Free Temporary Father (Welcome To Honesty 1) by Anna Adams Page A

let Campbell stop me from trusting other people. Other men.” She blushed. “I guess I have stopped, though.”
    “You don’t know me well enough to trust me,” he said.
    Beth’s eyes invited him closer. Her smile made him wonder how soft her lips would feel. It wasn’t serious, this wanting her. He’d recuperate—same as he’d get over the heart attack.
    “We know each other too well for people who met last week,” Beth said. And she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
    He drowned in her scent. Without thinking, he reached for her. One hand splayed over her back, seeking warmth. With the other, he cupped her chin and turned her face. Her lips were heat and succor and irresistible.
    He kissed her once, and leaned back, long enough to see a flash of green in her startled eyes. Then he lowered his head again, taking her mouth without hiding his need.
    Sighing, she pushed her hands into his hair. Her mouth opened. She tasted sweeter than hope. So hungry and passionate his legs felt heavy. His body clamored for more, and he staggered with her in his arms, until they reached the rail.
    As soon as she felt his arousal, she sprang back. Her mouth still open, still moist.
    “I was trying to thank you,” she said. “That wasn’t thank you.”
    “I didn’t know I wanted you so much.”
    She slid her hair off her shoulders, and he liked watching the play of her fingers on her neck.
    He crossed his legs.
    “I can’t,” she said. “Eli—he needs me.”
    “I need you, too, Beth.”
    “But for how long?”
    “What?”
    She wrapped her arms around her waist. “Any woman hates asking, but I’m a mom whose boy is in trouble. I have to ask, and you have no answer.”
    Her bleak expression hurt. He pushed away from the rail and walked down the steps. Behind him, the door opened and closed.

CHAPTER FIVE
    “H OW LONG ?” she’d asked as if she had any right, as if it weren’t one of the scariest questions anyone could ask. And the man had only kissed her.
    Had she lost her cotton-picking mind? Campbell always said she wanted to be in charge. She’d have loved feeling as if he were taking care of her, but he’d never been capable.
    Now she had to wonder if he was right. How long? Still shivering with the memory of Aidan’s potent caresses, she buried her head in the papers that had become her talisman. She might be losing her business, but those figures would turn into her lifeline when she found the perfect combination of numbers to suit a banker.
    Eli and the numbers. She had to keep them foremost in her mind.
    Upstairs, something tumbled across the floor of Eli’s room. Lucy barked her playful yap, and Beth sighed in relief. No doubt they were playing catch with Lucy’s chunky football.
    Beth stared at the ceiling. She’d half considerednot bothering to tell Campbell about the trouble with Eli. He’d think she was imagining things. But if Campbell was with Eli when something like this happened and didn’t tell her, she might just kill him.
    She climbed the stairs to her bedroom and dialed his number from her cell phone. It took her three calls before he picked up, though he always swore he didn’t ignore her.
    “What is it, Beth?”
    “Eli.” She told him everything. Campbell said nothing when she finished.
    “Are you still there?”
    “What are you doing to my son?”
    Naturally. “I’m trying to take care of him.”
    “You’re determined to make him need you. Leave him alone and let him have a life. You don’t want him to grow up and be a man.”
    “That’s exactly what I do want.” She turned her head toward the door. Could Eli hear her through it? “What is the matter with you, Campbell?”
    “I’m not paying for this. It’s a figment of your imagination. He’s perfectly all right.”
    “I didn’t ask you to pay for anything. Don’t worry. I don’t expect you to help with your own child anymore. Were you ever the man I thought you were?”
    “What about you? Did you ever hear of