Ocean’s Three (Made In Heaven #2)
- See more at: http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=24165#sthash.0gY9NSo2.dpufTHREE MADE IN HEAVEN (Made In Heaven #1)
Blurb: Maddie Sutton always felt something missing until the day she met Charlie and Cole. What started out as a childhood friendship slowly developed into an all-consuming love. Her biggest problem is that she can only see them in her dreams. Maddie realizes that to lead a normal life, she would have to let them go. After all, they’re only a fantasy…or are they?
Charlie Gilbert and Cole Mercer are both very real. For years they have loved and pined for Maddie, meeting up in dreams set in different locales. Afraid of making her choose between them, they keep their feelings hidden until finally realizing that the three of them belong together. How can they convince Maddie if she doubts their existence? When Charlie starts to doubt, Cole springs into action and brings them all together.
Now that they have found each other, they vow to never let go, but when an unknown danger looms over Maddie, Charlie and Cole will do anything to protect her, even if it means risking their own lives.
- See more at: http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=17622#sthash.1INJQ3WA.dpufStory Excerpt:
“Are you a virgin?”
“Excuse me?” Jocelyn turned around abruptly. Her eyes widened at Cameron’s grinning face, though her dark shades prevented him from seeing. She still felt the tickle of his breath by her ear where he had just whispered his comment, and her body shivered in response. She glanced down at her vintage Madonna T-shirt from the “Like a Virgin” tour and broke out into hysterical laughter. She fondly remembered their long-running joke about taking T-shirts literally. What a way to break the ice, she thought as Cameron’s eyes crinkled with amusement. Reed stood beside him trying to look pissed at her, but failing miserably. Finally, he gave her that lazy grin she loved so much.
After a few moments, Jocelyn’s laughter subsided. She needed the levity after the turmoil that had been wreaking havoc on her insides. Now she felt that not too unpleasant ache in her ribs, the kind you get after a good hearty laugh. She also felt heat pooling in her lower belly as both Reed and Cam’s gazes and perusal of her body looked almost carnal. She wasn’t wearing anything terribly sexy over her bathing suit. At least she didn’t think so. The T-shirt she wore actually belonged to her mom from her concertgoing days, and was therefore precious to Jocelyn. It hung a little off her shoulder, and in paying homage to the eighties, she tied one side of the shirt in a knot that rested on her hip bone. Completing the ensemble, a pair of khaki shorts, flip-flops, a backpack slung over her shoulder, and of course, the sunglasses to cover up her bloodshot eyes. Thankfully, no one from her wedding party noticed her eyes since she decided to skip having breakfast with them and opted for room service again.
“Why did you run, Joss?”
“You really are real,” she whispered, then found herself at a loss for words. She had already accepted the fact that Cameron and Reed were not figments of her imagination, but she needed to voice it aloud, and seeing them again only helped to reaffirm their existence and made her feel even worse for running out on them last night, not taking their feelings into consideration. They must have been just as shocked seeing her as she was them, even though they had never doubted her existence. “I-I—”
“We weren’t with those girls,” Reed said, looking serious again. “We were just dancing with them. Are they the reason you ran?”
Jocelyn couldn’t help the slight smile curving her lips at Reed’s revelation. Come to think of it, she didn’t see the blond bimbos from last night anywhere. “No. Yes. I don’t know. I guess I just freaked out at seeing you both. I don’t even understand how this is possible.”
“I know,” Cameron said. “We have a lot to talk about.” Then he and Reed both smiled reassuringly, and she saw that they had already forgiven her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, with a shaky smile. “I promise not to run again. Now that I see you, now that I know you actually exist… Well, no matter what happens…” She was struggling with finding the right words again, struggling to tell them that she would accept them any way she could have them, and that this time, if they still wanted her in their lives, she would not disappear on them again.
“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Cameron asked, putting her out of her misery. He actually looked a little nervous.
She was glad it wasn’t just her nerves because if the butterflies in her stomach had gone crazy just at the sight of Cameron and Reed, they were behaving absolutely berserk now at their nearness. The smells of two different kinds of aftershave along with two uniquely musky scents were downright delicious. They made her mouth water. She wanted to jump up and down and tell them yes, yes, yes, I’ll go anywhere with you, or take me now would also suffice, but duty called. “I can’t,” she finally managed to say instead.
At the sight of Cameron and Reed’s crestfallen expressions, she quickly explained about the job that brought her on the cruise. They were currently docked in Split, Croatia, standing by the gangway, where Jocelyn would be going on an excursion to the Diocletian Palace with the bride and groom. The rehearsal dinner later that evening, followed by the actual wedding tomorrow—pretty much an all-day event—would leave very little time for them to talk these next two days. She felt their anxiety as well as her own at not being able to get reacquainted after such a long separation.
“What a coincidence,” Cameron said. “We’re going on the same excursion. Excuse me a moment.” With that, he winked at her, turned on his heel, and strode off, leaving her with a very confused-looking Reed. Reed schooled his features quickly, but Jocelyn had a sneaking suspicion that Cameron was headed toward the Shore Excursion desk.
Made In Heaven Series
STORY EXCERPT
“Six months, Maddie!” Charlie roared. “More than six fucking months go by before you show up again.”
“I’m sorry,” was all she could say.
They were once again in a setting that Maddie chose, The Bronx Zoo. She was walking slowly in front of them, afraid to turn around and see the matching disapproving stares that they were surely giving her. How could she possibly explain to them the reason she stayed away? She wasn’t even sure that she should be with them now, but she missed them to point of feeling physical pain.
She wondered if her men noticed yet that they were walking through the African Plains attraction, only they were inside with the animals. Only a few feet away from them, a lion was lazing around in the grass. When Maddie finally turned around to face Charlie and Cole, she winced at the look of hurt etched on both their faces. At that moment she wished that the lion would come and attack her and swallow her up whole. She felt like she deserved nothing less. The traitor lion just continued to ignore them and proceeded with his lazing.
“I met someone,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Is that right?” Charlie’s tone was acidic, hurt and anger radiating off him.
“That’s your big excuse,” Cole spat. “We thought something must have happened to you. And so what if you met someone? Charlie and I never stayed away when we were dating someone. Suddenly we don’t matter to you?”
“No, Cole. No, that’s not it at all,” Maddie pleaded. Her lip trembled. She was on the verge of tears.
It was true that neither of them had ever stayed away that long. As a matter of fact, as the years went by, they saw each other more and more frequently. Even after the first time, their separation was less than three months. But she couldn’t tell them about the guilt she felt for having a boyfriend and how it made her feel unfaithful to them and unfaithful to Josh.
She had met Josh in Paris. He and his buddies had also been “traipsing,” as Cole had put it, through Europe. Josh was from Connecticut, but it turned out that he too would be attending Rutgers University in the fall. She liked him. Toward the end of the summer she had slept with him. But Maddie couldn’t help but feel that she somehow betrayed Charlie and Cole. The guilt kept eating away at her every time she was intimate with Josh. And she felt as if she was lying to Josh by omission. No matter how close she became with him, it didn’t change the fact that Maddie’s heart still belonged to her men. Maddie knew that she would never stop loving Charlie and Cole, but being with them seemed impossible. And she thought that if she were ever going to allow herself to have a normal relationship, she would need to stay away from them.
Her heart ached every day for six months until the separation became too much to bear.
“Did you fuck him?” Charlie barked, his anger escalating.
Maddie gasped. “Don’t you dare speak to me that way, Charlie! And so what if I did? What did you expect? You guys get to fuck other girls and I should…what? Be celibate for the rest of my life?”
Maddie saw the wide-eyed look of horror on their faces as she wiped angry tears from her cheeks. They had made her cry. In an instant, she was wrapped in their embrace. They petted her hair, kissed her cheeks, rubbed her back, and whispered apologies.
“I–I’m s–sorry,” Maddie stuttered. “I d–didn’t m–mean to m–make you w–worry. I’m s–so s–sorry.”
“Shhh, baby, it’s okay. Hush now,” Charlie crooned. “Just don’t ever do that to us again.”
“I w–won’t. I promise,” she sniffled.
Charlie and Cole held Maddie until she stopped crying. When they released her from their embrace, they each took hold of one of her hands.
“Do you love him?” Cole asked, his voice low and gravelly.
“No, I don’t,” she said easily.
Maddie thought she imagined the relief she saw on both of their faces. After all, if they felt the same way about me as I do about them, surely they would tell me, she thought.
“Let’s go before that lion decides to eat us,” Charlie said.
Get ready to set sail…and meet the men of your dreams.
BLURB:
Cameron Pompeo has always seen things, felt things, he could not explain, the biggest of which is a young girl named Jocelyn, who appears nightly in his dreams. When his cousin Reed Pompeo suddenly shows up in his dream, Cameron realizes that not only does Jocelyn exist, but she will be important to them both.
After a tragic accident kills her mother, Jocelyn Parker struggles with her guilt. She pushes away the two most important people in her life as a form of self-punishment and tries to convince herself that she made them up, despite the fact that a sense in the very depths of her soul tells her that they’re real.
A cruise to the Mediterranean finally brings the three of them together. There, they make real memories and promises to each other, but what happens when the cruise is over? Will their love be strong enough to survive the outside forces that threaten to destroy their happiness?