When they returned from New York with Jonathan, they would know better. He had just closed his eyes when he felt Melody move. She turned to face him.
He opened his eyes to see her looking at him. He smiled.
“You’re awake.”
“I felt you and hoped you might be awake,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Is all of this really real?” she asked him. “I’ve never been with one man, and tonight I’ve been with two and it seems the most natural thing in the world. I’m so confused because I just feel like I’ve been living in another world than the one I’m in now.”
“You’re a part of our world now, Melody. Only, there’s more to it than what you’ve just experienced.”
“More,” she repeated.
“Jonathan had wanted to be at dinner last night. He was supposed to be there. The fact that he wasn’t is something I know Gabriel and I as well as Jonathan will always regret. We should have waited to take you, but all we could think about was ourselves and you.”
“What are you saying, Constantine?”
“I think you know.”
“Jonathan is a part of this, a part of us?”
“Yes. I want him to be. But that’s up to you and him. This isn’t something you can force. It either happens or doesn’t.”
“You’re asking me to be open to him, aren’t you?”
His lips came down on hers as he pressed himself against her. He lifted his head, his eyes boring into hers. “Yes. But only if that’s what you want.”
“What if,” she said, her voice becoming slightly fearful, “he doesn’t want me?”
“I can’t imagine he won’t. I’m more worried that being with three men might overwhelm you. But regardless of what I want, it has to be right for you. I want you to be happy.”
“I’ve never been happier,” she sighed. “I’m so happy, I’m scared. I’ve never felt like this about anyone, the way I feel about you and Gabriel. I’m also under contract to cut a record. For the very first time in my life, I feel like I’m home.”
“You are home,” Constantine choked out, his heart full of the wonder of being with her.
“You’re hard, Constantine. Does that mean you want me again?”
“God help me, yes it does. But you have to be sore.”
“I am, but I still want you inside me again.”
Constantine groaned as he lifted and slid her body beneath his. “I need you, Melody. Right here and right now.”
His lips came down on hers as his hard cock found her opening and plunged deep inside her. She cried out. Gabriel moved slightly but never turned over.
Constantine quickly found his rhythm. Her body fit so well with his. She belonged here with them. No matter what the future held for any of them, he knew he wanted theirs to be intertwined. Their bodies continued their dance of love until they each melted into the other and became one. He thought for a moment he had died, the feelings were so excruciatingly beautiful.
He watched her body continue to quiver before she quieted and her soft moans subsided. Her eyes were closed. He stayed inside of her as long as he could. He kissed her eyelids that fluttered. She was asleep already. She had woken just to offer him herself. His breath caught in his throat as he laid back and closed his eyes. This was too fast too soon. His brain was logical, and logically these feelings he was experiencing were too intense for being with someone for the first time. But where Melody was concerned, everything was different. There was no norm. There was only her.
And of course, he reminded himself, Jonathan. How could he not feel the same?
Chapter Thirteen
The night had turned to morning, and Melody couldn’t believe she was up and drinking a cup of coffee at the huge dining room table all by herself. Both Constantine and Gabriel had left the apartment. They had showered separately, leaving her to recover from the night before and all the fucking as they liked to refer to it. She turned red even though she was by herself. She had never used that word much at all, but with them, it seemed perfectly natural and she had to admit, it was hot when they said they wanted to fuck her. Her pussy was twitching even now, just thinking about it.
It was unsettling that she wanted to be with them so much. Nothing could have prepared her for the depth of the orgasms they had given her or how drawn she was to them as men and not just lovers. It was all so new for her, and she felt her heart beat faster. It was crazy good. She had to stop thinking about last night and concentrate on getting a shower and leaving to go back to her own apartment where she could think more clearly and organize her thoughts.
An hour or so earlier, she had woken up to Constantine staring at her. The door to the connecting bathroom was partially open and the shower was running. When Gabriel had walked out naked, it was like it was the first time she had seen him all over again. His muscled body was still damp. His blue eyes had looked right at her, making her insides turn to mush. Constantine kissed her deeply and had then jumped out of bed and walked to the bathroom. He was every bit the Adonis as Gabriel.
Gabriel had walked to the side of the bed and stood looking down at her. Her mouth had been dry. She had lost the power of speech. All she could think about was how good it felt to be lying there naked, in the bed they had carried her to after hours of sex in that room with the leather furniture. She had no shame where either of these men were concerned, and that in itself had her stomach tied up in knots. She had turned into someone she didn’t know. How could she have metamorphosed so quickly, or was she always like this and it had taken these two brothers to unlock the hidden wanton that had laid dormant inside of her for so long?
“You’re awake,” Gabriel had said, his smile dark and seductive.
“It’s hard to sleep when I’m with you and your brother.”
He laughed. “And for us when we have someone as delicious as you in between us.”
“Are you coming back to bed?” she asked hopefully.
“I wish. We’ve got to be in New York this morning. Family business. We’ll have to sleep on the plane.”
“Oh. You should have told me. I would have left last night.”
“If we had wanted you to leave, you’d be gone. Obviously we wanted you to stay.”
“Lucky me,” she said somewhat sarcastically.
Again he laughed. “Oh, Melody, you have so much to learn. It’s going to be fun teaching you.”
He sat down on the side of the bed and reached over to draw the sheet down further to expose the lower half of her body. His hooded eyes devoured every inch of her, but he didn’t touch her.
“You’ll find that both Constantine and I are used to getting our own way when it comes to the women we have sex with.” Then he sat back, his face turning boyish, as if he had just discovered something brand new. “I love your hair. The way it curls out of control when you’re in the throes of being pleasured and now when you’ve just woken up. It makes me want to grab it and twist it until it’s smooth and wrapped tightly within my power.”
His meaning was not lost on her. He wanted to control every aspect of their time together. He was a man who liked being in charge. So did she sometimes, but there was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to please him. His gaze was intense. She closed her eyes against the overwhelming sensations that he was creating within her tired body. How could she still want him when he had used her up so thoroughly?
When she opened her eyes, he was still staring at her. However, he just smiled and moved off the bed. Still naked, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I have to get dressed. I’m going to my room now. You sleep. When you wake up, get dressed and go to the dining room. There’ll be breakfast waiting for you. Ask Matilda, our housekeeper, to call you a taxi.”
“Are you leaving soon?” she asked, feeling the loss of knowing that he wasn’t going to be there when she woke up. However, the thought suddenly occurred to her. This must be common practice for them. Matilda was probably more than used to providi
ng breakfast before sending their women on their way.
“Yes. One of us will call you sometime this week. We’d like to see you again,” he said, “if you’d like to come back for a rematch and…Jonathan will be back from New York.”
She nodded her head and then, knowing that he liked her to say what she wanted, she said, “Yes. I would like to see you and Constantine again. I would also like to see Jonathan, too.”
“Good. Now go back to sleep. Don’t tempt Constantine. He needs to get ready.”
She watched him leave the room, proud and naked. Pulling up the covers, she turned over. She’d pretend she was asleep even though she wanted nothing more than to feel Constantine’s hands on her body, because she didn’t want to upset Gabriel. However, somewhere between pretending to be asleep and fighting the tiredness, she drifted off and didn’t remember anything else.
And here she was, by herself, except for Matilda, the housekeeper, who had made her a delicious omelet and a pot of coffee, to ponder what had transpired the night before. There was no explanation for her response to them. It was all touch and need without thinking except for how to pleasure and please.
Sighing, she set down her coffee cup and gathered herself to leave. Matilda materialized at her side.
“The taxi should be here shortly. The doorman will call when it arrives. Is there anything else you need or that I can help you with?”
“No, thank you. You’ve been more than kind”—she looked away, embarrassed—“under the circumstances.”
Matilda put her hand lightly on Melody’s shoulder. “You are a lovely young woman. Do not feel any embarrassment. I assure you I am always discreet.”
Always discreet. The words reverberated in her head. This happened a lot. But she knew that already. It was just confirmation that she was one of many.
The taxi arrived shortly thereafter, and took her back to her apartment. She was going to pay him, but he held up his hand.
“Already paid for. Have a good day, Miss.”
Gabriel and Constantine thought of everything. She had hoped the coffee would give her a boost, and although it did, it hadn’t lasted and she was exhausted. For the first time she checked her phone. To her surprise it had been turned off. She hadn’t remembered doing that. She had a few missed calls. One was from Calla, the other was from Max, and the last one was from Constantine. She pressed the button for voicemail.
“This is Calla. Call me.”
“Hi, Melody. This is your manager, Max. I wanted to talk to you about a few things that I just thought of, but it can wait. Call me when you get a chance.”
“Hey there, sleepyhead. It’s Constantine in case you didn’t recognize my voice. We’re at the airport. There’s a board meeting Gabriel and I have to attend in New York, otherwise we would have stayed in bed with you this morning and”—his voice dipped seductively, making her breath catch—“you wouldn’t have been sleeping. Anyway, I’ll call you later in the week. Dream of us, because I guarantee we’ll be dreaming of you.”
Joy ripped through her like wildfire. Just hearing his voice and the promise of seeing them again was all she needed to feel on top of the world. They had such an effect on her. What if they had said they didn’t want to see her again? Then what? She didn’t want to think about that.
She had been hoping Calla would call, and now that she had, she wished she hadn’t. That was awful, but what was she going to say to her? Before she had felt she had a right to defend herself, but now that she was sleeping not only with Gabriel but Constantine, Calla would think she had planned the whole thing. She would never believe that it just happened.
Her phone’s ring tone startled her. It was Max. She’d better take it or he would think something was wrong.
“Hi Max.”
“She’s alive,” he said. “Didn’t you get my voice mail?”
“I shut my phone off by mistake. I’m sorry. You wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes. I did. Are you home?”
“I am, but I didn’t sleep well and I’m not feeling so good. Could we do this later, maybe tonight?”
“We could. How about a dinner meeting?”
“Okay. At the Angry Dog?”
“No. You’re not on the schedule and I can take time off for dinner. I was thinking about that new Italian place that opened on Chestnut Street. We could meet there or I could have my taxi stop by and pick you up, say around eightish?”
“Is everything all right? I mean, I still have a record deal, right?”
“Will you stop worrying? Yes, you have a record deal and I might add, a wonderful manager who’s looking out for you.”
“Thanks again, Max. Let’s meet at the restaurant. I’ll be there around eight.”
“Okay. See you then, Melody.”
She wished she weren’t so tired, so she could think more cohesively, but her brain was beginning to cloud and she could barely keep her eyes open. She stripped down to the replacement underwear that Gabriel must have left for her. He was the detail man. She was sure he had a drawer of women’s underwear just for these kind of occasions when he had ripped them off his lover’s body. Right now she wanted to stop her muddled brain from thinking and just sleep.
However, her mind was racing a million miles an hour in a hundred different directions. Thoughts of Constantine and Gabriel wouldn’t leave her alone. She was becoming obsessed with them and that wasn’t good. Calla’s face swam in front of her. “Calla,” she practically groaned into her pillow. Again, she wondered what she was going to say to her. Should she lie? No, that never worked. She could ignore her, but she knew she couldn’t do that either.
She had to admit she was surprised that Calla had called her so soon. She had been so angry. It wasn’t like her to forgive and forget so easily. Melody had seen her in action on a number of different occasions when someone had made her exceptionally mad. She had gone for months, years, and sometimes forever without ever speaking to the person who in her mind had done her wrong. However, none of those people had been as close as she thought she and Calla were.
Somehow she was going to have to figure this out. She didn’t want to give up Constantine and Gabriel. Her body screamed in defiance of doing that. And yet, she wanted Calla and her parents in her life. If Calla and she parted enemies, there would be no more relationship with her parents. It would be like a divorce. She didn’t want that.
Melody reached for the drawer in the nightstand and pulled out her little iPod nano and placed the earbuds in her ears. Maybe, she thought hopefully, the music would calm her scattered thoughts and let her sleep. However, she wondered why Max wanted to see her. Let it be something minor or something good, she thought. It would be nice to have a relaxing dinner without any hidden agendas. Faith Hill’s voice filled her head as she attempted to make her mind go blank. However, as she drifted, blue eyes followed her every move, never releasing her, keeping her close. Comforted, she finally succumbed to the darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Max was waiting for her at the restaurant. He had called earlier and told her exactly where it was located. Bruno’s had an excellent reputation. They had even been listed in the Best of Philly. She was looking forward to trying one of their specialty pasta dishes.
Max stood as she approached and moved around the table to hold out her chair. He was dressed in a suit and looked quite different than when he managed the Angry Dog. Even when they met at Magnet Records, he hadn’t worn a tie. She had always found him attractive, but right now, he looked downright handsome. Had he dressed up just for her? The thought was not comforting. She hoped they were past all that.
She smiled. “Nice suit. You look good.”
“So do you,” he said earnestly.
She had once again dressed in her little black dress after she had run it through the dryer with a dryer sheet. It was a poor girl’s form of dry cleaning. She had put her hair up and applied some makeup. She was glad Max approved of her appearance. However, she wouldn’t want him
to think she was dressing up for him.
“How about a glass of wine and then we can order.”
“That’s sounds nice, Max. I must say that I’m curious about what you want to talk about.”
“Once we’ve had our wine and ordered, I promise I’ll tell you.”
“Okay. So, when is my next shift at the Angry Dog?”
“You’re done there. I think it’s best that you take the next couple weeks to yourself.”
“But won’t you be shorthanded?”
“Let me worry about that.”
“Max. I am going to work for you. I don’t mind. It’s the least I can do. I’m young. I’ll survive it. Enough said. I’ll be in tomorrow night.”
“You can’t.”
“What do you mean, I can’t?”
“Damn it, Melody. Must you question everything? Just leave it alone. You’re not working at the Angry Dog anymore. End of story.”
“Did someone tell you that I couldn’t work there anymore?”
“I said let it go, Melody.”
“Was it Constantine Roman?”
The waiter came to pour their drinks. They both waited in silence until he was through. Max took a drink.
“I’ll repeat the question,” Melody said. “Was it Constantine Roman?”
“He may have mentioned it. You know that he thought it would be best if you had the next two weeks off.”
“Well, I don’t want them off.”
“Please, Melody. For my sake. Don’t put me in the middle of this. I’m your manager, not your keeper. He has strong ideas where you’re concerned. I’d like to continue to be your manager and also have good relations with Magnet Records.”
“I see.”
“Do you?”
“Only too well. Don’t worry. I’m done at the Angry Dog, but only because I don’t want to put you in an awkward situation.”
“Thank you.”
A Triple Melody (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 9
