Coldhearted King (Empty Kingdom, #1)

by L.M. Dalgleish

My heart jumps when I think it might be Cole, but golden eyes meet mine, not blue. “I think the lady has made herself clear, don’t you?” Tate’s cold voice and large presence are enough to intimidate Paul, whose eyes dart between us.

He lets out a bitter laugh. “Wow, were you sleeping with all three brothers, or just the two?”

“I should be so fucking lucky,” he growls. “And you know it, too. Which is why you’re trying to worm your way back into her life. You had your chance and you screwed it up, so how about you go sleep it off in the bed you made for yourself.”

I laugh and he tilts his head at me. “You know you have awful taste in men, right?”

“You deserve better.”

He grins and leans closer. “Just go with it, beautiful.” His eyes dart over my head and I stiffen, certain of what his wicked smile means. Cole and Jessica are here. “Why are you doing this?” I murmur. His gaze meets mine, a serious expression darkening his eyes, somehow making him even more good looking. “Because at one time we actually were brothers.”

“You’ll always be brothers. Don’t let go of what you have because it’s hard. You’re all still here. You still have each other.”

“My brother really is making a mistake.”

“Whiskey?” Tate asks me, and I flash back to the first night I met Cole. My first instinct is to say no, but then I square my shoulders. Maybe I just need to go back to that moment and redo it. Pretend I never went home with Cole. “Yes, thanks.”

“You’d better go,” he says. “He’s on his way over.” I don’t hesitate, spinning and walking away.

I’ll get tonight over with, and then I’ll be done with all of them.

I keep walking as raised voices beat against my back. How dare Cole be pissed off. He has no right. No damn right.

“I know what you’re doing,” she hisses. “You don’t know anything.” “Trying to play brother against brother. It’s a cheap tactic and it won’t work. Cole chose me. He was always going to choose me. This world will always be his priority, and unlike you, I’m a part of this world. So just accept it and move on.”

“I’m not playing anyone, and if you think I have any interest in being a part of this world, you couldn’t be more wrong. I want nothing to do with any of you.” My eyes meet Cole’s again, even as I continue to address Jessica. “You’re all miserable people living miserable lives, where the only joy you seem to have is playing games with other people’s emotions. You’re welcome to each other. I’d rather live a real life with real people and real love than dirty myself with whatever it is that passes for relationships in your world.”

“Get off me, Cole,” I hiss. “Your fiancée is inside, and you don’t have the right to touch me anymore.” He doesn’t budge, his hands dropping to my hips, his fingers pressing into my flesh while his lips find the crook of my neck. “I can’t do it,” he rasps, his hot breath sending goose bumps skittering over my skin. “I can’t do it.”

“It’s not supposed to be this hard. I thought I could do it, but seeing you with him tonight, I can’t . . .”

“Well, let me make it easy for you,” I say, not recognizing my own voice. “I’m going to walk back into that ballroom. I’m going to listen to the award ceremony. I’m not going to talk to you or Jessica or Tate. I won’t even look in your direction. Then, as soon as it’s over, I’m going to walk out of here and forget about you, and you’re going to do the same, Cole. Because whatever I thought we had was a lie and a joke, and I have no intention of dwelling on it. When I finally meet the man I will love for the rest of my life, you will be a distant memory. Now get out of my way.”

I fist my hands, pressing them hard onto his desk as I lean over it. “What the fuck are you playing at?” He pretends confusion. “What are you talking about?” “You had your hands on her.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you were getting up to last night. I’m talking about Saturday night. You had your hands. On. Delilah.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near her. If you touch her again, I will end you.”

“Why all the fuss?” he asks, as if he doesn’t notice that I’m about to launch myself across the desk at him. “You’re about to be married. Why should you care about one of the many women you used to sleep with?”

My nostrils flare. “She’s not—”

When I look at him again, there’s an expression of curiosity on his face. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“Do you remember how we used to play hide and seek whenever Mom and Dad were out of the house?” I surprise myself by asking. Tate sits back in his chair, caught off guard. “I remember. You two could never find me.” “That’s because you were small and could hide in places we couldn’t reach.” His lips curve up, and for a moment, I catch a glimpse of the little boy I used to play with. A dull ache throbs in my chest. “When did we stop being friends?” The question slips out before I can stop it.

If my time with Delilah taught me anything, it’s that life may not be perfect but having even one person who shows up for you when you need them can make everything better. Our parents won’t ever be those people, and there’s no way my future wife will be. But maybe, just maybe, Tate and I can be that for each other.

“You’ve never had a problem telling Roman no before. Why did you go along with this marriage arrangement?”

“That whole thing about ‘it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’ is bullshit. Believing you have something special and then seeing it disappear in front of your eyes is far worse. If I’m going to end up in a loveless marriage, I’d rather not start off with the illusion that it’s more.” He seems to understand. “You won’t miss what you never had.”

“Exactly.” Except, even as I say it, I know it might be too late for me. I’ve had Delilah now, and I don’t know if the memory of the warmth in her smile and the heat of her touch will ever fade or if I’ll carry around this ache in my chest for the rest of my days.

“I’m sorry I messed with you on Saturday,” Tate says, knocking me out of my reverie. “Why did you?” Even with our new truce, I’m not sure I won’t punch him if he says something I don’t like about Delilah. “Because I liked you better when you were wit...

His chuckle follows me out of the office, and as I walk back to mine, I feel the slightest lightening in my chest for the first time since I told Delilah I was marrying Jessica. It’s bittersweet, though, because I’m not sure the possibility of a better relationship with my brother would have been possible without Delilah. The lightness doesn’t last. As I take a seat behind my desk, a wave of regret hits me. Even when she’s not with me, she’s making my life better. But I haven’t done the same for her. And now I’ll never get the chance.

“Don’t let one selfish man harden your heart, sweetheart. There will be others. Men who will love you for all that you are. And then that one special man who steals your heart and refuses to let it go.”

“That’s all I ask. Don’t give up your dreams because of a man.”

“I’ve loved working with Elite over the last year, but I realized how much I miss being near family. I guess I just got homesick.”

Delilah wasn’t an illusion. She was real, I had her, then I threw her away. Memories of her touch, her laughter, her warmth flood my mind, and I can’t ignore it any longer. When I was with her, she filled every hollow part of me, made me feel whole for the first time in as long as I can remember. She made my life better, and I want to be the man who does that for her. I need to be that man.

I focus on Jessica again. “I can’t do this.” Then I shake my head because that’s not the truth of it. “I won’t do this.”

“Why wouldn’t I want this? The two of us make perfect sense. I’ve known we’d get married since the first time you fucked me. You’re mine, Cole. You always have been, no matter who else you’ve been with. I’ve just been waiting for the right time for us to make it official.”

She’s managed to insult Delilah and my brother in one go. I pull away from her. “You’re as cold as fucking ice, aren’t you?” She laughs. “And you’re exactly the same. She was in love with you, and you broke her heart because your business and your money mean more to you than she ever would. So don’t stand there and judge me.”

“We’re made for each other, Cole. Now stop messing around and come and make your future wife happy.” I step closer and bend down to murmur in her ear. “That’s exactly what I plan to do.” Then I turn and leave.

“I spoke to her last night. And it is too late, because I will walk away from this company before I marry her.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. Hell, if you’d said the same thing to me six months ago, I’d have thought you were crazy. But Delilah changed all of that. She changed me. And there’s no going back, even if I can’t convince her to give me another chance. I don’t want to walk away from the King Group, because this is our company and I want to be a part of its future. Maybe there’s even some hope for this family going forward. But I will trade it all for more time with her.”

He drums his fingers on his desk with a look of consideration on his face. I wait patiently for his response. “I don’t pretend to understand your position,” he eventually says, “but I don’t want to lose you. If you’re determined, then let’s get this sorted out.”

He hangs up, then steeples his fingers under his chin as he scrutinizes me, something that almost looks like amusement flickering in his eyes. “You have hope for this family, huh?”

My lips tug up, but I shrug casually as the door swings open and Tate walks in. “It’s never too late,” I say. “What’s it never too late for?” he asks, making his way to the chair next to me. “Second chances.” I might be answering his question, but it’s dark hair and green eyes I see.

The woman looking up at me purses her lips and crosses her arms. She obviously knows exactly who I am, and she is not impressed. “Delilah isn’t here, so you can get back on that private jet I’m sure you flew in on and fly right back home again.”

“Sorry, ma’am. I can’t do that.”

Sharing my feelings with a stranger is normally the last thing I would do, but now’s not the time to hold back. “I don’t have a fiancée, and I definitely don’t have everything I need. Because I need Delilah. I need her, and without her, everything else is meaningless.”

She studies me, a line forming between her brows. Then she steps back. “If you won’t leave, you might as well come in.”

“Okay. Let me hear it,” she says. I frown, and Delilah’s mom shakes her head. “What are you hoping to achieve by coming here, Mr. King?”

don’t know if I can make it right or if Delilah can find it in her heart to forgive me, but I’m going to try anyway. I want to give her everything she’s ever wanted. Everything she’s ever dreamed of. I want to know what it’s like to wake up with her every morning and go to sleep with her every night. I want a life of loving her. I’m not sure what it will take to show her I’ll never make the mistake of leaving her ever again, but that’s what I’m here to figure out.”

“Because I believed love wasn’t important for people like me. I thought it was the one thing we didn’t get to have.”