Trusting Aaron Read online

  Trusting Aaron

  Club Zodiac, Book Five

  Becca Jameson

  Copyright © 2019 by Becca Jameson

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-9469115-9-9

  Print ISBN: 978-1-9469116-0-5

  Cover Artist: Scott Carpenter

  Editor: Christa Soule

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. And resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  About the Book

  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

  Author’s Note

  Also by Becca Jameson

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  As usual, I have to thank my amazing editor, Christa Soule, who loved this book from it’s conception and worked hard to make it perfect! She is the best! I would be lost without her!

  About the Book

  Her innocence gives him pause… Her baggage is a red flag…

  * * *

  Hope can’t marry a man who doesn’t love her. She won’t. It would be better to flee the church and jump into the first car that pulls up out front.

  * * *

  Aaron is late for the wedding, but why in the hell is the bride running toward his car, fluffy tulle in her hands, and why does she jump inside and tell him to drive?

  * * *

  Aaron hardly knows the bride, but it doesn’t take long to realize two things: she’s running from her problems, and she’s far too innocent for a man like him.

  * * *

  This runaway bride is on a mission, however. Lose her virginity and learn everything she can about submission. If Aaron won’t help her, Hope will find someone who will.

  Chapter 1

  Aaron was late. His flight had been late. The car rental line had been long. The hotel hadn’t had his room ready. After getting up at four in the morning to head for the Denver airport, he’d been rushing for over twelve hours to arrive at this church in Miami.

  It was a stretch that he was even attending this wedding since he’d only met the bride a handful of times. Her sister, Faith Davenport, was married to one of Aaron’s closest friends, Rowen Easton. Aaron had jumped at the opportunity to spend a weekend in Miami with his co-workers from the Miami Club Zodiac, even if it was for the wedding of a woman he barely knew.

  The wedding started at four. It was 4:05. He wasn’t even positive he was at the right place.

  “Shit,” he muttered as he glanced once again at the GPS on the car’s navigation system. He slowed down in the residential area, glancing out the passenger side of the car to see if perhaps the Lutheran church would suddenly materialize to go with the singsongy voice his GPS was once again proclaiming. “You have reached your destination.”

  He’d been around the block three times. Finally, he spotted the church.

  Just as he started to swing into the parking lot, he did a double take. The front door of the church was standing open, and a woman who could only be the bride was running out the door.

  Hope Davenport.

  If he hadn’t recognized her by her dark hair, petite stature, and tanned skin, the wedding dress would tip anyone off. She was also rushing directly toward him, holding the sides of her extremely full white dress with both hands.

  He hit the brake and put the car in park, confused. Another glance at the church showed Hope’s mother standing in the doorway. The woman looked frantic, which was saying something since Jane Davenport prided herself on being completely composed at all times. She was wearing a long blue dress that hugged her body and probably cost more than Aaron made in a year.

  Jane was waving her hands in the air and shouting something Aaron couldn’t make out from inside the car. Hope twisted around to look at her mother and then kicked off her heels, left them on the sidewalk, and kept running.

  If Aaron hadn’t been too stunned to react—or if the entire scene had taken more than fifteen seconds—he might have had the wherewithal to get out of the car. Instead, he was still seated, staring, as Hope reached the passenger door.

  She yanked it open, grabbed the ridiculous poof of tulle that made her dress stick out in every direction, and slid into the passenger seat. It wasn’t graceful. In fact, as she slammed the door, Aaron was pretty certain half the dress remained trapped outside.

  Finally, Hope twisted to look at him, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Aaron. Thank God. Drive.” She pointed forward, the smile disappearing as a more serious expression returned. “Now. Hit the gas.”

  Aaron put the car in drive and took off. “Hope?”

  “Just drive. I need to think.” She gripped the console between them with one hand and used her other hand to flatten the pile of puffy white material that reached her chin.

  He drove to the end of the street and took a right, thinking to circle the block as he’d already done three times. What the hell was Hope doing?

  “Take a left at the next intersection,” she demanded, ending his plan to circle the block.

  He did as she requested, knowing instinctively that now was not the time to argue with her.

  “Another left in two streets.”

  Still saying nothing, he followed her directions. She’d now been in his rental car for about three minutes, and Aaron was growing uncomfortable with the demands.

  He knew that even though her sister, Faith, was in the BDSM lifestyle, Hope was not. However, Aaron wasn’t used to taking demands from a woman. He was a Dom. He much preferred leading demure submissive women in everything they did and rarely spent much time in the company of anyone who wasn’t part of his community.

  “Jump on the highway here,” Hope instructed next.

  “Hope,” he began as he did her bidding, “tell me where we’re going.”

  “Hotel first. I want to get out of this fucking dress,” she said as if it should have been obvious. She plucked at the front of it. “It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, don’t you think?” She glanced at him.

  He wasn’t about to answer that question. He also didn’t think he’d ever heard her cuss like that before.

  “Two more exits,” she stated.

  “I know where the hotel is. You can stop directing me,” he informed her.

  “Okay. Good.”

  “Care to tell me why you’ve jumped into my car and why we’re fleeing the church?” It hadn’t escaped his attention that she hadn’t even known who was driving the car when she slid inside. She’d been so desperate that she hadn’t cared if he was a stranger or an ax murderer.

  “I’m not marrying that asshole, and I just want to get as far away as humanly possible as fast as I can before someone tries to stop me.” She jerked her gaze toward him again and continued. “Don’t get me wrong. No one would be able to stop me, but I’m not interested in arguing with anyone either. Especially not my mother or Montgomery.”

  Aaron couldn’t disagree with her assessment of Montgomery Ainsley, her fiancé. The man was an asshole. Even though Aaron had only met him one tim
e, he knew from Faith’s assessment that Ainsley was a snobby, rich fuck who was only marrying her sister for the financial benefits. Apparently, the wedding was to be one of the most lucrative family unions of the decade.

  Aaron pulled up to the front of the hotel. “You want me to drop you off?”

  She flinched and then chewed on her lower lip. “No. I don’t have a car here. Would you please take me someplace else? I just want to grab my things from my room.”

  Aaron stared at her for a moment. What the hell was he getting himself into?

  “Please?” she begged. Her eyes were wide, a stunning dark brown that made anyone who looked at her want to stare into them. Her makeup was a little too thick for his taste, but it was exactly what he would expect for the daughter of a wealthy congressman on her wedding day. Especially this particular daughter.

  His eyes slid to her hair which was pinned up around her face. He knew it was thick and silky, but he’d only seen in down a few times. He couldn’t be sure how long it currently was since the only part not arranged on top of her head was a few tendrils at her cheeks.

  The lacy bodice of the dress was off the shoulder, so he was able to admire her neckline and the delicate strand of pearls she wore.

  He jerked his gaze back to meet hers. She wasn’t upset—not crying anyway. She was pissed and her urgency was palpable. “Please, Aaron. I don’t have anyone else to turn to.”

  He took a deep breath. What the hell was he going to do with this stuck-up socialite? Even though she was speaking to him politely and she was stunningly gorgeous, he knew her well enough to be concerned about spending more than a few minutes with her.

  She leaned closer, released the ridiculous puff of tulle, and grabbed his hand. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  He frowned. “I don’t need you to make it up to me, Hope. Let’s get your stuff. I’ll help you.” He couldn’t just leave her here. He didn’t know the details of her situation, but if a woman seemed as desperate as Hope did, he’d never leave her stranded.

  She smiled wide. “Thank you.” As she yanked the car door open, he exited his side of the car.

  Hope rushed through the entrance to the fancy hotel as the doors parted on their own. She ran toward the front desk on her bare feet.

  Aaron stopped at the bellman and informed him he would only be leaving the car parked out front for a few minutes. The serious older man frowned but nodded, his expression darting to the obviously distressed bride.

  Aaron jogged toward Hope at the desk, catching the tail end of her explanation about why she needed a new key to her room. The staff didn’t flinch. A woman hurriedly made a new keycard and handed it to Hope.

  Not surprising. There was no way every employee of the hotel didn’t know who Hope Davenport was or that it was her wedding day.

  She spun around, slamming right into Aaron, who grabbed her biceps to keep them both from falling over. “I guess you need me to check out and grab my suitcase too. I’ll do that while you change. What room are you in? I’ll meet you there.”

  “Ten fourteen,” she stated.

  “Got it.” He released her to head for the elevator, stepping several feet away from her to avoid the seemingly multiplying layers of fluffy, white material and lace. It really was the ugliest dress. Why the hell had she chosen it?

  As they entered the elevator, he noticed the right side was torn and dirty, confirming his suspicion that it had hung outside the car during their drive.

  He pushed the buttons for the fifth and then the tenth floor. When the elevator stopped at his floor a few seconds later, Hope grabbed his arm. “You’ll meet me in my room?”

  “Yes.”

  “You promise?” Her dark eyebrows were drawn together.

  “Hope, I said I would. I’ll be there. Give me two minutes.” His suitcase was open in his room, but he hadn’t had time to do more than take a rushed shower and change into his suit when he arrived, so his belongings were still in or near the suitcase. If he didn’t change, he could stuff everything back inside and be done in seconds.

  “Okay.” She released him, her shoulders falling, but she was chewing on her bottom lip again, and her eyes were leery.

  Aaron reached out a hand to keep the elevator door from shutting and studied her face. He stepped on the edge of her dress to get closer. Without her heels, it dragged on the floor. Without thinking of anything except wiping that look of concern from her face, he cupped her chin with his free hand and plucked her lip from between her teeth. “Take a breath. You have my word. I’ll be right behind you.”

  She nodded, the breath slowly easing from her lungs. “Thank you.”

  Aaron stepped from the elevator, watched her expression as the doors closed, and then turned to speed walk down the hallway. He wasn’t kidding. It took him thirty seconds to grab his belongings. It took him thirty more seconds to call the front desk and inform them he was checking out less than an hour after checking in. They would bill his card. He was certain Hope wouldn’t want to stop at the front desk again. He doubted she gave a fuck whether or not she checked out.

  His only hesitation was about changing out of his suit, but he decided against it, knowing every moment he wasn’t at her door was a moment she would be freaking out.

  True to his word, he was at her hotel room knocking in record time.

  Hope yanked it open, another rush of air leaving her lungs. “Thank you,” she repeated, obviously relieved to find out he hadn’t changed his mind about helping her.

  Aaron would give anything to have more information, but for now, he had one task—helping Faith’s sister get far away from this hotel.

  Hope spun around, leaving him to follow her inside. He was surprised to find her room nearly identical to his. He’d assumed she and Montgomery would have been staying in a suite. According to Faith and Rowen, the wedding party had all checked into the hotel the day before.

  A glance around left him further confused. There was no sign of Montgomery’s belongings. In fact, Hope resumed frantically stuffing things into one of two suitcases while he stared at the back of her. The second smaller suitcase was upright next to the bed, closed.

  She twisted her head around to meet his gaze a few seconds later. “I hate to ask this, but can you get this damn dress off me? I can’t do it myself.” She backed up and pointed over her shoulder. “There are like ten thousand stupid buttons up the back.”

  She wasn’t kidding. Tiny little pearls reached all the way from the base of her spine to the middle of her back. There was a good chance the entire wedding party could arrive before he got this off her.

  Nevertheless, he went to work, stuffing every button through the dainty silk loop as quickly as he could. Who designs these things? And why?

  If he were the man returning to his hotel room with his new wife after the reception, the last thing he’d want to do would be to spend fifteen minutes trying to extricate his bride from her dress before he could get his hands on her.

  He stored that detail away for another time—not that he had any intentions of marrying anytime soon. However, if by chance he did one day meet the woman of his dreams and decide to marry, he would instruct her to pick out something with a zipper. These buttons were ridiculous.

  In addition, he would never agree to a huge shindig like the one Hope had just fled. In Aaron’s mind, those thousands of dollars could go to many other worthy causes. There were perfectly good justices of the peace in every city. Though, chances were, if he ever did find a woman he wanted to make that level of commitment to, he would find himself eating those words and agreeing to whatever sort of wedding she wanted.

  Right?

  Nope. Not likely. He couldn’t visualize falling so hard for any woman who would put her foot down and demand a huge expensive party. Hell, he couldn’t imagine entering into a relationship with any woman who would put her foot down at all. If she did, she wouldn’t be his type.

  Demure. Submissive. He reminded himself. That was the
sort of woman he hoped to find one day. Someone who would be happy to bow to his dominant side.

  When Aaron finally released the last pearl and the silk and lace of her dress fell apart, he sucked in a sharp breath. Hope wasn’t wearing anything underneath the bodice. The smooth tanned skin of her back was inches from his fingertips and only a bit farther from his eyes.

  She didn’t waste a second. The moment he stepped back, she dropped the ridiculous dress. He swallowed at her total lack of modesty. Granted, he was behind her, but he missed very little.

  Frozen in his spot, he didn’t blink as he took in her white lace panties, the garter belt, and the thigh-high white hose. Her waist was so tiny, he imagined he could wrap his hands all the way around it. He could just make out the swell of her small breasts from the sides as she quickly unbuckled the garters and then rolled the hose down her legs and stepped out of them.

  Before he could blink, she grabbed a dress from the mattress in front of her and pulled it over her head. It was pale pink with a fitted bodice and a loose skirt that extended to mid-thigh. She hadn’t put a bra on for this dress either.

  “Zip me?” she asked, twisting to look at him again while holding the front of the dress to her chest.

  Aaron’s fingers shook as he stepped on the mound of tulle in front of him, pulled the top of the dress together, and eased the zipper up her back, careful not to nick her perfect skin.

  “Thanks.” She leaned down when he stepped back, grabbed the giant ruined pile of silk and lace, and tossed it to the side as if it meant nothing to her. “Let’s go.” She leaned over her suitcase to zip it closed, struggling to get the top to meet the bottom.