Trusting Aaron Read online

  William Davenport. He’d been a congressman for several years. That was all Aaron knew about the man—except that he was formidable at work and a pushover at home.

  “I think she had the two of us because it was expected. She let a series of nannies raise us.”

  “A series of them? Why so many?”

  Hope chuckled, but not in jest. “My mother was hard on them. They had a tendency to quit.”

  “Yikes.” Aaron had heard stories about Jane Davenport from Rowen. The woman was still cold toward Rowen, and she therefore had a very distant relationship with Faith. Luckily, Hope had reconciled with Faith a while back, and the two of them were closer than Faith said they ever had been growing up.

  “One of my earliest memories is of my mother chastising Faith for something. I think she’d gotten her dress dirty after church. She’d been running outside with the other kids while our parents talked to the other parishioners.”

  “And she got in trouble?”

  “But of course,” Hope stated in a haughty voice. “A young lady must never soil her dress.”

  Lord.

  “Anyway, I think I watched the way my mother treated Faith—who was born spunky—and I decided I might fare better if I did as my mother wished. So, I did.”

  Aaron cringed inwardly. The thought of a little girl being so stringently obedient made his heart hurt. Granted, he enjoyed the obedience of adult women, but that was given freely and the rewards were spectacular. Nevertheless, he wondered if Hope could ever be someone’s submissive after the life she’d lived.

  On instinct, Aaron reached for Hope’s hand, drew it to his lips, kissed her knuckles, and set it on his thigh. He enjoyed touching her.

  “Hmmm.” Hope leaned closer as she made that contented sound. “I can’t say I liked my decision, nor was I particularly good at being the favorite child, but I did try. Even when it came to dating. I dated boys my mother approved of. Usually the sons of her friends.”

  “I can’t imagine going out with someone my parents chose for me.” The idea made him shudder.

  “Where are your parents?”

  “They live in Virginia. Retirement property. They’re enjoying the best years of their lives.” He smiled at her again. He needed to call them in fact. He hadn’t spoken to either of them for a few weeks. “I usually visit them at Christmas, though I might not be able to this year with Club Zodiac opening.”

  “Right. Zodiac. Tell me about the club.”

  “It’s coming along. We got the permits a few months ago, but the inside needed a significant amount of remodeling. It will still be a few weeks before we can open.”

  “I have to admit, I’ve never been inside the Miami Zodiac.”

  He smiled. “Not surprising. I’m sure it’s not on your mother’s approved list of places to haunt.”

  “Definitely not. She has no understanding of Faith’s lifestyle, nor is she even open to listening. It’s easier not to mention it. I’m sure Faith has no interest in explaining herself. After years of shouting matches followed by years of hardly seeing Faith at all, they’ve now reached a sort of truce.”

  “A low-level tolerance for each other it would seem.” That’s how Rowen described it.

  “Yes. The first time Rowen came to the house, he was basically blindsided by how rude my mother could be. He hadn’t believed Faith’s assessment. But let me tell you, that night marked a turning point for me.”

  “For you?” Aaron didn’t know any of this side of the story.

  She nodded. “I’d never seen anyone stick up for my sister that way. He would not tolerate the abuse she took. He put his foot down, removed her from the house, and gave my father a stern speech about the way he intended for Faith to be treated in the future if my parents ever wanted to see her.”

  Aaron smiled. “That sounds like Rowen.”

  “Does it sound like you?” Her question shocked him.

  “Mmm. I’m not sure I’m as naïve as Rowen in the first place. He’s a little softer than me. Always believes people are basically good. He truly went there that night expecting to find out Faith had exaggerated her situation.”

  “Yeah, it seemed like that. But what about you?” she repeated.

  Was she asking for personal reasons? Or did she want a better glimpse of his soul? “I suppose it would depend. I don’t think I would drag a woman into a situation she insisted would go badly. I hope I have better insight than that.”

  “And yet you’ve insisted on a number of occasions that I do exactly that—rush back into that lion’s den and take whatever they want to dish out.”

  He winced and squeezed her hand. “Fair point. But I’m not suggesting you become a doormat. I’m just saying you need to apologize for walking out and leaving them to deal with your departure. No matter how you met Ainsley, you’re ultimately the one who dated him for two years and agreed to marry him. Right?”

  “I guess.”

  “Then you have to take responsibility for leaving him standing there. Even if he’s the biggest dick in the world. You have to be the bigger person. You’ll regret it later if you don’t face them all. I’m not saying you should move back into your parents’ home and endure endless scolding. I’m simply saying you have to own up to your part and make amends.”

  “Yeah, I get it. And I said I would. In five days.”

  “I won’t mention it again. I didn’t mean to now, actually. But it came up. And you’re right about my assessment. I should have looked at it through your eyes too.”

  “It’s okay. You seriously can’t begin to imagine what it’s like until you’ve walked into that house and taken what they dish out. It’s a sight to behold.”

  He believed her. “So, you said that night you met Rowen two years ago was a turning point. But you stayed with Ainsley for two more years and even got engaged to him. How come?”

  “I didn’t say I had a lightning bolt and woke up cured. It was more like I started to pull my head out of my ass and see things through new lenses. I still thought what I had with Montgomery was as good as it got for me. I realized Faith had something amazing, but I didn’t picture myself ever being that lucky.”

  “So you settled?” This was such a foreign concept to him. He was thirty and had never come close to getting married or even engaged. Not because he didn’t like the idea of having a woman’s warm body in his bed every night, but because he hadn’t met anyone who knocked him on his ass. He definitely wouldn’t settle.

  “I guess.” She inhaled long and slow. “I didn’t look at it that way at the time. I just wanted to be happy. I thought if I got married, I would be the happiest woman alive. Montgomery is a respected member of society who will undoubtedly run for public office himself one of these days.”

  “And that’s important to you?”

  She didn’t respond for a long time. “No. But I thought it was.”

  “What changed?”

  She shrugged. “As the wedding date got closer and closer, my feet got colder. I had this sense of foreboding, like I was making a huge mistake. I tried to rationalize everything. I did so for hours every day. It was exhausting.”

  “I’m sure it was.” His heart ached for what she’d endured. “Didn’t you have anyone to talk to?”

  “Not really. I told myself repeatedly that I would talk to Faith, but I never had the courage. I didn’t want her to judge me or look down on me. So, instead I pretended things were wonderful.”

  “Until two nights ago.”

  “Yes.” She laughed, which he was grateful for after such a somber story. “Turns out a little tequila will do that to a person.”

  He smiled. “Tequila does have a way of loosening the tongue.”

  “One of these days I want to drink ten shots and let it all go. Faith and I did two shots that night. I felt freer than ever. I can only imagine what it might feel like to drink half the bottle.”

  He twisted his face to stare at her hard. “I can tell you two things. One, you might fe
el better for a few hours, but you’d regret it the next morning when you were hungover. And two, no way would I let you do that on my time.”

  “Why not?” She shifted so that her body faced him more fully. “It might be fun. I bet drunk sex is amazing.”

  “Drunk sex is nonconsensual sex, and it will never happen with me.”

  She was frowning when he glanced at her again. “How could it be nonconsensual if I consented to it before I ever took a drink?”

  “Because everyone is free to change their minds about having sex at any point, and drunk people can’t, so they have a tendency to wake up the next morning regretting either who they slept with or what they participated in.”

  “I would never regret having sex with you,” she hedged.

  “You’re right. Because I will never take you to my bed after you’ve been drinking.”

  “You don’t drink?”

  “Of course I drink.”

  She leaned forward, eyes bugged out. “You’re saying you get to drink and I don’t?”

  He shook his head. “Not saying that at all. I’m saying on nights when either of us is drinking, I won’t dominate you or have sex with you. A glass of wine or a beer is fine, but more than that inhibits the ability to consent, Hope. It’s a fundamental part of BDSM. People in the lifestyle are very careful about alcohol.”

  She nodded slowly. “Okay. That makes sense. I never thought about it. Vanilla people drink and fuck all the time.”

  He shot her another look. “Vanilla people make lots of poor decisions. I’m not vanilla. I don’t mess around when it comes to D/s. It’s too dangerous. People can get hurt. It’s not just sex that’s involved. Ropes and floggers and even knife play or fire play. Those things are not safe if either the Dominant or the submissive aren’t sharp and sober.”

  “Knife and fire play?” Her voice rose.

  He smirked. “Don’t worry. I’m not into either one. And even if I were, I wouldn’t expect you to try something like that.”

  She relaxed her shoulders. “Thank God.”

  He chuckled. “However, I fully intend to spank you, if that’s not a hard limit for you.” He paid close attention to the way she squirmed when he informed her of his intentions.

  She shifted her weight back and forth in the seat and then took a breath and changed the subject. “How many women have you had?”

  “Hope…” This line of questioning was veering off course.

  “What? I’m curious is all.”

  “Enough to know what I’m doing. Not so many that I would ordinarily be embarrassed. Too many to toss the number out at a virgin.”

  She shrugged. “I like knowing you’ve had a number of partners. It’s one of the reasons I want to spend the next several days in your bed. You’ll know what you’re doing. You’ve proven you will treat me with respect. And I won’t ever have to worry about doing something wrong because you’ll instruct me.”

  “Those things are all true. Insightful. However, you probably have a warped idea about my past partners. I scene with a variety of women in clubs. Often with regulars who enjoy submitting to me. However, that doesn’t mean I sleep with all of them. I’ve been in only two serious relationships. One was right after I got out of the army while I was going to college. One was soon after I graduated.”

  “I’ve had more serious relationships than you,” she bragged.

  He laughed. “Baby, you haven’t even rounded second base with any of them. They don’t count.”

  “Hmph. They counted in my book. Just because we didn’t have sex doesn’t mean I didn’t have feelings.”

  “Were you ever with someone you wanted to fuck so badly that you couldn’t sit still?” He knew the answer, but he wanted her to face it.

  “Yes. As a matter of fact I was.”

  He nearly drove off the road. Part of him experienced a ridiculous twinge of jealousy for no reason since obviously she hadn’t acted on the feelings. And part of him was just surprised. “When? Who?”

  She laughed again as she leaned across the console and kissed his cheek. “Last night. You.”

  He groaned. Imp.

  Chapter 9

  Aaron drove about ten hours that first day. Hope hadn’t expected him to go quite so far, but she didn’t ask questions. She simply deferred to him while she grew more and more anxious and shifted her weight on the seat often.

  They’d stopped for lunch at a fast-food joint and then they’d eaten dinner at a nice steak house at the same exit as their hotel before they checked in. Apparently, Aaron was a planner. He’d made a reservation that morning, even though he hadn’t mentioned it to her.

  It was after eight that night before they entered their hotel room. She was a bit stressed from their confrontation at the front desk. “You should have let me pay,” she insisted as soon as the door shut.

  “Hope, drop it. You’re not paying for hotel rooms.”

  “That’s illogical. I’m the one who insisted on this trip, and I have plenty of money.”

  “Considering what little I know about Faith’s inheritance from your maternal grandmother, I have no doubt you are set for life, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be paying for meals or hotels. My mother didn’t raise me to let a woman pay. It’s not going to happen. Ever. So drop it or you’ll piss me off.”

  She sighed. “What the hell good is having a stupid trust fund if you won’t even let me use it?”

  “Use it all you want, but not on things that involve me or us.” He carried her suitcase over to a luggage rack and set it on top.

  Meanwhile, she pulled her second suitcase over and plopped it on the floor. “Okay. Fine. I’ll consent to your backwards chivalry ideas for these five days.” But all bets are off afterward. She felt like this trip was a sort of trial period. Like Aaron didn’t trust that she could ever be the sort of woman he wanted in his bed permanently. And maybe he was right, but Hope was beginning to think otherwise.

  She was also anxious to have him inside her. She had been fidgeting for hours. The entire drive she’d been thinking about being underneath him, his eyes on hers, his hands in her hair, his erection plowing into her.

  If he didn’t have sex with her tonight, she might lose her mind.

  Aaron turned toward her, his fingers on her smaller suitcase. “Do you mind if I see what all you’ve got in here so I can plan accordingly?”

  “Plan what?” she asked.

  He lifted his eyebrows. “You never know.”

  “Sure, but I’ll warn you, I have no idea what’s in there.”

  “You didn’t pack this suitcase?”

  She nodded at the other one. “I packed that one myself. The one you carried came from Faith. She and the other bridesmaids thought it might be fun if instead of giving me gifts at a wedding shower, they would send me off with a mystery suitcase.”

  He laughed, a sound she adored. She didn’t think he did so often, so it was all the sweeter. “A treasure trove, then.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “You didn’t get that skimpy, white, lace lingerie out of it last night?”

  “Nope. I packed that one in my suitcase. I bought it myself. I haven’t had the balls to open the bridesmaids’ mystery suitcase.”

  Aaron heaved the suitcase off the luggage rack and replaced it with the one she was familiar with—the one that contained dresses and regular clothes and her toiletries. He carried the mystery one across the room and dropped it in a corner.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “From now on, you’ll only use the one you packed or items I give you. I’ll go through the mystery one myself. I wonder what sorts of things rich debutantes buy for their girlfriends?”

  She took a step forward. This could be a very bad idea. There was a good chance it would backfire on her. “Aaron…”

  He was grinning when he cupped her face and tipped her chin back to meet his gaze. “We’re in the hotel room now. You’ll call me Sir.”

  She swallowed over a wa
ve of trepidation, her face heating at the various possibilities inside that suitcase. Anything could be in there. Anything from more sexy lingerie to gag gifts. What troubled her the most was that Faith had been instrumental in the packing, and she’d been the last person to touch it.

  Faith was into kink.

  “Hot damn, this is going to be fun,” he announced.

  “Aaron…”

  He narrowed has gaze. “You’re already a horrible submissive, and we just got here.”

  “Sir. Sorry.” It was going to be hard to remember that rule. But it did make her pussy wet every time she said Sir. A tightness formed in her stomach when he looked at her like that too. Like he’d slid into a different personality when they got to the room. This Aaron was hotter than hell. Serious. Well, mostly serious. Demanding.

  He lowered his lips to hers without warning and claimed her mouth thoroughly.

  She swayed a bit at how fast he made her head spin.

  He grabbed her biceps and held her steady.

  It seemed like he kissed her for hours. By the time he released her swollen lips, she wanted him inside her worse than her next breath. And he hadn’t even touched her anywhere but her arms and face.

  “Look at me, Hope.”

  She met his gaze.

  “You sure you want to do this?”

  “Yes.” More than anything in the world.

  “Safeword?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to forget the word red, Sir.”

  “You’re also not going to sass me like that in the future.”

  She gulped. “Sorry, Sir.”

  “Mmm. I could punish you with a rough spanking, and tomorrow you’d think twice about rolling your eyes at me, sassing me, talking back, and not addressing me as Sir when we’re in the hotel room.”

  She shuffled her weight from one foot to the other, anticipation killing her.

  He slid his hands back up to cup her face. She loved it when he did that, forcing her to look at him with undivided attention. He did the same, holding her gaze intensely. “You will always always always have the right to stop me. Use your safeword. If you ever decide you don’t want to continue, stop me. If you change your mind, stop me. If I do anything that makes you unreasonably uncomfortable, stop me. Understood?”