“Lilah, you’ve awakened my soul to the essence of true living. For too long, I’ve been hiding behind my acting career, pretending to be someone I’m not, drifting through life without purpose. My days were filled with empty parties and fleeting moments. But then you showed up in my life like an angel and reminded me that we have just one precious shot at this. You’ve shown me what it means to truly live, to love, to be vulnerable. I can't imagine a future without you. None of it—none of the success, the glamor, the excitement—means anything if I can’t share it with you. I need you by my side, Lilah. You are my reason, my inspiration, my everything.”
The hope in his eyes makes me want to launch myself into his arms and scream yes loud enough for the whole city to hear me to his unspoken question. But then he shifts slightly and hands the box to Miles.
Miles smooths his free hand over the back of his neck and gazes up at me, his eyes filled with warmth. “You are mysunshine. You’re the one pure, bright beacon of certainty in my life. From the moment I first saw you, I knew my forever belonged with you. That feeling only deepened the next morning when I ran into you again. I wanted to cancel this show, to take you away to some place where we could truly know each other. But fate and a contract had other plans, and instead, the whole world watched as I fell in love with you.” He glances briefly behind me at a camera, then locks eyes with me once more. “Now they get to watch me hand you my heart. Because it’s yours if you’ll have it.”
Tears gather in my eyes, threatening to fall. Blinking rapidly, I keep them at bay as he hands the box to Elliott like it’s priceless and precious.
Elliott looks down at the ring shining on the velvet cushion and inhales a steadying breath that I can feel in my soul. “Omega in Paradisewas a way to do one thing…find an omega that will be the glue to hold my pack together. We were slowly fraying and sinking away from each other without a buoy to anchor around. What I didn’t expect was to find you. A woman who’s so much more than just an omega.”
He pauses and swallows, looking down at the ring again. Nerves send butterflies fluttering in my stomach, and I’m pretty sure the cameras can pick up my whole body shaking. When he lifts his eyes to mine, it feels as if he’s the only one on the roof with me.
“You’re funny. You bring a smile to my face with only a couple words. Not only have I fallen head over heels in love with you, but Ilikeyou too. When I’m in the same room as you, all I want to do is orbit you. I want to soak up everything. And when we are apart, my whole body aches with the need to seek you out. I can’t imagine a life without you in it. I can’t imagine a life where you’re not ours to love and care for. Please make us all happy men and accept this promise of a bonding ceremony.”
Happy tears spill down my cheeks. My fingers hold in my words pressed against my lips, and I nod and shake my head all at once. I do. I want it all. All of them. Forever.
“Yes, I accept.” Emotion floods my words, and before I know it, the ring is sliding into place on my left ring finger and I’m once again wrapped in their arms. The one place in the entire world I want to be.
Epilogue
Lilah
Three weeks later
A shiver works my body as Rafe drags his lips over the side of my neck. He nips softly, distracting me fromOmega in Paradiseplaying out on the screen. With a moan, I tangle my fingers into his hair and pull him away.
“Rafe—this is it. I want to watch the edit.”
He pouts up at me before flopping onto his back next to me on the oversized bed. Really, it’s closer to a nest… if I didn’t also have a nesting room they let me decorate to my heart’s content the second I moved in with them.
“You know they only show what will make it more dramatic,” he groans.
Elliott laughs lightly on the other side of me, his fingers tangling with mine. His eyes on the screen. “But we know how it turns out.”
“What turns out?” Miles asks as he comes into the room with a tray of snacks.
“The show,” he replies, leaning forward to snag two crackers and cheese from the plate.
Miles leans against the bed-frame and crosses his arms as he watches the screen. They just told Chad he wasn’t the one. If I were clueless to how he felt it would appear that they crushed his heart on national TV. Tears cling to his long lashes as they do a close up of his face, and he looks broken. It makes my nose tingle with the threat of my own tears. I know he didn’t love them, we’ve had more than a few conversations about it since the show ended. But you can’t fake being broken.
“Did they do those shots after we were gone?” Miles asks, a slight crease between his eyebrows, obviously feeling the same thing I am. “I don’t remember him crying.”
“I should call him. I knew he had walls and his reason for being on the show, but how did I miss how broken he was?” I ask without expecting an answer.
“He hides it well,” Rafe replies anyway. “At least with me. He was always over-the-top flirty.”
“You can call him after you watch the rest,” Elliott says. He tugs me into his body, and I go willingly.
The show moves on. Hailey rambles on the screen like they might pick her, but she isn’t sure she would accept. I can feel the guys' annoyance at her through our bond. Still, I watch her on the TV. She didn’t really show us this side of herself in the house. She was always catty and mean, and that has been shown on the episodes, along with creating ‘near misses’ of the guys discovering her true nature. I suppose it was her defense mechanism. It makes me feel sorry for her in a way I didn’t on the show.
It cuts to her standing on the same roof as I did, clearly nervous if the way her hands are clasped is any indication. But even the average viewers know how this is going to go. After she forced a kiss on Rafe, the one I witnessed, it was clear the guys distanced themselves from her. Even on theone-on-one date, it was uncomfortable and clear acting from all of them.
When the elevator door opens revealing the guys, they cut to her inhaling deeply. They stroll toward her, hands in their pockets, looking almost grim. When they stop on the other side of the small table, I hold my breath.
“Here it comes,” Miles mutters. I glance at him, catching him rolling his eyes.
“Hailey,” the Elliott on the screen starts, and she cuts him off.
Holding up her hand, she appears to be shaking a little. “Wait, I need to say something…I’m sorry to have led you all on. I came on this show because I thought I had lost something special with Rafe, and I thought if I could win you all over that we could make everything better. But I only discovered that there’s a reason we didn’t last the first time around. We just aren’t compatible. So, I can’t move forward with any of this. You can’t pick me.”
