Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(44)

Quinn frowned at her ice cream. “This is ice cream; everyone looks sexy when they’re licking something,” she argued, making a concerted effort then to take just a demure bite.

“Maybe. But you do it whenever you eat anything good. You did it at the Japanese restaurant earlier too. When you tasted that sesame beef tartare the chef made, you were all bedroom eyes over buttery moans and purring sighs. I swear you had the college guys at the next table drooling.” Rylan left out the part about him being in just as bad a state at the time.

“You’re exaggerating.” The tone of her voice was unsure, however.

“No I’m not. It’s so sexy you’re making me a little nuts here. All I can think about is what you’ll look and sound like when you’re rounding the bases to the big O.”

Quinn’s morbid embarrassment at his teasing suddenly dissipated and her expression changed, locked, sank into a deep reflection. Until she became statuesque.

“Aw, hell. I was just playing, sweetness. No need to go shy on me now.”

She didn’t look like she’d even heard him. Instead, her eyes boggled and then narrowed with cold, murderous intent. “LUKE!” she screeched.

From the bench a few dozen yards away, Luke shot to his feet in startled concern. “What’s wrong, Quinn?” He immediately glared at Rylan. “What the hell did you do to her?”

Rylan threw his hands up in the air—he had no idea.

Quinn jumped up and stalked over to Luke swallowing the courtyard pavement outside of the ice cream shop with fuming, ominous stomps. “All this time?” she growled at Luke. “ALL THESE YEARS you let me think you were just referring to baseball bases in your Quinn chocolate tasting scale?!” She gasped in fury. “Ohmigod, that’s why your friends were all staring at me that one time they saw me taste testing your caramel ganaches!”

“Oh shit!” Luke whipped Dani a caught-fugitive look. “Dani, baby, it’s time. I’m heading to the border. Come find me one day.” He jammed a hasty farewell kiss to her lips and took off running.

Quinn dashed after him, cursing up a storm.

Puzzled, Rylan walked over to Dani. “Do you know what that’s all about?”

Dani grinned. “Sadly, yes.”

“Huh.” Rylan sat down to enjoy the show while he finished his ice cream, chuckling when he saw Quinn launch, with amazing accuracy, the rest of her ice cream at Luke’s back.

That was going to leave a stain.

From wherever they’d been ‘innocently’ MIA for the last ten minutes, Isaac and Xoey reappeared to join Dani and Rylan to watch the unfolding spectacle. Together, they all headed over to the grassy slope Luke had run down in hopes of getting Quinn off his tail. From Rylan’s vantage point, it did look like Luke was earnestly trying to get away.

But with ire as her fairy godmother, Quinn was showing Olympic speed in her pursuit.

“Are we wanting her to catch him?” asked Xoey curiously.

“I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell am,” replied Dani, to Rylan’s surprise.

Women. They banded together on the strangest causes.

A few seconds later, they watched as Quinn got close enough to clobber Luke with her purse.

Unlike the females around him, Rylan had no such gender-specific union to support. He laughed his ass off. Having personally felt how heavy that mom-purse of hers was earlier in the night, he was sure Luke was seeing stars right about now.

Meanwhile, Dani sang out, “Here it comes.”

Quinn lunged and tackled Luke.

To the soundtrack of thunderous applause echoing out from the courtyard. Female and male.





CHAPTER SIX


LUKE WAS halfway out of the shop when the sound of an elderly couple quarreling over which gift box set to buy gave him pause. “Hey Rissa,” he called out to the ASU grad student who’d been with them as their one and only employee for the past year and a half, back when they’d just started to get really popular in Mesa. “Why don’t you give this nice couple samples of...” he checked to see which box sets they were considering, “the Brulee Bonbon, the Dark Hazelnut Buttercream, and the Juniper Whip.”

The couple turned around in surprise and came over to thank him personally.

“My pleasure,” he assured them warmly. “Enjoy.”

Now for his favorite part.

From the corner of his eye, he watched as the sweet old couple tasted the samples and began gushing over the unique flavors. Luke ducked his head and beamed a little. It never got old. Seeing folks taste his chocolates for the first time always made his day.

Luke entered Ocotillos from the brewery entrance a minute later and scanned the vast metallic maze in search of Dani. It took a while, but he finally found her with a few of the beer boys hosing down one of the larger beer vessels and looking pretty darn cute in those big rubber brew boots of hers. When her animated laugh echoed out over the quiet industrial hum of the giant machines all around, Luke couldn’t help but smile. She really looked in her element back here. So, rather than scooping her up and kissing her the way he’d been thinking about all morning, he instead decided to hang back for a bit to study another puzzle piece that made up the enigma that was Dani.

While Dani always displayed a vibrant joy for her work, whether she was tending bar or out front running the brewpub, when she was back here as brewmaster, she seemed to exude this deep, soul-refreshing passion that was inspiring to witness. He admired that type of dedication, felt a kindred bond with her for being as excited about her life’s work as he was about his.