Page 24 of Make Me Swoon

“I think I’m going to get the salmon. What about you?” Hudson asks and I grab my menu, flipping it open to remember what it was called.

“I’m getting the pistachio-crusted halibut with the twice-baked potatoes.”

“That sounds good too,” he says as he sets our menus aside and reaches across the table for my hand.

Before he can though, our waiter comes over to take our order.

“Welcome to the Blue Plate! Can I get you two started with something to drink?”

“Do you want wine?” Hudson asks me and I shake my head.

“Can I get a pomegranate martini, please?”

“Of course,” the waiter says with a wink at me and I look over to Hudson to see if he saw that.

If the scowl on his face is any indication, then yes, yes, he did.

“I’ll have a whiskey. Neat.”

The waiter nods, writing down his order before he turns to head back to the kitchen. He gives me a smile as he heads back and I grin wide at Hudson as he goes.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he says dryly and I laugh.

“You have nothing to worry about. I only have eyes for you,” I quote back to him.

He stares at me and I could swear that his eyes are full of longing.

I can’t handle seeing him look at me like that and I turn, looking around the rest of the restaurant. We’re on the first floor still, and I look around at the other tables. The place is half full with some people sitting at the bar on the other side of the restaurant.

The tables and chairs are all painted a bright blue and stand out against the dark wood floors and walls. There’s fishing gear tacked up on the walls every few feet and some nautical kitsch on some shelves behind the bar.

“Would you ever have a restaurant like this?” I ask Hudson and he looks around.

“No, probably not. The kitsch stuff isn’t really my style. I’d rather have murals or framed artwork than all of this. I like the style of this place though, with the decks and the two stories.”

“I like how laid back it is. I don’t usually dress up, so this is kind of my kind of place,” I say with a wry grin.

“I can do laid back.”

“What if the market trends don’t point that way?”

“I can still do it.”

“Seems like a pretty big gamble,” I say and I wonder if we’re still talking about restaurants.

“It’s worth it,” he says, his eyes holding mine prisoner and I swallow hard.

“Here you are!” the waiter says as he sets our drinks down in front of us. “Are you ready to order now?”

“Yes,” Hudson says, grabbing our menus and rattling off both of our orders.

The waiter grabs the menus, nodding as he continues to write down the order. I don’t look at him so I’m not sure if he smiles at me as he leaves this time.

“Are you going to open a place up over here still?” I ask him as I take a sip of my martini.

“Maybe. I need to look into the area more. I like Maple Bend, and even Honey Peak was cool when we went up there.”

I nod and ask him more about his other restaurants.

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