Page 15 of Rules of Engagement
He went back to work and noted the way Eliza immediately pitched in and acted as an assistant. Some people didn't work well enough together to build a cardboard puzzle, much less an arbor, but Eliza tried to stay a step ahead of him so that she was ready to hand him whatever the next piece or tool or fastener happened to be.
Nearby, Piper finished her ice cream and began making sand angels in the shade provided by the tall hotel.
"I hate that I've interrupted your day together," Eliza said. "But I'm so glad you were around to save the day. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"Dinner would be nice."
"Oh, of course. I'd be happy to pay for your Daddy-daughter dinner."
"Not what I had in mind," he said, fitting the top in place. "I mean dinner, just you and me."
"Oh. Um…"
"Come on, Eliza. Aren't you the tiniest bit curious about us?" He tightened the screw and noted the way she wouldn't look at him.
"Us? No."
"That was a little too quick, sweetheart. Makes me not believe you," he said, sliding her a look from behind his sunglasses. He sat kneeling on the sand in front of her and shoved his glasses atop his head so she could see his eyes, even if he couldn't see hers. "Give me a legitimate reason why you're so against a simple dinner."
"I'm… just not interested."
"Because of some loser who hurt you?"
"Because I don't have time to date."
"Eliza? Where do you want these?" a woman called, carrying a bucket of flowers.
Eliza looked toward the woman bearing a florist logo-ed T-shirt and waved a hand toward the right.
"There's fine. Thank you, Jess," Eliza said. "I have to go," she said to him. "I have a wedding to set up."
She'd shoved herself to her feet and had turned away when he said, "I'm not taking no for an answer."
Carter saw the other woman's eyebrows rise in curiosity as she glanced between the two of them, but Eliza didn't bother to look back.
"You're going to have to," she called over her shoulder.
He got to his feet, motioning toward one of the teenage boys who'd just lowered a bucket of flowers to the sand. "Hey, give me a hand here, would you? Grab that side."
"Dude, that was harsh," the kid said, laughing at Eliza's rejection as he joined Carter.
Carter never took his gaze off of Eliza and knew the moment she took a discreet glance his way. He winked at her and smiled when her lips parted in a visual gasp. "That it was," he said to the teenager.
But he still wasn't giving up.
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Chapter 5
The following afternoon, Carter hefted his almost five-year-old daughter, Piper, higher against his chest and shoulder and buried his head in her stomach with a ferocious growl. Her little-girl giggles filled his ears and brought a squeeze to his heart as they always did.
Sometimes he wondered if Piper's mother ever had any regrets walking out on them the way she had, but then… he didn't want to find out. The last thing Piper needed was for her mom to appear and possibly reconnect, only to leaveagain.
"There you are," Amelia said, smiling from a chair on the deck surrounding Lincoln's pool. "Hi, Piper."
"Hiii. Daddy, stop tickling me," Piper said, still laughing.
"I only do it because redheads are my favorite snack," he told Piper, letting her slide to the ground now that they'd arrived.
