Free Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek) by Violet Duke

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.”
    The 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