Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(29)

The perfect start to their grand opening day.

Not that he was treating today any different from any other day. It certainly didn’t feel any different. Because of the one-week delay in getting the front of the shop done, coupled with the fact that they’d been working out of the back for the past month with the corporate gifts, continued distribution orders across the county, and all their internet and phone gift box sales, today’s grand opening wasn’t nearly as exciting as their first grand opening back in Mesa. True, the town was looking forward to it, but honestly, he knew that most of them had tasted a lot of the samples they’d been giving out in the town square and varied town events so really, the thing they were the most excited about was the official launch to the chocolate vs. beer throwdown.

He didn’t blame them; that had been a primary focus on his mind the past few weeks, too. Damn near since the moment Dani threw down the challenge.

Putting his knife away for the time being, he tempered the newly serrated slivers in a steel bowl, gradually mixing it to a slow, rich melt and then leaving it to sit for a bit once he got it up to the right temperature and consistency.

As his set timer ticked away, he wandered over to the pantry, figuring today was as good a day as any to try out a new flavor. “What the hell,” he shrugged, grabbing a few dried Mulato, Guajillo, and Aji Panca chiles, the best matches with chocolate. After grinding the chiles down to a powder with his mortar and pestle, he threw in some jasmine tea leaves from a local grower and steeped the finished concoction in a cup of hot chocolate made from the couverture slivers.

Huh, not bad. The taste was a little on the subtle side for his palate, but layered just right, it could work. He made a few notes and logged it as a win to perfect later. All in all, another successful experiment in the uncommon and unlikely. The secret to his best creations. Truth be told, without his intrepid palate, his first shop probably wouldn’t have thrived the way it had. Not only did his novelty samples draw in customers, dreaming them up allowed him a regular outlet to be inspired by nontraditional chocolatiering ingredients. From yuzu to flavored salts, unexpected flavors with their own unique kick were unquestionably his trademark.

He liked the dauntless and unexpected.

Which would explain his intense attraction to Dani.

Shaking his head wryly at how much the woman was invading his thoughts lately, he retrieved the bowl of melted chocolate and began seeding it—gradually stirring more of the couverture slivers into the heated batch to both cool it down and meld the liquid and solid forms to crystallize the cocoa butter acids into a richer, smoother chocolate. Operating as he always did by sense and sight over measurements and thermometers, he was meticulous, wanting a very specific sheen, snap, and mouth feel for this batch.

As he worked, his thoughts of course drifted back to Dani. Christ, she was addictive. Pushing her buttons to get all that passion to flare was now his new favorite past time. And judging by the past few weeks, the feeling was clearly mutual. He still couldn’t believe she’d issued a throwdown. Hands-down one of the sexiest things a woman had ever done to him.

While finishing the final step of reheating the chocolate once more, Luke considered all the different ways he could truly enjoy this challenge Dani had issued. There were just so many possibilities. Oh, the limerick contest had been fun and all, but he knew he could do better. He aspired for greater.

Swiping the tempered chocolate onto parchment paper to check its gloss and texture, satisfied that it was keeping its temper, he went to grab the refrigerated chocolate squares he’d made yesterday for hand dipping today as giveaway samples for this morning’s grand opening.

As he quickly worked his way through the first hundred, he pushed his imagination to dig deeper—what would Dani least expect him to do? That was the question. He pondered that as he did a simple dip of the squares in the newly tempered chocolate and then stencil-sifted the ground chile and jasmine tea leaf mix on top.

Pausing after a few, he thought about switching things up by layering the powdered layer under the tempered coating instead of over. The surprise factor of that would likely create a new— That’s when it hit him.

The perfect angle for the video ad they’d been planning to do for their campaign. It would also serve as a grand throwdown strike as well. Two birds, one stone.

Plus, it was so nail-gratingly aggravating, he was sure it’d drive Dani nuts.

He could hardly wait.




A HUGE GRIN lit Luke’s face when he heard his shop door jangle open a half hour later.

“Are you out of your frickin’ mind?!” barked Quinn, storming into the shop at ten to eight, phone waving at him like a weapon. “I almost crashed the car when I heard your voicemail over my bluetooth. You want to shoot a commercial inside of Ocotillos?!”

“Dani did say to do whatever we wanted, however we wanted.”

Quinn erupted, questioning everything from his sobriety to his will to live.

Luke just laughed and stepped around her to start a batch of the pistachio whip white chocolate bonbon with honey crystals they’d be launching this week. Remembering at the last minute that he did indeed have a will to live, he plastered on his yes-Quinn-I’m-listening look before pouring the molten white chocolate he was holding onto their marble slab countertop. This tabling method, which he preferred over bowl seeding for white couverture in particular, was almost meditative, mainly due to how silent Quinn got when he began smoothing through the rich chocolate puddle with his metal spatula and putty knife. It was a phenomenon often displayed by customers as well. “You were saying?” he prodded amusedly without looking up.