Page 36 of Promise Me a Forever Texas Love

“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.