality.

Dani gave him a strange look. “No, actually, you’re on time. Rylan here was just finishing up a sound check with the new equipment for tomorrow night. I’ll be right with you.”

When Dani turned to exchange a few more hushed words with ‘Rylan’ before smiling sweetly at the way too comfortable kiss he dropped on her cheek, Luke bristled again.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist.” Quinn smacked him. “Those two are obviously just friends. Guys like
that
will kiss anything with legs and mean nothing by it.”

Luke practically swallowed his tongue in surprise. Quinn
never
commented about men—good, bad, or otherwise. Moreover, she certainly didn’t look at them the way she was looking at this Rylan guy.

And that was nothing compared to how Rylan was looking at her.

From where he stood on stage, Rylan was eating Quinn up with his eyes, gazing at her with such intensity, she eventually shifted her attention to an invisible piece of lint on her skirt.

At that point, Luke
did
notice that the way Rylan regarded Quinn was vastly different from the brotherly way he treated Dani. The sharp contrast finally helped Luke unclench his jaw and take a seat, removing his inner neanderthal—who he rarely saw—from the helm.

A few minutes later, Dani moved into the seat across from him at the table, deleting the smile she’d had while talking to Rylan before wrapping the regal business-Danica cloak around herself.

“Hello, Mr. Bradford.” She nodded at him before turning to address Quinn. “I’m sorry. I was understandably upset yesterday so I didn’t get your name.”

Quinn shook Dani’s hand. “Quinn Christiansen.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Luke noticed that Rylan was still standing on the side, continuing to watch Quinn with more than just idle interest. Quinn clearly noticed as well, and couldn’t seem to stop herself from sneaking covert mini-glimpses at him, while absently tapping her pen on the table each time.

Luke’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. Quinn
hated
when people did that.

By then, Luke didn’t even attempt to hide his amusement. Lord, this was rich. Quinn had the hots for a tatted-up musician. Loudly, Luke cleared his throat in such a way that even a blind man would see the laughter behind it. Then, he reached over to pluck the noisy pen from her fingers and pat her arm with evil brother sympathy.

It was a grown-up
ha-ha-I-know-your-secret
.

Quinn turned bright crimson.

Now
that
just made Luke turn fully and stare. It was quite a sight. He’d always thought Quinn could’ve been cast as one of the
Lord of the Rings
elfin maidens. As such, seeing her flush all the way to her pale blond roots was, well, like seeing one of those ethereal elves turn beet red.

“Something you two want to share with the class, Mr. Bradford?” asked Dani frostily, having been excluded from the silent exchange between Luke and Quinn for about a minute now.

He blinked. Dani’s voice had gained a hard edge to it, laced with venom. It crackled with currents driving close to the unprofessional border, completely different from the warm, melodic voice he’d had on replay in his head since the night they’d first met.

Well, well, so jealousy wasn’t an ailment that was singularly afflicting him.

“My apologies, Ms. Dobson. It was an innocent private joke, I assure you.” He watched her stubborn chin refuse to budge an inch. Well shoot, he wasn’t racking up negative points with Dani just because Quinn was lusting after Rylan. “If you’re under the impression that I’m solely responsible for Ms. Christiansen’s current state of embarrassment, please direct some of that blame to your musician back there who has been undressing her with his eyes for the last five minutes.”

A choking sound mingling mortification with unholy hostility ripped out of Quinn.

Dani’s lips twitched as she averted her now-understanding eyes.

Oh, that was nice. Even cool, I-collect-balls-for-trophies Danica Dobson didn’t want to embarrass Quinn any further.

That prompted Luke to reel in his torture line as well. He patted Quinn’s hand again, this time to call a truce...for now. He was nowhere near done teasing Quinn though. Not when she had a ten-year head start of annoying sisterly behavior under her belt.

While Quinn continued to glare at him, Luke flashed Dani a friendly smile. “Why don’t we start again? Quinn and I would like to apologize for filming without your consent yesterday, and take this opportunity to explain our ad campaign.”

He spent a few minutes going over the Valentine’s and White Chocolate Day marketing angle, quickly highlighting the major points. “So you see,” he concluded, “Quinn here was simply interviewing the twenty- and thirty- something year-olds because they are our target audience for these ads, not because we’re targeting Ocotillos.”

Dani’s smile showed all teeth. “What you don’t get, Mr. Bradford, is that saying things like, ‘Oh no, do you think you’re going to be stuck here with the guys for Valentine’s or do you think your girlfriend will forgive you in time?’
does
target my business by turning us into the anti-Valentine place to be. Quinn is basically implying that if you’re too much of a loser to have a Valentine date on this oh-so-precious holiday, you’re probably going to be at Ocotillos!”

Quinn’s eyes bulged, appalled as she swiveled her shocked gaze to Luke. “I don’t even remember saying that part. I swear, if I did, it was just when I was joking with the guys to get them to open up more.”

She swung her eyes back to Dani. “Until now, I hadn’t really thought about how an exchange like that would sound from your point of view. I am deeply, deeply sorry. I will of course edit that part out of the video completely, and refrain from saying anything like that again in any of my future interviews.”