Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cadee spent the following week worried about Huck showing back up at the ranch to see Camden. When he didn’t, instead of being relieved, she got pissed off. How dare he act like he wanted to spend time with Camden and then not spend time with Camden? It just confirmed what she already knew.
Huck was not ready to be a father.
And he probably never would be.
So when he finally did show up early Monday morning of the next week, she wasn’t at all welcoming.
“What are you doing here?” she said as soon as she opened the door and saw him standing on the porch. “Camden’s at school.”
He nodded. “I know.” He took off his trucker hat, his cowlick sticking up. “I wanted to talk to you alone.”
Since he looked nervous, she figured she knew what he wanted to talk about.
She didn’t know why her heart sank. She’d known all along he wouldn’t stick around.
After Billy told her his siblings were splitting their share of their money with him, it made sense he was off to the big city to spend it on some other stupid scheme.
And it wasn’t like Camden had formed an attachment to him. Yes, he liked Huck and thought he was funny and cool—something Camden had mentioned often in the last few days—but if Huck left, he would get over it.
Which meant the reason for her sinking heart had nothing to do with her son and everything to do with her. The epiphany made her even madder.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “So talk.”
“Can we go for a walk? I’d just as soon not be interrupted by your brothers or mama.”
“The boys are in the west pasture fixing fences and Mama is at her bible study.”
“Oh.” He glanced over at the rockers on the porch. “Then maybe can we sit down?”
“I’m fine standing. Just spit it out, Huck.”
He took a big breath before he released it. “I’d like to build Camden a tree house for his birthday. Cooper said his birthday is coming up and y’all are having a party for him. Is that right?”
She stared at him. “So you’re not leaving?”
“Leaving? Where?”
“I don’t know. Wherever you planned to go after you got your inheritance. And don’t look so surprised, Huck. Are you forgetting that I know you? I know you never planned to stay in Promise Springs . . . even after you found out about Camden.”
He hesitated for only a moment before he nodded.
“I get why you would think that.” His gaze grew intense.
“But I’m not going anywhere, Cadee.” He looked out at the pastures that surrounded the house, presenting her with his profile.
How could a man look pretty and unbelievably masculine all at the same time?
His eyelashes were longer than hers, his cheekbones higher, his bottom lip fuller.
But then there was the bump on the bridge of his nose, his thick mustache, and his scruffy, angular jawline.
That jawline tightened before he spoke. “I’m not my daddy. ”
Cadee remembered very little of Rory Hennessy. Probably because he’d never been around much. But what she could remember was a happy-go-lucky, charming, handsome man just like Huck. A man who loved his kids . . . just not enough to stay home and take care of them.
As if reading her thoughts, Huck looked back at her.
“I’m not going to be like him, Cadee. I refuse to show up once in a blue moon with gifts and stupid jokes and act like I haven’t missed out on the most important moments of my kid’s life.
I won’t do that to Camden. I won’t do that to your son.
Yes, your son. Because I haven’t earned the right to claim him .
. . yet. But I want to earn that right, not only for me to claim him, but also for him to claim me.
For him to be as proud to call me daddy as I am to call him son. ”
It never failed to amaze her how easily Huck could manipulate her emotions. She had been prepared to tell him to go to hell and slam the door in his face. Now here she was about to burst into tears and give him what he wanted.
Time with Camden.
Only one thing kept her from it.
The need to protect her son.
“Those are pretty words, Huck. But words mean nothing when your actions say something else.”
He nodded. “I know. I haven’t exactly proven I can stick with something. But this isn’t football or a stupid get-rich scheme. I won’t let Camden down. I won’t, Cadee. I’m staying here in Promise Springs. Unless you and Camden leave. Then wherever you go, I’ll follow.”
“You’d follow us?”
“Of course I would. We’re Camden’s parents.
We might not have planned it, but here we are.
I want to be as good of a daddy as you are a mama.
That means being there for Camden . . . forever.
I don’t blame you if you don’t trust me.
But let me prove myself to you, Cadee. Let me prove myself to Camden. ”
“By building him a tree house?”
“No. By always showing up for him. A tree house is just something I think every kid should have. You don’t remember how much fun we used to have in the treeboat?”
“I remember. I also remember you falling off the rope ladder.”
He grinned. “And I remember you sobbing over me like a baby and begging me not to die.”
“It wasn’t funny, Huck. You could have broken your fool neck.”
His smile got bigger. “See, you would have cried at my funeral.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re not building Cam a tree house. I won’t have him falling out and breaking an arm . . . or his neck.”
“Oh, come on, Cadee. I’ll make sure it’s a lot safer than the treeboat. I’ve done plenty of carpentry work over the last few years and I’ll put in stairs and a railing and sturdy walls so he can’t fall out. Please, Catydid.”
She wanted to deny him—not just building the tree house, but also access to her son—but legally, she knew she couldn’t cut him off from seeing Camden.
Huck was Camden’s dad. If he chose to fight her in court, he would win visitation rights.
Especially after giving up his inheritance to her.
She would much rather be in control of those visitations than have them be dictated by a judge.
And if the tree house was safe . . .
“Fine. You can build him a tree house. But if it’s not safe—” She cut off when he picked her up and swung her around.
“It will be the safest tree house in Texas!” He swung her around until she was dizzy and giggling like a fool. Only then did he stop and let her slip down his body until the toes of her boots touched the porch floor.
She thought he would let her go. He didn’t. His muscled arms remained wrapped around her, pressing her against the hard planes of his chest so tightly she could feel the rapid beating of his heart.
During the spinning, her hands had come to rest on his broad shoulders, her fingertips brushing the bare skin above the ribbed neck of his T-shirt.
She became enthralled by the contrast of her pale fingers against his tanned throat, the way her right thumb almost touched the sexy dip in the center of his collarbone.
She had never wanted to press her lips to something as much as she wanted to press her lips to that dip.
She lifted her gaze from his throat to his mouth. His lips were slightly parted. His breath soft but rapid. He had always had the prettiest lips. She was more than a little annoyed that he’d covered the top one with a mustache.
She lifted her hand and ran a finger along the length of it, surprised that it wasn’t prickly but soft. As soft as his breath that rushed out against her finger.
“Why did you grow this?” she asked.
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple rising and falling. “I guess because I could. You don’t like it?”
She hadn’t. Now, after touching it, she wasn’t so sure. There was something so virile about it. So manly and . . . sexy. She couldn’t help wondering how it would feel against her lips.
Or her inner thighs.
Her brain flashed a warning. Abort! But her body didn’t listen. Probably because when you ignored something for as long as she had ignored her bodily urges, it decides to take matters into its own hands.
Literally.
Her hand moved of its own free will, stroking along the hard angle of his jaw, testing the manly scruff that grew there. It wasn’t as soft as his mustache. The stiff hair prickled her fingertips, causing a wave of tingling to sweep through her body and settle between her legs.
“Cadee?”
She knew why he’d said her name like a question. What was she doing? Too bad she didn’t have an answer . . . or the ability to stop.
She traced up his jaw to the hair that covered his ear, she smoothed it back before she finally raised her gaze to his.
In the morning sun spilling over the porch, his eyes were molten gold.
She could have blamed the desire she read in their depths as a trick of the sunlight if she hadn’t felt him harden against her stomach. Like a mare in heat when she scents a stud, her body trembled with need as her brain once again sent a warning.
Get away from him before it’s too late.
But it was already too late.
Her hands slid around the back of his head, her fingers burying in the silky strands of his hair as she rose higher on her toes and tilted her head.
Then she was kissing Huck.
He tasted like hot summer days swimming in the river and cool autumn nights staring at the stars. He tasted like shared grape popsicles and warm, toasty s’mores. Uncontrollable belly laughs and softly whispered secrets.
He tasted like memories she didn’t want to remember but never could forget.
“Cadee.” This time, the word whispered against her lips wasn’t a question. It was a revelation. How had she ever lived without hearing him say her name? Like it was something special. Something to be cherished.
His hands came up to cradle her face, and she waited for him to deepen the kiss and give her what she wanted. What she’d always wanted. More Huck. But instead of deepening the kiss, he drew back.
His eyes were no longer filled with heat. They were filled with . . . sad resignation.
His gaze lowered to her mouth and stayed there for a long moment as his fingers tightened beneath her jaw.
Then he released her and stepped back. He turned away and walked to the end of the porch where he ran his hand through his hair and spoke so softly, she couldn’t make out the words. But she could make out the tone.
Frustrated anger.
When he turned back around, his hair was messed and his eyes pleaded with her to understand.
“I don’t want you to think me pulling away has anything to do with me not wanting to kiss you.
I’m sure it was pretty obvious that I like you touching me.
But the last time we . . . got carried away, everything went a little haywire.
” He swallowed hard. “I can’t let that happen again.
Not now. Not when I need to be steady and strong for Camden.
So I just think it would be best if we kept things friendly. ”
Her brain finally took charge, and she realized what had just happened.
She’d just forced herself on Huck Hennessy.
And he pushed her away.
Her face flamed with embarrassment as she tried to salvage even the tiniest bit of dignity.
“I don’t know what you think was going to happen, Huckleberry, but I wasn’t planning on having sex with you on the front porch in broad daylight.
I was just . . .” She scrambled through her mind for a plausible excuse and only came up with one.
“I was just curious about what it would feel like to kiss a man with a mustache.”
His eyebrows lifted. “So you’re saying I could have been any guy with a mustache standing on your front porch and you would have kissed me?”
“Right.”
A twinkle entered his eyes. “Hmm? Well, I’m glad I could help you out. And what’s your verdict?”
“Not as prickly as I thought.” She lifted her chin. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a pot roast to get into the crockpot.”
She turned to head back into the house, but he stopped her. “Cadee.”
When she turned, he had the pleading look again. “Can we not let things get weird between us again? For Camden?”
How could she say no to that? Especially when he was right. It looked like Huck planned to stay in Promise Springs. Whether she thought he could do it or not, didn’t matter. He was Camden’s father. They were his parents. It shouldn’t be weird . . . even if it was.
“We need to tell him.”
Huck nodded. “I agree. But can we wait until after his birthday? After I give him the tree house?”
“Are you hoping to bribe Camden into not being upset with you?”
He flashed a smile. “It always worked with you. You never could stay mad at me if I bought you a chocolate-dipped cone from Sloppy Joe’s.”
He hadn’t even had to bring her a cone and he knew it.
She could never stay mad at Huck.
Even now.
“So when are you going to start building this extremely safe tree house and how do you intend to keep it a secret from Cam?”
“I thought I’d start today if it’s okay.
I have the lumber in Dawson’s truck.” For the first time, she noticed the old pickup truck sitting in her yard.
“I’m thinking I’ll choose a tree in that grove.
” He glanced at a group of trees to the left of the house.
“Then all you have to do is keep him away from there until the party.” He looked back at her.
“I was also thinking that maybe you’d want to do a little decorating on the inside once it’s finished. Then it could be from both of us.”
She shot him an annoyed look. “So you knew you could talk me into it.”
He grinned. “I was willing to do whatever it took.”
Even go along with a kiss he didn’t want.
She pushed the thought away. “Then I guess you better get started.” She headed back inside. This time, he didn’t stop her.
After getting the roast in the crockpot, she went upstairs to change the sheets on Camden’s bed.
She tried to keep her gaze from the window that looked out on the front of the house, but it was an impossibility.
Huck was carrying lumber from the truck to the group of trees.
He’d removed his shirt and his back muscles glistened with sweat as he made his way across the open field with the heavy-looking boards balanced on his shoulder.
As she watched him disappear into the shadow of the trees, she recalled what he’d said after she’d kissed him.
The last time we got carried away, everything went a little haywire.
He was right. Everything had gone haywire after they’d had sex.
Like water being dumped on an electrical panel, their entire relationship had short-circuited.
Huck had dealt with his confused feelings by running off and she’d dealt with hers .
. . maybe she still hadn’t dealt with hers.
Maybe that was what the kiss was all about.
She had never untangled and sorted through all the emotions from that night.
Maybe Huck hadn’t either.
They certainly couldn’t untangle them by throwing more water on them.
But maybe they could by just returning to the friends they’d once been.