39. Poppy
39
POPPY
MEANING: DREAMINESS; ETERNAL SLEEP; FANTASTIC EXTRAVAGANCE; IMAGINATION; OBLIVION; (RED): PLEASURE; (WHITE): CONSOLATION; DREAMS; PEACE
OCEAN
________
I groaned softly as I came to consciousness. After the orgasms and the jetlag, it was the kind of sleep where you woke and felt like you’d been in a fairytale that lasted a hundred years. Like dark tendrils of sleep still clung to your body trying to drag you down.
Cam had taken me to bed, but I barely remembered it. What I felt now was multiple bodies around mine. Including someone laying on me, arm slung across my legs, head on my ass.
Moving slowly, I peeked over my shoulder and found Everett there. The fuzzy robe I was still wrapped in had been pushed up around my waist, baring my skin. He was naked too, aside from his watch, the symbols tattooed along his spine stretching down his naked back.
Even though I’d been careful, he moved too, one hand squeezing my upper thigh to tell me he was awake.
“Are you using my ass as a pillow?”
A low, dark chuckle. “I love your ass. Is there a reason I shouldn’t?” He grazed a bite over my skin. “It was too tempting, little nymph.”
He pulled me down to him, away from the pillows and where my hands were still tangled with Cam’s. “If you hadn’t been dead to the world, I would have shown you.”
“I don’t remember you coming back.”
“You were very very asleep. And given the broken toy, I can guess why.” Everett kissed me before I could flush with embarrassment. “I’m jealous,” he whispered.
“You absolutely should be,” Cam said. “Fucking glorious is what it was. Ocean?—”
“ Cam .”
Soft laughter, and I felt the mattress move before his face appeared above mine, nearly pushing Rett out of the way. “You want to keep that a secret, sweetheart? They’re going to find out eventually. Even if I have to give them a demonstration.”
“Now you have to tell us,” Everett said, eyes gleaming.
“If it’s that you’ve agreed to be the star of our next lingerie campaign, then I whole-heartedly agree,” Micah said from across the bed. “I’m already designing the collection in my head, princess.”
I rolled so I could bury my face in the comforter. “You’re all the worst.”
Keeping his arms around me, Everett laughed quietly as he kissed my hair. “And you’re adorable when you’re embarrassed. I love teasing you. But I hope you know that’s all it is.”
I did know that. It was the reason I wasn’t falling apart. Because it wasn’t something they meant to tear me into pieces. If anything, their teasing was building me up into things I wasn’t ready for. “I know.”
He stroked my hair until I stopped hiding my face, peeking up at him. “What’s your secret, nymph?”
“I don’t think I can say it.”
Everett’s gaze rose to where Cam sat.
“Ocean squirted all over me while I was using the wand on her, and despite the toy breaking, I can’t wait to make her do it again.” He sounded so fucking casual .
“Fucking hell,” Everett growled, the sound morphing into a purr. “I can’t believe I was buttering up celebrities and missed that.”
“They had to change the bed,” I murmured. “Mortifying.”
His eyes hardened. “Did they say something? Tell me if they did.”
“No.” I shook my head. “But they would obviously know.”
Soft sounds drew my gaze toward the bedroom door, startling me. Cam kissed my forehead where he looked at me upside down. “Breakfast.”
Everett playfully glared at me when I made him let me up, but he did let me, staring at where I fixed the robe. Everything in his gaze told me he’d eat me for breakfast. But I was hungry for actual food, and the rest would absolutely come later.
The elevator door was closing as I pushed the bedroom door open. A gorgeous spread of food lay waiting on a table by the windows overlooking the canal, including a giant basket of blueberry muffins and only blueberry muffins.
Micah must have asked them for them specifically. I made coffee before taking the muffin and some butter over to the windows. The morning was bright and cheery, the aqua of the water so much more vibrant than it had been when we arrived. This city was beautiful.
If we were not leaving for Grecia, I would ask to stay here and explore. Hopefully we could come back.
For the first time, thoughts of the future didn’t fill me with fear, but with hope. Every sign and signal told me they did not necessarily see an end, and even though it was still fast, I found myself hoping it was real and not them merely being kind to their temporary wife.
Boats filled with locals and tourists cut through the water, the latter with cameras pointed at every possible angle. There were even those long black boats tilting to the side and their owners, dressed to the nines, pushing their charges along with poles that reached the bottom of the canals.
Micah came out of the bedroom with a smile. He was dressed, but casually. It still shocked me to see them in clothes like ‘normal’ people. “What will the press do when they see you in a t-shirt?” I asked.
“Hopefully ask me where I got it, and then I can plug the new Firefly men’s line.” He smirked before noting the blueberry muffin in my hand and then the basket of them with no other kinds. “Are they good?”
I moaned in response. It was, quite possibly, the best muffin I’d ever had. And I had no idea whether it was because it was actually good, or because we were in Venisi and I was sparklingly happy so everything would taste good.
He was in the middle of making his own coffee when Cameron came out and started looking at everything. Then he burst out laughing. “Well, they certainly worked fast. I wonder how many papers they had to pulp to print that headline.”
“What?”
I hadn’t noticed the stack of papers next to the food. Cam brought one over with his coffee and eggs, setting it on the chair beside me. The picture was me. Or rather, Everett kissing the hell out of me while the others looked on, smiling.
BILLIONAIRES RUIN BED WITH NEW WIFE
A quick glance at the article told me there was a vague quote from a ‘hotel insider,’ followed by a discussion of the event and Everett’s declaration about me being their Omega. But I couldn’t stop staring at the headline. “Oh my god.”
Cam was still smiling in amusement, but his eyes were careful as he reached one hand for mine. “Are you all right?”
“I—” Closing my mouth, I swallowed. “I’m honestly not sure. I’m fine, but shocked, and… why do they even care? Is being with me really that shocking?”
I hadn’t realized the source of the hurt until I said it out loud. Because still, after all of this, was them being with a fat woman really the end of the world?
“Hardly,” Micah said. “It’s just the newness of it, princess. We don’t go many places. When we do, it draws attention even if we wished it didn’t. The fact that we’re boldly offering ourselves to the press with the wedding and now this is an anomaly. The media loves anything that’s new and different.”
Everett stood in the doorway, glowering. “Though the hotel needs to keep a better leash on their staff if they ever want our business again.”
I smiled at that. He would absolutely follow through on the threat. “It’s a beautiful hotel.”
“There are plenty of beautiful hotels in Venisi, little nymph. We’ll find one whose staff doesn’t race to reveal its guest’s secrets.”
The fact that they were acting so normal about it made me feel better. One thing I noticed—the picture was… incredible. The angle it was taken from captured Everett’s tongue as it slipped into my mouth. It showed the way my fingers had instinctively gripped the lapels of his tuxedo and the way his fingers curled around the back of my neck.
My dress looked good, and even though the picture was from the side, I didn’t feel like it had turned me into a whale. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt comfortable with a picture fully from the side. But my size didn’t matter. What mattered was the look on my face.
Bliss .
The look on his face, too. Like he was lost in me. Micah and Cameron watching with proud smiles. It was a great picture. Finally, I looked back at Cam. “I’m good. I like the picture, and even though I’m not really looking forward to seeing what other people have to say about it, I don’t mind.”
“It’s an incredible picture. And if any of the bullshit gets past Clara, let us know.”
“I will.”
Everett extended his hand to me. “Last day of hurrying on other people’s schedules, wife. We need to get to the plane. But once we’re on it and on the way to Grecia, we’re all free.”
Grecia. Excitement bubbled up in my chest. I wanted to wander streets that were ancient and see ruins that had stood for a thousand years. The fact that it was happening at all was incredible. With them? I shuddered.
“How much time do I have?”
“We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”
I left the robe behind in the kitchen, racing to dress.