Love, Chocolate, and Beer

by Violet Duke

  And the guilt was warranted.

  She could’ve stopped at the persuasive brewpub/winery details. She should’ve stopped after the part about how her proposed brother-sister team—a human-interest angle in itself—would never do the lowdown things Desert Confections had done today. But no, like a possessed woman, Dani simply hadn’t been able to resist ending her spiel with one final parting shot...

  “Derek and I will even lease out the space for more than what you’re currently getting.”

  That had earned her a very disappointed look from Harold.

  And Noah’s business card.

  Dani leaned back in her chair and covered her face with unsteady hands. Whether it was to stifle a gasp of hope for Derek or a self-flogging condemnation for actually having suggested a means to shut down a fellow business, she wasn’t sure.

  Both probably.

  The dreadful churning in her stomach was undoubtedly due to the latter though.

  Don’t get ahead of yourself, Dobson. That wasn’t even a real sit-down. It’s not as if she’d presented a formal plan of action that would actually get acted on. No, that meeting had just been a hoop-dreamy little ‘what if’ talk.

  …With her dad’s old buddy and a friend she’d practically grown-up with.

  Damn, there was that churning again.

  Shaking her head, Dani tossed the business card on her desk—she really was getting worked up over nothing. The chocolate shop had just barely started their preliminary half-year contract last month. And if her hunch was correct, they were going to do well for themselves here. She did not just lay the groundwork for ending their business dreams to pave the way for her brother’s.

  Had she?

  It would take one phone call to clear everything up.

  Unsure yet if she was pushing or pulling, she picked up the card again and started dialing...

  CHAPTER FOUR

  LUKE GOT UP around two pm, a few hours earlier than he usually did, mainly because the missed message alert on his cell phone was beeping the sanity right out of his head. He went into his text inbox and blinked as the words on the screen wiggled into his sleep groggy brain.

  Before slapping him fully awake.

  Dani had sexted him.

  The quick, flirty sentence was exactly like Dani, sweet at first glance, but enticingly suggestive below the surface. He shot up off the bed and quickly sexted her back a red-hot reply.

  Then he waited...and waited...and waited some more. He finally understood why people sexted. It was wickedly hot. The entire time he waited for her to respond, his mind ran through scenarios of Dani seeing his sext message and blushing, right in the middle of bartending at Ocotillos. Or right in the middle of her bed as she thought of an even hotter reply to send him. He could just picture her biting her lip while she...

  Seriously. Sexy. As. All. Hell.

  By the time he figured out she was likely too busy to sext back, the rabid horndogs in his head were already howling. He groaned and tried to get himself to stop thinking about Dani.

  Yeah, that was just a stupid idea. He let out a resigned sigh. Ice-cold shower, definitely. Followed by an earlier-than-usual return back to work as well.

  What was that saying about idle hands and all?

  ALMOST AN HOUR later, finally back to his normal non-blue coloring, Luke walked into the shop and sat down in his office to get some work done.

  ...Only to leap right back up when he read the short, scathing note awaiting him on his desk. He immediately ran up front to find Quinn.

  She was busy by the door talking to a particularly chatty elderly woman who’d happened by to see how the grand opening plans were coming. Luke held his tongue and listened in frustration as the woman talked Quinn’s ear off about something completely unrelated to chocolate. Allergy medication, it sounded like. It took nearly a minute for the customer to finally stop gabbing long enough to look at the gift box order brochure they were still continuing to hand out for phone, internet—and apparently walk-by—orders.

  When Quinn turned to look his way during the brief silence, she glanced down at the letter in his hand guiltily, and mouthed a silent apology.

  Good god, the note was real.

  How the hell had Quinn managed to piss off the owner of Ocotillos? This badly? Each word on the handwritten note was like a lethal dart angrily stabbed into paper by a ‘D. Dobson’.

  Luke reassured Quinn with his eyes that he’d take care of it. Though he had no idea how he was going to accomplish that, or even what was going on, he thought it best to get over to Ocotillos to try and clear this whole mess up ASAP.

  He made it across the lot between their two buildings and stepped foot into the brewpub a record ten seconds later. A quick request to talk to the brewmaster led him straight on over to the back of the brewpub.

  Where he ran smack dab into a woman.

  A bump and slide later, all his senses roared in recognition as they took in the sleek feline limbs, the faint smell of fruity lotion, and the breathy gasp that gave him a semi in an instant.

  “Luke!” Dani sounded so delighted to see him, he momentarily forgot why he was there. “Sorry, I...” she began, her eyes dropping to his lips as if she was recalling his very vivid sext to her earlier. “Some craziness was going on so I couldn’t… That is, your, um, message was...”

  She stumbled through a few more partial sentences before suddenly snapping her mouth shut.

  No doubt in offense to the enjoyment that was surely lighting his face.

  Her eyes narrowed, then gleamed with the promise of retribution. “Sorry I can’t catch up with you just yet, Luke. I have a quick text message to get out first.” She smiled sweetly and began backing away, phone in hand like she was arming a bomb. “I sure do hope you came back with all your friends again,” she added with a fiendish grin that took all the brewpub hospitality right out of her statement.

  He shot his hand out to stop her, chuckling all the while. Damn, she was fun.

  “Play nice,” he whispered, pulling her gently to a dark corner near the storage closet he remembered so very fondly from the other night. “You have me all tied up in knots too.”

  Her gaze softened at that. The frisky glint, however, remained. It was a nice little warning that said he’d better avoid checking his text messages in church…around relatives...or in public as a whole. Luke let out a hearty laugh. “Woman, you can’t look at me like that while we’re standing here, two steps away from my favorite room in this brewpub.”

  A shy blush highlighted her cheeks, an adorable contrast to the heat igniting her warm whiskey eyes. God, he could get lost in those eyes. Slowly, she turned her face up to his.

  A split second before his lips caught hers.

  One spectacular, mind-numbing kiss later, Luke came up for air. Reluctantly.

  “Christ, you’re addicting,” he breathed, brushing another kiss on her lips as if it were impossible not to before resting his forehead against hers. “But no more of these brief backroom trysts. I want to do this right. Take you out, subject ourselves to a few hours of semi-chaste flirting, maybe some high school just-over-the-clothes action if I’m lucky. The whole deal.”

  The smile she laid on him was blindingly seductive.

  “Or not,” he wavered, barely stopping himself from kissing her right back into that storage room. “Jesus. I have zero control around you, Dani.” He dropped a soft kiss on the side of her neck. “I’m really not usually like this.”

  She closed her eyes, absorbing the tender gesture. “Neither am I.” She slid her hands up his chest before admitting quietly, “But I like it.”

  He let out a strangled breath.

  His heartbeat sped up under the weight of her fingers as they went on an expedition of his back, each muscle in her path tensing and hardening from even the lightest touch.

  Unable to be a passive bystander to her explorations for long, he caught her chin and dipped down to claim another kiss.

  But slowly
this time.

  As if they had all day.

  And they just might’ve too, if it hadn’t been for her soft, unfiltered moan that prompted an answering groan to rumble out from deep in his throat.

  “I have to get out of here while my brain still has some semblance of control,” he muttered, his breathing staggered, heavy.

  Looking at her with what he was sure was devastating disappointment, he caught the tiny hint of a grin threatening to appear on her lips. One of his eyebrows rose gamely as he stepped forward again to nip her earlobe. “Vicious woman. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” He then teased her lower lip with his teeth, his dimples creasing shamelessly when her breath broke on a shiver. When he felt just the very tip of her tongue flirting with his, he slanted one more searing, double-edged kiss on her lips before eventually exhaling another strained breath and taking a giant step away from her.

  “Your kisses make me drunk.” He reached for her hand while making sure to keep the rest of his body a safe distance from hers. “Just like they did the other night when I forgot to get your last name. I’m sorry, Dani. I swear I care enough to get your whole name. Hell, your whole life story even.”

  She gave him a smiling shrug. “I didn’t get your last name either.”

  “Bradford,” he filled in immediately. “I’m Luke Bradford. I want you to get to know me, just like I want to get to know you.” The last few words came out considerably rougher. “Unless…that isn’t what you’re looking for?” he added unsure for the first time, but knowing regardless that he was already too far gone to bow out completely even if casual no-name hook-ups with customers were her thing.

  Something in her eyes gave him pause then, made him wonder at the flash of hurt he saw hidden deep.

  But before he could ask her what was wrong, a piece of paper fell out of his pocket and landed between them. Her eyes zoomed in on the distraction and a gasp burst out of her.

  She sounded…livid.

  Jerking her gaze up to him, her blinking expression was the very definition of confusion when she growled, “Why do you have my letter?!”

  Now it was his turn to gape at her. “Your letter?” Understanding dawned on him like a ton of slow bricks. “D. Dobson,” he remembered from the letter. He looked at her with a touch of awe. “You’re the brewmaster and owner here.”

  “Don’t sound so surprised.” Irritation warred with lingering confusion in her scowl.

  He met her glare thoughtfully. “You know, I’m not actually.” He smiled as he turned and looked through the portal glass openings in the swing-through doors to the front of the brewpub. “This place is great,” he said with honest appreciation.

  Unmoved, she crossed her arms. “You didn’t answer me. Why do you have my letter?”

  Hearing her confounded tone drop in temperature with each word, he ventured forward a little more carefully, answering neutrally, “Well, because you wrote it to me, it seems.”

  Her hands balled up into two aggravated little fists. “You’re the owner of Desert Confections?!”

  “Don’t sound so surprised,” he parroted back to her, still markedly amused at the situation.

  His grin died quickly though when he realized those were waves of pure anger rolling off her. He held the letter up with two fingers. “Look, I don’t even know what all this is about. But that’s no excuse. Quinn works for me so if she upset you today, I’ll take full responsibility.”

  It was plain as day that Dani was reeling. She put a few more feet between them, closer to the door. But she didn’t look like she was escaping, rather…re-arming.

  Luke watched the emotions swirl across her face like a riptide while the rest of her stiffened, armored up cool and composed. Within ten seconds flat, a calm expression had settled on her face like a bulletproof shield.

  What a transformation.

  Luke could only assume it wasn’t the easiest thing for Dani to be both a tough brewpub owner and adorably cute at the same time. He figured that’s why and how she perfected the I-don’t-take-shit-from-anyone stare.

  The same stare she was using on him now.

  “Mr. Bradford,” she said politely. “In this neighborly business dispute, I think it best that you go back and learn all the details of this unfortunate matter from your worker first. We can then meet at a later time to discuss how to find an amicable solution, perhaps even one that is mutually beneficial.” The murder in her eyes went down to third degree manslaughter. “Might as well make lemon ale from lemons, right?”

  She took out her smartphone and opened up her calendar. “Though I’ll be in the brewery tomorrow, I do have time to squeeze you in for a meeting in the afternoon.” She gave him a borderline friendly smile while briskly putting her phone back in her pocket, as if it were already a given that he would accept her terms.

  Whoa. She was good. She managed to be as professional as a ruthless CEO and as likable as the girl next door while consistently establishing the upper hand by ‘inadvertently’ making him feel like a slight nuisance on her time, both present and future. Masterful.

  “Ms. Dobson,” he replied without missing a beat, “that is very neighborly of you, and undoubtedly good advice. I’ll go talk to my shop manager straight away. I do appreciate you fitting me in for a meeting tomorrow.” He stuck his hand out cordially. “Until then, please know that all of us at Desert Confections are again, deeply sorry that we got off on the wrong foot with you. Maintaining a strong relationship with our neighbors is a huge priority for us.”

  She mutely accepted his handshake, visibly surprised by him.

  Geez, she must’ve done business with some real assholes in the past for her to be this unprepared for his eating humble pie. Wondering if she was given a hard time in the beer world because she was a female, suddenly, Luke was fiercely impressed by Dani, knowing she’d probably done her fair share of putting ego-tripped men in their place.

  “Okay, well then, good day, Mr. Bradford. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Abruptly, she turned and pushed through the employee doors, presumably to leave him there to watch her walk away.

  The woman was full of tactical moves.

  Just one slight hitch. He was still grasping her hand, effectively tethering her to him with gentle but firm fingers. Reluctantly, she turned back to face him, her expression unreadable.

  “Now that our business personas are done chatting, can you and I talk?” he asked quietly.

  “About what?” Dani’s professional mask was already starting to crumble. This time, her step away from him through the doors did look like an escape.

  “About us.” He joined her in the open doorway, uncaring that they were now standing in full view of everyone in the dining area. “If brewmaster Danica Dobson wants to march away from the owner of Desert Confections to show him who’s calling the shots, that’s fine. But don’t use this as an excuse to walk away from me, plain ole Luke. None of this has to affect us, Dani.” He tapped the phone in her hand pointedly. “Or what we’ve barely gotten started.”

  Dani looked from her phone back to him, turning pink at the reminder of her sext message to him earlier. “Some women might go for this whole you-dom, me-sub action, but I’m not one of them,” she sliced through her teeth. “Release my hand. My workers are starting to stare.”

  He didn’t let go. Instead, he shook their joined hands in another handshake. “Hi, I’m Luke Bradford, Luke for short. I own the chocolate shop next door. Pleasure to meet you.”

  She frowned. “What are you doing?”

  “Meeting you again. Seems to me, if we’d done it right from the start, you wouldn’t be so mad at me, Luke, the man you scorched into melted butter with your kisses the other night.”

  That icy facade she had been using as a shield cracked before his eyes. He watched the chill slowly melt as she shook his hand back, albeit guardedly. “I’m Danica Dobson,” she said finally, “brewmaster and owner of this brewpub. I prefer to go by Dani. Nice to meet you too.”

  Th
e relief that washed over him finally allowed him to let go of her hand.

  Dani shoved that hand into her pocket like it might run off on her if she didn’t. “You’re absolutely right, Luke. We got off to a bad start, both professionally and personally—”

  “Tricky start,” he interjected. “Not a bad start. I loved how we met.”

  A moment of silence passed before she admitted, “Me too.”

  Her eyes gentled for a second before narrowing back on that frickin’ note in his hand. “That doesn’t mean this isn’t going to take time to sort out. Your worker was way out of line this morning in her interviews.”

  “I already told you, I’ll talk to her. Dani, I really am sorry, and I’m sure Quinn is too.”

  “Yeah, she looked it,” replied Dani with just a touch of satisfaction in her voice.

  He grinned, impressed. “If you managed to scare my shop manager then you’re even more amazing than I thought. And here I thought you were already pretty darn incredible.”

  The direction of their conversation made Dani look around at the customers and workers around the room sliding curious glances their way. “Maybe we should talk later...on the phone.”

  “And by text?” he offered.

  Her eyes turned wary. “What?”

  “I think you should follow through with that threat of yours and reply to my text message first,” he said softly. “I already have about a dozen more I want to send back to you.”

  She ducked her head, hiding the smile that was already teasing the corners of her mouth. Rolling her eyes in that cute way he was starting to love, she turned and headed to the brewery, leaving him standing in the dining area with the promise of a soft, “You asked for it.”

  “Can’t wait,” he called out to her retreating figure as it veered down a back hallway.

  Without turning back around, she just lifted her hand and waved back at him in acknowledgement.

  Knowing half the brewpub was now watching his exit as well, Luke made sure he was out of eyesight all the way around the building before he drew to a halt. Jesus, he’d just gone all in with nothing but a pair of deuces; he was damn lucky she hadn’t called him on it.