A Sweetheart for the Single Dad

“And you blame us,” Lindie attested.

“I can tell you firsthand that he wasn’t on the road to prison before your store came in and ruined his old man...” He left the rest of the answer to her.

“Then, in college, H. J. Camden came up in a couple of my business courses,” Sawyer went on. “I’ll grant you that it wasn’t always negative—he is quite a success story and more than one of my business professors admired the hell out of him. But he also came up on a list of modern-day robber barons.”

Lindie had heard that title applied to her great-grandfather before but it still caused her to flinch. “And that was what you paid attention to,” she concluded.

“Like I said, I grew up on the story of a Camden’s ruthlessness. So, yeah, I paid a lot of attention to that side of things.”

“And that was when you declared war on all Camdens?”

He motioned with one hand to all that was around them. “I had good reasons not to admire you all. Nothing personal,” he added.

“Right,” Lindie said with a tone full of sarcasm, goading him. “Because personally you admire me.”

He smiled a sly half smile and shrugged, leaving her unsure exactly what that meant. It did seem as if he might at least be admiring the way she looked, though, because his cool blue eyes never veered to take in anything else.

Then he said, “Are you and the corporation the same thing? Isn’t there anything about you that isn’t business to be admired?”

“There’s a lot about me that isn’t business.” Why was this starting to sound a little flirty?

“Like what?” he asked. “Are you married? Because there’s no ring. Kids?”

“No, I’m not married.”

“Ever been?”

“No. So I also don’t have any kids.”

“You can have one without the other,” he informed her as if letting her in on a secret.

“Well, I haven’t.”

“So what is there about you that isn’t business?” he challenged.

“I have a nephew—Carter—who I love to death. And there’s a new baby in the family—Immy—that my cousin’s about-to-be wife inherited. I love babysitting for her, too. And there’s my family. And I have four dogs.”

“Four? Let me guess, some snobby kind of show dogs?”

“Actually, they’re four rescue mutts that were hard to place. And whenever there’s a need for a temporary foster home for dogs requiring special care until they can be adopted, I take those, too.” Because all the local animal shelters knew she was a soft touch.

“You realize that when your stores do what they’ve done to places like Wheatley and the economy suffers, so do pets. If people are struggling to feed their kids, they certainly can’t feed their dogs and those dogs end up needing to be rescued.”

“Oh, you just never miss an opening, do you?” she lamented, feeling more weight on her conscience.

But this time, rather than tell her she deserved it, he grinned and said somewhat sheepishly, “One too many jabs?”

“If I cry uncle will you stop?”

“Maybe for now.”

“Uncle!” she said.

That made him grin again. “Okay. You did do your own little cleanup tonight along the way, I’ll give you that.”

Lindie made a face, knowing that picking up a bicycle here or a newspaper there was inconsequential and that nothing had really been solved tonight. Not for Wheatley and not for her goal of winning over and compensating Sawyer Huffman.

Yet, somehow, even given all that, she’d enjoyed the long walk and talking to Sawyer in spite of everything else.

“So Thursday...” she said. “What time do you come here?”

“I’m with the kids on Thursdays,” he warned, reminding her that he was unavailable.

“I’ll still be here,” she insisted. After seeing more of Wheatley she felt a need to do something. Coming to the center wasn’t only about finding an excuse to get to him anymore.

“I end my work schedule at two-thirty on Thursdays so I can get here by three, about the time the kids start showing up after school.”

“I’ll be here at three, then,” she said.

He didn’t say anything but this time it didn’t look as if he doubted her the way he had yesterday.

Instead, sounding as if he was admitting something reluctantly, he said, “I’m glad you came tonight.” He smiled mischievously. “Even if I did give you a hard time, it was better than walking the streets alone.”

Lindie laughed at his gentle gibe over her verbal gaffe at the start of the evening. “You just couldn’t let it go completely.”

“I couldn’t,” he confessed. “But that was so much tamer than anything else I could have said.”

He pushed off his SUV and reached around her to open her door for her, waiting with it open as she got in behind the wheel.

“I’ll see you Thursday,” she repeated.

For some reason he smiled as if he was glad to hear it this time. But all he said was “Drive safe,” before he closed her door.

Lindie started her engine and drove off. As she did she hated to admit to herself that—in spite of how it had made her feel to see the damage that her family had caused—she’d been on dates that she’d enjoyed less than her time with Sawyer Huffman tonight.

But as soon as she realized that, she decided to take it as a caution.

The man really didn’t like Camdens and could easily have a hidden agenda when it came to one of them.

And since Lindie was already no stranger to men with hidden agendas that ended up hurting her, she knew very well to watch out.

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