“Holy shit this thing is huge,” Bleu muttered, quickly walking over to the model. Her comment was accurate though, since the thing was rather large for a house model, the top of the lookout point on the roof reaching her collar bone. He’d made it at that scale so he could really show them the grand nature of the design. “What is this?” She pointed at the lookout nook, which had a small balcony attached to it.
“That is an Easter egg,” he said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, not being able to keep away from them for long.
“Easter egg?” Alexis asked, not taking his eyes away from the house.
“A surprise. A little special something I added to the house after meeting you both.” He rested his chin on Bleu’s head. “This one is for you, Bleu.” He moved her closer to the model. “It’s for your art. I know you paint and draw for pleasure beyond what you do in the shop. I thought you’d like a space to work…one with great lighting. A studio.” He turned to Alex. “Alex, help me open it so you can see inside.”
He could have gone in multiple directions with the kitchen. He could have made it completely modern, top of the line, stainless steel. Just like the diner’s kitchen. But Alex was there all day and Colton knew he wanted something warmer to come home to.
While the outside and most of the inside of the house was American Country, he went with a French country-style kitchen, staying true to the softened corners and gentle curves in molding, cabinetry, and furniture, which were typical of the style. Casual comfort and a rustic feel were the key elements to this masterpiece of a kitchen. And while all the appliances were top of the line, he knew what would catch Alex’s eyes was the—
“Is that a brick oven? A fucking brick oven in the middle of the kitchen! Are you crazy?” He pulled Colton over, hugging him tight to the side of his body, staring in wonder at the kitchen. “This is unreal. How can you afford to build this place?”
“Please, do you think I’d spend all this time working on a model for a place I couldn’t afford to build?”
“It’s insane,” Bleu murmured. “There are so many rooms, what are we going to do with all this space?”
“Well, Alex has a big family and I’m sure Maggie is gonna want to come visit when she’s in town to escape my folks…a lot. So I made sure to make a few guest rooms.”
“There are more than just a few guest rooms here.”
“Well we’ve got the formal dining room, the living room, the study, the office—”
“Why couldn’t the study be the office?”
“—your studio, three full bathrooms for the guest rooms, the master suite that includes attached bathroom and walk-in closet to fit clothes for three people, the laundry room, the mud room—”
“Which could be in the laundry room.” That time he smacked Bleu on the ass.
“—various closets throughout the house, the walk-in pantry, the backyard—”
“Ridiculously massive backyard.” They waited for Colton to continue. Upon seeing their looks he shrugged.
“That’s it.”
“Oh! That’s it.” Bleu laughed with a hint of sarcasm.
“That’s not it,” Alexis said, brow furrowed and gazing at the many many, many rooms of the house. “You missed some rooms. I think you added more guest rooms than you meant to.”
“No…those aren’t guest rooms. And those rooms are the only aspect of this house I’m willing to change. It’s up to you guys.”
“Well, what are they for?” Alex asked quizzically.
“Kids rooms. Potential kids rooms. Whatever you want to do. Your choice. Totally your choice. I can remove them and expand the closet or do an upstairs entertainment room or—”
“Shush, crazy.” Bleu enclosed his lips in her fingers, latching them shut. “I thought I was the one who babbled in this relationship.”
“Well—”
“Didn’t I say shush?” He remained silent at her comically fierce look. Alexis came up behind him, resting his chin on her shoulder as she addressed them both. “I don’t think kids would be a good idea.”
Colt cleared his throat, controlling his emotional response to argue. “Why not?”
“Because the world would not be able to handle the cuteness that is a mini-Alexis or mini-Colton. It would be like seeing the Grumpy Cat and the ‘Charlie Bit Me’ videos at the same time, multiplying the cute effect exponentially and giving the world cuteness heart attacks.” She smiled as the tension drained from his muscles upon hearing her joke.
“Kids…I’m not opposed,” she said, placing her hands on his chest, stroking Alex’s cheek. “But…I think we need time. To ourselves. Let’s build our house. Let’s just be with each other.”
* * * *
“I like that idea,” Alex said, kissing Colt’s neck, making him shiver. “I like being able to keep the two of you to myself for a while. I want to be greedy right now.” He tugged Colt’s jacket off, throwing it to the floor. “I want to be very greedy.”
“You’ve been greedy twice today already.” Bleu ended her sentence in a moan as Colton joined in on the greed by sliding his hand into her sweatpants and cupping her mound. “Mmm, more.”
“Now who’s greedy?” Alex pulled Colt’s T-shirt off, kissing his way down his spine and biting him through his jeans on his ass.
“Alex, I need you to fuck me.” Colt tugged Bleu’s sweatshirt off, enjoying the sight of her bare breasts underneath, and sucked her right nipple into his hot mouth.
“I’ll never stop being greedy for the two of you.” Bleu gasped, running her fingers through Colt’s hair.
Alex had just ripped Colton’s pants down and over his hips as his eyes caught sight of something in the model home. He crawled over to see a small doodle on the outside wall of the wraparound porch, facing the backyard. It was the three of them in cartoon form. Sitting on a bench and drinking something from mugs.
Bleu’s hair was depicted as a crazy, curly afro, the flyaway strands getting in Alex and Colt’s faces as she sat in the middle of them. She wore glasses and so did his little caricature. Colt’s figure had a cane leaning up against the bench, but it wasn’t until he saw the miniature walker that he realized this was them…fifty…probably sixty years down the line. Still together. Still happy.
“Hey. You rip my pants off then leave me hanging? Literally?” Colt crouched next to him, Bleu mirroring his position on Alex’s opposite side. “Ah…you found my drawing.”
“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” He kissed Colton, infusing him with all the love and appreciation he had for the faith that Colton believed would keep them together for the span of their lives. “And you.” He turned to Bleu to give a kiss with equal fervor. “I love you both so much.”
They spent the next few moments kissing one another and gazing at the little drawing, a clear possibility for their future together. It was heartwarming and terrifying and beautiful all at the same time. Thinking of spending the rest of his life with these two lovely people, feeling their love and giving them his in return, was more than he could have ever hoped for.
“Colton…are my hands on both your crotches in this picture?”
Epilogue
Colton poured Bleu another sweet tea, accompanied by a sweet kiss. She smiled and felt that warm flutter of joy in her gut whenever he displayed his affection for her in public. They had come a long way from Colt’s hiding in the closet and she had never seen him so free of burdens and lit from within with joy.
It was June and they were having a small get-together on the spot they’d chosen to build their future house. Despite Colt’s assurance that he was done with the house renderings, he’d continued to tweak to his heart’s obsessive-compulsive content for a few months. Eventually he threw the schematics at his lovers and begged them to take it all away from him to give to the contractors so he didn’t go insane trying to achieve perfection. The house had been perfect since she’d first seen it, but that was just Bleu’s opinion.
A small get-together was a bit of an understatement as Alexis’s entire family was there, manning several grills and mixing drinks. They’d brought blankets for sitting on the soft grass in the lovely secluded spot. Bleu had also invited her fellow artists from the shop, along with her brother, who was enjoying ribbing the Yankees on their horrible barbeque practices. The only person from Colton’s corner of their triad was Maggie, who had become a fast friend of Bleu’s. She loved the girl’s effervescent and, at times, blunt nature. Even though Bleu was still struggling with the reality of what Officer Evans had done to her by lying about the baby, she didn’t want Colton to lose his family.
She’d encouraged him to continue attending family dinners although, from what Maggie had to say about it, the dinners were tense and usually ended in an argument between Colt and his father about what had happened. Eventually he stopped going, saying it was just too painful. She knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from his father forever though. The other day she’d spotted some plans for a ramped gazebo she knew was for his parents.
“Why so serious, Bleu girl?” Alexis asked, dishing some ribs onto her paper plate and making the thing weigh so much it almost toppled over.
“I’m just thinking about the last time I ate ribs with you and Colt,” she said, biting into the ribs with a moan of appreciation. Alexis smiled, leaning over and licking away a bit of sauce on her lip.
“Oy! There are children around. Keep it G-rated, yeah?” Liam yelled from where the guys, and a feisty Daniela, were playing a game of soccer. Bleu lifted her middle finger at Liam and leaned in for another kiss from Alex.
“Mind your own business, Irishman!” Colton yelled, wrapping an arm around Bleu’s neck. She sighed, leaning into Colton’s warmth and enjoying the feeling of having a family again. They may not all be blood, but she chose them and they loved her. Alexis took her plate away and stretched out along the blanket, using her folded legs as a pillow.
“Comfy?” she asked, playing with his hair and feeling a light kiss along her shoulder from Colton.
“Mmm. With you as my pillow? Always.”
* * * *
Alexis loved the summertime. He loved the barbeques and the outdoor games and the sun. But lately he was coming to love summertime for a whole new set of reasons. A main one being Bleu’s sexy, smooth legs that she’d been showing off by wearing shorts all the time. He couldn’t help but kiss them as he laid his head in her lap. Sexy wasn’t even an adequate word to describe his lover. She was Aphrodite reborn. Aphrodite mixed with the generosity of Mother Theresa. She went above and beyond taking care of her men in her own cute ways.
And Colton? Colton with the way he walked around the house in the morning completely nude, risking burnt sensitive areas when he brought their coffee to the bed since he always seemed to be the first one up. Colton had this way of consuming a person with his eyes alone. He could give your body a cursory glance and you knew that he was taking in every aspect, every detail, and committing it to memory as if it were the last time he’d look at you.
The things Alexis had learned about his lovers these past few months had been beautiful and enlightening and sometimes terrifying, as Alexis had learned the first time he had to change the litter box for Bleu’s cat, Houdini. And then there was the time Colton had attempted to cook them dinner. Terrifying didn’t come close to describing that meal. He wouldn’t have fed it to the cat it was so bad. They ended up ordering pizza instead of poisoning themselves. But even though Colton couldn’t cook and even though Bleu’s cat shed all over his house, he loved them and wouldn’t change a damn thing.
Alexis couldn’t remember a time in his life when he had been completely at peace with himself and the world around him. Colton moved from behind Bleu and rested his head on Alexis’s stomach, sighing as he stretched and causing the T-shirt he wore to tighten against his sexy muscles. Alexis entwined his fingers with Colt’s and whispered a quiet I love you before letting his eyes droop shut.
* * * *
Colton let Alexis’s steady rise and fall of his chest lull him into a semi-nap state. He was aware of his surroundings but enjoyed that fuzzy dreamlike quality found during sleep. He could hear Alexis’s family playing soccer and the crackle and spitting of coals on the open grill. Bleu was still chowing down on her ribs and humming simple tunes whenever she paused for a moment.
Colton knew his mother and father would have enjoyed this day and the people here. They would love Annabelle and all her crazy college stories and how Daniela was pretty much a carbon copy of Maggie when she was a teenager. Their families would mesh well but Colton knew that it would be a long time before that could happen. The pain his father caused Bleu as the result of one stupid lie was enough to almost break him. He was so ashamed of his father, something he’d never in his life think to say. But he’d said it, to his father’s face at the last family dinner he’d attended. He had berated his own father, his hero, for using his position for his own purposes, and forcing his mother to go against her principles and help him do it. Colton knew then that continuing to go was futile since all they did was fight.
He knew they would reconcile one day, but that day was still far off. Until then, he had a new family to enjoy, and enjoy them he did. Waking up to the sleeping faces of Bleu and Alexis was a gift more precious than life itself. He’d never really known love until he met them.
“Alexis, Colt, wake up.” Bleu nudged them. They rose slowly, Alexis yawning and rubbing his eyes even though he’d only nodded off for a few minutes. Colton couldn’t help it. He had to kiss him. He carded his fingers through the man’s hair and sucked his bottom lip, teasing his tongue with his own before pulling away.
“Now that is just plain ol’ cute,” Amedee said, making Colton realize the entire gathering’s attention was on the three of them. Amedee was holding a beer as if he were going to make a toast. They all laughed in good fun as embarrassment warmed Colt’s cheeks.
Colton helped Bleu and Alexis stand but gave a quick kiss to each on the cheek. “Rain check,” he told them with a wink.
“I just wanted to say,” Amedee began, addressing the party, “that you Yankees make some OK barbeque.” There were some general good-natured groans to that comment. “But what you’ve really done well, that I appreciate more than I can say, is take care of my baby sister. I see how much she loves you two and how much you love her. It may not be what we think of as normal, but it sure as hell is real.” He raised his beer bottle. “To Alexis, Bleu, and Colton…heh, A-B-C.” Bleu snorted and tossed a crumpled napkin at him to some surrounding chuckles. “May your home be warm, your lives be long, and your love be strong.”
“To ABC,” Maggie shouted with a wink at her brother.
Bleu groaned as she raised her glass of sweet tea, trying to hide her smile. “I hope that nickname doesn’t stick.”
Colton was pretty sure it would.
The party clapped and cheered for them, celebrating the new life they were about to begin together. Colton gathered his lovers to him and brought them close for a three-way kiss. Their lips meshed in perfect synchronicity, tasting like love.
THE END
WWW.CERIGRENELLE.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ceri is currently living it up in New York City. And by living it up she means staying at home with her cats and obsessively watching episodes of her favorite geeky TV shows. She does this all while simultaneously reading the next book on her ever expanding reading list. She loves musicals, tattoos, thinks sarcasm should be a national pastime, and would be nowhere without the support of her loving family.
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A Different Kind of Perfect (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 27