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CHAPTERONE

Fifteen years later…

August

I wipe the sweat from my brow with a towel as I finish the last mile of my run on the treadmill. Gerard, my trainer, tosses me a bottled water.

“Thanks, man,” I say as I nod to him and head to the shower in the gym. The six jets spray my body, running down the perfect muscles that I spend hours working on each day. There are many perks to being a prince and access to a state-of-the-art gym is just one of them. I’m a lucky fucker, and I know it.

I wrap a towel around my waist and walk over to a mirror. My phone buzzes with an incoming call. Ugh. That could only mean one thing: someone I don’t want to speak with. My friends, flings, and siblings would text me.

I press a button on a wall and answer.

“Yes?”

“Your Highness,” my secretary, Paolo, says. I roll my eyes at his formality.

“What?”

“You are late for your morning meeting,” he informs me. I roll my eyes as I look at the time. Shit.

“I’m coming.”

“Very good, sir. I will inform your father.”

I press the button and throw on a suit. Time to go see what punishment I’ve earned this time.

I make my way down the hall toward my father’s office. His new assistant, Frida, stands to greet me. I do my best to refrain my eye roll. Frida is sweet and eager to please, but she goes over the top on protocol. I motion for her to sit.

“I’ll show myself in,” I mutter as I walk toward the door. I can see her blush from across the room. My cock perks up at the thought of what naughty things I could do with her bent over her desk. I clear my throat and try to settle down my thoughts as I knock and enter my father’s office chamber.

My father is at his desk and Chris, the kiss-ass he is, is already seated across from him. Chris is my older brother and the golden boy heir. I’m just the spare.

“Glad you could join us,” my father states, not bothering to look up from his computer.

I ignore his comment and sit in the chair next to my brother. There’s a third chair, which is normally reserved for our little sister, Susanna or Anna as we call her, but she is visiting her husband’s home country of Montelandia.

“Parliament has their annual joint meeting next week. I’d like you both to attend,” my father begins. I half listen as he drones on about our duties for this week and next. Chris listens attentively. Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother, but he’s a bit of a pompous ass at times, and he’s also a do-gooder. Where I get caught with my pants down every other week…literally, not figuratively…he is off saving third world countries from environmental disasters.

“Is that a yes, then, August?” my father asks. He only uses my given name when I’m in trouble.

I glance up at him. “Sorry, I missed that?”

My father sighs. “Kate, the daughter of the president of the United States, is attending our Regents Ball on Sunday. She needs an escort. Chris will be in Montelandia at meetings that day. So, you will escort her.” His tone tells me that this is not optional. I wrack my brain for information about Kate…she’s younger than me, not ugly but not a supermodel, she always looks super nerdy and not in a good way, oh and she doesn’t date, like ever, at least that’s what I hear. So, my chances of making Sunday a booty call are…zero. FML.

“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth.

My father nods. “And please, be a gentleman, for once,” he adds with a sigh.

I can no longer hold back my eye roll. Chris jabs my arm with his elbow as my father clears his throat. “Sorry, I will be a perfect gentleman,” I mutter.

“That is all,” my father says, essentially dismissing us.

I follow Chris out of the room. We make it all the way to the main hall before he turns around and glares at me.

“Auggie, you need to grow the fuck up! Seriously, it wouldn’t kill you to actually take interest in the royal duties for once,” he growls.

“Chris, back the fuck off. I do what I’m told, don’t I?” I throw back at him, because I do, barely and without enthusiasm, but I do it.