Page 21 of Party of Three (Sapphire Cove Suite Secrets)

Once Mateo’s breaths turned slow and even, Jeff slipped out of bed and took a quick shower. Bringing the smell of the ocean to bed with him might trigger a flashback for the man in their care.

When he returned, Buckley was sliding from the sheets, no doubt getting ready to do the same.

Was the guy avoiding his eyes as he moved past him toward the bathroom?

As he snuggled against Mateo again, Jeff found himself turning this worry over in his head, even as he felt comforted by the warmth of the man next to him, who was out cold, felled by the adrenaline crash that follows a panic attack.

Quietly, Buckley returned to bed. When his hand found one of Jeff’s across Mateo’s body, Jeff’s anxiety left him and soon he was sleeping so deeply he wasn’t sure if the sounds that eventually roused him were echoes of a dream.

By the time he sat up in bed, he was alone with Mateo, the memory of Buckley shifting the sheets, tapping the screen of his phone, quietly sliding on clothes, coming to him out of sequence.

He pushed back the drape. No sign of him on the tiny balcony. He searched for a note. There wasn’t one. No text on his phone either.

His heart dropped. The muscles in his upper back felt like a solid, aching plate.

He’d overstepped. He should have talked over his suggestions with Buckley first, given him a chance to play a role.

Buckley was Mateo’s boyfriend, after all.

And what was Jeff? That was a four p.m. tomorrow conversation for sure, but in the meantime, he shouldn’t have swept in all Marine Corps rescue-hero like, making Buckley feel like his past efforts had been weak failures.

He pulled on some of Mateo’s clothes, donned a pair of flip-flops, and headed out in search of Buckley.

In the hotel’s lobby, he caught sight of him. Exactly as Jeff had feared, he was heading for the motor court, phone in hand. A total reverse of how they’d first met the night before.

“Yeah, that’s not how we’re handling this,” Jeff barked.

At the sound of his voice, Buckley spun. Jeff closed the distance between them.

“We made a deal. Four p.m. tomorrow we talk about the tough stuff. So if what I did is something we need to talk about, then we talk about it then. But you’re not going anywhere, firecracker.”

“What you did? ” Buckley asked.

Buckley’s phone let out a chime at the same moment a dirt-splotched Toyota Prius pulled into the motor court behind him, looking out of place among the other black SUVs and idling hotel sedan cars.

“You basically put this whole thing together. So you’re going to see it through with the two of us. You don’t get to hop in an Uber and hightail it out of here the minute things get rough.”

The Prius came to a halt behind Buckley.

He turned to it, but he didn’t go for the back door.

Instead, the driver—a young woman with short, flame-red hair and a tattoo of a slender rosebush crawling up one side of her neck—hopped out, carrying a plastic bag with a CVS logo on it.

She handed Buckley the bag, then her eyes met Jeff’s and she said, “You boys have fun.”

As the Prius pulled off, Buckley approached him. His head was bowed, and he was fighting laughter. He held the bag open so Jeff could see its contents. “She wasn’t an Uber. She was an Instacart driver.”

Condoms. Buckley had ordered them some condoms on his phone.

“A rather familiar one if you ask me.” Feeling his cheeks flame, Jeff took the bag from Buckley’s hands, as if that, and his ornery deflection, would somehow make this moment less awkward.

“What was that about hightailing it outta here , Master Sergeant?” Buckley asked.

“I thought we agreed to lose the rank thing.”

“Sorry, but that was definitely a master sergeant moment. An awkward one for sure, but still…”

“And no making fun of my accent.”

“Oh, I’m not making fun. Believe me. Your accent makes me want to ride you like a horse. Hence the…” Buckley gently batted the CVS bag now hanging from Jeff’s hand. “By your request, remember?”

“You know the hotel’s got a romance kit in the wet bar,” Jeff said, even though he was pretty sure he should stop talking for at least a few minutes.

“It’s only got two, though.” Buckley smiled and waggled his eyebrows.

Feeling both embarrassed and aroused, Jeff turned. “Let’s head back to the room.”

“Yes, sir ,” Buckley answered with what sounded like delight in his voice.

Neither of them spoke until they’d entered the broad lawn that lay between the hotel’s main building and the first row of terraced villas.

“So maybe this is a tomorrow conversation, but I’m thinking this little moment was a bit of projection.” Buckley still sounded thoroughly amused.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. It sounds like a lot of people have walked out on you. Maybe you protect yourself sometimes by walking out first.”

Jeff froze, turned to face the boy who drove him wild in every definition of the word. “Like I did with Mateo, you mean.”

“Maybe.” His voice was soft, his eyes slightly downcoast. Confident, strutting Buckley was trying to be gentle with Jeff’s heart. And his past.

“On the way up from the beach, I should have told you what I was going to say. We could have talked strategy. Made it sound like it was your idea too.”

“Why would I need it to be my idea? You think I brought you back into his life for that? Because I don’t want him to have your wisdom and experience?”

“I guess not.”

At first, Jeff thought the heat on the side of his face was his own embarrassment. Then he opened his eyes and saw Buckley had rested one hand there.

“I like this part, Jeff,” he whispered. Not master sergeant, but his name, which meant Buckley wanted him to hear these words down to his bones. “You and me, trying to make his life better. Together. I like it as much as everything else we’ve been doing.”

“I like it too,” Jeff said.

Buckley’s lips parted, and for a few head-spinning seconds Jeff thought they might kiss right there. But instead, Buckley took his hand and pulled him gently back inside the lobby. “Come on. We don’t want Mateo to wake up alone.”

Mateo was still sleeping when they returned to the villa, but he’d shifted position in bed and was lying on his back, the sheet halfway down his chest, suggesting he’d stirred in their absence.

Buckley set the bag down on the dresser, then crawled across the bed until his mouth was inches above Mateo’s.

He caressed the side of his face gently.

Mateo’s dark eyelashes fluttered. Their lips met gently, then Mateo curved one arm around Buckley’s back, driving their bodies together as he let out a sleepy, satisfied groan.

It thrilled Jeff, observing this moment of intimacy between them.

Their easy confidence with each other’s bodies.

Maybe he had more of a voyeuristic streak than he’d realized.

But they weren’t acting as if he wasn’t there.

They were acting as if his presence were natural, fated, and nothing needed to be held back in front of him.

“Where’d you guys go?” Mateo asked, sounding groggy.

“Jeff had a moment.”

“I didn’t have a moment.”

“He had a moment.”

Mateo’s sleepy eyes met Jeff’s. “What kinda moment?”

“He thought I got jealous and walked out.”

Brow furrowed, Mateo looked up at his boyfriend. “Did you?”

“Nope. I went to get condoms so he could fuck me. A lot.”

Jeff shook his head. “I swear to God, kid. Your mouth…”

“Now he feels kinda silly. But it’s okay.” Buckley gently rolled over onto his back, scooting down Mateo’s body so the man could embrace him from behind. “I’m still going to let him fuck me. If it’s alright with my boyfriend, that is.”

“You two…” Jeff whispered. The aftereffects of the possessive anger he’d felt at the sight of Buckley walking toward the motor court had sharpened his desire. Made him feel like the guy had been snatched away and given back.

“We three,” Buckley whispered in response, his smile fading into a look more intent, hypnotic. A look that made Jeff feel like he was floating up out of his skin, preparing to descend upon the two men before him like a cloud of pure force, pure want.

“That’s all well and good,” Mateo said. “But I believe we’ve got some dares in the bank.”