Tempting Elizabeth Read online

  Tempting Elizabeth

  Club Zodiac, Book Nine

  Becca Jameson

  Copyright © 2020 by Becca Jameson

  Cover Artist: Scott Carpenter

  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

  Newsletter

  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

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Also by Becca Jameson

  About the Author

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  About the Book

  Sometimes a fresh start doesn’t look like anything you imagined…

  * * *

  Elizabeth is starting over. New city. New job. New club. Miami is the perfect choice. Warm year round. Gorgeous beaches. Plenty of opportunities. It all seems perfect until she spots Flynn at Zodiac, the club she just joined. The one man she never wanted to see again. Miami isn’t big enough for the two of them.

  * * *

  Flynn moved to Miami to take over his family’s restaurant. He loves being back in his home town. He’s living his best life. Until he spots Elizabeth at Zodiac. He used to work with her. Infuriating woman. Seeing her brings back all the pent-up stress and anger he felt every day sharing an office with her.

  * * *

  The tension between them could start a fire, but a chance encounter causes Flynn to see her in a new light. Elizabeth isn’t interested in anything he has to offer though, nor is she willing to listen to reason. Convincing her to give him a chance is like eating soup with a fork.

  * * *

  But someone is following her, and it makes Flynn nervous. Why does she feel the need to stubbornly control everything? There’s something about her that makes Flynn unwilling to give up. When the perfect opportunity comes along, can he convince her to stay in town and let her guard down?

  Chapter 1

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Flynn muttered to himself. He was usually a fairly even-keeled guy. It took a lot to shock him. Currently, he was so stunned that he reached up and rubbed his eyes just to be sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

  Yep. It was her all right. Elizabeth Kepler. He hadn’t seen her in three years, nor had he ever seen her in shiny black pleather boots that reached up to her thighs. He also had never seen her in a shiny black pleather dress that was skintight, barely covered her ass, and had a zipper in the front that was unzipped enough to reveal all of her amazing cleavage.

  Flynn stopped moving, planted a hand on the wall to steady himself, and blinked several times. Elizabeth’s glossy black hair was in a high ponytail. She had on a lot of makeup, and she was currently dragging a thick black flogger down the back of the nearly naked man strapped to the St. Andrew’s cross in front of her.

  No matter how long Flynn stared, he couldn’t wrap his head around this side of Elizabeth. He’d known she was formidable. A pain in the ass most of the time at work. But a Domme? The thought had never crossed his mind. In fact, considering how feisty she was in the workplace, knocking everyone who got in her way to the side, he would have pegged her as submissive when she wasn’t working. High powered people often needed someone else to take control for a few hours. It was common.

  He shuddered. Except in Elizabeth’s case he never would have imagined her in a fetish club at all. Not in a million years. He’d considered her a prude. A ruthless one at that.

  Apparently, his assessment of his former coworker had been wrong.

  Flynn had worked with Elizabeth for five long years. They’d been co-heads of event coordination for SaFleur Pharmaceuticals in Atlanta. They had never gotten along, both of them fighting to get ahead in a cutthroat world. They disagreed on nearly everything, and spent most of the time avoiding each other in order to keep their blood pressure down.

  At least that’s how Flynn remembered it.

  How could this possibly be the same woman, and what was she doing in Club Zodiac? Hell, what was she doing in Miami? The club wasn’t big enough for the two of them, and Flynn had definitely been there first. He’d been a member since he moved back to Miami three years ago. He’d never seen Elizabeth at the club.

  Damn. She was good with floggers. She stood behind the man in the G-string, feet planted wide enough to give her stability in her four-inch heels. Judging by the precision with which she flogged her submissive’s back and butt cheeks, she had a lot of experience.

  “You okay, Flynn?” The voice to Flynn’s right made him jerk his attention from Elizabeth to face Lincoln, co-owner of the club. He had one brow raised. “You look a bit pale.” His gaze roamed toward Elizabeth before coming back to Flynn. “She’s impressive, isn’t she? If you’re thinking what I suspect, I’m pretty sure she’s not your type. She didn’t introduce herself as a switch.”

  Flynn took a deep breath. “I know her.”

  “Oh really? From where? She said she just moved here from Atlanta.”

  “Yep. Worked with her in Atlanta,” Flynn gritted out. “Five of the longest years of my life. I only got to enjoy a few months of peace after she finally left the company. When my dad died, I had to resign too.”

  Lincoln chuckled. “That bad?”

  “Worse.” He groaned. This could not be happening.

  Chapter 2

  Elizabeth was zipping up her toy bag when a shadow fell over her. She lifted her gaze and nearly dropped the bag on the floor. “Flynn?”

  “Yep.” He stood in front of her, smirking, his fingertips in the pockets of his black jeans.

  Surprised didn’t even begin to describe her shock. Flynn Taylor. Great. “What are you doing here?”

  “That’s what I was about to ask you,” he countered, his brows furrowed. He looked about as happy to see her as she was him. As in not at all.

  “Just moved to Miami. I didn’t know you’d left Atlanta.” She’d never expected to see Flynn again in her life after leaving SaFleur Pharmaceuticals three years ago. And frankly that would have been too soon.

  “A few months after you left. My father died. I moved back to Miami to take over the family business.” His brows were furrowed. “What brought you to Miami?”

  She shrugged. Miami had lured her with its promises of sun and sand and good weather. Suddenly, she half wished she were a fan of snow instead. “I picked it at random. Need a fresh start. I’m planning to open my own business.”

  He nodded, not asking her for further information, which was just as well because she didn’t have more details yet.

  She lifted her toy bag over her shoulder. “How long were you watching
me?”

  “Long enough.” He smirked again. She wanted to slap him. It was amazing how fast he could get under her skin. And for no good reason. The two of them simply clashed, probably because they were both intelligent, headstrong, and determined. Any time one of them had an idea, the other had shot it down immediately on principle alone.

  He wasn’t moving, and she suddenly wondered why. She decided to needle him because that’s what she was good at. She glanced back at the St. Andrew’s cross she’d just finished using. “Oh. Did you want me to dominate you? I have someone else in a few minutes, but I can fit you in afterward if you’d like to blow off some steam.”

  He tipped his head down, his brow furrowing further, just as she’d expected. “Fuck no. You aren’t dominating me.”

  She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “My bad. I guess you already have someone lined up.” It was difficult not to smile since she knew she was full of shit. There wasn’t a chance in hell Flynn was a sub, but man did she enjoy watching his jaw tighten.

  “No one is going to dominate me, Elizabeth, but if you decide you want to blow off some steam yourself, let me know. I’ll try to fit you in. I’m pretty good with just about any toy you’d like to experience.”

  “Ha.” She forced herself to laugh at him now. “Not in this lifetime.” She stood tall, which in her heels was sometimes enough to meet people eye to eye. But not Flynn. He was about six four. She couldn’t compete with that. She had to lean her head back to meet his gaze which infuriated her.

  This time he was the one to shrug. “Your loss. Are you planning to join Club Zodiac because I’m not sure the place is big enough for both of us. There’s another club in Miami you might enjoy. It’s called Breeze.”

  She chuckled deeply and rolled her eyes. “You afraid I’ll upset your mojo?”

  “Not at all. My mojo is unflappable.”

  “Well, I guess if my presence bothers you, you’ll just have to stay out of my way. I’ll probably visit Breeze as well, but I find I like it here at Zodiac.” She glanced around. “It has a vibe that agrees with me.” Except for finding out you’re a member too. No way would she let Flynn think he’d pushed her out the door though.

  He gave a curt nod. “Knock yourself out. We obviously won’t be participating in the same scenes anyway.”

  A young blonde came up beside Flynn and set her hand on his biceps. “Hey.” Her voice was soft. Demure. She smiled up at him and then let her face dip.

  Flynn covered her fingers with his, glancing at her before returning his attention to Elizabeth. “I actually booked this apparatus after you,” he informed her.

  “Ah. Okay. Well, I’ll just get out of your way.” She hefted her bag higher on her shoulder as she gave a wide berth circling around the couple on the side of the blonde. She didn’t have any desire to get closer to Flynn than necessary. The man made her skin crawl.

  Unfortunately, though she would never admit it out loud, he also made her heart flutter. This had been true the entire time she worked with him. He was tall, dark, and handsome like in a romance novel. His dark hair was cut short and his brown eyes penetrated every time he looked at her. Granted, not usually in a good way, but her body reacted to him on a physical level even when she willed it not to.

  When she’d left SaFleur, she’d never expected to see him again, and that’d been fine with her. They were too similar. They clashed. When they’d met, they’d been climbing the ladder to success. Cutthroat. Working long hours in an attempt to impress anyone who noticed. It wasn’t too hard to stay out of each other’s way. Most of the time there were multiple conferences or large events needing planning at the same time. Instead of working on them together, they divided them and then worked their asses off night and day to ensure they outperformed the other. If neither of them was at SaFleur, she wondered how their replacements were faring considering the legacy Flynn and Elizabeth would have left behind.

  Elizabeth wasn’t sure anyone ever noticed just how damn much SaFleur got from the two of them in the five years they worked together. Sure, the company clearly appreciated all their hard work, but did anyone truly care? It wasn’t as though they had been vying for partner in the company or anything. It was more like they each had their own personal inner desire to be the best.

  The fact that Elizabeth usually wanted to strangle the man for his competitive nature didn’t mean she didn’t also find him sexy. It just meant she would never tell him she thought so. Not in this lifetime.

  She didn’t look back as she left Flynn and his little blonde sub standing near the cross. She headed straight for the break room, dropped her bag, and grabbed a bottle of water. Sometimes dominating took just as much out of her as submitting. Not that she’d ever submit to anyone, but she used to. Years ago. Before circumstances caused her to discover how much more powerful she felt on top.

  It was by mere coincidence that the male sub she’d just finished flogging hadn’t needed or wanted aftercare. She’d spent a few moments with him, but he’d insisted he preferred to be alone and left her to tidy her space. If he hadn’t taken off, Flynn wouldn’t have approached, and she might not have noticed he was even in the club.

  After downing the water, she couldn’t resist returning to the main room to watch. She remained in the shadows along the wall, finding a spot to lean against in order to find out what sort of man Flynn really was.

  This was a side of him she’d never expected, but then again, there was little chance he’d expected it of her either. Really, neither of them should’ve been surprised. They were both driven by a force that defied reason. No wonder they also enjoyed the power of BDSM on the side.

  Elizabeth took a deep breath and let it out slowly, licking her lips as she set her sights on the show happening at the cross. Several other people had gathered to watch, and Elizabeth wasn’t surprised. Flynn was just as fierce in his role as Dom as he was in a corporate boardroom.

  He moved around the sub like a lion, fluid, graceful. The energy that surrounded him was palpable. He’d removed his shirt, which meant Elizabeth was graced with her first look at his bare chest. She’d wondered what his pecs might look like hundreds of times. Now she was getting her fill. And damn, the man was cut. He wasn’t broad or built in a way that made her think he spent all day in the gym. He was slender. But fucking sexy all the same.

  She sighed. Great. Just what she needed. She groaned inwardly. It would have been easier if she found him lacking. As it was, this man was now going to return to her damn dreams. She’d finally purged herself of this particular actor who often slipped into her subconsciousness over a year ago. Now he would return with a vengeance.

  She should turn away, prepare for her next scene. Anything but watch. Instead, she stood rooted to the spot, not wanting to miss a single moment. Was it a coincidence that he was also using floggers just as she had before him? Probably. After all, he would have planned this scene with the woman currently gripping the rungs above her head, spread wide on the cross.

  Who was this woman? Were they together, or had the blonde simply requested a scene from Flynn?

  She was nothing like Elizabeth. Where Elizabeth had long dark hair that was almost black, dark eyes, and tanned skin that came close to matching Flynn’s, his submissive had pale skin, thin blond hair that reached her shoulders, and was only about five foot four. She had removed the white dress she’d been wearing, leaving her in nothing but a white lace thong. Her breasts were perky and high, her nipples dark pink and hard.

  Elizabeth had no idea why she bothered to compare herself to this submissive. It wasn’t necessary. She shifted her gaze to Flynn as he gracefully swung his supple floggers in a beautiful figure eight, striking the blonde’s shoulder blades in a rhythmic pattern. He didn’t use very much force, but that might have been intentional since this woman’s skin was too fragile.

  After a few minutes, he shifted one flogger to the other hand and stepped in close to the sub, his enormous palm smoothing over her pinkened
skin, his mouth leaning in close to her ear. There was no way to hear what he said, but the blonde nodded.

  Flynn stood between the sub’s spread legs, close enough to grind his cock into her back if he wanted. He continued to stroke her skin with his palm, causing the woman to purr and sway back and forth. She had a firm grip on the rungs above her head though and neither let go of them nor shifted her feet closer together. She was a spectacular submissive. This wasn’t her first rodeo.

  Elizabeth’s pulse picked up as she continued to watch. She loved being a Domme. It suited her. There was no reason to be jealous of this woman’s experience. Elizabeth hadn’t submitted to anyone in twelve years, not since she’d first discovered the different type of power exchange she got from dominating others. Men and women. She enjoyed both.

  For a moment, Elizabeth closed her eyes, lulled by the rhythmic sound of the floggers as Flynn resumed his task. She remembered vaguely what it had been like to be on the receiving end of a flogging. Long ago. It had soothed her. Given her release. But it hadn’t compared to the first time she picked up floggers of her own and switched sides. Her days of submission were long gone. Ruined. She tried not to think of that time period.

  A moan yanked Elizabeth from her reverie to find the blonde’s head tipped back, bliss on her face. Her mouth hung open. Her eyes were closed. Her face was soft. She was in that sweet spot when the world around her melted, leaving her with nothing but bliss. Elizabeth recognized the look, and damn if she wasn’t indeed jealous for the first time in years.