The days before Lincoln and Amelia's wedding day stretched Eliza's last nerve. She was on edge due to her impending dinner with Carter, her overwhelming desire for this wedding to be perfect because of her newfound friendship with Amelia, and the awareness that her business was finally righting itself with every new phone call that landed in her voicemail.
If anything, the break from James and his poor handling of all the clients he'd schmoozed and stolen had done her more favor. Because the clients who'd made that jump and regretted it now touted her skills and professionalism far and wide on social media, especially after she agreed to take them on again.
But with all of that whirling around in her mind, she'd come to a decision regarding her dinner date with Carter. And despite her thoughts on cancelling, she wasn't going to. Not only that, she was going to let the evening flow in whichever direction it might, be it strictly professional or… not.
Marsali was right. It was time to make a move forward into her future, and even though Carter had warning labels all over him, she couldn't help but think an evening spent flirting over candlelight with a gorgeous man would be fun.
But that was after the wedding. Before the wedding came… details and stress and rain, a steady downpour that had covered the Wilmington area and made it impossible to set anything up ahead of time to get a jump on the process.
Eliza, Kellie, and the crew had staged everything they could inside Carter and Lincoln's homes, even arranging the items so that everything would be carried out in the order it was to be set up.
Now Eliza adjusted her headset after the ceremony and watched the happy couple share a tantalizing kiss on the dance floor while staring into each other's eyes like no one else existed.
Marsali had said Amelia and Lincoln had a great story, and having it learned it over the last two weeks, Eliza had to agree. They'd loved, lost each other for a time, and found one another again having learned countless lessons.
And if anyone deserved the perfect day for a perfect wedding, it was them. Maybe that's why it had been.
In her experience, every wedding had something go wrong. A broken zipper, a cranky ring bearer, or drunk groomsmen, something. But not this one. The rain clouds had moved on but left behind cooler temps, and setup had gone down without a single glitch. Like dominoes, the wedding preparations had taken place, each performed with military precision that left Eliza staring in rapt wonder.
"Catering is gathering up," Kellie said via the headset.
Eliza glanced at her watch, amazed to see that the night was almost over. Perfect weddings were hard to come by, and she was sad to see this one end. "Right on time. Thanks, Kel."
"I never knew headsets could be sexy," a deep voice murmured behind her. "By the way, I considered snagging one of those from your crew earlier just so I could talk to you."
Eliza turned to find Carter watching her, and she narrowed her gaze and lifted her chin. "Shouldn't you be flirting with the maid of honor? Or the photographer, perhaps?"
His devilishly handsome lips lifted in a smirk, and she bit back a telling sigh. The man looked ever so gorgeous with his dark tan, white button-down shirt, crisp gray slacks, and suspenders.
Amelia had opted for a beachy-boho-chic style that jived perfectly with her personality and profession as a set designer, which was why Lincoln's best man had wound up looking like a male model. The female photographer had loved getting shots of the brothers and taken quite a few of Carter by himself and with Piper.
Now that the ceremony was over and the reception wrapping up, Carter had rid himself of the bow tie, unbuttoned the shirt, and rolled the sleeves up his impressive forearms. And the picture as a whole?
Lawsy.
"Jealous?"
"Oh, no."
"Good. Because the only woman I want to flirt with is right here." He lifted a hand and indicated the beautiful setting. "I didn't see how you could top what I'd already seen you do. Thank you, for making their day special."
She couldn't stop the smile that formed at the praise and reveled in the success of the day. "It was gorgeous, wasn't it?" The day had definitely been blessed given all the things that could've gone wrong.
"Unbelievably so. Which is why…" He looked around, jogged over to a nearby bar area and swiped an entire bottle of champagne and two glasses from a tray, and returned. "We're going to celebrate. You are coming with me."
"Now?"
A low chuckle rumbled out of his chest, and he moved closer to where she stood. His cologne teased her senses even more and dragged her into the spell he cast.
Why couldn't she date him again?
"Yes, now. You haven't taken a break all day. And I want you to see something," he said.
"What?"
"Ah, Eliza. Trust me, it won't disappoint. Everyone knows their jobs, the guests are leaving as well as the bride and groom," he said, a lift of his chin indicating the couple waving goodbye to their guests as they headed toward Lincoln's home, freeing the well-wishers to stay or go as they pleased. "You can spare a few minutes."
It was true. Her crew—now back on track with Kellie as her second-in-command and Carter's two employees working as extras—would have no problem performing the remaining tasks.
"Come on. You know you want to."
He lowered his head, giving her a compelling look that made her ache to see how far he'd go to convince her.
"It has been a great day."
"Exactly. I heard about the magazine article."
Oh. Yeah, that news? The best. She smiled again and bit her lower lip, more than a little pleased with being featured along with Amelia and Lincoln due to their connections in film and local real estate. "That was a nice bonus for today."
"So what are you waiting for?"
Maybe it was the seemingly effortless day or the fact that things were finally looking up, or maybe it was the utterly breathtaking way Carter looked at her, but Eliza pressed a finger to her mic and told the gang she would be around but was taking a break.
The moment she removed the earpiece and set it safely inside of her bridal binder, Carter's calloused hand slid into hers. He tugged her away from the lights and into the dark toward the waterway. "Where are we going?"
She saw his smile flash over his shoulder and hurried along in her sensible flats as they crossed the back of the lawn to the wooden planks leading toward a dock. A boat bobbed gently up and down in the water. "Carter, I can't actually leave."
"We're not going anywhere," he said.
Carter stepped onto the boat and lowered the items he carried before turning toward her and holding up both hands. The moment she moved close enough, he grasped her waist and lifted her easily but didn't let go once her feet touched the deck.
"I've wanted to tell you all day how beautiful you are."
"Th-thank you." The silvery-gray dress was one of her favorites, with a bell skirt and halter neck that left her back bare.
She shivered as his fingertips skimmed across her skin as he finally released her.
"Follow me."
He plucked up the bottle and glasses once more and then took her hand and led the way up some stairs to the upper part of the boat. Once there, she gasped at the sight of the gorgeous tent resplendent with lights with the houses of "bachelor row" lit up from top to bottom, amazed by the sheer beauty of the reception from their vantage point.
"Uh-huh. I thought you might like that view of your handiwork," he murmured, the words whispered into her ear. “And just so you know, I brought the photographer up here to get some shots for you to use in your brochures and stuff. You’ll get them soon.”
He had?
The statement reminded Eliza of what Marsali had said about Carter going above and beyond to prove his interest.
The cork popped and Carter poured two very full flutes, giving her one before lifting his.
"To second chances and beautiful women."
A huff of a laugh left her before she could stop it. Really, though? He'd left the toast ambiguous enough that he could've referred to Lincoln and Amelia—or to her. So which was it? "To Amelia and Lincoln," she said softly.
They clinked their glasses before sipping, and Eliza watched from their perch as guests began trickling out of the tent toward the front of the homes, where golf carts waited to transport them back to their cars.
The quiet of the night was broken by the sounds of crickets and frogs, the boat bobbing in the water, the low hum of talking and laughter from the tent. It was spectacularly beautiful, the perfect end to what had been a perfect day.
"So what kind do you want?"
"Pardon?"
Carter stood so close she felt the heat of his body enveloping her, warding off the chill of the breeze off the water.
"Wedding. How do you envision your perfect wedding?"