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I feel like a muddy puddle.

I’ve cried as many tears since last night as I did when I found out my best friend and my fiancé were fucking like rabbits for months before I was supposed to marry the bastard.

I thought I loved TJ, but I was wrong.

What I felt for William far surpassed that.

“Opal.”

I glance up when I hear my name and find Percy standing near the table where I’m sitting. He looks as beaten up as I feel. His suit isn’t pressed, and his button-down shirt has a small coffee stain right above the third button.

“Sit,” I say, not bothering to add any pleasantry to it.

I have questions, and although he may not hold all of the answers, he has some.

He glances briefly at the barista counter. “I need a coffee first. Can I get you a refill?”

I look at my almost empty mug. If I consume another drop of caffeine, I’ll be bouncing off the walls, so I shake my head. “I’ll take a tea.”

“What kind?” he asks.

I’ll never look at a cup of orange tea the same way again, so I pass on that. “Green is fine.”

He nods briskly before he turns to walk toward the counter. I’ll use the brief reprieve to gather my thoughts. I want to know what the hell has been going on the past few weeks between him and William, and I’m not leaving here until he tells me.

* * *

“I know about William,”I say as soon as Percy is seated across from me.

He’s mid-sip of his large coffee so when his mouth falls open, a drop dribbles over his chin and lands just below the second button of his shirt.

“What do you know?” he asks, eyeing me suspiciously.

If he questions me on everything, this will take all day. I shake my head. “I know you hired him to try and get me to fall in love with you.”

“Love wasn’t really what I was looking for.”

At least he’s being honest. I’ll give him that.

“You actually thought paying someone to trick me into marrying you was the right approach?” I snap.

Chuckling, he leans back in his chair. “I did think that, but the guy who sent me William’s way neglected to mention that William’s not into trickery. He made it clear very quickly that I had to earn your attention.”

I wrap both hands around the warm cup of tea to stop them from trembling. “What do you mean by that?”

“Dash, my friend, knows William. He told me William could help me land you.”

The phrasing could use some work, but I get the gist, so I encourage him to continue talking with a roll of my hand in the air.

“William worked with Dash to help him clean up his act so he could get his first girlfriend back,” he explains. “Dash was bitter and angry at the world. He had a failed business and two divorces under his belt, but his first girlfriend was the one who got away.”

“So William spent time with her to get her to see the real Dash?” My question is laced with sarcasm, but I don’t expect Percy to notice since he’s now trying to scrub away both coffee stains on his shirt with the pad of his thumb.

He shakes his head. “He worked exclusively with Dash since he already knew everything there was to know about Crystal. William helped him uncover the man he could be. He was by his side when Dash dealt with all the burdens he was carrying. By the time he asked Crystal out again he was a changed man.”

I assume Crystal is the first girlfriend, so I skip past that. “You sent William to find out about me, didn’t you?”

“He said something about checking to see if we were a good match.” He exhales audibly. “I told him that was a waste of his time because I saw you at a restaurant, felt that love at first sight thing, and knew you were supposed to be my wife.”