Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(30)

She blinked. “I was saying you’re crazy,” she grumbled, her voice still hushed as if she were in a library while her captivated gaze watched the chocolate start to thicken and shine.

Funny, you’d think his spatula strokes were lulling a cobra.

Of course, nothing lasted forever. Quinn soon began arguing all the many reasons not to do their video at Ocotillos while he deposited the now cooled white chocolate into a bowl to bring its temperature back up and ready it for the bonbon molds. As he stirred, Luke listened to each of her very valid points.

Well, sort of. It was tough, what with Quinn starting to sound like the Peanuts cartoon teacher and all. When she launched into what he guessed was Part F of Reason Number Three, he moved on to brushing colorful honey crystals into the wells of the bonbon molds to make for a decorative tint on the finish. He threw in a solemn wow-never-thought-of-that nod as he ladled in the tempered chocolate next, cooling and coating it so only a thin layer remained in the grooves. Lastly, he piped the pistachio cream filling he’d made earlier into each chocolate-lined crater and then poured a final layer of white chocolate over it to seal the bonbons shut.

All that was left was refrigeration and later Rissa could pop them out of the mold trays. Checking the clock, Luke quickly washed up and went over to get the cordless, grinning all the while like a kid on April Fool’s Day. “Perfect timing. Dani should be starting her shift now.”

Quinn pinched her nose bridge. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said! I’m telling you, Dani’s going to have your balls for this. She’ll feed ‘em to you first, and then kill you—”

“It’s ringing. Unless you want Dani to hear you hollering, you may want to...”

She instantly pursed her mouth shut. Luke snickered; it was like he had a fun new app to torture Quinn with. And when the voice of that app greeted him on the line, his smile widened.

“Hi Dani, it’s Luke. I know this is late notice but do you think I could book Ocotillos for a video shoot tomorrow? We want to film a commercial to get the word out about our Valentine campaign, something really compelling to help it go viral. And, no two ways about it, your brewpub would be the perfect site for what we have in mind.”

He stifled a laugh over the dead silence that greeted his enthusiasm, picturing steam blasting out of Dani’s ears. “And hey, if you’re free, maybe we can grab a bite after the shoot—you know, to celebrate this throwdown getting into full swing and all... What do you say?”

Oh baby, let the fun begin.



*



DANI SAW RED.

Luke had the audacity to think she’d allow them to shoot their video ad at Ocotillos? Oh, she wanted to allow some shooting alright—a Glock at his big brass cojones sounded about fair.

“You’ve GOT to be joking,” she finally managed to sputter through clenched teeth.

“No, I’m not. Your brewpub is the perfect site for our video. Unless—” he paused just long enough to make her bristle, “you don’t want us to. I mean, you did say we should go all out but I’d understand why you’d be afraid...errr, I mean uncomfortable.”

He was smiling now; she could hear it. A tide of anger blanketed her eyes. “You can’t possibly think I’ll let you goad me into allowing a competing marketing ad to be filmed here,” she snarled back. His ludicrous request was insulting enough, but pairing it with his well-aimed taunting—and man, did he know how to piss her off—was a lethal catalyst.

“Trust me, honey. There’s no competition. You’ll see.”

She almost threw the phone against the wall. Instead, she exploded into a curse-drenched outburst, showing off the extensive vocabulary she’d picked up over the years behind the bar.

Awed chuckling rang out over the phone. “Wow, I usually get to know a girl before we get into this kind of pillow talk,” he provoked even more.

Okay, now he was just pushing his luck. Schooling her voice, she replied, soft and sugar sweet, “My actual pillow talk is far more inventive, Mr. Bradford...or at least that’s what I’ve been told.” A tiny off-white lie to poke his green-eyed monster in the misters, and an impressive delivery as well over all her glaring and teeth baring. Ire really was an excellent acting coach.

You could hear a pin drop.

Good, let him stew. Smiling now, Dani continued all business-like, “No problem, Mr. Bradford. You can do your little video shoot here. But, I will have to charge you double our normal fee because of the last-minute notice. And, you know, just because I want to.”

“Fine,” replied Luke with noticeably forced calm.

Oh, what she would’ve given to see his face. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Bradford.”

“For dinner as well?” he interjected quickly, his voice still gruff...but hopeful.

“What?” Seriously, a sackful of puppies could get exhausted by him.

He was back to sounding amused. “Were you agreeing to just the video or dinner too?”

“No, not dinner. The musicians are performing tomorrow night. I have to be here.”

“Another night then?” His voice softened. “Soon? All kidding aside.”

A pregnant pause followed as she tried to reel in her reaction to the man. “Sure. Dinner another night sounds great,” she replied eventually, her voice catching a tiny bit as unbridled thoughts recalling the events preceding the first time she’d agreed to dinner with him, probably all duplicitously sent by him via some alien telepathy, began swarming in her head.