showed interest in wanting the baby she carried, the more leverage she’d have over me in the divorce.
“Suit yourself. Whatever makes you happy.”
With a cry of frustration, she flounced off in a flurry of pink. My phone rang, and I scooped it up from the dresser. Declan.
“Are you almost here?” I asked.
“We just pulled up outside, Charles.” My son sighed. “Please don’t tell me we’ll have to wait.”
“No, I’m actually ready.”
“You are?”
He couldn’t mask the surprise in his tone, and I couldn’t blame him. I was hardly ever on time for anything, but this benefit was special.
That was what all this was about. It had nothing to do with the extra tickets I’d procured at Owen’s request and hoping a certain son of his would be in attendance.
“Yes, I’m on my way down now.”
I ended the call and took another glance in the mirror. I had a personal stylist who helped put my wardrobe together. He kept me up-to-date with fashion trends, and I trusted his judgment. Looking good was the easiest way I could feel good about myself.
Fuck knows there’s very little to make me feel good about myself.
Satisfied that my appearance was up to par with my usual standards, I called to Poppy on my way out, but she didn’t respond. Nothing new. Everything was as it were in Casa de Charles.
The minute I stepped outside the house and breathed in the fresh air, it was like a mountain rolled off my shoulders. Poppy was stifling. She had the nagging of a wife down pat, even though I reminded her so often that what we had wasn’t a regular marriage. We were only together for the baby.
After four wives, one would’ve thought I would’ve learned my lesson. I was no good at relationships, but damn, sometimes it got lonely. It was always nice having a warm body in my bed. I had even continued fucking Poppy after I found out her deceit. The novelty had worn off, though, and she now turned to other means for satisfying her sexual appetite.
For the first time I had something more important on my mind than sex.
As I approached the black limousine parked out front, the door opened and a tall, well-dressed young man climbed out. I almost forgot how to take the next step.
How did he do this to me every single time? Leave me breathless. Since the first moment I looked into his serious brown eyes when his sister went missing, he’d effectively managed to steal my breath away. Every fucking time.
August Long.
The son of the man my own son was about to marry.
Chapter 1
Charles
I hate weddings.
Declan looked haggard in his best attire as he glanced at his watch again. Checking how late his soon-to-be husband was. I snuck a peek at mine as well. Almost half an hour late. Not too bad, considering Poppy had made me wait nearly two hours at the altar before showing up for our ceremony less than three months ago.
I’d started feeling a bit relieved before the traditional wedding march began announcing her arrival. At that point, I’d just gone along with it. She was a beautiful young woman who looked good on my arm. What was missing in love, we made up for with lust, and well…at the time it seemed reasonable enough to get married to her.
A classic Charles fuckup. In other words, getting myself into a situation that could’ve easily been avoided had I thought things through. We’d met at a party. Poppy had been stunning. We had mindblowing sex that same night, went out a bunch of times and we just kind of got stuck together as a pair. By my standards, reason enough to tie the knot.
But this wedding would be different. I could sense it. Declan and his partner, Owen, were in love. They looked at each other the way I’d looked at Miranda before I lost her. The way I hadn’t been able to look at anyone since.
They’d somehow found that spark I had for almost ten years with my first wife. No intimacy I’d experienced since Miranda’s passing came even close to what I’d had with her. I was glad Declan had found his spark. And I was…happy for them.
Truly.
No one deserved love more than my son did.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” I said softly to Declan. “It’s customary to keep the groom waiting.”
The glare he sent me would’ve had me shaking in my boots, but I was used to Declan’s superior attitude. He took absolutely no