Page 16 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
“We’ve joined forces with Selena on several projects.” Trevor said to Cole before adding snidely, “Powerful alliances are the wave of the future. Too bad you can’t find anyone crazy enough to align themselves with you, Daniels.”
Tess was surprised by her brother’s borderline rudeness, until Cole revealed his true colors by saying, “I’m working on an even bigger, better, and more powerful union that is going to make the three of you look like common street rats.”
“Really?” Trey’s slashing brows shot up as he feigned interest in Cole’s supposed plans. “Who in their right mind is willing to partner with you? Everyone knows you would cheat your grandmother out of her last dime, if given the opportunity.”
Lifting his chin, Cole said, “The details surrounding my mega-deal partnerships are top-secret.”
“Of course they are…” Trey nodded as if he had fully expected Cole to hedge.
“You’ll see when we crush you.” Cole let the threat hang heavily in the air, proving that he didn’t appreciate being backed into a proverbial corner.
Deciding that they’d all endured enough testosterone and posturing, Tess said, “Let’s call an end to this session of the billionaire-alpha-male-olympics before the three of you start peeing in circles on the castle’s floor. Shall we?”
Ignoring the queen’s disdain, Cole turned to Piper and said, “I have a few minutes before my next urgent, world-class business meeting.”
Trey and Trevor both made scoffing sounds in their throats, which made Cole turn to look at them before adding, “What?... Some of us are needed to run our successful businesses, rather than being mere figureheads, who can jaunt off to our sister’s island for an extended vacation whenever we feel like it.”
Tess was proud that her brothers didn’t take the bait this time. Instead, they both merely glared in Cole’s direction as if wishing that the arrogant man would disappear could actually make it happen.
When he realized neither brother was going to react to his niggling, Cole turned back to Piper. “How about if you drop off your baby for someone else to watch, so we can take a nice, romantic stroll out by the water?” Seeming unable to simply be nice, he added, “I’ve heard this dump has a decent beach.”
Tess felt Sebastian stiffen at her side over the pompous man’s reference to their beloved kingdom as a ‘dump,’ but he evidently decided they would be rid of the rude man sooner by ignoring his goading insults.
Piper seemed uncertain how to respond to his nearly-rhetorical request. Her eyes darted to Tess, as if she was asking the queen what she should do.
Tess purposely kept her expression flat. As much as she wanted the arrogant man out of their private space, she cared about Piper too much to encourage the woman to spend time alone with him.
Evidently not finding the answer she needed in the queen’s expression, Piper turned back to Cole. He was holding his hand out in her direction, fully expecting her to jump at the chance to go for a romantic walk with him. Tess could tell the woman was still uncertain, but there was no denying the pretty, pink blush that arose on Piper’s cheeks when she responded, “Oh, umm… Okay?”
17
Cole had a few obvious flaws. The main one was his egotism, but Piper assumed that all billionaires had at least a touch of that. It was also clear that he and Queen Tess’s brothers didn’t get along, but Piper didn’t know the Donovan brothers well enough to make the assumption that Cole was the villain in that relationship. He hadn’t been at all friendly to the wealthy brothers, but they hadn’t been kind to him either.
As she walked with Cole along the light beige sandy shore, she ruminated over the fact that the man had several redeeming qualities, as well. He was impossibly handsome, almost to the point of being too pretty. He was funny and even proved himself to be a bit self-effacing––when they were alone. She suspected that his pompous, arrogant act was merely a façade he used as a defense mechanism in overly intimidating situations.
She couldn’t decide if his immense wealth was a plus or a minus. Obviously, it would be nice to not have to worry about where the rent money was coming from every month, but the queen had invited Piper and Liam to stay at the castle indefinitely, so that likely wouldn’t be a problem for her anymore anyway. She feared that Cole’s immense wealth might have spoiled him to the point that he believed he could buy anything he wanted––including people.
Sensing there was more to him than the self-important front he showed to the world, Piper wanted to give the dashing billionaire a chance. Marveling at the mere idea of being surrounded by aristocrats, royalty, and the richest of the rich, she wondered whose glamorous life she had managed to stumble into. It was hard to believe a simple seamstress was suddenly a welcomed guest in the island’s royal castle.
Before having Liam, she never would have even imagined herself walking on the palace’s pristine beach with a debonair billionaire bachelor. It was almost incomprehensible how much better her son had made her life by merely existing. The royal blood pulsing through his veins was fancy icing and sprinkles on the formerly vanilla cupcake of her life.
Pulling her out of her deep thoughts, Cole suddenly stopped and turned to look at her before saying, “You’re probably wondering why a handsome, wealthy catch like me, would be interested in a woman who is already saddled with another man’s baby.”
Piper lifted a brow in his direction. That hadn’t been at all what she was thinking, but it was rather telling to discover that was how he truly felt about her situation. Despite the urge to defend Liam and tell this pompous jerk that her baby wasn’t in any way a burden, she opted to remain quiet to see if he would dig himself further into this hole.
He lifted a palm tenderly to her face. She grudgingly and silently admitted that his touch felt splendid. Either it had been far too long since she’d had a man show any sincere interest in her, or she and Cole had some serious physical chemistry.
When he said, “You and I are a lot alike,” her gaze snapped to his.
Piper couldn’t imagine where he was going with that statement because, from her perspective, they couldn’t be more opposite from one another.
Evidently seeing the doubt in her expression, Cole chuckled before defending his assertion. “We are… We both grew up as have-nots and learned to be scrappy and assertive enough to change that and better our lives.”
Piper squinted her eyes up at him. Knowing that he must have overheard enough to figure out the reason behind why she was here, she asked him, “Do you think I somehow knew that Sebastian was secretly royal and intentionally got pregnant?”
Cole tipped his head back and laughed at that as his hand snaked from her cheek around to the back of her neck. “No, of course not, but you found a way to make your life better for you and your son. Didn’t you? I have no doubt that you would have found a way to make it out of the slums and into high society anyway.”
Her face twisted into an annoyed mask. She didn’t appreciate him referring to her small, but clean and safe home as ‘the slums,’ nor his insinuation that she would do whatever it took to gain wealth and power. He couldn’t be more wrong about the things that she considered to be important in life.
