Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(42)

It failed. Intimidated didn’t even begin to describe the feeling. Staring up at Caleb’s back, I watched as his shoulders drew in while he hurried up the wide slatted stairs toward an enormous, sensually detailed oil painting of a fallen angel with glossy black wings and exquisite tanned skin. The angel reminded me of Rake. It probably reminded them all of Rake. Hell, it probably was Rake. Maybe he’d modeled for the artist.

“All of this is your work, isn’t it?” I asked. Caleb stopped on the landing, and paused there he looked almost like he was being embraced by the angel behind him. It made me smile, and I gestured to the room—the intricate paneling and the sparse and open planning of the furniture, the metallic accents set against flat dark colors.

Caleb nodded and looked over my head. “It’s almost a showroom, I suppose.”

“It’s beautiful.”

His shoulders relaxed, and I followed him up the rest of the way. The second story was a little less imposing, or maybe it just seemed that way after having stood in that gorgeous downstairs living room. The stairs ended on a small landing full of small potted trees and ferns, sitting in front of the window that faced the street. Caleb led me from there into what must’ve been the den. The floorboards cut off as the room sank down by two short steps covered in dense looking cream carpet. Plush couches faced the open wall holding a large screen over a long and low fireplace. On the opposite side of the room, paneled glass revealed an open plan style dining room and kitchen beyond, and there were curtains on either wall ready to be pulled shut over the glass to make the den feel close and cozy. Closest to me, and most attention grabbing, was a luxurious looking contemporary hammock hanging from the ceiling, cushioned and covered with slate-gray, velvety suede.

“Can I get you anything?” Caleb asked me as I stood, still dumbstruck, looking at the glass case bookshelves behind the deep couches, everything in dark and warm neutral tones. “Water? Or something to eat? Leo’s sort of the cook of the family, but he usually leaves us leftovers so we don’t all starve while he’s gone.”

I slipped my sneakers off on the floor, afraid to muss the room, and looked to Caleb. He was hovering nearby but out of reach, with his hands behind his back, and I wondered which of us was more scared of the other. I was starting to think it might be him, at least of frightening me.

“Thank you for…doing whatever it was you did in the elevator,” I said.

Caleb’s eyebrows jumped over his vivid blue gaze, and I could’ve sworn he was starting to blush. “Erm, of course. It’s… Rake calls my scent ‘Xanax.’ Um, here,” Caleb padded down into the circle of furniture, pulling a blanket off the back of a couch and bringing it to me, standing at the bottom of the short stairs so that I towered over him. He was so classically handsome, so traditional looking, and I pictured Rake and Leo and Cyrus around him, how he would compare with their more unique beauty. It would be a buffet of handsome.

“Curl up wherever, wander. The kitchen is just through there, and you’re welcome to anything. Rake will find you when he gets back, it’ll probably just be a few more minutes.”

I took the blanket from his hands—it was buttery soft against my fingers—puzzled by the offer until I got the first whiff of his drugging, syrupy scent. “Thank you.”

Caleb nodded and passed me, heading for the stairs. I was a little surprised he was just leaving me with the run of his house, especially a house like this one, but he was right. All I wanted was to curl up. Except I almost called him back when I was left in the room alone. I wanted Leo, or Baby, or maybe even David.

David. That’s who I should’ve gone to like this. Not my new boyfriend’s, alpha pack, fucking fancy as shit house. I breathed out a long sigh, and then lifted the blanket to my nose, inhaling Caleb’s scent deep into my lungs. Drowsiness hit me like a wave, tension I was so used to carrying unwound out of my muscles with the first hit of his pheromones. Xanax indeed.

I padded down into the ring of couches and headed for the largest, L-shaped one, diving into the corner and wrapping the soft blanket around me up to my chin. I settled into the cushions, drinking in the room around me, wondering what the rest of the house might look like. My blinks grew longer, heavier, and I let Caleb’s drugging aroma carry me down towards sleep. Just for a few minutes. Just for…





“Where’s Buzz?” I whined as I woke to Indy’s hand on my skin, my back on a bare mattress. The room was dark and it smelled different, none of Buzz’s sweet and ashy fragrance. Not Indy’s pine either.

Maybe they were letting me just sleep tonight?

Someone coughed, someone in the dark, and I stiffened. I tried to sit up, and two hands pinned my shoulders.

“Indy?”

“Lola, wake up.”

“You just relax, Showgirl. It’s gonna be a long night.”

I sat up with a gasp, taking deep gulps of air. My skin was sweaty and sticky, and the blanket around me was too hot. Gentle fingers reached for the back of my neck and I skittered away, spinning to face—

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just me,” Rake said, an uncharacteristic worry in his eyes.

I took another deep breath and the nightmare, the old memory, faded away. I was at Leo’s house. I had fallen asleep on the couch. Caleb’s scent was on my tongue, and it replaced the mildewy flavor of the dream. Rake held his hand out in the space between us, and I peeled myself out of the tangle of the blanket before sliding my hand into his and squeezing back.