“I kept thinking that if I showed up on his doorstep with Clementine, he’d accuse me of being a gold digger trying to cash in on his wealth. Or he’d want to take control of the situation. And of Clementine.”
“Well, that’s a moot point now, isn’t it?” Joe said, as blunt as always.
Maybe, but neither option was remotely acceptable. She didn’t want his money. Nothing was more important to her than making it on her own, and she certainly wouldn’t give Camden McNeal any say over her or her daughter’s life. She’d lived under her parents’ control, and she wasn’t ever going back to that.
And then there was the little problem of her still being utterly, completely, ridiculously attracted to him. As much, or more, than she was three years ago. She just needed to see a photo of him online and her lungs constricted and heat rushed between her legs.
Not something she wanted to think about when she was having a conversation with the person who’d stepped into her father’s shoes.
“But at the end of the day, Camden is, apart from my mother, Clem’s only biological relative. I was so worried that, if something happened to me, Margaret would petition the courts for custody of Clem.”
“I’d would’ve fought her,” Joe assured her.
He would and she loved him for it. “But, because you are close to seventy, Joe, and my mom is only in her early fifties, and a woman, she would’ve won. Even if I gave Clem to you, and I wanted to do that, I was told it would be easily challenged given your age and the fact that we’re not related. On legal advice, I updated my will to give Cam custody and put him as my emergency contact number in case something bad happened.”
And it so very nearly had.
And now, Camden McNeal, that gorgeous, billionaire badass, was back in her life.
* * *
He was the one thing he’d never thought he’d be.
In the hallway outside Vivi’s room, Cam lifted his hand and saw his shakes. As a young kid, six or seven years old, when his dad left him alone, for days on end, his hand had never shaken. When he’d scaled buildings and crept past sleeping couples to steal wallets and jewelry, he’d shrugged off the nerves and kept his cool. The day he was arrested and heard that his father wouldn’t bail him out, his hands hadn’t trembled.
He was a dad, he had a kid...
Life had finally found the one thing, the only thing, that terrified him. Cam rested his head on the wall and fought the urge to slide down its smooth surface. Slapping his palms on the cool surface, he locked his knees and pulled in rhythmic breaths, desperately looking for control, for a measure of calm.
He had no idea how to be a father, a parent responsible for someone else. His father had only occasionally remembered to feed and clothe him. He’d taught him how to roll a cigarette, to spot a mark, to lift a wallet. He’d taught him to fight dirty, to run from cops and social workers, to distrust the system. He’d been more like a delinquent older brother than a father, and consequently all Cam knew about fatherhood was how not to be one. Had Vivi recognized that in him? Was that why she never informed him of his daughter? Clementine. Clem.
He had a daughter. Cam blinked furiously, annoyed at his moist eyes. Okay, she was only two, but he was no longer completely alone. There was another person in the world he was linked to. She was young and defenseless, but that link existed, it meant something.
Cam rubbed his hands over his face and pushed his fingers through his hair. What now? He couldn’t prop up this wall for the rest of the day. At some point he’d have to go in and face Vivi, deal with the situation he found himself in. Cam glanced at Vivi’s closed door and sighed. He also needed to deal with his instant, hot-as-hell attraction that was arcing between him and the mother of his child. Supposed mother of her child. Cam grabbed on to that cynical thought and held on with every fiber of his being. He just had her word that he was her kid’s dad. She could be scamming him, running a con. If he was sensible, he’d walk out of here right now and demand a paternity test. He should wait for scientific proof...
No, that wasn’t going to happen. He was upset, confused, utterly side-slapped by this news, but his gut instinct told him that she was telling the truth. He was a daddy.