Love, Diamonds, and Spades (Cactus Creek #2)(6)

Three Weeks Later



“THIS COMPETITION was inspired.”

Glancing up at the sound of Luke’s awed statement from across the Ocotillos rooftop deck, Rylan was surprised to find that he was in complete agreement with the man’s assessment.

This crazy little throwdown between Dani and Luke was going to go down in the history books for sure.

To say the town was excited for it was an understatement. They’d been buzzing about it all through the holidays, eagerly waiting for another heated battle between the pair like the one that had taken place atop the rooftop a few weeks back before Christmas. And they’d all gotten their wish when Luke had officially thrown down the gauntlet publicly yesterday in the first town newsletter of the year, which had welcomed both Desert Confections and the official start of the two-and-a-half month showdown between Desert Confections and Ocotillos.

Chocolate vs Beer…for romance supremacy on Valentine’s Day.

He shook his head. Only in Cactus Creek.

At first, Rylan had thought the whole crazy competition between Dani and Luke was going to be a recipe for disaster. Not that he didn’t have all the faith in the world in Dani—the woman was actually a pretty hardcore romantic, even if she didn’t realize it. But he’d been more worried that this whole gladiator-level battle brewing between the pair was going to kill her chances with the guy…who she was so clearly into.

But then Luke had come up with this whole chocolate commercial filmed in the brewpub idea…that apparently, the suicidal man had somehow managed to get Dani to agree to. Right then and there, Rylan knew that Luke was in it to win it.

Not the throwdown, but rather, the fight for Dani’s heart.

That had been the only reason he’d agreed to sing in the commercial for Luke—well, the hilarity factor of the whole thing was part of it too, of course. But mostly, it was to support the man in his quest to win Dani over.

Now that the filming of the commercial was over, however, Rylan had to admit, it had turned out pretty damn good.

“Tell me that didn’t go as well as it sounded,” sighed Dani dramatically, as she planted herself next to him with a forlorn sigh and a peeved scowl aimed at the back of Luke’s head.

Right. He forgot Dani had been ‘forced’ to stay downstairs during the entire filming.

Seriously, that Luke was a freakin’ hoot.

“You know where our loyalties lie, sweetie. If you want, I can go over to Aidan right now and have him mess with the video editing. Just say the word.” He was lying, of course, but it got him the small smile he’d been looking for.

“No,” she replied grudgingly, just as he knew she would. “I can beat Luke without resorting to cheating.” Her furrowed brows lifted with inspiration. “Doesn’t mean I can’t fight a little dirty though.”

With her eyes still trained on Luke, Dani yanked out her phone and started tapping out a quick text, a rather devious grin on her face the whole time.

The fact that Luke almost tripped over his own two feet reading the received text on his end shortly after was reason enough for Rylan to excuse himself. It was clear those two were dating…sort of. And it was equally clear that the pair had the strangest form of guerrilla foreplay.

Speaking of foreplay…

Rylan bypassed the now grinning and texting chocolatier, to head over to Luke’s lovely shop partner.

Quinn Christiansen.

His reaction to the woman that first day up on this rooftop had coldcocked him out of the blue. It had been beyond attraction. Far more intense. Adding her mysteriously short fuse with him to the equation somehow just made the magnetic pull ten times stronger.

And not just for him, apparently.

If he hadn’t felt her eyes on him for the past half hour while they’d been shooting the commercial, he’d have backed off. But he was a mere mortal man. He’d stayed away for three weeks to give her time to focus on the chocolate shop’s grand opening.

The grand opening had been yesterday.

Without another thought, he slid into the spot beside Quinn that Luke had just vacated.

She took a not-at-all-subtle step away from him.

He grinned. Yep, this was going to be fun. “Hey. It’s Quinn, right?”



*



GOD, THAT VOICE.

With little more than a civil grimace, Quinn pushed out a terse, “Yep,” in response to the deep, smoky voice that had been torturing her memory for weeks.

Rylan raised a dark eyebrow in amusement, and his glittering gaze showed he wasn’t thwarted in the least bit. “Dare I hope you’re a fan here to watch us perform?”

She gave him her best ‘idiot’ dismissal and her no-fail testicle shrinking glance. “I don’t listen to whatever type of music this is you play.”

Well done. She mentally patted herself on the back. Pinocchio would be proud.

Unfortunately, it seemed the man went for that kind of thing, because his eyes darkened with interest, evidently drawn to the unintended challenge she posed. Great.

“Really?” he replied, shrugging casually. “Huh. I could’ve sworn I saw you singing along to one of our songs during warm-ups, which could only mean that you’ve watched us on YouTube since we don’t have any albums out. My mistake.”

He saw that? Her lips flattened and she willed the blood to stay out of her cheeks. “I’m just here to make sure things go smoothly for the video. Luke’s been a bit distracted lately.”