Page 194 of Masters of Control

But right now, it didn’t feel that different. The biggest difference was that she felt like she could do what she wanted to do, anyway. Was part of her afraid that if people found out, they’d be angry at her? That they’d feel like she wasn’t worth helping if she went against what they wanted? Absolutely. Yes.

It wouldn’t happen if they didn’t find out.

No one needs to know.

Everything hinged on how Master Asad reacted, and right now, he was sitting silently, thinking about what she was saying. He wasn’t convinced yet.

“What was the point of being rescued if I still don’t get to make my own decisions?” she asked a little desperately. He winced. “What was the point of getting away from everyone for a week if they’re still controlling everything I do? I was supposed to be able to think for myself this week.”

“You’re right.” He said it so quickly, and it was so unexpected, for a moment, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

“What?” Those were definitely not words she was used to hearing. She stared at him, at his lips, like maybe she’d be able to read them to see if she’d misheard him.

“You’re right.” He nodded his head, obviously having come to some kind of decision. “No one needs to know. And you should be allowed to make your own decisions. If you want a scene, if you want sex, then you should be able to choose that.”

Relief flooded her, along with an odd sense of joy. She was right. She was right. And he was going to let her choose. Really choose. Not just a small choice, like what she was going to eat for a meal or what movie she wanted to watch, but a big choice like having sex, even though they weren’t supposed to.

Those small choices had been scary in the beginning, but she was past that now. She wanted to be able to make big choices, like who she had sex with and when. Even if she wasn’t planning on telling anyone about it, she would know.

“Thank you.”

Master Asad shook his head.

“Don’t thank me. That’s a choice you should always have, and I’m sorry I was a part of taking that away from you.” He tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling of the car for a moment, thinking, before bringing his gaze back to meet hers. “We do need to go over a couple of ground rules, though.”

“Like what?” Did he mean like a contract?

“Like, we obviously both agree we’re not going to tell anyone. Even if you want to tell them that you can make your own decisions, which you can and should, you need to leave out that you made some of your own decisions this week. No matter how mad they make you.”

That was fair. Morgan nodded.

“And we both agree, this is just for this week. Fake relationship, real sex, and it’s all over when we get back to Maryland. And if you start feeling any emotions for me that go beyond friendship, you will tell me, and we’ll cut this off immediately.”

She wasn’t sure exactly how she would tell what her emotions were, but she nodded. They’d had sex in the past and scened together multiple times, so she didn’t see why this should be any different just because it was a week instead of a night. Less than a week now. Five nights.

She’d never been in love before, though she thought she had been with Master Jason. They weren’t in danger of love at first sight, and she didn’t think five nights was long enough to suddenly go from friendship to a romantic relationship. At least, not from what she’d observed. Of course, she’d seen it in movies, but everyone kept pointing out to her that those weren’t real life. They were on a two-hour time crunch to get the characters together, so the timelines were accelerated.

Therefore, she and Master Asad should be fine, especially with established ground rules.

“I’m not worried about that,” she reassured him. “I’m not ready for a relationship. But I was looking forward to practicing this week.”

He flashed a grin at her, looking more like himself than he had since they’d arrived.

“Then let’s go practice, baby.”

Asad

No one had told Morgan. He couldn’t help but be pissed on her behalf. Maybe everyone had assumed she wouldn’t want to have sex while she was away. Or that someone else had talked to her about the rules for the week.

He didn’t know, but it was a glaring oversight, and it made him furious on her behalf.

If anyone found out, this might be a colossal mistake, but he’d never been much of a rule follower. Morgan was. Since she was looking to rebel a little, he was going to go ahead and enable her. He would have even if it hadn’t involved getting something he wanted, too. The fact her rebellion included his cock was just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Of course, since he was supposed to be keeping his hands off of her, he didn’t have his play bag or any of his toys here with him. Which meant he was going to have to get creative.

At least happy Morgan was back. Her entire demeanor had changed between the car and their room, and she was back to the flirty, happy woman she’d been on the golf course. Which meant she was teasing him again.

“Get in there,” he growled, slapping his hand against her butt to get her moving. The hotel hallway was empty, and he was pretty sure no one he knew was on their floor anyway, but he did get a little thrill out of spanking her in a semi-public place. Yeah, he definitely didn’t like following rules. They’d been chafing him, even though he hadn’t realized it until now.