Page 32 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
“Agreed,” he said seriously, before rubbing the back of his fingers along Piper’s jawline. She tipped her head into his sweet caress and closed her eyes to savor the tingling sensation of his touch.
She saw the moment the worry clouded his gaze.
“I saw you kissing Cole on the beach.”
Piper had been dreading speaking of this with Finn. Wanting to reassure him, she quickly said, “It was a mistake, and it won’t ever happen again.”
Finn still looked somewhat wary, so she fluttered her lashes in her best flirty move and said, “There’s only one man I want to kiss.”
Her attempt at flirting must have been somewhat successful, or at least funny, because he tipped back his head and laughed––his worries over her kiss with Cole apparently forgotten.
When his laughter subsided, she wondered if he might kiss her now. It was the perfect time, so she tipped her lips up in what she hoped was a welcoming invitation.
Instead of taking advantage of the moment, Finn smiled down at her and said, “There’s only one woman I want to kiss, too. One of these days, we should compare notes to see if our choices align.”
Rather than waiting for her response, he gave her chin a quick tweak, wheeled around, and was gone.
Piper leaned on her closed door and found that she couldn’t wipe the giddy grin off her face.
31
The next morning, Piper barely had herself and Liam washed and fed before the group text chimed in on her phone. Cole wanted her and Finn to meet him outside the royal dining room immediately. In typical Cole-fashion, he ordered rather than asked, but she had a feeling that he had made a breakthrough in their joint venture, so she resisted the temptation to reply with a snarky comment.
As she made her way outside with Liam securely in her arms, she was delighted to see Finn’s door open. By silent, mutual agreement they walked along the cobblestone path to the palace together.
“Nothing like being summoned first thing in the morning, huh?” She quipped, knowing that Finn must have also noticed the demanding tone in Cole’s text.
“Yeah,” Finn agreed before worrying, “I hope he has some solid evidence because otherwise, the royal family won’t appreciate us crashing their breakfast, especially on such a solemn day.”
“I’m sure he does.” She inserted more confidence into her voice than she felt when answering Finn. The very real possibility of the king and queen being stripped of their crowns today made Piper’s throat feel parched. She was confident they wouldn’t openly blame her if it happened, but there was no denying that they wouldn’t be in this predicament if she and Liam hadn’t shown up at their castle’s doors.
Queasiness threatened to overtake her as the toasted bagel and cream cheese she’d had for breakfast churned in her stomach. Forcing herself to focus on the positive, she silently prayed that Cole had uncovered something that would magically get them all out of this mess.
No one stopped them as they entered the palace, even though they technically weren’t allowed inside. It seemed even the guards were distraught by the potential imminent shakedown.
When they rounded the corner to the hallway that would lead them to the royal dining room, Cole was strolling confidently in their direction.
“Took you two long enough. Let’s go,” he said briskly as soon as they were within earshot.
Piper felt like putting on the brakes. She suddenly wondered if whatever Cole planned to say might make things worse for the royals. She wanted no part of anything that would make their day any more stressful than it already had to be.
Finn must have been having the same thoughts because at the same time as she asked Cole, “What did you find out?” Finn inquired of him, “What are you planning to say in there?”
Cole looked supremely confident, but that wasn’t anything unusual. “You’ll see,” he hedged, before teasing them with a hint, “I know who the leak was.”
Piper sagged with relief at this revelation. Knowing the source of the leak might not save the king and queen’s crowns today, but it would clear her and Finn’s names. They would be in much better situations to help fight for the royals from the inside, rather than as banished suspects.
Anxious to know what Cole found out, but guessing that the man would prefer the drama of revealing it to everyone at once, Piper picked up the pace. The men on both sides of her followed her lead. She hesitated only once they reached the closed door to the elegant dining room. She worried her lower lip between her teeth, hoping that they weren’t making a huge mistake.
Never one to back down from a challenging situation, Cole strode purposefully forward and yanked the door open. He barged into the room like he owned the entire kingdom, so Piper and Finn followed closely behind him.
The drawn faces around the enormous table almost made Piper’s steps falter. She hoped that seeing the baby that was causing all of this drama wouldn’t make their day any worse. She held Liam closer to her as all eyes from around the table––even the queen’s––glared in their direction. Doubt over their decision to barge in surged up in Piper’s throat.
“What is the meaning of this intrusion?” It was one of the queen’s brothers who had barked the question, but the other faces around the table were silently asking the same thing.
Showboating for all he was worth, Cole announced in a booming voice, “I’ve been doing some digging, and I’ve figured out who the culprit is regarding the announcement to the world about Liam.”
Displaying a level of grace that her husband couldn’t muster, given the circumstances, Queen Tess said, “We appreciate your diligence in looking into this matter for us, but at this point, it really doesn’t even matter who it was.”
