Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(22)

Uh oh.

“Who knows? Arguing with you could be fun. I hear great things about make-up sex.”

His neck muscles corded at the thought.

“As long as you know the score,” she warned, arms crossed stubbornly.

Of course he knew the score—how else was he supposed to change it?

“You’ve made it abundantly clear,” he replied drily.

“Well then,” she tossed him a look just this side of dangerous, “while you’re attempting to school me in your Desert Confections variety of romance, I guess I can take the time to show you how folks would have way more memorable connections without all your stuffy rules.”

Instantly, the DNA in his Y chromosome went on high alert, reacting to her very female goading. “What exactly are we talking here, honey? You bringing our businesses into this too?”

“Just following your lead, honey. You made that bed—you prepared to lie in it?”

“Are you?” His blood pressure spiked at the double meaning possibilities.

Now her eyes were really dancing. “Okay, smart guy. You do your little romance campaign for Desert Confections—whatever you want to do, however you want it. And I’ll start one of my own for Ocotillos. We can have a town vote to see which of us ends up on top.”

With all her words sounding decidedly sex inspired to his lust-hazed mind, it took Luke a few beats to realize she’d just issued a throwdown. “Are you serious?” He jerked back to study her face. “You want to pit your brewpub against my chocolate shop? In the arena of romance?”

“You bet. You sell it your way; I’ll sell it mine. We’ll go to Valentine’s Day.”

“You’re on.” Luke’s grin turned positively wolfish. “I gotta say, I’ve never been more motivated to end up ‘on top’ on Valentine’s Day.”

“You make it sound so dirty.” The slow roaming glance she slid over him was far from disapproving. “And here I thought you were such a tame gentleman the night we met.”

For an unromantic suffering a dry spell, hot damn, the minx could do seduction just fine.

He didn’t rise to the bait though. “I don’t know about tame, but I am a gentleman. Outside the context of this little wager, I fully intend for you and I to take turns being on top, sweetheart.”

Mentally girding his loins, Luke expected Dani to fricassee him with one of her token smart-ass replies. But when she instead just stood there at an utter loss for words, he knew he’d just taken her brain on a field trip her hitched breathing said she was enjoying.

Hell yeah—chalk one point up for him.

She snapped out of it an instant later, however, and the sexiest bedroom eyes he’d ever seen hardened to a glare of annoyance at the satisfaction in his grin.

“Shame only the loser will be kneeling for his,” she flicked her eyes down his frame, “comeuppance.” Leaning in close, she dropped her voice to a whisper. “My idea of romance would dictate we take turns at that, too.”

He almost fell to his knees right there. Then of course she just had to do that ball-busting signature walkout of hers, leaving him to stare hotly after her to try and get his pulse to stop racing away with his imagination.

A rough sigh shot out of him as he checked the score.

Okay, that was definitely one point for Dani.

One second later, his phone beeped.

A text from Dani.

Hell, he hadn’t even seen her using her phone. Then again, his eyes had been glued a little farther south from her hands thanks to that sexy strut of her.

>> TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION EARLIER, YES, I WOULD PREFER WE HANG OUT AT ‘SOME BAR’ INSTEAD OF YOUR FIREPLACE.

He winced and chose his return text carefully.

>> DOES THIS MEAN WE’RE STILL ON FOR OUR DATE? SHOULD I WEAR PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT?

>> HONESTLY, I DON’T THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA ANYMORE. BUT I’M WILLING TO DISCUSS IT WITHOUT ALL THESE PRYING EYES.

Another beep.

>> AND YES, PROTECTIVE GEAR WOULD BE WISE.

Chuckling quietly, he texted back with a grin.

>> YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO BRING MY A-GAME TO WEAR YOU DOWN, RIGHT?

>> COUNTING ON IT. LOOKING FORWARD TO IT, IN FACT.

Damn, the woman was a walking dare wrapped in a taunting red ribbon. And he just couldn’t get enough of her. After a promise to call her later, he pocketed his phone and thought about the throwdown they had somehow managed to shove each other into. By far the strangest start to a new relationship he’d ever encountered.

And he had a sneaking suspicion it was going to go down as his last.



*



DANI GRINNED, feeling Luke’s eyes follow her as she pocketed her phone and made her way down the stairwell. This was going to be fun. As far as new neighbors went, Luke was certainly turning out to be—

That’s when she nearly toppled headfirst down the steps as one tiny, extremely tardy detail came crashing down on her.

Luke was the owner of the chocolate shop next door.

The one she’d basically thrown under the bus yesterday.




-- End of Prequel --





LOVE, CHOCOLATE, AND BEER



A CACTUS CREEK NOVEL





CHAPTER ONE