Page 18 of Party of Three (Sapphire Cove Suite Secrets)

Sapphire Cove’s sundrenched main restaurant sat between the bustling lobby and a soaring wall of plate glass that offered an expansive view of coastal mountains plunging toward the sparkling Pacific.

Buckley was giddy over the fact that he’d gotten both men to agree to his four p.m. Sunday rule.

Now, he figured, they could all stretch their limbs and enjoy every inch of space inside this wild weekend they’d declared for themselves.

Tomorrow, they could worry about the consequences.

Tomorrow, they could talk about what this all meant, and, more importantly, what it might turn into.

Once the server had taken their orders, Buckley said, “Truth or dare?”

Jeff laughed.

Mateo glanced around at the packed tables nearby. “I’m thinking the dare part might be kinda adventurous, papi . Even for us.”

“We do the truth part here, and we bank all the dares. If someone takes that option.”

“Bank them?” Jeff asked with a wry smile.

“For later. In the room.” Buckley waggled his eyebrows.

Until tomorrow’s deadline arrived, he thought it best to schedule their activities, keep them engaged with the steamier side of their adventure in throupling.

He didn’t want to overdo it. Didn’t want to turn into chirpy, needy, ten-year-old Buckley, trying to hold his parents’ focus before their minds wandered to their next luxury vacation—without him.

But too much idle time might lead to insecurity and doubt.

Better they make the most of the hours they had left together before real talk entered the chat.

“I’m down,” Jeff said, “if you go first. Cano?”

Mateo nodded and said, “And Jeff gets first question.”

Buckley nodded. “Deal.”

“Truth or dare?” Jeff asked.

“Truth,” Buckley answered.

Jeff sipped his mimosa, studying Buckley. His intent looks carried more power now, and Buckley found himself suddenly flushed and breathless under its force.

“What’s your biggest fear?” Jeff asked.

“Well, when I was a kid, it was being kidnapped.”

“And now?”

Buckley thought about it for a moment, then told himself that spending a lot of time on this kind of answer was usually a sign you were making one up.

“Getting lost. Like on a hike. You know, getting turned around and losing my way and being too far from civilization to call. I’m not a big wilderness person, so… ”

“You need people,” Jeff said. “I mean, that’s what both of those are about, right? Getting lost, being kidnapped when you’re young. Those are both about being alone. Being abandoned.”

He felt himself flush. “I guess.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Buckley cut his eyes to Jeff’s, startled to be read in this way. For some reason, the admission, that he’d spent most of his younger years feeling like his parents might lose track of him, did make him feel ashamed. Like the feelings were his fault, the cause irrelevant.

“I don’t know…” Buckley’s confidence left him. Jeff Braxton seemed to have that effect. “Do I really have any right to complain? I mean, yeah, so my parents were…eccentric.”

“If by eccentric you mean self-obsessed party animals,” Mateo said quietly.

“Sure, but they didn’t walk out on me like yours did,” Buckley said to Jeff, then to Mateo he added, “And it’s not like they ever rejected me for being gay. I feel like I don’t have any right to complain.”

“’Cause that’s how you felt then,” Mateo said.

“Like if you complained or asked them to be parents for a minute or two, they’d lose interest and you’d be all alone.

It might have been different if you’d had siblings, but you were on your own with them so you always took care of them and tried to be your funny, clever self to keep them entertained. ”

He felt more heat rush to his face and a tingling in his palms. And Jeff’s patient nod only intensified the strange blend of self-consciousness that left him suddenly flushed and breathless.

It was the same confusion he always felt when Mateo made him feel truly seen and loved.

Now it was coming at him from two men, instead of one.

He hungered for more, while feeling paralyzed by a fear he might say or do something to cut off the flow forever.

So he resorted to his old standby. Deflection.

“So you’re saying I’m entertaining? Even with my clothes on?” Buckley asked with a sheepish grin.

Jeff’s low, commanding voice answered. “If you always put other people ahead of yourself, it can make it hard for someone to walk beside you.”

The truth in the master sergeant’s words, along with the subtle message that he wouldn’t be put off by Buckley’s humor, sent a tremor through him.

He thought about how he went over a year without confessing the depth of his fantasies and desires to his boyfriend, all while making Mateo’s fantasies center stage.

But Jeff had made this observation without rising from his seat and making some excuse to leave the way his parents might have in a similar conversation, peppering him with distracted criticisms then leaving him on his own to figure out how to work his way through them.

Even better, when Mateo squeezed his knee, Jeff did the same, causing a matching sensation on the other side of his body. He felt a sudden desire to wilt into both of their arms at once.

“Okay,” Buckley said quickly, “I go next since I just got asked. Mateo’s up.”

Jeff and Mateo cleared their throats, straightening in their seats like little boys trying to broadcast what good students they were.

“Dare,” Mateo said.

Buckley slapped his lap with both hands. “Well, shit! There’s goes my question.”

“Yeah, but later you get to dare him to do whatever you want,” Jeff added.

“Within reason,” Mateo added. “Okay, I get to ask Jeff. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Jeff answered.

“Have you ever been in love?”

Jeff hesitated, gazing into Mateo’s eyes. He swallowed. The tension coursing up the sides of his powerfully built neck caused his veins to pop. “Yes,” he finally said.

With you , Buckley thought. And maybe the men on either side of him were thinking it too, and that’s why no one was saying anything.

He thought it was a good thing, a beautiful thing, even.

A thing that had made this crazy, amazing weekend possible, but it looked like the men on either side of it needed time to process this fact. And suddenly he did too.

Jeff swallowed. “More of a four p.m. tomorrow conversation, know what I mean?”

Which was as good as confirming Buckley’s suspicion.

“Agreed,” Mateo said softly.

The silence that passed over the table was deep and a little dark, and for a second, Buckley thought about cancelling the game.

Then he realized he was feeling pressure on both knees, that under the table, both men were caressing him.

Possessively. Hungrily. The feel of their combined touch, the sense of the three of them having formed a kind of chain together, felt as absolutely correct as the first time he’d kissed a boy.

“Alright, hit me again, Master Sergeant,” Buckley said. But before Jeff could get a word out, Buckley added, “Dare!”

Jeff threw up his hands and smiled.

“Dare,” Mateo said before Jeff could ask him anything.

“This is starting to feel rigged,” Jeff said.

“Truth or dare?” Mateo asked him with a smile.

Giving them both a stern look, Jeff sank back into his chair. Their entrees arrived, allowing all of them to catch their breath.

“Truth,” Jeff said after chewing his first bite of salmon.

“What’s your biggest fear?” Mateo asked him.

“Failure. Not being prepared. I was the kid who always had nightmares about being in a play and no one had given me the script. Or I’d have to give a speech and I couldn’t remember where it was written down. That kind of thing.”

“Well, you’re the most trained and competent guy I know, so it’s paid off, I guess,” Mateo said.

“But sometimes you can’t prepare for the best things in life,” Buckley said. “Besides, failure’s relative.”

Smiling, Jeff met his gaze. “Is that so, firecracker?”

“Sure. I mean, maybe you don’t get one job you really want and then three weeks later you get another better job you didn’t know to hope for.

Or you find out the man you love can’t bottom for you and you’re all torn up about it, and then a year and a half later you find out his amazing boyfriend can take every inch you’ve got. It’s all about the big picture.”

Jeff exploded with laughter. “Is he always this cheerful?”

“Yep. It’s part of what I love about him.” Grinning, Mateo gripped the back of Buckley’s neck gently. “That and his sweet pussy.”

“ Babe! ”

Mateo and Jeff cackled as blood rushed to his cheeks.

“What?” Mateo asked, beaming. “It’s hot that you like it called that. I love it.”

Jeff said, “I’m just amazed there’s something Buckley’s afraid to say out loud.”

“I’m not afraid? It’s just…

“A very good pussy?” Jeff asked. This time, Mateo exploded with laughter.

Buckley slapped his napkin against his lap. “This is a hotel room conversation, not a lunchtime conversation.” The truth was, he was so turned on at two commanding tops teasing him about how much they loved his ass, he thought he might slide off the table into a melting puddle of gay boy.

“Alright, Mister Truth Or Dare At The Table, we’ll keep things nice and clean,” Jeff said.

“Not clean. Honest.”

A silence settled, but Mateo’s smile hadn’t left his face, and he was still gently stroking the back of Buckley’s neck.

“Well, I think we’re being honest when we say if it gets you hot, then it gets us hot.

And it’s nothing to be ashamed of even if some douchebags in the past gave you some grief over it. Right, Braxton?”

“I second that,” Jeff said, his voice a deep, thigh-tickling rumble.

If the table hadn’t had a glass top, he might have sunk to the floor and started working on both of them underneath it.

“Alright, one last round, and we all have to take truth,” Buckley said. “Deal?”