Page 31 of Mating of Convenience
“Nah,” Raph waved me off. “We’re going on that honeymoon. Let’s just sent her pictures from there. That’s gotta be enough.”
I found myself nodding, but at the same time I got the feeling there was another reason Raph didn’t want to kiss me again. What if it was more than ‘hormones and stuff’ for him too?
Could that be?
And should that get my heart beating as fast as it did?
16
Raphael
Before I left for Paris, I had one more session with Laurence at work. I wanted to talk to him about what sort of work he thought he might enjoy doing, but almost as soon as he walked into the office, he caught sight of the ring on my finger.
“What’s that?” he asked, staring at it. “Did something happen over the weekend? You didn’t tell me you were going to get married!”
“You don’t have to sound so shocked about it,” I tried to laugh him off.
“It’s just that you never mentioned that you were engaged or anything. Honestly I kind of thought you--“ Laurence stopped himself mid-sentence.
“What, you thought I wasn’t the type to get married?” I tapped my fingers on the desk and watched the way my wedding ring caught the light. It was plain and understated, but I liked it that way. If this marriage was real I wouldn’t have minded wearing it for years.
“Kind of. Yes,” Laurence admitted in an almost timid kind of voice. I really needed to work on his self-confidence with him. He didn’t need to be so scared of authorities, perceived or real.
“You’re right,” I said, offering him a smile. “I’m not really the type to get married, but I guess all it took was the right alpha to change my mind, you know? You need to be flexible in life, and open to new opportunities.”
Laurence nodded. “I don’t think I want to get married again, though.”
“I can see why you would think that way.” After the experience he’d had, I couldn’t blame him for it. “But not all alphas are assholes, you know?”
“What’s your alpha like?” Laurence asked, surprising me. He wasn’t usually so direct with his questions. This topic of conversation seemed to fascinate him, though.
“He was actually my best friend for a long time before we got married,” I humored Laurence without lying. “That’s how I knew he was one of the good guys. He’s... really not a typical alpha. I used to date a lot of those but they never made me happy. But Nathan was always there, always doing whatever he could just to make me smile again...” I drifted off as the memory brought a sort of bittersweet feeling with it. I’d fallen for Nathan long before we ever got together. It took me forever to figure that out, though, while Nathan just waited for me to come around, because that was the kind of person he was. The sweetest kind of alpha. Never pushing, but never giving up either.
“He sounds really nice,” Laurence said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I used to have a friend like that,” he added in a quieter tone of voice.
“Yeah?” I asked, because that was the first time Laurence mentioned having friends at all.
“My husband didn’t like him.” He shrugged. “He didn’t really like any of my friends or family.”
“I see,” I said, trying not to let my anger shine through in my words. Abusive alphas loved to isolate their omegas from their friends and family. It was such bullshit. And all too fucking common. Just don’t let the omega talk to anyone who might remind them that they have value. But Laurence had escaped his husband and I had to focus on helping him rebuild his life now. “Have you reached out to any of your old friends since the divorce?” I asked.
Predictably, he shook his head. “I’m kind of embarrassed to be honest. I broke off contact for so long.”
“Yeah, I get that, but you need some friends in your life now. If you won’t reach out to your old friends, at least try to get to know some new people. It’ll make everything easier going forward.”
“I like some of the omegas staying here,” he supplied.
“That’s a start.” I tore a post-it note off a pad on my desk and wrote on it. “I’ll be out of the country over the next couple of days, but while I’m gone, I’d like you to start making a list of jobs you might want to do in the future. If you need anything, you can reach me under this email address.”
“You’ll be out of the country?” Laurence asked while he took the post-it note from me.
“I’ll be on my honeymoon,” I explained, trying to sound matter-of-fact about it.
“Oooh. That’s so romantic!”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” I tried for a smile. Paris was kind of romantic, wasn’t it? I was sure Nathan would think so, at least. I swallowed, trying not to let my nerves get the better of me. If this trip inspired Nathan to make any sort of move on me at all...
Well, I was probably fucked.
