by Golden Angel
Except that she had a feeling she probably was going to be getting spanked. It seemed very likely. But she didn't know for sure so she wasn't lying exactly.
"Well, I'm glad you're not just giving up on him," Jackie said, snagging a grape from the tray and popping into her mouth. "Every relationship has things you have to compromise on, and a little spanking shouldn't be a deal breaker. Who knows, it might even be exciting." Now it was Maria's turn to give Jackie a suspicious look. Her younger sister grinned. "I'm not saying I've tried it. It's just that I would have never thought I'd find it sexy to do anything with my feet... but Daniel's reactions make it sexy for me."
"I just wonder if I'm going to have to compromise too much," Maria said, hedging her answer a little bit. "You know? Like, what if I'm just doing it because I like Rick?"
"What's wrong with that?" Jackie asked. "As long as he's not asking you to do something you actively dislike. Maybe you'll try it and you'll hate it, and he'll have to decide if he likes you enough to go without. Or maybe you'll try it and not hate it, but not love it, and just tolerate it for his sake. Like I tolerate Daniel's yearly depression over the Redskins." She rolled her eyes. "I wish he would just cheer for the Ravens, he'd be a much happier man."
Maria laughed. "I'm not sure if we can compare being a Redskins fan to getting a spanking."
"But you see my point."
"Yeah..." Maria picked up the tray, fully loaded with food again. "I'll think about it."
And she would. Her sister had made some good points, which applied to everything Rick wanted, not just spanking. Not that she really thought she was going to hate anything he did to her, at least she hoped not, but she had worried about things that she didn't love. On the other hand, she could put up with one or two kinks that maybe she didn't love but didn't hate either. There were some she definitely wouldn't do. Those were called "hard limits," as she'd discovered during her research.
Ugh. She wished it was just Thursday already so that she could stop worrying over it in her head.
Chapter 14
It felt like nervous energy was fizzing through Rick's veins in place of blood as he knocked on Maria's door.
They'd fallen back into their habit of spending time together at the pool in the morning, to the point where Adam never expected to see him before 10am on the days when Rick came in to help out, but things had changed a bit. Both of them were flirtatious, but more cautious about pushing the line, knowing that they were waiting for the evening at Stronghold. Now that the day was finally here, Rick felt a jumpy tension in the pit of his stomach that had made getting through the day almost unbearable. Especially after Patrick had sent him her survey. For the most part it looked like she was willing to try a lot of things, although he wasn't sure how much that was because she wanted to make sure she didn't automatically dismiss something he might want to do, and her hard limits were definitely along the same line as his. Just thinking about all the things she was apparently willing to let him try with her had left him distracted and horny.
He took a lengthy and goal-oriented shower, and even though he didn’t have a hard-on anymore, his leathers felt tighter than usual, and not just because his cock was looking forward to finally getting a chance at Maria.
Really, he didn't know yet how far she was going to be willing to go today, but he was allowed his fantasies. Even if, logically, he knew it was a better idea to hold off on any real intimacies until she was surer of what she wanted. Hope welled and stuck inside his chest. After all, the fact that she was willing to return to Stronghold for an Introduction Scene at all, everyone seemed to think that meant something significant.
When Maria opened the door, Rick's cock made the front of his leathers even tighter. She looked stunning in a dark red tank top that looked like it was barely holding in her breasts, clinging to every inch of her curves, and a short black skirt that made her legs look miles long. It was a loose skirt, rather than a tight one, but he wasn't going to complain, although eventually he'd like to see her in some tight-fitting PVC or latex. Her curls had been put back into a loose pony tail that kept it off her shoulders and back, but gave him fantasies about winding the heavy mass around his hand and using it to guide her movements.
The way her head was slightly ducked, her shoulders slightly hunched, and the little glances she was giving him through her eyelashes made her the very picture of an uncertain, anxiously nervous little subbie.
"Hi," she said in a breathy voice.
Rather than responding immediately, Rick took the time to make a lengthy and obvious perusal of her body, very similar to what he’d done the first time they’d gone to Stronghold. But this time, he was looking at her with much more intent. Tonight he was finally going to get his hands on her, maybe even put them all over her. She squirmed uncomfortably at his close scrutiny, but underneath her tank top her nipples were already hardening. The air between them seemed tight with tension; he could see her throat muscles work as she swallowed, obviously wanting to say something, but finding herself waiting for him instead. When he met her eyes again, they were wide and she was no longer just peeking at him, but actively waiting for what was going to happen next with bated breath.
"Hello gorgeous," he finally said in a low voice. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers, teasing her with the lightest of kisses. She tried to follow him back up as he straightened, but he reached out with one hand, placing it on her hip and keeping her in place. "Ready to go?"
For a moment he thought she was going to change her mind as something like fear flitted through her eyes, but then her expression firmed and she nodded her head. Pulling on her hip, Rick turned, sliding his hand along her back and tucking her under his arm as they headed down the stairs.
"So uh... how was your day?" Maria asked after a minute. Rick laughed. She was so nervous and cute, trying to sound normal, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
"Not too bad. I spent most of it helping out Justin," he said, feeling her slowly relaxing under his arm as he told her about Justin's current social media issues. Currently Justin was working with Adam's employees and his temps on how to keep their social media private. It was mind-boggling how many people didn't even bother to look up things like privacy settings, allowing the entire world to see what party they went to the weekend before. Not exactly something most people wanted a future employer to come across.
They chatted the entire way to Stronghold, which relaxed Maria at first, although he could sense her becoming more and more anxious again as they got closer to the club. By the time they arrived, she was practically vibrating in her seat. While Rick thought that a bit of nervous energy was a good thing for a submissive, and perfectly normal in a new one, he didn't want her to be too scared.
As she reached for the handle to open her door, Rick grabbed her other hand. "Maria." With a blink of surprise, she let go of the door handle and turned her head to face him. "We aren't going to do anything tonight that you don't want. You understand that right?"
"Um... I think so?"
Rick smiled, squeezing her hand. "Really. All you have to do is say 'red' and everything stops. I want us to talk more once we get inside, before we do anything. Patrick sent me your survey this morning and I've looked it over, but I think we'll both feel better if we talk things through before your scene."
"And if I say yellow?"
He smiled again. Someone had been doing her research.
"Then we slow things down and talk about them before I continue. I might occasionally make you uncomfortable and I might mix a little pain with pleasure, but I will never hurt you and I will always honor your safe word. Do you trust me?"
There was only the slightest hesitation before Maria nodded her head. All things considered, Rick decided that was only understandable she would be a bit hesitant. What was important was that she was still willing to try.
"Okay sweetheart. Let's go in."
Tension wrapped around her body again, but this time it had mo
re excitement in it than fear, which was what Rick wanted to see. A little bit of fear was good, but excitement warring with fear was better.
Surprisingly, no one was standing at the entrance to the main room, but Lexie was at the front desk, looking kind of pissed about something, but when she saw Rick and Maria her entire demeanor perked up. She grinned at them, straightening in her chair. Tonight she was wearing a bright pink bra underneath an electric blue mesh shirt. Compared to some of the things she'd been wearing for a while (like nothing but pasties or electrical tape covering her nipples), Rick was always grateful to see that she was wearing underwear underneath her tops. At first that had freaked him and the other guys out, now it was a relief that she was mostly decently covered.
As if she could read his thoughts, Lexie narrowed her eyes at him a bit, but the smile that she gave Maria was genuinely welcome.
"Hello again! I'm so glad you came back," Lexie said as they came to the front desk to sign in.
"Hi um... glad to be here."
Lexie laughed. "That sounded very convincing. I won't hold you up here, although I may hunt you down later. Have a good evening!"
Just as they reached the door, it opened and Mistress Lisa stepped through. The Dommes only occasionally acted as the door guard, usually they preferred Dungeon Monitor duty when they were helping Patrick out. She looked startled for a moment, obviously not expecting anyone to have been standing outside, and then grinned. "Hello Rick." Holding the door open, she made an elaborate sweeping gesture for them to pass her by as she winked at Maria. "Have a good evening."
Inwardly groaning, Rick wished that the club wasn't such a hotbed of gossip sometimes. Did everyone know he was bringing Maria here tonight? Probably.
"Thank you," Maria said, sweetly, still obviously nervous. Taking her by the hand, Rick pulled her past Lisa, giving the grinning Domme a short nod. Getting a clear view of the bar, he groaned out loud this time. He could sense Maria peeking around him to see what he was looking at. "What? Oh..."
Angel and Adam were there, along with Olivia, Liam and Hilary, and Andrew. Of course, Andrew was working bar, but he was still obviously watching for Rick and Maria's entrance. As if on cue, they all waved. Rick growled under his breath.
He glanced down at Maria, who was now standing at his side rather than behind him, her fingers wrapped rather tightly around his. "Do you want to go say hi?"
"Yeah," she said, relief flitting across her face. He tried not to feel hurt by her desire to delay their scene even further. Maybe talking to the others would help calm her. After all, it was partially Angel's doing that Maria was even here tonight.
His friends didn't even bother to pretend like they were there to do anything but gawk. All of them were looking at him and Maria, and grinning, as they approached. Hilary and Liam were sitting beside each other, Liam's hand under the table, probably on Hilary's thigh. She waved at Maria. The bright pink PVC corset she was wearing was definitely one of Angel's creations; she, Jessica and Lexie had all started buying a lot of their club clothing from Angel. Angel herself was wearing a more daring outfit that looked a little bit like a leather bikini on top and a school girl uniform on the bottom. Surprisingly, she was seated beside Adam, rather than being wedged between his legs or on his lap. Andrew was leaning against the bar, on the wrong side of it for working, but since no one was sitting at the bar it didn't really matter.
Angel greeted Maria with a hug, Hilary automatically following her example, and Rick knew he'd made the right decision as Maria's smile became a little brighter and a little more natural. He did raise his eyebrow at Adam though.
The big blonde shrugged. "What? You should be grateful that it's just us." His smile took on a more wicked turn. "Justin, Chris and Jessica were planning on coming too, but they ah... got held up."
"Where's Patrick?" That was the only surprise, that the owner wasn't out here to personally watch over and ensure that Rick didn't fuck up the way he had last time.
Andrew leaned in and lowered his voice to a stage whisper that was clearly audible. "We think Lexie did something to him, but no one knows what."
Beside him, Olivia snickered while Angel got a smug expression on her face and Hilary giggled. The Doms all raised their eyebrows, which of course Olivia could ignore. Avoiding Liam's gaze, Hilary looked at Angel, whose expression was so innocent that it screamed treachery. Adam sighed.
"What did you do?"
"Me?" The outrage in Angel's reaction as she placed a delicate hand on ample cleavage, deliberately drawing attention to her in-drawn breath, was so overdone that it was obvious she knew she was caught and didn't care. Because normally, she was a much better actress than that. "Why would you think that?"
Crossing his arms over his chest, Adam glared down at his sub. "You know I don't like being lied to."
"Lying? Who's lying?" Angel turned to Hilary, practically bouncing with supposed indignation. "Am I lying? Have you heard one single lie drop from my mouth? All I did was ask a question. You can't lie by asking a question, right Rick?" Angel spun around to point at him. "You're the English teacher. Lying by asking a question is impossible, isn't it?"
"Does she have a snooze button?" Rick asked Adam, feeling the side of his mouth quirk up into a reluctant smile. Even though it was obvious that Angel had either done or knew something, and he shouldn't encourage her, he couldn't help but find her entertaining.
"Nope, he's looked," Angel said brightly, cutting Adam off before he could even respond. The blonde frowned down even more fiercely at her, which she ignored. Man, she was just asking for it, wasn't she? "Besides, you don't need a snooze button, you just need to tell Mr. Grouchy here that he's wrong and - EEP!"
Her short shriek was cut off as her stomach bounced against Adam's shoulder.
"Put me down you Neanderthal!"
"I thought I was a Viking," Adam said, looking decidedly more cheerful as he swung around and started to maneuver between the tables. "And you, you little brat, are asking to get this fine ass beat." Angel shrieked again as Adam smacked her upturned ass hard with his free hand.
Beside him, Rick could feel Maria shift, and he pulled her closer, putting his arm around her so that he could whisper in her ear. "Don't interfere... remember, all she has to do is say her safe word and Adam would stop immediately. Besides, Angel likes getting spanked."
Just as he said that, Angel used one hand to push herself away from Adam's back and her other hand to give his ass a hefty smack. Adam froze mid-step. His back was to them, so Rick couldn't see his expression, but he bet it was priceless. Angel laughed smugly.
"Ha! So you can dish it out but you can't take it, huh?"
"Little terror. Are you feeling neglected sweetheart?" Adam asked, his voice syrupy with false sympathy as he strode away, heading towards the Dungeon. His tone deepened, becoming more darkly threatening. "All you needed to do was tell me you needed a good spanking, I would have been more than happy to oblige."
Rick saw Angel look up at Maria and send her a wink and he suddenly wondered if Adam and Angel had engineered that entire little scene to help set Maria at ease. In some ways, Adam had gone remarkably easy on his disrespectful little sub. He bet that she wasn't supposed to spank him though; she was going to pay for that.
Seeing Angel wink had definitely made Maria relax even more, underscoring Rick's reassurance that Angel wasn't in any kind of real trouble. Although, Angel might not entirely agree with that assessment by the time Adam was done with her. He didn't know what the troublesome sub had been thinking; she'd definitely pushed Adam more than he'd ever seen Adam put up with from any other woman. Then again, Rick had never seen Adam in love before either.
Hilary was beside herself with giggles, even as Liam shook his head. "You'd better not be getting any ideas, love."
"If you want to spank his ass, I'll protect you," Andrew told her. Liam just laughed.
"Like you could take me."
"I think that's our cue," Rick whispered in Maria'
s ear, taking advantage of his friends' macho posturing to pull her away. She went somewhat reluctantly, obviously just as amused as Hilary was, watching as Andrew insisted that he could totally take Liam because he'd fight dirty and Liam had too much pride to stoop to his level.
******
Hanging out with Rick's friends was so easy and fun, but she didn't protest when Rick led her away. Dragging out the inevitable was just making her more and more nervous, even though at first it had been nice to stop by and say hello to them. Watching the interaction between Angel and Adam had been both revealing and amusing. Like the beginning of a little play, at the end of which was hot sexy time. It just so happened that hot sexy time was going to include a spanking. So maybe more like a porno than a play, except that she'd never really been interested in watching porn.
She gave Rick a little glance through her eyelashes as he led her up the stairs. The leather pants and tight black shirt he was wearing made him look mouthwateringly good, his skin and hair appearing even more brightly golden against the dark clothes.
Part of her was relieved that they weren't heading for the Dungeon, another part of her was a little disappointed because she would have liked to see what happened between Angel and Adam. The next part in the play (or porno) so to speak. Did that make her perverted? Or just curious?
Moving with firm, sure steps, Rick led her straight down the hall to the last door on the left. As soon as they stepped in, Maria's cheeks flamed brightly as she remembered that Rick had teasingly said he thought she'd like the school room. Apparently he hadn't been teasing. Heat and hard muscle pressed into her from behind and Maria realized she'd come a halt. Blushing even hotter, she jumped forward and away from him as if scalded, increasingly unnerved by the situation.
Unnerved and excited. As she spun around to face him, Rick closed the door behind him, and her pussy actually clenched at the sound. They were all alone. And he was going to... what? Spank her? Fuck her? She didn't know if she was ready for any of that, but this was what she wanted.
