A Sweetheart For The Single Dad (The Camdens Of Colorado Book 8) (9 page)

“It was nice of Marie to call. And, see, Eric and Tyler weren’t just trying to impress me.”

“Right...” he said, making the word multiple syllables of sarcasm as they reached the entry, stopped and he turned to face her.

“One look at me at the hospital or now would change their minds for sure,” she said, still feeling self-conscious about having Sawyer see her this way.

“Are you kidding? Those guys would have killed for a peek in the back of that hospital gown.”

“I tried to make sure it was always closed!” she said, alarmed that
he
might have gotten a peek.

He laughed and she couldn’t help admiring how great he looked when amusement drew lines on his face.

Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn’t help admiring how handsome he was no matter what.

“Relax. I didn’t see anything,” he assured her. Then, looking closely at her, he smiled a small smile and added, “Or anything earlier or now that would stop those boys from crushing on you.”

He’d had the same glint in his eyes the night before just before he’d kissed her. Was he going to kiss her again now?

Her pulse picked up some speed at that thought but when nothing happened she hurried to say something to fill the gap.

“I know there’s more work on the park scheduled for tomorrow but I can’t be there,” she said apologetically. “Lang and his wife are joining everybody in Northbridge for the day to see the baby but Lang’s little boy—Carter—is just getting over a cold and they don’t want to bring him around a newborn. So I’ll have him for the day.” Then she thought of something else and said, “Oh, I’ll have Carter but no car—that’s still in Wheatley.”

“How old is Carter?”

“Three and a half.”

“Actually, I’m not working at the center tomorrow, either,” he told her. “Sam’s mom is dropping him off at my place for the day.” He hesitated. Then, sounding tentative, he said, “Since the boys are almost the same age, we could let them have a playdate and I can drive wherever we go. When I take Sam back to Wheatley tomorrow night I could drop you off to pick up your car.”

A playdate for the boys, not a date-date for the grown-ups.

But still she’d get to see him.

And that pleased her in a way that had nothing to do with why she was
supposed
to be spending time with him.

How could she help that, though, when he was so easy on the eyes? When he was nicer than she had expected him to be? When he was kinder, more understanding and considerate and grounded and caring and intelligent? Not to mention that he was good-natured and funny and so, so much sexier than she wished he was?

None of that was part of her assignment and she shouldn’t be fostering any kind of attraction to him. But there he stood. Looking the way he looked. And giving her the chance to spend tomorrow with him.

It just wasn’t in her to say no.

“That would help me out. I’m always afraid I’m not exciting enough for Carter on my own and without a car... He’d play with the dogs for a while but if we just had to hang around here he’d hate it.”

“Think he can play with the dogs until noon? Candy is bringing Sam at eleven-thirty.”

“That should be about how long the dogs and I can entertain him.”

“Noon then,” he confirmed. “I promised Sam I’d take him to the Adventure Kingdom.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

He grinned. “Well, tomorrow you’ll get to learn. If it was winter we’d go to one of the indoor places but since we still have some warm weather to cash in on, this one is outside. There are trampolines, tree houses, bouncy houses, a maze, an inflated castle, a whole pirate ship. Kids love it.”

“Oh, Carter would, that’s for sure!” she said, knowing that this would be one visit with Aunt Lindie that wouldn’t disappoint him.

“So we’re on,” Sawyer concluded. “Go see if you can sleep off the rest of those drugs and we’ll hope we don’t get anywhere near any moldy water tomorrow.”

“Or instead of trampolines and tree houses and castles and pirate ships there’ll be gurneys and wheelchairs and so many other entertainments,” she said.

He laughed, something she loved making him do.

“Yeah, every bit as much fun but let’s try for Adventure Kingdom instead, huh?”

“Sure, if you want to settle for less.”

He was still very focused on her, still smiling, but he wasn’t showing signs of leaving.

He took a breath and said, “Yeah. I’m going.”

“Thanks for everything you did today,” Lindie said belatedly, so lost in looking into those crystal-blue eyes that she’d almost forgotten her manners.

“I really just hung around.”

“I appreciate it, though. Nobody
wants
to hang around a hospital emergency room.”

“I was glad to do it,” he said as if he meant it.

All at once he clasped her shoulders in two big hands and leaned in.

And Lindie just knew he was going to kiss her this time and her heart raced once more and she tilted her chin and she was ready.

Only the kiss he gave her was on the forehead.

The forehead.

Deflating her every hope instantly.

Then his hands were gone and he was at the door, opening it and going outside.

Lindie forced herself to act as if having him kiss her on the forehead happened every day.

“Drive safe,” she said.

“Sleep well,” he countered.

And off he went.

Lindie closed the door, slumped against it and frowned at the four dogs who were all sitting in a row watching.

“I guess we’re going backward,” she told them. “Last night he at least hit the lips—even if it was for only a fraction of a second. Tonight all I got was hands on the shoulders, kiss on the forehead. Probably the way he says good-night to his son.”

But what was she saying? And thinking and feeling?

She and Sawyer Huffman shouldn’t be going anywhere when it came to kissing.

They shouldn’t be kissing!

But still...

Should or shouldn’t, she couldn’t help
wanting
him to kiss her.

For real. On the mouth. Long enough to feel it. To experience it. To kiss him back.

“Uh-uh, I can’t,” she said to her dogs as if they’d encouraged her. “I can’t get into anything with this man.”

And she wouldn’t.

She really, really wouldn’t. Not when he was completely opposed to everything Camden. Not when he was their adversary. If anything could rattle her place in the family loose it could be that.

She just had to figure out how to stop the attraction to him and still do what she needed to do with him.

Then it occurred to her that tomorrow she would meet his son. She would see him with the child, which was that one thing she absolutely didn’t want to come along with a relationship.

That would make it real for her. That would cement for her the fact that he was all wrong for her.

Surely after that she wouldn’t have any more problems with this stupid attraction to him.

“That will do it,” she assured her dogs as if they’d been privy to her thoughts.

That was the reason she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come, she told herself.

Just so she could meet Sawyer’s son and put an end to whatever it was that seemed to be developing on the personal side of things.

And that should have been the
only
reason she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.

Except that it wasn’t...

Chapter Six

“H
ey, Sean, what’s up?” Sawyer greeted his brother as he answered the phone on Sunday morning.

“Just checking in to see what you’re up to,” his older brother answered.

“I have Sam today. I’m waiting for Candy to drop him off. You aren’t calling to tell me something bad, are you? We didn’t get that written-notice-to-relocate thing you said we could get from her, did we?”

As his business attorney and brother, Sean was informally overseeing his family law lawyer and tended to be the one to relay news. Sean had been the one to explain the process they would have to go through if Candy and her husband made the decision to move. He’d told Sawyer that a written notice to relocate would be the first official step. Sawyer knew if that happened the whole thing would move from tense talks to a court battle so he was on edge about it.

“That would come during the work week and do you really think I wouldn’t call you the minute it came in? So far we’re not in the woods with that yet. Have you heard something? Is it coming?”

“I haven’t heard anything new, no. But I told you, the last time I talked to Candy she put me off, told me I should talk to her husband. I know that means she’s avoiding the confrontation. There wouldn’t be a confrontation if all she had to say was that they weren’t going to move.”

“The courts can’t stop either of you from relocating. I told you that. The issue will be what the court decides is best for Sam and who gets custody of him in what state, not whether or not Candy and her husband would be allowed to move.”

“I know,” Sawyer admitted with disgust at the predicament he was in. “And the court is more likely to decide Sam should be with her. Even if it’s in Vermont and I’m in Colorado.”

“It’d help if you were married. At least that would give us the argument that, when you have to travel for work, Sam’s everyday life wouldn’t be disrupted because his stepmother would be there as usual. That would give you better ground to fight from. Is there anybody you could whisk away to Vegas for a quickie wedding?”

“No.” Why did the image of Lindie come to mind when his brother asked that question? That made no sense at all.

“Are you even dating anybody?” Sean asked.

Lindie popped into his head again. But they weren’t dating.

Although he wasn’t sure how spending yesterday together qualified. He could have left her in the hospital rather than sit with her that whole time. And today? He could have
not
set up what he’d set up for today and avoided seeing her altogether. But he was leaving town for all of next week and something he didn’t quite understand had made him want to see her the day before he left.

But to say they were dating? That wasn’t true.

“No, I’m not dating anyone,” he said firmly to his brother, reminding himself that even if he was interested in dating someone it wouldn’t be Lindie. It wouldn’t be a Camden. And it wouldn’t be someone as headstrong as she’d proved to be over those candy bars and over the Murphy girls yesterday.

When he was ready to date again he wanted a reasonable, agreeable, easygoing woman who was open—really, really open—and honest about her feelings and what she did and didn’t want. And not someone who just acted as if she was reasonable, agreeable and easygoing and then expected him to figure out when things weren’t truly going as well as they seemed to be—that was what kept getting him into trouble.

But headstrong, stubborn and determined, which was what Lindie was, didn’t translate as reasonable, agreeable or easygoing to him. So, no, they weren’t dating and even if he was looking to date someone, it wouldn’t be her.

“You’re a good dad,” his brother was saying into his thoughts about Lindie, dragging him back into the conversation. “Maybe Candy will think about how wrong it would be to take Sam away from that and convince old Harmon not to do it.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Sawyer said glumly. “But I think we’d better hope he comes to it himself because Candy isn’t likely to do anything to influence the situation in my favor.”

“Well, even if it happens, we’ll do everything we can to get Sam back here as much as possible. Whole summers, every week he has off from school, holidays. We’ll pull out all the stops to get you the fun times, and she and Harmon can do the dirty work.”

Sawyer knew his brother had good intentions so he didn’t tell him that he didn’t want to even miss out on the less fun parts of his son’s life.

“How about that Camden woman?” Sean asked.

“I’m not marrying her!”

“Huh?” his brother said, confused. “I was just asking if she was still hanging around trying to get you to take Camden Incorporated on as a client or if she’d given up yet.”

Of course. He’d told Sean about Lindie and what she wanted. What else would his brother be asking about?

“Yeah, she’s still hanging around, giving it the old college try,” he said, hoping to cover his tracks.

It didn’t work.

“Are you getting into something with her?” Sean asked suspiciously.

“No, no, no. It’s just that...you know...she’s the only female in my age bracket I see outside of work these days and you were talking about somebody for a quickie wedding.”

“And you thought I was suggesting a
Camden
?”

“I just missed that you were changing the subject.”

“She’s hot, isn’t she?”

“Smokin’—so what?”

“Man, you wouldn’t, would you?”

“Wouldn’t what? Marry her? Date her? Do anything with her? No, no and no again.” Although there had been that damn drive to kiss her. Again. For the second night in a row.

At least last night he’d kept it to a pretty platonic one on the forehead.

But, wow, had it been tough to keep it at that! How was it possible for something as bland as the feel of her shoulders in the palms of his hands to be meaningful enough for him to keep reliving it?

Sean didn’t say anything and the silence spoke volumes about how little his brother believed him. But Sean didn’t argue. Instead he pretended to buy it. “Yeah, sure. You and a Camden? No way.”

This was not going well and Sawyer decided he’d better get out before it got any worse. “I think Candy and
Harm
just pulled up so I’d better go. I’ll be in Idaho all of next week but I’ll call you from there to check in. And if we get anything from Candy’s lawyer—”

“I’ll be on the phone to you after I’ve read the first line.”

“Thanks,” Sawyer said before they exchanged goodbyes and hung up.

At which point Sawyer gave himself a stern talking-to about Lindie Camden and what the hell he was doing with her.

But it didn’t change much.

When he was finished he was still counting how many more minutes had to pass until he could get to her today.

And wishing he wasn’t going to be away from her for the next full week.

* * *

Adventure Kingdom was a big hit and for the first time Lindie didn’t feel as if she’d disappointed or bored her nephew. Carter seemed to have one of the best times she’d ever seen him have.

He connected with Sam—who was the image of Sawyer and had the same blue eyes—and since Sam knew his way around the play park and was slightly older, Sam took the lead with her shorter, darker-haired nephew who bore the stamp of a Camden.

But as much as Carter seemed to like Sam, Lindie thought he liked Sawyer even more. And watching what went on with the two boys vying for Sawyer’s attention became an example to Lindie of why she was right to avoid getting involved with a man who already had a child.

During her growing-up years she’d learned a whole lot about how it felt to be on the waiting list for attention, about agonizing about being overlooked. Or worse, that her grandmother might like one of her siblings or her cousins more.

GiGi had never showed any favoritism. She’d always been thoroughly fair and caring and treated them all equally, so there was no real basis for Lindie’s insecurities. Yet Lindie had feared that if she didn’t shine she might really get lost in the crowd. Or worse yet, lost altogether from a family so large.

She’d felt a sort of desperation to be reassured that she was as important as everyone else. She’d had a constant fear and worry that she might not make the grade in comparison, that she might somehow fall short, that everyone else might have more to offer.

And she’d met friends with half siblings who’d shared those worries.

As an adult she realized what she’d told Sawyer the night before—that those feelings had been a silly insecurity, that they were unfounded. But they were still emotions that she didn’t want her own children to ever experience. Feelings that hadn’t always been unfounded for friends with half siblings who
had
showed them up, that parents
had
seemed to favor.

And Sunday, as she watched what went on with Sam and Carter, it seemed to bring home to her that she needed to hold out for a man who didn’t already have a child or children.

Sawyer was as good with Carter as he was with his own son. There was no faulting that. He made sure to give Carter a turn at everything he did with Sam.

But she saw with her own eyes that the boys worked harder and harder for Sawyer’s approval. That they competed more and more for his praise and encouragement. That they showed off for him and tried to outdo each other. That a subtle rivalry developed. Then there were also the times when Sam pointed out emphatically that Sawyer was
his
dad, not Carter’s.

This was only one day for both boys, Lindie told herself. It wasn’t something either of them would deal with ever again or anything that was likely to impact them on any real or long-lasting level.

But that didn’t make it any easier for her to witness moments of disappointment and resentment when poor little Sam was left cooling his heels and obviously jealous of the attention being taken away from him. As she saw moments of dejection and what looked like rejection in her nephew when he was on the sidelines while Sawyer’s attention went to Sam.

Of course Lindie did all she could to entertain whichever boy wasn’t being roughhoused by Sawyer when it happened, but he was the hero of the day and the one they were striving to impress no matter what she did. It brought home to her why she’d decided long ago that she wouldn’t get involved with a man who already had kids.

It was too bad, though, she found herself also thinking.

Because Sawyer was a great dad. Attentive, caring, firm when he needed to be, indulgent but not overly permissive, protective without stifling, playfully one-of-the-guys when he could be. Exactly the kind of father she wanted for her own kids one day.

But for her kids alone.

Not for her kids and the kid he had before hers.

And, somehow, even as she told herself this was a good thing to see, a good reminder for her, it also made her a little sad.

* * *

They stayed at Adventure Kingdom until it closed. Lindie agreed to dinner at an arcade where there were activities and games for kids Sam and Carter’s age. It was nearly eight o’clock when they finished and both boys were so worn out that they fell asleep on the way to Sam’s house.

Lindie waited in the car with Carter while Sawyer lifted his son out of his car seat and carried him up to a house more upscale than what she’d seen nearer to the community center.

At first as she watched Sawyer approach the house she merely enjoyed the sight she’d been enjoying all day of him in jeans and a green polo shirt. The man could certainly do justice to a pair of jeans, and carrying the weight of his four-year-old made his biceps bulge alluringly.

When he reached the house he had to do some comical maneuvering to ring the door bell with his elbow and that made her laugh.

Her amusement was short-lived, though, when the front door opened. Two people answered the bell. The tall, attractive blond woman who Lindie assumed was Sam’s mother took the boy out of Sawyer’s arms and disappeared back into the house. To Lindie’s surprise, the man remained to talk to Sawyer.

Lindie thought he was likely the stepfather Sam had mentioned during the day. He was tall but not quite as tall as Sawyer, stockier and clearly not as fit or as handsome, either, Lindie noted.

She couldn’t hear what the two men were discussing but their expressions were serious and tense. And after a few moments their voices grew louder. Still not loud enough for Lindie to hear anything through the closed windows that kept the air-conditioning contained inside the car, but loud enough for her to know that neither man was happy with the other.

Finally, Sawyer returned to the car and got behind the wheel again, saying nothing, a deep frown beetling his brows.

Whatever had gone on on that doorstep was none of her business and since Sawyer didn’t offer any information—or anything else for that matter—she decided to give him a minute to calm down.

It was only after several minutes had passed and they were headed for the Wheatley Community Center where her car had spent the night that she said, “It was a really nice day. Sam and Carter had a great time.”

True enough, but she thought the reminder might help to relax him.

He took a deep breath, breathed it out and seemed to settle down before he said, “I hope they did. My brother and I always had a good time with my dad doing rambunctious stuff like today.”

“I thought you played outdoor chess with your dad? That’s not what I’d consider ‘rambunctious.’”

“He’s a man of many facets, my dad.” And talking about him seemed to lighten Sawyer’s mood. “We did play outdoor chess,” he went on. “We played inside, too. But we also bowled and drove go-carts and went water-skiing and camping and fishing and snow skiing and hiking and spent many a winter weekend at indoor versions of places like Adventure Kingdom. In some ways my dad was as much a kid as we were.”

“You and your brother? There weren’t any other kids?”

“Just me and my brother,” he confirmed.

“Who is also your lawyer.”

“And Huffman Consulting’s attorney, too. Sean is my legal advisor on
everything
.”

She heard that same ominous note in his voice that she’d heard twice before. Both times in regard to something to do with Sam. And now there it was again. After what had looked like a somewhat heated exchange dropping Sam off.