Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(24)

“I did,” he threw back matter-of-factly. “I was originally going to say ‘where romance goes to die.’ Hibernation is a totally different thing. It’s temporary. Restful, even. A cuddly cave for teddy bears.” The grin coming from his end of the phone line was thoroughly audible.

It was like the man had a map of all her buttons.

As that twenty-five percent she’d been thinking about earlier was swiftly subtracting all the way down to zero, she heard the ding of his shop doorbell and a quick muted exchange in the background before he returned with, “Sorry, gorgeous. The delivery guys are finally here with the last of our delayed display cases so I have to run. Do me a favor and save some of those sexy growls for when I’m there in person for lunch. I kind of miss them when I don’t hear them at least twice a day.”

And with that, he hung up, leaving Dani to sit there with a glaring half smile on her face and a now even fifty-fifty annoyance-to-attraction percent ratio.

The man was an unapologetic troublemaker.

Who was starting to grow on her.

The sound of a gum-snap popped her reflective bubble like a pin-prick. “If you keep distracting him with all this innocent ‘non-dating,’ Luke’s going to have to push back his grand opening another week again,” Xoey teased as she checked her watch and headed out the door. No doubt because her internal alarm had just told her it was time to go bat her lashes and harass a few early bites of today’s lunch specials from the guys in the kitchen—a thoroughly unnecessary exercise seeing as how all brewpub workers ate for free, but one Xoey did daily anyway, even on her days off like today. To the cooks’ enjoyment, of course.

Meanwhile, Dani was still attempting to breathe through the uncomfortable stab in the pit of her stomach over what Xoey had just said. Nothing more than a joke of course, but it rang way too close to home, brought back the unwelcome reminder of the very thing eating her alive for the past few weeks. Gnawing guilt of the worst kind—one that was getting worse with each day she wasn’t granted an 80s-movie-style do-over for the voice mail she’d found herself leaving a few weeks back.

The voice mail before Luke had come over to apologize for his overzealous shop partner’s misguided marketing tactic that had turned more into a direct attack on Ocotillos than the playful comparison between neighboring businesses it was supposed to be. Before his apology had combusted into an all-out debate that somehow instigated this chocolate vs. beer town throwdown they were both locked in now. Before she’d even thought to put a face to the person who owned that chocolate shop at all.

Hell, Luke’s business or not, what she’d done was just wrong and she knew it. She’d been upset at their attack, yes, but that was no excuse. She never should have suggested that Ocotillos was willing to outbid the current tenant of the neighboring building space the second their start-up contract went up for long-term renewal this summer.

Via a voicemail to the business mogul who owned most of Cactus Creek.

Otherwise known as her friend Noah Jameson.

However, the fact that Noah had done nothing more than send her a cursory ‘Still intrigued; I’ll be in touch’ email in reply to the voice mail she’d left him three weeks ago, was only serving to give her the start of an ulcer.

Logically, she knew Noah’s lack of follow-up all these weeks was very likely a sign that she needed to toss her neighboring Dobson winery idea in the trash. But wrong though it most certainly was, a sliver of her heart still held out hope.

Because that would mean she could finally help her brother achieve his dreams of opening up a winery, which he’d shelved years ago so that she could live out her dreams and live down her failures.

The latter being far bigger than the former.

Even though she truly would never deem it okay to throw Luke or any of the town folks’ businesses under the bus, if one goal could cloud her vision on the matter, being able to do this for Derek would be the one.

No matter the cost.

Three weeks ago, there had been little cost to factor in. Three weeks ago, the owner of the business next door had been an unnamed stranger who’d royally pissed her off.

And now? With every day she got to know every aggravating, but still mostly sweet and charming thing about Luke, there was most definitely a steep cost to consider. In fact, she’d steadily begun convincing herself it was a good thing that Noah had probably found some gaping hole in her winery suggestion.

But then there was the part of her—the part with two horns and a tail, for sure—which reasoned that while a Dobson winery tied to her Dobson brewpub would only work in that exact building next door, Luke could easily move his shop out and be successful anywhere. If by some far-fetched chance Noah did call her back about her proposal, she would of course insist it wasn’t her intent to get Luke booted out of town. Just…relocated elsewhere in town. Or maybe someplace better even. A bustling boutique area in Scottsdale, perhaps. It could be a win-win all around and Luke could— Who’re you trying to kid, Dobson?

She sucked. Plain and simple. Luke was a genuinely nice guy who deserved far better than Dani Dobson. In more ways than one. Her inner vacillations on the degree to which she sucked were interrupted, however, when Mr. Nice Guy himself approached with a knee-weakening grin. All niceness aside, the man was devastating to look at. Period. Handsome was too weak a word to even pair into the description.

He was ruggedly approachable, if that was even a thing. The strong, chiseled jaw and deep, dark eyes would drag you under his spell, but his gentle, laughing smile was what would make it impossible for you to escape. And his body. Good lord. He had one of those hard bodies that suits had to be custom tailored for, the kind that a loosened tie would look ‘drop-your-panties-for-me’ on. Combine it all with his soft, sun-browned hair and the rugged five o’clock shadow of a hard-earned day, and he was Dani’s very definition of sexy.