Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Gareth’s panic immediately receded, but his frown didn’t fade. “Little like Brady?”
Bates didn’t manage to hold back his snicker that time. “No. No one is like Brady.”
“Okay, we can talk about it, I guess?” Snuggling closer, Gareth rested his head on Bates’s shoulder. “As long as it’s not stressful for Cash.”
Or Gareth.
Having us both end up nuts every time we went to therapy would be torture on poor Bates.
“Not stressful at all.” Bates shifted us around so he could wrap his arm completely around Gareth. “He’s the type of guy who wouldn’t even blink at meeting your pup side and he’d even throw the ball for you.”
“Hmm.” Gareth seemed to like hearing that because his snuggles got happier and less stressed. “How do you know him?”
Bates chuckled. “Some of the professors and people in the BDSM community around town have dinner once a month. I got invited to one of those by a professor early last semester. It was interesting and I liked the people I met.”
Everyone kinky came to this university, so it didn’t surprise me.
“Okay, well, that sounds better.” Gareth seemed more at ease with the idea after hearing that the guy had gotten the seal of approval from professors on campus. “We can just meet him first, though, right? I mean, without committing to anything?”
“Absolutely.” Bates gave him another kiss and hugged us again. “We’re not going to rush into any commitment, but I think you’d like him.”
It probably couldn’t be worse than the one I’d dragged Gareth to, but I wasn’t going to be helpful and point that out. “I want us to have healthy communication skills.”
My response got a dramatic sigh from Gareth that had Bates biting back a laugh. “I want to be healthy too.”
Gareth sounded like being healthy meant he was going be tortured, but we were talking about communication, not weird green smoothies that tasted like ass.
“Well, I think cute pups who are open-minded and work on good 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’t resist sticking his tongue out at me.
“Oh, I thought my boys had been amazing at their communication tonight?” Bates gave a dramatic frown that was pure theater, but it had Gareth going very still. “Cashel was good at explaining what he was frustrated 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 we were all good. Poor Cashel’s brain had been doing worry circles all day and Gareth 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’t resist poking our pup. “I shared a lot and explained what I was thinking and stopped being a dick really fast compared to normal.”
Gareth’s huff said he couldn’t argue with that logic, so he just used it to leapfrog over it. “I was very patient while he was insane and didn’t obsessively worry while he was being dramatic, and I was going to make sure you figured out the best way to handle his drama if you didn’t work it out on your own.”
That had me trying not to laugh.
“I appreciate you wanting to help me make Cashel feel better.” He really had been patient and even Cashel’s sigh said he was giving Gareth 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 feeling better with the acknowledgement of how good he’d been. “It was hard, but I knew you’d want to try to figure it out on your own because you want your part of the triangle to be strong too.”
So dramatic and so insightful. “You’re very smart, pup.”
He gave a little wiggle, another reminder that his pup needed to play soon, but he shifted so he was almost curled around me. “Thank you, Sir. Do good subs get even more rewards for being smart?”
Cashel didn’t quite manage to control the snort that escaped, but Gareth was polite and ignored it. Another mark went into the “reward Gareth” column and Cashel made a slightly resigned sigh. “He’s probably a well-prepared pup too.”
That took a few seconds to translate in Gareth’s brain. He went very still before sucking in a breath and nearly giggling. “I’ve been in a constant 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 that answer either.