30. Majoram
30
MAJORAM
MEANING: BLUSHES; COMFORT; CONSOLATION; JOY; LOVE
CAMERON
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F rank McCabe could get fucked.
Talk about the longest deal signing in the history of doing business. It shouldn’t have even taken an hour, and it had taken more than four. I swore, every time I called him ‘uncle-in-law,’ he found one more way to drag it out.
Or he just wanted to be really fucking thorough.
All of us were tired and cranky now, desperately wanting to be with our Omega and not the man who’d made her life a living hell for who knew how many years.
I called her, hoping to hear her sweet, husky voice. It rang out, going to her voicemail. At the moment I was holding the large, soft sweatshirt I’d had Josie get, so Ocean could have something of mine to wear that smelled like me. The idea of her wrapped in my scent did things to me. Like make me hard in the middle of the office.
The call went to voicemail.
“Ocean?” Micah asked.
“She didn’t answer.”
“If she’s in the greenhouse, she might not have her phone,” he said.
Right. That would make sense, but something told me it wasn’t that.
Everett smiled down at his phone. He’d been doing it at regular intervals. But then again, so had I. When I saw what our wife had posted, I could barely think about anything else.
“So where are we going for the honeymoon?” I asked.
It had just been an idea when I floated it, but now we were going. If the way Everett handed Joseph his ass hadn’t made me smile, his declaration about the honeymoon would have.
Everett shrugged. “Maybe somewhere in Europa? I figured we’d ask her where she wanted to go. But I have some ideas. I need to make some calls about them.”
“Cryptic bastard.”
He didn’t even look up as he lifted his middle finger toward me. I laughed and looked back at my phone. The comment caught my eye, because it was gaining replies.
Of course he’s feeding her cake. Makes sense. Probably ate the whole thing herself .
For fuck’s sake.
“Woah,” Micah looked at me, and I realized I was growling, holding my phone so tightly it felt like it might snap. “What is it?”
“Someone whose neck I want to snap making a comment about my picture with Ocean.” I swiped on my phone to open an email. “I’m letting the socials team know and making sure they’re on top of any negativity. I swear to fuck if I see any actual outlets commenting on Ocean’s size or implying that she’s somehow not worthy of us, I will lose it.”
Micah’s face went slack. “Fuck.”
It was my turn to be confused.
“We warned her the story was coming out today,” he said. “But we haven’t added her to the socials team yet. Ocean doesn’t have anyone managing things for her. No wonder she doesn’t have her phone.”
Dread speared through me. It had been one of the things I meant to do today, and we got derailed by Joseph, and then by Frank. I’d known there would be negativity, and I meant to make sure there were people making sure to delete the comments when they saw them.
Normally, we didn’t care what people said. They could give us shit and we wouldn’t touch anything. Why interfere? But now? The thought of letting people berate my Omega was absolutely unacceptable. Not in the spaces we controlled.
“Fuck.” I echoed Micah’s sentiment and closed my eyes. This was on me. It was my job to make sure she would be protected through this, and I hadn’t.
“I’m getting her a new phone,” Everett said, not looking up. His face was hard. “It’ll be at the house in the morning.”
Seeing my face, Micah lifted his phone to his ear. His conversation made it clear he was speaking to our personal public relations manager, telling them we needed help tamping down on the comments on our socials. If Ocean wanted help with hers, we would give it in a heartbeat.
Someone would come at us for censoring people, and to that, I’d do exactly what Everett did and give them the middle finger.
“I—” The words wouldn’t come, and I shook my head. “I fucked up.”
Micah came to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “It will be all right. We all knew this would happen, even Ocean. Let’s just get home to her and make sure she’s okay.”
“Yeah.” I kept a hold on the hoodie, trying to infuse it with scent as quickly as possible.
It took way too long for us to get home, worry swirling in my gut. I headed straight for my room, nearly tearing off my suit. Changing was my first priority, because as soon as I found Ocean, I wasn’t leaving her side.
I didn’t bother with a shirt, but kept her new hoodie with me as I started looking. Marcela was in the kitchen, finishing up for the day. “Mr. DuPont.”
Shaking my head, I smiled at her. All three of us had begged her to call us by our first names for years, but she never did. “Have you seen my wife?”
“Not since this morning.”
“Thank you.”
One glance into the courtyard told me she wasn’t in the new greenhouse. Not in the TV room. The others had the same plan as I did, appearing in casual clothes as I made my way to Ocean’s room. “Nothing yet. Maybe she’s in the nest.”
Micah nodded. “That’s what I’m betting.”
The door to the nest was open, and she was there. I knew as soon as I stepped into the hallway. My Omega’s scent was fresh and strong. So sweet. And yet there was a darker undertone to it. One that I’d smelled before.
The nest looked incredible, but she wasn’t in the inside portion.
She was curled up in the glass porch, surrounded by cushions and blankets, just resting, looking out at her namesake. Her expression was blank, and I hoped it was because she was relaxed and not because she was devastated.
“Hey, Sweetheart.”
Her eyes met mine. Blank. A hole opened in my chest.
“How do you like your nest?”
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
I leaned against the door. “Can I join you?”
A single, slow nod. The others hung back. In sight, but not crowding her. We’d fucked up today. Protecting her from the press and public opinion should have been our priority. Should have been my priority.
Easing myself down next to her, I pulled her close and inhaled. God, she smelled so fucking good, even with that thread of worrying darkness. “I brought you something.”
She pulled the hoodie out of my hands and buried her face in it. “This is for me?”
“It’s for you, sweetheart. Any time you need me to freshen the scent, let me know.”
A small smile, and she held it closer. But she still looked and felt subdued. I moved, slowly sliding and arm beneath her so I could pull her closer. “I missed you. Called you a little earlier.”
“My phone is in the closet.”
I winced. “Yeah. I thought you might have left it. I’m so sorry, Ocean. It’s my fault.” There were plenty of reasons I could say as to why it fell off my radar. Joseph, Frank, being distracted by the photos themselves, but none of those made it better. “I’m sorry,” I said again.
She sighed, snuggled into me, and closed her eyes. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay , what they’re saying, but I get it.”
“Everett ordered you a new phone. We can change your number, and we’ll make sure you have someone to help with your accounts if you want that.”
“It’s not like I didn’t know,” she said. “I just wasn’t expecting it to be that big, which was silly, I guess. And I need to know what you want me to say.”
I felt their presence behind me as they came closer. “What do you mean, little nymph?”
“I answered the phone before I thought about it, and it was a reporter wanting me to comment on our marriage. I just said no comment, but is there something else you’d like me to say about it?”
“You can say whatever you want about it,” Micah slipped past all of us and sat down on Ocean’s other side. “I don’t recommend it, simply because the more you feed the beast, the hungrier it gets. Creatures can’t survive when they’re starving.”
My Omega laughed, leaning on me, and I felt her relax. I released my purr and enjoyed the further melting of her body into mine. “That’s the best description of the press I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s true.”
Tilting her face up, I searched her eyes. “Are you okay?” No need to clarify what I meant.
“I think so. It doesn’t hurt . Not in the way some of the things Frank and Laura did would hurt. It’s just the knowledge that I’ll always be that for most people.” She put her hand on her chest. “It feels heavy. Hard to explain.”
“No, I get it,” Everett said. “It’s beyond your control, so you can’t do anything to stop it, but you’re still aware of it. The scope of everything.”
“Yeah.”
With that, Ocean wrapped an arm around my ribs and pressed her forehead to my chest. An Omega seeking the safety of her Alpha, even if she had no idea how fucking true it was. I locked eyes with Micah and smiled. There was nothing in the world like the high of an Omega trusting you enough to let go.
“Do you have any events or bookings for Entendre in the next few weeks, little nymph?” Everett asked. “Anything urgent?”
“No.” Her voice was muffled. “Just normal arrangements. Up until now, I’ve only taken one big event at a time so the staff isn’t overwhelmed, since I’m limited in what I can do.”
Everett frowned, and I knew what he was thinking. What the hell was she bound by that wouldn’t let a fully grown adult run a business? The trust made sense, even if the provisions weren’t traditional. But this?
“Would you mind if I looked at the documents for your trust, Ocean?” He asked.
She shrugged. “Sure. Not like it will change anything.”
“I’d like to understand it better. I don’t think I knew how… extensive it is.”
The frustration in her tone was clear. “If you manage to understand it, feel free to let me know. I’ve been trying to figure it out since I turned twenty-one.”
“But you’re okay with us seeing them?”
She nodded, and I shifted us so she was lying across my chest. Ocean looked up at Rett. “Why?”
“We want to take you on a honeymoon,” I whispered, never letting my purr stop. “Thought we’d leave on Friday.”
She laughed, the sound bright and bubbly, like she was coming back to herself. The selfish part of me loved that we could help her do that. “A honeymoon? For a fake marriage? That’s funny.”
Micah leaned forward and spanked her silk-covered ass playfully, following it up with a kiss. “Keep calling our marriage fake, princess. See what happens. I’ll have to take you into the nest and show you how real it is.”
Wiggling from the sting, Ocean pushed herself upright and glared at him. But there was no weight to the glare, and he grinned at her. “Fine. But you know what I mean,” she said. “We didn’t do this to go on a honeymoon. We did it to help you and your company.”
“Humor us. Where would you want to go? Anywhere you can think of or have wanted to.”
Ocean bit her lower lip, and I wanted to catch it between my teeth. Just being near her soothed something deep and primal within me. Yet I wanted more. I needed to be inside her again as soon as humanly possible. Take my turn tasting her.
“Grecia,” she finally said. “Everything there looks so beautiful. All the ruins and everything. Flowers are my first love, but I love ancient history too. I’ve always wanted to go.”
Everett moved, kneeling in front of her, bracketing her legs with his. “Then, other than not believing its necessary, do you have any objections?”
“To going on a honeymoon?” Her cheeks deepened with a delicious shade of pink. “No. No objections.”
Every part of me craved knowing what had made her blush. And what I could do to make it happen again.
“Then we’ll go,” he said, slowly leaning in to kiss her. “We leave on Friday. The only thing you have to do is make sure your employees can take care of things while you’re gone.”
“Clothes?”
“Ruby will pack them, and we’ll let her know if we need anything special. And if there’s anything you want from your current wardrobe, let her know. If you need anything, I’m sure there are clothing stores in Grecia.”
“Probably not many that fit me.”
Her statement was a reflex. She hadn’t even thought about it, and it was said without any pain. That’s how ingrained it was. Something many people would never have to think about, and many others lived with every day.
Everett didn’t let it slide. “You’re with us, little nymph. If we can’t find something, we’ll pay someone to sew something for you, we’ll do it in a heartbeat. But we have stores everywhere. You don’t have to worry about that.” He kissed her, stealing away whatever words were on her lips.
“I’ll call Geneva in the morning,” Micah said. “She’ll get it settled.”
Ocean looked over at him, and Everett kept kissing her skin. Cheek, temple, jaw, neck. “I like her. She was really nice during the wedding planning.”
“That woman can plan anything. She’ll have things booked before we can even tell her what we want, and she’s right more than half the time.” Reaching out, I stole her from Everett and pushed her down on the pillows. “But I think that’s enough planning, for now. I need to make up for my fuck up today, and the only thing I’ve been able to think about all day is tasting you.”
There . There was the blush I craved.
And a hesitance I was determined to chase away. “Any objections to this, wife?”
She shook her head no.
My hands glided up her thighs, and there was absolutely nothing underneath this sinful nightgown. “Did you wear nothing underneath on purpose?”
“I wasn’t thinking,” she said. “Just trying to snuggle up.”
“Well then.” I settled between her thighs with a grin. “I vote for thinking less. If it leaves you bare like this. Now close your eyes, because I did promise to eat your muffin.”
Ocean obeyed, closing her eyes, and I dove deep and tasted heaven.