A Little Combustible Chemistry (Cactus Creek 0.5)(11)

Quinn popped another white bonbon into her mouth before declaring, “By this time next month, Desert Confections will have completely transformed Valentine’s Day in Arizona.”

With that parting prediction, Quinn headed straight to Ocotillos, leaving him to watch in puzzled amusement as she began scoping out the brewpub through the window, all covert-like. When she slipped out of sight around the building, he shrugged and ambled over to his desk, easing back in his chair with a satisfied grin.

Life was good. His newly expanded shop was about to embark on a venture his gut knew would succeed, his business partner was off being creatively weird—always a good sign—and just nine hours ago, his dormant love life had regained a pulse again. Amazing. Particularly the last bit, he mused, smiling as his mind began wandering back to last night.

Back to Dani…uh… Wait a minute.

His eyes flew open. “You freakin’ idiot.” Somehow, the minor detail of getting Dani’s last name had gotten lost in all the storage room festivities last night.

Great. Now she probably thought he was some sort of player who had first name flings all the time. Shit. He yanked out his cell phone to try and fix this right away…only to roll his eyes in disbelief a second later. You didn’t get her number either, genius. Man, he’d seriously been out of the dating pool for way too long. Jumping up from his seat, he began pacing as he analyzed the situation. Considering Dani had still been there when he and his friends left last night near closing, it was unlikely she’d be working a day shift today—unless her boss was a slave-driving ass, which was doubtful since everyone in town had nothing but glowing things to say about the owner of Ocotillos.

Okay, so casually showing up to ‘run into her’ at lunch wasn’t an option, and heading back tonight was also out since he’d already promised Quinn he’d babysit while she had a long-awaited girls’ night out with her friend from college.

He halted his pacing and frowned. What the hell was he stressing about? So he’d have to wait till this weekend to see Dani again. Big deal—

...Flowers.

His brain instantly rejected the idea of waiting a few days and countered with him getting flowers for her instead. No way could he risk the possibility of her meeting some other man while he waited around like a chump. Grabbing his keys, he headed out to the city’s best florist, an honor they now held in his eyes simply by being the only one open this early on a Sunday.

Nearly a half hour later, however, Luke found himself wanting to strip that title from them as he stalked around the floral shop, disgruntled, looking at the same flowers for the fifth time. Nothing caught his eye. He knew Dani liked flowers, or plants at least. He’d caught her smiling at the plants that lined the walkways of Ocotillos the other week when she’d been watering them. The ones she’d seemed most cheered by were all desert cacti that bloomed vibrant flowers in the spring.

He smiled at the thought and then immediately scowled again, now even more frustrated with his inability to match up reality to inspiration.

As he scanned the shop one final time, a flash of color drew his gaze to a clay pot buried amongst the potted orchids and unruly ferns. A wide grin tugged at his lips when he figured out what it was.

It was perfect.



*



ZERO MISSED CALLS.

Luke stared at his smartphone screen. The same taunt had mocked him ten minutes ago too. Plight of a recovering serial monogamist finally attempting the saddle again—wanting the relationship without playing the nonsensical dating games to get there. Grouchy now on top of Monday-morning antsy, Luke started tapping his pen on the desk.

Irked, Quinn grabbed his pen and set it down with an exasperated huff. “Okay, what’s her name?”

Huh. Isn’t that the million dollar question, thought Luke sardonically.

“Dani,” he eventually answered with a blunt frown.

Quinn’s mouth rounded into a surprised O. “Wow, you’re really crushing on this one.”

Not really in the mood for any pseudo-sisterly torment, he remained silent, shuffling through the upcoming week’s paperwork his eyes had been glazing over for the past ten minutes.

Reaching over, Quinn plucked the papers from his hands and let out a quiet curse. “What happened? Did she shoot you down? Do you need me to kick the stupid woman’s ass?”

Aw, that was vicious, but sweet.

“No,” he sighed. “Dani’s great. We had an amazing...uh, introduction to each other the other night, but I didn’t get her number. So yesterday, I left my number along with a gift for her over at Ocotillos where she works.” He frowned at his phone. “She hasn’t called.”

“She could just be shy, or doing the ‘wait two days’ thing guys do,” Quinn reassured him.

Or he’d been way off about the gift, and now she thought he was bizarre and random.

He resumed his pen-tapping.

“Go home.” Quinn packed up his things for him. “You pulled an all-nighter creating that new chocolate on Saturday, you worked and babysat for me on Sunday, and then you still did your four a.m. chocolate batches this morning. You must be beat.” She tossed his keys to him. “I’ll take care of the corporate deliveries today.”

Since Quinn had brilliantly suggested that they donate some care baskets to several dozen big corporations—which had instantly resulted in rolling orders—they’d had something keeping them busy during their one-week grand opening delay due to their missing equipment.