Page 24 of Party of Three (Sapphire Cove Suite Secrets)

In the battle that consumed their last night at Sapphire Cove, Mateo resolved to stay neutral. That way he could sit back and savor the sights and sounds of the two men he loved most as they passionately debated which was the better franchise— Star Wars or Star Trek.

While asserting that Rogue One was one of the greatest movies of all time, Jeff used his typical, precise hand gestures and spoke with a low, focused intensity that sent chills up Mateo’s spine.

Buckley, on the other hand, sat upright on the edge of the bed, looking bright-eyed and eager—and utterly kissable—as he delivered a perky lecture on how Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a historically significant film that offered up a warm-hearted exploration of America’s Cold War anxieties at the end of the Reagan era.

The last line sounded lifted from someone’s blog, but Mateo thought that only made the little sermon more adorable.

Jeff listened intently, then once Buckley was done, he nodded a few times and said, “Your boyhood love of humpback whales does not a good movie make, firecracker.”

Unleashing a burst of whale song that also sounded like a warlike cry, Buckley lunged.

Suddenly the two men were cackling as they wrestled on the bed.

Mateo joined in, and a few seconds later Buckley was pinned and the two of them were lightly spanking his creamy white cheeks until they turned rosy, which, of course, gave Mateo an immediate, raging hard- on, reminding them all that he hadn’t come during their earlier session.

It was heaven, lying back on the comforters while they lathered him with hungry attention.

When they finished him off, the bliss coursed through him in several pulsing waves that twisted his legs against the sheets, then he watched, breathless, as Buckley passed his still seed-slick cock from his own mouth to Jeff’s, allowing the older man to suck up all the pearly threads Buckley had missed.

Once he’d caught his breath, Mateo said, “Sorry, but House Atreides can beat all the starship and stormtrooper ass you throw at it.”

“Help,” Buckley muttered into the pillow, “my boyfriend’s a Duniac.”

More laughter, more champagne, a dinner from room service Jeff insisted on putting on his card, then a deep, dreamless sleep more contented than any he could remember.

Until it was interrupted by a ringing phone.

Mateo’s eyes popped open to a sundrenched room and the sudden, heavy realization that today was the day this blissful, magical weekend came to an end.

The call was from room service. Buckley’s old friend, the general manager, was offering them a free breakfast, but the kitchen would be turning over to the lunch menu in half an hour.

My God, Mateo realized. They’d slept until ten.

He alerted the men in bed, then headed for the shower.

When he emerged, Buckley was using the in-room coffeemaker and Jeff was seated on the edge of the bed, scrolling through his phone, clearly waiting for his turn under the spray. The mood was quiet. Disconnected. Tense with morning-after vibes.

With a polite smile, Jeff darted past him into the bathroom.

Once he’d pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, Mateo sidled up to Buckley at the coffeemaker and embraced him from behind. Buckley wilted into him. Together they listened to the coffeemaker’s gurgle competing with the rush of the shower.

A short while later, Jeff emerged, wrapped in a towel. “Buckley, you’re up.” Brusque, officious. Like they were all on base.

When his boyfriend headed past Jeff with little more than a glancing touch on the small of the man’s back, Mateo’s doubt turned to dread.

Was this really going to come to an end that quickly?

Or was he reading too deeply into their smallest gestures because he was nervous as hell about their meeting that afternoon?

“Got another outfit for me?” Jeff asked.

Mateo nodded and went to his weekend bag.

He was about to hand the folded jeans and a polo shirt to Jeff when his muscles all seemed to freeze in one instant.

“Listen,” he started, but he wasn’t sure what he was going to say.

Maybe something about moving up their big discussion so it wouldn’t be hanging over their heads all day.

Then the villa’s doorbell rang, startling them both. Breakfast had arrived.

After giving the waiter a cash tip, they transferred the plates to the little dining table. In distracted silence, the three of them scarfed down their breakfasts, the laughter and ocean sounds drifting in through the open deck door like some radio transmission from the other side of the world.

Jeff finally broke the silence with, “You were saying?”

It took Mateo a second to realize the man was talking to him.

Maybe twenty minutes had passed since he’d first started trying to put his thoughts together while handing Jeff a change of clothes, and the man was acting as if it had only been seconds ago.

Jesus, we’re freaked.

“I can’t remember.” That was a lie. He could totally remember. Moving the meeting up, that’s what he’d been about to suggest. Why was he too nervous to suggest it now?

Silence descended again.

Jeff scarfed down his last bite of eggs Benedict and pushed the plate back.

“Okay, here’s the plan.” For a second, Mateo thought his old crew chief was about to start the big talk right there, and his heart raced from a blend of anxiety and relief.

“Checkout time’s at four, right?” Buckley nodded.

“We should sit down and talk this out at two then. Fine. So I need a few hours to put my thoughts together before then. Do y’all know if this place has a business center? ”

Buckley furrowed his brow. “I think so. Why?”

“This meeting needs an agenda.”

“Like a written agenda?” Buckley asked, sounding shocked.

Jeff nodded, folding his napkin as he rose to his feet. “I prefer to put my thoughts in writing. Helps me get clear about stuff.”

“Okay, but is it fine if I don’t?” Buckley said.

Jeff nodded. “Y’all do what you need to do. Before the meeting, I mean. At around two, I’ll meet you guys back here and we’ll talk through all this.”

Before he could stop himself, Mateo rose to his feet. “That’s hours from now. You’re just going to wander around by yourself?”

“I’m going to the business center. That’s all.” Mateo must have looked doubtful. “And y’all can take the time to get on the same page about this.”

“Whatever we have to say about this we should all say in front of each other.”

Jeff seemed shocked. He clearly wasn’t used to being bossed around by one of his old junior Marines.

Or bossed around at all. But wasn’t that what this entire weekend had been about?

Seeing new sides of each other? He wasn’t the Mateo Jeff had known a year and a half ago.

If he’d been as confident and in touch with his sexuality back then, maybe their weekend in San Diego would have resulted in something like this.

Something that felt like it had potential.

But that wouldn’t have been possible because he hadn’t met Buckley yet.

And it was Buckley who made this possible, Buckley who had brought him and Jeff together in ways they’d never connected before.

And maybe he should say all of this right now, right here.

But that might catch Buckley off guard.

The three of them had made a plan, an agreement, and they should stick to it.

“I’m not going anywhere except the business center, Cano. I promise.”

But he left without kissing either of them good-bye.

Even worse, he was back to calling Mateo by his last name.

As he watched Jeff leave, Mateo felt Buckley’s hand close around his. He brought it to his lips and kissed Buckley’s fingers, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the heavy door that had swung shut.

“How about a walk, babe?”

Mateo nodded.

The staircase that led to all the villa entry doors descended downhill toward a paved pathway with a stunning view south down the coast. It felt like one of the resort’s more secret spots.

The folks who wandered the walkway’s main portion outside the hotel’s ballrooms probably assumed the pathway’s sudden sharp turn in front of the villas meant it was a space exclusively reserved for villa guests.

The two of them leaned against a ranch-style fence that looked solid and stylized, the kind of recreation-rustic you’d find in an amusement park.

Beyond, ice plant formed a heavy pelt along the top of the bluff.

The insides of its thick green leaves were rose colored, like they were blushing at everything that had happened just uphill that weekend in villa 6E.

“A written agenda.” Buckley laughed under his breath. “Guess I should have seen that one coming.” Mateo smiled, but he was still rattled by how much his fear had taken control of him. Buckley curved an arm around him and pulled him close. “Well, should we get on the same page like he said?”

Mateo turned to him. “I’m not sure where to start.”

“Start with what scares you the most. I promise to walk through it with you. That’s my job.”

After a deep breath, Mateo said, “I really liked everything we did this weekend. No, that’s not true.

I loved everything we did. But I’m not sure I could have done it with anyone else.

Anyone who wasn’t Jeff. And I’m worried that after everything we talked about that’s not going to be enough for you. ”

Buckley smiled, seeming unfazed by Mateo’s deepest fear. “Those fantasies, the Vegas thing, the bachelor party, those aren’t things I really want to do. But you were right. They’re all about the same thing. You deciding who to share me with. You making me yours.”

“The bachelor party fantasy, though. That was different. That’s kinda about betrayal.”

“Well, if I asked you to do it, it wouldn’t be a betrayal, would it?”

Mateo couldn’t help but laugh. He held Buckley’s face in his hands as he gazed into his eyes. “For me, there’s a big difference between sharing you with Jeff and being inside another man who’s not you. I’m not sure I’m all that crazy about the second thing.”

Buckley smiled. “So my ass is one of a kind?”

“It is, but be serious, papi .”

Buckley looked up into his eyes. “If it’s not something you want to do, then it stops being a fantasy for me. And I have to say I don’t mind being the only man you want to be inside of. But for me, being shared by you is about being owned by you. And that’s what I want more than anything.”

“And if I don’t want to share you with anyone other than Jeff?”

Buckley raised one eyebrow. “You realize you’re giving up the opportunity to rail some hot bottom in the middle of our bedroom while I watch?”

“I’d have to be in love with them, and you’d have to be falling for them, too.

Because that’s what made this weekend work for me.

I mean, that is what’s happening, right?

You’re falling for each other. Hard. And I already love you both, so the sight of it, the way you two are with each other, it makes me…

thrilled. I don’t know how else to describe it. ”

Buckley’s eyes fluttered shut. He shook his head gently. “You don’t have to describe it. I can feel it. Last night, when the two of you were…”

That Buckley, who never had trouble using the frankest of sexual terms, had suddenly gone silent while describing one of their sessions, was a sign that he’d been transported by the memory of it.

“It was like I could feel what the two of you feel for each other moving through me. And it was… I thought I was going to die. But, like, a good death. A happy death.”

“Don’t the Italians call an orgasm the little death?”

Buckley caressed the side of his face. “That’s the French, but don’t worry. You’re cute.”

They listened to the surf for a while.

“So if we do this…” Mateo finally started, forcing himself to take another breath before he continued. “You would be okay if it was just the three of us. You, me, and Jeff. And no one else.”

“Beyond okay.”

“And if he says this was just a one-time thing?”

Buckley lifted his head from Mateo’s chest and gazed up at him with a wistful smile. “We’ll always have zucchini.”

Shaking with laughter, Mateo slapped Buckley lightly on the ass with one hand.