“The salmon, I think.” Now it was him blushing, and fuck her if the color spreading across his cheeks wasn’t just the cutest damn thing in the world. “I don’t really like red meat.”
“That’s perfectly all right.” And something for her to keep in mind. “What do you enjoy?”
“Pasta,” he said with a grin. “Spaghetti is one of the main food groups, as far as I’m concerned.”
“He’s not lying.” Kylie rolled her eyes. “He’d eat it every night if he could.”
“I’m a pretty big pasta fan myself. The pasta puttanesca at the Ranch’s restaurant is to die for.”
“Eww.” Again with that adorable wrinkling of her nose, Kylie shook her head. “Danny made me try that once. It hasanchoviesin it. I don’t know how you two can eat those.”
“They’re delicious,” Addison supplied with a chuckle. “But they are a bit of an acquired taste. Do you just dislike anchovies or all fish?”
“All fish. Except shellfish because that’s usually not fishy. Back home we have the most amazing crab cakes.” Sighing wistfully, Kylie propped her chin on her fist, her expression turning dreamy. “I dream about Maryland crab cakes.”
“You’re not local, then.” Interesting. She could have found all that out for herself by asking Derek for their backgrounds, but she was a bit old-fashioned when it came to certain things. “What about you, Daniel?”
“I’m local-ish. I grew up in a small town a few hours from here, right on the Wyoming border.”
“Really? I’m from Cooke City, originally, but I moved to Bozeman after college.”
His expression lit up. “I’m from Silver Gate. Small world.”
“It is, indeed.”
“Not small enough.” Kylie’s bottom lip puffed out in a pout. “You two are practically neighbors and I’m all the way on the other side of the country!”
“Aw, Ky.” Reaching over, he gave her ponytail a playful tug and Addison’s heart tripped in her chest at the sweet gesture. “You’re only on the other side of the country if you move back home.”
“True.” Sniffling delicately, Kylie sat up straighter. “And I do miss home, and my family, but I really love Montana. I’ve been looking at some Masters programs in Bozeman.”
“What do you think you might like to do?” Kylie was incredibly gifted at math, but outside of that, Addison didn’t know much about her ambitions.
“Montana State has an excellent Mechanical Engineering program.”
There was something in her tone, or rather alackof something that had Addison zeroing in on her. “You don’t sound very excited about that.”
Kylie jerked a shoulder in a shrug that seemed like it was meant to be nonchalant but instead had more of a “sulky Little girl” vibe. “I’m good at math. Ilikemath. So I should do something with math. It would be stupid not to.”
“I’m not a fan of the word ‘stupid,’ Kylie Anne. And I amverymuch not a fan of you using that word with regards to yourself.”
Tears sparked on Kylie’s lashes as she sank down in her chair. “Sorry,” she mumbled, so softly Addison almost didn’t hear her.
“Sit up, please, and look at me.”
Across the table from her, she was intimately aware of Daniel watching both her and Kylie, his attention riveted on them as Kylie pushed herself back up in her chair with a sigh. She lifted her dark eyes, still glittering with tears, to meet Addison’s. “Ma’am?”
“Thank you. Now, I’m not going to push you to make a decision about your future on a first date. What Iwilltell you, however, is that I am a very firm believer in doing what makes you happy. Not what other people expect of you.” She let her lips curve in a wicked smile. “Unless that person is me. Then I do expect you to do as I tell you to, so I don’t have to spank that naughty bottom of yours. I much prefer to reward good Little girls than punish them. Outside of that, however, if engineering doesn’t make you happy, then you’re under no obligation to pursue it. All right?”
A small smile tugged at Kylie’s lips. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Good girl.”
Kylie
She might actually end up leaving a wet spot on the chair beneath her if Addison kept calling hergood girllike that. Like she meant it with every fiber of her being.
And there was something about being told by this gorgeous, successful, brilliant woman that if she didn’t want to follow the engineering path that had been laid out for her since middle school, she didn’t have to.
