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both knew it. The air around them had deflated with James’s invasion. Flirting while drinking made words shinier than reality and led to some stupid decision making. A mistake she didn’t intend to make.
    “You take the paper and I’ll hit up radio and TV. Do you want to start on social media?” he asked.
    “Yeah, I can create a Facebook page. We need to plan the event first. We should think of a name to call our street block, use it for the name of the Facebook page, and then we can give customers updates.”
    The anger that had invaded Luke’s eyes slowly disappeared as she rattled off her ideas.
    “Nice.”
    “Then, when we win, we can still use the page for promotion.” She sighed as she mentally processed and prioritized the work ahead. “I like what we’ve come up with tonight.”
    He looked straight at her.
    A deep connection sparked and her breath caught.
    “Me, too,” he said.
    A wave of heat washed over her cheeks and reached her ankles. Surely it had nothing to do with his intense gaze—she just liked a good attack plan. Her cold, empty orange cup caught her attention. Alcohol. The sweet liquid had caused the influx of want. What on earth would she do if she had the hots for Luke Carrigan? Die. She would just die.

CHAPTER FOUR
    This is the brightest sun in the history of suns.
    The morning after drinking sucked. Candace wanted to wear her sunglasses all day. She parked her red Camry in the back parking lot and sloshed through snow melting under the warm morning light on her way to the back door of Kiss from a Rose.
Why did I have to get liquored up the night before I need to rally the troops?
    She was paying the price for going over her two-drink rule. The alcohol intake had hit her hard due to her lack of food yesterday, and between stress and not sleeping she was worse for the wear. Sometimes her fun impulse got the better of her.
    The flower shop was supposed to be her future. It
would
be her future—one she would control. She didn’t have the problems with her family that her big brother did. He shouldered most of the burden so that she was able to find her own way, and now that she’d completed college and worked for some Ellison-owned businesses, she would live her life.
    As long as the jerk, Dean, didn’t take it away from her.
    “Hey, Sophie.” Candace put her bag on the island in the back room. She sat on the wooden stool and slouched, putting pressure on her temples.
    “Rough night?”
    “You could say that.”
    “So the council meeting didn’t go well, huh?”
    “You could say that, too.”
    Sophie shook her head as she wrapped a rose corsage with green waxy paper. Blake was hosting his annual dance at his ranch and had asked her to make festive flower decorations for the barn and the main house. Candace was going to try to make the party, but she hadn’t made any promises.
    “So that’s it, then? We’re moving? When?” Sophie asked.
    “Nothing’s official, but my five minutes didn’t go over well. I left after I spoke. Right after I shoved a substantial foot in my mouth, of course. Who knows what happened after?”
    Candace wanted to believe she’d done the right thing last night, but this morning she wasn’t so sure. She should have played it differently. Her life needed a rewind button. She’d use it for the four drinks she’d had last night as well. Luke had fumed and she’d drank and they’d both tried to make themselves feel better about their current shared life problem.
    Sophie chuckled. “There’s my Ace.”
    “Yep. So, I made Jeffrey Dean even angrier, which reminds me, I’ll be gone this afternoon to a little council meeting of my own. Luke and I have a plan.”
    Sophie’s eyes lit with delight. “Luke’s involved? Can I tag along?”
    Candace rolled her eyes. “I need you here at the shop. You can hunt him down some other time.”
    “What’s this other council meeting about?”
    “The other business owners and I are going to host a fun day