The Navy SEAL's Bride Read Free Page A

his own. There weren’t many other parents there, just a few moms standing in clusters inside, no doubt gossiping, so he headed for the door. Thought he might watch for a…
    Wow.
    The tiny ballerinas in a sea of pink surrounded their teacher. She was dressed in skintight black leggings and the palest of pink tops crossed over her breasts and tied at the back. She was pointing her toes, asking the giggling girls to do the same.
    He’d had no idea that she was the schoolteacher and the dance teacher.
    And he might have sat in the waiting area and kept his eyes off her had he known.
    “I haven’t seen you here before.”
    Tom turned, dragged his gaze from the all too distracting Miss Rose. “Sorry?”
    He locked eyes with a middle-aged mom sipping from a paper coffee cup. “I just said that I haven’t seen you here before, and we don’t get many dads, so I’m sure I’d remember.”
    “Ah, I’m Tom,” he introduced himself, still fighting the pull to glance back into the studio. “I’m looking after my niece.”
    The woman held out her hand and clasped his warmly. “Then that’s why I didn’t recognize you.”
    He rocked back on his heels, wished he’d dropped Gabby off and come back to collect her instead of waiting. He didn’t exactly enjoy small talk.
    “Not married, or do you just not like to wear a ring?”
    Oh, hell. This was definitely the kind of small talk he didn’t like to engage in.
    “Single,” he said, the smile leaving his face. He didn’t take kindly to being interrogated. Never had, never would.
    The woman didn’t look at all as if she’d picked up on his leave me alone signs, either.
    “Well then, I guess you’re allowed to check out the teacher.”
    Heat hit Tom’s cheeks before he could fight it. Jeez, had he been that obvious?
    “You must be mistaken,” he said, voice cool. “I was watching my niece. She asked me to stay within sight.”
    The mom looked confused, but Tom didn’t change the expression on his face. He’d been trained not to betray a hint of weakness, and here he was mooning over a pretty girl as though he’d never seen an attractive member of the opposite sex before. Sure, she was beautiful, but he wasn’t in the market for a relationship, and he didn’t want to be called out like that again. The last thing he needed was to hurt the feelings of a fragile paper ballerina who doubled as his niece’s teacher.
    “Nice to meet you,” Tom said, turning his back and putting an end to the conversation.
    He crossed the room and sank onto a chair, but he still couldn’t look away. Because even from there, he could see through the door to the happiness and laughter in the studio. Gabby danced around as if she couldn’t think of anywhere better to be in the world, and the mesmerizing Miss Rose twirled about amongst the girls as if she was loving every minute of it.
    And she probably was. Darkness clawed its way into his chest and threatened to sink its teeth into him, but he steeled his jaw and fought it, pushed the haunting clouds of memory away.
    Just because he was troubled didn’t mean everyone else around him had to be miserable. He’d gone through hell, but he’d emerged alive, and he wasn’t going to let anything drag him down.
    Or at least he wasn’t going to be pulled any further into the web of emptiness than he’d already allowed himself to be.
    * * *
    Tom was struggling not to zone out. He’d never tried so hard in his life to focus, had never paid anyone so much attention in his life, but still…Gabby was talking a million miles an hour and it was hard to keep up.
    “So, did you see me? Did you see how fast I can twirl? Were you watching when…”
    He didn’t hear another word. Lost the fight to stay tuned in to what she was saying.
    Because a slender frame, braced against the cool autumn wind with only a flimsy coat around her, appeared in his rearview mirror. Ankles bare and peeking out from skintight black leggings, but with her hair out