Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(50)

I resisted the urge to grimace, but I couldn’t stop my gaze from flicking to Lola, seeing her lips flatten and her eyes drop to the counter. Leo shot a soft glare at me over his shoulder before returning to his cooking.

“You can always come to the house, Carolyn, you know that. Especially with pastries,” Rake added, softening the scratch of his mild taunt. “Lola, would you grab the almond milk from the fridge?”

Since when did my eyes have such a mind of their own? It was like I was physically incapable of pulling them off the younger woman. When she moved away from the counter and headed for the fridge, I got the first glimpse of her bare legs. I put my back to the open room and met Carolyn’s stare with another smile.

“How long have you been waiting?” I asked.

“Not long. Just getting formally introduced to Lola. How is everything today?” Carolyn asked in return.

“Everything today is peaceful,” Leo answered for me, pushing bacon out of a skillet and onto an open plate before cracking eggs into a pan.

I nodded at Carolyn in support of his answer. Lola’s scent was faint under the smells of cooking and Rake’s perfume, and her sweet acidity contrasted with his rich scent and Carolyn’s faint florals. Lola’s smell reminded me of the paper cups of flavored ice I’d had as a child, and it gave me a similar impulse to lick.

I cleared the thought out of my head and nodded to the paper bag in front of Carolyn, waggling my eyebrows at my girlfriend. “Do I smell butter?”

Carolyn’s expression brightened. “Your favorite croissants, yes.”

“And bacon and eggs? I feel very spoiled this morning,” I said.

Brightened by her success, Carolyn resisted the urge to glare at the cup of coffee Rake slid to me. She never admitted to disliking my omega, and as my relationship with Rake wasn’t sexual, I could only assume that Carolyn resented my need of him at all. But that was the thing with my pack, I didn’t need them. And they didn’t really need me. We were just happy together, as we were.

Carolyn was the most accepting woman I’d dated when it came to my pack, but I couldn’t help wondering if there wasn’t something better than this compartmentalized version of a relationship.

“So, Lola, how did you meet Rake?”

Restraint slipped through my fingers, and I turned to find Lola sitting up on the counter near Leo, looking perfectly at home in our space. I smiled unconsciously at the picture.

“On set for a Designate photoshoot. I’m a new hire in the beauty department.”

“Oh! So you’re all tangled up in the pack then,” Carolyn mused.

I knew my girlfriend wasn’t doing an intentional job of antagonizing Lola, but I was scrambling to think of the best way of getting the two women separated as quickly as possible.

“Where are the others, by the way?” Carolyn asked, looking around the kitchen as if it might’ve been possible to hide Wes anywhere in the room. Unlikely. The man was a giant.

“Plates please,” Leo announced. Rake rushed to follow the order as Leo broke off a piece of bacon and hand fed it to Lola. They shared a gentle look that made my heart twist, and I was relieved to study the feeling and find it wasn’t jealousy, just a kind of appreciative gratitude for them both.

“Would everyone like a croissant? Matt says the ones from Armand’s are the closest thing in the city to a good Parisian.”

“Two please,” I said, earning an eye-roll from Carolyn as everyone echoed a ‘yes.’

“You eat like a garbage disposal,” Carolyn muttered.

I shook my head. “No. My taste is far too good for that.”

Lola huffed a soft laugh and drew my gaze again like a magnet, but this time I tore it away before she noticed.

“What do you think of taking our plates out to the garden deck?” Leo asked, and Rake nodded quickly. “You’re welcome to join us,” Leo added to me, carrying the skillet to dole out greasy eggs and bacon on every plate.

“No, we’ll leave you to it,” I said before Carolyn could speak.

Leo nodded, and Lola slid down from the counter, miles of long leg ahead of her. Rake draped his arm over Lola’s shoulder, the trio left the kitchen, and awkward silence followed in their wake.

Carolyn nudged her food around her plate, and I glanced at my own. Only one croissant, but Carolyn wasn’t likely to finish her own, so I could take it. She wasn’t very likely to eat much of anything on the plate. Leo had cooked comfort food to satisfy a salty craving. Three years into our relationship, and I’d discovered a very small collection of things that Carolyn craved.

Quiet.

Shower sex.

And red wine with Diet Coke, although it’d been a year into dating before she’d revealed that one.

“You work awfully hard at ignoring that gorgeous young woman, Matt,” Carolyn murmured softly.

That was true. And I debated taking the hit, letting Carolyn see the worst of the situation, but the urge to defend myself rose up quickly.

“She’s uncomfortable around alphas. I suspect the others are giving them space,” I said, offering an answer to her earlier question.

Carolyn’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh. I see.” She blushed and shook her head, tearing off a piece of flaky croissant and slipping it into her mouth. “I wondered why she was here when you said there was a pack emergency but it’s…it was something to do with her?”