Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek) (5 page)

She knew him so well.

“I’m reborn.” Despite the marked improvements in the purity and quality of white chocolate over the years following the added FDA regulations back in ‘04, Luke still generally never worked with the stuff. Until now. “Honestly, I’ve just never been a huge fan of the flavor before I tasted this
particular
white chocolate.”

His eyes drifted innocently to the ceiling as he slid a rather large file of papers onto her desk. “Remember that chocolate festival I was at last week?” He flashed all his teeth and one of his dimples at her. “Well, I met a new chocolate maker from Japan who makes this insane
couverture
white chocolate recipe—”

As soon as Quinn snatched the file from him, Luke jumped out of her kicking range. “Hear me out before you knee me in the nuts. I had to move fast to sign him. This guy uses only the best of the best: Venezuelan criollo beans, a mind-blowing Kamahi and Rata honey blend from New Zealand—remind me to order some for our fudge by the way—and gold-label Tahitian vanilla. Quinn, you know how picky I am about vanilla.”

Oh lord, if her scowl was anything to go by, it was obvious she’d gotten to the money portion of the contract. To cut off her fit of objections, which promised to be way more voice than reason, he slipped a second bonbon in her mouth.

“You have to admit, it’s pretty darn incredible, right?” It was. And the rich filling he’d made using a cloudberry liqueur from Finland was both an intense and sublime match. He didn’t have to wait long for her besieged taste buds to start overruling her bullheaded sensibilities.

Another purr. “Hey, is that...” Her brows arched in surprise. “Is there coffee in this?”

Damn, she’s getting good.
Hiding the proud big brother grin he knew she hated, Luke marveled at how far Quinn had come since they’d first opened up his tiny, hole-in-the-wall chocolate shop in Mesa years ago—light years from the delicate daisy she’d been in college a decade back.

“That coffee note is in the chocolate itself,” he explained. “Probably one of the secret ingredients in the flavor profile. Aside from a special Korean pine nut this guy’s known to use, we’ll never know for sure though, considering how heavily guarded chocolate recipes are these days.”

Quinn looked up skeptically. “Wait,
that’s
the big new idea you wanted to run by me today? White chocolate?”

So saying, she did reach over to steal another morsel. “Honestly, Luke, unless you’re seeing a wave of folks flooding in to buy these for their dogs, this isn’t ‘revolutionary’ enough to help us with all the overhead costs we’re racking up leasing out this whole building. I mean I’ve managed to keep the hype going with our old customers via social media but I still think we need to worry about exposure and access since you’ve moved us out to the boonies.” She jabbed her fingers into her temples. “How in the world did you talk me into this relocation again?”

Hell if he knew.

To Luke, the town of Cactus Creek was just plain special. Offbeat. Indelible.
Fun.
Kissing cousin to Scottsdale but separated by Black Mountain Summit, the one great divide between city and country, Cactus Creek was a quirky little world of its own, close enough for city folk to escape to and far enough in lifestyle to make the trip worth it. He’d wanted to move Desert Confections here the second he’d stepped foot into town.

Quinn? Not so much. Getting her on board had been a friggin’ miracle, what with moving having been not just a gamble, but utterly unjustifiable. Of course, that little factoid, and all the rational sense he’d been taught in business school, had ceased to be relevant the moment Luke had felt
it
—the instant, blinding, finding-your-soul mate connection to the town of Cactus Creek.

Had he not been so bowled over by it, there was no way he would’ve pushed the issue; God knew Quinn had enough weighing on her shoulders being a single mom with inhumane medical bills from her son’s terrifying first year of life spent in and out of surgeries. As such, suggesting the move had been a gut-roiling experience for Luke. He’d gone in ready to reluctantly give it all up following the anticipated hell-no response from her…to instead finding himself profoundly humbled when she’d shocked him with a nervously trusting ‘yes.’ Yes to follow him, despite all the reservations she had regarding the town.

That in itself made the decision that much more risky.

Because it meant failure simply wasn’t an option.

Unfortunately, with their new shop already starting off to a rocky start with a one-week delay in their grand opening, Quinn was doing her best to stay cool-headed...a feat which left her legs nice and warm to act on a hair trigger, ready and willing to kick him in the ass as a see-I-told-you-so and now-what’re-you-gonna-do-to-fix-it combo that historically generated quick results.

Today was no different.

“White chocolate is just one part of my idea,” he added quickly before she had a meltdown. “Did you know that in Japan, they celebrate Valentine’s Day
and
something called White Day?”

Her frown told him he had mere seconds to get to his point.

“Basically, Valentine’s Day isn’t a day to
exchange
gifts between couples. Rather, only the women give the men gifts, namely dark or milk chocolate. The exact reverse holds true on
March
14th, a holiday called White Day there since traditionally, white chocolate is what the men reciprocate with...although I’ve read that a gift worth three times more than the Valentine gift is an acceptable alternative.”

A hint of a smile tipped her lips at that explanation.

Ah
, he had her now. “You see where I’m going with this?” Adrenaline ran through his veins. “I say we bring the whole idea here to Arizona as a cool new two-part lovers’ holiday custom.”

He brought out the gift bag he’d filled with chocolatiering ingredients and basic confectionary tools last night. “And, since they say it’s customary for the chocolate the women give the men to be homemade, we could even create some hype to make that part of it as well. We could sell kits like these to help women make their homemade Valentine chocolates and even hold classes to teach ambitious customers how to make fancier stuff their guys will trip out over—”

Quinn’s jaw unhinged. “Wait,
are you high
?! You’re actually suggesting we just hijack tradition and let men totally off the hook in February? You want us to
change
the rules
for Valentine’s Day?”

“Completely for the better. Just picture it: we market it as a new two-prong, equality-of-the-sexes holiday for love, with crystal clear parameters in February and March.” Luke began picking up momentum. “Getting the men on board should be cake because these new rules help de-mystify the holiday a bit. Foolproof it even. All we have to do is make it fun and sexy for them to convince the women in their lives to embrace the change as well.” His mouth twitched. “That wasn’t supposed to come out in the plural sense, but you get my meaning.”

“Charming.” She eyed him stubbornly. “Okay, so the men will probably love it, but how about the women? You’re
not
winning over the female population with
that
pitch.”

His expression softened. Turning to look at the only photo he had on his side of the office—the one of his parents laughing at their recent anniversary party—he said simply, “For the women, we should just show the revamped Valentine’s Day for what it is: a romantic day devoted to a woman making a thoughtful gift for the man she loves. I actually think a lot of women would like that. Moreover, I know I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t consider myself hella lucky to be on the receiving end.”

Quinn blinked thoughtfully at that, visibly thrown off-kilter by his sensitivity on the matter. “So then in March, we offer a dazzling line of white chocolates for men to spoil their women with,” she added slowly, her lips quirking up in approval. “We’d lengthen spring sales by a month.”

“Exactly!”

Quinn looked at him as if he’d unexpectedly sprouted genius horns. “We could call it White Chocolate Day to corner the market as ours instead of splitting the focus with flowers and stuffed animals.” Her eyes lit up even more. “Luke, this could actually work.”

“It
will
work, Quinn. But with Valentine’s just over six weeks away, we’ve got no time to lose. Since you’re the cyber whiz, you should handle all the web stuff. Twitter, blogs, online ads, contests—whatever will create a social media firestorm. I’ll take care of the new chocolates and setting-up the classes, along with on-site promotions and whatever else I can come up with.”

She nodded but remained uncharacteristically quiet. A downright oddity.

“I think the words you’re looking for are
wow, you brilliant man
,” he inserted helpfully.

She rolled her eyes and picked up the new white chocolate contract as if it was covered in acid. “And encourage more of this type of behavior from you?”

He grinned, knowing her well enough to see she was about to cave. “You know this is our big break, Quinn. It’s just what we need to set ourselves apart. We’ll finally be set. With the surplus sales this is sure to generate, you could pay a chunk of your medical debt off, lower the monthlies and maybe get ahead of it enough to start saving for lil’ Coop’s future as well. And
I
could—”

He waved a hand in front of her now-distracted face. “
Hello
, earth to Quinn?”

When Quinn broke her gaze away from the group of people outside who’d caught her attention, the look on her face was excitedly determined. “I’m in.”

He dropped back against the wall, relieved. “So, we’re doing this?”

“Yep, and I already have an ad campaign in mind.” Her eyes shifted outside again.

Luke peered out the wraparound window of their shop that overlooked the brewpub across the small alleyway the next building over. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a bunch of twenty-something-year-olds filing in for lunch. Ocotillos was always busy this time of day. He certainly didn’t see anything that warranted the engrossing inspiration she’d seemed so taken by.

Quinn popped another white bonbon into her mouth before declaring, “By this time next month, Desert Confections will have completely transformed Valentine’s Day in Arizona.”

With that parting prediction, Quinn headed straight to Ocotillos, leaving him to watch in puzzled amusement as she began scoping out the brewpub through the window, all covert-like. When she slipped out of sight around the building, he shrugged and ambled over to his desk, easing back in his chair with a satisfied grin.

Life was good. His newly expanded shop was about to embark on a venture his gut
knew
would succeed, his business partner was off being creatively weird—always a good sign—and just nine hours ago,
his dormant love life had regained a pulse again. Amazing. Particularly the last bit, he mused, smiling as his mind began wandering back to last night.

Back to Dani…uh… Wait a minute.

His eyes flew open. “You freakin’ idiot.” Somehow, the minor detail of getting Dani’s last name had gotten lost in all the storage room festivities last night.

Great. Now she probably thought he was some sort of player who had first name flings all the time.
Shit
. He yanked out his cell phone to try and fix this right away…only to roll his eyes in disbelief a second later.
You didn’t get her number either, genius.
Man, he’d seriously been out of the dating pool for way too long. Jumping up from his seat, he began pacing as he analyzed the situation. Considering Dani had still been there when he and his friends left last night near closing, it was unlikely she’d be working a day shift today—unless her boss was a slave-driving ass, which was doubtful since everyone in town had nothing but glowing things to say about the owner of Ocotillos.

Okay, so casually showing up to ‘run into her’ at lunch wasn’t an option, and heading back tonight was also out since he’d already promised Quinn he’d babysit while she had a long-awaited girls’ night out with her friend from college.

He halted his pacing and frowned. What the hell was he stressing about? So he’d have to wait till this weekend to see Dani again. Big deal—

...Flowers.

His brain instantly rejected the idea of waiting a few days and countered with him getting flowers for her instead. No way could he risk the possibility of her meeting some other man while he waited around like a chump. Grabbing his keys, he headed out to the city’s best florist, an honor they now held in his eyes simply by being the only one open this early on a Sunday.

Nearly a half hour later, however, Luke found himself wanting to strip that title from them as he stalked around the floral shop, disgruntled, looking at the same flowers for the fifth time. Nothing caught his eye. He knew Dani liked flowers, or plants at least. He’d caught her smiling at the plants that lined the walkways of Ocotillos the other week when she’d been watering them. The ones she’d seemed most cheered by were all desert cacti that bloomed vibrant flowers in the spring.