The Art of Three Page 7

  As they took their seats at a table, Callum ordered a bottle of wine. Nerea caught Jamie’s eye when the waiter returned to present it. Her expression spoke of long-suffering amusement at Callum’s solemn enactment of the tasting ritual. Jamie could relate. Callum’s insistence on the proper pairing of wine — even with takeout — was somewhat absurd, and now he looked like he was showing off. For who, it was a mystery. Nerea was hardly impressed, the waiter looked placid and bored, and Jamie was already as far gone on Callum as it was possible to be.

  Jamie must have made a face, because Nerea started to laugh, bell-like and girlish. Before the waiter even left — and despite his best efforts and all good sense — Jamie joined her. Which only made everything funnier. Callum looked up at them quizzically; it was like being caught passing notes in school.

  When the waiter had gone, Nerea leaned across the table to touch Jamie’s hand. “I was terrified you didn’t know my husband was ridiculous.”

  He shook his head. “Smitten, not stupid,” he said before slapping his other hand over his mouth in chagrin. He was such a liar. He was smitten and stupid, even though he hated to use that word. “I didn’t mean....”

  “It’s fine.” Her eyes were wide and bright.

  “I was trying to be so good,” Jamie moaned. He glanced at Callum who was rolling the stem of his wineglass in his fingers.

  Callum looked between them, a wrinkle of curiosity between his eyebrows. “Am I missing something?”

  “We’re bonding over how much we like you.” Nerea gave him a flirtatious look over her shoulder. “You don’t need to worry.”

  “He looks worried,” Jamie said, wanting to recapture her attention.

  “Should he be?” Her tone was suddenly crisp.

  Nerea radiated confidence and perhaps even power. Although she still seemed entertained, Jamie was reminded yet again that he was outclassed in every way. Combined, Callum and Nerea had almost four times his life experience. Jamie, worried, glanced at Callum. Had Nerea’s sudden sharpness meant he’d overstepped?

  “Nerea,” Callum said softly. Not a scold, but something else. A man trying to hold back a horse. Or a storm.

  Nerea gave him a reproachful look, and he dipped his eyes apologetically. Jamie wondered how long a couple had to be together before they could communicate so thoroughly in silence.

  “I only meant,” Nerea spoke tartly as the smile crept back to her face, “that I am sure Jamie and I will have lots to gossip about as soon we can get a moment away from you.”

  Jamie flushed. “Oh my God.” At least he wasn’t in trouble.

  “Try the wine,” Callum said.

  Jamie thought he was being rescued from Nerea’s teasing. But Callum watched, his eyes fixed on Jamie’s mouth, as he raised his glass to his lips and took a sip. If pressed to describe it, Jamie would have said the wine had notes of oak and blackberry. And then, because he was painfully aware of Callum’s gaze, he would have gotten lost. Who cared what the wine tasted like when Callum was looking at him like that?

  He set his glass back down.

  “How do you like it?” Callum asked.

  Jamie’s cheeks burned. Nerea put her hand over his on the table again. Suddenly, the question felt like it was about far more than the bottle Callum had selected.

  “It’s good,” Jamie gulped. “Not just the wine. All of this.” He was desperately trying to be clear, but he didn’t have a silent language with either of them yet, which meant he needed to use words as clumsy as they might be.

  “I’m glad,” Nerea said.

  “Really?” Jamie squeaked. He coughed and reached for his water.

  “Really?” Callum echoed in Nerea’s direction.

  “Yes,” Nerea said with a laugh. “Jamie, you’ve charmed me from the time you called me to ask if you could sleep with my husband. Not many people are that brave. Or that polite. I don’t always give Callum credit for good taste, but he chose well with you. I’d like very much to get to know you better.”

  “Oh,” Jamie said, awed.

  Callum smiled warmly at Nerea and covered her small hand with his larger one. Then he leant over to drop a kiss onto her hair.

  Jamie gathered his nerve. “Okay, can you explain something to me?”

  “What’s that?” Callum asked.

  “How do you — how do you two....” he trailed off, hesitant. He took a deep breath. “How did you decide to do things this way?” He gestured to include the table and himself. “Actually,” he added, before either of them could respond, “You probably don’t want to talk about that with people around.”

  “I don’t mind.” Callum shrugged, but Nerea shook her head.

  “Later is probably best. Thank you.”

  Jamie nodded. “Okay. Sure. Yeah.” Frantically, he paged through his brain looking for a safe and appropriate topic of discussion. “Will you tell me how you met then? You must have been really young.”

  “Oh well done,” Callum muttered.

  Nerea shot him a glance Jamie didn’t know how to interpret. “Younger than you,” Nerea said. “I was, anyway. He was not.”

  “It’s true.” Callum spoke with obvious delight. “I’m absolutely terrible.”

  JAMIE WAS HAVING THE best, strangest night of his life, which was saying something. His life had had a lot of peculiar and wonderful nights in the last year. But none of them had felt as easy, intimate, and kind as this. He rested his chin in his hand, rapt as Callum and Nerea finished tag-teaming the story of their meeting, courtship, and wedding. Callum at twenty-six had been a disaster of a human being, sleeping his way through the London theater scene and making sure everyone knew it. Nerea had been only nineteen. He’d needed less freedom, she said. But she’d needed a lot more.

  “I saw her at a coffee shop,” Callum said.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Where else would I have met her? It was here, in London. She was in town for a student art show and I was going about the mess of my life. We were in the queue.” Callum took another sip of wine. “I wanted to pay for her coffee. She said thank you, but no thank you. Then, just as I was ready to crawl into a hole and never show my face to the human race again, she told me that if I wanted to buy her a drink that night she would be most amenable.”

  “Really?” Jamie looked to Nerea for confirmation.

  She nodded. “Really. You’ve seen him, Jamie. If a man like that asked you for something what would you say?”

  “You’re braver than me,” Jamie admitted. He flushed a furious scarlet, barely able to believe he’d maneuvered himself into this moment at twenty-four. He couldn’t imagine having had that type of self-assurance at nineteen.

  Nerea picked up the story. “We went home together that same night. He was living in some horrible little flat in Camden Town, which was awful all the way around back then. But I didn’t care. He was there, and that’s what mattered. Even though I’d only met him hours ago.”

  JAMIE EVENTUALLY EXCUSED himself to the toilet for a few moments alone. As he washed his hands, he wondered how — and what — he was doing. Was he making a good impression? Did Nerea like him? Was he flirting with her? And if so, did he mean to be? For that matter, was she flirting with him? Jamie wasn’t sure what he wanted to happen or what he might do to get it once he figured it out.

  He got back to them just in time to hear Callum say to Nerea, “Invite him yourself.”

  “Invite me where?” Jamie hovered at the edge of the table.

  Nerea tugged him into his seat. “Sit down. We can keep talking here. Or we can keep talking at our flat.” Nerea’s fingers — small, slender, and very warm — curled gently right at his pulse point. Jamie flicked his eyes over to Callum, hardly daring to believe he’d correctly interpreted the unspoken invitation in Nerea’s voice.

  Callum nodded at him in confirmation.

  “That would be great. Okay, yeah. Day off tomorrow.” He had been rendered incapable of speaking in complete sentences. He hoped Call
um and Nerea wouldn’t rescind the offer on the spot.

  THE CAB RIDE TO THE flat was silent. Nerea sat in the middle. Jamie was acutely aware of her warmth, especially where their thighs were pressed together. At one point Callum shifted, Jamie assumed to put an arm around her shoulders, but Nerea leaned forward ever so slightly. Jamie felt Callum’s hand warm on his back. Fingers slipped up under his jacket. Jamie wondered if it were possible to spontaneously combust from anticipation.

  When they got out of the car in front of Callum and Nerea’s building, Nerea frowned and stepped out of her high heels right in the middle of the sidewalk.

  “You’re so tiny,” Jamie exclaimed. He hadn’t realized how high her shoes had been. Or how nice it was to be around a woman who was shorter than him. At five foot eight, most of the actresses and models he worked with definitely weren’t.

  “I’m not climbing those stairs in these,” she said like Jamie hadn’t spoken, gesturing at Callum with the shoes. “This is still an annoying flat.”

  Callum laughed. “You love the flat.”

  “So do you,” Nerea shot back. “Until you hit your head on the ceiling. Again,”

  “The place seemed like a good idea when we got it.”

  It was obviously an old and fond argument. Jamie felt privileged to witness it. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, nervous all over again. Callum and Nerea had decades of physical and emotional intimacy between them. Was he a fool to think there was room for him at all, even for a night?

  Jamie put his doubts aside when Callum gestured for him to follow his wife up the stairs. Nerea swung her hips more than was probably necessary, and Jamie watched her magnificent curves as she climbed the flight ahead of him, her shoes dangling from her hand. Below, Jamie heard the now-familiar sounds of Callum locking the front door behind him.

  His footsteps were still somewhere down a flight when Jamie got to the top landing and was met by Nerea’s smile and a beckoning crook of her finger. His mouth went dry; Callum was all very well and drop-dead gorgeous, but Jamie had never kissed someone as stunning and completely out of his league as Nerea before.

  “Do you not want to?” Nerea asked quietly when Jamie hesitated. She wasn’t being a tease. She, like Callum, genuinely wanted to know.

  “No, no, I really, really want to,” Jamie said, nodding with embarrassing amounts of enthusiasm. “I just....” How was he supposed to say that this was a very nice dream but he was afraid he would wake at any moment? Before he could get the words out, Nerea went up on her toes, slid her slender arms around Jamie’s neck, and kissed him.

  Jamie sighed into her mouth. He had forgotten how nice it was to hold onto someone smaller and softer than him. His arms went around Nerea’s waist, and she didn’t need the gentle press of his hand at the small of her back to step closer to him and deepen the kiss. Her mouth tasted like chocolate and the dessert wine Callum had insisted on ordering.

  By the time Callum reached the landing, Nerea had her fingers in Jamie’s hair. Jamie had turned them around so that she was pressed against the wall next to the door as he pulled at her lower lip with his teeth.

  “Oi, inside,” Callum said as he opened the door. He grabbed Jamie by the back of his jacket to push him through.

  He staggered, caught off-balance, and gave Callum a doleful look at being interrupted.

  Callum looked at Nerea as he shut and locked the door behind the three of them. “I get to say this so rarely, but you are a bad influence.”

  Nerea laughed as she walked Jamie backwards, deeper into the apartment. She tugged his collar open and then went to work undoing his shirt buttons.

  Well, Jamie thought happily, straight to the bed, then.

  Chapter 11 - Callum realizes his wife and his boyfriend have hit it off really well

  Jamie rocked in to work on Monday with little more than a nod for Callum and faint shadows under his eyes. Callum could hardly blame him. After the weekend the three of them had enjoyed, he felt exhausted too and without the benefit of youthful recovery. Still, he wanted to check in with Jamie. He knew the hours alone after such a spectacular — and somewhat accidental — date could be difficult, especially on someone new to such adventures.

  They didn’t get a chance to talk until lunch. Callum slid in across from Jamie at a table in the studio’s ancient cafeteria and smiled at him. The boy was twisting his napkin into bits; apparently Callum’s concern was not entirely misplaced. Callum was determined to make sure Jamie was okay. And if he wasn’t, figure out how to help him be okay.

  “How are you?” he asked, trying not to feel as if he were back in school and having drama with any girl or boy who would let him.

  “Not quite in a state to be honest in public?”

  Callum frowned. That could mean a lot of things, from emotional distress to pleasurable distraction. “Not bad, I hope?”

  Jamie shrugged. “Nah.”

  “You’re a terrible liar,” Callum observed mildly.

  Jamie squinted up at him. “What makes you say that?”

  Callum used the excuse of reaching out to take the poor, abused shreds of napkin out of Jamie’s hands to finally touch him. He’d been aching to all morning. “Happy people don’t destroy the napkins.”

  “Clearly you’ve never met my parents’ dog. But I’m okay. I think.”

  In this moment Callum hated that they worked together because the deepest reassurance he knew how to give was physical. After all, he was an actor and often only adept with words when other people wrote them. Still, Jamie needed him to try. “Shall we have dinner this week? Just you and me? And then we can talk?” Callum asked. As wonderful as the weekend had been, he wanted to make sure he and Jamie got some time with each other without having to worry about anyone else.

  Jamie’s attempt to be brave collapsed. Callum kicked himself as he realized his likely error. Young and uncertain as he was, Jamie thought Nerea didn’t care for him beyond this weekend’s fun.

  “Nerea thinks you’re lovely,” he said, voice clear and crisp and insistent. “And you should have dinner with the both of us again and soon. But while having her in town changes things with my schedule — and yours — I want to make sure I set time aside to spend with you on your own. If that’s something you’d like.”

  Jamie’s smile returned, albeit a bit sheepishly. “I would like that very much.”

  “Good,” Callum said, relieved he’d made Jamie relax and delighted he’d made him happy.

  Until Jamie said “Fuck!” and buried his face in his hands.

  Callum was alarmed. Had he done something wrong, overlooked something particular that would upset the boy? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, but he’d been working hard to handle this affair right. “What is it, darling?” he asked.

  Jamie peeped out at Callum from between his fingers at the pet name. Which Callum possibly shouldn’t have used at work, but the young man was so dear it was impossible to keep himself in check.

  Jamie removed his hands from his face. “If we get together — assuming Nerea’s going to want your flat to herself — you’ll have to come over to my place.”

  “And?”

  “And,” Jamie admitted, the tips of his ears flushing red, “my place is kind of a pit.”

  CALLUM SPENT THE REST of the afternoon watching Jamie closely. Jamie was engaged in the work whenever he was actively doing it, but between shots Callum caught the boy worrying his bottom lip between his teeth more than once. That was a new habit and suggested he was working up courage for something. Whatever it was, Callum suspected it was better than his earlier fretting, but beyond that, he had no idea.

  Jamie eventually cornered Callum at crafty.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course,” Callum said, trying to project affection just in case this was another round of insecurity. But Jamie didn’t look upset the way he had at lunch, and Callum hoped he would stay that way.

  “I’m getting wrapped early today.”<
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  “Now you can go home and clean,” Callum teased. He hoped Jamie would go home and sleep. Eight hours a night was a rare commodity when working on a film, no matter the schedule the union theoretically promised. And, though the three of them had spent all weekend in bed, very little of that time had been spent asleep.

  “Would you mind if I went to hang out with Nerea?” Jamie blurted.

  “You can do whatever you’d like.” Callum tried to hide his surprise. “So can Nerea.” He didn’t quite know what Jamie was up to but was curious to find out.

  “I don’t have her phone number.”

  Callum cackled and fished his mobile out of his pocket. Quickly, he thumbed a message to her. The very brave boyfriend I shared with you would like me to share your phone number with him.

  The reply came almost immediately. You’re both ridiculous.

  Is that a yes? Callum keyed as Jamie shifted his weight from side to side.

  Yes, of course. Tell him I eagerly await his call.

  Callum smiled to himself. He could hear her every word and knew she was likely as mystified by this request as he was. He hit a few more buttons and Jamie’s mobile chimed.

  “Go have fun,” Callum said. “I’ll text one of you when I get out.”

  SHORTLY AFTER EIGHT, Callum unlocked the door to his flat quietly, in case Nerea and Jamie were asleep after whatever they’d gotten up to. But while the lights were on, no one was immediately apparent. The bed was made as neatly as Nerea always kept it. Callum frowned and looked toward the bathroom, but the lights were off and there was no sound of water. Apparently they weren’t indulging themselves with the only decent water pressure in London, either.

  “You are both being very confusing,” he muttered as he set down his bag. Then he heard Nerea’s laughter from the passageway to the roof.