Page 29 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
She could defend herself from a flared temper or false accusation, but what was she supposed to do about being completely shunned?
28
Piper spent the remainder of her day fuming inside her cottage. She angry-baked a batch of brownies, swept the already-pristine wood floors, and scrubbed the windows clean until her cloth squeaked across them.
She hated it that Finn always assumed the worst of her, and she hated it even more that she cared.
If Finn wanted to be a royal jerk, he had every right to be. But she had every right not to be concerned. She didn’t understand why her stupid heart wouldn’t allow her to let it go.
Her mind told her that she should reach out to Cole, the man who staunchly defended her at every turn, to see if he wanted to have dinner together, but her traitorous heart ached to go next door, to pound on Finn’s door and straighten things out with him.
The internal war inside her body was raging, and it left her filled with nervous energy. When she found herself maniacally scrubbing the stainless steel stovetop, she realized that she was making herself crazy with worry.
Forcing herself to calm down, she spread out a down blanket on the floor in front of the cozy fireplace and lowered Liam onto it for some tummy time. After grabbing some of his soft squeaky toys and rattles, she joined him. Spending quality time with her happy baby was the best stress reliever she could imagine.
Soon, her racing heart had calmed and her rapid, shallow breathing returned to a more normal pace. She was sure that Liam’s happy smiles were better than a relaxing massage and hot rocks treatment at a world-class spa.
She wasn’t sure how long they rested there, smiling at each other and playing, but when her stomach started grumbling, she noticed that the sun had lowered enough in the sky that it was creating long, slashing shadows across the cottage’s floor.
Just as she sat up to go collect her phone to reach out to Cole to see if he was interested in joining them for a quiet dinner, the device dinged to indicate an incoming message.
Smiling to herself when she saw Cole’s name, she realized that the billionaire wasn’t without flaws, but they did certainly seem to be on the same wavelength.
After scanning the message, she refused to think about why she was relieved that Cole wasn’t available to have dinner. He had indicated that he had ‘important business’ to attend to and that he had some exciting leads to follow-up on from their joint research project. After promising to catch her up on everything in the morning, he added the kiss-blowing emoji. It was cute and unexpected from such a high-powered man. He truly was an enigma.
She typed back a quick response before starting to make a pasta dinner for one. Setting out a notepad and pen, she decided to jot down ideas of how to help the royals while she waited for the water to boil. After all, she needed something to do to pass her time.
Nursing Liam as she ate, the blank pad of paper sat before her––taunting her. She was at a loss for what she could do to help King Sebastian retain power, despite her yearning to be of assistance.
Tossing down the pen in frustration, she rose to wash the dishes. Once they were done, she decided that taking her mind off the problem for a bit might be the best way to clear her mind, so new ideas could flow. She found a tattered romance novel on the bookshelf and settled in to read, with Liam resting comfortably in her arms.
The book was interesting enough to hold her attention until darkness began to fall. Once her eyelids grew heavy, she set the book down, gently lowered Liam into his crib, pulled back the hand-sewn quilt on her tall bed, and climbed in for the night.
She felt like she had just closed her eyes when Liam’s wailing began. The cottage was pitch-dark, which indicated that she had actually gotten some sleep, even though she didn’t feel like she had.
After reaching to turn on the bedside lamp, she went to check on her baby. She changed his diaper and tried unsuccessfully to nurse him. After that, she began rocking him, as she patted his back and tried to soothe him with calming lullabies.
Liam’s face was fire-engine red as real tears travelled down his forlorn little face. He shook his clenched fists with fury that his mother couldn’t fix his mysterious ailment.
Desperate to help him, but uncertain what else to try, Piper got up and paced the room. Normally, he loved being carried, but tonight he arched his back in outrage.
Having never seen her normally-relaxed baby so worked up, Piper stewed over whether she should call the royal doctor. Liam didn’t have a fever, but something definitely had him upset.
Tired, worried, and frazzled, Piper nearly jumped out of her skin at the sharp rap on her front door. She knew without looking who would be on the other side, but she was already doing everything in her power to calm her irate baby. Having Finn yell at her wasn’t going to help anything.
Piper debated not answering the door. She already knew that Finn was here because Liam’s loud wailing was keeping the man awake. Their tiny houses were too close and the peaceful night was too quiet for him not to hear the baby’s frustrated screams.
At the second knock, she decided there was no use in pretending that she wasn’t home. Stalking over to the door, she used her free hand to fling it open. Sure enough, the royal steward stood on the step leading up to the threshold.
Even in her distraught state, Piper noticed that Finn looked handsome, despite his tired eyes. He had on a soft, cotton, navy blue robe and slippers, and striped pajama pants peeked out from below the hemline.
Ignoring her completely, Finn addressed Liam. “What’s the matter, Little Man?”
The distraction of their visitor was enough to stop Liam’s bellowing for a moment. The baby hiccupped and stuck his lower lip out in Finn’s direction as if he had been facing the worst night of his life. The royal steward’s kind sympathy as he reached out to wipe a tear from the baby’s pudgy cheek seemed to be enough to shift the infant out of his hysterics.
“May I?” Finn held his arms out in Liam’s direction as he looked at Piper for the first time since arriving at her doorstep.
“Please,” Piper handed him the baby, grateful for a moment of relief.
