You are right about the self-assertive part, but you completely missed Rand's view on sex and values. For one thing, capitalists were her heros, people who shared her values, so Taggert was very friendly, even submissive to them (consistent with Rand's view of feminine sexuality--take for example the "rape" in _The Fountainhead_). Taggert would NEVER have "railroaded" them. That would be like attacking her own values which violates the whole point of both the book and its genre. Also, Rand's female characters idolized their sexual partners and were monogamous. Taggert first found one man who represented her values, but left him for another who more perfectly represented her values. Rand wouldn't have her heroins sleeping with random men or with men she didn't "love", or with more than 1 man at a time, or for reasons other than as an expression of mutual love of values.
Not that I care, or share her views on sex, but she was so explicit about it in many writings that I don't see how you could get it so wrong.
I don't think I have it wrong at all. Ayn Rand should have had Dagny (or whatever her name was) charging for her services rather than giving herself away free without a commitment from the man. The book gets weak here, because it doesn't show the negative consequences of their actions. With her self-esteem and self assertiveness, she should have gotten $1,000 a fling.