Page 49 of Rules of Engagement
"One dance," he said, taking her into his arms and holding her close. "To celebrate the day."
Carter began to sway to the distant sound of the DJ still playing beneath the tent. Seconds passed, but she didn't relax against him. Couldn't.
"Don't be afraid of me, Eliza."
"I'm not."
"No?" He ran his hand up her bare back, gently massaging as he went, and her head dropped to his chest. From his vantage point, he saw her lips part as she sucked in a breath. "You're tight as a drum."
"S-Stressful job, remember?"
He continued the light massage, loving the way she leaned more heavily against him and tried to hide her gasps of pleasure with every stroke. By the time he made it up to her neck and shoulder, he could feel her melting into him. Was she sensitive to kisses there, too?
Drawn by the scent and feel of her, he lowered his head, letting his lips and chin graze against her temple, cheek, and jawline. She tilted her head and gave him access, and he kissed that place where neck and shoulder met. The caress earned a shiver and low, moaning gasp.
Definitely not as immune to him as she wanted him to think.
Carter opened his mouth and lightly tasted her salty skin again before lifting his head to find her mouth, taking her lips with a slow, heady kiss that promised everything he wanted to give her.
Her responses to him were everything. He felt her hesitation, her inexperience?
Even her fear.
He fought against everything inside of him that wanted to sweep her up and carry her away and forced himself to go slow. Her trembling response tugged at his heart and brought out a protectiveness in him he didn't ever remember feeling, one he couldn't deny.
He gently pressed his thumb under her chin and took her mouth again, deepening the kiss until his head filled with the taste of her. Champagne and chocolate and sweetness, something undeniably Eliza. By the time he ended the kiss, they both breathed heavily. "I have waited an eternity to do that," he whispered against her lips.
She laughed softly, her gaze heavy-lidded as she glanced up at him before lowering her lashes once more and inhaling a shaky breath.
"Two weeks is hardly an eternity."
"Maybe not but it felt like it. Eliza—"
"I-I should go. I'm working, Carter."
Right. She was. And so long as that was her reason for leaving, he'd accept it. "Okay. Yeah, let's go back."
He took her hand in his and raised it to his mouth, brushing his lips over her knuckles. Carter recognized the wariness and panic in her eyes and hoped he hadn't moved too soon. She'd seemed to enjoy the kiss and hadn't pushed him away, though.
That was a good first step.
One he intended to use to climb to the next.
"Don't go home. Stay here."
Eliza looked up in shocked surprise two hours later. The DJ was gone, the tent had been taken down and stuffed into the back of a box truck, and catering loaded the last of their items at this very moment. "Excuse me?"
"I don't mean it like that."
"It sounded like it."
Carter shot her a look of patient frustration.
"It's late. You're tired and we're going out tomorrow on the boat, which means coming back here in the morning so… why not just crash here? Marsali is staying at Mac's. You should, too."
Now that he'd clarified his statement, she breathed a little easier. "I'm pretty sure if Mac was okay with me staying at his place, he would've invited me."
Carter ran a hand over his face and groaned.
