Page 165 of Masters of Control

A little bubble of excitement ran through her. She was going to be leaving Maryland and all the people at Stronghold for the first time since she’d been rescued. And with a Dom who knew her limits and boundaries… Maybe they’d even be able to go to the Outlands. She knew the wedding was in Pittsburgh, and she would love to visit another club.

Best of all, she was going somewhere no one had any preconceived notions of her.

She couldn’t wait.

Asad

“So you’re clear on the rules, right?” Lexie asked as they waited for Patrick to return with Morgan.

Asad did his best not to scowl at her. It was becoming a little insulting how little they thought he was paying attention. Though he supposed that was partly his own fault.

He might be a bit of a manwhore, and he absolutely did not want the responsibility of a submissive, but he wasn’t a total jerk. He didn’t want to lead Morgan on or damage her. He just needed a date for his brother’s wedding, so his mom wouldn’t try to set him up with every woman there, and… okay, if he was going to be completely honest, he didn’t want to go solo because he didn’t want to be alone. He loved his family, but spending time with them was hard.

“Rule Number One, no fucking the gorgeous submissive. Rule Number Two, no fucking the gorgeous submissive. Rule Number Three⁠—”

“As long as you follow it, you don’t need to repeat it a bunch of times,” Lexie said with a threatening scowl. “Don’t make me regret suggesting Morgan as your date.”

“It’ll be fine. All of you are far too protective of her. How is she ever going to grow if everyone keeps swathing her in bubble wrap?”

Lexie sighed.

“This is why I’m worried but also think you might be the perfect person for her to go with.” She shook her head. “You might think we’re a little too protective, but I think you’re a little too cavalier. You need to take care of her.”

The words made him start to sweat, hitting a little too close to home as he heard his mom’s voice in his head. You need to take care of him. His brother was fine now. He was in remission, all grown up, and getting married. What Lexie was asking of him and what his parents had asked of him were two wildly different things. All he had to do was take care of a perfectly healthy, if emotionally vulnerable, grown submissive for a week.

He could handle that.

Probably.

Though he would have liked to have gone with someone with a little more confidence in themselves and without all the emotional baggage, he had to admit Morgan was otherwise perfect. She was gorgeous, smart, funny, and not at all needy. Some subs tried to manipulate extra aftercare out of him, but Morgan never had. She didn’t want a boyfriend, probably because her last one had been an abusive tool, and that worked for Asad. He could deal with a little emotional baggage since she worked well in every other respect.

That she didn’t want a boyfriend and definitely wouldn’t be trying to use this as an excuse to get close to him were the biggest points in her favor.

The door opened and Asad sat up straighter in his chair as Patrick escorted Morgan in. She looked nervous yet excited as she gave him a little wave.

“Okay,” Patrick said from where he was by the door. “You two are going to talk about what you need from each other. You can change your mind at any time. You have the use of my office for as long as you want.”

“Wait, we aren’t staying?” Lexie pouted.

“Come here, Pixie. Let them have their privacy. They need to work this out for themselves.” Patrick shot Asad a warning look over Morgan’s head.

Asad gave him a thumbs-up, which made Morgan glance over her shoulder, and Patrick’s expression immediately shifted back to a smile.

“Unless you want us to stay, Morgan?”

“No,” she said immediately, shaking her head. “I want to do this for myself.”

Lexie sighed but got to her feet and met Patrick at the door. He gave her a swift swat on the ass to get her moving past him, then shot Asad another warning look.

Asad was starting to feel like a Bond villain or something. If they didn’t trust him, why were they sending Morgan with him?

Nah, they trusted him or else they wouldn’t have chosen her to go with him. But Patrick was a control freak, so he had to do what he could to put his stamp all over the situation. Asad could live with that. He was surrounded by control freaks at the clubs and was a bit of one himself.

“So, I’m going to be your fake girlfriend?” Morgan asked, sounding excited.

She was pretty darn cute when she got like this.

Asad flashed her a grin.

“Looks like it.”