by Golden Angel
"What about me?" Patrick asked, pretending to be affronted. Angel shot him a look that was probably supposed to be significant, but which glanced right off of him. Whatever message she had been trying to convey, either Patrick didn't get it or wasn't interested in hearing it. Interesting.
Rick had been so caught up in his own search for a submissive that he hadn't even thought about Patrick. Then again, the club owner hadn't exactly said anything about wanting a permanent sub. Hell, if Rick remembered correctly, he hadn't even played in the club in months. Perhaps he had the same problem that Rick did?
"Anyway," Angel said, turning her attention back to Rick. "I just feel a little bad. All my friends are guys... I'm useless!"
"Far from," Adam said, squeezing her hip. "Although I wouldn't mind if you had more girl friends as well."
"Where's Master Michael been?" Rick asked, deliberately throwing out the name just to grate on Adam. The two men got along pretty well, despite the fact that Michael was a very old, very good friend of Angel's. A dominant and a sadist, the two of them definitely had some chemistry when the group had first met him, but that had seemed to fade as she and Adam had become more involved. Still, while Adam tolerated Angel's male friendships, and had even become friends with her roommates, any mention of Michael seemed to up his possessiveness.
"Settling into the area," Angel said with a wave of her hand. "Adam's been keeping him employed during the daylight hours, but he's been trying to find some theater gigs in the evenings."
"I'm sure he'll be back at the club when he has the time," Adam said blandly. Not fooling anyone.
Good submissive that she was, Angel turned slightly sideways to lean into him, as if sensing that Rick's teasing was getting to be a little too much and that Adam needed a show of her love and devotion to him. Which also made Rick feel a bit bad. Teasing Adam was fun, but he didn't mean to take out his own frustrations on his friend. Definitely time to stop. Although, now he doubted Adam would care all that much, as Angel curved into his body, her face nuzzling into his neck.
Damn. What Rick wouldn't give for a submissive that read his own moods that well. He could actually see Adam relaxing as Angel rubbed up on him.
"So," he said, turning to Patrick to give the two a bit of privacy. "How-"
Shouting at the entrance cut off his sentence. Will was standing guard at the door, blocking whoever was trying to get in. Rick's eyes widened as he recognized the very irate, very frustrated, very feminine voice.
"Dammit Will! Get out of my way! I'm allowed in there now!" Lexie's shriek was easily heard over the music, and all conversation had stopped the moment someone had started yelling. Everyone wanted to know why there was a commotion in Stronghold, where there was very rarely such a thing. In fact, Lexie had been at the center of the last commotion, at the Valentine's Day party when things had gone a bit south with her now-ex, Trevor.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rick saw Patrick wince.
"You didn't..." None of the guys had been particularly comfortable when Patrick started letting Lexie on the main floor of Stronghold. They all tended to view her as their little sister, especially since Jake, her big brother and Patrick's best friend, was overseas fighting in Afghanistan. That made them all feel especially bound to look after her.
However, all of them knew it would be a really, really bad idea to try and renew the restriction.
"You didn't!" Even though Angel's words were the same as Rick's, they were said in a completely different way. He'd been almost as awed as wary; she was obviously outraged on Lexie's behalf. "Patrick- MMmmmfff!"
Adam's hand had found its way over her mouth and he was whispering in her ear. Probably telling her to stay out of it. Patrick just shot a glare at all three of them and then got up, unfolding his large frame from the bar stool he'd been sitting on, with all the reluctance of the mountain about to make its trek to Mohammed.
"Some of the Doms were starting to ask me if she was available for scening," he said flatly. Rick shuddered. Not their Lexie dammit. Obviously the Stronghold Doms were starting to get ideas just because she was in the main room. None of her self-appointed big brothers were going to stand for that.
"Mmmff, mmm mmMMMMMMMMFFF!"
Although if Angel's reaction was representative of the women's reaction, which Rick had a sinking feeling it probably was, then this was going to cause a lot more problems than Patrick had anticipated. Seeing that Angel was actually trying to kick Adam's ankle in her struggle to get free and speak her mind, Rick decided it might be marginally safer to follow Patrick as he headed to face off with Lexie. Plus, he wanted to know what was going to happen. He was only human after all.
As they approached the entrance, they could see a couple of people in the lobby, watching with amusement. Will looked completely relieved to see Patrick coming. Tiny little Lexie might be the size of a pixie, but she was a vicious one. Like the ones in Harry Potter, but with even more bite. Rick didn't have any doubt that she might have tried to start forcing her way in physically if she hadn't seen Patrick coming to sort out the situation, and Will would have then had to worry about hurting her. It was a lose-lose situation for the Dom and he knew it.
Seeing Patrick headed towards her calmed Lexie down a bit, in the way that she had stopped bouncing and shouting and was just waiting for him to reach her.
"Lexie," he said, in his deep voice, nodding at her. Rick positioned himself along the wall so that he could see both of their faces. He couldn't help but grin as Will sidled out of their way, back into the lobby. Which meant that Lexie was marginally standing inside the club, but that couldn't be helped.
"Don't you dare stand there acting like nothing’s wrong! You said I could come onto the Main Floor from now on!" Lexie jabbed her finger into Patrick's chest, her head tilted back to glare up at him. Tonight she was wearing another one of her fishnet shirts with a bright blue bra underneath, one that would match her eyes exactly, and a short black skirt. Rick was just relieved to see she was wearing a bra, for a while she'd been donning electrical tape and pasties and they'd all worried that she was about to move to being completely uncovered beneath her see-through tops. The return to a bra was surprising, but also reassuring.
The slight quiver in her voice was not.
Patrick heard it too, tensing and hesitating from whatever he'd been about to say. Shit. The big man looked over at Rick, as if searching for some kind of support against the thread of hurt in Lexie's voice. Rick shrugged, but stood his ground; he was going to be silent support.
"We're not going to have another party for a while, Lex, you don't really need to be on the main floor."
"It's not about need you big lump, it's about finally getting to spend time with my friends in their usual hangout!" The quiver in Lexie's voice was definitely increasing. Rick shifted uncomfortably backwards but Patrick shot him a glance that said don't you dare.
"It's not a good place for you, Pixie."
Yeah, the big man was definitely losing control if he was calling her that. Her childhood nickname, the one which only Patrick and Jake were allowed to use.
"My friends are all in there. It's just fine a place for Angel or Hilary or Jessica."
"They're submissives."
Lexie's chin came up stubbornly as she crossed her arms under her chest and stared up at Patrick. Suddenly her stance was a lot more challenging than upset. "I could be too. I want to be, if it's the right man."
The undercurrents of this conversation were starting to make Rick feel extremely uncomfortable. They'd all noticed the tension that had sprung up between Lexie and Patrick over the past year, but no one really talked about it. Neither Lexie nor Patrick had seemed to push the status quo... until now.
Shit.
Now he wished he'd stayed at the table with Angel and Adam, even though they (like everyone else) were watching the scene at the front door. He doubted they could hear what was being said. The little looks Patrick kept shooting at him said that he didn't want to
be left alone with Lexie.
Normally Rick would be entertained by seeing Patrick on the retreat for once, but not about this. Fuck. It was one thing for Lexie to have a crush or for Patrick to see her as all grown up - that was pretty hard to miss considering the outfits she chose to wear to Stronghold - or even be attracted to her... another for either of them to actually do anything about it. Did Lexie really understand the kind of relationship that Patrick wanted? That he demanded?
"You can come in. But only if I'm here or one of the other guys is here to sit with you," Patrick said, apparently deciding to completely ignore her challenge. Rick let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
"Fine. Oh look, you're here." Lexie looked over, directly at Rick. "Hey look at that, Rick's here too. Hi Rick. And over there are Angel and Adam. That’s three Sentinels to sit with me. I guess I get to come in."
Obviously royally pissed, Lexie pushed her way past Patrick and headed for the table where Adam and Angel were. Rubbing his head, Patrick stepped over to where Rick was standing, as grinning patrons began to trickle in through the doorway.
"She's going to be the death of me," Patrick muttered. "Not to mention my reputation."
Rick snorted. "No one's going to blame you for giving way to her. Although if she wants anyone to think she's submissive, she's going about it the wrong way."
Something in Patrick's expression tightened as he looked across the room to where she was now seated, her back to him. "She's not coming in here if one of us isn't here to keep an eye on her. Or I'll fire her ass and then she won't be able to come here at all."
Deciding it wasn't prudent to inform Patrick that it would be better to tell her that than himself, Rick just nodded. Not that the big man was even looking at him, he was already pushing off the wall and heading to join the conversation happening at the table. Where he and Lexie would probably act like the confrontation had not just happened. Eventually something was going to have to give between the two of them.
Feeling too tired to go back and pretend like the very air around them wasn't filled with tension, Rick just slipped out the front door and headed out. As far as he was concerned, his night was over. Lexie could make do with two Sentinels.
Chapter 3
Stroke, stroke, stroke and breathe; stroke, stroke, stroke and breathe... Rick preferred to breathe on every third stroke when he was swimming freestyle. It was how he'd been taught and he found that twisting his head from side to side rather than always coming up on the same side meant his neck got a more symmetrical workout. He didn't know why that mattered to him, but it did.
Sometimes he felt like he was getting old and set in his ways.
Gliding the last couple of meters into the wall, he came up for air and stretched out his shoulders. This morning he'd done a longer workout than usual. He'd needed to burn off the energy again.
Sexually frustrated much?
He nearly groaned when he saw the lusciously curved brunette, apparently venturing out in the morning for the second day in a row, this time tucked into a bright red bikini with tiny ruffles edging the top and bottom. Ruffles were dumb, in his opinion, but on her they didn't detract from her attractiveness. The screaming red color suited her dark hair and tanned skin perfectly.
The rest of the pool area was nearly empty. There was a young mother with her toddler on the opposite side and another older man that Rick recognized as a fellow lap-swimmer, and the tempting brunette. Who was putting her stuff down on a lounge chair only two away from where he’d left his towel.
There were plenty of other lounge chairs further away, but he saw the way she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She'd deliberately chosen a location near his things.
Interest stirred, along with his cock.
Stop it.
No getting involved with the neighbors. Obviously a reminder that bore repeating. Besides, he might be reading too much into things. Maybe she hadn't been looking at him at all. Or maybe she'd only been looking at him and wondering if it was his towel that was sitting so close to her chosen spot.
Ugh. He was starting to sound like a teenage girl inside his head. Great.
Ducking back into the pool, he kept swimming. But the entire time he was also picturing the brunette and that wasn't good either. He swam faster.
Ten laps later he glided back into the wall and came up breathing heavily. One quick look over in the brunette's direction nearly had him groaning again. She was laid out on her stomach and she'd undone the top of her bikini, leaving the expanse of her back completely bared to the sun. Why that was so sexy, he wasn't sure, but somehow a woman with her bikini top undone was always an erotic tease. Maybe it was just the vain hope that she might forget to redo it before sitting up.
Yeah.
Time to go home again. He was done with his workout and while he'd originally been planning to spend some time drying out in the sun as the day heated up, he knew he wouldn't be able to relax and enjoy it with her only two chairs away. Pulling himself out of the pool, he did his best not to look at her as he padded over to his chair and picked up his towel. Rubbing it roughly over his face, he took the moment to regain his balance, unsure of why her mere presence unsettled him so badly.
Slipping on his sandals, he slung his towel around his neck and headed towards the exit.
"Hey, do you have a second?"
The sound of her sultry, sleepy voice, tinged with just the faintest hint of an accent, had Rick doing a quick about turn. Yep. Sunbathing beauty was looking up at him with a smile, her head and shoulders raised just enough to make his cock twitch in hopes that he was going to get to see something scandalous. Teenage fantasy type stuff, but a man never grew too old for it.
"Sure," he said, taking a step towards her. He knew he was looming over her a bit, but the position helped him regain some of his equilibrium. Damn she looked good from this angle. The bikini bottoms were clinging to the well-rounded cheeks of her ass, which was soft and cushy looking - the kind of ass a man wanted to grab onto or spank the hell out of. Rick wanted to do both. The fact that her bikini was red only made visualizing it easier. "What can I do for you?"
Her eyes brightened and her smile deepened, revealing a dimple on her left cheek. Rick had never thought he had a weakness for such things, but on her...
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a white tube. "Can you get my back? I can just feel the heat coming down and I don't want to turn over yet."
"Sure." The word was out of his mouth for a second time, his body eagerly taking over from his brain. Not that his brain would have been able to come up with a good excuse to get out of her simple request. But at least his brain knew it was a bad idea. He could have hesitated instead of jumping on the excuse to touch her.
"Thanks."
That sleepy, sultry smile was doing all sorts of havoc, but he had a lot of practice at keeping his face expressionless. Still, he didn't want her to think he was unfriendly, so he gave her a small smile back as he squirted the white cream onto his hand.
Yeah, don't think too hard about that.
Her deep brown eyes went down to a half-lidded state as she watched him sit down on the chair next to hers and reach over to her back. Soft. Warm. Pliable. Rick tried to concentrate on smoothing the sunscreen in evenly rather than on how silky and inviting her skin was.
"Mmmmmm..."
Giving her a quick glance, he saw that her eyes had closed and she had a little smile on her face, looking very much like the cat that got the cream. Satisfied. Sexy.
"My name's Maria."
"Rick."
******
Maria peeked at the Greek god. Good grief he was glorious up close. Chiseled jaw with just a hint of stubble, which hadn't been visible from further away because he was so fair-haired, stunning blue eyes, and a truly friendly smile. And the way that he was looking at her back as he rubbed the sunscreen across it said that maybe he wasn't like a lot of the other super fit guys she'd met, maybe he didn't judge women
based on their size just because he was so... fit.
"I think I'm one of your upstairs neighbors," she said, to make conversation. "You moved into 304 right? I live right next to Mrs. Pierce."
He laughed and it was probably the nicest sound she'd ever heard. Rich, sincere, and deeply sexy. Yum. "Mrs. Pierce with the granddaughter named Catherine who is halfway through college and spends her weekends volunteering at her local animal shelter? I believe I might be familiar with her."
"Yep, that's her," Maria replied, giggling. She had a small pang of disappointment as she felt his fingers sweep across her back in a movement that indicated a 'finishing touch.' "She's really sweet as long as you don't mind hearing some of the same stories over and over. Most of them are pretty interesting though."
"Thanks for the warning," he said with a smile, getting to his feet. "It was nice to meet you Maria, I'm sure I'll see you around."
"Bye," she called after him as he turned and walked away.
The retreating view was nearly as appealing as the front. Especially with his bathing suit clinging to his legs and butt.
Not that she should be looking. He was obviously a nice enough guy and not a jerk, but he hadn't tried to stay and talk to her or anything. But he hadn't shut her down either. Maybe he had stuff to do today. Maria wondered what he would do if she tried to actually flirt with him.
She liked the idea of flirting with someone who was that hot and that nice. Her mind started spinning a little fantasy where they became friends and she could take him to Lara's wedding, just to thumb her nose at Jerkface Jeremy. That made her giggle again; picturing the look on his face. Heck, perhaps they could become more than friends... she doubted a guy that good looking was anything but a player, but hey, she could live with that as long as he was good in bed.
And going by the careful way he'd massaged her back as he'd been rubbing the sunscreen in, the gentle but firm press of his fingers, she was willing to bet he was good. Most guys didn't have that kind of attention to detail if they were bad in bed.