treating the exchange between us during and at the end of the cancer benefit like it had never happened.
“I’ll walk you to the door,” August said when the limousine stopped in the courtyard.
“Th-that’s not necessary,” I stammered, wanting to get away from him. My eyes still felt sore from crying, and I wasn’t looking forward to having to spend the night in the same house as Poppy, but I wanted to be away from August more.
He unsettled me.
“I’ll just run Charles to his door,” he said to Declan and Owen, ignoring my protest.
I waited for it. For them to see right through me and label me a homewrecker. How the hell could my desire do anything but destroy the new family Declan and Owen were working on building?
But no one seemed to suspect anything. Maybe I was simply overreacting, given everything that had happened with marrying Poppy, our initial steps to divorce, and deciding I wanted the baby.
“Hurry up, Auggie. I’m falling asleep on Dec,” Owen murmured.
I didn’t bother to correct him that he’d fallen asleep already on the way back. August easily unfolded his tall frame from the car, and I mumbled good night to everyone before slipping out. I stumbled, and August’s hand caught my arm.
“Careful.”
“I’m fine.”
I pulled out of his touch, and together we walked briskly to my front door. I couldn’t get there fast enough.
“You going to be all right?” August asked me as I fumbled through my wallet for my key.
I laughed uneasily. “I’m fine.”
“Hand me your phone.”
I stopped searching and glanced up at him. “What for?”
The light from the porch cast a shadow on his face, but I was able to see his eyes. They were too hard for me to read.
“Just hand me the phone, and you’ll see.”
There was no way in hell I was going to hand him my phone.
I handed him my phone and turned my back to him as I unlocked the front door, not wanting to see what he was doing.
“Here you go.”
Our fingers brushed when I took the device from him. I glanced at the screen. A new number was saved under the initials M.A.
“That’s my number. You can always call me if you need anything.”
There it was. A blatant invitation for me to call him, and I couldn’t let it go. I had to know.
“Why?”
He smiled at me. “You’re family, and I do for family, remember? Deal with it, Charles.”
His impudence should’ve bothered me. Instead, I couldn’t help the smidgen of disappointment that lodged in my gut. Family. That was all.
“Five minutes, Auggie!” Declan’s outburst pulled me back into the present, and I reclaimed my phone. He quickly explained that Owen and his kids had to make a detour to the hospital but should be there in five minutes.
Determined to prove to myself that the last time I saw August had just been a fluke due to my emotional state that night, I straightened up beside Declan and waited. When Owen appeared at the other end of the aisle with his three kids, I deliberately kept my eyes on my son’s groom.
“They’re about to begin,” I whispered reassuringly and quite uselessly to Declan.
It was obvious they were ready to begin.
I held my own halfway through the wedding march. But by the time Owen was almost at the arbor, I lost the willpower and glanced at the identical men who accompanied their father. They were similar and yet so different.
My gaze swept right over the other one and focused on August. Although they were dressed the same in their traditional tuxes, I could tell them apart quite easily. It wasn’t anything specific that I could pin down. It was the confidence in August’s walk, the control in his expression, the way his eyes clashed with mine.
There was nothing worse than feeling exposed when you were fully clothed, smartly dressed in a facade that had taken years of tailoring.
I averted my eyes from August as he fell into place by me. It took everything in me not to shift to the other side and put some distance between us. He stood way too close, and the combined fragrance of bergamot and vanilla flooded my nostrils.
Dammit, he smelled so good. I had a thing for fragrance, and I had to harness every bit of willpower not to lean toward him and sniff him.
I narrowed my eyes at my runaway hormones. Nope, not today. This was all about my son and putting his needs before mine for once. The sooner I