Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(55)

Suddenly, a small group of college guys shouted at the camera from behind her, “Yeah, BEER!!!” The growing crowd in front of the brewpub cheered and hooted.

She laughed. “I guess they’re not voting chocolate tomorrow.”

“Wow. Looks like this heated rivalry between you and your neighbor has been great for business in these parts.” Paul winked as he glanced around at the now swarming street corner.

Joking or not, Dani didn’t care for his nudge-nudge insinuation that this throwdown was just some town marketing ploy. Donkey. When he elbowed her like they were old buds sharing a private joke, she had to restrain herself from ‘accidentally’ elbowing him back in the balls.

Not clued in one bit, he continued, “So can we expect more throwdown action around here for Desert Confections’ proposed White Chocolate Day in March as well?”

She recovered her composure and smiled like she was selling toothpaste. “Unfortunately, we’ll be busy with Arizona Beer Week after Valentine’s Day. But, we will be firing back with our own Asian holiday import on April 14th. That’s a unique holiday devoted to all you singles out there so you better believe Ocotillos will have something off the wall planned.”

“Very cool. Any last things you want to add in the time remaining, Dani?”

“Maybe just a little reminder for folks to come down for the concert we’ll be having this weekend to celebrate our crushing victory tomorrow,” she threw in for fun.

“Ouch, you’re aiming for the gracious win, I see.”

Her eyes twinkled at that. “Trust me, my opponent expects nothing less from me.”

“Ah, sounds like there’s no love lost there. Darn, and here I was hoping the online gossip about you and the enemy being madly in love was true,” he lamented playfully.

What? Where the heck had that come from? Dani froze. An uncomfortably long split second stretched past as she attempted to find an answer for Paul. And herself.

A reporter to his very core, Paul’s eyes took on a new light as he found the stray thread of a story here and began pulling. “Or is it true? You and your archrival falling in love would be the ultimate fairytale ending to this Valentine standoff. Is there something to the rumors?”

There was that grating made-for-TV laugh of his again.

Now annoyed on top of tongue-tied, she just smiled awkwardly and said the first thing that popped in her head. “Sorry to disappoint but what you see is what you get. No fairytale love story here. This is just a good ole-fashioned pistols-at-dawn duel. All in fun.” She blinked and stared at the camera. Stunned. Her eyes felt waxy and the air like sawdust…which was just as well because she was having a hard time getting her lungs to expand.

What the hell just happened?

“Well there you have it. While love may not be in the cards for this dueling duo, the romance revolution they’ve started in this throwdown has certainly stirred up love for folks all across Arizona. Of course the question still remains, on this Valentine’s Day, which will you vote for: chocolate or beer?” Paul flashed his killer smile one last time. “Back to you, Jane.”



*



LUKE TIREDLY walked back into the shop for his evening shift. He’d been running around with so many corporate deliveries that he’d worked right though his normal schedule. Worse still, being out all day, he hadn’t even been able to see Dani today as they’d planned. That truly had sucked since he’d really been looking forward to it.

Checking the time, he reasoned that there was just enough time before the concert for Luke to sneak Dani out for a little random romancing. He grinned and went into Quinn’s office to see if she could keep working for just a tiny bit longer.

Quinn jumped about three feet in the air when she saw him. “Luke! What are you doing here?” She propped her hip awkwardly on her desk and glanced uneasily at her computer.

His eyes narrowed. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!”

“You’ve always been a bad liar.” Sweeping her to the side, he went over to her computer screen and found himself more confused. It was just a video news clip.

“You know, I really need to get back to—”

His look silenced her. Pushing her hands away from the keyboard, he rewound the video back to the beginning and hit play.

It was Dani, looking particularly cute as she answered some news reporter’s questions for the five o’clock news. Luke’s nerves relaxed. Was this all Quinn was freaked out about? More chocolate vs. beer stuff? Funny, he figured Quinn would welcome the attention—

His smile fell apart when he heard Dani’s final answer in the interview. Her flippant comment dismissing the possibility that she and Luke were in love slashed him right in the gut. It wasn’t just hearing the words that stung. It was seeing the stricken expression on her face that proclaimed the mere idea of being in love so far from any realm of possibility for her.

“Luke, I’m sure she didn’t mean that how it sounded.”

He remained silent, staring at the blank screen long after the clip ended.

Quinn put a comforting hand on his arm. “Don’t blow this out of proportion.”

He shrugged her off and headed out the door.

She ran after him. “Luke, stop. Cool down a bit before you head over there.”