Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(62)

Oh. All the alphas. But the idea of the four of them didn’t make me tense the way it had even a week or two ago. I was already surrounded by their scents in this house, I should be able to face them over the kitchen island.

“Will they mind me being there?” I asked.

“Of course not, but—”

“Then I won’t mind either,” I said, squaring my shoulders as Rake’s smile bloomed over his face. I crossed to him and took his hand, following him out of the rooms and to the stairs.

“We can plan a car to pick you up from work too,” Rake said, wrapping his arm over my shoulders.

“Don’t worry about that, I have to run back to my apartment to grab a new change of clothes since I’m coming back tonight.”

Rake shrugged. “That’s fine. And you might as well grab a few changes, since I can guarantee Leo will want to talk you into staying the weekend.”

I chewed on my lip as we headed down to the second floor. “I think I should spend another night at my place after tonight. No, listen,” I said as he started to object. “Don’t you think Caleb and Cyrus will start to get jealous?”

Rake scoffed and then grew quiet, staring into the distance as he thought. He glanced at me and sighed. “Not jealous. But I suppose they might start to miss us. Caleb especially.”

I tried to swallow around the lump in my throat as I nodded. “So there. I’ll get some downtime on my own, and you guys will get some quality time with your alphas. It’s only fair.”

Rake grumbled something unintelligible, and then we reached the kitchen. All around the room, the four previously relaxed and slouching alphas straightened, eyes fixed to me, coffee cups halfway to their lips.

“I-err-we can-umm…” Caleb stumbled, a spatula in his hand as he stood in front of a skillet, eyes darting around the room looking for an escape route.

“Don’t mind me,” I said, offering them a tight smile.

“Mind her enough to get her a cup of coffee,” Rake corrected, squeezing my shoulders with his hands.

Tentatively, with a few calculating looks in my direction, he slipped to Cyrus sitting over a bowl of granola and fruit. Cyrus leaned in immediately and I watched them kiss, a firm press of lips and Cyrus’ dark hand holding Rake to him by the center of his back. It reminded me of the beautiful picture I’d seen the night before, and I passed them with a blush on my cheeks, nearly running into Matthieu.

The alpha stood in front of a steaming mug of black coffee, looking over to me. “What do you like in it?”

“Black,” I said, wiggling my fingers for the mug and sharing a smile with Matthieu as he slid across the counter to me. I hummed my thanks with the first sip. Along with everything else in this house being high quality, their coffee was especially good. I needed to ask Rake or Leo where they got it.

“Would you like some pancakes, lo-Lola?” Caleb said, and I watched as he flipped one small pancake in the air back into the skillet.

He and Leo must share their morning sweet tooth. “Yes, please.”

“Sit,” Matthieu said, nodding toward the last open stool at the island. Which would leave him without a seat.

“I don’t mind standing,” I said, looking at him. He arched one eyebrow in challenge, and I found myself sliding into the seat next to Wes, blinking at my cup of coffee. Had he just alpha’d me? Either I had a particularly weak will or Matthieu was an especially potent alpha.

Probably both.

I glanced to my left and found Wes sitting, tense with his arms locked in tight to his side, even though there was a good foot of space between us. In front of him was a plate loaded with egg whites and spinach and whole wheat bread. He didn’t have coffee in his cup, but what looked like grapefruit juice. A health nut then. He also had a paper folded in front of him, pen resting beneath a half-finished crossword.

“Wow. Risky move,” I said, pointing to his pen.

Rake laughed on Wes’ other side. “Not sure the word ‘risk’ has ever been used in association with Wes before.”

Wes’ lips quirked, and his massive shoulders softened slightly. “I wait until I’m sure,” he said.

I looked over the clues and at his answers briefly before grinning. “But you got thirty-eight down wrong. It’s Coe, not Poe.”

“‘Edgar Allen blank’s Ravenous’?” Wes read aloud.

“Edgar Allen Coe is a rapper with an album called Ravenous,” I said, smiling up at Wes’ baffled response. “They tricked you on purpose.”

He cursed, and Caleb slid a plate in front of me with three perfect sand-dollar sized pancakes, already dressed with strawberry preserves.

“Thank you. These look delicious.”

“Of course, I’m glad you joined us,” Caleb said, sharing his smile between me and Rake.

“We need to order Lola a car to the office,” Rake said, digging into his own plate of food. “She wisely pointed out that she probably shouldn’t arrive in the same car as Cyrus.”

Cyrus choked lightly on his breakfast. “God. Imagine Betty’s face,” he said, leaning over his plate to grin at me.

“I really don’t want to,” I admitted, and he laughed again.

This was…easier than I expected. I was at the end of the counter so I had room to move, but honestly, Wes had the kind of sweet and bright and fucking delectable scent that made me just want to lean into him. Except that wasn’t freaking me out. These alphas knew the boundary between us, and they respected it. I was safe, just like Leo had promised.