The Sassy Submissive Read online

  The Sassy Submissive

  Book 1 of Stronghold Doms

  Golden Angel

  Copyright © 2013 by Golden Angel LLC

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  Cover art by Designrans

  Edited by MJ Edits

  Thank you so much for picking up my book!

  Would you like to receive a free story from me as well? Join the Angel Legion and sign up for my newsletter!

  Thank You

  Thank you so much to my readers who encouraged me to write the Venus Rising Quartet. I’m glad you fell in love with the characters as much as I did, because that’s where the Stronghold series was born.

  An extra special thank you to Katherine, Amanda and Fifi, who have helped keep me motivated and made this book into what it is.

  As always, love and appreciation to my ever-supportive husband, to whom I dedicate this book. Any similarities between him and the hero are purely coincidental, I swear. Even though they have the same name. And look exactly alike. And I’ve used actual things he’s said to me for dialogue.

  Total coincidence.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other Books by Golden Angel

  1

  Angel

  Walking into the club was the hardest thing Angel Jones had ever done in her life.

  She’d deliberately chosen Chained because it was a new club and it was in Virginia, much farther away from her home than the club she actually wanted to join—Stronghold, in DC. It was doubtful regulars to Stronghold would search out a new club; they were comfortable in their space at Stronghold and trusted the people there. Why would they drive such a distance to check out a new place?

  Easy answer: they wouldn’t.

  This was the second time Angel had ever been to a BDSM club. The first time had been years ago, in New York City, when she was still in college. Since then, she’d realized she was submissive, but she didn’t have any friends currently living in Maryland who were in the scene. Even worse, other than her best friend Leigh, she didn’t have any close friends who were female and contemplating the idea of trying to convince one of her guy friends to come with her made her want to whimper, so she was making this difficult journey alone. Which was absolutely terrifying.

  Getting out of her car, Angel smoothed her hands over the long, embroidered jacket she was wearing. She’d dressed very carefully tonight because she was going to be doing something wrong—she was going into a club as a Mistress rather than a submissive. It was dishonest, which rankled her, but all of her ‘experience’ was research and reading. Not at all the same as real life experience or having someone there with her who knew what they were doing.

  As a self-defense instructor, she taught her students that the first step to keeping themselves safe was to stay out of dangerous situations. To her, putting herself in a position to be tied up and at the mercy of a stranger was pretty much the textbook description of a dangerous situation, yet she couldn’t stay away. The one night she’d experienced in New York, she had been entranced but did nothing more than watch. Once she was more comfortable in the club and felt more confident about knowing the scene and her ability to keep herself safe, without backup, she would go to Stronghold as a submissive. No harm done to anyone and she’d have a nice and easy introduction into the world she’d been fantasizing about ever since she first heard about it.

  Of course, she wished she had a friend she could do this with. She might have felt safer jumping straight in as a submissive if she had a buddy by her side. Unfortunately, she didn’t have anyone she felt comfortable asking to go with her. Even though Leigh would probably have come if Angel had asked, because she was a good friend, Leigh’s boyfriend, Michael, would never have approved of the outing.

  At twenty-five years old, Angel had only ever had two serious relationships; the second one had ended over a year ago and since then she hadn’t dated anyone seriously. Neither of her previous boyfriends had been able to give her what she craved, neither had been able to make her feel the excitement she got reading BDSM erotica stories. Sure, she’d had orgasms during sex, but it always felt like there was something missing, and eventually that had led to the end of each relationship. And it didn’t help when most of her closest friends were guys, which tended to cause some jealousy and misunderstandings with her boyfriends, but she figured someone confident enough to be a Dom would have to be secure and confident enough not to mind she had a lot of guy friends, right?

  She wanted a man with the confidence, the self-assurance to be uncaring about her male friendships. Also, a man who was sexually controlling in the bedroom… at the very least she needed to try it out, to see firsthand whether or not this was a lifestyle for her. And if it was, then maybe she could find someone into the lifestyle she could have a real relationship with.

  Tonight she was dressed in thigh high leather boots with six inch heels, leather shorts, and a brocaded green skin tight top boned like a corset but had an Asian inspired mandarin collar and little capped sleeves. It covered her upper body completely except for a wide swath between the neck of the collar and her bust; a keyhole opening which showed a generous amount of cleavage. She’d straightened her hair and worn it loose, letting it flow over her shoulders to swing halfway down her back—almost two inches longer than when she let her naturally curly hair fly free. Black lace gloves and the embroidered jacket completed her look, although she’d take her jacket off when she got inside. It was a damn sexy outfit and she was pretty sure it fairly screamed ‘in charge.’ Because that’s exactly how she wanted to appear tonight. How she’d been practicing to appear.

  Tilting her chin up haughtily, she strode towards the door of the club. It was a plain wooden door with a discreet sign above it said “Chained.” There were no lights or anything else to draw attention to itself. She liked that.

  When she signed in at the front desk (pseudonyms were allowed, although when she’d filled out her form for the guest pass she’d had to give her real name and the pseudonym she planned on using) she put her name down as Mistress Angela before handing her coat over to the girl behind the desk, a sexy blonde wearing a naughty secretary outfit. The irony wasn’t lost on Angel and she gave the girl an approving smile, which made the receptionist flush happily as she took Angel’s coat.

  “Welcome to Chained, Mistress Angela,” she said.

  “Thank you, dear,” said Angel, sliding into the role she’d assigned herself. She’d never wanted to pursue theater as a career (monetary pressure took all the fun out of it) but that hadn’t stopped her from pursuing it as a hobby in her free time. Even though she’d only started auditioning in the area a few months ago, she’d already been cast in a show at a community theater. Tonight was going to be the performance of her li
fe because she wasn’t onstage. Acting was so much easier with cues and lines.

  Still, she could feel her nerves humming the way they did when she was standing in the wings, waiting for the curtain to go up. And that’s exactly where she was right now; this lobby was the wings and as soon as she stepped past the hulking (and kind of hunky) bouncer through the door to the club then she’d be center stage. Well, not quite. She’d be surrounded by the other players, but she assumed many of them would be very good at reading body language. At least that was always how it seemed in the books she read.

  Hopefully her acting training would be enough to cover up her nerves, inexperience, guilt at the deception, and the little voice inside of her insisting she’d never pass as a Domme.

  The lobby was tastefully decorated in dark reds and grays with hardwood floors, giving it the feeling of a boudoir. When she walked into the main area of the club, she was surprised she found it rather overwhelming, almost tacky, in comparison to the lobby. The space was bigger than she’d expected, with a dance floor to her left, a bar straight ahead of her, and a wall lined with little alcoves for scening on the right. Chandeliers flickering with multi-hued lights hung from the ceiling, red velvet curtains were tied back at the edges of the alcoves—obviously they could be used to create a more private area if desired—and the dance floor had neon lights blazing over it, creating interesting patterns on the floor. Everywhere she looked, the walls were covered with either bondage equipment or artwork (and there didn’t seem to be a theme to the photographs and paintings, or any attempt at arranging them in a way that would be pleasing to the eye). The bar in front of her was decorated to look almost like a tiki bar, clashing sharply with the rest of the decor. Seriously?

  There were people walking around, some of them involved in scenes, some on the dance floor, and some at the bar, wearing all sorts of interesting and revealing clothing. Angel found herself examining a small group of men at one of the bar tables, four of them, all extremely attractive and wearing various amounts of leather.

  Dominants, definitely. She could feel the wash of heat straight through her body as she saw their self-assured movements, their predatory gazes flicking around the room. But she didn’t show any of her reaction to them on her face, keeping her expression carefully blank. All four of them were attractive, but it was the blond one—who looked half-Viking, half-pirate, with facial hair making a neat frame around a sensuous mouth—that caught her attention. Or, rather, he caught her gaze in his and she found herself struggling not to lower her eyes immediately from the sheer force of his presence.

  That’s what a submissive would do, she reminded herself. Lowering her gaze was what she instinctively wanted to do, but that’s not what she was tonight. Struggling to maintain her expression, Angel gave him a careful nod, very slight and without taking her eyes away from him, acknowledging him as an equal. He gave her a nod back and smiled.

  The hard look in his eyes made her want to melt. Or get down on her knees and beg him to tie her up, spank her and fuck her. Instead she straightened her spine and curved her lips in a small smile back.

  Remember, you’re a Domme tonight and keep it together!

  Adam

  Adam Rawn was not impressed by Chained. He was only here because his good friend, Rick Winter, had been hoping his friends might be willing to make the longer drive to Virginia every so often, in trade for him usually being the one to make the commute. Fortunately, it didn’t look like Rick was very impressed either. Normally Rick only made it to Stronghold once a month or once every other month, because it was about a two-hour drive for him to get there. Chained was only an hour’s drive from Rick and an hour away from the rest of them. It would have been the perfect compromise, except none of them were happy here.

  Not that they would ever abandon Stronghold completely, since they were also good friends with the owner, Patrick Murphy, but they would have been able to see Rick more often—the temptation of new submissives they hadn’t seen before had been intriguing.

  “Sorry Rick, I don’t think I’ll be coming back,” said Chris. He had come purely to hang out with Rick and had no interest in checking out new submissives, since he was currently in an exclusive relationship with his best friend, Justin, and their girlfriend, a sweet, curvy brunette named Jessica. “Or recommending to Justin we bring Jessica here.”

  Rick looked around the room, his disappointment written clearly on his face. “I know, it’s not what I was hoping either. Maybe it’s too new.”

  That was part of the problem. The decorations were too eclectic and whoever owned it hadn’t quite found their stride yet. Rather than a tasteful mix of eroticism, bondage, and bar feeling, all the elements had been spattered like spaghetti on a wall. The other problem was there didn’t seem to be many unattached subs. That factor was important to Rick and, to a lesser extent, Adam and Andrew, the fourth man in their little reconnaissance force this evening. Rick wanted to find a meaningful relationship like Justin and Chris’ with Jessica, just without the sharing, and Adam was starting to think he might be ready to stop playing and get serious about a submissive too. If he could find the right submissive. Andrew wasn’t interested in any kind of relationship after his last one had ended so badly; he’d been single for years now.

  The lack of unattached subs at Chained tonight was a problem because it left them with nothing to do but sit and drink and talk. Which they could have done anywhere. And Adam wanted to play. It had been awhile since he’d found someone he wanted to scene with, although he’d indulged once or twice in the past couple of months when asked to do an introduction or teaching scene at Stronghold. But it was ultimately unsatisfying.

  At thirty-one years old he was surprised to find himself yearning for permanence in a relationship, he’d always thought he’d be a confirmed bachelor until at least his mid-thirties, but seeing the love and devotion between Chris, Justin, and Jessica, the way they came together to make their tripod relationship work, had made him surprisingly envious. Their relationship had ended up creating another one between Liam, another Stronghold Dom, and Jessica’s best friend, Hilary. Since then, Adam had started considering a real relationship, something Rick had already been looking for.

  Something neither of them were going to find at Chained, apparently.

  “Well, that’s interesting,” said Rick, perking up a little. All of the men turned to see where he was looking, at the door leading to the lobby.

  A stunning woman had just walked in by herself. A long fall of dark brown hair caressed her shoulders, framing a roundish face which wasn’t quite conventionally beautiful, with almond shaped eyes hinting at Asian heritage. She also had the most incredible lips Adam had ever seen, small but somehow plumply bow-shaped to the extent they almost looked like they’d been created for sex appeal, the way Betty Boop or Jessica Rabbit’s lips would appear in real life. Made for kissing or wrapping around a man’s shaft. The tiny shorts she was wearing hugged curvy hips, hinting at a fantastic rear view. The unique top she was wearing interested him immediately, despite the fact it covered most of her. The curves of her breasts in the top’s opening were full and creamy, pressing the soft mounds upwards into almost a shelf. She was at least a D cup. Maybe more. The thigh high leather boots with the fuck-me heels were skin tight on her legs, showing them to be long and lean.

  Looking at her made his dick stir.

  “Damn, she’s a Domme,” said Rick, deflating as he took in her attire, the tilt of her chin and the aggressive way she looked around the room. Moodily he took a swig of his beer.

  “What, you don’t want to try out being a switch?” Andrew asked, nudging his friend in the ribs. The other three men laughed as Adam continued to study the woman. Not once in his entire life had he ever been attracted to a Domme, no matter how physically attractive they were, but this woman had his complete attention and his groin was already tightening. Why?

  He watched her look around, observed the slight distaste on her face as she too
k in the decor before she covered up the expression. Something about her was slightly off, although he couldn’t quite figure it out. When her eyes swept around the room, examining the people, he was still looking at her. The minute their eyes met she had some kind of reaction, but he was too far away to see it clearly. The nod she gave him was careful, entirely appropriate, but something about her body language was off. As if she was unsure of herself. A new Domme maybe? Inexperienced? He smiled at her, to see how she would respond. She smiled back when she met his eyes before looking away again to continue her examination of the room.

  “What’s up?” Chris asked, leaning over to see where Adam was looking. “Why are you looking at the Domme?”

  “I’m not sure,” Adam confessed, taking a sip of his own beer to cover his frown. “There’s something about her...”

  “Think she’s a switch?”

  Hm. “Maybe. Or maybe very new.”

  Now all of his friends were looking at her again, watching her as she studied the small room. Chained wasn’t even a third as big as Stronghold, but then again Stronghold hadn’t started out very big either. It had expanded and renovated as it became more popular and successful. The woman they were all watching seemed to feel their eyes on them. Turning her head she stared right back at them. Some men might have looked away or pretended they weren’t looking at her at all. Not this group. She seemed a little startled at first as they all stared back at her, and she was the first one to look away.