by Joss Wood
He might have money and respect but it didn’t change the fact that he was a product of the streets, the son of two people who had all the education and impulse control of a puppy. He didn’t have a nurturing bone in his body because he’d never been nurtured. How could he be the father Clem deserved?
Terrified of being a dad and of Vivi finding out about his past, Cam touched the ignition button with his index finger. He was about to start the car when the front door of the house opened and Vivi stepped onto the porch, a little girl on her hip. Cam dropped his hands and stared, his heart bouncing off his rib cage.
God, she looked like him, a feminine version of the child he’d been. Her hair, held in two high pigtails, was the same color as his when he’d been a child, a lighter shade of brown than it was now. She had his nose, his chin and, yeah, his light blue eyes. She had Vivi’s fine, dark eyebrows and long lashes and her mouth, but essentially she was a McNeal.
Cam was vaguely aware that Vivi was talking to her sitter, saw hugs and kisses being exchanged, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off Clem. This was his kid. His DNA had helped formed her, his blood flowed in her veins. She was his.
Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t walk away. Because how did one walk away from love at first sight?
Five
Please let him like her...
Please don’t let this be weird...
Please let me do and say the right thing...
Conscious of Clem’s chattering in her ear—something about Charlie and a cake—Vivi pulled in a deep breath and watched Cam exit his car and walk around the hood to meet them on the sidewalk. Vivi had always thought that Clem looked like Cam, but now she noticed how close the resemblance was. Vivi stopped a yard from him and met his eyes, suddenly tongue-tied. She wanted to hold Clem out to him, wanted to show her off like a toy. Look what I made. See what I did. Don’t you think I did a good job?
Cam’s eyes, deeper and more intense, bounced between her and Clem, and a small smile touched his lips. He jammed his hands into his pockets, and Vivi saw him swallow and heard him clear his throat. “She’s—” he hesitated “—she’s beautiful, Vivi.”
Vivi turned her head to look into Clem’s curious eyes, brushing the back of her hand across her cheek. “She really is.”
Clem, suddenly noticing her mother’s cuts and scrapes, placed both her hands on Vivi’s cheeks and stared at her. “Owie, Mommy?”
“Not so bad, sweetheart,” Vivi told her.
“Kiss better?” Clem asked.
“Absolutely.”
Vivi closed her eyes as Clem’s small lips gently kissed her cut, then her scrape and her bruise. Vivi thanked her and squeezed her, her love for this child threatening to drop her to her knees.
“Where Mommy car?” Clem asked, looking from Cam to his big car.
“My car isn’t working,” Vivi told her, hitching Clem’s bag up higher on her shoulder. She smiled her thanks when Cam slid the bag off her shoulder and easily held it in one hand. Right, time to get this done. “Clem, this is Cam. He’s going to take us home.”
Clem sent Cam a frank look, tipping her head to one side and taking her time to decide whether to greet him or not. When she hid her face in Vivi’s neck, Vivi knew that she was feeling uncharacteristically shy.
She patted Clem’s back. “Honey, do you want to say hi to Cam?”
Cam shook his head. “Don’t force it, Vivi. She’ll say hello when she’s ready.”
Surprised by his sensitivity, Vivi thanked him as he opened the rear passenger door. She automatically turned to put Clem into her car seat and it took her a moment to realize that there was a car seat, in his car.
“You got a car seat. For Clem.”
* * *
Cam shrugged. Well, yeah. Because she was a kid and kids needed to be protected. Work wasn’t all he’d done while she was sleeping, he wanted to tell her.
“Uh, thank you?” Vivi said, obviously surprised.
Vivi’s astonishment annoyed Cam. He could be considerate, capable of thinking of someone other than himself, and he would never do anything to harm a child.
Cam walked around the car, climbed inside and looked at the child sitting behind his passenger seat. She looked so much like him it was scary. Clem returned his frank assessment, and when a tiny smile touched her pretty mouth, he felt like she’d hit him with a two-by-four.
“Would you have ever told me about her?” he quietly asked when Vivi took her seat.
He felt Vivi tense. This was a question she didn’t want to answer but...tough.
“Well?” he demanded when she didn’t speak.
“Probably not,” Vivi answered.
When she didn’t expand, he turned his head and nailed her with a hard look. “Why not?”
“Because I like making decisions on my own, not having anyone to answer to. Involving you in her life would’ve made my life complicated and I don’t do complicated. I like being independent and I like being on my own.”
Truth coated every word she uttered and blazed from her eyes. Her warning—I will never be controlled by you or anyone else—could’ve been on a twenty-foot billboard and it still wouldn’t be clearer than these quietly uttered words in his car.
Keep your distance, Cam.
Let me go back to my life, Cam.
Roll back the clock.
Cam rolled his head to look at her fully and their eyes connected, heat and want and desire arcing between them. He knew her brain wanted her to be sensible and distant but he also knew her body wanted what his did. To get naked as soon as possible. He wanted to taste those lips, explore her body, taste every inch of her creamy skin.
He also wanted to delve into that sharp brain, peek behind those walls she’d so carefully erected and reinforced.
He was looking for trouble. And couldn’t wait to find it.
* * *
Vivi sighed when Cam parked his car in the driveway to her small red brick cottage. Fumbling with the clasp of her seat belt, she felt Cam’s fingers on hers and silently cursed when lust skittered over her skin and flashed through her body. She’d had a hell of a day, so why was her battered body responding like this? Their earlier kisses she could put down to adrenaline and delayed reaction but she couldn’t keep using those excuses. How could she, after a near-death experience, be feeling...well, horny? Sure, Cam was a great-looking guy with the ability to set female hormones on fire, but after everything that had happened today, shouldn’t she be immune?
Vivi lifted her eyes to meet his and saw heat in the blue depths, heard his intake of breath, noticed the slight flush on his cheekbones. Dammit. He was feeling it as well.
Vivi pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and closed her eyes. She pulled her hand out from under his and the seat belt released with a soft snick. It was time to pull herself back to real life, to find some sort of stable ground. Yeah, she’d had a crap day, but it was over, and she needed a reset.
Except that she had a feeling Cam wasn’t going to cooperate and allow her life to go back to normal. Vivi sighed and pushed her hair off her forehead. But after a day like today, how could anything be normal again?
Vivi felt Cam’s thumb skate over her cheekbone. “Let’s get you inside, sweetheart.”
Vivi turned her head to look at him, her limbs feeling as heavy as steel girders. The soft, sweet-sounding word became deeper and sexier when he uttered it in his growly, deep voice. She liked hearing it...
But she had to remind herself that men like Cam—good-looking men who could be charming—knew how to turn it on. He was a Texan, and men like him knew how to use sweetheart and darlin’ to maximum effect. It was practically part of the Southern boy’s school curriculum.
“Let’s get you and the half-pint inside,” Cam said before leaving the car. Vivi waited for him to walk around his car to open her door—Texas m
anners again—and swung her legs around to place her feet on the footboard. Her body ached, her muscles moaned and the ground seemed like a long way down. She was sore, she was tired and all she wanted to do was to sleep.
Nearly dying had wiped away all her strength. Go figure.
Then Vivi felt Cam’s hands on her waist, and with no effort at all, he lifted her up and out of the car, and lowered her gently. Keeping his arm around her waist, he tipped her chin up. She caught the concern in his face. And, yep, under the concern, desire flashed. “You okay?”
She wanted to tell him she was worried that if he let her go, her knees would buckle and, worse, she would burst into tears. She nearly told him she was exhausted, that she didn’t think that tonight she was up to being the mommy Clem needed and deserved. That she needed, just this once, to have someone else’s hands on the wheel.
Vivi dropped her eyes and sighed. She hauled back the words hovering on the tip of her tongue, swallowed them down. She would never, ever give anyone an inch of control. Because she knew that land surrendered could never be reclaimed. Her mom, her home, her church were all gone. She’d learned that lesson well.
“Thanks for the lift.” Vivi stepped away from Cam, putting a whole bunch of space between them. “I’ll just grab Clem and we’ll get out of your hair.”
His eyes moved from her face to Clem, who was still in her car seat, softly singing. When Cam looked back at Vivi, he shook his head before lifting his hand to encircle her neck. Vivi wanted to pull away, but because Cam’s fingers were kneading the tension out of her muscles, she just sighed and released a small groan of pleasure.
Then Cam’s head dipped down and he used his thumb to tip up her jaw. His breath was the only barrier between their lips and then there was nothing but his mouth on hers. Vivi felt her body sag, her knees buckle, and was grateful when Cam banded his arm around her back, taking her weight.
So good, Vivi thought, as his mouth moved over hers. Strong and masculine and assured and confident. Cam’s tongue slipped between her lips, gently demanding entrance. She shouldn’t, she really shouldn’t, but her lips were suddenly operating independently of her brain. She needed this, needed him to kiss her in the sunshine of a balmy, late afternoon. She’d take his kiss, suck up his strength, borrow some of his confidence and then she’d send him on his way.
She just needed this minute, and maybe one or two more.
Cam’s hand slid down her back, his thumb tracing her spine. He then splayed his hand on her lower back, his fingers cupping her butt. He pulled her in and Vivi felt the ridge in his jeans as his erection pushed into her stomach. Pleasure, at both his response and at the fact that she could make this gorgeous man so hard, so quickly, rushed through her. Vivi gripped his shirt just above his belt, telling herself that she couldn’t, shouldn’t touch him, that she couldn’t take him in hand.
They were outside her house, she had nosy neighbors, and her child was not a few feet from them.
Vivi twisted his shirt tighter, unable to stop herself from rocking into him, from winding her tongue around his, from moaning in the back of her throat. The heat he generated was insane; the need he dragged to the surface held the same power of the recent storm.
He was a perfect package of power and destruction in six foot something of sexiness.
But while climatic events were powerful and breathtaking, they were also destructive and damaging. They were, as she very well knew, to be avoided. So Vivi placed her hand flat against Cam’s chest and pushed him away. He muttered a curse, reaching for her again, but Vivi quickly stepped back, shaking her head. No, it was time to be sensible, way past time to shut this down. After rubbing her hands over her face, she pushed past Cam to open the back door. Seeing Clem’s face settled her, reminded her that she was a mommy first, a chef second, and that she had no time for kissing sexy men in the sunshine.
She had no business kissing Cam, her one-night stand.
And the father of her beautiful, smart kid.
Vivi flipped open the car seat clasp and winced when Clem tumbled into her jellylike arms. Grimacing, she settled Clem on her hip and reached for the bag Cam had placed on the floor below Clem’s feet. Her back muscles screamed as she bent down, her fingertips brushing over the handle of the bag. Dammit, she was stiffening up. She reached for the bag again and this time she couldn’t stop a low groan from leaving her mouth. She couldn’t help looking at Cam, hoping that he hadn’t heard. He was standing behind her, his arms crossed, his legs slightly apart. His head was cocked, and his expression inscrutable, but she recognized the frustration and annoyance in his eyes.
“Are you done being a stubborn ass?”
Vivi narrowed her eyes at him but swallowed down her hot retort. “Thanks for the lift. It was...” She hesitated, looking for the right word. Amazing? Great? Exciting? Knee-collapsing? “...interesting seeing you again,” she finished.
Cam had the nerve to grin. “Do you really believe that I am just going to be a good boy and ride away?”
No, of course, she didn’t. She wasn’t that naive. Or stupid. “One could hope,” Vivi muttered. She shifted Clem on her hip, wondering when her daughter had picked up another twenty pounds.
“Good try but...no.” Cam lifted his hands and looked Clem in the eye, silently asking her whether he could carry her. Clem shocked her by leaning forward with a sunny grin. Two seconds later, she was perched on Cam’s thick forearm, two sets of identical blue eyes looking at her. Vivi stepped forward, wanting to take her back, needing to regain control of the situation. Then Clem dropped her head and rested her temple against Cam’s collarbone, fully comfortable being held by this strange man.
Vivi couldn’t blame her. Cam exuded capability and confidence, and babies were barometers. Cam made her and, apparently, her daughter feel secure, like he was the barrier that stood between them and an ugly world.
Vivi felt a burning sensation in her eyes and cursed the tears blurring her vision. That was her job; she’d been that person for Clem all her life! How could Cam stride into their lives and just take over? It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair!
But as she knew, so much about life wasn’t fair.
Cam gently pushed her away from the door and reached down and snagged Clem’s bag. He closed the back door and transferred the bright pink bag to his other hand. Then Vivi’s hand was swallowed by his and she immediately felt calmer, as if the earth had stopped rocking beneath her feet. Like Clem, she couldn’t help responding to his strength and his capability.
As they walked to the front door of her cottage, Vivi tried to convince herself to put her foot down, to tell him to leave. But she was utterly exhausted, and the words wouldn’t come.
Pulling her house key out of the back pocket of her cutoffs she tried to open the door, silently cursing when she missed the lock. Cam didn’t say anything but just took the key from her hand, jammed it in the lock and opened the door for her. And as Vivi stepped into her house—the home she’d made for her and her daughter—she told herself that it was okay to lean, just for a half hour, maybe a little more.
She’d take a little time to gather her strength and her courage and then she’d send Cam on his way. She didn’t need him.
She just needed her daughter.
* * *
Cam, with Clem still in his arms, stepped into the hallway of Vivi’s small house, grateful for the cool, fragrant air. The house held that perfectly pleasant smell that only came with the presence of females—perfume and powder, sweet and sexy. Cam placed his hand on Clem’s small back, his eyes moving from Vivi’s face to his daughter’s, thinking that his life had been woman free—casual sexual encounters couldn’t be counted—and now he had two girls who’d dropped into his life.
And despite Vivi’s not-so-subtle go-away attitude, he intended to keep them there. Being part of Clem’s life was a no-brainer; he fully intended to be her dad, howe
ver bad he might be at it. But he could learn, he would learn. He had no intention of being the same waste-of-space parent his father had been.
He heard Clem’s sigh and looked down to see her long eyelashes against her cheeks, her tiny hand on his chest. She suddenly felt a little heavier, her breathing a little deeper. She was, he realized, asleep. His mouth tipped up in a wry smile: at least someone in this house trusted him.
Vivi, who obviously had a finely tuned mom radar, lifted her head. Her expression softened as love, pure and incandescent, turned her dark eyes liquid. He’d never seen so much love in one expression, and his cold, hard heart rolled around his rib cage. His daughter was deeply loved, and Cam’s throat clogged with gratitude. He was pissed at Vivi’s secretiveness, confused by her reluctance to contact him, discombobulated by her sudden and dramatic reappearance in her life and kicked off-kilter by his raging attraction to her.
But beside all that, he was fundamentally and completely grateful that she loved his daughter.
Not all mothers did.
Cam looked away from her, hoping she hadn’t noticed his emotional reaction. He didn’t know how to deal with these complicated feelings and he certainly couldn’t discuss them.
“She normally goes down for a nap around about now,” Vivi said. “I’ll go put her down and then I’ll walk you to your car.”
Did she really think she’d get rid of him that easily? Vivi reached for Clem but Cam shook his head. “I’ve got her.”
Vivi looked like she was wanted to argue, but instead she just shrugged and walked away. Cam followed her through the living room. Her house was nothing like his exquisitely decorated mansion in River Oaks; it could probably fit into one wing of his stupidly big residence. But every inch was warm and welcoming and personal. This was Vivi and Clem’s space; they lived here. Unlike him, who just seemed to inhabit his house.