Page 5 of Tilly's Tutus
Shaking herself, Tilly forced herself to stop watching Carter’s backside as he walked away. “Let me look.”
Though he was tempted to text her several times during the morning, Carter slid his hands into his pockets to keep from grabbing his phone. From what he could see every time he was within sight of her, Tilly and her sisters were constantly busy.
When the room emptied at lunchtime, Carter headed to her side of the ballroom. If she wouldn’t have dinner with him, maybe she would join him for lunch.
But, by the time he reached her booth, she and her sisters were settling in with a tall, good-looking man. As a surge of jealousy blew up in him, Carter had to suppress the urge to go over and knock the man on his ass. Instead, he turned and walked away.
“Captain McGee? I’m here to relieve you so you can get something to eat,” a female security officer said as she approached. She looked too young and too timid for this job, but that wasn’t his problem. He would be back before the lunch hour ended.
“Thanks,” he said as he passed her and headed to the front door.
There were several restaurants a couple blocks away that he could walk to and get back easily instead of losing his parking space.
“Captain McGee, we’ve got food if you’re interested,” Donnell called to him as he passed the security office.
Instantly his plans changed. Taking a deep breath, he pushed down the fury of seeing Tilly with another man and focused on relaxing and refueling for the afternoon.
A half-hour later, he walked back into the ballroom, his stomach full, ready for the afternoon of patrolling the room and making sure the vendors and their customers were safe.
Tilly was back in her booth, unpacking and rearranging her display.
“Hey, little dancer,” he said as he stepped into her assigned space.
She jumped and twirled, her tutu flaring out around her before settling over her hips and thighs once again. “Oh, it’s you. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be back yet.”
“Sorry,” Carter said, though he wasn’t. “Who did you have lunch with?”
He knew he sounded like a jealous fool, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed to know who the man was, and if he was a threat to his claiming Tilly as his own Little girl.
“Rooker? He’s interested in my sister, Carri,” Tilly said as she pulled out a stack of bags and placed them under the ones already on the table. “Why?”
Carter cleared his throat as he tried to come up with an answer that she would accept so he wouldn’t come off like a crazy stalker. Though he had to admit, he was beginning to see himself in that role, which probably wasn’t a good thing.
Shrugging, he admitted, “I was going to ask you to lunch since you won’t have dinner with me. But you all looked rather cozy.”
She looked at him with surprise evident in her eyes. “You wanted to have lunch with me?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I want to have lunch with you? You’re a beautiful, talented woman who I’d like to get to know much better.”
“Oh. Well. Um,” she said, looking away as her face grew bright pink. “Let me talk to Lottie and maybe you could join us for dinner before we head home tonight?”
Carter stepped closer and laid a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed it as he said, “I’d like that. Very much.”
She nodded just as an announcement came over the speakers that luncheon was over and the first of the afternoon classes would be starting in five minutes.
“Time for me to get back to work,” he said. “I’ll see you when things close down for the evening.”
Chapter Four
“Are you in trouble with security?” Lottie asked the next time they both had a break in customers. Carri was busy with a Little boy trying to convince his Mommy to buy all three stuffies he hugged to his chest.
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“Because that security guard has been at your table four times since the ballroom opened this morning.”
“He helped me put the rack together in the parking lot this morning,” Tilly said, not telling her sister about the sketchy man Carter had run off.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to share too much with her sisters. At least not until she figured out if there was anything developing between them. Then, and only then, would she allow her sisters to meet and interrogate Carter like she and Lottie had Rooker during their lunch break.
