Page 19 of Rules of Engagement
"When the answer's not a simple no, it's a lie. You'd known her, what, five seconds?"
Carter wiped a hand over his face and rubbed. "I flirted with her. Okay? Come on, Linc, she's beautiful. If she'd given me the go-ahead that night, I would've hung around. What guy wouldn't?"
"Someone who cares more about the person he's with than just getting laid. That's who."
"It's not like that. Not with her."
"No?"
"No." But of course Lincoln would think that way. The guy had been married way longer than he'd been single.
"Carter, Eliza is best friends with Marsali, which involves Mac, which means this isn't a game."
"I never thought it was," he said, getting angry.
"You just said you would've taken her up on an offer even though you knew she'd been drinkingandwe were waiting downstairs for you to return."
"ImeantI would've enjoyed hanging out and getting to know her."
"Getting to know her?" Lincoln repeated, sliding Carter a suspicious glance.
"That's what I said." And it was true. One look at Eliza told him she wasn't his usual "type," but he was drawn to her all the more because of it. "Look, maybe it's you and Amelia finding each other after all these years and getting married, but it's really got me thinking about things. You're right about the women I've been with in the past, the ones I attract hanging out where I do."
"And? What about them?"
Yeah, Lincoln was going to make him spell it out. "I don't want that," Carter said. "Not for me and definitely not for Piper. Eliza… When I saw Eliza, Ilikedher. Just like that."
"That's called lust."
"It was more than that," he countered. "We talked the whole way to her room. We talked on the beach. She's different. Fun. Smart. But she shuts me down at every turn."
Lincoln was silent a moment before he spoke.
"You mean she isn't falling for your tattoos and pretty face like all the others."
He shrugged. "The tats definitely don't seem to help with her."
Lincoln leaned his head back and laughed so hard it echoed off the back side of the house.
"I love it. Finally!"
"Finally? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you may be on to something. Eliza's making you work for it, brother. I like her even more now," Lincoln said, wiping his eyes. "Oh, that's good."
"Is it?" Because it didn't feel good to him. It felt like rejection. And nobody liked rejection. The kid on the beach was right about that.
"Any woman who winds up with you needs to be able to give as good as she gets," Lincoln said. "And I understand your thinking. Logically, Eliza's already been vetted by Marsali since they've been friends so many years. Mac, too."
Carter agreed with a silent nod.
Lincoln stood up and swung his chair around to face Carter before sitting back down and digging his elbows into his knees.
"I'm playing shrink here, okay? Humor me and listen. Because Elizaislike every other woman."
And here he'd always thought Lincoln was the smart one. "Come again?"
"She sees the outside first, and one look at you tells her a lot. Like the fact you're one of those guys who's never had to work all that hard to score—which isn't her thing and more proof she's not like the women in your past."
