Stronghold (Stronghold 1) (37 page)

"I've told you not to try and get
dressed for a date without me, you get all stressed out."

"I did fine when I was going to
Stronghold."

"Yeah, but that's because you know what
to wear to a club like that.  It's different when you're being your
regular self."

Wasn't that the truth.

"So what do I wear with it?  The black
jeans are too low rise... I think I might have to get rid of them."

"Wear the medium blue ones with the
bling on the butt.  Adam's definitely an ass man."

Angel laughed.  "I knew that, but
how did you know that?"

"Because every time I was at the club I
got to watch him staring at your fine ass," Leigh responded teasingly.
 Angel giggled, rather delighted that Leigh had actually seen him doing
so.  She'd always thought she had a pretty good butt, but it was one thing
to think that and another to have it confirmed. 

"He also likes touching it," she
countered.  "Which the bling doesn't exactly encourage."

"Do you want him to touch?  Wait,
did you guys..."

"No, of course not, I would have told
you."  Angel rolled her eyes.  "Silly woman.  But that
doesn't mean that we won't..."

"You haven't known him for very
long."

"He brought me a book," her voice
was still filled with the wonder of that moment.  Seriously, best peace
offering ever.

"Which for you is the equivalent of a
diamond necklace, I know.  But just because he's already figured you out
doesn't change that you guys have only known each other for a couple of
weeks."

"More than a month if you count it from
the time we first met.  What about my dark blue jeans?"

"The ones that are frayed on the bottom?
 How many times have I told you to get rid of those?"

"They're comfortable.  And soft.
 Hell,
I
 want to touch my butt when I wear them."

"They're also so old that they're going
to fall apart at any second.  Do you really want to risk them splitting
today?"

"You suck," Angel muttered, knowing
that she'd never be able to wear them around Adam now.  At least, not
anywhere but her own home where she'd be able to run and change if needed.
 The jeans really were incredible comfortable, but it wasn't just the
bottoms that were frayed, the seams were becoming more and more worn.  She
hardly ever washed them for fear the fabric would fall apart in the machine.

"Wear the blingy ones.  That way if
he wants to touch your butt he'll have to take them off."

"You're such a bad influence on
me."

"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted
to sleep with him.  Besides, if he's not seeing anyone else and you're not
seeing anyone else, then it sounds to me like he's your boyfriend, so what's
not to encourage?"

"Well, we haven't really talked about
any labels yet, so I don't know about calling him my boyfriend."

"Then what would you call him?"

Silent, Angel pulled up the jeans with the
bling on the butt and twisted to look at herself in the mirror.  They
really did look good.  Not only did the shiny draw attention to the shape
of her bottom, this particular pair of jeans made that shape look spectacular.
 It hugged every curve and emphasized the fact that her bottom was a nice
little bubble, perfect for curving fingers around.  

"I would call him Adam, my exclusive
date."

"Sounds like a boyfriend to me."

"Shut it.  I'm going to put you
down for a second so I can put on the sweater."

She pulled it over her head and then wrapped
the scarf around her neck, letting the ends dangle down in front.  It was
still low cut, but paired with the scarf there was less skin showing and it
somehow gave off the appearance of being more casual and less blatantly sexy.

"You're a genius, Leigh.  If I ever
get rich and famous, I'm hiring you as my personal dresser."

"I thought you didn't want to be
famous."

"I don't.  But if it ever happens
on accident."

Leigh laughed.  "Right.
 Alright baby.  Go, have fun.  Report back to me later."

"You know I will."  Angel's
voice softened.  "I'm glad you're happy with Michael... but call me
immediately if you need me.  I don't care where I am.  And if you
know I'm at the club, call the desk and they'll come find me."

They both knew that she was indicating a lack
of confidence in Leigh's relationship, but Leigh knew she was only looking out
for her.

"I'm really hoping that won't be
necessary."

"Me too."

"Have fun baby.  Love you."

"I love you too."

Hanging up the phone, Angel glanced at the
clock.  Thank goodness Leigh had called or she would have definitely been
late.  As it was, she'd be cutting it close.  And that was so not the
impression that she wanted to give.

******

It was a good thing Adam liked cleaning.
 He liked seeing dirt, dust and grime being swept away to reveal a
gleaming surface underneath.  And knowing that Angel was coming over to
see his house for the first time today, he'd been extra motivated.  Not
that his house ever resembled the stereotypical bachelor pad, but he'd be
cleaning today anyway before people came over and now he was making everything shine.

The date yesterday with Angel had gone even
better than he'd hoped.  Although now he was more nervous than ever about
having invited her over to hang out with his friends.  Even though he
already knew that they liked her too.

The addition of submissives had shifted their
group dynamic a bit, and he knew that bringing in someone completely from the
outside was going to shift it even more.  But he hadn't lied when he said
that Jessica and Hilary both wanted to spend more time with her, he knew they
had questions about the self-defense classes she was going to be teaching.
 They seemed fascinated by Angel, actually; the fact that she'd
successfully disguised herself as a Domme, that she taught women's
self-defense, and that she managed to be quite successfully pushy with Michael,
who was obviously a Dom.  

Adam hoped she didn't think she was going to
get away with that kind of shit with him.  Unlike Michael, who muttered
about spanking her ass red, he would actually follow through with it.  Not
that he was unhappy that Michael had never followed through with that threat.

Making a face, Adam scrubbed harder at the
toilet he was currently working on.  He'd invited Michael over today too.
 It wasn't that he didn't like the guy, he did, but he wasn't sure how
he'd feel about the touchy-feely relationship that he had with Angel now.
 But it was something that he'd have to deal with.

Just like he needed to live with the fact
that Angel had mostly male friends in general.  And lived with three of
them. 

He'd never really considered himself a
jealous or possessive person, but then again, he hadn't had a serious
relationship in years.  And when he'd been with Brooke, even before they'd
realized that they wanted completely different things in bed although they were
both interested in BDSM, it's not like he'd really thought he'd marry her.

The hand holding the scrubber skidded off the
toilet and he nearly face planted onto the ceramic before he caught
himself. 

Geezus... was that how he saw
Angel
already?  

Get your shit together.

It was just an overreaction of his body and
brain, considering that for the first time he'd already been thinking about
finding a long term relationship, like his friends, and he'd found a woman that
interested him on every level.  Of course he'd be considering that kind of
thing in the back of his head already; because what was the point in wasting
time in a relationship that he didn't think could work out in the long run?
 Which meant that yes, he was already thinking of possible long-term with
Angel.

As long as nothing happened to fuck it up and
there were no more major surprises.

He really couldn't deal with more surprises.

His phone buzzed and he glanced at the
screen.

"Hey Olivia."

"My car won't start, I need you to come
get me."

Adam groaned and glanced at his watch.
 "Can't you call someone else?  People should be showing up any
minute, I should be here."

"Justin's car is already packed because
he picked up Hilary and Liam, Patrick's picking up Lexie so you know he's going
to be trapped there for a while catching up with her parents, Andrew's running
late, Jared and Truckstop are making up again so he's probably not going to
make it anymore, and Rick's coming from the complete opposite direction plus
he's already been driving for two hours just to get here.  Now come get
me."  

She sounded a little annoyed, which he
couldn't really fault her for since she'd obviously called everyone else before
she'd called him and he should have expected that. 

"Alright, I've just gotta write a note
to tape to the door and I'll come get you."

"Thanks."

Olivia lived about fifteen minutes away, so
about half an hour round trip.  Adam glanced at his watch again and
sighed.  Chances were, everyone but Andrew was going to make it here
before him.  Well, maybe not Patrick if he was catching up with Lexie and
Jake's parents, especially if they had any inkling of what had gone on at the
club on Friday.  He’d really wanted to be here when Angel got here.
 Especially because he knew she was nervous about hanging out with his friends
outside of the club.

Oh well.  The sooner he left, the sooner
he could get back. 

******

When Angel pulled up to the driveway of the
address Adam had given her, there was already a car in it with people piling
out.  It was a bigger house than she'd expected, bigger than the one that
she shared with the guys, and the lawn and garden were immaculate.  Crap. 
That reminded her, she really should nag one of the guys into mowing the lawn.
 While she took care of the garden, she was allergic to freshly cut grass,
it made her ankles break out in hives, which meant that she had a reason to
make the guys do it.

"You're here!  Angel's here!"
 Jessica called out unnecessarily over her shoulder to the guys, who could
obviously see.  Angel giggled as she got out of the car.  "I'm
so glad you came!"

"Thanks, I'm glad I could," Angel
said, warmed by Jessica and Hilary's exuberant greetings.  Justin, Chris
and Liam were less expressive, but they all made her feel welcome as well.
 She helped them unload the trunk of various boxes and containers
obviously holding food.  "Good grief, are you guys catering or
something?"

"Justin's an amaaaaaaazing cook,"
Hilary said.  "Jessica lucked out with him."

"Hey," said Liam indignantly.

Hilary shot him an affectionate look.
 "I lucked out too, but I'm just saying.  You could get Justin
to teach you how to cook some stuff."

"Or I could just have Justin cook it for
me and take the credit," Liam muttered under his breath, putting an
innocent expression on his face when Angel laughed and Hilary looked over her
shoulder suspiciously.  

"Huh, Adam's had to run out and get
Olivia," Chris said, looking at a piece of paper that had been taped to
the front door.  "He'll be back soon."  

It felt a little weird to be going into his
house without him there, but at the same time Angel was kind of glad to be able
to look around and study her surroundings without Adam's presence.  Get a
feel for the man without him looking over her shoulder.  The front door
opened into a foray with an immediate stairway; to her right she could see some
kind of formal living room which looked like it was decorated with
Asian-inspired artwork, but she couldn't really get a good look at it because
Jessica and Justin were behind her and she didn't to hold them up.

As she followed Chris, Liam and Hilary down
the hall there was a television room on her left; big with beige carpeting, a
big TV, a comfortable looking brown leather couch and matching armchairs, and a
fireplace.  The others led her past that and into the kitchen, which was
obviously completely updated with sleek granite countertops, a gas stove-top, a
double oven and a giant island in the middle of it. 

"Good grief," she muttered.

"Ahhh," said Justin with an
exaggerated sigh.  "Heaven."

Jessica giggled.  "Our kitchen
isn't that much smaller than this one."

"Yeah, but I don't have all his fun
toys."  Justin grinned. "Yet."

"Like what?" Angel wanted to know.
 

"If you can think of it and use it in a
kitchen, Adam probably has it," Chris said, exchanging a knowing smile
with Justin.  "He's like a pack rat when it comes to his kitchen.
 A super organized pack rat, but still a pack rat.  He's got three
different kinds of coffee makers, a quesadilla maker, three different size
toaster ovens, two differently sized woks, a slow cooker, a garlic press-"