Stronghold (Stronghold 1)

by Angel, Golden

  "I was just thinking that you're better than breakfast," she said truthfully.

  Adam laughed and leaned down to kiss her, obviously not caring about anything like morning breath. Fortunately her mouth didn't feel too disgusting since he'd made a toothbrush available to her last night. New and blue, which made her feel good since she could tell from looking at the brush he used that the one he'd given her was meant as a replacement for it. Not that it was a bad thing if a man was prepared with an extra toothbrush, but there were some connotations to being so prepared that she wasn't a fan of.

  Opening her mouth, she couldn't help but wince when he settled between her legs.

  Immediately he pulled away. "Are you okay?"

  "Just a little sore. It's um.... been a while." The look on his face now was pure, smug male satisfaction and she couldn't help but laugh again.

  Lifting his hips away from hers, Adam kissed her again. "Alright minx, time to get up then."

  "Oh." She couldn't help the disappointment in her voice even if she wanted to.

  Adam gave her a look as he sat on the edge of the bed, his erection bobbing heavily. "I can wait. Besides, this way I won't be late," he said, glancing at the clock.

  "Aww, you were going to be late for me?"

  "Yes," he said, dragging her over to him. "Now come take a shower with me so I can tease myself some more before I have to go to work."

  Despite her obvious come-ons in the shower, Adam resisted anything that went past teasing each other. Which, as he carefully and gently washed her with a cloth, was probably a good thing because she really was tender. If they had sex now, then she really would need some extra time to recover.

  They had a quick breakfast of cereal, while Adam grumbled about not being able to make her a proper breakfast because they'd taken so long in the shower, and some fantastic French press coffee before he walked her out to her car.

  "I'll call you tonight," he said, kissing her soundly on the mouth.

  "Okay." She smiled shyly up at him, feeling both pleased and surprised that he was going to call her so soon. "I have class till eight."

  "I'll call you at nine. Be good."

  From someone else that might have sounded almost patronizing, from Adam it was teasing and not at all filled with any kind of expectation. Laughing, Angel pushed him towards his car and got into her own.

  Her heart felt light, joyous and she turned up the Miley Cyrus that came onto the radio. If Adam hadn't been watching as she pulled away, she probably would have indulged in some serious happy dancing.

  Chapter 22

  That night Adam called her, exactly when he said he would, and they ended up talking for hours. Angel wasn't always a phone person, and when she told him that he confessed that he rarely talked on the phone either unless it was to someone who actually lived far enough away that he couldn't speak with them otherwise, but somehow it was easy to pass the time on the phone with each other.

  He told her about his parents and their divorce, which gave her a better understanding of why he was always so rigidly controlled all the time, and his mother's new husband and life in England, his father's long-term girlfriend that he refused to marry although they'd been living together long enough that they might as well have, and a very little bit about his brother. She got the impression that he rarely talked about Brian, and almost never about his death. Instead she heard about them as children, playing pranks and accidentally sending each other to the hospital while practicing their wrestling moves.

  And in return she told him about her parents and their rather eclectic lifestyle growing up. Percy's impatience with his family, her brother Captain Captain and his ship, and the camping trips her Dad used to take them on. Mom would come too, but she wasn't a camper, she just enjoyed being with her family, even if it was out in the middle of nowhere, but Dad thrived on it. Adam just laughed, sounding much more relaxed than she'd ever heard him.

  By the time the phone call ended, they'd made plans for him to come over for dinner on Thursday. After she'd spent the night out, and considering the way things had gone down on Saturday, she wanted her roommates to be able to get to know him. He'd sounded a little hesitant, as if he still wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of her living with three guys and had hoped to kind of ignore that fact, but Angel wasn't having any of it. Adam wouldn't be the first to be taken aback by that, but she had found it was best to push for acceptance from any man that she was dating. Otherwise it was just the big pink elephant in the room that no one talked about.

  She'd gotten the impression that he was trying. Especially in terms of Mike, who she had noticed that Adam hadn't really spoken to at all last weekend. But the important thing was that Adam was trying, and since he was obviously feeling possessive and a little jealous, which she had to admit she kind of liked, she was going to give him full points for trying.

  It probably did help that Michael was now in his own apartment. Angel was honest enough to admit that if the shoe was on the other foot, she probably wouldn't like the idea of a woman staying with Adam, even short term. But he was going to have to get used to her roommates, because she wasn't moving.

  They ended up talking on the phone all evening Tuesday too, despite the muttered imprecations of her roommates outside her door. She knew that they were a little worried, because she'd never spent quite this much time on a guy so quickly, but Adam made it easy. Fun. And a little sexy as he would send her flirtatious text messages throughout the day and tease her on the phone in the evening. She flirted right back, of course, and sent him a picture of her in the red leather outfit, which she was planning on wearing again the next time they went to Stronghold.

  Which would hopefully be that weekend.

  ******

  When Adam's phone rang at 8:30 on Wednesday night, he picked it up without looking at the I.D., assuming that it was Angel.

  "Hey sweetheart."

  A masculine chuckle greeted his response. "Well hello yourself, sweetheart."

  Rolling his eyes, Adam went back to rolling out the dough he'd been working on. He'd told Angel that he'd bring a dessert for dinner at her place tomorrow and he'd decided to make a pie, using the recipe that Justin had given him. Made from scratch, filled with peaches, and hopefully both delicious and impressive.

  "Rick."

  "I take it you're expecting a call from the delectable Angel? Don't worry, I won't take up too much of your time."

  "What can I do for you?"

  "I'm hoping you can put me up for a couple of days. I want to come up to your area in a couple of weeks and do some apartment hunting, I was thinking Thursday evening through Sunday morning if I can find a place to stay."

  "Of course, not a problem." Adam was usually the first call on everyone's list when they needed a place to stay, for whatever reason. He'd put up most of his friends at one time or another. Hell, he liked doing it. Sometimes the house got a little lonely. He'd particularly liked having Angel overnight and in his bed, definitely something he hoped to repeat again soon. Possibly as soon as the upcoming weekend. "Any weekend you'd like."

  "Thanks, man." Rick paused. "So ah... things are going well with Angel?"

  "Yeah." Adam grinned. They'd talked on the phone for the past two nights, and even more surprisingly, it hadn't just been her talking. She'd insisted on an equal exchange of information, which was something that wasn't easy for him. He much preferred face to face conversation, but she was good at asking the right questions to get him going. "She stayed the night on Sunday. Surprised you hadn't heard already." Especially since he'd finally given in to Justin's probing questions and told him earlier today.

  "Well... Nothing like hearing it from the source, anyway."

  Adam laughed, for once not bothered that their friends were talking about him.

  Rick sighed. "Gotta tell you, I'm starting to feel like I'm always a day late and a dollar short lately."

  "Yeah?"

  "Well, I mean... look at it from my point of view, I
was the first one to start really looking around for a serious girlfriend. I wouldn't have minded getting to know Jessica better, even though the Venus School prohibited that kind of thing between Instructors and students, but Justin and Chris were already there anyway. Then she brings Hilary along to things and Liam gets there first."

  "Not that you and Hilary would be well matched when it comes to what you want," Adam said, amused. It was a well-known fact that Rick wanted even more control over a woman's body than Hilary gave to Liam. In some ways Jessica might have been a good match, and Hilary might have been a good match, but he doubted either of them would have lasted long with Rick. "And neither of them are bratty enough for you, really."

  "I'm just saying, it doesn't seem fair. And then Angel comes along I didn't even realize she was submissive." The chagrin in Rick's voice was obvious, but Adam knew that it wasn't towards Angel specifically so he stepped on the little jealous voice inside of his head. It wasn't like Rick was going to try to steal her away or anything.

  "Somehow I don't think she'd enjoy your idea of punishment," he said dryly. "I'm pretty sure orgasm denial won't work as regular discipline for her, she might actually hurt someone."

  "I know. And it's not really about her or Jessica or Hilary. It's just... frustrating to see everyone get what I want. Especially when you weren't even looking."

  "I was thinking about looking. Maybe you need to just stop looking so hard and someone will pop up when you least expect it."

  "Maybe," Rick said a little glumly. "I thought about doing the online thing, but even that seems pointless until I know exactly where I'm going to be living up there. I can't wait until this school year is over. Right now it feels like my entire life is kind of on hold."

  "That sucks," Adam said, sympathizing.

  "Yeah well, enough about me. If Angel's got any cute, submissive, single friends, make sure to send them my way."

  "Too bad Leigh got back together with her ex."

  "Well, I wasn't looking to do the rebound thing anyway. And I think she's another instance of being too sweet for me."

  "Very true." Adam's phone beeped at him and he glanced at the screen, trying not to transfer too much flour from his hands to the screen. "And, that's my cue to go. Angel's calling. Just let me know what weekend you want to come up and I'll have a guest room ready for you."

  "Thanks man, tell your girl I say hi."

  Hanging up on Rick, Adam switched over to Angel, feeling a little spurt of pleasure that she’d called him even though she hadn’t said she was going to. While he might be dominant, both in the bedroom and a fair amount in life, he could still appreciate being the one to receive a phone call instead of being the one to make it. It was nice to know she wanted to talk to him as much as he wanted to talk to her.

  “Hey sweetheart, guess what I’m doing?”

  “What?”

  “Making pie.”

  Angel’s delighted laugh burbled over the phone waves.

  ******

  Hearing footsteps out in the hallway, Angel opened her door and jumped out. Q stopped in his tracks, unable to get past her unless she turned to let him by.

  “Is this too slutty?” Angel gestured to her outfit.

  The poor guy groaned, his eyes darting left and right as if looking for some means of escape in the narrow upstairs hallway. Ha.

  “Is this a trick question? Where’s Leigh?”

  “She’s having a date night with Michael tonight. Come on Q, seriously, what do you think?”

  Angel spun around. She was wearing one of her favorite skirts, which was navy blue with pink and orange flowers and was nice and flowy, it went down to about mid-thigh, but she wasn’t sure it was really appropriate for winter or if it looked like she was trying too hard. The peachy-colored sweater she was wearing with it had a rounded neckline that showed just a hint of cleavage and clung to her body like a second skin.

  “I don’t know,” he said, his eyes sweeping up and down her body to take it all in. “You look pretty.”

  “Q, come on… seriously, your real thoughts!”

  “You look like you’re going out on a date, not having someone come over for a casual dinner,” said Mark from behind her.

  Turning, Angel ran her hands over her skirt. “Really? Crap…”

  “Stop stressing, just go put on some pants.”

  Behind her Q coughed. “Yeah, what he said.”

  “Okay.” Angel sighed. “Thanks guys.”

  Jeans, jeans, jeans… she was pretty sure that was what Leigh would have told her too. But she’d wanted to look pretty.

  Tugging on the pants, she looked in the mirror. Okay, the peachy sweater still did nice things for her complexion and hair but now she didn’t look like she was trying so hard. But eventually she wanted to be able to wear a skirt around Adam that wasn’t for the club. Considering how much he liked her butt, she figured he’d appreciate easy access.

  Sigh.

  Something for the future.

  The doorbell rang and Angel dashed down the stairs. She’d purposefully done dinner to minimize the amount of things she would have to do now. Most of it was already done. The roast had been taken out of the oven ten minutes ago – as long as Sam had done the one task assigned to him and if he hadn’t she would kick his butt – and was resting while the twice-cooked cauliflower baked. Again, as long as Sam had followed her instructions. But there was a reason she’d told Sam and not Mark or Q; when it came to food instructions he was a lot more reliable than either of them. They always forgot what she told them to do. And when they were ready for dinner, she would just need to take five minutes to do the asparagus.

  Which meant that she had a good ten to fifteen more minutes to make sure her housemates didn’t go into their parent imitations with him. Sure, they’d had some time to talk to him last weekend, but that was before they knew she was getting serious with him. Well... she thought they were serious. That had been her interpretation of his desiring exclusivity, although she'd later realized that he might just not like to share. But would they have talked every night this week after Sunday if he hadn't had some feelings for her that were a little more serious? From her experience, that's usually what his behavior meant.

  When she opened the door she wasn't surprised at all to find him looking incredibly good in a long navy coat. She could already see from the collar that he was wearing one of his usual white button down shirts. The man needed more color in his life.

  "Hi, come on in."

  A tremor of pleasure and surprise went through her when he stepped in the door, handed her the pie, and leaned down to kiss her, soundly, before he even took off his coat.

  "And hello there to you, too," he said when he was done, blue eyes twinkling merrily. Sometimes, when he looked at her like this, she wondered how she'd ever thought him to be Mr. Grouchy. But that was just part of him too.

  "Hey man! Welcome back!" Sam came sauntering into the room, looking quite pleased to see Adam, which surprised Angel a little bit. Out of her three roommates, Sam usually took the longest to warm up to new people. Not that he was unfriendly, just usually shy. Mark was the most outgoing and Q had a confidence that Sam just couldn't match. Of course, once you got to know Sam he talked constantly, he just didn't usually start with people so quickly.

  "Hey. Good to see you again," Adam said, grinning as their hands met. Which surprised Angel even more. She eyed both of them suspiciously.

  Seeing the look, Adam's smile deepened as he slung his arm over her shoulder. "Sam gave me a new appreciation for country music last week."

  Sam just laughed and went to sit down in his favorite armchair, Angel gestured for Adam to sit on the couch as she put the pie he'd brought in the kitchen. She couldn't help smiling a little bit; Q had told her how Sam and Mark had serenaded Adam. Last weekend she'd been too pissy to notice exactly how many times she'd played Cowboy Casanova on repeat, but the song had fitted her mood exactly so she wasn't surprised that it was more than she'd rea
lized. Poor guys.

  Returning to the living room, where Adam was telling Sam about how she'd trounced his friends at Halo, they were joined a few minutes later by Q and then Mark. Q was still eyeing Adam a little suspiciously, but she wasn't surprised by that. He'd always been the least forgiving of her housemates, as well as the most protective. What did surprise her was that Mark and Sam weren't following his lead for once; they both seemed to really like Adam and were ignoring Q's more pointed looks and questions.

  When the timer went off for the cauliflower she jumped up. "I've just gotta get a dish out of the oven and throw on the vegetables for a few minutes and then dinner will be ready."

  ******

  As soon as Angel was out of the room, Q pounced. Something that Adam was willing to tolerate to soothe her housemates' obvious protectiveness, but it did grate on his temper a bit. Especially because he was still having some trouble with his feelings of possessiveness. Something about Q's attitude made him feel like there was more going on than brotherly feelings and that had his back up.

  "So where did you and Angel meet? She's never really said."

  "At a club."

  "Really? Normally she never gives out her number to guys at clubs," Sam interjected, looking surprised.

  "She didn't," Adam said, grinning a little bit as he remembered how intrigued he'd been by her and how skittish she'd been. Which made a lot more sense now than it had at the time. "But she told me about the show that she was in and I ended up going to see it and then we ran into each other again after that... and it just seemed like fate."

  He deliberately didn't give them any details about exactly what club he'd met her at or where they ran into each other again because he didn't know how much information Angel had given to them.

  "What do you do for a living?" Q asked, obviously not deterred from his questioning. Sam rolled his eyes sympathetically at Adam, while Mark just chuckled but also waited for the answer.