Page 111 of The Omega Exchange: Omnibus (The Exchange)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Melody

Miller totes me out of the exam room and we grab the information from Farrah before heading out. I don’t know what I would do without his steady comfort right about now. My mind races as he carries me down the hall and toward the stairs.

“You cannot be serious,” I say when I notice he’s aiming for the stairwell. “You can’t carry me up twenty flights of stairs.”

“I can and I will,” he says in a serious tone.

“I think I can survive the elevator.” I stretch up, kissing the edge of his mouth.

Miller’s hand flexes on my ass and then my back hits the wall next to the bottom of the stairs. It’s so strange because we’ve literally already had sex, but it still feels very much like a first kiss.

My legs tighten around his solid form as Miller teases his lips over mine. He’s a mountain of an alpha, but he’s tender in a way no one has ever been with me. His palm slides up my neck, and he brushes his thumb over my chin as he teases my lower lip with his teeth.

His beard scratches my skin as I claw at his shoulders. The kiss turns from tender to downright dirty in the blink of an eye. Miller uses the wall as leverage to keep me up as his left hand brushes hair back from my face.

“Tell me you aren’t going to run from me?” he murmurs in between deep kisses that make me grind against him. “We’ll figure out the rest as we go, but don’t run, please?”

My eyes squeeze shut as my chest rises and falls. I honestly don’t know what to say.

I’m embarrassed.

My heart hurts.

I needed a clean break from Ben and our small town.

His family isn’t rich, but they do well running cattle.

My mom and I have always struggled, even before my dads left.

I’ve built a solid career for myself. I’m not rolling in money, but I can finally grocery shop without checking my bank balance before walking into the store.

If Ben wants to fight me for custody? God, he has the ability to make my life a living hell.

“I’m scared,” I admit. “And I feel incredibly stupid.”

“We’ve all been there, but don’t shut me out. You’ve had a shitty support system, and I can understand why that makes it hard to trust, but I won’t let you down,” he says, staring straight into my eyes.

He’s so earnest it’s easy to believe he’s being sincere. The weird warmth that fills my chest helps to wipe away any lingering doubts. I thought Ben and I were compatible, but I never felt his emotions to this degree.

“I do trust you.”

“Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.” Miller pulls me off the wall.

“Okay, but the elevator really is good. I don’t want you to throw your back out toting me up twenty-something flights of stairs.”

Miller chuckles. “You’re adorable.”

His words aren’t dirty at all, but for some reason, they seem to radiate in my pussy like he told me to be a good girl and get on my knees.

Reality sinks in as Miller guides us into their penthouse. The jostling that came with all those flights of stairs didn’t help my nausea, but I refuse to show it. He’s such a good guy, and it sucks because everything just got so much more complicated.

My chest gets tight when I see the pile of bags sitting in front of the island.

“Put me down,” I whisper. My legs shake, and Miller holds onto my arms while I get my balance.

Those aren’t my bags, which means Nik or Oliver is actually leaving their own home to get away from me.

Oliver comes down the hallway with a laptop bag and a couple of bed pillows. He tosses them down on the chair and heads our direction while I’m still trying to formulate the words to apologize for getting us all into the situation.

“What happened?” Oliver asks, swiping his light blond curls back from his forehead as he gets closer.

“I’m so sorry.” I chuck myself at him with no further warning. He’s so tall that I only reach his chest. “Please don’t leave because you’re upset at me. This is your house, I’ll go.”

Oliver pats my back, frowning down at me. “This isn’t our house. I’m packing because I’m going wherever you’re going.”

“What?”

“This is Nik’s moms’ penthouse.” Oliver’s forehead wrinkles and he sighs heavily. “He still hasn’t told you.”

“Told me what?” I ask, glancing between them. “And who? Nik?”

“That’s a conversation I think would be best if you have it directly with Nik,” Miller says, coming up from behind. He slides his hands around my hips and settles them on my lower stomach. “Nik does own half the resort, but we don’t live here normally.”

A few things suddenly make a lot more sense. The fact Oliver had to open three cabinets the other morning to find the glasses and how Miller had to search through the nest storage for what seemed like forever to find more of the ice pack pillowcase inserts.

“Where do you normally live?” My mind races.

“Virginia. You’re going to love it,” Oliver says, nuzzling his cheek to mine.

“It’s three stories and we’ve got plenty of space and a big back yard.

Although we need to get a child safe fence up around the pool immediately.

It’s inside the fence to the yard. You don’t have to worry about any neighborhood kids stumbling into it while we’ve been away, but there’s no protection if you’re already inside the fence.

Does that make sense? It’ll be clearer when you see it. ”

“Is that why you packed? You’re heading home?”

Miller growls. It vibrates against my back as his hand tenderly rubs over my lower stomach.

“If you want to go now then we can,” Oliver assures me. “Mostly I needed to be packed so I’d be ready to leave in case you were.”

“I think you’ll like the house in Virginia,” Miller says, pulling my hair to the side and kissing over my neck.

“You live there too?” I ask.

“I do,” he agrees, nipping at my throat. “I even own an entire ten percent of it.”

“He owns thirty-three percent,” Oliver says. “I told you before. I bought the other twenty-three percent from Nik and gifted it to you when you got stabbed to save me.”

“W-What?” I jolt, gripping Oliver’s forearms for dear life.

“It was a pen. I got nicked with a ballpoint pen when one of his techie fans got a little overzealous. It’s not like I took a machete to the kidney.” Miller laughs.

“You have fans?” I ask. “Wow, that wasn’t what I meant. I know you’re good with computers.”

“I’ve made a few software products that made life easier, even among my people,” Oliver says, shaking his head. His shaggy hair bounces, falling over his forehead as his cheeks get pink.

“Your people?” I ask with a bark of laughter I’m not expecting.

“Yeah, the nerds of the world.” He bobs his head awkwardly.

“Before the haze got worse, I used to be able to fix the problems no one else could find. The last year or two . . .” He shakes his head.

“You’re beautiful, you smell pretty, and the fog is starting to clear just from being around you.

I sniffed every card in the database, but since we took you last minute, your samples weren’t in that set.

Once I scented you, I knew you were meant for me.

Please don’t go back to your ex. I know it’s complicated because of this.

” His hand comes to rest directly over my uterus.

Miller is still more gently massaging my ovaries, but he’s a man. I’ll give him a little grace on locating the area.

“He didn’t treat you right,” Oliver says, getting so close his glasses bump my nose. “You don’t have to ever tell him. That baby can be our baby just like it would have been if—”

Miller’s hand leaves my side to smack into Oliver’s gut. I can feel his head shake, telling Oliver that’s not going to fly.

“That’s very sweet.” I wrap my arms around his waist. “But I’d really rather not think about that at the moment.”

“How about you and I have a conversation?” Nik asks.

I startle at the sound of his voice and locate him standing in the open door that leads to the vestibule with the elevator and stairs.

“Come on you two,” Carver says, appearing behind him. “We can grab some food from downstairs.”

“No, I’d rather stay with Melody,” Oliver says.

“I promise to be on my best behavior,” Nik assures him.

“Would you like to threaten his life for a change?” Carver laughs. “It might make you feel better.”

“I think Nik knows what’s at stake if he steps out of line.” Miller nuzzles his cheek to mine from behind one final time. “We won’t be gone long.”

Oliver kisses me, giving my lips a little flick of his tongue before pulling back and following Miller. I watch them leave with a newfound level of anxiety.

Nik is disturbingly hot on a level that’s difficult for my brain to process.

I thought some of it was the haze that comes with pre-heat, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

He’s wearing a black long-sleeve T-shirt with the logo of some company I don’t recognize across the chest. He has the sleeves shoved up around his tattooed forearms, and as he prowls closer, I take a step back, followed quickly by another.

“No!” Nik barks.

A jolt goes through my entire system as I freeze. He moves faster than I thought possible and grips my hips, yanking me into his chest.

“Shit, gorgeous. You almost backed down the stairs.” He turns me so I can see how close I was to stepping off the top step.

I don’t think it would have been a huge deal, it’s only three carpeted steps down into the sunken living room, but it wouldn’t have felt great.

Nik always smells musky and manly like an expensive cologne, but it’s just his scent. My head tilts as I look up at him. He’s definitely a few years older than I am, I can tell by the small wrinkles at the edge of his eyes as he squints down at me.

“I’m sorry,” I say, swallowing thickly.

“No, I’m sorry,” he quickly replies.

“I have something to tell you,” we both say in unison.

I snort, shaking my head.

Nik grins. “Can I hold you while we talk?”

“Yeah,” I agree.

I could really use a cuddle right now even if I’m a little anxious for what he has to say.