The Art of Love [Hedon Falls 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

“Nice picture.”

Melanie looked up to find Garrett watching her and she flushed. “I didn’t hear you come in,” she said. She slid the paper off to the side of the table in an attempt to hide it.

“What are you doing?” Garrett asked. He reached out and picked the picture up off the table. “This is really good, you know.”

“Can I see?” Sam asked. Garrett held it out to him. “Hey, that’s me! You’re really good, Melanie!”

“It’s nothing,” Melanie murmured. She could feel the tips of her ears heating up now and stared down at her hands.

“It’s not nothing,” Garrett said firmly. “It’s beautiful.”

Melanie didn’t respond. She hated showing her work to others. She knew Garrett was just being nice. She knew her work wasn’t any good. That had been made very clear to her when she started university.

“Melanie, look at me right now.” Garrett’s commanding tone had her looking up before she realized what she was doing. It was the same tone he used when they were playing in the bedroom, and she was used to obeying. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Melanie’s eyes darted to where Sam sat watching the exchange between them. Garrett’s gaze followed. “Sam,” he said in a gentler voice. “I’m taking Melanie to talk.” The boy nodded and bent back over his painting.

Garrett held out his hand to her and she took it. He led her down the hall to the office and closed the door behind them. Melanie couldn’t help the tears that began to fall from her eyes.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Garrett said and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t cry. Please. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

Melanie stayed silent, her head buried against his chest as she sobbed. Garrett held her and stroked her hair and eventually her tears stopped. She took a big, shuddering breath. “The reason I ended up studying art history at university instead of techniques was the professor who, in my first week, told me that my work was ‘juvenile and shallow’. He seemed surprised that I had been accepted to the fine arts program at all. So I don’t create art, I just learn about others.”

Garrett’s hand in her hair was soothing and she relaxed against him. “That professor was an asshole,” he said softly. “Every artist will hear things like that at some point in their career. Look at my work! It certainly doesn’t rate high in popularity and most people just think it’s crude and pornographic. What’s important is that creating it makes me happy. And there are always going to be those who can appreciate the artistic value of a piece, even if they don’t like the subject. If that weren’t true, I wouldn’t have sold so many paintings last night.”

Melanie sighed. “In my head, your arguments make a lot of sense. It’s hard to get over the hurt though.”

“We’re going to start by taking this picture to be framed,” he said. “You can give it to Serena as a gift. No objections!” he said as she opened her mouth to argue. “I’m not letting you have it back.”

“Can I at least finish it, then?” Melanie asked. “It’s not done.”

“Oh. I guess. But I’m going to be watching you!” He laughed and kissed her again, and then led her back to the sunroom where she sat and continued painting.

It wasn’t long before Serena’s parents arrived at the house. Melanie had met them once before. They were a lovely couple, and they adored their grandchildren. She watched them interact with the little ones for a few minutes, feeling a pang of sadness that her own children would never know their maternal grandparents. She dismissed it quickly though. If she dwelled on it too much, she’d never get on with her life.

After making sure that the kids and their grandparents were settled, Melanie led her men to the cottage. “Since I’ve got you all here, you can help me move some things,” she said. “I enjoy the slave labor.”

“Oh, this isn’t slave labor,” David said. “There’s a fee.”

Melanie’s stomach flipped. “Really? And what would that be?”

Justin caught her around the waist and swung her up in his arms. She yelped with surprise, clinging wildly to avoid falling.
“Ma chérie, nous allons te baiser jusqu’à ce que vous ne puissiez plus vous lever
.”

Melanie laughed. “My French sucks, Justin. You have to tell me in English.”

He kissed her again, his tongue and hers entwining and sliding against each other. Melanie’s heart raced and her arousal spread quickly through her body, settling between her thighs. When he pulled away, she was breathless. “I would prefer to show you,” he said. His voice was husky with desire.

Melanie could only nod as he carried her in the bedroom to begin the demonstration.

I can’t believe it’s already New Year’s Eve!

Melanie rushed around the gallery, preparing for another event. She had decided to host a New Year’s Eve party, and it was going to be an even bigger affair than the opening had been. Jack Sullivan would be in attendance, and his famous wife would be joining him this time. Melanie still had trouble thinking about an actual movie star here, at her little gallery. She looked down at the guest list on the clipboard in her hands, and made her way back to the café to check in with Alexis. She nearly ran right into the woman.

“Sorry!” she exclaimed as Alexis jumped back to avoid spilling a large pitcher of juice all over both of them.

“It’s okay,” Alexis said. “We’re all a little distracted.”

“Is everything on track?” Melanie asked anxiously.

Alexis rolled her eyes. “Melanie, everything is under control. Still. Just like it was five minutes ago, and five minutes before that, and—”

“Fine! Point taken,” Melanie cut in.

“You need to just go upstairs and get ready,” Alexis told her. “You only have half an hour left.”

“I know. I’m going.” Melanie hurried up the stairs and into the apartment. Garrett, Justin, and David were sitting in the living room watching
It’s A Wonderful Life
. She smiled at the sight of them.

The past month had flown by. The gallery was off to a great start, and her relationship was even better. She had spent a lot of time with the three men, some of it out of the bedroom. They had gotten to know each other much better, and she had fallen even more deeply in love with each of them. Better still, they were getting along remarkably well with each other. Garrett and Justin, who had seemed to be friends right from the start, had been making the effort to include David as much as possible and put him at ease with the situation. David was trying hard, too. He still had some moments when he needed to take a breather from everyone, and Melanie made sure that he got to spend a lot of time with her, one-on-one. He had come a long way from the angry man he had been when he first found out about Melanie’s other relationships. He was almost like the David she had first met, but with improvements. To see them now, sitting companionably together, made her heart swell with love for all of them.

“You guys look handsome,” she said. She went and kissed each of them in turn.

Garrett looked at his watch. “You better start getting ready. We’ve been waiting.”

“I know,” she said. “I won’t be long.”

Melanie went into her bedroom and began stripping out of her clothes. She had had her hair done up earlier in the day, so she just needed to dress and apply her makeup. She quickly slipped into her stockings and garter, opting to forgo panties this time. She smiled to herself as she imagined what her men would say when they discovered that later. She put on the strapless push-up bra and then stepped carefully into her gown. She did up the side zipper, and admired herself in the full-length mirror, before she went into the bathroom to put on her makeup. The whole routine took very little time.

There was a knock on the bedroom door. “Are you almost ready?” David’s voice called from the other side.

“I’ll be out in a minute!” she called back as she put in her earrings and adjusted her necklace. When she was satisfied, she picked up her clutch and went into the living room.

What she saw made her stop short.

All three men were on one knee before her, with David in the center and Justin and Garrett flanking him. Justin and Garrett each held a bouquet of red roses, and in David’s hands sat a tiny velvet jewelry box. Melanie’s breath caught, and she felt a lump forming in her throat. She brought her hand to her mouth as tears pricked the back of her eyes.

“Melanie,” David said, and she was touched to see that he was a bit choked up himself. “I love you. I’ve loved you almost from the moment I met you. I can’t imagine living a life that didn’t include you.”

Justin spoke next. “
Tu as capturé mon cœur depuis le début. Chaque jour, mon amour pour toi grandit, et je veux passer le reste de ma vie à t’aimer.”
Melanie had no idea what he said. He had been trying to teach her some French, but she was kind of hopeless. It didn’t matter though because the words sounded beautiful. The tears began to roll down her cheeks.

“We had an interesting start,” Garrett said. “I love you so much, and it’s because of our love for you that we’ve been able to take this unlikely group and create a family. I’ve never been happier than during the time I’ve spent with you, and with Justin and David.”

“What we’re trying to say,” David said as a single tear fell from his eye, “is that we want to be with you for the rest of our lives.” He opened the lid of the jewelry box to display a gold band with three identical diamonds set beside each other. Melanie gave up all thought of trying to control her tears and began to sob in earnest.

“Will you marry us?” they chorused together.

She looked at each of them in turn, and then simply nodded her head because she was so overcome with emotion that she couldn’t speak. They stood and came to her. She pulled them into her arms, one at a time, and kissed them each as passionately as she could, trying to express her happiness without words. Finally, David took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. She looked down at it, and then back at her men.
My fiancés.

“Now I’m going to have to redo my makeup,” she said with a sigh. They all laughed.

When Melanie went down into the main gallery again, she glanced over to the wall where a big drop cloth hung over a frame and smiled. Garrett, David, and Justin weren’t the only ones with surprises planned tonight. She held out her hand, admiring the way the diamonds caught the light. It was stunning. She sighed contentedly as she made her way to the front door, where she could see the first guests coming in.

It wasn’t long before the party was in full swing. It was much more crowded than it had been for the opening, and Melanie was glad she had thought to move the smaller sculptures to the sides. Tall tables were set up instead, where people could set their drinks down as they talked. At one of the tables, Melanie stood with Lance, Liam, and Serena.

“Are you glad you came?” she asked them.

“Definitely!” Serena said with a grin. “I was forgetting what it was like to socialize with adults.”

“How are Lacey and Sierra?”

“Growing like crazy,” Liam said. “It still amazes me how much they can change in just a few weeks.”

“I may need to use the apartment in a little while to pump,” Serena said. “It’s only been an hour and a half, and already my boobs are aching.”

“No problem,” Melanie said. “You know the way!”

She chatted with her friends a little longer before moving through the crowd again. She was waylaid by Jack Sullivan, who had his wife on one arm, and their friend Sophie, on the other. As Melanie watched them, she began to wonder if perhaps there were more ménage relationships in Hedon Falls than they knew.

“Melanie,” Jack said. “Thank you for hosting this party. You’ve met Sophie. I’d like to introduce you to my wife, Kendra.”

The petite blonde actress held out her slender hand. “I’m glad to have the chance to visit your gallery at last,” she said. “Everything is lovely, and I’ve been tweeting about it all evening.”

“Thank you,” Melanie said. “I’m so glad you’re having a good time.”

At a touch on her arm, Melanie turned to see Alexis beside her. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Melanie,” she said. “I need you to help me with something.”

Melanie excused herself and then followed Alexis to the café. “What is it?” she asked.

“I’m almost out of juice for the punch,” Alexis said. “It’s been much more popular than I thought it would be.”

“Can you send one of the others out to get some?” Melanie asked. The last thing she wanted was to run out of anything before the evening was through.

“I can go myself,” Alexis said. “It won’t take long, but I wanted to let you know so you didn’t wonder where I’d gone.”

“Okay, thank you. Hurry back!”

Melanie returned to her guests, talking and laughing with them. The time flew, and before she knew it, David was at her side warning her that there was only ten minutes before midnight.
Time for my own surprise.
Melanie made her way to a podium set up near the drop-cloth-covered frame. Many people had been asking about it. She had promised to unveil a new painting at the party, and though everyone was fishing for information, she gave nothing away. Now she stepped up to the microphone and turned it on as she signalled the DJ to turn the music off.

“Excuse me, everybody,” she said loudly into the mike. The people who were closest stopped and turned. The silence expanded out from the podium as more people became aware of Melanie. When it was almost completely quiet, she began.