Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(20)

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.”