Page 42 of Learning to Run

I knew there were a lot of questions in the middle but theyall got lumped together with enemas in my head, and I wasn’t sure Cashel was inthe right frame of mind for that discussion, so I jumped ahead a bit.

“As far as making love to you goes or even fucking you intothe mattress, I’m confident in our relationship, and I don’t think you’d justbe using me for my dick or taking advantage of me.” They’d brought me home tomeet Brady’s mother…that said I was family. “I’m not sure where you get rosepetals, though.”

“Are you allergic?” Gareth asked another random but smartquestion. “I knew a guy in high school who got hives from them but he didn’trealize that until his girlfriend got him flowers for Valentine's Day trying tobe sweet or maybe a Dom of some sort.”

He cocked his head, getting distracted by the memories.“Never mind. That doesn’t matter. I’ll figure that out later.”

Giving him a kiss, I didn’t doubt he’d figure out thedetails of the other couple’s relationship. “To the best of my knowledge, I amnot allergic to any flowers and I’ve never broken out in hives.” I could feelmy allergies a bit in the spring when the pollen was bad but that didn’t seemlike the same thing. “I’m not sure I can help with the boy and his possible Domgirlfriend, though.”

Some people figured that stuff out earlier than others.

“Thanks.” He gave me a cute peck on the cheek before pushingback the curtain. “Shift change.”

He was adorably insane.

Cashel sighed, clearly not appreciating the romance of beingtreated like a short-order cook. “You’re dripping.”

Gareth scoffed, grabbing a towel with one hand and his dickwith the other. “Not anymore. I already came.”

For some reason, Cashel didn’t find him as entertaining as Idid, so I was the only one who laughed. That had him rolling his eyes as hestripped off his underwear and climbed into the shower. “Why are youencouraging him?”

“Because he’s cute.” Shrugging, I did my best to lookstraight-faced as Cashel sighed. “And he’s funny.”

“You’re both insane.” He might’ve sounded like he was aneighty-year-old man who was getting ready to yell at me and Gareth to get offhis lawn, but I got a kiss and there was a twinkle in his eyes. “And you do itdeliberately.”

Taking a page from Brady’s book, I gave Cashel wide eyes. “Idon’t know what you’re talking about. We’re all just very interesting peopleand that can’t be helped.”

From the other side of the curtain, I could see Gareth’shead bobbing up and down so fast I was worried about whiplash.

Cashel was not impressed, judging by his cute glare. “Thatridiculousness is not going to help him to behave. He was just egging me onwith some of those questions.”

Oh yeah.

“But the question really comes down to which ones?” I knewI’d gotten him when Cashel huffed. “I’m not sure I could tell but I could takea guess.”

Did Cashel want to play that game?

“Evil. Evil Dom.” After another glare, he pulled theultimate Brady and changed the subject completely. “You’re not going to getclean this way.”

Picking up the loofa and body wash, Cashel kept up hisadorable glare as he started scrubbing my chest and it got even more frustratedlooking when he banged his elbow into the wall. “This shower is too small.”

Making him pause his scrubbing long enough for me to kisshis booboo and make his eyes twinkle again, I nodded. “Agreed. Especially forthe number of kinky people in one place. Someone didn’t realize how often we’dwant to bathe together.”

Cashel was trying not to laugh but Gareth was wonderfullyGareth and piped up with his own fascinating logic. “I think that might’ve beendeliberate so we didn’t waste water by having sex in the shower constantly. Ourschool seems like the type of place to plan something like that out.”

Hmm.

The whole idea made Cashel’s brain start to whirl, but Garethwasn’t done yet. “In our next apartment, I think we need to make the bathroom apriority because bathing everyone in shifts is going to get old eventually.What if I want shower sex once we’re at the pounding me into the mattress phaseof our relationship?”

As I was pondering the steps in his relationship ladder, itseemed that Cashel was on the same page because he actually stuck his headaround the curtain to study Gareth. “Is sex a precursor to moving in togetherfor you? It doesn’t sound like it is.”

Since I’d been wondering the same thing, I just smiled whenGareth scoffed. “Of course not. I’m not going to pressure someone into a sexualactivity that they might not be ready for.”

“But you will pressure them into moving in together?”Cashel’s slightly sarcastic question had Gareth sighing.

“Yes, because that’s a healthy step that we’ll need to takeeventually.” Gareth seemed sincere as he kept going. “You really don’t see howmuch you love someone until you have to deal with their stinky feet every day.”

Who had stinky feet?

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