Decker's Daughter - Caroline Lee Page 0,8
places; although her breasts were covered, the material did nothing to hide the way they were high and firm. Decker could imagine they’d just about fill up one of his palms—
Holy hell, cowboy, what are you thinking?
His gaze snapped upward to Bobbi’s, and he caught a heated look in her eyes, before she snapped them down to the place setting in front of her.
Had that been angry heat, or appreciative heat?
Either way, he shouldn’t have ogled her like a horny teenager!
“Bobbi, I’m sorry—”
Her skin flushed darker, and she reached for her menu, pulling it up in front of her face. “So what’s good here?” she blurted, in an overly loud voice.
Oh hell, he’d made a major fool of himself.
“Um…” Deck scrambled to cover his gaffe. “Everything I’ve had is good. They’re new, so I’ve only been here a few times, but it reminds me of some of the restaurants I’ve tried in Missoula. Good, I mean.”
Inwardly, he winced as he pretended to study the menu.
If he kept this up, Bobbi would walk out before their date had even started!
She was still bent over the menu, but her shoulders seemed to relax as she read the options. “What do you normally get here? I’m not sure what to order.” Her gaze darted up to his, then back to the menu once more. “What do your dates normally get?”
“I’ve never— I mean…” He shook his head, laying the menu down beside his plate. “I’ve never taken a lady here. Or any other places really. I haven’t dated too often here in Cauldron Valley.”
Her eyes were on him now, but her chin was still tucked, as if she were ready to look away at a moment’s notice. “Because of the superstition?”
One side of his lips curled wryly. “You’ve heard of that, huh?”
She straightened, one finger still on the menu, as if to hold her place. “My girlfriend Laura is a nurse at the office I work at too, and she’s lived here a lot longer than I have. She told me all about how people here think triplets are bad luck for some reason.”
Feeling more at ease with this topic, Deck leaned back in his chair. “None of us are too clear if it started before we were born, or after our parents died, or what. But yep, it’s pretty silly.”
“You six have lived here your whole life, right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled. “Some of my brothers left for school, of course, but not me. I was born right here in the hospital and am happy as a clam on the ranch. Everything I need is right here, or in Helena or Missoula, and I can go hang out for a weekend if I need to.”
Most of the dating he’d done had been at one of those cities, when mutual friends had set him up with college students or professional women.
“Are clams particularly happy?”
There was a twinkle in her light brown eyes when she asked, so he responded with another slow grin.
“Only clam I know of around these parts are freshwater, but they seem happy enough.” If Wyatt had been the one in this seat, he’d probably make a naughty joke about clams, but Deck was determined not to think of his brother, when he had such loveliness sitting across from him. “This place serves Hokkigai, which is surf clam.”
When he leaned forward to point to her menu under the Nigiri heading, her lip curled adorably.
“Um…the idea of raw seafood is less appealing than I expected.”
He was chuckling when the server arrived with their waters. “So no sushi, huh?” Deck asked with a cocked brow.
She shook her head. “How about you just order for me, okay? You seem to know the menu pretty well.”
“Sounds good.” Deck turned to the server. “Can we have an order of Takoyaki and edamame to start? Then let’s do one veggie udon and one steak hibachi, with soup and salad for both.”
The server jotted notes and left with a nod, and when Decker turned back to Bobbi, she was smiling slightly.
“You must be hungry.”
“Nah,” he drawled. “It’s to share. The udon are these big thick noodles which are really chewy, and I like the way this place seasons their vegetables. But we’re in Montana, so we can’t not order steak in some form, even if it’s hibachi flavored.”
Her breath burst out in a chuckle. “And I confess I’m a sucker for the white shrimp sauce they serve with hibachi.”
“Oh yeah! My grams always called that yum-yum sauce!”
She reached for