Milo squeezed Cliff’s hands and then opened his eyes. Between them, Eve blinked sleepily and murmured, “Damn, I hope this isn’t all a dream.”

Cliff watched as Milo grinned and leaned down, offering her a gentle kiss on the forehead. He found Milo could be sweet, once you broke through that crusty, prickly outer layer that he insisted on wearing like a shield. “I don’t know if most dreams are packed with this much sensation,” Milo replied, drawing himself out of her. She groaned as he went, and Cliff felt the same way. He wanted more. He wanted to spend the night here. He wanted to do it all again. But he knew this moment was drawing to a close. Eve stood up and Milo turned, climbing from the water and collecting his white terry cloth robe.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that they had walked toward this Jacuzzi with futile promises of no touching.

Eve drunkenly clambered out next, and Cliff’s hands went automatically to her hips, guiding her up the steps.

“Yeah, it felt real enough,” she agreed, with a loopy little giggle. “I guess it’s just this place that feels like the dream.”

Milo walked to the nearby bedside table and scooped up a folded set of towels tucked into its bottom drawer. He tossed one to Cliff, then draped another around Eve’s body and knotted it for her. He wrapped a third one around himself as Eve continued talking, “The fluffy snow and candlelight everywhere, it’s like living inside of a snow globe. The buildings all look like those glass Christmas villages that stores always put out in November.” She giggled again and pointed into the hot tub behind them all now. “My clothes are in the Jacuzzi.”

Sure enough, a pair of soaked hosiery and one bra were bubbling up with the water.

Cliff went to the ledge of the stairs and scooped the hose out for her, wringing them dry.

“That’s okay, baby,” Eve replied. The affectionate term rolled so naturally from the tip of her tongue. “Thank you.” She took the damp clothes away, draping them over the suspension bar in the bathroom to dry. As she moved around the suite, spritely and invigorated, Cliff dried off and tugged his corduroys on. Milo went to extract some clothes from the suitcase still hanging open on the other side of his and Eve’s king-sized bed.

“Just a few months ago,” Eve started, wiggling into a sheer, lime-green negligee, “I was thinking of this freaking wedding with total horror.” She leapt onto the bed and grinned at the two of them. Cliff could see her nipples through the fabric of her nightgown. Her hair was wild, like a goddess, and she fell forward onto her palms on the bed, her ass coming up, as if she was ready for another round. She grinned at him. She had no idea how sexy she looked. That was always the best kind of woman, Cliff thought.

“A few months ago,” Eve continued, “I was only thinking about myself, and I didn’t want to show up and be all, ‘Oh, I caught Trent cheating on me, oh, I got fired, blah, blah.’ But life is better now. Life is simpler now.”

“Because of us?” Milo went on, grabbing a plain white t-shirt from his case.

“I don’t know,” Eve answered earnestly. “My blogging has turned into a job I love. It pays well and I feel happier.” Eve’s lip quirked with an impish kind of pride in herself. “And then there is you.” Her eyes tipped over toward Cliff. “And you,” she added.

Milo shrugged on the t-shirt and settled beside Eve on the bed. She flipped onto her back, laying upside down on the bed, so that her head was at its foot. She gazed up at Cliff. “I used to feel like I needed to settle down with Trent, or anybody, whatever, just right away. Like—like I didn’t have anything, and I needed to secure something for myself. I needed to be something, or to be anything, truth be told.”

“I know that feeling,” Cliff admitted. It was the same feeling which had spurred him to marry Allison when he was around Eve’s age.

“Right,” Eve agreed, rolling onto her belly. Cliff scooped up his sweater and shrugged it back on, preparing for the trek back to his own room. Neither Eve nor Milo seemed to notice that he wasn’t getting dressed for bed with them. “But now,” Eve continued, “I don’t know. Now, I have something. I don’t need to settle down. I don’t need a label. I’m happy all on my own. I haven’t even been thinking about how I’m still technically single. I haven’t called Josh and Brie’s wedding stupid once!” she exclaimed, kicking her feet merrily.

She did seem very happy—then again, Cliff and Milo had just finished pounding one orgasm after another into her. She could be riding this high for days.

“And you boys. I love you both so much.” Eve sighed heavily, rolling her head back and forth. “Nothing really matters as long as I have you. As long we have this.”

Cliff was hardly listening; his rational side was gradually regaining control. Society didn’t really have a place for their type of relationship. What box would they check on government forms? Aside from that there were other complications. If Eve got pregnant from this night, how could they ever know who the father was? They could never be legally married.

It was just so much to think about. If he was just a boyfriend, either gay or straight, all those questions got answered. But this was all gray area. How could he explain it? To anyone?

“Hey, Cliff?” Milo called, snapping the other man from his trance state. He blinked and tried to reground himself in this moment, though he felt a million miles away just now. “You wanna come lay with us?”

“I’m wiped,” Eve agreed, throwing herself backward onto her pillow.

“I—don’t know,” Cliff replied. He took an uncertain step back. Where were his shoes? “I should get to my own room. I didn’t mean to…” He flailed one hand around, uncertain of the word he was looking for. “All this,” he finished. “I can’t…” Again, the phrase evaded him.

“Come on, babe,” Milo called to him from the bed. “Not again.”

“Not what again?” Eve piped, sitting up, realizing something was amiss. “What’s happening?”

“This one is trying to get out of here,” Milo deduced.

“I am not,” Cliff lied. He felt his face begin to flush against his will. “I just—the bed won’t fit all three of us.”

“We can squeeze,” Eve volunteered.

Cliff wasn’t even really listening to her answer. His eyes were scouring the suite for his boots. “How are you going to introduce us to your parents tomorrow?”

Eve’s brow furrowed. “Umm, As Cliff and Milo?”

Cliff scooped up his boots. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe this works better for you guys than it does for me.” The real world was seeping back in, and it was staining everything.

“Not again, Cliff,” Milo moaned. He stood and tracked Cliff down the stairs. “It doesn’t have to be like this,” he insisted. There was no reason they couldn’t all be happy together. This wasn’t Allison anymore. This wasn’t his first marriage anymore. If Cliff was ready to change his life, it could happen. What the fuck was holding him back?

“I guess I still…” Cliff sighed and jammed his foot down into a boot. He had to get out of here. He hated how confrontational Milo got when he didn’t see things his way. He didn’t want to fight; he just wanted to leave. He just wanted to be left alone. “I still feel like being with two people is just crazy.” He jammed his other foot into his other boot and quickly laced them both. “No one does that.”

“Who cares?” Milo boomed.

“I care!” Cliff insisted. He hated fighting, and he hated yelling. “My son will care! My parents will care!”

“I really don’t think your parents will care,” Eve promised him with utmost sincerity. “They handled the two of us showing up at Galen’s birthday party like fucking champs.”

Cliff turned to her, ready to vent all the defensive rage that was building up toward Milo, but her big emerald eyes were just blinking at him and her little pink mouth smiled over at him like some innocent anime angel. He couldn’t yell at her. He couldn’t do it.

“They seemed to understand it more than I did, at the time,” she went on. Cliff knew she was trying to help, but he didn’t want her help. He didn’t want anything.

“I don’t want to have to explain it,” Cliff insisted. Some quiet savagery remained in his voice. “The three of us will have to explain to everyone we meet, again and again and again, what we are. And I don’t want to do it. I don’t.” His eyes turned from Eve to Milo and he reiterated, “I want a simple life.”

Milo shook his head and held up his hands in the position of surrender. “Fine, fine.”

Cliff nodded curtly and pivoted on his heel, marching from the suite. He knew he should have said something to Milo, something to Eve, something to ease the tension, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bear to look at either one for another second knowing that he would never have them.