Stronghold (Stronghold 1) (4 page)

The look of disappointment and
disapproval on his face made her squirm internally, testing her ability to keep
her expression under control.  
I am a Domme
, she reminded herself.  For
tonight at least.  But somehow Adam made her want to stop pretending, drop
to her knees and beg to be punished for her deception.

In fact she was probably going to
masturbate, fantasizing about that, the second she got home.
 

Unlike Adam, Rick didn’t look at
all disappointed or perturbed.  He just gave her a friendly smile and held out
his hand.  “It was nice meeting you Angela.”

“You too,” she smiled back at
him, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake.  Turning to Adam she offered
him her hand as well.  “It was nice to meet you.”

The intent gaze on her face
caused her smile to slip a little as he reached for her hand and shook it, his
thumb practically caressing her skin.  Angel’s breath caught in her
throat, although she did her best to hide it, and she tugged her hand away.  For
a moment he didn’t let her and heat flared through her body.  Had he found her
out?  Then he released her and she had to use all of her willpower to keep her
traitorous knees firmly locked.  He just had that kind of effect. 
 

"Good night," she said,
noting with pleasure that there wasn't the slightest hint of a tremor in her
voice.  Just because she'd never wanted to be a professional actress didn't
mean she was without abilities.  With a firm and steady step, forcing
herself not to rush, she headed out the door and got her coat.  Getting
into her car she groaned a little over the late hour and the long ride
home.  Where there would be a warm bed and her vibrator waiting and she could
lose herself in a fantasy of knowing blue eyes that dominated her completely.  It
was too bad that would never come true, since he obviously belonged to Chained
and she wasn't going to be coming here as a sub.  Although she'd be back next
week, just to check things out again.  See if there were any more situations
like that awful Dom and that poor girl tonight.  Mostly it looked like everyone
was pretty well behaved, and considering that this was a new club she found
that very reassuring.
 

Of course she still wanted to
come back and check it out.  She wasn't that reassured.  And it didn't
have anything to do with the possibility that she might run into Mr. Grouchy
and his icy, demanding eyes again.

*****

"Okay, what is with you
tonight?" Rick asked, frowning at Adam.  "I've never seen you
act like that around a Domme before."

Adam rubbed his fore and middle
fingers of his right hand over the sides of his goatee and then smoothed it all
down as he sighed.  He knew that movement was one of his tells, which
meant that he could control it if he was paying attention, but right now he was
a little too worked up.   Especially in the groin region.  Something inside of
Angela had responded when they said goodbye, responded in the way that a sub
would, not a Domme.

"I think she might be a
switch and not know it," he said, which was only partially true.  Another
part of him was wondering if she only thought she was a Domme.  She was
obviously new to the scene and sometimes people came in thinking they were one
thing when really their desires went in a completely different direction. 
While she’d done some research and had the right clothes, that didn’t equate to
the knowledge that came from actually exploring desires.  His groin
tightened again as he remembered how beautiful her skin looked against that
curling dark hair and the forest green of her top. 

She’s not for you.  Even if she
is a switch, she thinks she’s a Domme.  And even if she is a switch, you want a
sub
, not someone who has needs to be on top as well as bottom,
remember?
 

Grimacing, he downed the last of
his drink.
 

"You mean you hope she's a
switch so you can play with her," said Rick, looking amused.  It wasn't
often that anyone got to see Adam thrown off kilter and he was obviously
enjoying seeing it happen.  "I didn't notice anything to indicate that,
but I wasn't really watching either.  Unlike some people apparently."

"Did you see the way she
responded when I didn't let go of her hand right away?"

"Maybe she just didn't like
being challenged but didn't feel like she could say anything."

Well that was a possibility
too.  The enigma that was Angela was going to haunt Adam all night, he
could already tell.  He didn't like mysteries but he couldn't stop running
through his mind all of the interactions with her that he'd had over the
evening. 
 

"Let's go," he
said.  Maybe if they got out of here he would be able to focus on
something else.

Angel was in the middle of baking
a new recipe off of her Pinterest account, salted caramel butter bars (one
entire pound of butter, good grief), when her doorbell rang.  Setting down
her hand mixer and the bowl, which was full of butter and sugar with a little
bit of flour, she hurried to answer it.
 

"Leigh," she said,
feeling her heart sink. "Come in, are you okay?"

Looking slightly forlorn in her
flannel pants and Wonder Woman t-shirt, Leigh walked past Angel into the
apartment.  Her waist length straight brown hair with its dark blonde
highlights was up in a messy bun.  Normally Leigh wore nothing but classy
little suits and stylish outfits that helped her present a certain 'image' to
the world, all for the good of her long term boyfriend Michael Rocke whom she'd
been dating since their freshman year of college.  Leigh used to be a
theater person too, that's how Angel had met her in high school when Leigh
moved to town and tried out for the school show, but that part of her life had
slowly been taken over by the many dinners and events that she had to attend
with Michael.  She needed a more flexible schedule than even community theater
could provide in order to be there fully for Michael.  Fortunately her job as a
high school English teacher meant that she had a lot of time in the evenings
and on weekends as long as she had some time to plan her classes and grade
papers.
 

However, whenever she came over
looking like this that meant there was trouble in paradise again.  Angel
had really liked Michael at first.  He was charming, charismatic and head over
heels for Leigh.  At least, he had been freshman year of college.  And his
sophomore, junior and senior years.  But neither of them had dated very much in
high school, Leigh was his first real relationship, and they had both been
virgins when they met each other.  For a while it looked like true love and
Leigh was still convinced that Michael was her soul mate, but last year he'd
broken up with her because he wanted to try dating other people to make sure
that she was ‘the one’ for him.  Apparently he couldn't know that without dating
other women.
  Leigh said she understood,
and Angel supposed she did too, but she had a feeling it was more about the
teasing he’d gotten from some of his friends who’d realized he’d only ever had
sex with one woman in his entire life than about true uncertainty over whether
or not Leigh was who he wanted to be with for the rest of his life.

Fortunately for Leigh's heart it
had only taken him three weeks (and a few failed attempts at getting a date
since he hadn't had any practice at it in the past six years) to realize that
he was being an idiot and that Leigh was the best thing that had ever happened
to him.  Angel hadn't really trusted the guy since although Leigh had
thrown herself completely back into the relationship, just as starry eyed as
ever.
 

"Leigh?" Angel asked,
closing the front door as her friend didn't answer.  Whatever it was it
couldn't be too bad because Leigh didn't look like she'd been crying.  She just
looked upset.
 

"I don't know," said
her friend with a sigh.  Her mismatched eyes looked miserable as she met
Angel's gaze, one greenish hazel and the other just hazel, framed by some of
the longest lashes that Angel had ever seen.  There were times when she'd
joked about finding a way to steal them from Leigh.  "Michael's acting
weird again and I'm just... Annoyed.  Frustrated.  Antsy."

"Come into the kitchen and
tell me about it," Angel said, giving her friend a big hug.  Leigh
clung to her for a moment before letting go and they went into the kitchen.
 

“Where are the guys?” Leigh asked, referring to the three guys
Angel shared the house with.  Angel had responded to a Craig’s list ad three
years ago and ended up getting along so well with the guys when she first met
them that they’d accepted her application immediately.  Leigh liked them too,
although she preferred not to talk about her issues with Michael when they were
around because they’d get all pseudo-protective, despite the fact that they
weren’t exactly poster boys for male aggression.

Angel snorted.  “They’re at a LAN party so they’re gone for the
weekend.  I don’t expect them back until late tonight.”

About six times a year her housemates would go to a friend’s, hook
up their computers with about five other guys, and play whatever new gaming
release had just come out.  Or they’d have friends over to do so at the house. 
They were always trying to get her to start gaming with them, especially World
of Warcraft, but she already knew she didn’t have the time for the kind of
commitment that they gave to their characters.  She also knew that if she
started, she probably wouldn’t be able to stop.

Grabbing the hand mixer, she flipped it on again, cupping her hand
around the edge of the bowl to keep the dough from flying out.

"What are you making?"

"Salted caramel butter bars.
 I just need to run the mixer for another minute and then we can talk."
 

Pulling over one of the chairs
from the table in the breakfast nook, Leigh scooted it closer to Angel as she
watched the mixing process.  The kitchen was a little warm, thanks to the
pre-heating oven, but Angel had the window open to let in some of the icy winter
air to counteract how warm the kitchen got when she was baking.  Once the
batter was evenly mixed, Angel put the hand mixer to the side and divided half
of the dough to go into the bottom of the greased pan.
 

"Okay, speak."

"I mean... I can't really
pin anything down.  He's just being distant.  And every time he gets distant I
get paranoid."

"Isn't he in the middle of
some big project right now?"  Angel didn't entirely understand what
Michael did.  Something to do with business consulting about... something.  She
had the bad habit of letting people run on and on about work and just letting
it go in one ear and fly out the other. 
 

"Yeah, the one in London.  They're
looking to start trying to branch out to the international market and possibly
open an office over there and he's in the thick of things."

"So maybe he's just really
busy with work stuff.  That sounds like a lot of pressure."

While Angel didn't really like
Michael she often found herself playing Devil's Advocate for him ever since
he'd broken Leigh's heart.  Leigh’s heart had healed enough to give him
another chance, but she still got worried sometimes that he was going to do it
again.  Especially since he hadn't really gotten the experiences in dating
other people that had been the whole reason he'd broken up with her.  She
had admitted to Angel that in some ways she would have found it more reassuring
if he had seen other people and then chosen to come back to her, but she was so
torn up by the idea of him being with anyone else that she had grabbed at the
chance when he returned to her.  But it didn't stop the fear that maybe
he'd decide getting back together with her was the larger mistake.
 

Pouring the melted caramel layer
on top of packed down dough, Angel sprinkled a little bit of champagne sea salt
that she'd gotten from a specialty store over the caramel before crumbling the
remaining dough to make the top layer of the bars.  Glancing at her friend she
could see the worry still on Leigh's face and her stomach clenched.  Leigh's
instincts might be all messed up since last year when it came to Michael, but
she usually saw reason once Angel reassured her.  The fact that she was
obviously still anxious made Angel even more anxious.
 

"He hasn't wanted to have
sex this week."

"That happens
sometimes," said Angel soothingly, although she knew that the truth was it
rarely happened with Michael.  Leigh didn't believe in TMI, not when it
came to her best friend, and so Angel was well aware that Michael and Leigh's
sex life was pretty regular.  As in once a day regular, usually more if Michael
was stressed or under pressure and needed an outlet for relief.  Privately
she'd sometimes wondered if that was the real reason Michael had come crawling
back to Leigh after a mere three weeks, because he'd realized he couldn't get
steady, reliable, safe sex as a single man.  Especially a single man just
out of a five year serious relationship who didn't have the time to build a new
one due to work and yet also didn't believe in one night stands.
 

"Not with us," Leigh
said, shooting her a look that said she knew Angel knew better. 

Angel pursed her lips. 
There really wasn't much she could say on the topic that she hadn't already
said before and she didn't think Leigh needed to hear more on Angel's theory
that Michael used her for sex.  Well, and because he truly did care about her,
although Angel didn’t believe for a second that he cared more about Leigh than
he cared about himself.  But the remnant of love that he carried was just
enough for Leigh to survive on.  Of course, that was just Angel’s opinion but
she also knew that she couldn’t see what happened when it was just Leigh and
Michael alone.  She could see that he treated her well for the most part, it
was just that she couldn’t get over the callous way he’d treated their short
separation and the reasons he claimed he’d come back after his failure at
dating someone new.  Angel felt protective over her friend, even though she
knew her opinion on their relationship didn’t actually matter in the long run.  Leigh
sighed and rubbed her hands over her face as Angel popped the pan into the
oven.
 

"Let’s watch
The
Tudors
and have some wine, we still haven’t finished watching the fourth season." 
Probably because it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the previous seasons, but
both of them loved that point in history and were determined to finish it. 
Sure it wasn’t completely historically accurate, but overall the series had
done a pretty decent job.

It was their standard downtime
activity.  They'd lived together for a while after college and had often
indulged in days of sitting around marathoning various television shows while
eating junk food.
  Pretty standard girl
stuff actually.

Leigh brightened a little. 
"Got any tater tots?"

"Better, smiley
fries."  Angel grinned as she pulled them out of the freezer.  They'd
take a little longer because the caramel bars needed a lower temperature than
the smiley fries, but that didn't matter.  They could wait.  "They're
just so happy to be eaten!"  The girls giggled as Angel dumped the
fries onto a tray and Leigh got out the wine and wine glasses, already looking
a little better just at the thought of having some Angel & Leigh time.
 

About an hour later they were
ignoring the smiley fries and gorging on the salted caramel butter bars, which
had to be the best freaking thing Angel had ever tasted in her life.
 

"We can't eat
all
of
these," she said for about the tenth time as she picked up her fourth one. 
"That’s a pound of butter.  Don't let me forget that."

"That's only half a pound
each if we share the whole thing," said Leigh rubbing her stomach.  She
was on her fifth one.  They'd eaten about a third of the pan already. 
They were warm, crumbly, caramel perfection, with a little bit of salt to
balance out the sweet and tingle their taste bus, and wonderful gooey, melty
yumminess.  "What else are you going to do with them?"

"What I do with all my
leftovers, leave them out for when the guys come home."  Angel smiled
smugly.  During the past year she’d picked up on the perfect way to try out her
recipes without gaining a hundred pounds.  Bake when the guys weren’t home, eat
what she wanted while it was still warm from the oven, and feed the rest to the
human garbage disposals that she lived with.

"This is the perfect pick-me-up
food.  Mmmmmm.  Oooooo that’s good." Leigh let out a moan better suited to
sex than food.  They'd both been doing that all morning.  Fortunately the
weather was way too cold in January for the windows to be open so the neighbors
couldn’t hear them; they’d probably think there was an orgy going on.  Of
course that just made her think of all the incredibly sexy, authoritative men
that she'd met last night.  Maybe one in particular.  Just thinking about
the way Adam's eyes had seemed to burrow into her, demanding all of her
secrets, made her insides clench.
 

"What's that look for?"
Leigh asked, her own eyes looking rather demanding.  They'd known each other
for long enough that she could read Angel like a book.  She sat up, looking
excited.  “You got all far away and dreamy looking.  It's about a guy, isn't
it?"

Angel moaned and picked up a
pillow, burying her face in it for a moment.  Her friend knew her way too
well.  "I met a guy yes, and he's super-hot and incredibly sexy and
no I'm not seeing him again.  I just met him at a club."

"When?"

She hesitated.  "Last
night."

"I thought you were staying
in last night."  Leigh was looking at her expectantly.  Angel felt
like burying her face in the pillow again.  Even though they were seated
on opposite sides of the couch she knew that Leigh wasn't going to give this a
rest, and if Angel took too long about answering she'd find Leigh invading her
side of the couch and probably poking her with her finger.  First came the
begging though.  "Come on Angel, I need to live vicariously through my
single friends.  It will make me feel better and distract me from all my
woes."  She gave Angel a comically miserable face with her lower lip
pouted out, but Angel could still see the real hurt that was in her friend's
eyes, the desire to forget about her problems with Michael.