Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(2)

Another round of merriment echoed into the night just as Rylan swallowed her up in his customary post-set bear hug. She planted a laughing kiss on his cheek and high-fived the rest of his guys, Vanna-Whiting her smartphone screen proudly for the single ones. “Tweets from girls wanting to jump you all right here on my deck? I’d say your fan base is evolving very nicely.”

Rylan’s drummer put his drumsticks up to his heart. “God bless higher education.”

With a chuckling headshake, Dani waited for Aidan to tuck his never-leaves-his-sight drumsticks in his back pocket before walking the group over to the table she kept blocked off for them each week, already piled high with a hodgepodge of their usual dinner favorites.

Rylan pulled a chair out for her and flipped the one beside it around for himself before taking a swig from the mug of rye ale she’d eagerly slid before him.

And then she waited.

His brows shot up midway through his first gulp, before drifting back slowly as his eyelids slid down to an appreciative half-mast. Nearly half the beer was gone before he finally set the mug back down with a satisfied whistle. “Wow. That’s one hell of a beer, sweets. You making this the official winter brew?”

Dani beamed. “Thanks to you. After what you said about the last trial batch, I added ginger to enhance the malty milk sugar and honey.” She kissed her fingertips. “Voila, the Rylan Red was born. I’m the only one who calls it that but still, feel free to be completely honored.”

“Well call me Rumplestiltskin; I done taught you to spin straw into gold.” He kissed her hand with a drizzle of country charm. “Now that you’ve named one of your babies after me, what say you change your last name to Grey as well, love? Make an honest man outta me.”

“Goofball.” She swatted his hand away. “And risk the wrath of your rabid female fans?”

A teasing voice called out, “I’d be more worried about the male ones. Shoot, they’ll yank your hair right out at the roots.” When Xoey popped her head around the corner, the guys cheered and fist-bumped her in welcome while Aidan quickly snaked her onto his lap.

Cartoon waves of steam were sizzling off the pair within seconds, Aidan’s drumsticks no longer the attention-gathering focal point where his rocker jeans were concerned.

“Aaand, that’s our cue to go.” Dani promptly hopped up to drag Xoey over to the safe end of the table by her belt loops, editorializing on behalf of them all drily. “You know, Xo, if you’d just seal the deal with the guy already, the rest of us wouldn’t need a cold shower just from seeing you two say hello.”

A chorus of ‘amen’ sounded from the entire band.

Aidan’s sounding the most reverent of them all.

“Tempting.” Xoey hummed over the suggestion—or intervention rather—before sighing, “But I wouldn’t want to corrupt the poor man.” She tossed a positively carnal wink Aidan’s way. “Yet.”

The guys roared and elbowed their theatrically smitten drummer.

Dani joined the laughs for a bit before ruffling Rylan’s hair and making her exit, giving a green light for the small group of band bunnies hovering nearby to swoop in. Despite the guys’ hard rule of never getting cozy with groupies, she still liked giving them space to enjoy the bunny attention.

Zigzagging down the crowded stairwell back to the bar, Dani greeted a few regulars before heading over to her usual tending area behind the bar and sliding a sideways glance over at Xoey. “So…looks like hell freezing over hasn’t changed the temperature between you and Aidan one bit.” She snickered at Xoey’s petulant glower. “Told you that mistletoe make-out session you two had last month was just going to make everything worse.”

“And I told you I’m not taking love life advice from a woman who doesn’t have a life outside of this brewpub,” hissed Xoey, flicking off Dani’s teasing—literally—before coming to an abrupt halt.

Whatever riveting thing she’d just spotted made her thorny expression suddenly slow-melt away to…amusement. Highly suspicious. Dani’s eyes narrowed as Xoey began chastising her with the same ole lecture, with seemingly new objectives, “The amount you’ve been working this year is obscene, Dani. Far worse than your usual recreational workaholism. You are simply too hot to be going through an eleven-month dryspell.”

Dani felt color flood her cheeks as she shot a look around at everyone within earshot before sending Xoey a keep-talking-and-I’ll-kill-you look.

Ignoring it, Xoey steamrolled on, eyes alit with best friend mischief. “As the foremost objector to your recent unhealthy lifestyle choices, I’m duty-bound to point out that—” she stabbed her finger, ever so indiscreetly, at the criminally good-looking man a few tables down from them— “panty-melting chiseled goodness over there is back again. And he definitely wants you all kinds of naked right now.”



*



LUKE BRADFORD didn’t know why the almost irrationally sexy bartender in the too-tight top was pointing at him and frankly, he didn’t much care. It was the one with the killer smile beside her, the brunette he’d caught fleeting glimpses of the last few weeks—even chatted with once or twice in passing—that gripped his attention yet again. She was tucking her sleek, dark chocolate hair behind an ear in seemingly shy reflex and he just sat there with the round he’d just bought the guys, unable to take his eyes off her.