Three Made in Heaven [Made in Heaven] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (12 page)

“Hey, can you grab those?” Angela asked Maddie, as they passed by a few empty chip bowls. Picking up two empty bowls, Maddie followed Angela into the large open kitchen and set the bowls on the kitchen island. It seemed Angela had an ulterior motive for getting Maddie alone. She had noticed that Maddie looked a little off as soon as she walked in the door and said as much to her as they refilled the bowls with chips.

“It’s nothing, Angela,” Maddie said. “Really, I’m fine.”

“It’s not
nothing
. Did you guys have a fight or something?”

“No, no! Nothing like that. I just had another nightmare last night. I didn’t sleep very well. That’s all,” Maddie assured her.

“Well at least you have two warm bodies to snuggle up to at night now. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, Ang, I’m good.” Maddie smiled, feeling touched at her friend’s concern. “The said warm bodies kissed it all better.”

“Aww, Maddie,” Angela gushed, “It’s great to see you so in love. I’m so happy you’re not alone anymore.”

“Quit it, Ang. You’re gonna make me cry again with all this gooey stuff. Come here.” She pulled Angela into a warm quick hug. “I love you, woman, but at least now I don’t have to worry about you setting me up anymore.”

“Well, I’m actually glad you refused the last one. Kellan says that guy has a new flavor every week. Speaking of which…I see Declan now…and yep…he’s with arm candy.”

Maddie turned in the direction that Angela was looking and saw the two newcomers. The guy Angela referred to as Declan looked to be about five feet ten inches tall, with dark closely cropped hair and a complexion that screamed “I go to a tanning salon all year round.” He had one of those large-muscled, gym-type bodies that barely had a neck. It wasn’t that he was bad looking, just definitely not Maddie’s type.

The tall, auburn-haired, super-skinny woman he was with also looked like she frequented the tanning booth, not to mention a plastic surgeon. At the very least, her boobs were fake and her lips were tampered with.

“Huh! Well at least this one looks classier than the last one,” Angela commented as they made their way back into the living room. “We went out with some of the guys from the department and their significant others last weekend and Declan showed up with a skanky blonde. Oh my god, Maddie, dental floss would have covered her body more than the outfit she was wearing.”

“Declan…so glad you can make it,” Angela greeted him, plastering a fake smile. Declan and his companion had approached Angela and Maddie and thankfully, didn’t appear to have heard Angela’s last comment. “This is my bestie Maddie. Maddie, this is Declan Marks.” And for good measure, pretending that she never mentioned Declan to Maddie before, she added, “He just recently transferred to Kellan’s department.”

“Nice to meet you,” Declan said, blatantly eying Maddie up and down. “This is my date, Hadley.”

Hadley gave Maddie and Angela a tight smile and stood there looking bored as Declan chatted them up. She continued looking bored as Declan took on an obviously flirtatious tone with Maddie. Thankfully, Angela used needing to chill the wine Declan just handed her, as well as the need to put out more food, as an excuse to extricate herself and Maddie from them.

Maddie rolled her eyes at Angela for even thinking that the full-time player would be a good match for her and strode off to find her men.

Charlie, Maddie, and Cole began mingling together and separately throughout the evening and were on the receiving end of quite a few stares for quite a few reasons. Simply put, Charlie and Cole were gorgeous, and Maddie was the envy of all the single and some not-so-single ladies. The people who knew Maddie were surprised to see her show up with even one man, let alone two, and then the speculation began regarding which one of them she was actually with. More gossip ensued as she was seen being affectionate with Cole, then Charlie, and the way that each of her men had looked at her did not go unnoticed either. Only a few of Angela’s friends had come right out and asked her if one of the guys was single, but Maddie coyly answered that they were both taken and did not offer up any more information.

* * * *

Charlie smelled the intoxicating flowery scent of Maddie’s hair before she even wrapped her arms around him from behind. They were standing in the backyard on intricately designed terracotta pavers. Dozens of colorful twinkly lights hung around them, casting a warm glow around the area. The smell of freshly cut grass mixed with vanilla-scented candles wafted through air.

He had been deep in conversation with Kellan’s cousin Frankie and his wife Jillian, both of whom were in finance, when Maddie approached.

“Are you having a good time?” Maddie asked Charlie. She unwrapped herself from him and came to stand by his side.

He put his arm around her and kissed the side of her head. “Yeah, baby. Although,” he began, whispering in her ear, “I think I will have a much better time later when we get home.”

“You have a one-track mind,” she whispered back. She smiled fondly at him when he gave her one of his sexy trademark winks.

“So how long have the two of you been dating?” Jillian asked.

“The dating part is fairly new,” Maddie answered. “But we have known each other forever.”

“Aww, how sweet. Frankie and I started out as friends too and now we’re married five years. I think some of the best relationships start out that way.”

“I think so, too,” Maddie replied with a smile.

“Charlie was just telling us his plans to move here,” Jillian said. “I think that is so wonderful, and it will be so much easier on the two of you. You know, my cousin Sara and her boyfriend did a long-distance thing for a while, and let me tell you, it was so hard on them…”

Charlie tuned out the rest of the conversation and just focused on Maddie. He wanted so badly to just bend forward and kiss her sweet face, but thought it would perhaps appear rude in the middle of their conversation. He wondered why he and Cole had waited so long to come find her and was already dreading Monday when he would have to be away from her. Even though he would only be gone a few days, he knew that those few days would be excruciating.

He watched Maddie, deep in conversation, smiling sweetly and nodding at whatever Jillian was saying. He loved the sound of her musical, slightly rasping voice and the way her cheeks would turn pink whenever she felt shy or became embarrassed. And Charlie realized that he had just missed something Jillian had said to make Maddie’s cheeks flush.

“Um…that’s Cole,” Maddie said hesitantly. Then Charlie saw her resolve and she added, “He’s my boyfriend, too.”

Charlie wanted to laugh at the look of shock worn identically on Jillian and Frankie’s faces. They looked almost comical, like cartoon characters whose eyes were bulging at the site of something nefarious heading their way.

“We know it’s unconventional,” Charlie cut in, “but it’s a deeply committed relationship, like any other.

The silence stretched and he hated how uncomfortable Maddie seemed. Frankie and Jillian went from being friendly advice givers to stony judgmental pricks. He wanted to whisk Maddie away from them and so he did.

“Excuse us,” he said.

* * * *

Cole had gone to fetch beers for Charlie and himself—Maddie volunteered to be the designated driver and had one glass of wine when they arrived—when he got sidetracked by two of Angela’s female friends. They flirted shamelessly with him and not so subtly offered themselves up for a good time. They pouted like little schoolgirls when Cole politely turned them down and walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

He stopped short just out of sight of the kitchen when he heard Maddie being talked about by two men. He recognized Kellan as one of the speakers.

“I met Angela’s friend Maddie,” the unknown male voice said. “Was that the girl you were gonna hook me up with a few weeks ago? She’s fuckin’ hot!”

“Yeah, but that was before I knew you, man,” Kellan said, laughing. “She’s a sweet kid and definitely not for you, Declan.”

“That’s a shame,” Declan said. “That’s a fine piece of ass right there. And how sweet can she be? I hear she’s fucking those two dudes.”

“You’d better shut your motherfucking mouth before I shut it for you,” Cole said, anger rolling off of him. He had stepped into the kitchen, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Kellan immediately stepped in between Cole and Declan to try and diffuse the situation. Cole noticed that Kellan was angry as well and was perhaps about to reprimand Declan for his vile comments. Cole, on the other hand, wanted to do more than reprimand. He wanted to bash Declan’s face in and rip out his tongue.

“Watch yourself,” Declan sneered. “Wouldn’t want to arrest you for assaulting a police officer.”

“That’s enough, Declan,” Kellan said with authority. Kellan had a hand pressed against Cole’s chest, which was the only thing keeping Cole from lunging toward the asshole cop, who continued to stand there looking superior.

Cole and Declan continued their angry standoff and exchanged a few more unpleasantries. At this point a few of the guests noticed the commotion and started to gather around them. Maddie, Charlie, and Angela were among them.

Cole felt Maddie’s hand brush up against his back in a soothing manner. “You okay, babe?” she asked quietly.

He nodded slightly. He was anything but okay. In his peripheral vision, Cole noticed Charlie flanking him on the right.

“What’s going on in here?” Angela asked.

“Everything’s fine, Angie,” Kellan said. “Walk away, Declan. I mean it.”

Declan threw a final dirty look at Cole and stalked off.

* * * *

Charlie wasn’t one for physical violence if he could avoid it, and he knew that neither was Cole for that matter, but when he saw the anger radiating off of Cole as he stood next to him, he felt his own anger stir. The asshole in front of him must have said or done something offensive that he would bet had to do with Maddie.

Kellan and Angela had followed Declan out of the kitchen and the onlookers began to disperse, though most of them looked deep in conversation, probably trying to figure out what went down.

“What happened?” Maddie asked when the three of them were left alone in the kitchen. “Did he make a stupid comment about us?”

“Something like that,” Cole answered evasively. When he saw that she wasn’t going to let it drop, he added, “Sweetheart, he’s a dick. I am not going to repeat what he said.”

“He
is
a dick,” Kellan said, walking back into the kitchen. “I am truly sorry, Cole, I—”

“You’re not the one who should be apologizing, Kellan,” Cole said, cutting him off. “Don’t worry, man. Lucky for him you were here, or he would have been missing some of his teeth by now. Cop or no cop!”

“It would have been well deserved. So we’re cool?”

“We’re cool.”

Later, Charlie found himself fuming. He had managed to get a few minutes alone with Cole, who told him exactly what had happened. Somehow, Charlie knew it wasn’t the last time that they would run into Declan.

The plans for being shut in all day Sunday were in full effect. Cole had still been visibly upset when they got home from the party last night, but said no more on the matter. As much as Maddie wanted to know what was actually said, she did not want to upset Cole further—the day had been emotionally stressful enough—so when they got home, the three of them just went to bed and crashed.

With Charlie’s trip to San Francisco fast approaching, and the anxiety of the separation that came along with it, the men decided to start their Sunday off right. Maddie was overjoyed to once again be woken up by two sets of mouths and hands lighting her body on fire.

The rest of their blissful and lazy morning, afternoon, and evening was spent focused on the present. They ate, cuddled, talked about nothing in particular, watched a marathon of
Game of Thrones
, and made love in between.

In the late evening, the three of them were still relaxing on Maddie’s oversized charcoal-gray sectional sofa, just a few episodes shy of completing the first season. An empty pizza box lay closed on the glass coffee table in front of the couch. Maddie was on her side with her feet resting on Cole’s lap, and her head lay on a squishy accent pillow supported by Charlie’s thighs. Charlie was absentmindedly stroking her hair, while Cole played with her toes.

“Are guys going to molest me every time a naked woman appears on screen?” Maddie asked as Cole began rubbing her legs and Charlie her shoulders. She squealed when Charlie reached over and pinched her butt.

“No, we have every intention of molesting you even when everyone on screen is fully clothed,” Charlie teased.

“Or…we can just get rid of Maddie’s clothes, that way there will never be a shortage of nudity in the room,” Cole suggested.

“We could,” Charlie began, “but then that would lead to a lot more molestation and—”

“Ha, ha! Watch the damn show!”

“Feisty, aren’t we?” Charlie said. “I bet you’d like that though…hmmm?”

Maddie recognized Charlie’s mischievous and seductive tone for what it was. Any minute now, their show would be forgotten and she would be free of all her clothes. Cole’s hands were already moving further up her legs.

“Tell me something, Maddie,” Charlie began inquisitively, his voice low and raspy. “When you used your vibrator, what did you think about? Any special fantasy you want to share?”

Maddie actually laughed out loud at Charlie’s question—startling him a little with her unexpected response—and sat up straight. “Hmmm…let’s see…my fantasy is that the two men I am madly in love with, fall madly in love with me. They kiss, lick, and suck every inch of my body and then make love to me until I scream, lavishing me with multiple orgasms. Oh wait…that’s actually my reality. I must be the luckiest woman on the planet.”

Charlie and Cole smiled at her adoringly, and she rewarded them each with a kiss on the cheek. Then, she took on her own sultry tone and turned to Charlie. “Since you brought it up, what’s your fantasy, Charlie?”