Page 170 of Masters of Control

She could feel the horror practically emanating from her. Asad would make beautiful babies. He was a beautiful man, but Morgan wasn’t sure she wanted kids, much less marriage.

“Looks like we’re on the same page for that question, but maybe try not to make that exact face when they ask. A simple ‘we’re nowhere near that point’ will do, and if they push, tell them they should talk to me.”

He said ‘when’ they asked, not ‘if,’ so it sounded like it was a foregone conclusion that they would. Morgan would try not to make the face.

“Are we getting more serious?” she asked. “You are taking me to a family wedding.” Her understanding was that it only happened in serious relationships. Something she had no experience with. It was probably going to be fun to pretend and good practice for her.

She now understood what she’d had with Master Richard wasn’t at all normal, even within the kink community. Morgan was looking forward to playing ‘boyfriend and girlfriend,’ especially because it wouldn’t really matter if she messed something up since she and Asad weren’t together, anyway. Though, of course, she was going to do her best because she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his family.

“More serious, but nowhere near living together. In fact, you living with Brian is something that will drive that home, so make sure you bring it up.” He grinned at her. “If that’s okay.”

“That’s fine.” She had never intended to lie about her living arrangements. “So, we are seeing each other more often but not living together and definitely not talking about children or marriage. And your brother had childhood leukemia. Is there anything else I should know about him? Or his bride… Anna, right?”

“Anna.” He nodded. “I’ve only met her a few times, so it makes sense you wouldn’t know much about her. Cyrus and I aren’t really close, either. He went into accounting and works at my dad’s firm, whereas I rebelled, got my GED, then went to school to become an engineer. Which makes me the black sheep of the family.”

“You’re a black sheep because you’re an engineer?” Morgan was confused. Her friend Carolyn had told her that Asad had a really good job that made him a lot of money, something Carolyn held in high esteem.

“Maybe not a black sheep exactly, but my parents were disappointed I didn’t follow the family line.” He shrugged with one shoulder. “They were also really disappointed about me not walking across the stage for graduation, but I wasn’t sad to miss it.”

“I never graduated, either,” she suddenly felt compelled to share. “I got my GED, too.” She’d gotten hers last year, something else she didn’t share with many people.

“So, we have that in common.” Asad winked at her.

Something inside her fizzed with happiness in response. She liked having things in common with him. Everyone liked Asad. He was impossible not to like, and he was really good at focusing on a person and making them feel special.

Morgan liked feeling special in a good way.

“The wedding is right outside Pittsburgh, right?” she asked. There was a club there she wanted to visit called the Outlands. Naomi had told her about it. That was where she and Drew had settled after he’d left the service and they went on occasion. Morgan liked the idea of trying out another club again, somewhere not everyone would immediately know who she was. Though, because of that, she wouldn’t feel comfortable scening with anyone but Asad, but that was okay since he was going to be her fake boyfriend for the week.

“Yup, and we’ve got a whole week of activities.”

Their food arrived, and Morgan listened happily as Asad described the schedule his mom had sent him for the week. It sounded like an interesting combination of his culture’s wedding traditions and the bride’s. She was looking forward to all of it. Especially because she’d never attended a wedding before. This one sounded even more interesting than the ones she’d seen in movies.

Chapter Two

Morgan

When Morgan opened the front door, Brian pounced.

“How was it? Did everything go okay?” Brian shot the questions at her from where he was standing behind the kitchen counter before she’d even closed the door. His house, in which she rented a room, was set up with a huge entertaining space in the main room, which meant there were clear sight lines from the kitchen to the dining room to the living area where the front door was.

It reminded her a little of her parents, except the questions would have been very different and asked in a different tone of voice. She did her best not to chafe. Friends cared enough to ask—that’s what Amy had told her. Brian wasn’t trying to control her; he was just making sure she was okay.

“It was fine. Everything went well. We talked about what the week is going to be like and got our stories straight for his family.”

“Good. And you’re still feeling good about going?”

There it was again, that little stir of annoyance in the pit of her stomach. This was why she needed to get away for a bit. She didn’t want to be annoyed with Brian. He’d been nothing but generous to her, and it would make living together awkward if they were fighting, but she didn’t like how he questioned everything she did, multiple times.

“Very good. I think I’m going to enjoy having a practice boyfriend. Asad is very kind, and the wedding sounds like it’s going to be fun. I’ve never been to a wedding.” Morgan debated going to her room to end the conversation, but she’d learned when she first moved in that going to her room tended to distress him as he thought it meant she was hiding something.

To be fair, sometimes she was.

Leaning on the counter with his elbows, Brian lifted one hand.

“Cookie?”

That decided it. She’d rather have a cookie than end the conversation.