Page 41 of Learning to Run

Chapter 12

Bates

“What did you guys think about the puppy play stuff? Was I acute pup? When do I get to wear my collar? Was Cash talking about a food treator an orgasm treat? I thought I knew, but now I’m not sure.” Gareth jerked likehe was trying to turn around, nearly tipping us both over in the shower becausethe damned thing was too small for two grown adults.

“If he wants an orgasm, we need to do something special forhim because he was such a good Handler for me when I was a pup, but if he wantsdessert, you’ll help me make something special for him, right?” The flood ofquestions continued before I could take a breath and Cashel wasn’t any help.

From his perch on the toilet where he sat watching me washGareth, he nearly giggled and waited to see what I would do since it seemedlike I was in charge again. “Well—”

Before I could get anything else out, Gareth’s brain justkept going. “Does anyone know how often I’m supposed to get really clean? Youknow what I mean. Does the tail count as a cock? Do you have to wash asthoroughly when you play with toys as you do when you play with fingers anddicks?”

That’d taken an interesting turn.

Cashel’s eyes kept getting wider, but luckily for the sexyHandler, Gareth distracted himself as I turned him around to wet his hair. “Atwhat point can I ask for penetrative sex? I know we’re having thenonpenetrative kind and I know we’re making love and I’m really glad you bothlove me so much, but when is it okay to ask to be fucked into the mattress?”

I couldn’t tell if Cashel liked that question any betterthan he had the hygiene one but he seemed to have decided there were worsediscussions than to fuck or not to fuck.

“We’ve dated and had a lot of discussions and we’ve evenintroduced him to Brady’s mom.” Cashel’s odd answer and the vague shrug thatcame after it had Gareth nodding like it all made perfect sense.

“Yeah, that’s probably right.” Gareth’s response didn’t makeany more sense than Cashel’s answer had.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like I had to answer anything yet becauseas I started working shampoo through his hair, Gareth just kept going.

“But I think Bates is the kind to need romance and flowersand stuff. Do you know where we get rose petals?” Gareth’s mind was a wonderfulplace and just kept getting more and more interesting. “Do you know how weshould organize it to get the most penetrative play possible? Should we usesome of Brady’s action figures to model it out?”

Pulling away and popping his shampoo-filled head around theshower curtain, Gareth aimed a wonderfully serious frown at a slightly stunnedCashel. “Is that what we call it? Play seems to go at the end of nearlyeverything in BDSM—I think it’s to make it sound nicer to people searchingweird things online—but I’m not sure when we use it and when we don’t.”

He had a good point…maybe several.

“I…” Cashel paused like his brain had run into a brick wall.“Um, I think there are several ways we can organize who gets what done to thembut we need to define goals first?”

His brain was equally as interesting.

And it seemed like he didn’t know the answer to the playquestion either.

“Oh, that’s smart.” Straightening, Gareth turned in acircle, completely forgetting that I’d been washing his hair. “Do you have anopinion?”

On which part?

All of it?

Trying to decide where to start, I did my best to find thebeginning as I moved him back under the spray to get the shampoo out. “Ithought our first puppy play scene went very well. I thought you were adorableand the puppy collar is going to be just for when you’re a pup because it’s toobig to be a regular daytime collar.”

Based on the strangled sound Cashel was making, it wouldgive him a heart attack.

Even if he wasn’t the one wearing it, just walking throughcampus where Gareth would want to show everyone how cute he looked in hisleather collar would be too much for Cashel.

He would be sexy, though, and I couldn’t help caressingright around the base of his neck as I finished getting him all clean.

“If you’d like a collar because you want to feel ourownership of you all the time, we can pick something out that’s more subtle forwhen you’re a regular sub and not a pup.” The first word that had come to mindwas human sub, but since he wasn’t an alien or a real dog when he was a pup,that didn’t feel right.

I probably just needed more sleep…or an orgasm…or both.

What else had Gareth asked about?

Oh, treats.

“I really did promise him dessert, so technically he couldmean that, but I think he’d like some attention from us. He’s probably flexibleon what kind of attention he gets, though.” And judging by the groan he made, Iwas right. “There are a lot of ways we can make him feel special for being sucha good Handler, though.”

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