Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“This is perfect!” A Little girl twirled in the multicolored pastel tutu she’d chosen and slipped on. “Please, Daddy. Please, please, please will you buy it for me?”
Since this was the third time this scene had played out in the last hour, Tilly knew to look away as they discussed the purchase. She turned to the cardboard box at the back of her booth and pulled out a new tulle tutu. After fluffing it, she hung it from the hanger that had just been emptied.
She jumped and turned when a finger tapped her shoulder. “Miss? My Daddy wants to know if you take credit cards?” the young woman asked as she moved her hands into a palms-together prayer position.
“I do,” Tilly answered with a smile before moving to the small table that held her sales station.
“Yay!” The Little girl cheered and did a happy dance as her Daddy pulled out his wallet.
“Now for the big question,” Tilly said as she took the man’s credit card. “Do you want to wear your new skirt or shall I put it in a bag?”
The Little took two steps back, a horrified expression on her face. “You can’t do that! It won’t be able to breathe if you put it in a bag!”
“Very well then, no bag.” Tilly chuckled as she ran the payment before handing the card back to the Daddy along with her business card and the flyer she’d put together.
“Thank you very much. My full line of Little clothes is on my website. I also make matching clothes for Littles and their stuffed friends.”
The man took everything with an indulgent smile. “Thank you. I’m sure we’ll be checking it out when we get home.”
Once they moved on, the Little girl began gushing over Carri’s crocheted critters in the next booth, and Tilly took a moment to look around the rest of the room. At some point during the next three days, she promised herself that she would walk around and check out all the other vendors.
“Having a good day?” A deep voice pulled her attention to her right.
Turning just her head, she found Carter standing beside her, looking all tall and heroic in his casual uniform.
“So far, so good,” she answered with a grin as she looked up into his brown eyes.
They met hers and she thought she could fall into them and drown, if only there wasn’t a dozen things pulling at her, including a pair of Little girls who were now squealing over the t-shirts and skirts she had on display.
“I was wondering if you’d join me for dinner tonight?” Carter asked even as she forced her attention away from him.
“I wish I could, but my sister and I are heading home after closing.”
“Can I get your phone number?”
Tilly studied the man, trying to figure out why her body wanted to move closer despite the women looking at her wares. After a long few seconds, she took a business card off the stack on her table and held it out.
He brushed his fingertips over the back of her hand before taking it. “Thank you, little one.”
Tilly felt her face heat as he read the card. She watched as he then pulled out his phone, swiped the screen and tapped on it. A moment later, her phone buzzed and rang out with a message.
“Now you have my number, too. Just in case your plans change and you can join me for dinner,” he said as he stroked the back of two fingers down her cheek. “Be good and have a wonderful rest of your day, little one.”
And then he was walking away, leaving her watching him as she licked her lips to make sure she wasn’t drooling.
“Excuse me,” one of the women behind her said, “Do you have this t-shirt in a larger size?”
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.”