Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(101)

Rake smirked at me and Caleb. “He just knows I’m going to out-do him on the presents.”

“Call her now,” Caleb urged me.

I dug my own phone out of my pocket, reaching my arm back behind Rake to squeeze Caleb’s shoulder in thanks. He had his own reasons for wanting Lola comfortably and permanently entwined with our pack, and it made my heart ache beautifully to watch the way she was falling into the center of us. Even Cyrus, who had balked at the mention of making Lola pack a week ago, had spent every dinner she was with us since flirting shamelessly with her. And Lola hadn’t seemed the least bit skittish in response.

“Can’t manage even one night without me, can you?”

My whole body melted into the couch at the sound of her voice, teasing and sweet. Lola had come a long way from the guarded woman I’d met at the club who’d lured me in like a siren. Every glimpse I got of the happy, witty, talented girl that had been buried under terror, made me want to dig for more, help her excavate herself from the rubble.

“Barely. Hey, do you have a passport?”

“Um? Yeah, if it’s not expired.”

“Check for me,” I said. Take the dumb grin off your face, she can’t even see you.

“Ugh, but packing boxes. Okay, hold please.”

I listened in the quiet to her shuffling through her barren apartment. I leaned into Rake’s side, watching him shop on his phone. “You’re overdoing it,” I whispered to him. Lola didn’t need a lot of formal wear. Unless Caleb finally found his theater event partner…

“I’m just brainstorming,” Rake whispered back.

“It’s still good,” Lola said on the phone.

“Great. I hope you don’t have plans this weekend.”

“I promised Rake I’d watch that new reality show.”

“He’ll forgive you for canceling.”

“Wait…this weekend? I thought you and Caleb were going to—Oh!”

“Last-minute appointment,” Caleb whispered to me, and I nodded.

“Caleb has a last-minute appointment with a client he needs to meet. I need a date for the trip. It’s only a little bit of business, and you can hang out at the hotel pool—”

“Oh! Swimsuits,” Rake whispered.

“—or come with me to the property and tell me what you think. We’ll be back late Sunday night.”

“I…” I held my breath as Lola hesitated on the other end of the call. Caleb and Rake both stared at me, eyes wide and hopeful, waiting for her answer. “I don’t really have any reason to say no,” Lola said, giggling. “God, that sounds amazing! Are you sure?”

“Positive! Fantastic. I’ll pick you up from work on Friday. And you’ll be here tomorrow night won’t you?”

“Mm, maybe I should pack—ah, fuck it, I’m totally packing tonight. Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Great. See you tomorrow! Lo-Lola,” I said, choking over the words I’d nearly said and scrambling her name instead.

“‘Night!”

She hung up and Rake reached up, poking my flaming cheek with his finger. “Smooth recovery, babe.”

“Don’t tease him. And pick her out a swimsuit for the weekend. That’s an easy one to sneak into her suitcase,” Caleb said, winking at me.





Thirty-Three





Lola





All of my internet searches hadn’t really prepared me for Malta. I couldn’t imagine a place so old and so bright, without stepping onto its warm streets myself. The entire city of Valletta was built from the same beautiful golden sandstone, but the architecture shifted from one era to the next, creating unity and diversity at the same time.

“I feel bad that Caleb is missing this,” I said. “I’m sure he’d have loved the inspiration for his own work.”

Leo hummed and smiled, face tilted up to the sun’s rays as we walked the tiled city roads, little narrow paths through nestled buildings. “We can always come again with him,” Leo said. “Do you like it here?”

The flight had been overnight with a blurry stop in London I barely recalled. We’d only been off the plane for a few hours, dropping our bags off at the hotel and arriving in Valletta just in time to catch the fish markets open. We’d stopped in a cafe for Turkish coffee and ‘hobz biz-zejt’—a delicious flatbread spread with roasted tomatoes, tuna, capers, and onion—and now we were on a search for cannoli.

“I love it,” I said.

Maybe it was jet lag, or maybe it was the exquisite lack of clouds in the sky or the fact that there was water the actual shade of aquamarine like something you’d see in a photograph, but I really meant the words. I wanted the whole pack here. It would be fun to see Wes unwind a little on a vacation, and I was sure Cyrus and Rake would be able to sniff out the best nightlife, or at least the best swimming holes. And Matthieu…

Matthieu was just someone I wanted to be around. I felt steadier with him and more open; he made me feel transparent and strong at the same time, encouraging honesty with him and with myself. I wanted to be holding Leo’s hand on one side, and Matthieu’s on the other, grounded between them. I’d worried it would be awkward, balancing my time between the three men in the pack, but either it was naturally easy or the guys were making sure it felt that way for my sake.