Three Made in Heaven [Made in Heaven] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (16 page)

“She’s gorgeous, man,” Jay said later when Cole showed him a picture of Maddie on his cell phone. “I’d share with another dude if I could have a hottie like that.”

Cole playfully slapped him upside the head. “Watch it, that’s my woman you’re talking about.”

“Just sayin’, man!”

By Friday, Cole had everything packed and the house was going into contract. Though he felt a twinge of sadness, he could never regret his decision to move. His family would always be there no matter where he lived. He looked around at the empty spaces of his house and knew that he would never feel emptiness again.

Cole would miss his friends from work as well—the furry, feathered, and the human. He was deeply touched when his coworkers threw him a surprise going-away party. He even had a chance to talk to Mrs. Timani again and thank her for everything she did for him. Her cat Aditya was fully recovered and doing great.

Since there was nothing left to do, he almost wished that his flight was tomorrow instead of Sunday, but he looked forward to spending one more day with his family without worrying about packing or a potential buyer coming to look at his house. Maddie called him to say good night, and Cole didn’t even have to ask why she sounded so out of breath. Not surprisingly, Charlie’s voice was gravelly and out of breath as well when he came on line. Cole fell asleep a few hours later with a smile on his face.

* * * *

He was no longer smiling when he awoke in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Sweat doused his forehead and dripped down his back. His breaths puffed out heavy and his heart hammered in his chest. In his nightmare, he saw Maddie unconscious on the ground. She was bleeding.

Charlie tried to calm a frantic Cole down on the phone early Saturday morning. He awoke to the relentless buzzing of his cell phone and could barely make out the words Cole was trying to get out in a rush. He got out of bed and padded barefoot and naked into the living room so as not to wake up Maddie. She looked too peaceful to disturb. She lay curled up on her right side with her hair fanned out across the pillow. The comforter slid down her body when he climbed out of bed, exposing her bare shoulders and the tops of her breasts. Charlie noticed a small smile playing across her lips. He would have woken up smiling too after their night of incredible marathon sex if Cole hadn’t currently been scaring the shit out of him. He was able to make out the words “nightmare,” “Maddie,” and “blood,” and that was enough to send him into full-on panic mode as well.

He paced back and forth across the living room floor as Cole relayed his nightmare to him once again, this time slower and with a little more clarity.

“Shit, Cole, you know it could have just been a nightmare.”

“No, it felt real,” Cole insisted. “This felt like before when I wound up in Maddie’s nightmare, only now I know it wasn’t a nightmare at all. It was a premonition. Just like this was.”

“Fuck!” Charlie said and continued to pace the room for several minutes without saying a word.

“Fuck!” he uttered again. “I can’t believe we’re still not sure who the motherfucker is.”

“It’s soon, Charlie,” Cole said. “I don’t know when for sure, but it’s very soon. I can feel it.”

“I feel it, too,” Charlie whispered. “It’s like this sick, twisting feeling in my gut. Okay, Maddie and I will cancel our plans for tonight. It will be to the studio and back.” He also decided it was time to apply for a gun permit and perhaps even hire a bodyguard for Maddie.

Cole agreed to Charlie’s suggestions and seemed to calm down a little, but Charlie could tell he was still anxious. “We should have thought about the guns and bodyguard shit before, Charlie.”

“I know, bro. We were busy beating our fucking chests thinking together we would be invincible, but apparently that’s not going to work, now is it?”

It was Cole’s turn to calm Charlie down. Playing the blame game wasn’t going to solve anything. Only taking action would.

* * * *

Charlie was grateful for how busy it was at the studio that day. Maddie and Angela had two kids’ birthday parties booked back to back, which gave him little time to dwell on his conversation with Cole and helped him to keep up the appearance that he was okay for Maddie’s sake. He could tell she wasn’t fully buying it, but being as busy as she was, she let it drop…for now. He’d tell her later tonight and hoped like hell she would accept their next steps. Either way, he wasn’t going to ask for permission. He and Cole were going to keep her safe, and if she disagreed with their methods, she’d just have to get over it.

Having spent the last couple of weeks with Maddie and Angela at their studio, Charlie was used to the dynamic between them. They worked like a well-oiled machine when it came to corralling the kids and even the parents for that matter. Angela was loud and outspoken. She cracked funny jokes—that were age appropriate of course—and either sang or whistled as she brought out or took away supplies. She chatted up the moms and even got a few of them to paint so that they wouldn’t get bored. It was also a way for her to keep some of the moms from gossiping about other moms. It never ceased to amaze Charlie how some women could be so childish and catty even when their children were around. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen and heard it firsthand.

His Maddie was more of a peacekeeper. Whenever a shout of “he took my brush” or “she pushed me and now I messed up” broke out, Maddie managed to stop potential fights between the kids in a subtle manner. Immediately, more brushes would appear as she placed herself between the two warring kids. She was ready with her own brush to touch up any mistakes and then take it even further by complimenting the child’s work. The kids would squeal with delight at her praise and the parents would beam proudly thinking they had the next Picasso in their midst.

Then there was the flirting. Charlie knew he was a good-looking guy. He wasn’t conceited about it…well maybe just a little…but he knew the effect he had on women even if he wasn’t putting on the charm. What surprised him though was how obvious these women were being with their flirting in front of their kids, and more so since the majority of the moms flirting with him were married. They were competing with one another for his attention while spouting sexual innuendos. Thankfully, the kids were too focused on their painting to be aware of what was going on. Maddie and Angela, however, were not.

Maddie looked downright angry when one of the moms boldly brushed against him.

“Jessica, may I have a word with you?” Maddie asked, though to Charlie it sounded more like a demand. Maddie pulled the woman he now knew to be Jessica over to the side and out of earshot of the kids, but Charlie moved a little closer just in case he needed to break up a fight. Although, the idea of watching Maddie give this woman a well-deserved beat-down was suddenly very appealing.

He knew women like Jessica all his life. The bleached blonde hair, botoxed forehead and collagen lips, fake balloon-sized tits, overpriced clothing that was more about the label than anything else, and bodies that looked more like they belonged to a bobble-head doll than a person. Why women thought that a near-anorexic figure was sexy was beyond him. In the past though, women like Jessica were good for a fuck, but feeling her rub up against him and smelling her strong perfume was revolting. He was about to extricate himself from her claws and move to another part of the room when Maddie had intervened.

“Jessica, I would appreciate it if you kept your hands off my boyfriend,” he heard Maddie say through clenched teeth.

“Oh, I didn’t realize he was your—”

“Well he is,” Maddie interrupted, “and this is a child’s birthday party, not a bar.” She lowered her voice and said something else to Jessica that Charlie could not make out, but what he could make out was Jessica’s dumbstruck expression and definitely Maddie’s scowl.

God, she looks adorable when she’s angry
. And with the possessive look in her eye, he had to admit also a little scary, at least to Jessica, who definitely looked intimidated. Being that Maddie was always so sweet and polite, she probably caught Jessica off guard.

Charlie wanted to wrap his arms around his woman, so he sauntered over to her and possessively put his arm around her and gently squeezed. He hoped it gave her the reassurance that she was the only woman for him and girls like Jessica and the other moms couldn’t hold a candle to her.

“Everything all right here, ladies?”

“Fine, babe,” Maddie said. She wrapped her arm around his waist and gave him a little squeeze in answer. “Jessica and I were just having a little chat.”

“Jessica,” Charlie began in what he hoped sounded like a diplomatic voice, “I think it would be best if you and the other ladies keep your conversations to a PG level around the kids, don’t you? Also, as you can see I have a girlfriend. I have no interest in you or any of the other ladies. Kindly let them know.”

Jessica simply huffed and strode away. She immediately went to stand by some of the other moms and began to whisper. He had a feeling that his rejection and the reprimand given to her by Maddie stung like a slap in the face. Women like her were not used to rejection.
Well, boo-fucking-hoo.

“What did you say to her, baby?”

Maddie’s brow arched and she gave him a sweet little smile. “Oh, you know…girl talk. I just reminded her that her very wealthy husband would not appreciate her flirting with other men.”

* * * *

Maddie felt Charlie’s strong arms wrap around her waist as she locked the front door. She told Angela she would handle closing up with Charlie since they cancelled their plans for the evening and Angela and Kellan still had plans.

“You’re not mad at me are you, baby?”

“No, of course not. It’s not your fault women find you irresistible. I would know.”

His low chuckle by her ear had her pussy clenching in response. “That’s true. I can’t help it if I’m dead sexy.”

This time Maddie roared with laughter at Charlie’s failed attempt to impersonate Mike Myers. He took her by the hand and led her to her office.

“You looked so fucking adorable getting all mad and territorial like that. I liked it, but, baby, this”—he gestured to himself—“is all yours, and this”—he pulled Maddie into a tight embrace and grabbed her ass—“is all fucking mine.”

He bent forward and took her lips in a searing kiss, his tongue masterfully dueling with hers. When Charlie released her lips to look at her, Maddie squirmed at his lust-filled gaze.

“You have no idea how many times I fantasized about taking you on that purple sofa of yours, Maddie.”

Maddie bit her lip and felt her face flush. He and Cole had no idea just how many times she had that same fantasy with either one or both of them, and it started way before they first arrived at her studio.

“You naughty girl,” Charlie said, voice husky, as realization dawned on him that she had the exact same fantasy. “Take your clothes off, Maddie.”

He strode over to the chair behind her desk and sat down to watch her strip. She unbuttoned her beige silk blouse slowly, loving the way his hooded gaze roamed up and down her body. By the time she undid the last button, Charlie had his cock out of his jeans and was slowly stroking up and down his shaft. Charlie licked his lips when she finally exposed her breasts to him. She felt her nipples tighten into hard points from the hungry look he was giving her.

“Leave the skirt on,” he whispered just as she was about to reach for the side zipper of her skirt to undo it. “The boots, too…leave ’em on, just take your panties off.”

She did as he asked and waited with her hands at her sides for further instructions. It was such a turn on for her when Charlie and Cole took complete control of her body. They owned it along with her heart and soul.

“Bend over the couch, Maddie.”

Without hesitation, Maddie walked the short distance across the room and bent over the arm of the couch, stretching her arms out in front of her.

“Spread your legs, baby,” Charlie instructed as he stepped up behind her.

He grunted his approval at how she easily complied, parting her legs in invitation for him. He rubbed his right hand up and down her spine, while his left hand lifted up her skirt, exposing her ass and pussy to him.

“This is going to be fast and hard, baby, but first I need a taste. You ready for me?”

“Mmm,” was all she managed to get out. She was so turned on by him and the naughtiness of doing it in her office.

She heard Charlie groan and felt his breath on her lips. She knew what he was seeing, her juices leaking out of her and trailing down her inner thighs. “Always so ready for me.”

She let out a long soft moan as his tongue delved between her folds. He didn’t bother being gentle. Instead he ate at her as if he was starved, lapping, sucking, nipping, and when his mouth finally connected with her clit, she screamed out her release. Before she could even come down from her orgasm, Charlie plunged his cock into her quivering, sopping-wet heat. He delivered on his promise to give it to her fast and hard and she loved every heart-pounding stroke. Before long, they were coming together, moaning loudly and breathing heavily.

Charlie bent forward, still inside her, and wrapped himself around her body. They were both still shaking from the intensity of their combined orgasms. He was lovingly placing kisses along her shoulder blades and spine when she felt him suddenly stiffen.

“Get dressed, Maddie,” he said brusquely, after he quickly pulled out of her and zipped up his jeans. “Hurry up, baby, please.” This time he sounded a little desperate.

“What’s wrong, Charlie?” But she didn’t need him to respond. Her eyes followed where he was looking: the monitor. Someone was picking the lock to the front door.

“Oh God, Charlie, someone is trying to break in.” Maddie quickly dressed then ran to the phone at her desk and dialed 9-1-1 while Charlie went to lock the door of her office. She looked at the monitor again and this time got a better look at the intruder’s face. Recognition dawned on her. “Charlie, that’s the guy Angela ran after last week after he stole something.” She could see from the monitor that he wore dark pants and a dark hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, his dark hair peeking out messily.