Page 248 of Masters of Control

“I’m going to choose a chick flick,” she said, glaring up at him.

It was hard not to smile when she looked like an angry little doll. Especially since he had a feeling she was getting her threat from the stereotypes she’d bought into. All the movies they’d watched together so far had been his choice, movies from pop culture she’d never seen, and there had been a distinctly nerdy bent to the choices, so she probably thought she was making an effective threat.

“You do that.”

Joke would be on her. Asad loved chick flicks.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Asad

Even though she was feeling better, leaving Morgan in the morning wasn’t easy. Her fever was down to under one hundred degrees when she woke up, which meant it was down without the effects of the medicine since she’d fallen asleep around eight the evening before, halfway through Princess Diaries 2, which they were going to have to rewatch eventually because she’d missed most of the best stuff. She really enjoyed the first one and what she’d managed to stay awake for most of the second one.

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Mm-hmm.” The sleepy murmur didn’t reassure him that she was truly awake, much less processing what he was telling her. Maybe he should write it down. That wasn’t a bad idea.

“And take your temperature every two hours and text me a picture of it.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Yeah, he was definitely writing the instructions down. Quickly finding a pad of paper and a pen, he did that and left it on her nightstand, dropping a kiss on her forehead before leaving. She sighed happily in her sleep.

She would be fine.

It was still hard walking out the door. He made himself feel a little better by texting Brian and Mitch an update.

Even though it was hard to leave, he knew Morgan would be happy to know she was trusted to be on her own. It was a delicate balance, making sure she was taken care of while also making sure she didn’t feel like a burden or like she was disappointing anyone. They’d talked through some of that last night, between the movies, but she would probably need reassurance again, eventually.

So would he. Once she was feeling better, they would be making an appointment to see Mistress Julie together, and he would do a few on his own. He was feeling more even-keeled now, but he knew he still had work to do. He wasn’t magically fixed just because he’d gotten over this one hurdle.

As he got into his car, his phone rang. His mom. Sighing, he started the car and turned on the Bluetooth.

“Hello?”

“Good morning, honey. How is Morgan?”

When his mom had called yesterday before dinner, he’d told her that he couldn’t talk because Morgan was sick. After a few minutes of advice, which he’d already gotten from Mitch, she’d finally gotten off the phone with him. It didn’t surprise him that she wanted a morning update.

“Good, she’s much better,” he said, pulling out of the driveway. “Her fever is down. I don’t know if her throat is any better yet because she was still mostly asleep when I left.”

“Oh, that’s good. You two had a restful night?”

“Yeah, watched some movies and fed her soup for dinner. It wasn’t the one-monthversary that she wanted, but she seemed happy.”

“The what?”

His brain stalled out.

Rewound.

Ah, fuck.

This is what he got for talking to his mom when he was distracted by driving. Things just slipped out.

“Um. Well.” He sighed. Might as well confess. It was easier than trying to come up with a lie. “Yesterday was our one-month anniversary.”

“But…” His mom’s voice trailed off and he could practically hear her doing the math in her head and coming up with a negative number.