Page 54 of Rules of Engagement
"He wanted to warn me away from you."
She blinked at the comment. "I thought he tried tohireyou?"
Carter tilted his head to the side. "He mentioned working together, too. But he was really there to issue a warning."
"Oh, my— He's with Clarissa."
Carter leaned his elbows on the table again and stared at her over his clasped hands. "Does it matter to you if he is or isn't? Are you still hung up on him?"
Matter to her? Hung up on James? The man had tried to destroy her. "No, it doesn't. Not in a romantic sense. Anyone who would stoop so low as to… I see what he was now."
Carter leaned back and picked up his burger. "Good."
Good? That was it? "What did you say to James? When he… said whatever he said?"
Carter hesitated and seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
"I told him that whatever happened between you and me was none of his concern."
"And?" Because she so knew there was more.
"I may have called him stupid for treating you the way he did, and… told him how glad I am that you're free to pursue."
The next question stalled on her lips before she finally forced it out. "Pursue? You just said that to rub James's nose in the mess he's made, right?"
"You sure you want the answer to that?"
She flicked her tongue over her lips to wet them, her stomach a bundle of nerves and lungs barely doing the job as she tried to breathe whilst staring into Carter's slate gaze.
Something had sparked inside of her last night with the kiss they'd exchanged. Something that loosed the tight grip she had on her fear and opened her heart to the possibilities, terrifying though it was. But she and Marsali had talked into the wee hours of the morning, discussing dating dos and don'ts and how to handle the baggage of previous relationships. In Marsali's words, Eliza couldn't hold Carter responsible for something he hadn't done, just because her family—and James— had a history of it. "I'm sure."
Several long seconds passed before he inhaled and sat forward.
"I don't want to say something that'll scare you away."
She didn't want him to, either, but at the same time, she had to know. He'd expressed an interest in her before. She knew that. But she'd brushed it off and shut him down and now… well, she needed to hear it again. Because one of the things most damaged by betrayal was self-confidence, and she had to own that as a flaw. "Tell me anyway."
He inhaled and sat back in his seat, never taking his eyes off of her. "You're beautiful, smart. Gracious. Sweet. But then there are times when your eyes flash a certain way and I see pure orneriness," he said with a small grin. "And I want to grab you up and kiss you so you use it on me."
A soft laugh left her, and she felt heat soaring into her cheeks. "I see." And truthfully? She felt the same way about him, wishing at times he'd follow through and overcome her fears by making her forget her senses.
Like the kiss last night did.
"Sweetheart," he said, lowering his voice, "you might not know me well enoughyet, but I'm a one-woman man."
"It's… hard to trust someone after that's been done to you."
"I know."
"And then I look at you, and I see the way other women look at you—"
"What other women? Because the only one I see is you."
"How's the food? Can I get you anything else?" the waiter asked.
Eliza blinked at the intrusion and shook her head while Carter told the young man that the food was great. Once the waiter walked away, Eliza straightened in her seat. "What about our… business dealings? If we allow things to get personal, it could mess everything up."
"It could. If we let it. But who says something's going to go wrong?"
