Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(107)

He was smiling now, she could hear it, and the sigh he expelled was rich with fondness. “I’ve missed you, Dani. You tell Luke I said he’s one lucky guy.” Humor and admiration lit his tone. “One very lucky, very brave guy.”

Aw, that compliment just got the guy one step closer to debt-collection day.



*



LUKE WAS ready to lose it.

It had been two whole days since he’d broken the Eric news to Dani and the woman hadn’t called him. Not once, dammit.

Well, to be fair, it was only a day and a half, really, considering it was four in the morning right now…

Okay, okay. Their talk had been late in the evening and she had texted him before she’d gone to bed the next morning to thank him for coming over. So technically, mathematically, it was really more like a day.

Longest freakin’ day of his life.

And it wasn’t helping one bit that he was sitting in his soon-to-be-closed shop, unable to do shit about that situation either.

As he stared out the window across the pitch-black side lot that led to Ocotillos, straight out of left field, Luke remembered the story that waitress had told him and the guys months ago—about how, even when they’d been looking at closing their doors for good, instead of wallowing, Vince Dobson had thrown everything he had into one last brew. One final recipe. To go down swinging, and leave it all out there on the field.

Huh.

One last chocolate. One final recipe.

Yeah. That, he could do.

Moments later, his hands were already pulling ingredients off the shelves, seemingly independently from his brain. While his heart rarely got involved in the chocolatiering process, it was clearly calling all the shots today. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. Within minutes, Luke was a man on a mission, tempering the butterless couverture white chocolate before adding the rich cream that would thicken it into a consistency somewhere between a truffle and a mold chocolate.

The logical part of his brain knew that making a new chocolate now was just going to be painful since it’d only have a home in this shop for maybe another month before they shut everything down for good. He didn’t care. This one was just for him.

And Dani.

Time zipped by as he created a layered flavor profile for the paste-thick creamy centers. The layered center would be firm enough to cut into squares but still soft in texture, reminiscent of his whip fillings.

While it hardened in the cooler, he focused on the design, heating red cocoa butter to liquid and brushing it onto a sheet of food-safe mylar in random geometric patterns—one of the first tricks he’d learned years ago to transfer deco art designs onto chocolates. Dipping the square-cut centers into newly tempered white chocolate, he then pressed the coated chocolate onto the dried mylar sheet design. And just like with those kiddie tattoos, voila, the red cocoa butter patterns transferred onto the chocolate squares.

As a final touch, he carved out an organic design around the swirls with a tiny blade and sprinkled vanilla-infused red crystallized sugar into the grooves.

Then it was done.

A new chocolate. Fittingly, a red and white one.

And for once, Quinn wasn’t the first person he wanted to taste it.

As he gazed down at his final chocolate, Luke decided then and there that if Dani didn’t call him today, he wasn’t just going to sit back and wallow. Nope. Shop or no shop, she was his future. And as soon as she woke up, he was going to stomp over there and demand that the stubborn woman marry him already so they could get started on that future. Start adding more dreams to that future so they could both—

A loud rapping noise broke into his thoughts.

Startled, he noticed the sun was now out. But it was still early.

Who would be here at this hour?

Heading out to the storefront to investigate, he was beyond surprised at who he saw standing there on the other side of the glass.

“Hey, man.” He quickly unlocked the door to let Derek in. “Is Dani okay?” Puzzled by the man’s smiling, almost giddy energy, Luke put aside his worries and amended his guess. “Or is this a chocolate emergency? You planning something for Jonathan?”

Derek grinned and shook his outstretched hand. “No, nothing like that. I actually have something I wanted to show you.”

“Have a seat.” Luke pointed to the nearest table. “Want some coffee?”

The almost frenzied shuffling of papers he heard in response made him look back over at Derek. Seeing Dani’s brother, one of the most easygoing people on the planet, looking so nervous made him forget the coffee pot altogether. The guy obviously didn’t need any caffeine at the moment.

“You okay, man?” Luke sat down across from him, now back to being worried.

After a deep breath, a now very serious, very formal Derek slid a portfolio across the table and stated, “Luke, I’d like us to go into business together.”

Luke did a double take.

Having no clue how to even process that sentence, Luke simply looked down at the elegantly scripted folio cover while trying to turn his brain right-side-up again. “Desert Confections Chocolates and Wines?” His gaze snapped back to Derek’s. “You want to open your craft winery with my chocolate shop instead of the brewpub?”

“Ah, so Dani finally told you. Good. Then I can skip the forgive-my-sister part and get right to my spiel.”