Page 127 of Priceless

Cam chuckled. “Care to enlighten us?”

“I’ll get back to you. You’re right. Throwing accusations won’t get us anywhere, and I’d rather come to you with a complete theory than random musings.”

Everett sighed and nodded. “We appreciate this, Raina. Cam put some measures in place to curb the bad press. Free replacements for anything broken. A statement saying we’re investigating a possible production error. Making sure it doesn’t spiral too badly before we can get to the bottom of it.”

“Sounds good. I’ll start looking at it tomorrow. Try not to let this distract you too much from your vacation. All of you deserve it.”

“We’ll try,” I said.

She winked. “Enjoy your Omega. Now I’m going to bed so I can enjoy mine.”

There was no goodbye before the call ended. Cameron laughed. “Bye, then.”

It was early morning here, but it was late night back home. I didn’t blame her. Our Omega still slept in the giant bed, tangled up in the sheets. In a few minutes, we would wake her for the massages we had scheduled at the hotel spa.

But first, “Ocean had a bad dream last night. You didn’t wake up, but I did.”

“Is she all right?”

I nodded. “She went to sleep right away, but when I asked her what the dream was, she said ‘you weren’t there.’ She was already fading, so I don’t know if she’ll remember saying that, but I wanted you to know.”

The same thoughts I’d had crossed their faces. We would never be glad about her being afraid, but we were infinitely glad that something had shifted.

“I’m not sure I can wait for her to go into heat,” Rett said. “I nearly told her yesterday.”

“Let’s wait until after the trip, and figure out what the hell is going on with this.” I gestured to the tablet. “Because once we do tell her, and she knows, we won’t want to come up for air.”

“Damn right.” Cameron smirked. “I promised her we’d use every toy in the trunk. I suppose I can share that with you two.”

“Generous, thanks.” I laughed.

Everett tapped his phone and looked at the time. “Our appointments are soon.”

I glanced down at the little sketch I’d made and smiled as I set it aside. “Then let’s go wake up our wife.”

44

FUCHSIA

(LADY’S EAR-DROP)

MEANING: TASTE

OCEAN

________

For a spa that was underground, this place was surprisingly airy. Water cascaded down one rocky wall in a faux waterfall, and gentle music flowed through the air. The atmosphere was calm and quiet as we sat on couches and waited.

The three of them woke me up not long ago, wrapping me in the robe I currently had on, telling me we had spa appointments we needed to get to.

Up until this point, I hadn’t known how much I needed to see my husbands in bathrobes. I’d seen Cam, but the three of them together made me hold back giggles. It wasn’t fair for them to look this hot while wearing terrycloth, for fuck’s sake.

Everett was filling out some paperwork on a small tablet, and Micah used a napkin to clean what was left of his art mess from yesterday off his fingers. Actually, it looked like there might be more of it than before. Had he sketched this morning? I liked seeing it there. He disappeared into his art the way I disappeared into my flowers.

Catching me staring, he smiled. No words were necessary. He held me last night after I’d dreamt that I woke up and these past weeks were a dream. Nothing had happened, and I was still under Frank and Laura’s thumb.

I didn’t think I’d ever experienced the type of panic and horror I felt in those false moments. And Micah chased away that fear in seconds.

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