Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
His eyes close briefly before they hone in on mine. “Whoever you are and wherever you came from, I’m so fucking glad you ended up here.”
“Me too,” I whisper. “I’m glad I’m here, too.”
I ache to be kissed by him, but he doesn’t give me that. Instead, he rakes me from head to toe like he wants nothing more than to devour me before he turns and walks out of the house.
CHAPTER SIX
Holden
Filling the time since I walked out of Mrs. Frye’s home hasn’t been easy.
I thought I could focus on work since there’s never a shortage of things that require my attention. As the CEO of Carden Confectionaries, I’m the guy who makes the last call on almost everything that matters. I take my brother’s opinion into consideration, but at the end of the day, I have to decide what is best for the company that mattered so much to my grandparents.
Carden began as a shared dream for them and has since morphed into a billion dollar empire.
The weight of that is always on my shoulders, but I’ll never complain about it. I consider it an honor to sit at the helm of the company, even when I’m faced with the task of working out deals to take over enterprises that are struggling or those that have an owner who has checked out of the business.
That happens more often than most people realize. The idea of launching a candy company can seem like an easy route to riches, but it’s a damn hard climb even to get noticed.
Such is the case with a few businesses based in New York that my brother has recently reached out to . Jameson makes the initial contact, and then I swoop in to work on the finer details of a deal that will expand Carden’s empire.
That’s what our grandmother wanted before her death, so Jameson and I are intent on following through on her wishes.
I glance down when my phone indicates an incoming video call. It’s almost eleven. That should narrow the options of who is calling, but it doesn’t. My brother, my sister-in-law, and my friends all know that I’m available for them twenty-four seven. If at all possible, I’m never out of reach, although I plan on leaving my phone behind when I go to see Summer in just over an hour.
“Declan,” I greet my friend as the call connects. “Why aren’t you asleep?”
I know the answer to that question, but I ask it anyway. Like Jameson and me, Declan and his brother run a business whose sales rival those of Carden’s. They’re not in the candy business, though. Wells, their brand, is all about underwear.
His hair is a mess, and he’s sporting a light growth of beard. Impending fatherhood looks good on my old friend, but I don’t tell him that. He owns a mirror, so he’s well aware of what he looks like at the moment.
“I can’t sleep,” he says before he yawns. “How hard do you think fatherhood is?”
“Your brother is the guy to ask that question to,” I point out, since Declan’s brother, Sean, is already a dad. I add on our shared best friend as a great resource, “Rook has been doing the dad thing for five years, Declan. Call him.”
“So he can tease me about how fucking scared I am?” He chuckles. “No way. You’ve been watching Jameson navigate fatherhood. Does it look easy or hard?”
“Both,” I answer as I settle into a spot on the sectional in the living room. I prop my bare feet up on the coffee table. “As with anything worth having in life, some bad always comes with the good.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re quoting the birthday card I gave you last year. I thought it was perfect since you’re getting grayer by the day. The bad being the gray. The good being… hell, I don’t know, with age comes wisdom, so the good is wisdom.”
That’s enough bullshit nonsense to force a question out of me. “When’s the last time you slept?”
“I sleep,” he insists. “I fall asleep fine, but wake up in the middle of the night with a million thoughts racing through my mind. All I want is to be a good father to my son.”
His son.
Gilbert Stetson Wells is due to arrive in just a few short weeks. I’m already madly in love with the kid. The pile of gifts I have at my apartment in Manhattan is proof of that.
“You’re going to be a great father,” I tell him what I truly believe. “Don’t doubt yourself, Declan. You’re one of the best men I know, and you’ve read a hell of a lot of books about babies. You could teach a class.”
He chuckles. I sense some of the weight is being lifted off his shoulders. “Maybe by the time you have a kid, I’ll be in a position to teach you the basics of being a dad.”