name?”
Huh. Isn’t that the million dollar question , thought Luke sardonically.
“Dani,” he eventually answered with a blunt frown.
Quinn’s mouth rounded into a surprised O . “Wow, you’re really crushing on this one.”
Not really in the mood for any pseudo-sisterly torment, he remained silent, shuffling through the upcoming week’s paperwork his eyes had been glazing over for the past ten minutes.
Reaching over, Quinn plucked the papers from his hands and let out a quiet curse. “What happened? Did she shoot you down? Do you need me to kick the stupid woman’s ass?”
Aw, that was vicious, but sweet.
“No,” he sighed. “Dani’s great. We had an amazing...uh, introduction to each other the other night, but I didn’t get her number. So yesterday, I left my number along with a gift for her over at Ocotillos where she works.” He frowned at his phone. “She hasn’t called.”
“She could just be shy, or doing the ‘wait two days’ thing guys do,” Quinn reassured him.
Or he’d been way off about the gift, and now she thought he was bizarre and random.
He resumed his pen-tapping.
“Go home.” Quinn packed up his things for him. “You pulled an all-nighter creating that new chocolate on Saturday, you worked and babysat for me on Sunday, and then you still did your four a.m. chocolate batches this morning. You must be beat.” She tossed his keys to him. “I’ll take care of the corporate deliveries today.”
Since Quinn had brilliantly suggested that they donate some care baskets to several dozen big corporations—which had instantly resulted in rolling orders—they’d had something keeping them busy during their one-week grand opening delay due to their missing equipment.
Luke rubbed his neck. “I guess I am pretty fried.” Yawning, he gave her a peck on the cheek in thanks and headed out to his car.
It wasn’t until he was halfway home that he realized what he’d forgotten to do this morning as planned. He quickly grabbed his cell phone and hit the first speed dial. “Hey Quinn. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot you wanted to discuss your video ad ideas for our Valentine’s Day campaign this morning. You want me to head back in?”
Quinn’s voice grinned over the phone line. “That’s alright. You’re exhausted, and clearly distracted. We can talk more about the video ads later. I’ll just do some prep work for it today. No worries. One day of you being a red-blooded man isn’t going to kill us.”
Wow. What happened to the freaked out Quinn from the past few weeks?
Hearing her renewed excitement about the shop markedly eased the weight he’d been feeling on his shoulders the past few weeks. He didn’t realize how much he’d been needing Quinn to go back to being the yin to his yang in his chocolate operation, the one whose belief in their success was based as much on loyalty and faith as it was good, sound business.
And for the first time since the move, she was back.
“Damn,” he commented, now slightly more curious than tired, “your idea must be good.”
“You’ll see,” she replied confidently. “I’m going to take the bull by the horns, if you don’t mind. I want to gather some footage and start the ground work for the videos already.”
Now he knew she was back. With Quinn being a step ahead of him, they’d returned to their status quo. “Go for it,” he said with a grin as he pulled into his apartment parking stall and threw his car into park. Since she was a real-deal marketing whiz, whatever she was cooking up would turn into gold, no doubt.
With Quinn very much her old self again, suddenly, Luke felt his body start to unravel. All at once, every tired muscle in his body weighed on his bones like newly dried cement. The burst of relieved adrenaline he’d got a second ago depleted the last of his emotional reserves, causing him to hit the wall hard.
Staying awake was nowhere in the realm of possible anymore. Barely remembering to