Finding their Place: Missing Link 2

3. Wyatt

3

WYATT

Rhett Stirling and his partner Ashton had a gorgeous house on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Since they were my longest customers, I still took care for their grounds bimonthly on my own.

It had been Rhett’s recommendations countless times that had helped me build up the business my dad had handed over to me five years earlier. Named after Dad, Lionel’s Landscaping had grown substantially since I had taken the reins. We’d gone from mowing lawns to caring for other landscaping needs, including laying patio and outdoor living areas for the rich and famous.

I’d even landed a contract with Sunrise Condos and had my best worker making everyone smile at the retirement community. If I could have cloned my employee Blaine, I’d have done so a dozen times over. The man knew how to work, keep his mouth shut, and take guidance from his boss.

While he didn’t seem the submissive sort, he certainly liked not having to be the decision maker.

My kind of guy—it was too bad he was spoken for. Twice over.

I wasn’t a Dom but I definitely enjoyed being in charge and taking care of people who looked to me for guidance.

I had offered Blaine the position at Sunrise, which pushed him outside his comfort zone, but I didn’t have anyone else I could trust like I did him to get s**t done.

I finished up the irrigation repair in Rhett’s backyard and headed around front, ready to call it a day.

Sweat soaked my green T-shirt that stuck to my back. It had hit 82 degrees, hot for March, and I wasn’t anywhere near prepared mentally for the months ahead. While I loved the sun, sand, and surf, the heat got to me.

“Wyatt!”

I pulled up short.

Rhett stepped through the slider, a couple of beer bottles in hand. “Want a cold one?”

“f**k yeah.” I left my tools laying beside the walkway leading out front and joined him beneath the second floor’s balcony. The shade welcomed me with a cooling caress, and I sank into one of the cushioned chairs beside him.

He handed me a beer, the glass chilled and sweating. “Cheers.”

We clicked our bottles together, and I sucked down half the beer in one go, the chill sliding straight to my stomach. “Goddamn, did I ever need that.” I swiped sweat from my brow with my forearm.

“If you want to borrow some trunks, you’re welcome to hop in.”

The water in the kidney-shaped pool in front of us lay still as glass, blue as the sky. While the offer tempted me, I’d had enough of the sun. “This is good, thanks.” I lifted my beer and swigged. “f**k, this is hitting the spot.”

“How’s business?”

“Busy, and finding a good worker is damn near impossible. I have a handful of guys I can trust on a job without constant supervision, but more and more people these days don’t want to be bothered with landscaping.” I stretched my neck and enjoyed another long pull from my beer. “I’m starting to think it’s time to hire someone to take care of all the office s**t too. I hate paperwork and my current billing system, having to make calls after hours…I’d rather be out sweating. Working with my hands.”

I glanced over to find Rhett’s face pinched and laughed. “When’s the last time you labored out under the sun?” I asked him.

“High school—and never again.” He grinned and clinked his bottle against mine a second time. “Ash and I used to rake and bag leaves in our neighborhood back in Massachusetts.”

“Where is Ash?”

He and his partner were usually connected at the hip. I rarely saw them apart, and every single time I caught how they looked at each other with undisguised love, jealousy stirred inside me.

They’d been together since middle school and still couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.

My goal was to find that kind of a relationship.

“He’s on the phone with his mother,” Rhett answered.

I nodded as though it made sense even though I didn’t know the man well. The two of them had grown up back east, so I expected they didn’t get to see their families all that often.

My mom lived less than twenty minutes from me, and I still had to carve out a solid half hour every week for a chat over the phone, and that was atop the weekly Tuesday night dinners with her and Dad.

“She’s on her grandkid kick again, and Ash is just as determined to have a kid of his own.”

“Shit.” I chuckled and drank down the rest of my beer. “I haven’t heard that one from my mom yet, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told it’s time to settle down with a nice girl or guy.”

“She doesn’t have a preference?” Rhett asked, sitting back in his chair, long legs stretched out.

“She and Dad don’t give a s**t about my sexuality, and seeing as how I can’t decide which I prefer…”

My mind flitted to Blaine again, that damn jealousy creeping in. He had a man and a woman in his bed every night, the lucky f**k.

“Why not both?”

I glanced over at Rhett but couldn’t make out his eyes behind his sunglasses. Not that he could see mine either for the same reason.

“That’s what Ash and I created the Missing Link app for.”

I’d never considered a triad before, choosing to hook up with whatever s*x I was in the mood for at the time.

“So, you and Ash…?”

“We’re both bi and have been together a long time, and although I don’t feel a need for more than him, he wants those children…and not from a surrogate.”

“And you would give him whatever he wants.” I didn’t need to ask that question. It was as clear as day with how Rhett looked at Ashton.

Ash was his person, his peace, his home.

“He wants an angel to pamper like I do with him, and you’re right. It’s the finding part that’s proving difficult.”

“High standards?” I asked. “Because I gotta imagine you’ve got women tripping over themselves to land between the two of you.”

Rhett snickered. “It’ll take a very special woman to make a permanent place in our bed. All I have ever needed is Ash. We’ve shared women in the past to spice things up a bit from time to time, but I’ll take his a*s and mouth over a wet p***y any day.”

I chuckled at his blunt honesty. Rich as f**k, posh and suave, Rhett Stirling surprised me quite often.

“I shouldn’t admit this, but the app hasn’t worked for us—yet. But maybe you ought to give it a try considering the thousands who’ve ended up happily in polyamorous relationships,” he suggested and drank down a few swallows of his beer.

“Maybe,” I agreed without really giving it any thought while glancing over the placid surface of their crystalline pool.

“There are all kinds of people profiled. Couples seeking specifics, but the bulk of our customers are singles like you and wanting to explore. There are separate groupings according to needs and desires, filtered down until the best possible matches can be found.”

“So, I’m not the only greedy asshole who can’t make up his mind?”

Rhett smirked and lifted his beer in the air as though toasting. “Why choose?”

Why indeed?

Rhett’s question rang in my ears long after I left his and Ash’s home in the hills.

Blaine had spilled his love life to me the summer before, and he too had thought the need to decide between Greyson and Lily would rise up before him.

Good thing his best friend and their girl had already fallen for each other by the time the three of them got together. Once the walls came tumbling down, he’d found out he wouldn’t have to choose.

Rhett was right. Why force myself to decide between male or female? Why not try for both? That was the reason Missing Link had come to fruition—two men wanting a woman to fill that missing portion in their lives.

Or rather, Rhett wanted to please his lover and find the perfect woman to bear those children Ashton wanted.

Talk about dedication and love.

I desired that. Someone to love and need me to clasp their hand through life. Two someones would be even better. A woman who drew out my tender side and a man I wouldn’t have to hold back with.

But finding even one had proven a tough chore. Guys loved my d**k, but that was it. No one was looking for longer than a one-night stand, and women…well, the ones I’d dated had been clingy as f**k and not in the needy way I hoped for. I had a lot of love and affection to give, but having both demanded of me left a sour taste in my mouth.

Perhaps I’d been looking in the wrong place. Hookup apps and bars almost always offered me the opportunity to get off, but emptiness followed on their heels—and more than just my balls.

Rhett’s suggestion stayed with me on my way home, and later that night, after showering the sweat from my body and downing a half-pound of ziti broccoli, I sat in front of my MacBook. The process of creating a profile on Missing Link proved easier than I’d expected.

The questionnaire started out in broad terms—s****l identity, what I hoped to find, s****l preferences, general location, and how far I was willing to travel. A second screen of multiple choice dove deeper but wasn’t nearly as thorough, as I’d expected it to include limits and all that s**t. But maybe that sort of information wasn’t necessary since I hadn’t clicked off the b**m as an interest on the first page.

Finally, I ended with a brief write-up, a little introduction of myself. The image I chose was one from the summer before my mom had taken of me while out to dinner with her and Dad.

I’d worn a button-down dress shirt, blue like my eyes, and she’d caught me in a candid laugh. While I knew I was a good-looking guy, it was by far the best picture I had of myself.

An image of me shirtless and flexing probably would have gotten me more action, but I decided if I was going to download yet another dating app, it would be for the real deal. I’d grown bored with hookups and living alone and sick of the silence in my house. I wanted to wake up with a warm body beside me, someone I could hold—two someones that Rhett had made me realize I ought to try for.

Because why the f**k not?

Thousands had used Missing Link, and the feedback I’d seen while scrolling through the reviews promised what Rhett had stated—poly relationships were doable.

I just had to find my perfect matches who were as dedicated to finding their place as I was and willing to put in the time and effort to make a triad work.

A trace of adrenaline trickled through my bloodstream as I clicked on the finish button.

Let the hunt for happiness begin.