Page 216 of Masters of Control

His brain registered all of these things, and he yawned, tilting his head to rub his cheek against the silky cap on her hair.

“Your mom wants to spend more time with you,” she murmured.

If he wasn’t so drunk, he would have jumped out of his skin.

“I didn’t know you were awake.”

“I’m not.” She yawned. “But I wanted you to know.”

Asad chuckled. She did sound like she was half-asleep. The warmth in his chest felt like it was spreading.

His brother wanted to bond.

His mom wanted more time with him. And if his mom was saying it, that meant his dad felt the same way. They operated as a pair, always.

This week wasn’t anything like what he’d expected it to be. Part of that was Morgan.

“I’m glad you’re here with me.” He whispered the words into the darkness, not knowing if she’d heard them or not. Somehow, that made it easier to say them.

“Mmm.” The little noise she made in reply didn’t give him any clues about how she took the words. It seemed she’d fallen right back asleep. Which meant it didn’t matter that he cuddled up around her, hugging her like a teddy bear, wrapping himself around her the way he really wanted to, rather than holding back the way he felt he had to.

His eyes were growing heavy.

It felt like he blinked, and all of the sudden, the sun was shining in through the window, and Morgan was stirring in his arms. She yawned, stretching in his arms, and he released her so she could roll away. This time, he hadn’t been little spoon. Neither of them had been the spoon.

They’d slept facing each other, her head on his arm, his other arm wrapped around her, and his leg trapping her against him. He’d tucked her head under his chin. It was the exact kind of sleeping arrangement that should have horrified him, yet as she rolled onto her back, all he felt was a sense of loss.

Bad, Asad.

He covered up his unexpected emotions by rolling away as well.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Oh shoot, it’s nine!” Morgan jumped up out of bed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got to get started. I need to shower and do my hair and makeup and be ready to leave by three.” She was already headed to the bathroom, not giving him a second glance. It was silly to feel abandoned. It really was. Yet…

“You need that long to get ready?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his brain started screaming at him—Mistake! Mistake! It didn’t matter that he’d never had a serious girlfriend, he knew better than to ask questions like that.

Morgan glanced at him, pausing before she went in. She didn’t seem offended.

“Yes. The shower will take me at least half an hour because I need to wash and condition my hair, plus shave everything. Then it will take me about another half hour to an hour to dry it, another hour or possibly two to get it into the hairstyle I want. My skincare and makeup take me at least an hour, but it might be a little more since I want to do a glam look for the wedding. And I need to factor in time for food and travel.” All of this was said in a matter-of-fact tone that laid out how she was going to be spending her day.

“Right.” He nodded his head, relieved she wasn’t upset with him for questioning how long it would take her. Coffee. He needed coffee. “Do you want some coffee?”

“That would be great, thank you,” she called out as the door to the bathroom closed.

Coffee and breakfast. He could get those things for her since it was going to take him a lot less time to get ready than it would her. He did need to shave and style his own hair but that would take him half an hour combined.

Morgan would have had more time if he wasn’t a groomsman, which made him feel a little guilty. She had to be there early because he had to be there early for pictures, unless she was going to arrive separately, which she didn’t want to do. So, the very least he could do was get her coffee and feed her while she got ready.

Then the whirlwind would begin.

Morgan

“It was a lovely ceremony.” That was the first thing she said to Asad when he was finally able to rejoin her after the cocktail hour, and it was the same refrain she’d been repeating since the ceremony ended. It popped out of her mouth automatically.