Guarded King (Empty Kingdom #3)

Chapter 49

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

CHLOE

W ith my feet propped on Roman’s lap, I let out a sigh. There’s a movie playing on his huge TV, and he’s alternating between answering emails on his phone and giving me a foot massage. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

It’s been a week since it hit me—I’m truly in love with him. And every day since, I’ve been turning over what to do about it in my mind. Should I tell him? Apart from having to keep our relationship a secret, being with him is wonderful. But will admitting how I feel change things? I’ve never said those words to a man before, and all the secrecy complicates matters.

Most of all, I have no idea whether he feels the same. Yes, he gets possessive. He doesn’t like when David comes by my desk and flirts. He says he’s obsessed with me, and he always wants to touch me. But what does all that mean for the future? What are his thoughts on long-term commitment? Marriage? Children?

I’m too afraid to ask.

What I do know is that his priority is navigating the company through the changes ahead, and that the EcoTech acquisition is a big part of that. No one can know about us until it’s done. So I haven’t broached the subject of making our relationship public. I just wish us being together didn’t feel like such a risk to all his hard work.

More than anything, I wish his father hadn’t been such an asshole. I wish he hadn’t taken Roman’s beautiful soul and twisted it until he was forced to build a wall around it.

The man in question catches me looking at him, and a wicked grin curves his seductive lips. “Is the movie boring you?”

With a sly smile of my own, I flutter my lashes. “Just can’t stop staring at my handsome boss.”

His eyes darken and he puts down his phone. “Come here, sweetheart.”

Without hesitation, I climb over and straddle him, staring into his eyes. Those gray eyes I once thought were so cold are now full of fire.

He kisses me, and it’s hot and tender at the same time. Just like him.

I roll my hips, relishing his deep groan and the way he swells, hard and ready, beneath me. With his hands buried in my hair, he angles my head, giving himself better access. I moan against his lips, anticipation flaring to life inside me.

The shrill ring of his phone startles me, and I pull back.

“Ignore it.”

Those simple words send a thrill through me. The knowledge that he’ll ignore a business call for me makes me happier than it has any right to. But when it rings a second time, I sigh and sit back on his thighs. If it’s urgent, he needs to answer it.

“What do you want, Cole?” He grips my hip, clearly impatient to get back to what we were doing.

Feeling playful, I pepper kisses along his jaw. He swats my ass, but it only makes me smirk and keep going.

Then his body goes rigid beneath my touch. I stop immediately, pulling back to study his face.

The sudden tension in his expression sends a ripple of unease through me.

“How did it happen?” he asks, voice low.

I search his face for a hint of what’s gone wrong. Is it EcoTech? Or worse, did something happen to one of his brothers or his mom?

He gives nothing away, dropping his chin slightly as he listens. Then he grunts as if in acknowledgment. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

As soon as he hangs up, I run my hands over the coiled muscles in his shoulders, trying to soothe him. “What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, he lifts me off his lap and sets me gently on the couch before standing and pacing away.

The unease I felt before gathers into a heavy ball in my chest as he puts distance between us. It’s selfish, but if he’s upset, I want him to need me closer, not move further away.

Finally, he turns, lacing his fingers behind his neck. “Dad had a heart attack in prison.”

I sit up straighter, my stomach dropping. “Is he okay?”

His lips thin and he shakes his head. “He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.”

“Oh, Roman.” I rush over and wrap my arms tightly around him.

Their relationship had never been good, and yes, the man was a criminal and an asshole, but he was still his father.

His body remains taut, and although he hugs me back, he doesn’t relax into me.

I press my hands to his back, smoothing them over the tense muscles before craning my neck to peer up at him. “Are you okay?”

His expression is distant. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Gently, I touch his cheek, forcing him to focus on me. “Because your father died. Regardless of how you feel about him, it’s a shock. It’s okay to be upset.”

He regards me for a long moment, the tightness around his eyes easing slightly. When he finally draws me closer and rests his chin on my head, I exhale a silent sigh of relief.

“I don’t know how the fuck to feel. I should feel nothing, but…” His arms tighten around me. “Whatever this is, it’s not that.”

I lay my head against his chest, listening to the rapid pound of his heart. “You don’t have to figure it out now. Just know I’m here, whatever you need.”

He raises my chin and feathers his lips over mine, a silent thank you. “I have to go to Cole’s place. The family’s meeting there to talk about what needs to happen next. I’ll have Phillip drop you off at home.”

It takes effort, but I fight the instinctive urge to react. Of course I can’t go with him. No one knows about us—not even his family. So I can’t be by his side, can’t hold his hand or wrap my arms around him the way Violet and Delilah can with Tate and Cole.

It’s another painful reminder of just how difficult this situation is. How the line we were trying not to cross hasn’t disappeared—it’s just moved. While it separated us before, it now lies between us and everyone else.

I swallow past the hard lump in my throat, forcing a reassuring smile as I step back. The last thing Roman needs right now is for me to make this about my feelings. “I’ll get my purse.”

As I turn away, the backs of my eyes sting. The fear of change I wrestled with a week ago suddenly feels a lot less scary than the possibility that there might never be a change at all.