Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek) (41 page)

He almost knocked her down as he lunged for the door lock.

She screeched out in laughter and pounced on his back to stop him. But he was quicker, stronger, and clearly hornier.

The loud click of the lock echoed in the room, and with one arm, he reached back and flipped her around in a wide arc until he caught her against his chest and held her against him. He lowered his lips to start collecting his just rewards right away.

Dani closed her eyes to bask in the kiss, in the feel of Luke gently loving her.

Beyond just today or tomorrow.

* * * * *

“
QUINN, HOLD ON.
Slow down. What’s wrong?” Luke gripped his phone as he listened to Quinn’s devastated voice on the line. “You’re freaking me out. Please. Stop crying, and tell me what’s the matter. Where are you?”

Cooper’s doctor’s office.

Luke felt angry, terrified frustration when he heard the news.

Another surgery.

Little Coop needed yet
another
surgery.

Luke listened to the details with growing anger at the injustice of it all. Various areas of scar tissue from the respiratory complications and resulting half dozen surgeries Cooper had endured as a newborn were now blocking a large portion of his airway and hindering his ability to breathe even in normal day-to-day function. Luke almost crushed his cell phone in his hand when he heard that part. Quinn cried even harder as she explained how Cooper now needed an entire airway reconstruction surgery—a complex procedure that would be multiply invasive, require months of difficult recovery, and of course, cost thousands even after insurance.

Damn it, hadn’t the universe been hard enough on that boy? On Quinn? Luke tried desperately to console Quinn even though he himself was silently raging inside.

There was no doubt in his mind anymore. Quinn and Cooper were more important to him than his shop. He wouldn’t draw out this decision any longer. The kind of money Quinn needed to pay out of pocket for the surgery was enough to bankrupt her as is, and that was
on top
of the thousands she already owed in medical loans. His hands fisted in emotion.

He knew what he had to do.

One by one, he began slowly cutting every emotional tie he had to everything he’s worked for over the years as he searched for Noah’s phone number.

Simply giving up the shop wasn’t going to be enough.

He had to give up his five best chocolate recipes too.

* * * * *

“
JAMESON.”

“Hi, Noah. It’s Dani. Please just keep an open mind over what I’m about to propose.”

Aside from a small tired sigh, an acquiescing silence echoed back at her.

“I know you said you need to go through with either the lease increase or the sale of the building to one of those big wineries, but what if you had a third option?” Noah hadn’t interrupted or hung up on her. So far so good. “Derek and I share equal ownership of Ocotillos; I’m willing to sign over half of my half in exchange for fifty-one percent of the Desert Confections building.
Just
the building.”

“Dani—”

“It’s more than fair and you know it.” She couldn’t bear to hear him say no. “The twenty-five percent of Ocotillos I’d be giving you would be of the brewpub
and
the brewery buildings, as well as my apartment, and the lot itself, which is easily five times the size of yours, and worth ten times as much. And all that is on top of the twenty-five percent share of the active business itself.”

“But what you’re asking for is controlling percentage of my building. Presumably to keep Luke’s monthly rent down, correct? Why would I agree to that to only have a quarter ownership of yours?”

“Because the profit sharing you’d get as twenty-five percent owner of Ocotillos combined with the portion you’d still make off Luke’s monthlies would be more than you make off Luke’s lease alone. True, it’s not as much you would get by doubling his lease, but look at what you’re getting in the process. If, heaven forbid, you decided to sell your twenty-five percent you know you would get an astronomically greater return than you would for fifty-one percent of your building. You and I both know that what I’m offering is a far more valuable business holding.”

“There’s still the matter of the flailing businesses in town—”

“I’ve thought about that too. I haven’t worked out the details yet but I think I can help them with their revenue. I’ve drafted vendor contracts to present Dan and Barb for produce and Libby for ice cream. Truthfully, I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought to do that before this but no matter. It’ll be mutually beneficial. As for Kim, I can work in a distribution deal for her novelty products—discreetly behind the bar of course. That should do well with the college crowd that comes in. And I’ve already talked to Rylan for his music expertise on how to help Jilly.” She gulped in a breath to slow down her racing monologue. “For Gavin, to be perfectly honest, I have no idea how to help his diner yet but I’ll come up with something, I’m sure of it.”

“
Now
you’re starting to sound like the businesswoman responsible for making Ocotillos what it is today,” Noah replied gruffly, sounding noticeably impressed.

“So do we have a deal?” She held her breath.

Sitting through his long contemplative pause was an exercise of patience. Not really her strong suit.

“Dani, your ideas sound all well and good, but to be honest with you, it doesn’t sit well with me to make business deals of this nature. Not when there are more emotions than sense involved. You shouldn’t give away part of your business and real estate for some guy.”

“I’m not. Giving it away, that is. I’d be getting something out of this too. And besides, why do you care if I’m doing it partly to help ‘some guy?’”

“Because I know what your business means to you, what it meant to your dad. I can’t see you being okay with this years down the line. What happens if you and Luke don’t work out?”

Flinching at the prospect, she rushed to fire back. “Then I’ll do what you’re planning on doing anyway—kick him out and have Derek open his winery.”
LIE
. “It’ll be win-win for me either way.” By the derisive snort from Noah, she knew he was calling bullshit on her big talk.

Noah sighed. “Look, I think what you’re doing is noble, romantic even. But take it from me—no good comes out of mixing your business and personal lives. I speak from experience.”

Dani’s eyes rounded in surprise. “Wait, what?
You
let a woman interfere with—”

“I’m not saying no, Dani,” he said, ignoring her question and bulldozing right along. “But I’m not saying yes either. You’re right, this would be a good deal for me to take and I’d be a fool to pass it up; yours is one of the most successful businesses in Cactus Creek, with the kind of staying power I’d normally pounce to invest in.
However
, I’d be just as big a fool if I accepted without giving you a bit more time to think about it. I think we’ve established that you tend to jump into these things ass first, brain second. I’ll go ahead and have my assistant draft some paperwork, but in the meantime, I suggest you evaluate this from all angles once more. Since we’re still vetting the wineries interested in Luke’s building anyway, that’ll give you another few days to think this through some more.”

“But I don’t need any more time.”

“I don’t care what you
think
you need. Take the few days,” he ordered brusquely. “Also, though I’m pretty sure you’re going to disregard my advice, I still say you should talk to Luke about all this before you make your decision. Trust me on this; he needs to know what you’re trying to do here. I really don’t want this turning out badly for you.”

She remained silent. It wasn’t that she didn’t
want
to tell Luke and Derek what she had planned; she just didn’t want to ‘pull a Dani’ here and fail as epically as she has been known to before. No. She’d do a grand reveal
after
Noah signed on the dotted line and all chances of failure were eliminated. “Fine. I’ll take the few days but be sure those contracts are ready for me to sign at the end of those few days,” she said, using her best Danica Dobson voice, the one that have shriveled the balls of men nearly as imposing as Noah.

Noah muttered under his breath about irrational romantics and ended the call with an exasperated, “I’ll be in touch.”

Dani looked over at the photo of her dad on the wall.

You’d do this for mom, wouldn’t you?

She took his big, teddy-bear grin as a clear hell-yes.

For once, following in her dad’s footsteps regarding love didn’t quite seem so bad.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“
HAVE I MENTIONED
that my folks can’t stop asking when I’m bringing you back to the farm again?” Luke tugged Dani down into bed with him. “I think they kind of love you.”

“I love them too,” she replied, propping against his chest. “They’re great.”

“
You’re
great.”

She leaned back to study his expression, chuckling. “
You
are drunk, mister. You drank more beer than I did tonight. You’ve been drinking a lot all week, in fact. What’s going on? Nervous about something?” she teased.

His eyebrows dropped down a telltale notch and her face sobered. “What is it?”

“Nothing bad; it’s something good, actually. A start to new beginnings, I think,” he said cryptically, feeling the multiple meanings in that statement as he reached over to open the nightstand drawer. He might be losing his shop, but with Dani at his side... “I owe you one more Valentine gift.” His heart gave a little thump at the smile lines crinkling around her eyes; they’d appeared when he’d said the word Valentine—such a contrast to how she would’ve reacted just a few short months ago.

All the worry left her voice. “You’re a chronic romantic. You know very well you gave me all seventeen already.”

“Those were to make up for the past,” he reasoned. “This year would’ve been your eighteenth Valentine’s Day. Remember? The gift I gave you on February 14th was the first of your seventeen Valentines. I didn’t actually give you a gift for this year’s Valentine’s Day yet.”

“Yes you did,” she said, her voice a loving timbre as she held his face in her hands. “Everything you’ve done, every moment together since that day has been a gift.”

His eyelids lowered tenderly at that. “Well then consider this a supplementary eighteenth Valentine gift then.” He turned his hand over to reveal a very distinct little gift box.

Dani gazed at the velvet cube. “What is it?” she asked in a voice he hardly recognized.

“Open it and find out.”

Unable to meet his eyes, slowly, she shook her head in a silent no.

Pain.
He’d never known that, until this point, pain wasn’t something he’d even remotely experienced. Not this pain. What he was feeling now robbed him of breath, of strength.

It was worse than the sickening feeling he’d felt injected into his veins when he’d made the call on Monday to tell Noah that he was opting to give up his give best recipes to close out the loan. At least that pain was resulting in a $50,000 check he could give Quinn to save Cooper.

This pain just bred more pain that gouged at his soul and hollowed out his heart.

A hot tear fell on his hand. He opened his eyes and looked at it. “Don’t cry, sweetheart.”

Her tears came anyway, words powerless to stop them.

“The gift isn’t what you’re thinking,” he said gently. “It’s not the ring you’re so deathly afraid of.” He took the thin red ribbon off the box and flipped it open. There was a tiny chocolate inside with gold message stamped on the bottom.

She read it slowly, hands shaking, eyes welling up more. “You said you never make promises.”

“No, I don’t make guarantees.
This
is a vow.”

“That you’ll always love me?”

“Yes.”

Her voice shrank. “How can you possibly know that?”

“How do you know that you’ll always love Xoey, or Rylan, or your brother?”

“I just do,” she shrugged, unable to put it into words.

“Exactly. Try not to think about it; it makes it easier.” He arched an eyebrow wisely.

She let a reluctant half grin appear. “Simple as that?”

“Simple as that.” He gathered her into his arms. “And it is. That simple, I mean. I just know without a doubt I’ll always love you. No matter what.”

“Even if I say I don’t want us to live together?” she asked quietly.

His jaw clenched back the stab of hurt. “Of course.”

She focused her eyes on the center of his sternum. “You’ve been hinting at it.”

“Yes I have. Because I want us to live together.”