Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(54)

“Scars?” Betty repeated frowning.

I took the pen and used it to paint the line of my scar, the blue standing out brighter against the shiny pale skin of the scar, adding decorative dots on either side and then turning it to show the table.

“Highlighting imperfections,” Anna mused. “It’s a statement for sure.”

“Where are we going to get models with scars on their face?” Zane asked, frowning.

I looked to Cyrus and watched as the light bulb went off behind his eyes.

“Omegas,” I said. “Their bondmarks. Betas too. But not just bondmarks, because plenty of people don’t have those. It doesn’t have to be their face.”

“Reinventing the stretch mark under a crop top,” Corey said, smiling. “Giving so-called imperfections a different lense.”

“Ahhh, an inclusivity approach,” Zane said, nodding slowly.

“I love it,” Anna said with a shrug. “We need to find models.”

I looked to Cyrus, who’d been quiet through the discussion, and found him already staring back at me, eyes warm with a secret smile.

“This is exactly what we need. Start looking at models now. When we know what we’re working with, we’ll take it to the fashion team too. Make it an airbrush-free shoot,” Cyrus said with a nod. He pushed up from the table and raised an eyebrow at us. “Well? Go grab the portfolios. Start thinking designs too. Test some patterns.”

Betty raced to the wall to pull down binders of models, and Anna pushed up her sleeve to draw directly onto her skin. Cyrus flashed me his full, brilliant smile on his way out the door.





Eighteen





Lola





“I feel weird that your alphas go into hiding while I’m here,” I said to Rake as we took the elevator up from the first floor to his rooms. With Leo out of town, I’d picked up two giant orders of ramen for Rake and me.

“I mean, honestly, sometimes we’re all so busy doing our own thing it feels like I’m home alone,” Rake said with a shrug. “Other times we make sure we’re home for family dinners and movie nights. I can put out an alert to them to quit tiptoeing around you, if you want.”

I swallowed. Did I want that? Maybe not, but it only seemed fair. Between Leo and Rake, I was bound to be spending more time at the house. If the rest of the pack had to vanish just to accommodate me, there’d be tension about it eventually.

“Do it,” I said with a nod.

Rake pulled his phone from his back pocket and sent out a text. A pack group chat, of course. I wondered how many times I’d been the subject of that chat and then pushed the thought away.

I was going to be cool. In control. Calm and flexible.

I’d spent one night with Leo at my apartment, and then one night alone catching up on the sleep I’d lost, before giving in to Rake’s pleads to come back to the house. This time, I’d been smart and brought an overnight bag too, and it was currently slung over Rake’s shoulder. An omega and a gentleman.

The elevator dinged and we got off on Rake’s floor. Caleb’s rooms were dark, so maybe everyone was doing their own thing on the family floors below us and I wasn’t too much in the way for the night.

“I can see you worrying,” Rake said, arching an eyebrow.

“Get used to it,” I volleyed back, and smiled when I made him laugh.

We walked into his rooms, and I bit at my smile. The first time I’d been here, the space had been overtaken by a stylish kind of chaos, clothes and photo equipment and books were strewn about everywhere. Now it was spotless and organized, with a few candles burning around the room that seemed to replace some of his heady perfume with a clean citrus smell. The curtains were closed to his bedroom, making the space feel comfy and close.

I sat with Rake on a dense loveseat in front of a long coffee table, pulling our food out of the paper bag as I glanced over at the corner of the room that was set up like a mini photo studio.

“Do you do shoots here at home?” I asked Rake.

He was quiet and I turned to find him blushing, stirring chopsticks through his ramen. “Um. Not for like…not professional ones,” he said, cheeks darkening.

It took me a moment of staring at his growing blush for it to click. “You do sexy photoshoots at home?” I asked, my grin spreading. “For your alphas?”

“Of my alphas, and my beta,” Rake said, laughing at my dropped jaw. “Okay, sometimes for them too. For us all.”

“Ohmigod, that’s so…hot,” I said, staring down at my food and wondering if I could ask…

“Do you wanna see some?” Rake asked me, face wicked and eyes warm on my face.

Now I was the one blushing. “I…I mean, would they mind? Are there ones with just you and Leo?”

“Oh for sure. And to be honest, Cyrus probably couldn’t care less, even if you are his employee. I’ll be very selective,” Rake said, jumping up and pulling a heavy leather-bound book from the shelves across the room.

It looked professionally printed and I wondered how they’d managed it, or if Matthieu had done it with some of his publishing connections. I would’ve assumed it was a coffee table art book if I’d been browsing the shelf.

“Okay, let’s see. Um…nope, not that one.” Rake flipped through pages with an almost smug smile on his lips as I slurped noodles and watched brief glimpses of skin flipping by. “Ah. Okay, umm…huh, this feels sort of weird to show someone, actually. I didn’t think it would.”