Page 63 of Priceless

“Just kidding, sweetheart. We don’t have a basement.”

Most places on this coast didn’t, so that made sense. But I still didn’t know what was in front of me. “Is anything going to jump out at me?”

“No.”

There was a door to the left in the hallway, and one glance inside showed a bathroom. A second bathroom. The one connected to my rooms was on the opposite side. I’d already seen that. So why was there a second one?

Wait—

I nearly sprinted down the rest of the hall, dim lights turning on with my movement. The hallway opened into a round, cozy space filled with cushions. They were all white and basic, clearly not decorated. But this was a nest.

Now I understood why they had said every Omega needs their nest. Because they knew they had one here.

“Over here too,” Micah said, standing at the entrance, gesturing to a doorway I missed. It opened into another glass-enclosed space. A porch that faced the coast, but the windows opened, and there were more bare cushions. Like an extension of the nest where you could cuddle and still have sunlight if you wanted it. It was beautiful.

I went back to the inside and stood in the middle, turning around and looking everywhere. “This is mine?”

The three of them stood at the edge, watching me. Even Everett smiled in that small way he had. “It’s yours, little nymph.”

“I’ve never had one before.” I could cry with happiness and awe, but I didn’t want to stop looking at it.

They frowned, and Micah tilted his head. “The Caldwell Estate doesn’t have a nest?”

“No, it does. I just never used it.”

“Do we want to know why?”

I wandered to the wall and ran my hand over one of the cushions. “Probably not.”

It wasn’t just Laura and Frank. It was, but it was also because it was my mother’s nest. Part of me had wanted to use it because it was a part of her, if they had let me. Another part of me didn’t know how to feel about using the same nest as Mom. Yet another thing I’d mostly pushed to the side without feeling it.

“You said you had plans for today?” I hoped they’d let the nest thing go for now.

“Well,” Micah said. “If you want to. Call your friends. We want to take you shopping for the nest.”

I’d never sprinted for my phone so quickly.

22

ALYSSUM

MEANING: WORTH BEYOND BEAUTY

CAMERON

________

Ocean looked so fucking happy that I was about to tell Rett and Micah we needed to buy this place. Nestled wasn’t something we would normally have under our brand, but it wouldn’t be the first outlier we’d acquired.

If we could own a sex toy company, we could own a nesting supply company.

Ocean’s friends were with her, staring into the depths of the store like it was a lion they were about to fight. But I was glad they could come. In fact, they said yes so quickly she had started laughing.

“Ocean,” I called. “Come here for a second.”

Her smile was gorgeous. This was the real Ocean. Not the timid woman who was beaten down by her bitchy family. This was the woman full of life that I wanted to see every day. Her dark eyes sparkled as she came close. “Yeah?”

“We have rules,” Everett said.

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