Stronghold (Stronghold 1) (30 page)

"Yes," he said,
very softly.  "That's exactly it."  

He studied her face as if
looking for the answers, but she didn't know what he saw.  The muscles
around her mouth and jaw felt stiff.  But after a moment he smiled, and
this time it did reach his eyes.  Just a little bit.  And the ice
thawed just a little bit more.

"Let's go decorate the
doors down in the Dungeon," he said, with a lightness that neither of them
felt.  

"It'll be the fanciest
jail and doctor's office in D.C.," she replied with cheerfulness that was
only slightly forced.  

******

They did the Interrogation
room last, the easy camaraderie between them finally restored now that they'd
both made a concerted effort to move away from depressing topics of conversation.
 Returning to their conversation about books had broken the tension
completely when she told him about her first fantasy book by Tamora Pierce and
he'd immediately known that she was talking about the Lioness Quartet. 

Angel had howled with laughter.
 "Those were written for girls!"

"Sexist," he
retorted, although his cheeks looked a bit red.  Was he actually blushing
a little bit?  "They were good books."

"I know... I just... the
main character's a girl!"

"And you read the Hardy
Boys."

"I know... I
know..." she said between fits of giggles.  "I just have trouble
picturing
you...
"  And then she dissolved into laughter again.

Adam scowled at her but she could
tell it wasn't for real.  There was none of the intensity that she'd seen
when he was actually piqued with her.  

"You're going the right
way to get that sexism beaten out of you," he threatened, stepping closer
to loom over her.  "I've got all the equipment I need right here in
this room."

And just like that, the
atmosphere changed.

He hadn't meant it to.
 Not really.  But she'd looked so beautiful flushed with laughter, so
carefree, so different from the way she had upstairs when she hadn't shown him
pity or judgment but instead had showed him that she understood.  He'd
found himself wanting to touch her, to kiss her. 

They weren't in a scene now.
 He could kiss her without breaking the restrictions that he'd put on
himself.

Watching the laughter fade
from her eyes to be replaced with a different kind of warmth, with the sparkle
of anticipation and hope, Adam knew that he was going to do it.  Hell,
maybe he'd known since the moment he'd seen her walk in the door.

Her lips parted slightly as
he leaned down, slowly enough that she could move away if she wanted to.
 But she didn't.  

Adam brushed his lips over
hers, gently, testing.  A whimper sounded low in her throat at the slight
touch and then he found himself cupping her chin in one hand, the other arm
snaking around her back as the fabric she'd been holding dropped to the floor
around their feet.  Granted, they hadn't had much left after doing every
doorway in the club, but up until now they'd been more careful with it.
 He hadn't wanted her to have to wash fabric that she hadn't even used for
decorations.

Now he simply couldn't care.

All he cared about was the
fact that she was responding to him, her mouth obediently opening beneath his,
her hands clutching at his shirt as she pressed against him.  She tasted
sweet and minty and like a woman.  Her kiss wasn't passive, like some submissives
could be, but it wasn't aggressive either.  She met every stroke of his
tongue with one of her own, with an enthusiasm that had his already hard cock
feeling like granite. 

Deepening the kiss, he
tightened his arm around her, sliding the hand on her chin to the back of her
head so that he could hold her securely in place.  Somehow he had to keep
control over the situation.

******

No one had ever kissed her
like this.  

It wasn't the passion or the
skill or even the taste of him... no one had ever kissed her so demandingly.
 Every muscle in his body was rock hard against hers, his erection digging
into her stomach, and yet it was as if his entire focus was on her mouth.
 Taking her breath away. 

Literally.  She was getting a
bit dizzy actually, but who cared?  Air was overrated anyway. 

She loved the way his hands
felt on her; controlling, authoritative.  There was no guesswork about
whether or not he was enjoying the kiss or what he wanted her to do; Adam took
what he wanted and it was all she could do to keep up with him.  It was
the hottest kiss of her life.

When he finally pulled his
lips away she realized exactly how starved for air she was, sucking it in as
her chest heaved and she stared up at him.  Blue eyes studied her.
 His gaze was hot, but didn't look nearly as wild as she felt.  That
stung a bit; she wanted to ignite the same kind of uncontrollable heat and need
in him that he did in her.  

"We should go back
upstairs," he said softly.  "Before anyone comes looking for
us."

"No."  She
said it automatically, without thinking, her hands bunching into the fabric of
his shirt as if she could hold him there by sheer force.  As if he didn't
outweigh her in sheer muscle mass.  

One blonde eyebrow lifted,
questioning - not just her no but also her judgment in saying it to him.
 Damn, she wished she could do that but her eyebrows never cooperated.
 

"I want... I want
more," she said, a little unsteadily but firmly.  

The eyebrow lowered as he
studied her expression.  "You want a scene?"

Now it was her turn to hesitate.
 She licked her lips.  "I want to... do something for you.
 The past two scenes have been all about me, I want to know that you're
enjoying yourself as well."

"Trust me, I enjoyed
myself," he said, chuckling.  Fingers pressed into her back, traveling
up her spine and she would have melted against him if she hadn't been so set on
getting her way with this. 

The balance of their two
times together had been sadly out of whack as far as she was concerned.
 After all, wasn't a Dom supposed to be the one taking his pleasure?
 And yet he hadn't once.  Maybe it was because he wasn't actually
interested in her in that way, although the stiff length still pressing against
her body seemed to indicate otherwise.  He'd definitely had a hard-on the
other times too.

Still, maybe she should give
him an out.  Maybe there was another reason.

"We don't have to if you
don't want to," she muttered.  "It was just an idea."

Perhaps a bad one, but Angel
liked to be honest about what she wanted.  Especially considering how her
acquaintance with him had started off.  And right now she wanted him.
 Actually, she'd wanted him the last two times they'd scened together but
the last time she'd begged and he hadn't given in.  Maybe this really was
a bad idea.

That conclusion seemed even
more justified as he released her and stepped back.  She immediately felt
rather cold without him pressed against her.  

"Take off your
shirt."

"What?"
 Startled, she looked up at his face.  She'd been steeling herself
for pretending that his rejection didn't matter, for acting like everything was
okay even though he was turning her down.  The last thing she'd expected
was an order to remove her shirt.

A small smile played on his
lips.  Almost teasing.  "We don't have to if you don't want
to."

Having her own words thrown
back at her so unexpectedly made Angel smile a little too.  For a moment
she hesitated... but it's not like he hadn't seen her butt naked before.
 Somehow she felt more vulnerable in her normal clothes though.  Plus
she hadn't exactly been expecting sex tonight.  Of course part of her had
hoped that Adam would be here, she couldn't deny that, but she hadn't thought
anything like this would happen.  She definitely hadn't expected that
kiss. 

The bra she was wearing was
one of her favorites, her favorite royal blue color with a little bit of soft
cotton sky blue lacy edging along the top of the cups.  It wasn't the
sexiest bra she owned, but she loved the way the blue looked against her skin
tone, and it didn't look like he minded at all that it wasn't lacy or
see-through.

"Take off the bra and
get on your knees."

That shouldn't make her as
hot as it did.  If any of her previous boyfriends had said something like
that to her she probably would have found it derogatory or disrespectful.
 But when Master Adam said it, she just felt desirable and eager to
please.  

As her shaky fingers
unclipped the bra snap, she realized that she'd very quickly and easily
transitioned to thinking of him as Master Adam when she'd been thinking of him
by his first name only for the entire evening before this moment.  Was it
because they were about to go into a scene?  And was it something that she
did herself in her head, or had he influenced her thinking?

"Beautiful," he
murmured as she carefully knelt down, trying to be as graceful as she could.
 It wasn't something she was practiced at, but her dance training helped a
lot.  "Play with those pretty breasts for me, Angel."

Heat flushed her entire body
as she cupped her breasts and squeezed them, watching Master Adam watching her.
 This was definitely not something she'd done before.  It was
uncomfortable, unnerving and so damned erotic that she was creaming her
panties.

"Pinch your
nipples."

Holy hell.  Angel mewled
as the spike of pain and pleasure went straight down to her pussy.  She
sometimes played with her breasts before masturbating, but rarely, and it
definitely never felt like this when she did it.  Was it because Master
Adam was watching?  Or because he'd told her to do so in the first place? 

"What's your color,
sweetheart?"

"Green... Green and
impatient, Sir," she said, a little impudently.  She knew she was
risking being punished, but it was true.  To her relief he just chuckled
again. 

"We're not having sex
tonight, Angel."

"We're not?"
 Dammit, she sounded almost wistful.  If he didn't want to have sex
with her then she wasn't going to beg for it.  Of course if he did want to
and he just wanted to hear her beg...

******

Big hazel eyes gazed up at
him and he wondered if she knew just how pleading and tempting she looked.
 Her breasts were gorgeous, filling her hands completely as she rolled her
darkening nipples between her fingertips.  Those pouty lips were slightly
parted, her skin flushed with arousal and pleasure, and he knew very well that
if she would definitely have sex with him right now if he wanted it. 

And it wasn't that he
didn't. 

He just didn't want to rush
things.  Not between them when it came to furthering their relationship or
the first time he did have sex with her.  Right now he had no idea what
she wanted; it was possible that, like a good submissive, she wanted to know
that she had pleased the man who had Dommed her during two rather intense
scenes.  Or it was possible that she was just as attracted to him as he
was to her and that she was thinking along the same lines as he was when it
came to furthering a relationship. 

Hell, it was also possible
that she was still just putting on an act and was doing what she thought she
should.  Although he didn't really believe that. 

But no matter the reason, he
wasn't going to rush into this.  And when they did have sex, unless all
she wanted was to play in the club, it wouldn't be when he was feeling rushed
and worried that someone might walk in on them.  Although the latter did
add to the erotic illicitness of the situation.

Adam had never played in
Stronghold when it wasn't actually open, although he'd been here during
non-Club hours before.  

"I'm going to indulge in
a little fantasy of mine," he said softly, undoing the front of his pants
as he stepped up to her.  Angel's almond shaped eyes grew even bigger,
flicking back and forth between his face and the bulge in the front of his
pants.  "One that I've had since the night that I first met you.
 Open up, sweetheart.  And don't stop playing with those pretty
breasts."

Obediently Angel's lips
parted as he reached out and inserted one of his thumbs between them.  Her
tongue laved over the tip, her mouth closing around the digit eagerly.  It
did make getting his cock out of his pants slightly more difficult, but he
wanted to give her a little time before he actually began anyway, make sure
that this was really what she wanted.

The little moan as her tongue
swirled around his thumb said that it was.  She was eyeing his cock as he
stroked it, her expression eager.  

Deciding that he'd waited
long enough, Adam removed his thumb from between her lips and aimed his dick at
her mouth.  Angel leaned forward eagerly, her tongue snaking out to caress
the tip.  Catching her by her hair, Adam held her head at the perfect
position for her to tongue him, not allowing her to take him in her mouth
immediately.

It felt like heaven and hell
all at once.  He was teasing himself when he could already be enjoying her
sweet mouth, but he liked the way she strained against his hand, trying to get
to his cock.  He liked seeing her tongue licking his cock and the way she
kept looking up at him between her eyelashes, to see if she was pleasing him.
 No worries there.