Page 162 of Entering Stronghold

Angel turned her head and saw Maria coming towards them, and her smile lit up her face. A sense of relief swept over Maria, almost surprising her; she hadn’t realized how much she’d tensed when she saw Angel. A little worry in the back of her mind that Angel had come there to lecture her about Rick was quickly brushed aside in the face of Angel’s obvious pleasure at seeing her. The other woman turned, surprising Maria a bit. Going by the way the guys had been salivating, she’d been expecting movie star looks; instead, the woman looked a lot like the quintessential girl next door. A very pretty girl next door, but still. Approachable. Sweet. Apparently completely unaware as to how she was affecting the male population at the bar. Hm. No wonder the guys were tripping over themselves.

“Maria, hi,” Angel said, waving her hand for Maria to come join them. “I hope we didn’t call you away from anything important. Maria, this is my best friend Leigh. Leigh, this is Maria—Rick’s girl.”

Maria coughed at Angel’s bluntness, as well as the completely innocent look that went along with it. She had a feeling Angel knew very well things still were kind of up in the air with her and Rick.

“Hi Leigh, nice to meet you.”

“You too. Don’t mind her,” Leigh said, jerking her head at Angel and smiling as she shook Maria’s hand. She gave Angel a sidelong look. “Miss Nosy over here has boundary line problems. You don’t have to talk to us about Rick if you don’t want to.” Angel made a derisive noise and smiled winningly at Maria. And Maria couldn’t help but laugh.

“Actually... I wouldn’t mind talking to someone about it,” she said a little hesitantly. Angel’s smile got even bigger. Glancing over at the bartenders who were obviously listening in to the conversation, Maria gave a little cough. “Um, maybe let’s grab a table over there.”

Looking over their shoulders at the bartenders, both Angel and Leigh laughed before picking up their drinks. Angel had what looked like a Manhattan, straight up, and Leigh had a Dark and Stormy, one of the house specialties. Also one of Maria’s favorites. She loved ginger beer. But she still had work to do, even though she could take a break right now, so no happy hour for her yet.

Sitting down, Maria fiddled nervously with the napkin in front of her as Leigh and Angel sat down across from her. It felt weird to be about to talk about something so intimate, since she barely knew Angel and she had just met Leigh, but she also felt relieved Angel had searched her out. Especially after the other day in Rick’s apartment. Since then, she’d felt more conflicted than ever. Worried, mostly, because a large part of her really wanted to date him and try to be with him, but what if they started dating and she realized she hated what he needed? Or what if she just sucked at being submissive or couldn’t meet his needs in some way? The idea of disappointing him made her feel shriveled and cold inside.

“So what’s on your mind?” Angel asked, smiling as she sipped her drink carefully. Most people felt the need to keep their eye on a martini glass, but Angel handled hers like someone who drank them often and felt completely comfortable with the precarious glass. “I’m hoping Rick, because I know you’ve been on his.”

“Really?” Maria perked up for a moment, and then felt herself slump down again a bit. Okay, yeah, she wanted to be on his mind, but she was also a little bit worried about the hopes he seemed to have for her. He’d made it pretty clear he was looking for a Relationship with a capital R. That was a lot of pressure. In fact, if he wasn’t so obviously confident and self-assured, she might have wondered if he was a little desperate. “I mean... yeah... I have been thinking about him.”

Angel and Leigh exchanged glances. “Do you mind sharing?” Angel asked, looking a little worried. “I really don’t mean to be super nosy, it’s just I know he really likes you, and on Saturday it seemed like you like him.”

“I do... I just... I’m a bit scared.” Maria fiddled with the corner of the napkin some more, worrying it between her fingers.

“Is it the BDSM stuff?” Leigh asked. “Cuz that kind of scares me. The guys are all nice and everything, and this one,” she jerked her head at Angel, “was always interested in it, but I find them all to be a little intense.”

“Rick’s not that intense,” Angel argued, sounding like she was trying to defend him.

“Not on the surface, compared to Mr. Control Freak you’re practically living with,” Leigh argued back. “But from what I’ve heard at the club, once he gets into a scene, he makes up for being more laid back the rest of the time.”

“Laid back?” Maria echoed in surprise. That was so not how she would describe him.

Seeing her expression, Angel giggled. “Well, usually. He’s been wound a lot tighter ever since he met you. I’ve noticed all the Doms get a lot more relaxed once they feel they have a handle on a situation, and right now he definitely does not, so it’s no wonder he’s more tense than usual. Jared’s probably the most relaxed, really.”

“He’s the one with the evil girlfriend, right?” Leigh asked. She smiled at Maria, to include her in the conversation. “I think he’s the only one I haven’t met yet.”

“Which is too bad, because you two could compare notes,” Angel muttered. Leigh elbowed her, making her drink slosh over the side of the martini glass. Catching it with her hand, Angel gave her friend a glare before licking it off of her palm. “Look at all the good booze you almost made me waste.”

Ignoring her, Leigh turned her attention back to Maria. “So, is it the BDSM stuff? Or is it Rick?”

“I think it’s mostly the BDSM stuff,” Maria said softly, keeping an eye out for nosy staff coming close enough to hear their conversation. “I mean... I’d never even heard of it before this weekend. At least, not the way he does it. I’ve heard of bondage and stuff like that, but just... I don’t know... Crap. I’m not explaining this very well.”

“Well enough,” Angel said with a shrug. “I read a lot of kinky books before I ever actually tried anything out and going into a club was stilly scary for me. Especially since I was doing it alone.”

“Even though she told me a lot, I definitely hadn’t heard about a lot of the things that go on at Stronghold,” Leigh said, nodding her head. “I think a lot of it’s pretty frightening. Hilary and Liam are more my speed when it comes to the kinky stuff.” She sighed, looking a little bit wistful. “I love watching him watch over her.”

“So you and your boyfriend don’t do the BDSM thing?” Maria asked, curious. It was kind of nice to get a perspective from another outsider who still knew about the club and its members, and who thought it was both a bit scary and a bit desirable. Obviously Angel, Hilary, and Jessica were going to be encouraging about it, but it sounded like Leigh had a different viewpoint more in line with Maria’s.

“No, I met him way before I knew about this stuff,” Leigh said, smiling, although there was still a hint of wistfulness in her voice. “We’ve been together for years now and I don’t think it’s something he’d go for.”

“But you wish he would?”

Leigh hesitated, sliding her finger around the top of her glass and knocking the straw ahead of it, like she was thinking about a way to answer which didn’t involve either badmouthing her boyfriend or giving Maria a personal information overload. “I wish he was interested in some parts of it. He’s really good at doing the big romantic gestures, but when I hang out with Angel and Adam and the others, I see how much the guys do a lot of little things I wish Michael would do.”

“That doesn’t really have anything to do with being a Dom, just a good boyfriend,” Angel said darkly. Maria was getting a pretty good idea of Angel’s feelings about Leigh’s boyfriend, which didn’t bode well for the relationship. She was definitely getting the vibe Leigh and Angel were very close, maybe as close as Maria was to her own sisters, and she couldn’t imagine either herself or her sisters staying with someone whom the family didn’t approve of for very long.

“He is a good boyfriend in some ways,” Leigh said, defensively. “There’s just some things I wish we could change, but that’s true of any relationship.” It had all the undertones of an old argument. One Maria knew Angel couldn’t win. Even if Leigh agreed with her friend, she would feel compelled to defend her boyfriend, especially if they’d been together for years. Not that any of Maria’s sisters had been with boyfriends for years when the family didn’t like them, but they’d all had boyfriends who had lasted close to or a bit over a year that they had stayed with for too long.

Just like she often had with her sisters, Maria decided it was probably prudent to interrupt them. “I just wish there was a way to... I don’t know, try out BDSM to see if I even like it? I mean, I’m attracted to Rick and he turns me on, and I’d be willing to see if what he likes turns me on too, but it doesn’t seem like that’s an option with him. He’s very much into having a relationship.”

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