Page 141 of The Husband Game

Thankfully, the team loved the look.

“Fuck, Charlie, you look amazing,” Nico said, his gaze heated as it raked over his body.

Dustin scowled at him and his arm tightened on Charlie’s waist like he thought Nico was any real competition.

It was so funny to Charlie because yes, he liked Nico.

He liked the way he looked in his classic tuxedo with a crisp button-down shirt unbuttoned so low it showed off his necklace and seemed halfway indecent. He liked Nico’s slouchy posture and give-no-fucks energy. He loved the way he wasn’t afraid to push boundaries.

But at the end of the day, even if Dustin hadn’t been around, Charlie knew he and Nico were too much alike.

And he didn’t think Nico even really, truly wanted him.

He enjoyed flirting with everyone, the same way Charlie did, but mostly he enjoyed getting a rise out of Dustin.

So Charlie rose up on his toes and whispered in Dustin’s ear, “You have no reason to be jealous, darling. I’m going home with you tonight.”

Dustin’s shoulders softened and he shot Charlie a molten look from under his dark lashes.

Matty and some of the other guys complimented Charlie as well and Natasha and Birdie gushed about how the look they’d helped him pick out had come together.

They chatted with some of the team for a little while before Dustin excused them both and went in search of Champagne and other people to introduce Charlie to.

He met the head coach, Claude Casey, whose smile was kind and his blue eyes, behind his dark rimmed glasses, warm. Claude introduced Charlie to his wife and they talked for a while before he was introduced to more of the coaching staff and other important people in the head office whose names he was trying to commit to memory.

Charlie caught a few flickers of surprise on people’s faces as they looked him up and down but at least everyone was polite.

There was a lot of small talk, which Charlie was good at, and people seemed to relax around him after the initial surprise of ‘boy in a dress!’ settled, but after a while the conversation grew rather tedious.

“Sorry,” Dustin said in his ear, settling a warm hand on Charlie’s low back as they walked away. “This isn’t the most exciting crowd.”

Charlie let out a soft laugh. “I didn’t expect anything else.”

“Want to snag some more bubbly and a few bites to eat while we have a quick breather? There’s a terrace we can go out on.”

“Sounds lovely,” Charlie said with a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, they never made it there.

“Dustin! There you are,” an older man said, slapping his shoulder before they’d made it two feet.

“Lloyd.” Dustin gave him a smile. “I was starting to think you hadn’t shown up for your own party. I’d like you to meet my husband, Charlie Monaghan. Charlie, this is Lloyd Henderson. The Hendersons are the majority shareholders in the team and own the Henderson media corporation.”

Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were an older couple—maybe in their seventies or so.

Lloyd had a long face and wore glasses, his mostly bald head gleaming under the lights. His wife, Margaret, had what appeared to be a whole lot of plastic surgery helping her along.

Charlie held out his hand to shake. “Wonderful to meet you. You and your wife have a lovely home.”

It was beautiful. It was enormous and stuffy, of course—not Charlie’s favorite vibe—but it truly was a gorgeous monument to historical architecture.

The red-brick Romanesque-revival mansion had been built in the late 1800s and lovingly preserved.

There was elegant wood paneling, inlaid floors, and intricately carved stair rails. Stained glass windows and stone fireplaces were sprinkled throughout and Charlie was dying to poke around upstairs and see what the second and third floors were like, especially the circular turret.

“Did you hear, Margaret?” Lloyd said, drawing his wife forward to join the conversation. “Dustin’s husband, Charlie, was complementing our home.”

She smiled at Charlie. “Thank you. We’re quite proud of it. It’s a rare jewel in the city. So many homes of this age have been converted into commercial spaces, unfortunately.”

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