Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(43)

“What time is it?” I rasped.

“After one. I got back, but I didn’t want to wake you so I’ve just been keeping you company,” Rake said.

I blinked and looked around the room. The TV was on, muted with the captions running. I’d arrived at the house before ten in the morning. Had Rake really just been sitting with me for three hours?

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

I was. My stomach felt hollow, and I realized I hadn’t really eaten anything aside from a few appetizers with Zane and Betty last night. I wasn’t even sure if I’d thrown those up. Mostly though…

I frowned and stared at Rake. “Is there any way I could…take a shower here?” I was greasy and disoriented and exhausted, and nothing sounded better than trying to rinse the night off at the moment.

Rake smiled and stood from the couch, still holding onto my hand. “Of course. Come on, I’ll give you a little mini-tour on the way to my rooms.”

‘My rooms,’ he’d said. As in multiple.

Fucking rich people.





Fourteen





Rake





Lola had that adorable, rumpled, ‘I just woke up from a nap’ look going on, complete with a pout I wanted to suck on. She’d also just had a nightmare or the start of one, and I was trying to keep it in my pants and not be my usual thirsty self, for her sake.

“Don’t be intimidated,” I said as I led her through the house, up to the fourth floor.

“Seriously? How could I not be?” she murmured, wide eyes drinking in every detail.

Caleb had done a good job melding six very different men’s tastes into one home, compromising on rich neutral shades as a unifying palette and then letting us all dictate the styles in our own private spaces. But there was really no disguising the fact that we lived in a big ass house in the middle of the city, and we liked nice things. I was an omega. It was in my DNA to want to be a bit spoiled by my surroundings, after all.

“Do you each have your own floor?”

“No,” I said through a laugh, adding privately, we each have our own wing on one of three floors. I shared with Caleb, and Leo tended to spend more time on our floor than his own top floor that he shared with Matthieu. Wes and Cyrus had the fifth floor, but Cyrus also tended to sleep on the fourth floor with us. “Do you like it though?”

“It’s gorgeous,” Lola said softly.

Was she being quiet because she was uncomfortable or because of whatever had happened? Leo hadn’t given me much to go on in his messages, only that Lola had a bad night and he wanted her to be at the house if she was up for it. Was it nightmares? Or something more?

“So, here’s my space,” I said. “I’ve got a few nest areas tucked around the house for when I’m kinda stressed but this is…”

I cleared my throat and watched Lola, trying to hold my rambles in my chest. Was it okay that it smelled like me in here? I knew my perfume stressed her out, but at the party she’d let me all but coat her in my scent while we’d been dancing.

Thinking of coating Lola in my scent was definitely not what I needed to be focused on at the moment.

“I like these window walls,” Lola said, facing the tall wall in front of my bedroom that was made of wrought iron and glass panes.

“Yeah, we all like open spaces, but those allow me to curtain them off when I’m getting closer to heats.” Her eyes trailed around my work space to where I had lights set up around a chaise lounge.

Fuck, Rake, move her along so you don’t have to explain you take naughty pictures of your packmates for a hobby. Jesus, you’re a mess.

“Uh, bathroom’s through here,” I said, walking her through the window wall’s narrow doorway. Fuck, my bed reeks of alpha sex. Fuck, why didn’t I take her up to Leo’s rooms? “I—I can go and get you something to change into, if you want?”

Rake, you dumbass, is that a sex toy sitting on your side-table? It definitely was. It wasn’t like we usually bothered putting them away. I was shuffling around like a weird version of a sheep dog, trying to guide Lola to the bathroom while blocking out the sight of my mess of a bedroom. I opened the bathroom door for her and watched her eyebrows bounce up.

“Um. Yeah. It’s kind of…dramatic,” I said, looking in at the glossy bathroom with the enormous jacuzzi tub directly front and center. “Shower’s in the corner there.”

Probably left some plugs in there too, just to totally traumatize the poor woman, I thought.

Lola nodded. I couldn’t tell if the circles under her eyes were old mascara or the actual shadow of lost sleep. I wanted to attach myself to her side until Leo arrived, and preferably after too, but she wasn’t talking or telling me what she needed, and I didn’t want to push her. It was a shame she was so skittish around my alphas, because Caleb or even Matthieu would’ve been exactly who she needed right now.

“I’ll be right back with some clothes and to check on you. And I’ll get started on something to eat for us, okay?”

She nodded again, her arms cradling her stomach. I’d seen her do that before, and it made me want to lift them up and slide underneath, wrapping her up in my own. I swallowed and left, racing toward the elevator I’d intentionally avoided showing to Lola. Caleb said she’d nearly passed out after walking in the front door, so maybe it was better if no one mentioned the personal gym or the infinity pool.