Page 42 of Masters of Control

“I will, but I’m not going to push her to come if she’s uncomfortable. She’s not even officially my girlfriend yet,” he warned her. “Friendsgiving would be a lot.”

“What, you don’t want to throw your new girlfriend in the middle of the loudest, most invasive group of people you know?” Angel laughed. “Don’t worry, I know we’re a lot. As long as you come!”

“I’ll be there, and I’ll definitely invite her.”

“Awesome. Talk to you later, hun. Bye!”

“Bye, Angel.” Shaking his head in bemusement, Q hung up the phone and got back to making dinner.

He loved Angel and enjoyed hanging out with her friends, but they were her best friends, whereas they were his friends. Asad, Law, and Connor had become his closest friends in the past few months.

As if the thought of them had summoned the text, his phone buzzed, and he glanced over. Connor was checking in to see how last night with Sam had gone, and his phone buzzed again twice more as Asad and Law also made their interest known. Grinning, Q sent off a quick text to let them know it had gone well… then wondered if Sam was doing the same with her friends.

Sam

Running errands while having a text conversation with her friends made everything take twice as long, but she didn’t care. She was grinning from ear to ear while she walked around the grocery store, aware of the way her sore nipples pressed against her padded bra, and the delightful ache between her legs.

She’d freaked out a little when she’d gotten a look at herself in the mirror before she and Q had taken a shower together, but he hadn’t seemed to mind her snarled hair and makeup still clinging to her face. Today she looked much more like herself—hair up in a ponytail with no makeup, and he hadn’t looked at her any differently when she’d walked him out to his car as he had last night when she’d been all dolled up.

Okay, well, he’d admired the effort she’d put forth yesterday, but he didn’t act like how she looked this morning was a disappointment or a turnoff. Going by the early morning sexy times, it might even have been a turn-on.

Her phone buzzed again, and she realized she was standing and staring at a bunch of zucchinis in the produce aisle. Talk about a Freudian slip.

Noelle: We’re getting together before class tomorrow to talk, right?

Sam: Yeah! Looking forward to it.

Morgan: Yay!

She couldn’t blame them for wanting the in-person update. Although she’d told them that the date had gone really well and Q had unexpectedly spent the night, which was why she hadn’t texted until today, she hadn’t felt comfortable putting more detail than that in text messages.

To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure how much detail she’d be comfortable sharing in person, but she knew it would be a little more than she was willing to do by text.

Finishing her errands, she went home… and the whole space felt bigger and lonelier without Q. She liked her ‘me’ time, but she would have liked more time with him.

Don’t be clingy.

With that thought in her head, she got her dinner ready and didn’t allow herself to text him. That would be too soon, right? Ugh. She hadn’t dated in far too long and was pretty sure some of what was in her head were arbitrary rules made up by movies. At the same time, she didn’t want him to think she was pushing him or anything like that.

They’d had a really nice night together, and he wanted to see her again. She should be happy with that. She also was afraid to rock the boat. Relationships weren’t something she was good at, whether it was friendship or dating.

It already felt different with Q. Easier. Which was ironic, considering how they’d started out, but it was true.

She didn’t want to rock the boat.

So, when she was sitting down to binge watch HGTV and dream about the kind of house she’d like to have one day, she was pleasantly shocked when her phone started to ring. She knew it was Q because his was the only ringtone she hadn’t changed after he’d sabotaged her phone by making all her ringtones music from Lord of the Rings. She’d had pretty mixed feelings when he’d done it.

She loved the music, but she’d hated the reminder of kids calling her Samwise in high school. Even then, she’d known Q hadn’t meant it in a derogatory way the way some of the others did. They called her the fat hobbit.

But Samwise Gamgee was Q’s favorite character.

Part of her had wanted to kick him for bringing up those memories, but she’d already retaliated for the ringtone thing. Angel and Lexie had helped her Post-it note his car. They’d covered it completely.

So, really, it was a wash.

She picked up the phone.

“Hello?”