by Violet Duke
Table of Contents
Title Page
COPYRIGHT © 2015 VIOLET DUKE
BOOK DESCRIPTION
OTHER TITLES BY THE AUTHOR
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EPILOGUE
BONUS SCENE
Love, Tussles, and Takedowns
The CACTUS CREEK Series
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LOVE, DIAMONDS, AND SPADES
(A CACTUS CREEK NOVEL)
BY
VIOLET DUKE
COPYRIGHT © 2015 VIOLET DUKE
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, this book and any portion thereof may not be reproduced, scanned, transferred, or distributed in any print or electronic form without the express written permission of the author. Participation in any aspect of piracy of copyrighted materials, inclusive of the obtainment of this book through non-retail or other unauthorized means, is in actionable violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, media, brands, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and registered trademark owners of all branded names referenced without TM, SM, or (R) symbols due to formatting constraints, and is not claiming ownership of or collaboration with said trademark brands. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental.
Ebook ISBN: 194119897X
Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-941198-97-1
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A standalone companion novel to Love, Chocolate, and Beer: Rylan & Quinn’s story*
Surprise! The flood of fan mail worked, you guys! LOL. I love that you all fell so hard for Rylan & Quinn in Love, Chocolate, and Beer (I did too). *grin* I hope you enjoy their by-rabid-request parallel story that I just adored writing for you all. Happy reading!
She’s the Self-Proclaimed Wicked ‘Witch’ of the West
Fiercely independent single mom Quinn Christiansen is used to flying solo. She’s been raising her young son and figuring out how to pay his pediatric hospital bills on her own for years now. And truth is, Quinn loves the notorious reputation she’s already gained in town of having a heart too hard for any man to break. Because it is. Two carats too hard, to be exact. Courtesy of the two-carat heirloom she’d had to barter to cover her ex’s debts when he took off after she got pregnant. The day she’d promised herself never again.
So color her pissed when the universe goes and decides to make the one man in Cactus Creek not afraid of her natural ball-busting charm another gambling musician. A ridiculously handsome, wickedly gruff and gritty, pushy one at that.
He’s Everything She’s Sure She Can’t Possibly Want
Rylan Grey isn’t used to getting a woman so worked up…well, not in a bad way, at least. But somehow, his mere existence seems to annoy the guarded and gorgeous Quinn to no end. Surprising, really. A dirt-and-jeans landscaper by day with a regular gig to perform for a packed house by night, Rylan considers himself a decent guy. Sure, he’s made some gambles to get to where he’s at, but they were all of the life variety, with risks as important as the rewards, fate betting as the house, and not a single dollar in play.
While Rylan never wagers anything he’s not willing to lose—namely his heart—he’s more than ready to ante up once he sees past Quinn’s icy defenses. Quick as a firecracker, loyal to a fault, and sweet when no one’s looking, she could be his riskiest gamble yet.
*This standalone can be read before or after Love, Chocolate, and Beer, but, it is recommended that it be read after. Happy reading!
OTHER TITLES BY THE AUTHOR
The CAN’T RESIST Series
RESISTING THE BAD BOY *
FALLING FOR THE GOOD GUY *
CHOOSING THE RIGHT MAN *
FINDING THE RIGHT GIRL
KEEPING THE REBOUND FLING (Winter 2015)
HAVING THE REAL THING (Spring 2016)
*Three-Book serial trilogy, also available in the NICE GIRL bundled box set
The CACTUS CREEK Series
LOVE, CHOCOLATE, AND BEER
LOVE, DIAMONDS, AND SPADES (*NEW* Added to series by fan request)
LOVE, TUSSLES, AND TAKEDOWNS
LOVE, EXES, AND OHS (Spring 2015)
LOVE, SIDELINES, AND ENDZONES (Spring 2015)
LOVE, STILETTOS, AND CUFFLINKS (Fall 2016)
LOVE, MEDDLING, AND MISTLETOE (Fall 2016)
The UNFINISHED LOVE Series (Cactus Creek Reunions)
Book 1 & 2: Caine & Addison (Summer 2015)
Book 3 & 4: Gabe & Hannah (Summer 2015)
Book 5 & 6: Max & Kennedy (Fall 2015)
Book 7 & 8: Drew & Skylar (Winter 2015)
-- Coming in 2016 from Penguin Random House --
The FOURTH DOWN Series (Cactus Creek Nights)
Book 1: (Jackson's story) Title TBA
Book 2: (Bennett's story) Title TBA
Book 3: (Donovan's story) Title TBA
DEDICATION
To every single fan who wrote, emailed, commented on Facebook, tweeted, and messaged me with well-wishes, positive thoughts, prayers, strength, funny emoticons, love, hugs, and other uplifting notes during my medical leave the past six months.
I am thankful for each and every one of you for generously sending me all your good juju and for overall, just keeping my spirits up and a smile on my face on even the hardest and most painful days.
You are each so very special, I hope you know that.
With you all by my side, I’m positive I’ll get back to Violet-cartwheeling soon.
Love you! Stay fabulous.
CHAPTER ONE
SHE WAS DOWNRIGHT gorgeous.
Rylan Grey felt like he’d been sucker-punched the moment he saw her.
Striking blue eyes and angel blonde hair—only way to describe it, really—gathered up in one of those sexy gravity-defying knots that was somehow locked in place by a single ballpoint pen. She was the definition of effortless class. The few strands that had escaped the pen’s clutches softened her pretty, elfin features and framed a deeply distracting set of lips that Rylan was sure would be cover model dazzling if the woman were smiling.
But she wasn’t.
No doubt because a smile would clash with the laser-sharp glower she’d just sliced his way, dissecting him in an instant with almost palpable disapproval.
Huh.
If not for his friend Dani putting a hand over his mic and whispering something to him at just that moment, Rylan would’ve chalked up the whole thing to a mysterious case of one-sided hate-at-first-sight.
“Criminy,” grumbled Dani in his ear, “I can’t believe he brought that woman with him to the meeting.”
In the timespan of that one brief sentence, Rylan watched that woman’s disapproving glance disappear and transform into a small frown of…disappointment.
Only to be replaced swiftly by a double-dose of the disapproval again a blink later.
Dani crossed her arms, nodding over at the evil villainess in question, and the man standing beside her that Rylan hadn’t even noticed until now. “She better be here to grovel. Can you believe that video ad
stunt she pulled outside? With my customers!”
Rylan made a point to sound more sympathetic than amused. “Ah, so that’s the woman you told off the other day.” The little pre-grand-opening marketing stunt by the newest business in town—a relocated chocolate shop right next door to Dani’s brewpub—had made local news by nightfall. And while he agreed it had been a little below the belt, you kind of had to respect the boldness it took to pull off.
So the rumors were true.
There really was a new queen ball-buster in the neighborhood dangerously close to taking the impressive title away from Dani, the current reigning alpha business woman in Cactus Creek who simultaneously held the crown for town sweetheart as well.
From the looks of it, the two women couldn’t be more different. Granted, as a female beer brewer, Dani had learned to develop a bark and bite that could make a pigheaded man piss his pants. But usually, she was more the Miss-Congeniality-who’d-wrestle-a-gator-to-prove-herself type with charming smiles and disarming wit in her arsenal.
The woman standing across the way from them, on the other hand, looked like she might very well be the undefeated champ in the sport of blindfolded testicle sharp-shooting.
It was odd how much more attractive that seemed to make her. To him, at least.
Sure, most of the women Rylan dated could easily compete with the still-clearly-irked woman in the looks department, but at the moment, he could barely conjure up mental images of their faces to compare.
Literally.
He literally couldn’t remember the names of any of those women right now, let alone what they looked like. Not with the frowning wood nymph’s artic gaze covertly scanning him from head to toe…fight it though she was obviously trying.
He probably wasn’t helping by openly staring at her the way that he was—civilized decorum be damned—but he couldn’t seem to stop. He told himself it was simply because her eyes were this intense sapphire color, the exact shade of the desert wildflowers he’d planted all over the Henderson’s estate last week, a relatively uncommon color he rarely got to work with in Arizona landscaping.
Soon, however, his inability to restrict his gaze to just her eyes called him a bald-faced liar.
But holy shit, who could blame him? Gentle, delicately feminine curves in all the right places and shapely, satin smooth legs for miles. She was a knockout. Perfection as far as he was concerned. Probably more along the lines of ‘classically pretty’ or ‘regally beautiful’ to others.
While some dug that super-toned-from-pilates look, Rylan didn’t. Hell, ask most guys—spooning a woman with a rock-hard ass and carved abs to match wasn’t always fun. And according to his buddies, Rylan usually went mushy-eyed and possessive over the women he dated who weren’t so gym-tight. Softer. Sleeker. Cuddlier. Sort of like the stray kittens he occasionally found at job sites.
He was man enough to admit he was a sucker for kittens.
The tiny handfuls of fur were damn-near irresistible when they growled and charged after unsuspecting leaves, tumbling over their paws in the process, or when they curled up on his lap with contented little purrs. And though he was probably in the overwhelming minority for thinking so, the blonde with the impressively long-range eff-off scowl was cute as hell. In a don’t-mess-with-my-toothpick-sharp-kitten-claws sort of way. Even now, with her pretending to be completely absorbed in that ‘Desert Confections’ business portfolio she was carrying as if it were a magical hobbit ring, she was freaking adorable.
“Rylan William Grey! You haven’t heard a word I’ve said for the past minute,” huffed Dani in a voice that said she was more curious than peeved.
Rylan grunted in annoyance at her poking him with the middle-name stick. Again. Or rather, still. A few months ago, Dani had somehow managed to get his folks to reveal his middle name, complete with the details of his mom’s harmless but utterly shameless Willie Nelson crush, and his dad’s suspiciously beer-scented anecdote of how she’d even tried to grow Rylan’s hair long enough for a red bandana and Willie braids back when he was in elementary school. Minutes later, an unearthed first grade Halloween photo Rylan distinctively remembered torching attested to his mom’s success on that particular venture. Needless to say, that was the last time he allowed Dani to bring one of her pub kegs to a Grey family cookout.
Damn woman had been retelling the story ever since—with a copy of the photo—all over Cactus Creek. Yes, even once on this very rooftop stage. After a particularly killer set he and the guys had just finished, no less.
The collective ‘awww’ from all the familiar female fans who regularly came to Ocotillos to see him play on the weekends hadn’t made him want to throttle Dani any less.
Being reminded of the incident had him now intentionally ignoring Dani. Which of course prompted her to start merrily humming a Willie Nelson tune and casually twining her ponytail into a braid…until Rylan picked her up by the waist with one arm to hold her prisoner while he tickled her ribs mercilessly. Her laughing, screeching demands for him to put her down fell on deaf ears. And he probably would’ve kept right on tickling her until she cried uncle too, if not for the killing look being shot his way from the other side of the dance floor.
Interesting.
For a man supposedly here for a ‘business meeting’ with Dani, the town’s new chocolatier…Luke-something if memory served, sure did look like he wanted to punch Rylan something fierce.
Rylan let up on the tickle torture. Not because he was worried; he wasn’t. Luke definitely looked like a guy who could hold his own in a fight, but Rylan came from a long line of Greys—the scrawniest of them being his youngest cousin, a six-foot-two NFL linebacker. Even without the daily workout Rylan got from his day job, genetics alone was responsible for most folks thinking he was a big, mean bouncer.
“I think your new neighbor has the hots for you, babe,” Rylan mused, finding the whole situation immensely more fascinating when Dani turned bright red. “You’re into him, too. I’ll be damned. When the hell did this all happen? Does Xoey know?” Generally, Dani’s best friend Xoey knew all the biggest town gossip before everyone else. And this was unquestionably big news. “That seems like something she would’ve told me. Something you should’ve told me.” He gave her a stern look before lifting a teasing eyebrow. “Should I alert the media?”
“It’s complicated,” Dani hissed, going a little slap happy on his shoulder to shut his laughing ass up. “And of course Xoey knows. Sort of. She’s the one who instigated it the other night down in the pub.”
“Really? Out-meddled on your own turf?” Rylan chuckled again but stopped from ribbing her any more than that, not wanting to inadvertently give her another reason to talk herself out of dating again. He and only a handful of folks knew the reasons behind the shadows that would cloud her mood at times; and they all agreed it was high time she moved on with her life.
“I think it’s great,” he said softly, sliding over to a new topic when he saw a few cloudy memories dimming her expression. “Okay, I’m heading out. The new sound equipment is terrific, by the way. Everything is all set for tomorrow night.” Ruffling her hair affectionately, he added, “Try not to assault anyone at this meeting of yours, will you? The guys missed you over the holidays, so if you end up in jail, they’ll probably ditch me up here and start a fight downstairs just to go hang out with you.”
“While you’d let me rot behind bars, no doubt,” she wagered, all smiles at the mention of his three bandmates.
“Can’t have a vicious, hardened criminal like you out and about.” He grinned and dropped a peck on her cheek.
Amidst the quick goodbyes that followed, Rylan couldn’t help but notice that Luke was trying to again murder him dead on the spot with another pissed-off glare.
Which wasn’t half as interesting as the equally hostile, but very different caliber side glance being shot his way by a pair of magnificent sapphire blue eyes.
Well, now.
Luke’s unnecessary reaction ove
r the innocent kiss Rylan had planted on Dani’s cheek was inconsequential. Dani would nip that nonsense in the bud soon enough. They were friends, nothing more.
The other, far prettier jealous reaction from Luke’s companion, however, was what had Rylan deciding to stay and hang out for a bit.
Okay, okay, maybe that wasn’t the only reason.
With Dani looking ready to go to battle with the pair over what was starting to look like a little neighborly feud that could rival Cactus Creek’s legendary ice cream and frozen yogurt showdown of three years back—biggest town betting pool to date—Rylan figured a witness was likely important for any possible police reports that followed. Seeing a few other Ocotillos workers and townfolk nosily starting to gather around as well—assuredly for the same civic duties he was staying for—Rylan headed over to grab a ringside seat a few tables over.
…Making sure, of course, to sit right in the line of sight of the woman who’d switched to now pretending Rylan was made out of glass. A bug and crud covered—judging by the expressive silent assessment she was candidly projecting—but still largely invisible piece of glass that she could see right through.
Rylan barely held back the bark of laughter the woman kept unintentionally inspiring in him. When he managed to snag her gaze and keep it tangled up for a beat, he couldn’t help himself.
He winked.
And watched the sweetest, riled-up little blush he’d ever seen heat her cheeks.
Oh yeah, growling kitten cuteness was definitely his weakness.
CHAPTER TWO
QUINN CHRISTIANSEN restlessly tapped out a pen beat on her desk, drumming along to the chorus of a nameless song she hadn’t been able to get out of her head for the past few weeks. She’d heard it playing off the rooftop stage of Ocotillos a few times over the past couple weeks, and she’d been a fan ever since.
