King Me (King Me Duet 1)

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 coffee.

“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.