Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(12)

Luke rubbed his neck. “I guess I am pretty fried.” Yawning, he gave her a peck on the cheek in thanks and headed out to his car.

It wasn’t until he was halfway home that he realized what he’d forgotten to do this morning as planned. He quickly grabbed his cell phone and hit the first speed dial. “Hey Quinn. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot you wanted to discuss your video ad ideas for our Valentine’s Day campaign this morning. You want me to head back in?”

Quinn’s voice grinned over the phone line. “That’s alright. You’re exhausted, and clearly distracted. We can talk more about the video ads later. I’ll just do some prep work for it today. No worries. One day of you being a red-blooded man isn’t going to kill us.”

Wow. What happened to the freaked out Quinn from the past few weeks?

Hearing her renewed excitement about the shop markedly eased the weight he’d been feeling on his shoulders the past few weeks. He didn’t realize how much he’d been needing Quinn to go back to being the yin to his yang in his chocolate operation, the one whose belief in their success was based as much on loyalty and faith as it was good, sound business.

And for the first time since the move, she was back.

“Damn,” he commented, now slightly more curious than tired, “your idea must be good.”

“You’ll see,” she replied confidently. “I’m going to take the bull by the horns, if you don’t mind. I want to gather some footage and start the ground work for the videos already.”

Now he knew she was back. With Quinn being a step ahead of him, they’d returned to their status quo. “Go for it,” he said with a grin as he pulled into his apartment parking stall and threw his car into park. Since she was a real-deal marketing whiz, whatever she was cooking up would turn into gold, no doubt.

With Quinn very much her old self again, suddenly, Luke felt his body start to unravel. All at once, every tired muscle in his body weighed on his bones like newly dried cement. The burst of relieved adrenaline he’d got a second ago depleted the last of his emotional reserves, causing him to hit the wall hard.

Staying awake was nowhere in the realm of possible anymore. Barely remembering to mumble goodbye before clicking off his bluetooth, Luke stumbled in his door, dropped everything in the hallway, and fell into bed half-zipped, eyes already glued closed.

Falling asleep at this time of day wasn’t all that uncommon for him. His vampiric sleeping schedule began years ago when he’d discovered how much he preferred working on his chocolates before dawn. Unfortunately, this meant a pitch-dark refuge was a necessity if he hoped to get a wink of sleep afterward.

Today though, even with the Arizona sun blazing through his windows, he was out cold. Unconscious to everything.

Even his beeping cell phone.





CHAPTER THREE


AT THE LANDING of the back stairwell that led from her little studio apartment down to Ocotillos, Dani attempted to stretch the aches out of her neck, calves, and everything in between. Even her hair hurt.

“Ugh, I’m getting old.”

Not that she would dare repeat that statement in the brewpub.

She’d made the mistake once last year and just barely missed a lynching by her wait staff, half of whom had been like aunts and sisters to her for over a decade now, since the day she’d turned sixteen and had begun following in her dad’s beer brewing footsteps.

While they’d be the first to admit she had always acted way too old for her age, all the waitresses still decreed that she’d better have at least one sagging body part before she even thought of uttering those words again.

Dani chuckled at the memory. The irony here was that she’d actually been doing them proud the past few days, finally acting like the teen she’d never been back then. Hyperactive libido? Revved enough to power a small city. Self-restraint? Questionable at best. All very redolent of the end-of-the-road adolescent years she’d leapfrogged right over to take over the family business.

And this new found smitten-kitten behavior was all because of him.

Oh, she was well aware that she was flat-out swooning over Luke like he was the best crop of hops she’d ever encountered. Hell, she’d experienced the whirlwind feelings before...just not over anything but beer or food until now.

Jesus, Dani Dobson, swept off her feet—even the statement sounded surreal. But the proof was there, plain as day. Since meeting Luke two nights ago, she’d become distracted beyond saving. It had taken her a full hour longer than usual to close up the brewpub that night, a half hour later than that the next. Heck, last night, she’d actually had to double back because she’d forgotten to do her nightly check out front to make sure her workers had secured the lot up for the night. Along with deadbolting all the doors to the brewery, that was a routine step she couldn’t ever remember having skipped in years.

Yep, Luke was most assuredly to blame.

The man was a menace to all that kept her boring. He made her hum. Literally. She’d actually caught herself humming a sappy tune that second trip up the illogically steep fire escape to her loft apartment. Humming. Up the rickety relic of a stairwell her dad had loved for some incomprehensible reason, seeing as how it was a bitchfest to climb even on a good day.

Who knew? A few kisses with a stranger who’d forgotten to get her number was all she’d needed to feel so…irresponsibly free. Devoid of anxiety. Happy. And for the first time in a long while, not half as lonely.