Three Made in Heaven [Made in Heaven] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (5 page)

* * * *

“Mr. Gilbert, there’s a Cole Mercer here to see you,” said the receptionist’s disembodied voice through the intercom of his office phone. “He doesn’t have an appointment but insists that you would want to meet with him. Should I send him in?”

Charlie nearly choked on the swig of water he had taken as the call came through. Being a financial accounting manager for a bank wasn’t exactly a stress-free job, especially with a possible merger looming. Add to that the emotional stress he’d been under and surely he had misheard her.

“Mr. Gilbert? Sir?”

“Y–yes,” he stammered then cleared his throat. “Yes, Susan, send him in please.”

Charlie stood up from his busy, metal-framed desk just as Cole pushed open the office door and walked in. He turned and gently shut it behind him. For the first few moments both men just stood staring at one another. Cole was casually dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a loose-fitting white button-down shirt, and he held onto a black leather jacket. He looked much the same as he did in their dreams, only now the reality was what felt surreal. Charlie watched a small smile play on Cole’s lips. He knew what his friend was seeing as he looked him up and down, a usually playful, laid-back Charlie, dressed to kill in a charcoal-gray Armani suit and tie.

“Good to finally see you in the flesh, bro,” Cole said, breaking the silence. His grin was broad and infectious.

“Holy shit!” Charlie exclaimed as he ran a hand roughly through his neatly combed hair. His usually messy blond locks looked expertly styled, parted on the right and gelled slightly upward with perfect spiky tips. His face broke out in an equally wide grin as he stepped around his desk and walked toward his best friend. Like long-lost brothers, the two men embraced. They clasped each other by the back of the neck and patted each other’s backs before finally letting go.

“If you’re real then that means—”

“Maddie’s real,” Cole said, finishing Charlie’s sentence. “I Googled you both actually, and get this…she’s on freakin’ Facebook.”

“Lemme see,” Charlie said. His already wide grin got even wider as he strode back behind his desk, dragging an extra chair along for Cole to sit in. Already the initial awkwardness had passed and the two of them settled into their usual easy camaraderie.

“I also found Maddie’s Water Lilies studio,” Cole said as he started typing on Charlie’s computer. In seconds, he brought up Maddie’s profile on Facebook and the two of them were reverently clicking through her photos. Cole seemed just as riveted as Charlie looking at Maddie’s photos even though Charlie was sure that Cole had looked through them at least a dozen times before. That was what he would have done.

The majority of the photos were of Maddie with her parents or a strawberry-blonde-haired woman he assumed was Angela. The tag in the photo proved that his assumption was correct.

Charlie let out a low whistle and said, “God, she’s beautiful.” He had paused on a particularly striking photo of Maddie posing with her parents while dining out in Florida. Her long dark hair was cascading over her shoulders in thick rich waves. She had on an olive-green top that brought out the green in her hazel eyes. The only makeup she wore was black kohl around her eyes and a sheer shimmery lip gloss. Her cheeks looked flushed from the sun.

“I know,” Cole said with pure adoration. Suddenly, his demeanor altered, turning serious. “We really need to talk to her about making her profile private. Anyone can see these photos.”

Charlie agreed with that assessment, but he didn’t miss the way Cole’s eyes darkened.

“You were right, Charlie.”

“I usually am. But what was I right about this time?”

Cole mock punched Charlie in the shoulder before he answered. “I don’t want to live in a dream anymore either.”

“Then let’s go get Maddie and finally make her ours,” Charlie said.

“That’s exactly what we’re gonna do. But first there’s something I need to tell you.” Cole relayed everything that transpired with Mrs. Timani. Charlie’s face blanched and he felt a sick feeling in his gut at the possibility of losing her. Like Cole, he would protect her with his life if he had to.

Charlie had just enough time to tie up a few loose ends at work that day, announcing that he was taking an emergency leave of absence. He then drove the two of them to his apartment to quickly pack his suitcase. He threw in an unopened box of condoms from his nightstand drawer. A man can hope, he thought. Cole’s suitcase had been stashed behind the reception area earlier and was now sitting by the door. Their flight was booked for 11:05 p.m. that night, arriving at the Newark, New Jersey, airport by 9:00 a.m. In less than twenty-four hours, they would be with Maddie.

Charlie heard the loud thrumming of his heart as Cole pulled their rental car into a parking space right in front of Maddie’s Water Lilies studio. It was situated in a shopping plaza with a few other stores, a pharmacy on the left and a bagel store on the right. A pizzeria, French cleaners, an eyeglass store, a nail salon, and a grocery store completed the plaza. The awning of the studio was a deep rich blue with a design similar to Monet’s painting, the one that inspired the name for the studio. Charlie knew that he was Maddie’s favorite artist.

Cole turned off the ignition, and the two of them sat in the parked car trying to calm their nerves. Charlie’s heart began to beat even faster, pounding in his chest as if it ached to leap out toward Maddie. He peeked into the large storefront windows, hoping to get a glimpse of her, but she was nowhere in sight.

“Come on, let’s go see our girl,” Cole finally said.

* * * *

Excitement was warring with nerves as Cole opened the glass door to the studio with Charlie right behind him. A bell jingled overhead. He didn’t see Maddie, but he knew she had to be somewhere nearby. It was as if he felt her. Cole recognized Angela from Maddie’s Facebook photos as she walked over to them, a friendly smile on her face. She was much taller than Maddie, though not quite as curvy or well endowed in the breast department. He noticed that her brown eyes sparkled as she took them in.

“Hi there,” she said in a bubbly voice. “What can I help you guys with today?”

“Actually, we were looking for—” Cole never had a chance to complete his sentence. Just then, Maddie walked in from another room carrying some pottery and heading for the shelves at the far side of the room.

The moment seemed frozen in time. Cole’s breath hitched as he watched his petite beauty stride with purpose toward the shelves. He heard a gasp come from Charlie. Electricity pumped and pulsed through his veins like blood. It seemed as if Cole’s feet moved of their own accord toward Maddie, Charlie right in tow, leaving a confused Angela standing there midsentence. Apparently she had still been talking to them.

“Maddie,” Cole breathed as they finally reached her. Maddie’s back was turned to them. Cole watched her shoulders tense when he said her name. Slowly, she turned to face them, a mask of disbelief on her face.

And then she fainted.

“Crap!” Charlie sprang forward like lighting, catching her before she hit the ground. He lifted her, cradling her in his arms. Cole gently pushed her hair back from her face, marveling in its softness.

“What happened?” Angela shouted as she ran over to them. “What did you two do to her?”

“Nothing,” Charlie and Cole both said together. “She fainted,” Cole added. “Is there somewhere we can lay her down?”

* * * *

Angela eyed them suspiciously as she led them to her and Maddie’s shared office. There was something familiar about them, but she couldn’t quite figure out where she had seen them before. She definitely had never met either one of them. She would have remembered meeting them, of that she was certain.

She was taken aback when they first walked in. They were both absolutely gorgeous. She thought perhaps they were models or actors and that was why they looked familiar. Though she was spoken for and very much in love, she’d have to be dead from the waist down not to admire the two fine specimens she was now leading to her office. She began plotting. Her matchmaker button switched on.

They seemed to know Maddie, and if they didn’t turn out to be some sort of psychos who went around making women faint, the matchmaking would surely commence. Even Maddie would not be immune to these two. Angela was sure of that.

She didn’t notice a ring on either of their fingers.
One obstacle down, two to go
. Now all she had to do was find out if they had girlfriends and if they were gay.
Okay, maybe three to go
. The whole psycho thing still had to be disproved, but surely at least one of them was available and sane.

Once they reached the office, the blond Sun God gently laid Maddie down on the small purple sofa. The dark-haired one, who looked like he might have starred in a Bollywood blockbuster, stepped around him and knelt down by her head to check her vitals.

“Maddie,” he called to her softly as he stroked her face. “Come on, sweetheart, open your eyes.”

The blond one sat on the edge of the couch by her hips and picked up one of her hands. He looked as if he were marveling in the simple act of holding her hand in his. The affectionate and tender way, not to mention the familiarity in which these two men were taking care of Maddie, did not escape Angela’s notice.
The little cunt has been holding out on me.

“The sketches,” Angela blurted out. Finally, she remembered where she had seen them. “The sketches in her room!”

* * * *

“What sketches?” Charlie asked without taking his eyes off of Maddie.

“She has sketches of both of you. I saw them a few years ago but she didn’t tell me who you are.”

“I’m Charlie,” he said, looking briefly up at her. “And this is Cole,” he added inclining his head toward Cole. Cole simply nodded in acknowledgement.

He turned back to Maddie, a small smile playing on his lips. She had drawn them. A feeling of warmth shot through him at the knowledge. He would ask her to see those sketches later. If he had been able to capture her beautiful face on paper, he would have drawn a picture of her every day. He saw Cole’s lips twitch in response, knowing that his friend was just as thrilled. Cole continued to murmur reassuring words to Maddie as he stroked her face.

* * * *

Maddie heard a voice in the distance speaking softly, uttering soothing, reassuring words to coax her out of the darkness. A warm hand was tenderly stroking the side of her face. An equally warm hand was clasping one of her hands. When she finally opened her eyes, Cole was smiling down at her, his eyes shining.

“Hi,” he said, his voice low and raspy.

“What happ—”

“You fainted, sweetheart. Here.” He handed her a cup of water that Angela had just brought over. “Drink this.”

She bolted upright, nearly knocking the cup from Cole’s hands.

“Whoa, easy there!” Charlie said. She looked down at their intertwined hands.

“Mads, are you okay?” Angela asked with obvious concern.

“Um…that depends. Do you see them?” She heard both men chuckle. She was looking directly at Angela, stealing not very sly glances at Cole and Charlie.

“Do I see who?” Angela answered. “Mr. and Mr. GQ over there? They’re kind of hard to miss. Maddie, I think you hit your head, maybe we should—”

“No, I’m okay,” Maddie said, cutting her off. “Actually, can you just give us a minute? I’m fine, Angela, really,” she added when her friend hesitated.

Angela nodded and quietly closed the door behind her as she exited the room. Maddie turned her head from side to side, staring at both men, drinking in the sight of them as if she were dying of thirst. They were both even more beautiful in person. She burst out in tears and in an instant they were hugging her, Charlie on her left, Cole, her right.

“You’re real,” she sobbed. “You’re both real and you’re here.”

Cole cradled Maddie’s face in his hands and pulled her head toward him. She gasped into his mouth when he kissed her, and he let out a strangled moan that not only signified his passion for her, but also at his relief to finally be kissing her. After he thoroughly explored the inside of her mouth, he sucked first on her top lip, then bottom. He had Maddie practically purring in response. He reluctantly pulled himself away, as if remembering Charlie’s need.

Maddie felt already breathless when Charlie gave her another breath-stealing kiss. Their real kisses turned out to be so much better than the dream kisses. The feel and taste of first Cole’s and now Charlie’s lips and tongues intermingling with hers was euphoric. They both tasted of coffee and mint, but they each had their own delicious and unique flavor mixed in. Their distinct kissing techniques were both equally amazing, making her panties instantly wet. She allowed herself to fantasize about how that would translate into the bedroom.
Oh, God! The bedroom
. The thought of them making love to her in her bedroom sent a stab of desire to her core. She felt the muscles in her belly and sex sharply contract. Her nipples ached and strained against the material of her lacy demi-cup bra and her long-sleeved white T-shirt. She was grateful for the royal blue smock she wore over her clothes, sure that they would notice her protruding nipples otherwise. She moaned softly into Charlie’s mouth at the thought.

Charlie broke their kiss first as they struggled to catch their breath. He touched his forehead to hers while they panted, their breath mingling. She looked down and could not miss the bulge in his pants. He surreptitiously tried to readjust his jeans, but Maddie did not miss his wince. The material of his jeans must have been chafing his poor aching cock.

She felt the couch dip as Cole sat down behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and touched his forehead to the back of her head. She felt his hard length press against her back. His breath was as ragged as hers and Charlie’s.