“They’re my second favorite,” Elsa replies with a little more confidence than before.
Elliot grins. “What’s your first favorite?”
“Blackberries, but we ate them already.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you did, because otherwise you would have made me a blackberry pastry, and I’ve already tried those.” He takes a massive bite of the pastry, humming and expressing how good it is through his mouthful until Elsa starts giggling. Then he shoves the rest of the pastry into his mouth, and the little girl practically squeals with laughter.
“I can get you another!” she says and darts off.
Rising, Elliot fights to chew his mouthful as I fight to keep from laughing. I could not have expected that interaction, and I have no idea how to react. Elliot, on the other hand, grimaces and licks cream from his lips while he searches the crowd for wherever Elsa went.
“You have a little…” I reach up, wiping a bit of cream from the corner of his mouth before my propriety can remind me that that is hardly a professional action to take. Horrified by my indecorum, I freeze with my hand hovering between us and embarrassment scorching my cheeks.
Whatever shifted in our relationship last night, it should not have given me permission to be so brazen.
Elliot’s eyes linger on the cream on my thumb for a long few seconds, then he holds the serviette toward me with a grunt. “Thanks.”
Vitte, I have made everything awkward. Taking the cloth, I search for a way to take his attention off me. “What in the world was that?”
His eyes dart to the serviette in my hand. “What was what?”
I would rather we did not discuss my informal contact just now, so I explain, “If I didn’t know better, I might have thought you were possessed by someone else a moment ago.”
Understanding dawns on him, and he looks over the crowd again, finding Elsa across the square with a woman who must be her mother. Her mother smiles at us as she talks to Elsa. “You don’t think I know how to act around kids?” He either finds that amusing or insulting, and I do not know which. “Why, because I’m a big, scary man?”
I gasp. “You heard me?”
Chuckling, he tilts his head to one side. “Read your lips. I’m assuming she called me that first.”
“You were rather terrifying, I think.”
“I wasn’t trying to be.” He narrows his eyes. “But answer the question.”
Grinning, I shift so I am standing next to him and watching the crowd the same way he is. He does have a decent vantage point here, with a good view of the musicians and the people gathered around tables and chairs as they talk and share their food. “No, I did not think you knew how to act around kids. I thought you were in the Army for your entire adult life.”
“I was.”
I sense more to that answer, so I nudge his arm. “But?”
He sighs heavily. “But while I was a training officer on base, I lived with a buddy’s family. He has two little girls.” As his gaze grows distant, he rolls his shoulder, the same one he massaged last night. But whatever discomfort it might be giving him, it seems to disappear when Elsa returns with two more pastries. His smile comes back in full force as he drops down to the girl’s level again.
“I brought you one too, Princess!” Elsa says with so much excitement that I laugh.
Crouching next to Elliot, I take my gift and thank the sweet girl for bringing it to me. I wish I had something I could give her in return, but all I’ve had to share today are promises for when I take the throne. “You had better run back to your mum before she worries,” I tell her. “It was wonderful to meet you, Elsa.”
She curtsies wobbly. “And you, Princess.” She turns to leave but pauses, looking back at us. “My mum says you two are a beautiful couple,” she says, then runs off, leaving Elliot and me on our own.
“Oh,” I say on a breath, suddenly dizzy. “But we’re not…”We are not a couple. That is what I should have said to the girl before she was toofar, but her words caught me off guard. “Why would anyone think that about us?”
Elliot grunts and stands, helping me up with him. “Interesting,” he mutters. His eyes narrow slightly as he gazes across the crowd like he did before, though he does not seem to be looking at anything in particular. I, on the other hand, am entirely focused on the warmth of his fingers still touching my elbow. Why has he not let go? “People are paying more attention to you than I thought.”
Willing myself to ignore the contact between us, I look up at his face. “Then they should have realized that I have not been close to you for most of the afternoon.”
The muscles in Elliot’s jaw flex. “Yeah, that’s not happening again. You’re staying within arm’s length from here on out.”
“What do you suppose people will begin to say then?” I ask, inexplicably blushing at the thought of Elliot always within reach like this. “If someone already assumed we are a couple, then—”
“It’s not true,” Elliot interrupts, dropping his hand and looking at me, “so it doesn’t…” His words trail off, leaving the last word on a breath. “…matter.” For a moment, his eyes flit all over my face as if he is seeing it for the first time, and I burn hotter beneath his searching gaze. But then he ducks his head and chuckles. “It’s only natural for your bodyguard to be close to you, don’t you think?”
