Page 61 of Learning to Run

“Okay, well, that sounds better.” Gareth seemed more at easewith the idea after hearing that the guy had gotten the seal of approval fromprofessors on campus. “We can just meet him first, though, right? I mean,without committing to anything?”

“Absolutely.” Bates gave him another kiss and hugged usagain. “We’re not going to rush into any commitment, but I think you’d likehim.”

It probably couldn’t be worse than the one I’d draggedGareth to, but I wasn’t going to be helpful and point that out. “I want us tohave healthy communication skills.”

My response got a dramatic sigh from Gareth that had Batesbiting back a laugh. “I want to be healthy too.”

Gareth sounded like being healthy meant he was going betortured, but we were talking about communication, not weird green smoothiesthat tasted like ass.

“Well, I think cute pups who are open-minded and work ongood communication skills should get rewarded.” Bates went right for the win.

Bribing Gareth.

It was definitely cheating, but Gareth responded well to it.“Really? I like being good.”

I couldn’t help the scoff that escaped and Gareth couldn’tresist sticking his tongue out at me.

“Oh, I thought my boys had been amazing at theircommunication tonight?” Bates gave a dramatic frown that was pure theater, butit had Gareth going very still. “Cashel was good at explaining what he wasfrustrated over and you were patient when you were letting him work through it.And we did talk about having dessert at some point tonight.”

It seemed like our Dom was good at bribing both of us.

Chapter 18

Bates

Yes, my boys needed a reward and some physical proof that wewere all good. Poor Cashel’s brain had been doing worry circles all day andGareth was scared that the therapist would destroy Cashel’s peace of mind.

Yep, they both needed a distraction along with a reward.

“I think I was better than Gareth.” Cashel just couldn’tresist poking our pup. “I shared a lot and explained what I was thinking andstopped being a dick really fast compared to normal.”

Gareth’s huff said he couldn’t argue with that logic, so hejust used it to leapfrog over it. “I was very patient while he was insane anddidn’t obsessively worry while he was being dramatic, and I was going to makesure you figured out the best way to handle his drama if you didn’t work it outon your own.”

That had me trying not to laugh.

“I appreciate you wanting to help me make Cashel feelbetter.” He really had been patient and even Cashel’s sigh said he was givingGareth points for letting me figure out things on my own.

That had to have been hard on our helpful pup.

“Thank you.” Gareth snuggled closer and seemed to be feelingbetter with the acknowledgement of how good he’d been. “It was hard, but I knewyou’d want to try to figure it out on your own because you want your part ofthe triangle to be strong too.”

So dramatic and so insightful. “You’re very smart, pup.”

He gave a little wiggle, another reminder that his pupneeded to play soon, but he shifted so he was almost curled around me. “Thankyou, Sir. Do good subs get even more rewards for being smart?”

Cashel didn’t quite manage to control the snort thatescaped, but Gareth was polite and ignored it. Another mark went into the “rewardGareth” column and Cashel made a slightly resigned sigh. “He’s probably awell-prepared pup too.”

That took a few seconds to translate in Gareth’s brain. Hewent very still before sucking in a breath and nearly giggling. “I’ve been in aconstant state of readiness since our first sleepover.”

Somehow, I didn’t think he was exaggerating that.

Neither did Cashel…and I didn’t think he’d expected thatanswer either.

His eyes went wide and he took a moment to swallow andcarefully figure out how he was going to respond. I was very proud of him, butGareth was still cuddly and giggly and in his own world. As I kept Gareth happyand distracted, kissing his head and tickling him just to make him squirm somemore, Cashel managed to wrap his mind around how much Gareth wanted penetrativelovemaking.

I had a feeling Cashel would’ve been fine without it eitherway.

When we were filling out limits lists and talking aboutthem, I’d caught him at a confident moment and he hadn’t squirmed when he’dsaid he was fine with penetrative sex going in his acceptable list, but lookingback, nothing about the way he’d responded said he was passionate about it.

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