Page 9 of Smoky Mountain K-9
The room quieted, and all eyes turned to her.
“Welcome to our Valentine’s Paint-and-Pour Plus. My name is Alyssa, and I’ll be your host this evening. Everyone’s here, so we’re going to get started. If you’ll all follow me?” She turned toward the door and beckoned them to follow.
They all filed out of the gift shop and down the main concourse. As they walked, Alyssa gave them the tour guide spiel about the zoo and its inhabitants. It was hard to see much since it was dark, but what Carter could see looked well-kept.
When they reached the education center, Alyssa led them inside and directed them down the hallway, where she let them into a large auditorium.
“Each table has a place card, so find yours and have a seat. Dinner will be out soon.”
Carter laid a hand on Mara’s back and ushered her deeper into the room. They wandered through the tables until they found one with his last name and sat down. Their table was in the middle of the room, which bothered him. He didn’t like not being able to see the entire room.
His knee bounced as he glanced around, taking note of the exits and the location of the other diners and staff.
“Are you okay?”
He turned around at the sound of Mara’s soft question. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you were okay. You seem edgy all of a sudden.”
Carter forced his shoulders to relax. “Yeah. Sorry. I don’t like sitting in the middle of a room. I can’t see everything. It’s the soldier—and cop—in me. It makes me nervous, but I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. It was only for a little while, and the idea of trouble here was minimal. “Yes.”
Footsteps alerted him to someone coming up from behind. He glanced back to see a server headed for them with a bottle of wine in her hands.
“Hello. Would you like some wine? This is a merlot, but one of my colleagues has a sharp pinot grigio, if you’d prefer that.”
Mara raised her glass. “Merlot is fine with me.”
Carter nodded and picked up his wine goblet. He preferred red as well.
The lights on the stage came on, and a moment later, a man in a suit came out of the wings and walked to the podium. Carter tuned him out as he thanked everyone for coming and espoused the zoo’s outreach program, which events like this one funded. Instead, he crowd-watched.
“So, do you suppose Thelma prefers warm colors or cool colors?”
It took a moment for her question to register. When it did, he looked at her, then grinned at the teasing light in her eyes. “Sorry. I’m not trying to ignore you. And I don’t know about Thelma, but I like cool colors.”
Her smile bloomed. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. Just trying to distract you.”
“You don’t need silly quips to do that.” The words were out of his mouth before he thought them through. He didn’t take them back, though. They were true. Mara Roth was a beautiful woman.
The crowd faded into background noise as something in his head shifted, giving her his full attention. It was the least she deserved. Real date or not, his behavior was rude. His mom would slap him if she saw him ignoring his companion in favor of satisfying his need for control. He vowed to do better.
Four
Mara’s cheeks flushed, and she glanced down, surprised by her reaction to his words. Why, she didn’t know. She knew she was no slouch in the looks department, but for whatever reason, hearing Carter admit she distracted him turned her into a heap of flustered woman. She looked at him through her lashes. “That’s nice of you to say. Thank you.”
He wasn’t the only one distracted by the other person. She’d forced her knees not to buckle when she opened the door earlier. He’d been something to look at in his uniform at the auction. But in street clothes? Damn…
Her fingers nudged the linen napkin on the table. She curled them into a fist to keep from picking it up and fanning herself with it. That jacket he had on did something for his shoulders. They looked a mile wide. And it brought a ruggedness to him that she found sexy and appealing. He reminded her of the cowboys back home. She loved a good cowboy.
A round of applause went through the crowd as the speaker finished his presentation. Mara clapped to be polite, but she’d heard nothing the man said. Hopefully, there hadn’t been any instructions for later.
The double doors near the stage swung open and a small army of servers flowed out, each carrying a large tray laden with plates. She was happy to see them, and not just because they had food. It gave her a chance to gather herself after the heated tension Carter’s words provoked.
They dug into their meals—which were excellent—negating the need to talk for several minutes. Once they’d assuaged their hunger some, their conversation started again, but ranged over light topics. Mara learned more about some of his likes and dislikes, and revealed some of her own.