by Golden Angel
******
Olivia didn’t know if she was more turned on or pissed off.
She wanted to order Luke back into the office, put him on his knees, and maybe torture his balls for good measure. The man was mouthy. Which, of course, got her motor running. Although he’d been obedient to Kincaid today during class, they hadn’t been doing anything which challenged him.
She wanted to challenge him.
To push him.
To see the moment when he submitted his will to hers.
Strong, confident men who struggled to give up control were much more her cup of tea than men who immediately begged for her favors. What could she say? She liked the hard cases.
Luke was definitely a hard case, no matter how big a game he talked.
Which was exactly why she needed to keep her distance. She could only imagine how complicated things could get if they became involved in any way. Sex and emotions messed with things, especially when she was a manager and he was an owner. She needed to be able to speak her mind and know her job was secure. Which meant no fooling around with the boss. Even if he did have a damn fine ass and was already trying to serve her by noticing her headache and bringing her pain killers, and giving her a completely sincere apology without her even asking for one.
Groaning, she dropped her head into her palms, elbows propped on the desk. This was definitely not a problem she would have ever guessed she’d have when she’d quit her job at Boyds.
Then her phone made a sound she never thought she’d actually be happy to hear. A little popping noise, like a bubble being burst. Followed a few moments later by multiple bubbles bursting.
No matter what she’d threatened, what she’d promised, she hadn’t been able to make the other women start a different group text chat which didn’t include her. They’d nod their heads, say no problem, and then she’d keep getting their messages all together anyway. Finally she’d changed her text notifications on just that message so that her phone didn’t drive her up the wall whenever someone started a new conversation in the group chat.
Right now, however, distraction sounded wonderful.
Sharon: I need a night out! Girls only! Who’s free Saturday for dancing?
Hilary: Me! I’m free!!!!
Maria: I can’t, I’ve got plans with the family :(
Sharon: :(
Kate: I can come!
Angel: Adam says no. Butt face.
Despite Angel’s ire, that was probably for the best. Angel was eight months pregnant but honestly already looked like she could pop at any moment. She’d even had to stop teaching the self-defense courses she loved.
Lexie: Patrick says I can come!
Leigh: I’m in!
Ellie: Me too!
Jessica: I’m having date night with my guys, but have fun!
Despite herself, Olivia couldn’t help but smile as she typed into her phone: I’m in too.
Sharon: DOMME IN THE HOUSE!!! SHE ANSWERED!!!!
Hilary: Woo-hoo!
Angel: Fuck it! I’m talking to Adam, maybe he’ll be less of a butt face if he knows Olivia is going to be there.
Leigh: I’m going to tell him you keep calling him butt face.
Angel: Good, then maybe he’ll stop being one.
Lexie: Unlikely.
Angel: What’s he gonna do? Put me over his knee? My stomach is the size of a beach ball, good luck to him!
Snickering, Olivia put down her phone as the conversation devolved into Angel’s pregnant snarkiness and discussions of where to go exactly. She didn’t have an opinion on any of it. Angel was in for one hell of a red bottom after her pregnancy was over and she’d recovered from giving birth and they all knew it. That didn’t stop her from mouthing off, especially now when she was often physically uncomfortable and had a harder time getting around due to the size of her stomach.
Wherever they wanted to go dancing was good with her; she didn’t care about the location, but she’d be there keep an eye on everything. Especially if Angel managed to get out to dance.
Olivia could definitely use a ladies’ night out. Especially on a Saturday. Luke had become a regular at Stronghold, hanging out with her group of friends, which had made things a little weird for her. She felt bad playing with someone else when he was there.
Worse, she often didn’t even feel like playing with anyone at all when he was there. She’d rather hang out in the bar area with her friends, and Luke, the entire evening, pretending she wasn’t all that interested in his conversations. Which wasn’t an easy thing to admit to herself but it was true.
And now he’d come straight out and said he wanted to scene with her.
That he wasn’t interested in training with another Domme.
Yeah well, she wanted to be attracted to a man who didn’t own the club she was managing.
Gritting her teeth, she picked up her phone and started scrolling through her contacts. She’d call Lisa first, to see if she was available.
That Lisa was the only Domme whom Olivia knew in a long-term, exclusive relationship had absolutely nothing to do with her being Olivia’s first choice. Really.
******
Sitting on his couch, feet propped up on the sturdy top of his coffee table, Luke was munching on popcorn and having a text conversation with Adam Rawn, one of his new friends from Stronghold. There was something about the group which had drawn him in. It was kind of nice to have a social life again. His own best friends were all scattered around the U.S. now, and even though they got together at least once a year to reconnect and spend a weekend together, he hadn’t really had anyone other than his brother to just hang out with regularly. He’d made himself busy with work, which was great, but now he was having a good time slowing down and getting to know the Stronghold group. They’d even invited him to their weekly workout, Wednesday night at Liam Brock’s Kung-Fu dojo.
As soon as he’d gone into business with Michael and Patrick, it was like they’d decided—as a whole—that he was part of them. Well, everyone except Olivia, but even she didn’t try to remove him. She just wasn’t as warmly welcoming as everyone else.
His phone started to buzz in his hand and loudly blare Papa Roach’s version of Alien Ant Farm, making him jump a little, scattering some of his handful of popcorn. Still, he couldn’t help smiling as he pressed the green ‘accept call’ button.
“Hey asshole.”
“Hey bitch.” His brother’s deep voice was cheerful. “How’s tricks?”
Luke groaned, leaning his head back. He’d told his brother what was going on. Nick was basically his best friend as well as being his sibling. “It backfired. Sort of. I don’t know.” He paused. “Instead of pairing herself with me for the class, she put me with a bisexual male Dom.”
“I cannot wait to meet this woman.” Nick chuckled, sounding almost gleeful. He was going to be the executive chef at Marquis (not because Luke was an owner; Nick had earned the position on his own) but so far had yet to actually be in the building at the same time as Olivia. Of course, now that the upstairs was complete, Olivia would be on the premises a lot more, and even though she wasn’t going to have much to do with the first floor where the restaurant was, a meeting was inevitable.
The smile on Luke’s face turned into a grin. “She’s pretty amazing.”
Upsetting each other’s expectations was fun. He definitely hadn’t seen Kincaid coming. But she hadn’t seen him choosing to submit to Kincaid so easily either. Granted, she made it easy for him. He honestly wasn’t sure what he would have done if she’d asked for an actual spanking demonstration. Taken it, probably, to prove to her he would… but he couldn’t imagine it being particularly enjoyable.
Instead, she’d backed off.
Although, he didn’t feel like she’d retreated. Just that she wasn’t going to push for something he might actually be uncomfortable with. Everyone knew Olivia took care of the people under her care, and that now included him. Which was a nice feeling. He liked the idea of being unde
r her care just as much as he liked the idea of taking care of her needs.
Symbiosis was sexy.
“So what now? Are you going to have a big, beefy man dominating you for the rest of the class?” teased Nick. To his credit, Nick hadn’t teased Luke too badly about any of this. Luke had been a little worried his brother might not be understanding about Luke wanting to be bossed around in the bedroom, about being sexually submissive—hell, he didn’t understand it himself and he was living it—but Nick had just listened and said Luke should go for whatever would make him happy.
“No, she says she’s going to find another Domme to come in and work with me.” He couldn’t quite keep his disgruntlement out of his voice.
Nick just laughed again. “She’s really good at thwarting you, isn’t she? So what are you going to do now?”
Because Luke wasn’t the type to give up and they both knew it. He might be submissive sexually, but he definitely wasn’t anywhere else. If he really thought Olivia didn’t want him, he would back off… but she’d admitted her hold up was his position as part-owner in the club. Luke couldn’t give that up at this point, he had too much money invested and there was no one else in a position to buy him out, but he could show her it didn’t matter. Find a way to convince her the attraction they felt was worth exploring.
“I’m working on that right now,” he said.
“Well when I meet her, I’ll put in a good word for you,” his brother joked.
“Thanks so much,” Luke said dryly.
He and Nick chatted for a few more minutes, so Luke could tell his brother about Michael and Patrick’s reactions to seeing the whole club finally finished. Luke was already pretty sure his brother was going to end up going to one of the newbie classes. He tried not to think too much about what that would mean, since Olivia taught both the newbie Doms and the newbie subs. From what he understood, the new Doms had to experience every single thing they’d marked an interest in on their survey before they were allowed to do it to someone else.
Which made sense.
But Nick was a total ass man and he really didn’t need to think about how Olivia would teach that portion of the class with his brother as one of the students.
After hanging up, Luke checked his text messages again. He knew Adam had texted him back several times because he’d heard the distinctive beeps.
Sure enough, the other man had come through for him.
Luke grinned.
Round one… well, he’d probably count tonight as a draw.
Round two was going to start tomorrow.
******
When Olivia arrived at Marquis at nine o’clock on the dot Wednesday morning, she was surprised to walk into the door and see Luke standing there in a chef’s coat, talking to several others who were similarly attired. It only took her a couple of seconds to realize the man wasn’t Luke at all, he just looked a hell of a lot like him. All of them looked up when she came in and she smiled, trying not to show how unnerved she was by how much Luke’s brother, because he had to be Luke’s brother, looked like him. Same broad shoulders, although a slightly less muscular build than Luke, a similar haircut but more clean-shaven on his face, and the same bright blue eyes.
“Hello,” she said, smiling and moving towards them, her hand already lifting to shake. “I’m Olivia Williams, I manage the upstairs portion of Marquis.”
All of them would have a vague idea of what that meant because they’d all signed non-disclosure agreements. Unfortunately, Patrick hadn’t been able to find any kinksters who wanted to work in the kitchen area—plenty of the servers and busboys and one of the managers were kinky, but there were a lot of newbies signing NDAs too.
“Well hello,” Nick Davis said, his blue eyes lighting up as he stepped forward to take her hand. “I’m Nick Davis. I believe you know my brother Luke.”
Olivia didn’t bother to tell him that she already knew exactly who he was—and had read through his background check. She did fight down a smile when he immediately brought up Luke, realizing he must have mentioned her to Nick at some point. Which definitely did not make her feel all warm and kind of fluttery inside. Nope. Definitely, definitely not.
De Nile was a river in Egypt and she wasn’t just swimming in it lately, she was drowning in it.
“Yes, we’ve met,” she said, as coolly as she could without being rude, pulling her hand back and preparing to turn and greet the woman standing beside Nick.
The man dropped her hand, but immediately spoke again, still grinning as he studied her. “I told him I’d put in a good word for him. I know as a younger brother I might have a slight case of hero worship, but he really is a great guy.”
Well that was just too cute for words, and Olivia was having an even harder time with the smile threatening to curve her lips. Nick had the same charm as his older brother and just as much confidence, even if he was lacking the immediate mutual attraction she’d felt with Luke.
“Yes he is,” she agreed, and Nick’s eyes lit up for a moment before she turned away from him and shook hands with the woman beside him—Avery Kzmarscki, sous chef.
She was perfectly willing to agree Luke was a great guy. It just didn’t change anything when it came to a personal relationship between them. Still, as she met the rest of Nick’s team, she could feel his blue eyes on her, studying her the same way his brother did.
Patrick had mentioned Nick might turn out to be a Dom. Right now, Olivia was inclined to agree with him. He didn’t like that the conversation was no longer under his control. Hiding her smirk, Olivia finished up talking with them and headed to her office. Nick would learn. He was even more unseasoned than her Baby Doms right now though, no matter how much innate confidence he had. His particular brand of brash, blunt charm would work well on subbies—not so well on Dommes.
Opening the door to her office, Olivia flicked on the light, took two steps and came to an immediate halt.
Blinked.
Her lips parted.
It wasn’t quite a jaw drop but… close.
There was a red glass vase full of long stemmed red roses and baby’s breath sitting in the middle of her desk. Her favorite kind of flower in her favorite kind of arrangement. Olivia liked the classics. Approaching with slow, even steps, she tried not to let the warm feeling in her stomach and the fluttering of her heart affect her. There was no card, but she didn’t need one to know who it was from.
He might not know how much she liked red roses, it might have just been a guess or laziness to go with the classic standard.
A lot of people considered red roses overused for a reason.
But sitting on her desk beside the vase was a raspberry chocolate bar of her favorite brand.
Someone had been telling tales to Luke.
Olivia pursed her lips.
Definitely not feeling touched or softened or any kind of emotional response right now. Nope.
Picking up the chocolate bar, she unwrapped it as she sat down at her desk, taking a bite and moaning a little as the decadent flavor exploded on her tongue.
Well played, Davis.
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Chapter 4
“NO!”
“NO!”
“NO!”
“Well they’re energetic,” Olivia said, her lips curving into a smile as she examined the lines of women facing off against each other, kitted out in padding and practicing their punches as they shouted ‘no!’ back and forth to each other. The self-defense course taught that a shouted ‘no’ was going to get immediate attention from anyone nearby.
“Punch from the waist, Tori!” Leigh called out from beside her before responding to Olivia’s comment. They were both helping out with the women’s self-defense class Angel offered at Stronghold every week. Now that Angel’s pregnant belly prevented her from doing any real demonstrations there were always two women on hand to assist with the classes. Usually one to actually run the class and the other to babysit Angel a
nd make sure she didn’t overexert herself. “Yeah, they’re all wound up. Apparently Amy went to a private party over the weekend and ended up having to smack an overly aggressive Dom down. They all heard the story and now they’re feeling extra motivated.”
Olivia scowled. “Not someone who goes here, do you know?”
“No, someone she met at the party,” Leigh said, also frowning. “Lexie already talked to her.”
Private parties could be great, or they could be really bad, it all depended on who had been invited. Since Olivia and her friends were so heavily integrated into being at the club—Many of them either had or still did work there in one capacity or another—they didn’t do private parties, but plenty of other members still threw or attended them. Which Olivia hated since it put people she knew and cared about at risk, but there wasn’t anything they could do except take down names of people who misbehaved at parties and make sure they were never approved for the club. Lexie would have already taken care of that if she’d talked to Amy.
Nodding, Olivia looked around the room again. She caught Angel’s eye just as the other woman started to push herself up from the chair she had been relegated to. She was dressed in stretchy pants and a flowing, muumuu-like sweatshirt which Olivia was pretty sure had been Adam’s—not that she’d seen him wear it. One hard look from Olivia and Angel was slouching back into her chair, pouting and tossing her ponytail.
Next to Olivia, Leigh chuckled.
“Adam is dying to know how you do that. He’s only successful about fifty percent of the time, but you cow her every time.”
“That’s because she likes it when Adam spanks her, she has no idea what I’ll do.”
“What would you do?” Leigh asked curiously.
Focusing her flinty gray eyes on Leigh’s mismatched hazel and green ones, Olivia just studied her as the other woman’s cheeks started to turn pink and her own eyes dropped away from Olivia’s hard gaze. Hiding a smile, Olivia turned back to the class.
The truth was she hadn’t a freaking clue what she would do. She played behind closed doors for a reason; the only submissives who knew exactly what she did with them were those she actually played with. Olivia often let them suspect she was going ‘easy’ on them too. Mystery was pretty key to a badass persona.
