Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,10

better to check. Bubba padded out into the kitchen, hair damp, and looking way more alert than I felt.

Course, if I’d just had a shower with Frankie, I’d be pretty pumped too. He glanced down at the oven window and nodded before grabbing a mug and filling it. When he didn’t automatically fill one for Frankie, I raised my brows.

“She’s on the phone with Rach,” was all he said, and I nodded. Like me, Bubba had just pulled on sweats. We didn’t say anything. The heat in the apartment had been turned up to chase away any lingering damp chill. After a couple swallows of coffee, he focused on me. “She likes the idea.”

“She likes a lot of things.” I kept it light and conversational, but I also wasn’t playing dumb. “If you’re not comfortable, it won’t work.”

“I’m aware,” he conceded. He studied his coffee for a moment and then looked at me. “How comfortable are you with following instructions?”

I drained the last of my coffee, then glanced from him to the doorway and finally the stove. There was sixty seconds left on the timer. Nothing like the sense of being in the double Jeopardy round to make me laugh. “Depends on who you ask.”

“I’m asking you.”

Okay. I met his gaze head on as I stood. “Why? And before you get snappy, there’s a reason I want you to spell it out. We’re dancing around this, and I was serious earlier when I said if you’re not comfortable, then it won’t work. So be explicit on what you’re asking me, and I’ll try not to give you too much shit.”

It was the least I could do.

“Also, let’s be quick. She’s gonna smell these in a minute, and if the coffee doesn’t get her out here, those will…”

“You have a point,” he agreed, heading to the coffeemaker while I got the cinnamon rolls out. He refilled my cup and his own. There was enough left for Frankie to get one big mug. Neither one of us would touch it until she’d had hers. “I like control,” he admitted, never looking at me. “And I don’t know that I could ask this with Archie or Jake.”

I didn’t know if he could either, particularly right now. Though Jake might surprise him. Archie remained a wild card.

“Can I ask how it works with you and Jake?”

I shrugged. “You can ask. We just…go with what works.” We hadn’t really discussed it beyond being okay with the other being there. Well, that and easing her into the idea of it. “Porn helped.”

Bubba coughed and shot me a look.

“What?” The mild outrage on his face amused me. Not as much as the flare of curiosity though. “I know you’ve watched porn. I was there the first time we all watched it.”

And turned it off like five minutes later ’cause Frankie had wandered back in and that was just not a place any of our fourteen-year-old minds needed to go while she was in the room. Not that it hadn’t and often, but still, not with her there.

“Look,” I continued, not needing him to answer. “We started with the making out. I liked watching her with Jake. He liked watching her with me. It took a little adjustment, not a lot. It’s not like we haven’t been around each other.” Fuck, I’d seen Bubba getting a blowjob, and I damn well knew he’d seen me get more than that. Not that we needed to revisit the memories. “The point is, my primary concern was always Frankie’s comfort. It was easy with Jake. And then he introduced her to porn.”

Sorry Jake. Hopefully, the bus didn’t leave skid marks.

“And it kind of went from there.”

Bubba nodded once, and the sound of Frankie’s voice neared.

“That said, if you want to experiment, I’m game. You get uncomfortable or need me to leave, say the word.”

“Same for you,” Bubba said.

Yeah, discomfort wouldn’t be my problem, beyond a raging hard-on if I didn’t get to play, but hell, for Frankie? I’d try anything once.

“Done.”

I’d finished adding the last of the icing to the cinnamon rolls and watched as he poured Frankie’s coffee before starting it brewing again.

“Bubba? Just…go with whatever feels natural. I’m easy.” But on that note… “Although, if anyone spanks me, it better not be you.”

He stared at me a beat, and then the tensions split right down the middle and we cracked up. Frankie arrived at that moment, and I was still laughing, though I had to be careful not to