King Me (King Me Duet Book 1) Read online

  Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that last bit, but it slipped out. It did get the desired result by wiping the self-satisfaction off the doc’s face as the women gaped.

  Christy said, “You two?”

  Natalie was quick to say, “He’s being funny,” which wasn’t exactly a lie. “We did try to date but decided very quickly to just be friends.”

  I didn’t correct her because that would have been a total dick move. “Doc, are you going to answer?” I asked, switching subjects.

  “Sure,” he said, reminded of my earlier question about good and bad pussy. “It’s a matter of perspective. Some men would prefer a shorter vagina, others need a longer one.”

  “What do you need?’ I asked, baiting him.

  “It’s not any of your business, is it? That would be something between my partner and me. I have nothing to prove to you tonight,” the doc said.

  “I have nothing to prove to Natalie either,” I said.

  “That’s enough,” Natalie said, holding up her hand. She turned to me. “Maybe you should go.”

  I shrugged and faced Christy. “Change of venue?”

  She flashed me a grin without the same effect Natalie’s had on me. “We can go to my place. Though I have to warn you, if you drove, parking can be impossible.”

  “Maybe tonight’s our night,” I said, giving her a wink.

  Before I left, I said to Natalie. “I think babies are in your future.”

  It took her a second to connect my cryptic message to our conversation earlier about wingman responsibilities. I’d greenlighted the doc. He’d passed my test.

  She said, “I can’t be sure about you.”

  “I’m good,” I told her and gave the doc a two-finger salute. “Nice meeting you. Take care of Natalie. She’s special. Don’t fuck it up.”

  He relaxed, knowing I’d given him shit for a reason. Little did he know, it was killing me to leave her. She was special and I didn’t deserve her, which is why I was walking away.

  Christy talked nonstop while giving directions. She had many questions about Natalie and me. I didn’t say much more than what I had at the table. I wouldn’t give her ammunition because she also talked nonstop about the doc. She wondered if I thought Natalie and he were a good couple. I gave noncommittal answers. I was grateful when we arrived at her apartment and there was indeed no parking for blocks.

  “Maybe next time,” I said, as idled in front of her building.

  As if fate was giving me an assist, a car that had pulled behind me on the one-way street held down their car horn obnoxiously.

  “You better go,” I said, before she could ask for my number again.

  Though she was an attractive girl, and I could certainly hook up with her, my heart wasn’t in it. All I could think about was what Natalie was doing.

  When I made it back to my place, I texted Natalie to hit me up when she got home so I knew she was okay.

  I’d assumed she was pissed at me when I heard nothing for hours. When she did, all I could hope for was for her to tell me the date had turned out to be a disaster.

  Seventeen

  Natalie

  “What the hell?” I whisper-yelled through the phone when he answered my call. I didn’t want to wake Ms. Allen since I’d already come home late, and she had the early morning shift. “Why were you such a dick?”

  “This is who I am.”

  “That’s bullshit. You acted like a child, like you were jealous.” My fingers might have been crossed because I wanted him to admit he was.

  “I never said I was a prince. You put that on me.”

  “You said you’d be my wingman.”

  “You got your answers. He has my stamp of approval. He might be a little lame, but he’s probably harmless.”

  “You didn’t have to be an asshole.”

  “It worked all around,” he said.

  “What does that mean?”

  “While learning how he would handle pressure, Christy learned I wasn’t marriage material. Win-win.”

  “I can’t believe you,” I scrubbed a hand over my face. It was like I wasn’t speaking to the same man that had come to my rescue. His voice was devoid of emotion. “Did you hook up with her?” I demanded to know.

  “I don’t think you want to know the answer.”

  He was right. I didn’t, though his non-answer was answer enough. “Fine. Goodnight, Liam.”

  Before I ended the call, he asked, “How did your date go?”

  “It wasn’t ruined if that’s what you’re asking. We’re going out again this weekend.”

  “Good for you,” he said. “Night, Natalie.”

  “Wait? That’s it?”

  “Unless you want to switch to a video call and show me what you’re not wearing.” I fish-mouthed, sure that I was under water because I couldn’t have heard what I heard. Especially when there wasn’t anything teasing in his voice. When I paused too long, he said, “Night.”

  He ended the call. I didn’t like our whole conversation. It was so far from any interaction that I had with him before. Though he’d been crude at times earlier tonight, he’d been funny too. He’d sounded upbeat. It was the total opposite of everything I thought I knew about him.

  I opened a video chat with Jody, wondering what might have happened if I’d done that with Liam. When she answered, her background was just as dark as mine.

  “I hope it isn’t too late, but I really needed to see your gorgeous face,” I said to my best friend feeling on the verge of tears.

  “What’s wrong, babe?”

  “Tonight should’ve been a slam dunk, but Liam, I just don’t get him. He was borderline dickish.” I ran through the almost double date and then the call. “His response was dark. He’s like, I told you I wasn’t a prince.”

  She moved through her apartment and then laid flat on what I assumed to be her bed. The background was pitch black so I couldn’t be sure. “My advice. Believe people when they tell you who they are. Maybe this was him being honest for the first time.”

  After we ended that call, I would mull over that for hours until I could fall asleep, because I just didn’t want to believe it. The Liam I’d met was the real Liam, right? I had a hard time believing I was so wrong about him.

  The next day at work, Christy pulled me to the side.

  “I didn’t get to thank Liam last night,” she said. If I’d known her better or liked her, I might have asked how things had gone between them. However, her sly grin painted the picture for me. “We didn’t get to exchange numbers. Can you give me his?”

  It might have been bitchy, but I said it anyway. “If he wanted you to have it, he would have given it to you.”

  Her expression turned frosty. I shrugged and walked away muttering karma is bitch. She’d literally been a bitch to me since the first time we met.

  It would be days before I had contact with Liam again. When I did, the fate of any kind of relationship between us would be determined.

  Eighteen

  Liam

  Each time I came to the King residence, I got a warmer welcome than the time before. This time was no different.

  Before we took the short walk to Central Park to give the kids time to run around outdoors, Bailey insisted on feeding me along with her kids.

  “Connor’s not here?” I asked the redhead.

  Bailey answered with a grin, “No, with Connor’s businesses closed for now, he’s working with Kalen to conquer the world.”

  “His clubs are closed?” I wanted clarification.

  Lizzy walked in. “Yes, his clubs are closed for now. He’s not the idle hands kind of man. So I sent him along with his brother to keep him busy and not drive me crazy.”

  Bailey laughed. “I think it great they’re working together. They don’t often do it.”

  Not long after, we left for the park. When we arrived, Lizzy stood beside me with her covered stroller to protect her newborn inside. She handed me a tumbler filled with piping hot c
offee.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Do you two have a plan to fatten me up?”

  She laughed. “No, solider boy, but you feel like brother to me, and Bailey likes to feed everyone.”

  Her acceptance was another step toward claiming the brothers I never had. I still had questions for my father. He said he had no problems with me being his son. He hadn’t said that he now believed that to be the case. I planned to ask him the next time I saw him. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been around when I came over today. I only saw him if I was flying him somewhere.

  I turned to Lizzy who watched Bailey and the kids on the playground. “Do you have any siblings?”

  She glanced at me before facing forward again. “I do. A twin.”

  “Two of you,” I teased.

  “Well, technically he’s my little brother, Matt. I call him Matty,” she said, and you could feel the love she had for him. “But if you ask him, he’ll say if Mom had given birth naturally, he would have been first as he’d been lower in the womb.” I chuckled with her. “You remind me of him. He’s a cop.”

  “Really?” That was surprising. Based on her apartment, I would have assumed they were loaded. Then again, maybe Connor had bought her the place.

  “Yeah, to my parent’s horror.”

  “Is he a local cop?” I asked before drinking more coffee to help fight off the chill in the air.

  “No. He’s in Chicago where no one knows he has a trust fund that would allow him not to work a day in his life.”

  “Nice. But he still chose to serve?”

  She sighed, sending a stream of frost out of her mouth. “Yep. And I worry about him every day. He’s alone.” After a pause, she added, “And you know what?”

  There was fire in her eyes. “What?”

  “He didn’t have to be alone, and I don’t know if you’re dating.”

  I answered with a raised brow.

  “Because you don’t have to be alone either. If you’ve spoken to Grant about us, he must have told you I offered to set him up.”

  “He didn’t.”

  She laughed. “I have to say, I love Grant. If I hadn’t have met Connor first… Don’t tell him that.”

  Chuckling, I said, “Your secret is safe with me.”

  “I like you.”

  “Back at you.”

  “What I was getting at was my brother. Bailey could’ve been my sister-in-law, not because we married brothers, but because my brother was into her. He was days too late.” She exhaled again. “I love Kalen so this isn’t about her not being with him. It’s a point that Matt liked her, and she liked him. But he didn’t act. He assumed she wanted more than he was ready to offer and waited too late. When he came to town to make his feelings known, she’d met Kalen. And Bailey’s not the kind of girl that dates around even when nothing was exclusive.”

  I felt like she was reading my mind.

  “Am I sensing that maybe you have someone?”

  “Maybe,” I admitted.

  “If your situation is anything like my brother’s, don’t wait and have regrets. The kind of connection I have with Connor and he has with me, the same between Bailey and Kalen, is a once in a lifetime thing. I’ve dated many people in my life and some of them were great guys, but it was different with Connor from the very beginning.”

  Wasn’t that how I felt about Natalie? Wasn’t I pushing her away like how she said her brother, Matt, pushed away Bailey? From what I’d knew about her, he likely had a lot of regrets.

  The difference was I was considering reupping with the Air Force. How could I ask Natalie to wait for me? Though I hadn’t asked Carrie to wait for me: I made the half-assed assumption that love conquered all.

  Natalie had an opportunity to be with a guy I suspected could make her as happy as Kalen made Bailey. Though Matt lost, Bailey and Kalen won.

  “Penny for your thoughts, soldier boy.”

  “Yes. There is a woman. We haven’t known each other long.”

  “But you have that spark?” she asked.

  “There’s something. It doesn’t matter because she’s seeing someone else.”

  “Like my brother.”

  I nodded. “It could be for the best. Like you said, Kalen and Bailey have something.”

  “You could say that. Or I could say that maybe you don’t have the balls to go after her. Maybe you’re just scared. I was there. I was allergic to love, like truly. I fought commitment like a bad habit.”

  “Yet you’re with Connor.”

  “Exactly. I fought him too, by the way. But when it’s right, it’s right.” She held my gaze. “Don’t give me the excuse that fate will intervene. I might have fought against it in the beginning, but I also fought for it in the end.”

  “It might be too late,” I said.

  She wagged her finger at me. “Might is the operative word. If you like the woman, let her know. My brother didn’t. It puts the ball in her court. If this relationship she has is new, like Bailey and Kalen’s was at the time, you never know.”

  “I could also screw up something great she could have with the other guy.”

  “You’re impossible and saved because my niece just fell. Bailey’s pushing her son on the swing. Watch the baby with your life. Anything happens to him and it’s your ass.”

  Then she was gone. The fiery blonde had given me much to think about.

  Days later when I got a text from Natalie, I’d made my decision.

  Nineteen

  Natalie

  All I wanted to do was sink into the tub and wash the day away. As I made my way down to the subway, I heard people talking about an incident. When I got closer, I saw the signs that the train I normally took was temporarily shut down. From what I heard along the way, there may have been a jumper.

  It didn’t know the city well. I could’ve figured out what other trains I could take to detour around the trouble. Instead, I used the opportunity to send a text to Liam. I hadn’t spoken to him for days since our last phone call. I wanted to see him.

  Standing near the entrance to the subway, I waited for his reply which hadn’t come immediately. When his answer came, I nearly sighed in relief. I’d been holding my breath thinking maybe he didn’t want to see me ever again.

  His place wasn’t far, and I was let in by a doorman who called up to get approval first. The call took longer than him saying let her up and for a second I thought I might get turned away. I didn’t.

  My palms were sweaty by the time I arrived at the door. I wiped my hands on my jeans before knocking.

  To say the man was devastatingly handsome didn’t quite cover it. He opened the door in a t-shirt, jeans and bare feet. My pulse ticked up. I had to take cleansing breaths just to walk in.

  As I gazed around the room, I took off my coat and laid it on a bar stool. He sat on the sofa where I assumed he’d been before I arrived.

  “It’s lovely,” I said. There was an upgraded kitchen on the left and the sizable but cozy living room on the right. It looked professionally decorated. Everything had its place.

  “Yeah. It’s cool.” He never once took his eyes off the TV as he spoke.

  I leaned my back against the island and watched him a second. “Do you have a problem with me? Because I can go.”

  Rather than answering, he got to his feet and walked past me. “Want a beer?”

  “No. Thanks.”

  As he headed back to the sofa, he brushed by me. I hated where things stood between us. Since he wouldn’t answer my question, I took an indirect approach.

  “I went out with Brian again.” If I hadn’t been looking, I wouldn’t have noticed his jaw clench. Bolstered, I moved over and sat less than a foot away from him on the couch. “I need some advice.”

  “What about?”

  “Like I said, I had another date with Brian.”

  “Did it go well?” he asked.

  “That’s my question. He’s yet to make a move. He hasn’t tried to kiss me.”

  “He’s prob
ably just taking his time.”

  Tired that he hadn’t looked at me once, I reached up and cupped his cheek, turning him to face me. “What’s wrong with me?”

  A storm raged behind those eyes. “Nothing.”

  I leaned forward, our lips almost touching. “Are you sure?”

  “Natalie.” My name passed his lips like a prayer.

  Quickly I shifted so he wasn’t able to stop me from straddling his lap. I raked my nails over his scalp until I firmly had his head.

  “Natalie.” The huskiness with which he spoke caused me to shiver as his hands found my hips.

  “Liam,” I whispered while looking at his kissable mouth.

  His thumbs stroked the flesh beneath my shirt. “Natalie, don’t start this.”

  “Why not? Apparently, every man in America is immune to my charms.”

  All of his fingers were under my shirt and moving higher up the sides of my ribcage.

  “Yes,” I said, on an exhaled breath, lifting my arms so he could remove my shirt. He did just that.

  “Hell.”

  I felt the flames rise as he spoke and lick over my skin.

  “Stand for me,” he said.

  In that moment, I would have done anything for him to continue to look at me at the way he did. Slowly, I got to my feet, thankful I wore the sexiest bra I had, not knowing I would have this moment.

  His eyes slid down my body with no mistake of his approval in what he saw.

  Be bold, I dared myself, reaching back to undo my bra. He moved forward and caught my wrist. I let my surprise show in my expression.

  “We can’t.” Crestfallen, I let my head drop. “It’s not that I don’t want to.”

  “Why not?”

  “Did you bring condoms?”

  Those damn condoms. I hadn’t brought them because I certainly had no plans with sleeping with Brian and I didn’t know I’d end up at Liam’s.

  He stood and took my hand, leading me down the hall. “It’s late. I don’t want you riding the subway. You can sleep here. There’s a second bedroom, here.” He stopped in front of the first open door down the hall. “I’ll grab something for you to wear. If you need me to drive you to your place in the morning, I will.”