Free Denial by Ember Chase

different.”
    I frown. That sucks. “But I like you this way.” The gloom in his eyes makes me flash on the picture of that girl on his dresser.
    “I’m a little worried that I’ve fucked this up. There are roles. You slip into them, you stick to them. It makes everything easier. I probably shouldn’t have been so casual tonight. I didn’t want to scare you away.”
    “So, for a whole month you’re going to pretend to be a different person?”
    “Maya, for a whole month, you’ll be pretending to be a different person. I’ll be fine. This is what I do.”
    “That sounds awful.” He doesn’t answer. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do it.”
    After shaking his head like he’s trying to get water out of his hair, he grins at me but his eyes don’t crinkle like they should. I’m starting to realize that he has more than one mask. He throws his arm over my shoulder. “I’ll help you. Maybe we’ll do timeouts, especially in the beginning, so that I can coach you for real. You’ll get used to it. It becomes almost automatic. And then after a while, a part of you actually becomes a different person.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
    He gives me a hug and I swear he just said “me, too” under his breath. I must be imagining things. I’m a job to him. He doesn’t care, he just feels sorry for me because he’s probably never come across someone so pathetic. So what if a little bit of me changes, becomes more what Luke wants. I want that. I’m not giving up on us. On this future that’s so close I can feel it. Just not right now. Because right now the only thing that exists is Isaac’s hand on my neck and his lips pressing into the top of my head.
    “Let’s keep going,” he murmurs. We come to another closed door and he hesitates.
    “What’s in there?”
    “That’s the playroom.”
    “You mean the scary sex dungeon.”
    “Yeah,” he chuckles. “I don’t want you to look in there right now.” I nod. We’re at the end of the hallway, turning around to see another door. “This is my room.” He opens it and reveals a large, inviting bed. We hesitate for a moment, eyeing it and each other, before he leads me to the next door.
    “This is your room.”
    “Wait.” It just registered that he said the other room was his, as in only his. “We have separate bedrooms?”
    “Yes. I’m not going to force you sleep next to me.”
    “Oh.” I sound disappointed. Way to play it cool.
    “You are going to want space from me sometimes.”
    “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Especially considering Luke mentioned that he wants separate bedrooms if we ever move in together.
    “But, maybe,” he sounds unsure. It’s so frigging cute. “I mean… if you want to… some nights we can stay together. I’m not going to kick you out.”
    “Okay.” My stomach flutters. That shouldn’t happen.
    “Wait,” he says as we turn around. “I have to take that back. Sometimes I will have to insist that you leave.”
    “That’s fine.” But my heart sinks. That should not be happening, either.
    “I won’t want to.” He spins me to face him. “But I’ll have to. Because I can already tell that once I start touching you I’m going to have a very hard time stopping.”
    “Me too,” I blurt out.
    Is he going to kiss me right now? I wish he would. Instead he grabs me by the hair and pulls my head to the side to expose my neck, which his lips begin to devour. Leaning against him, I gasp, each kiss and lick leaving a trail of heat and electricity behind it that spreads until my entire body is tingling. Every single part of me wants him to keep going, but I know if he did it would scare me. I just want to fool around, no kneeling, no blindfolds, no titles, none of that crap.
    His other hand is under my dress clamped onto my ass, his fingers digging into my flesh as I moan. I can feel his cock pressed against me as I go limp in his arms. Except for my hands, which are roaming his body freely,