Trusting Aaron Read online

  “Isn’t there a hotel robe in that bathroom?” He choked on those words, his gaze remaining on her body even though he knew he should turn away.

  Yeah, Hope Davenport intended to make his life a living hell.

  “I didn’t look,” she responded coyly. “Sorry about the nightie. It’s all I packed.”

  Finally, he shut his eyes and forced himself to turn away from her. He concentrated instead on resuming the removal of his shirt.

  Seconds later, her hands were on his back and she smoothed them around to his chest, pressing her cheek against his shoulder blade and lining her body up with his.

  He spun around, extricated himself from her, and held her at arm’s length. He stared into her eyes, trying to avoid the swell of her small perfect breasts that were not remotely hidden behind the thin lace and silk. He could even discern the size, shape, and color of her nipples. Her erect nipples.

  “Get into bed, Hope. Under the covers. Sleep.”

  She set her hands on his waist and tried to close the distance between them, but he held her steady by the biceps. When she plastered on a fake pout, he narrowed his gaze at her. Ordinarily he would spank that look off any submissive’s face.

  He growled. “Bed.”

  “I’m not tired.”

  “Do it anyway.” He spun her away from him and marched her forward. The back of her nightie was not any less revealing than the front. He could see the perfect globes of her ass, and it took a great deal of willpower to shake the thought of molding them in his palms. Or spanking her until they were bright pink.

  Aaron spun around fast and left her standing there as he headed for the bathroom. Two seconds later, he had the door shut and he was leaning against it, breathing heavily.

  He ran a hand down his face and then met his gaze in the mirror. What the fuck is happening here?

  When he’d left for Miami that morning, he’d pictured a rather boring night at a wedding reception followed by three days with his friends before flying back to Denver.

  He and Colin were opening the new Club Zodiac in Denver in a few weeks and they couldn’t both leave town at the same time while it was being renovated. Since Colin was in a new relationship with Rayne, he’d easily bowed out, choosing to stay behind with his woman.

  If Aaron was truly going to drive across the country with the temptress on the other side of this door, he was going to need more than three days. It was a thirty-hour trip.

  What was he thinking? He couldn’t take Hope with him. No way in hell. She obviously had a one-track mind about getting him to fuck her, and that was out of the question. Besides, what would she do in Denver? Where would she stay? She couldn’t just hide out indefinitely and ignore the conversations she should be having with Montgomery and her family.

  He sighed. The thought of even opening the door and returning to the bedroom loomed ominously.

  The woman was a siren. She had no idea how fucking hot she was.

  And worse. He couldn’t stop visualizing her on her knees in front of him, her head tipped back, eyes blinking, hands tied behind her back, nipples puckered, pussy leaking, wild dark curls around her face, lips parted, heart racing.

  Gaaaahhhh.

  He shoved off the door, adjusted his damn cock, and turned on the water. He’d taken a shower right before heading for the church. He didn’t need one now. But maybe he should in order to buy more time and relieve some of the pressure building up in his cock.

  Yeah. That was a good plan. It was the only option.

  The room steamed up the room quickly since Hope had only exited the shower herself a few minutes ago.

  Aaron shed his clothes, dropping them on a pile on the floor. He stepped under the hot spray already clutching his erection. He was harder than ever, and when he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the tile wall, he couldn’t shake the vision of Hope’s sexy body yards away from him in that damn white lace thing she wore.

  He gritted his teeth, hoping he didn’t moan too loudly when he came, which took about four strokes of his hand. Before his entire body was even wet, he came against the wall in long spurts.

  “Jesus,” he muttered, his arms shaking as he righted himself. He was gasping for air as he grabbed the soap and washed his body. Reluctantly, he turned off the water, patted himself dry with a towel, and wrapped it around his hips.

  He didn’t have any clean clothes in the bathroom. He should have thought of that before he entered, but he’d been too desperate to escape Hope’s imploring eyes.

  He swiped a hand towel across the fogged mirror, set his hands on the counter, and stared at himself. Now what are you going to do?

  What if he gave her what she wanted? He considered the option and its implications. It certainly wouldn’t be a hardship for him to make love to her. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had vanilla sex, but he supposed he could do it. Once.

  Maybe she would get it out of her system and decide to return home if he slept with her. Or, maybe she would decide she liked it and continue on with him to Denver, which would spell disaster. Especially if he fucked her all gentle and sweet like she deserved and gave her the wrong impression about his normal preferences.

  Perhaps it would be better to show her how he liked to fuck. He shook that thought away immediately. Wasn’t going to happen. No one should take a virgin any way but with slow measured care.

  What Hope wanted was a rebound fuck.

  Why the hell did it have to be him?

  This was her wedding night. The night she was supposed to be with another man. Aaron would have to be a world-class asshole to fuck her on the night she technically should have belonged to Montgomery Ainsley, even if the man was a prick.

  Nope. This couldn’t happen. He’d satisfied his cock. Now he needed to grow a spine, march into the room, and give her a firm no. He glanced down at the tent in his towel and acknowledged that his cock was in no way sated for the night. It wasn’t going to get more of what it demanded, but he wasn’t convinced the hand job in the shower had done anything but make his plight worse.

  Shoving off the counter, he took a deep breath and opened the door. And then he froze.

  Hope was on her knees in the middle of the bed. She was still wearing nothing more than that skimpy piece of lace, only now she had his tie in her hand, and she was twirling it around. “Found this on the bed.”

  Yep. He’d definitely tossed it there earlier. “Hope…”

  She scrambled closer as he shuffled toward his suitcase. He needed a pair of sweatpants. Had he brought sweatpants? Probably not. It was Miami after all. And he hadn’t expected to be sharing a hotel room with anyone.

  There was a chance he might have boxers, but other than that he would be stuck with briefs or jeans. Sleeping in jeans might be a good idea at this juncture.

  He rummaged through his clothes and thanked God silently for a pair of boxers. Ignoring Hope, who was now perched on the edge of the bed, he padded back to the bathroom, dropped the towel, and shrugged into the boxers.

  He had no choice but to face her. Never in his life had he been in such a predicament. An extremely sexy woman was in his hotel room begging him to have sex with her, and he needed to turn her down.

  Another deep breath and he stepped back into her view.

  She was biting her lower lip, her butt cheeks resting back on her heels, his tie still clutched in her hand. “If you keep avoiding me, I’m going to develop a complex.”

  He paced a few feet from her, running a hand through his damp hair, not meeting her gaze. “Hope, this is crazy. I won’t take your virginity. It’s not going to happen.”

  “I want you to.”

  “I know you say that now, but you’ll regret it later.”

  “Why do you think I’ll regret it? I’m a grown woman. It’s ridiculous that I haven’t had sex yet. I don’t know why the hell I even waited. I want to know what it feels like. I don’t want to go another day without having a man inside me. I intended to have se
x tonight. I still want to do that. Just not with Montgomery.”

  He lifted his gaze. “That’s just it. You don’t specifically need it to be me.” He winced as he spoke. Some part of him cringed at the thought of her with another man. That wasn’t going to happen either.

  What the fuck was he thinking?

  Hope gasped. She dropped the tie on the bed and scooted back. “I’m not some slut, you know.”

  “Of course you aren’t.” Great. Now she was hurt.

  She scrambled to the other side of the bed, not meeting his gaze anymore. “I get it. You’re not interested in me. Why don’t you just say so? You don’t have to pretend.”

  Fuck. Aaron groaned, for about the billionth time since she got in his car. “Hope…”

  She lifted a hand, a dainty hand that would look so sexy wrapped around his cock or cuffed to the headboard. Dammit. “It’s fine. I understand. This makes two nights in a row that I tried to get a man to fuck me and both of you turned me down. Obviously the common denominator is me.” She spun around on the opposite side of the gigantic bed and faced away from him, legs dangling off the side.

  Fuck, he repeated in his mind. With a fortifying breath, he rounded the damn bed and didn’t stop until he was in her space, his legs pinned against hers, his hands on her face, tipping her head back.

  Dammit. She was crying. Not sobbing. But those damn tears again.

  He had to say something. “How about you don’t mention Montgomery Ainsley ever again, yeah? I’ve had about enough of him. He’s an asshole. I have no idea why he wouldn’t sleep with you, but he’s gone. Done. Over. And I’m glad he didn’t take something from you as precious as your virginity because he would have fucked it up and left you wanting. Understood?”

  She nodded slightly, eyes wide.

  “Good. Now, do not for one moment think you’re anything less than perfect and sexy and smoking hot. It’s taking every ounce of my willpower not to fuck you into tomorrow.”

  “Why? I’m begging you to do just that. I’m not drunk or high. I’m capable of making perfectly good decisions. If you find me attractive, then give me this. For the first time in my life, I’m totally sure of something. I’ve never felt the way you’ve made me feel from the moment I jumped into your car. You’re kind and generous and you care about people. You are exactly the person I want to have sex with for the first time.”

  He started to speak, but she shook her head and cut him off, squirming slightly on her bottom. She winced slightly as if something hurt, but he didn’t get a chance to ask her what that was about because she kept talking. “I know you think I’m not in my right mind, but I’m telling you I’m more in my right mind than ever before. I’ve never been clearer. Everyone always makes decisions for me. For once, I’m making my own decisions. Aaron, please…”

  He finally cut her off with a finger to her lips. “I can’t take it when you beg. It makes my heart stutter. It’s almost worse than when you cry. Stop using that word.”

  She swallowed, and then she licked his finger with her tongue.

  He narrowed his gaze at her, heart thumping wildly as he slid his finger between her lips and watched her eyes go wide. She only hesitated a second before sucking his pointer.

  When his cock couldn’t take it anymore, he pulled his finger out with a pop. “Hope, I’m not a vanilla guy.”

  “I know. You’ve mentioned that. I don’t care.”

  “You do, though. You have no idea what kind of sex I prefer.”

  “Show me.” She swung her legs up under her and rose onto her knees, setting her hands on his shoulders so that their faces were level. “I don’t care what kind of sex you like. I’m not ignorant. I’ve read books. I’ve studied the lifestyle. I know my limits. I also know you’ll respect them. You can even give me one of those safewords.”

  He narrowed his gaze, deeply concerned. “Why?” Was she curious or did she have submissive tendencies?

  She shrugged, her fingers threading into his hair. “I wanted to know what Faith was into. She’s the happiest person I know. She looks at Rowen like he’s a god. And he looks at her the same. I figure there must be some merit to BDSM.”

  “There’s a lot of merit to the lifestyle, Hope, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. It also isn’t something I would introduce to a virgin.”

  “I’m not asking you to pull out a whip and draw blood this first time. I’m just asking you to give me a taste of your world. I don’t care what that is as long as you end this torment.”

  “You’re acting hastily.”

  Her voice rose. “I’m not. I’ve been burning for you from the moment you picked me up. That was hours ago. It hasn’t faded. I thought you were hot every time I saw you in the last few years. I didn’t conjure this out of thin air. In fact, I think this is the first sane decision I’ve made in a long time. I want it to be you. I trust you.”

  He flinched. She’d thought he was hot?

  He hadn’t ever considered that possibility. Not that it changed anything. It wouldn’t matter if she’d chased him for two years. She was still a virgin right now, and he wasn’t going to take that from her using his usual preferences. He was an asshole for even entertaining the possibility.

  He slid his hands up her waist until his thumbs grazed the bottom swell of her breasts. He didn’t dare glance down. It was enough to know she shivered from head to toe at the contact.

  “You were interested in me before today?” he clarified.

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course. Isn’t every woman you come into contact with?”

  He shot her a glare. “No, missy, they are not.” He really had no idea. “And just so you know, I would never strike a woman hard enough to draw blood, nor would I ever use a whip on anyone with no experience.”

  She sobered, nodding. “Good to know.”

  He closed his eyes, centering himself.

  “So you’ll do it.”

  He made a quick decision. “No. But I’ll give you an experience you won’t forget.”

  She frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going to give you a taste of submission and sex, but I’m not going to penetrate you with my cock.”

  “How are we going to have sex without penetration?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Chapter 5

  Hope had no idea what Aaron had in mind, but she didn’t care. As long as he did something—anything—she would be happy.

  He smirked when she lowered her hands down to his chest to smooth them over his skin. Reaching around her, he grabbed the tie and dangled it in front of her. “Lie on your back.”

  She licked her lips and scrambled to do as he instructed, her hands on her belly, her breathing shallow.

  Aaron shook out the knot in the tie, grabbed her wrist, and secured it to the silk. Before she could imagine his next move, he tugged her arm above her head, wrapped the long end of the tie through the headboard, and then secured her other wrist next to the first.

  Heat rushed up her body the moment he had her tied to the headboard. Her chest was pulled high, and her nipples abraded against the lace of her lingerie. Wetness leaked from her pussy to soak her barely existent thong. To make matters worse, she was hyper aware of every inch of her sex because she’d just shaved herself bare for the first time in her life in the shower. Would he know? Everything felt more sensitive, and her skin was nearly raw in some places. She might have even nicked herself.

  It had been a rash decision. She’d been thinking about Faith’s waxing story ever since she told her last night. It had never occurred to Hope that women removed their hair down there, but the moment she stepped into the shower tonight, she’d known she wanted to be clean shaven for Aaron.

  She sucked in a sharp breath when he ran a finger down her arm, dragging her back to the present. His gaze held hers. His smile melted her even more. “Now I have your attention.”

  “You’ve had my attention for hours.”

  He set a fin
ger on her lips. “Less talking. As much as I love the sound of your sweet voice stroking my cock, it’s time to concentrate on what my hands do to your body instead. Understood?”

  He lifted a brow.

  She couldn’t breathe. Hottest thing anyone had ever said to her. She opened her mouth but then closed it and nodded.

  “Good girl. I’m not going to do anything to harm you, so don’t worry. I’m only interested in making you burn like you deserve so you’ll know what it feels like to be with a man who puts all of his attention on your needs a making sure you come hard, fast, and often. Got it?”

  She nodded again, drawing her knees up and squeezing them together. She’d touched herself hundreds of times over the years, especially late at night while reading erotic novels, but she’d never been as aroused as she was right now, and she knew instinctively every touch was going to be magnified by the fact that she’d shaved.

  “Nevertheless, no one should play with a Dom without a safeword. Apparently, you’re familiar with a safeword. Use red for tonight.”

  Another nod.

  “Say it.”

  “Red. My safeword is red.” Her voice cracked as she spoke.

  Holy mother of God he made her burn. Already. Without touching her. Was it the tie? Or his words?

  “If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, use the safeword. If you don’t, I’ll never trust you to play again. Understood?”

  She nodded again.

  He set a finger on her nose and trailed it down to her lips, tracing them before slipping that finger into her mouth again.

  She sucked, assuming that was his intention. Or perhaps it was instinctive.

  He let her suckle him for a few minutes before removing his finger. “Good girl.” He tapped her lips and then trailed that finger down her chin, over her neck, and between her breasts.

  Her breath hitched, and she arched her chest upward.