Page 6 of Learning to Run

A very knowing smile.

What did she think she knew?

Hoping I wasn’t blushing as much as I thought I was, Iswallowed and tried to sound reasonable. “Bates takes good care of us too. He’sanswering questions and we’re going slow. Promise.”

That was Gareth’s cue to groan. “Very slow. They’re tryingto torture me.”

For some reason that made her grin come back in full forceand she giggled. “I’m sure you appreciate all that attention, dear.”

As Gareth nodded sheepishly, unable to deny his love ofBates’s brand of torture, Brady sighed and Jude just buried his head againstBrady’s.

They deserved the oversharing, so I didn’t feel badeither…neither did Bates judging by his big smile. “I’m so glad I got to meetyou. You’re the best mom in the whole building and we’re all very jealous ofwhat a good relationship you have with Brady.”

God, we were so loud.

“You’re so sweet. I can see why the boys are so enamoredwith you.” We all got knee pats again as she gave us looks like we werechocolate cake cute. “It’s so wonderful to see the beginning of such awonderful relationship…and neither of you call him Daddy, so that won’t getconfusing at the next family dinner.”

And that finally had her glaring at us.

“I’m going to be seeing you at the family dinners again,aren’t I?” She wouldn’t take the whole “Christmas was hard” explanation, so Ijust nodded.

“Yes, ma’am.” Yep, I was not going to argue with her whenshe was about to aim that sweet frustration out on Jude and Brady. “I think I’mgoing to make Bates your famous chicken noodle soup. He’ll love that.”

We all ignored Brady’s huff, including his mother. But thatwas probably because she’d launched into a lecture about stock and what veggieswere in season. We finally escaped, though, with her having blessed our relationship,and we didn’t have to listen to whatever lecture Brady and Jude would get.

“That was so much fun.” Bates was grinning ear to ear as he usheredus to his car, either actually wanting groceries or realizing a thorough escapewas best. “Thank you for letting me know you were being held hostage.”

He was really…smart, yep, he was smart.

Gareth just sighed as we got to Bates’s car. “We were polite,but Jude was just…he was very Jude, so tattling on him was the only option.”

We had the weirdest life sometimes.

“He didn’t seem to like that we were going to bring clothesover.” Gareth charged into what should’ve probably been a more carefullyconstructed conversation. “Cash is tired of doing the pajama walk of shame, sowe need to leave some clothes there.”

Instead of thinking it was insane, Bates nodded like it wascompletely rational. “And toothbrushes and some extra phone chargers? Can youthink of anything else?”

“You don’t have much storage space, so we need to becareful.” Gareth looked entirely too thoughtful. “When we move in together,we’re going to have to take that into consideration.”

“Very true.” Nodding as he leaned against his car, Bates gotthe same thoughtful look as Gareth and now they were both making me nervous.“I’m glad we didn’t have to explain that to Brady’s mom, though. She might’vethought that was moving too fast since Jude and Brady were…well, they weretrying to get her wound up.”

Oh yeah.

“Thank you for coming to help fix everything, but I hope wedidn’t fuck up your schedule?” I still wasn’t sure if dragging him into thecrazy had been the best idea but it’d been the most logical thing I could thinkof and…well, he was our Dom.

Gareth rolled his eyes as he stepped closer, completelybeing a snuggle slut for our Dom even though we were out in the parking lot.“He’s our Dom. It’s his responsibility to protect us from ridiculous people.”

Give him a little time to google and he got all kinds ofconfident.

Bates just loved it.

He gave Gareth a kiss and wrapped one arm around the dramaqueen to hug him tight. “That’s right, and I would’ve been desperately disappointedto have missed out on meeting her.”

Cocking his head, Bates glanced between us. “What’s hername? I think she was going to introduce herself when I came in, but then Judegot huffy and glary and everything got off track.”

Oh.

Probably looking guilty, I focused on my shoes and trying toremember the grocery list. “It sounds like I should probably make the chickensoup on another day when I can make the broth first. What about homemademac-and-cheese? That’s a lot easier.”

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