Xander touches my cheek, pulling my attention away from Ethan. He’s sporting one of those ridiculously huge grins that would make me give him anything in the world. “Don’t think he’s the only one who’s fallen head over heels for you.”
“You too?” I ask nervously.
He nods. “Of course I do. What’s there not to love?” Thank you, God, for answering my prayers. “You’re perfect for us in every sense of the word.” He leans down and kisses my cheek. “You’re the woman we want to share our bed and our lives—”
“But—”
“As for your leaving in September, a lot can happen until then.” Xander interrupts me.
“He’s right,” Ethan says. “We were going to keep this as a surprise, but you might as well know now. I’m in the midst of making calls. I’m working through my list of contacts throughout the city. All of them are extremely well-connected. It’s a matter of time before something comes up. I’m very confident that we won’t have to worry about your end date at the gallery.”
“I can’t believe you’d do that for me.” I’m so incredibly moved right now.
“I’m determined to do everything in my power to keep the woman my best friend and I love right here in London.” Ethan reaches out and runs the pad of his thumb against my lips.
“I want nothing more than to stay here with you,” I stretch out my arm for Xander. My two guys embrace me in a long hug. I hold them close, relishing this moment, fully aware that things might have turned out very differently.
“Now that we know how you feel about us and you have the reassurance that it’s very much mutual, I want to know how it was for you having both of us claim you fully?” Ethan asks, pulling away from me and sitting back down on the mattress.
“Once I adjusted to the new sensation of fullness, it was incredible.”
“So it was all pleasure? No pain?” Xander jokes.
“Whoa, buddy,” I lift my hand up. “I wouldn’t go so far. You have a massive cock, Xander.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he mocks.
“You’re right. I knew this from day one, but nothing could’ve prepared me for that. At first it felt like you were ripping me in half, but when Ethan started fucking me, I got lost and forgot all about the discomfort. You were so fucking hard.”
“Because I wanted you so fucking much. Not to mention that being the first one to fuck your virgin ass gave me such a high.”
“Oh.” I blush.
“You’re okay with us doing it again, then?” Ethan is so eager.
“Yes. I loved you taking me so wholly. It made me feel cherished like a queen.” For show, I lie back down on my stomach and sprawl regally.
“You are. You’re our queen of hearts.” Xander’s corny comment is adorable.
We all laugh.
“Other than becoming addicted to riding two cocks in one go, nothing hurts?” Ethan checks.
“Not much.” I shake my head. “I’m quite sore and I have no doubt I’ll struggle to walk tomorrow.” I place my chin on my interlaced fingers.
“There’s nothing wrong with remembering your two boyfriends with every step you take.” Xander grins from ear to ear.
“Funny.” I roll my eyes.
“So you’re good?” Ethan presses.
I look up at him and shrug. “I’m drained and there’s nothing left for me to give,” I lament. “I think I should just take a cab and go back to my place for the rest of the weekend.” I pause to allow my words to sink in.
Slap.
“Not a chance.” Ethan spanks my ass. It’s gentle, nothing heavy-duty, and bonus, he quickly strokes the sting away.
Leery of the fact that I’m so exposed to them to punish me at will, I sit back up. “No, seriously. Isn’t there a limit to the number of orgasms you can have in a row before it starts affecting your ability to think?”
“Don’t worry, sweetness. Since we’re not done with you yet, there’s plenty of time for us to find out if that’s true or not.” Xander bursts my bubble. “Let’s see if your breaking point is four or six orgasms in a row before sunrise.”
“What?” I shriek.
“You heard me.” If the serious expression on his face is any indication, he really isn’t joking.
“Have you lost your mind, Xander? That’s just not possible. I won’t make it.”
Ethan completely ignores my protest and says, “I love the way you think, mate.” He shifts his eyes towards me. “That was lesson 101. We won’t allow you to escape. You’re ours—body, mind and soul.” I so am. “Therefore, we have all weekend long to get you to the master’s level,” Ethan teases. “By Monday morning, you’ll have earned your PhD.” He grins devilishly.
“You two are really determined to break me.” I pout.
“I prefer you think of it as us branding every part of the woman we love so much.” Xander chuckles.
“I second that,” Ethan chimes in enthusiastically. “And since you aren’t going anywhere, we can fuck you with the same kind of ravenous appetite we did tonight every single day of the week.” His comment makes me laugh aloud.
“This is the most amazing day of my life. There are no words to describe how happy I am,” I confess.
“Ditto, sweetheart,” Xander says.
“You belong here with us. End of story,” Ethan concludes.
My heart is bursting with love as the two of them lean forward and take turns ravishing my mouth. I truly am the luckiest girl in the world.
I don’t know how my tale will end, but as long as I’m with the two men I love with all my heart, I don’t really care. I had to cross an ocean to find them and God knows I’ve had to kiss so many frogs before my lips ever touched theirs. I’ll be damned if anything or anyone stands in my way. Nothing will break us apart.
CHAPTER 72
Delilah
Epilogue
One year and three months later
I stand in front of the glass door, watching in disbelief as Percy McAllister goes after the new girl Ashley just hired. Blanca Rollán was a junior curator at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao until last week when she moved to London to take over my position. For the love of God, she’s only been at the job three days, he could’ve at least given her some time to breathe.
I just came out of a meeting with Piper and Katrina to witness this travesty. It’s official, Gemma is right—his delivery guy Nick is Percy’s enabler. Percy did the same thing eight months ago when Ashley hired some temporary help while Benjamin was in Paris and Gemma was in New York and LA. They were both away scoping out new artists. After Ashley brought in Calysta Knight and a flurry of relatively unknown European artists, business picked up like crazy. I guess Londoners were dying for a wave of fresh new talent. Back to Percy. Nick was here on Monday delivering an order I helped Blanca place for a breakfast meeting Ashley had with a bunch of art buyers from Dublin and now just by a miracle, Percy shows up, putting his slimy moves on the poor girl. Eager to save her, I intervene.
“Percy,” I call out, pushing open the door. At the sound of his name, he turns around to look at me. He’s still hunched over Blanca’s desk, but at least I’m able to draw his attention away from her.
He brushes his eyes down the length of my body and back up again before offering me a sleazy side smile. “Delilah, you look positively radiant. Your tan makes your already beautiful eyes pop like precious sapphires. I didn’t realize you were away on vacation.”
I lift the corner of my lips slightly up. No, it’s not a smile. “I got back to London on Sunday and I was back at work on Monday,” I offer.
“Where did you go?” He straightens up and takes a few steps away from Blanca’s desk. “Wait. Let me guess,” he exclaims, holding up his hand. “Ibiza?” I shake my head. “You’re right, that’s so last year.” He crosses his arms over his chest and taps his index finger against his chin. He’s thinking so hard it’s as if he’s looking for a viable solution to end world hunger. “Turkey?” I roll
my eyes. “You’re right. Really bad idea.” His eyes shift up to the ceiling and he moves them from left to right. He snaps his finger confidently. “Porto in Portugal? I hear it’s the in place.”
“Nope.”
“Cyprus? Nick swears it’s like paradise there.”
I decide to put him out of his misery and put an end to the charade. “No, I was in Cape Town for two weeks.”
“Of course,” he says. “I hear Cape Town is the new Ibiza.” That’s a tall order, but I decide not to tackle his misconception. “You went with an organized tour?”
“No, with my boyfriend,” I remind him. Percy McAllister is the last person on earth I’d ever tell about my unusual relationship with my two boyfriends.
In the past year, Ethan, Xander and I have been going to Cape Town for four-day mini-R&R vacations as often as we can. This time we stayed longer because we needed a rest from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives. My boys own some pretty impressive houses here in London, but Ethan’s place in Cape Town is absolutely spectacular. It stretches over many acres of land. It not only has more bedrooms than I’ve ever seen in a house, but the breathtaking backyard is straight out of a sultan’s castle. It’s all decked out with a pool, an outdoors shower, a sitting basin—for when you just want to hang out and not necessarily swim—and a large kickass brick barbecue. The first time we went, I didn’t want to come back. In fact, Xander and Ethan had to drag me kicking and screaming into the cab on the day of our departure. I didn’t know such paradise existed on earth.
“Oh, you’re still with that bloke?” The disappointment in his voice is perceivable. Interesting comment, considering he was just hitting on another woman a few minutes ago. I’m sure he’s really heartbroken. Let’s not forget that he’s known about Ethan—like everybody else at this gallery—for a long time now.
All right, enough. “What are you doing here?” I cut right to the chase. “I don’t recall us placing an order. Not to mention it’s already four o’clock in the afternoon.”
“Well, I was in the area and I wanted to welcome Blanca to the city.”
“I didn’t realize your food shop also offered a welcoming service as well.” Yeah, I’m being very sarcastic.
“We don’t per se, but that’s the British thing to do.”
“Percy, at least if you were here for a delivery, you would’ve had an excuse to fall back on, but as it stands everything about this little visit is creepy.”
“I beg to differ.” He lifts his chin up defiantly.
“Popping by the gallery for the sole purpose of hitting on our Spanish recruit is unacceptable.”
“She may need a friend.” And she’d choose you? “Perhaps she isn’t fluent in English.”
“Actually, I am,” Blanca interjects. “I’ve been studying English for as long as I can remember.”
I snicker internally. “How’s the new baby boy? If memory serves me correctly he just celebrated his first month on this planet.” I’m fully aware that I’m cutting Percy off at the knees.
Percy turns red like a tomato. He clears his throat and shoots Blanca a furtive glance. Busted.
“You have a son?” Blanca enquires. Percy nods. “Congratulations. Babies are so precious.” She’s quick, that one.
“Well, yes, you’re right, Blanca.” He clears his throat again before shifting his gaze to me. “Little Christopher is doing well,” he says in a hesitant voice. “He’s as handsome as his old man is.”
“Right. I have no doubt about that.” Insert sarcasm. “And the new girlfriend?” Yup, you’ve guessed it, Percy moved on to a new baby mama. “Nick says her name is Amanda.” I know I’m adding salt to an open wound. I just can’t help it. She’s the third one in the year I’ve been in London. And yes, he’s impregnated the two others. He has such a busy fuck schedule I don’t even know why he thinks he can add more to his load.
Percy dances from one foot to the other. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and meets my amused gaze. “Look at that. It seems there’s somewhere else I should be.”
“I bet.”
“It was good seeing you again, Delilah. Have a good evening.” With that, Percy turns on his heel and heads to the door. “It was very nice meeting you, Blanca. I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity to see each other again,” he shouts over his shoulder as he rushes out.
Blanca and I look at each other and explode in laughter.
“Thank you so much for saving me. He’s incredibly persistent. Both Katrina and Gemma warned me about him. From their stories, I had at least a two-week grace period before he showed his face.” Blanca is wiser than I thought.
“You mean he’s a pain in the ass. When it comes to him, we have to have each other’s back. I feel like I’ve failed you. I should’ve told you about Percy the Player.” I laugh.
“Honestly, I don’t think any description would do him justice.” She snickers. “You have to live it to believe it.”
“Ain’t that the truth?”
“Amen, sister,” she chimes in, lifting both hands in the air and looking up at the ceiling.
We both lose it.
“On a different note, I just wanted to stop by to make sure you were okay before I head home,” I say.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?” I know I’m being overprotective, but I’m not doing anything Gemma wouldn’t have done when I first started.
“All the other girls are still here and Ashley should be back any minute now.”
“Good. I don’t want to feel like you’re being left alone.”
“Don’t worry about it, Delilah.”
“Is Greg back yet?” I ask. “I haven’t seen him around.”
“He just called to say that his meeting is still going strong and he’ll just go straight home from the artist’s studio. I literally hung up the phone with him when Percy walked into the gallery.”
“Clearly, you have everything under control.” I smile. “There’s only one thing left to do with myself.”
“You’re right. Vete a casa, chica. Go home, girl.” She whooshes her hand at me. “Go get ready for your big date. Do you need me to call you a taxi?”
“Nah. At this time of the day, it will be easy to flag one down. It’s not that busy yet. I guess my job here is done.”
“I think it is,” she responds in her usual chipper voice.
I beam at Blanca and rush back to my office to grab my things. I’ve barely had time to take two steps before my phone rings. I look at the screen and smile wide. “Maggie,” I cheer when I accept the call.
“Dee,” she squeals. “Can you talk?”
“I can. How about you? Aren’t you in a meeting or something?”
“My morning is slow, unlike my afternoon that looks like a marathon. I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk to you, because chances are we won’t connect until tomorrow.”
“Are you hiding in a conference room?”
“Nope.” She laughs. “I’m outside on the terrace overlooking the Big Apple and soaking in as much of this Indian summer as I possibly can. Are you still at the gallery or are you back at home getting ready?”
“I’m still at work. Give me a second. Let me run back to my office so we can talk,” I say as I whiz down the hallway.
“Okay, I’m waiting with bated breath.” She laughs.
Oh, yeah, I have a bona fide office now just like the other more senior curators. A lot has happened in the last year, not only on a personal level, but also career-wise. Benjamin’s regular Paris business trips gave rise to far more than just lining up a number of talented artists. Seven months ago, he was invited to a chichi birthday party for Dane Michaels—a renowned fashion designer. The event was held at the prestigious La Maison Lenôtre on the posh Champs-Elysées. That’s where he met Daniel Baxter. Daniel is a British hairstylist who moved to Paris over a decade ago to marry a French woman. A few years into the marriage, Daniel came to terms with the fact that his attraction to men was more than
a passing thing and that he’d been lying to himself all along. After a very messy divorce, he was able to live his life outside of the closet. After a series of back-and-forth trips for five consecutive months, Daniel asked Benjamin to move in with him. They’re both ridiculously in love and the relationship has seriously softened Benjamin’s abrasive side. With his impressive qualifications, Benjamin was able to find a new position in Paris before he had even unpacked. That’s how I ended up with his office.
“Now we can talk,” I announce as I plop myself into my chair.
“I can’t believe you still haven’t left to get ready,” she says. “If my husband told me that he had something special planned for the night and he forewarned me that it’s formal attire only, I would’ve spent the entire day primping.” She laughs.
“Speaking of which, is the hubby back from San Francisco yet?”
“William flies back first thing tomorrow morning. I miss him so much. I can’t wait to see him. No doubt we’ll be practicing making babies over the next few days and well into the weekend to make up for the two weeks he was away consulting in Cali.”
“Too much information, Maggie.”
“Says the Texan who’s living every woman’s fantasy.”
We both laugh.
William asked Maggie to marry him on Christmas Day last year. When she called me to announce the joyous news, she was so emotional she couldn’t even speak. I was beside myself for her. The two of them are truly meant to be together. He loves her so much. It’s heartwarming to know that she’s finally found a guy who truly worships her. They had a very romantic reception in May in New York. Ethan, Xander and I flew in for the occasion. Since it was all about Maggie’s big day my family had no other choice but to put a lid on drama and show up—even if they pretended I didn’t exist during the entire ceremony.
“Are the two of you still coming to London this coming Christmas?”
“Absolutely. I haven’t seen you since my wedding and that’s way too long. Not to mention that William really likes hanging out with your boyfriends.”
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