Love Me Like You Do: an emotional and uplifting story of love and finding yourself

By Aimee Brown

A runaway bride. A handsome stranger. Two pasts to put behind them.

Parker is ready to marry the man of her dreams. But he isn't ready to marry her. When she's dumped moments before walking down the aisle, she didn't expect to run into the arms of a handsome stranger. The southern drawl, the dreamy eyes, she can't fall for another man after being left at the altar – can she?

When Liam agreed to go on yet another blind date, he didn't expect his escape would lead him to the emergency room with a runaway bride. She might have just been left at the altar, but he's immediately drawn to her fiery spirit, kind heart and beautiful smile. Liam's got a whole host of problems and a past that's haunting him, now can't be the time to fall in love, but Parker might just be the one to break down his barriers and let him live a little – if she'll let him in.

Will these two strangers allow serendipity to force them together, or will their fears keep them apart?

From the bestselling author of The Lucky Dress comes a story about love, finding yourself and living your dreams.

***

Praise for Love Me Like You Do:

'I just loved this novel, the characters are authentic, the story is gorgeous and it won't fail to bring a smile to your face.' - Amazon reviewer, 5*

'...a beautiful, witty book, and had me laughing within the first chapter.' - Amazon reviewer, 5*

'she [Aimee Brown] writes her characters as if they were your own friends. Such a fun read!!' - Amazon reviewer, 5*

'...wonderful, romantic and uplifting read that I adored from beginning to end.' - Amazon reviewer, 5*

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781788547277

Aimee Brown

Aimee Brown is the bestselling romantic comedy author of several books including The Lucky Dress. She’s an Oregon native, now living in a tiny town in cold Montana and sets her books in Portland. Her series with Boldwood is full of love and laughter and real-life issues.

Book preview

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Also by Aimee Brown

The Lucky Dress

Just the Way You Are

LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO

Aimee Brown

AN IMPRINT OF HEAD OF ZEUS

www.ariafiction.com

First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd

Copyright © Aimee Brown, 2020

The moral right of Aimee Brown to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781788547277

Cover design: Leah Jacobs-Gordan

Aria

c/o Head of Zeus

First Floor East

5–8 Hardwick Street

London EC1R 4RG

www.ariafiction.com

Contents

Welcome Page

Copyright

A Letter from Aimee…

Dedication

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

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Acknowledgements

A note from the author

About the Author

A Letter from Aimee…

Thank you for checking out my book. Inside you will find a story with humor, heart, and of course, a happy ending.

However, I would like to warn you that this book does contain characters true to life that have mental health issues of varying degree. If you’ve suffered from similar issues and reading about similar events could be a trigger for you, this may not be the book to escape into.

I love readers too much to ever hurt someone with possible triggering content.

Love to you all,

Aimee Brown

To all the readers who fell in love with Liam in The Lucky Dress (aka: Little Gray Dress) and emailed me begging for his story. I hope you love him as much as Parker and I do.

1

Parker

This is not how today was supposed to turn out. How could he do this today, of all days? Why not tell me last night, or even before I put on the freaking dress? Never again. Never again will I allow myself to fall for another guy who’s—

‘Ooommmph.’ I let out a groan as I hit the ground unexpectedly. The sounds of screeching tires, honking horns, and yelling fill the air around me. Great. Now I’ve gone and traded in my need to escape my heart breaking in public to dying in public.

‘She ran in front of me!’ a woman yells from some distance away.

‘What the hell?’ a man yells back.

Death is a lot more chaotic than I expected it to be. I pinch my eyes closed, hoping not to see whatever horrific event has just taken place. Am I crushed? Mutilated? Headless? All of which is completely Becker’s fault. If only the worst crime of the day was him seeing the bride before the wedding, which is what I was mad about until he opened his mouth after he burst into the bridal suite urgently needing to speak with me. His cold feet have now turned this day into some kind of almost wedding and a funeral. Today is now the day that will be remembered as the day the bride ran from the words coming out of her groom’s mouth and died on the sidewalk across the street while everyone watched.

Damn it, Becker!

I will haunt him forever, you can guarantee that. And not in the friendly, sneaking around and leaving cutesy little memorabilia of myself kind of way. I’ll be the scary poltergeist throwing pens and pulling off his covers on cold nights. Or, better yet, a screaming banshee that sends even the most stable of people running in fear. I’ll wait until the middle of the night, just when he’s fallen asleep and then… SCREAM! Doing it all over again every time he reaches that deep sleep. That will be fun.

‘Are you hurt?’ a loud booming voice echoes in my head. His unexpected southern twang surprises me. I guess I’d never considered God being from the Deep South. ‘Hello?’ God shakes me, now yelling at close range, reminding me once again that death hurts.

Hesitantly I open one eye, seeing only the bright light of the afterlife that people go on about. If it’s true. I might be a nurse, someone around death all the time, but I’ve never personally heard anyone say this. It’s always on some ridiculously exaggerated story on those fabricated magazine covers near the check stand. So, I’m a little leery if the whole white light thing was true. I guess it is.

‘Ouch,’ I say, pulling my arm to my chest. ‘God?’ I ask, opening my eyes and staring into the bright white light still surrounding me.

‘Parker!’ Becker’s frantic voice pierces my now suddenly throbbing brain. I frown to myself. If he died too, I’ll just kill him. If he doesn’t want to marry me then I certainly don’t want to spend eternity in the afterlife with him.

‘You know her?’ God asks.

Slowly the light gets brighter as the draft I feel on my nether regions gets less. I must be leaving my body. I take a deep breath, preparing myself to come face-to-face with my creator. Something until right this second, I wasn’t sure I even believed in. But, the time is now.

Get ready, Parker. You’re about to find out all life’s secrets.

I close my eyes again as the light gets brighter, warming my face. His hand rests on my neck softly. I breathe him in. He smells of leather and mint, which in all honesty is not how I expected God to smell. But this is nice too.

‘She’s not dead,’ he says, gently touching my now-tingling hand, softly resting it on my chest. I pull it away suddenly with a gasp as the pain shoots from my wrist to my shoulder like a lightning strike. ‘But she is hurt.’

Wait a second.

Did he just say I’m not dead? My eyes snap open, immediately meeting the dark eyes of the stranger straddling me.

‘Who… who are you?’ I ask as he pats me down starting at my head.

‘Anything else hurt?’ he asks, his hands now at my waist as if we’re in a dark closet with the clock ticking down to our seven minutes being up and we still haven’t kissed.

I try to scoot away from him but the pain in my arm is preventing me from moving much. Well, that and the giant princess gown of a wedding dress that I couldn’t wait to get on today.

‘Can you please not?’ I half yell when his hands reach my outer thighs.

He nods, his cheeks flushing as he gets to his feet.

I sigh deeply glancing around at the faces watching the commotion. I’m not dead and now that I’ve finally opened my eyes to face the situation, I’m realizing that the white light I was seeing was just the tulle from my skirt still partially around my neck. I blow it away, pushing it away from my face as I prop myself up with the hand that isn’t in excruciating pain.

Sweet Lord almighty, I’ve been lying here trying to figure out why God has a southern accent while my entire skirt has been pretty much over my head the whole time I faced death eye to eye.

I guess that ridiculous line my mom was always giving me about always wearing clean underwear in case you’re in an accident has some truth to it. If only the underwear I’d chosen for my wedding day weren’t the skimpiest, laciest, see-through underwear I could find. I mean I wasn’t exactly planning for anyone besides Becker to see it.

The tall stranger kneels beside me, handing me the shoe he’s just retrieved from the crosswalk near a stopped car.

‘You lost this,’ the southern voice says.

‘Park, are you OK?’ Becker starts across the road, his hand in the air towards the still-stopped cars as if his job is to direct traffic and not announce what’s happening to a courtyard full of everyone we’ve ever known.

Five minutes ago, he was explaining how he’d only just realized that we didn’t want the same things out of life and that he felt too bad to ever bring it up until this morning. He’s concerned we’ve grown apart and marriage would only make that worse. Ugh. Please. Now he suddenly wants me to be OK after breaking my heart? I don’t think so.

‘NO!’ I yell his way, holding up my good hand for him to stop right where he is. ‘Don’t you have something to be doing?’ I snap. I try to get to my feet, but one-handed in a giant ball gown of a wedding dress makes it about as easy as if I was in a big costume you see at Disneyland.

The southern stranger notices my struggle and reaches down, taking my good hand in his and pulling me to my feet. I hold my throbbing arm to my chest, kicking off the one shoe I’m still wearing so I’m not completely lopsided as I attempt to make another run for it.

I try to gather the skirt of my gown with one hand when the man I once called God gently takes my arm.

‘What do you need? A getaway car? An ambulance?’

‘Um…’ I try to think as quickly as I can. I make the mistake of glancing over at Becker, still looking as handsome as ever in the tux we picked out together. That day was so much fun. He tried on the ugliest tuxes for the first half hour, trying to seriously convince me how great they would be in the wedding. It honestly seemed like he wanted to get married. How could he do this to me? My eyes fill with tears that I quickly wipe away before they completely surface as I look back to… I don’t even know this guy’s name. ‘I don’t know.’ I feel my lip tremble as I say it. Oh my God. I almost just died and I was left at the altar. Holy shit. That is a lot to process. And now, I’m hurt and getting ready to lose it in front of this random southern dude and basically the entire neighborhood that’s watching.

‘Parker.’ Becker takes a few steps towards me and for a moment, I wish he would run to me, wrap his arms around me and tell me it was all a mistake. Just a giant case of cold feet that nearly got the best of him.

The sound of a car alarm being disabled with two identical beeps comes from the Jeep only a car length from me.

‘Let’s go.’

I look over to the southern gentleman from Becker. ‘I can’t leave with you.’ I shake my head furiously, reaching down to grab my shoes from the sidewalk.

‘Why not?’ he asks, his face dropping as if I’ve just hurt his feelings.

‘Because I don’t even know your name! What if you’re a rapist or a murderer or worse?’

‘What’s worse than a murderer?’ he asks, breaking into a small smile.

I let out a heaving frustrated sigh. One that feels like it’s come from the depths of my soul where I store all my secrets.

He walks to the passenger side of the black Jeep. ‘You’re right. You should at least know my name.’ He opens the door then turns back to me. ‘Unfortunately, it’s not God.’ He laughs. ‘I don’t know what got into me. I guess I lost all train of thought at the sight of your electric blue lace underwear.’ The goofy grin now on his face sends a wave of mortification through me. I can feel the heat start at my feet and quickly make its way to my head. I probably look like a thermometer with both a bright red face of humiliation and bright red hair.

I drop my head towards the ground in embarrassment. Good God, Parker.

He walks back over to me and extends a hand. ‘I’m Liam Jaxson and I’d love to be your getaway driver if you need one…’

‘Parker,’ I say in return, taking his hand with my good hand and attempting to meet his grip as if this is some kind of business meeting. There is zero chance I’m giving this guy my full name. The last thing I need is to have this story, or worse yet, video, all over the internet and linked to me. I just want to go home, sulk into whatever junk food I can find and pretend that this entire day never happened. Is that too much to ask?

‘Well, Parker. Now that you and I no longer have any secrets, let’s get the hell out of here.’

I can actually feel the blood rush to my cheeks as I nod. I don’t know if it’s pure embarrassment or a mixture of all the emotions you dread. Feelings. I hate them.

The getaway is far from smooth. If you’ve ever tried to shove a princess ball gown into a Jeep quickly, you’ll understand why. It takes Liam more than a few seconds just to get all my dress tucked into the car around me so he can close the door.

‘We are going to have to talk about this at some point,’ Becker yells after me, as if he hasn’t already done enough talking for the day.

I shake my head. Liam glanced up at me before closing the door in Becker’s face. ‘Not today, buddy.’ He jogs around the front of the Jeep as I secretly flip Becker the bird.

‘You need to have that wrist looked at. It could be broken,’ Liam says as he slides into the driver’s seat next to me and starts the truck.

I look down at my wrist as he speeds away from the curb. I try to move my fingers, but they don’t cooperate and the bruising is quickly going from a hazy blue to a magnificent purple.

‘It’s definitely broken,’ I say.

‘St. Vincent’s is the closest ER.’

‘No!’ I yell, causing him to jump in his seat a bit. ‘I mean, I can’t go there. I work there.’

‘You’re a doctor?’

‘You do know that doctors aren’t the only people who work at a hospital, right?’ I shake my head. ‘Ugh… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take this out on you. No, God, no I am not a doctor. I’m an emergency room nurse at St. Vincent’s, which is why we can’t go there. The last thing I need right now is everyone who didn’t get an invite to the wedding to know what happened on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. It’ll spread like wildfire.’

Liam frowns. ‘How about Good Sam?’

‘Perfect.’ I nod, now staring down at my hand in my lap. A broken wrist isn’t exactly the souvenir I wanted from my wedding day. I guess one day this will make one of those funny stories, an anecdote that I’ll tell my children. If I’m married that is. If I end up an old unmarried lonely woman then it might not be so funny. Let’s just not even think about that right now.

He makes a hard right-hand turn towards the hospital, shoving me into the truck door as he races his way to the ER, taking corners like he’s driving a race car. We get there faster than the speed of light, it feels, and I realize the second we check in that I’m the only one in the room wearing a wedding dress. What are the chances of that? In fact by the look on the front desk people’s faces, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m the only woman in a wedding dress to ever sit in this room. I’ve been a nurse for years and I’ve never personally witnessed a patient in a wedding dress so I know it’s rare.

This is not the cute little anecdote I wanted to be a part of.

2

Liam

‘Is this some kind of runaway bride situation?’ A nurse grabs my arm as I exit the hospital room they’ve put Parker in. Her eyes are wide as she awaits my answer.

I only shrug, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans, refusing to participate in the gossip that I’m sure is already traveling through the ER. I think it’s pretty obvious that something terrible has happened considering a woman in a giant wedding dress is sitting injured on a hospital gurney with a man she quite obviously doesn’t know.

‘Bathroom?’ I ask, avoiding her question completely. She frowns as she points down the hallway. Saving a stranger from near death wasn’t exactly on my schedule today.

I walk into the men’s room, not really even needing to use the bathroom but wanting to give Parker a break from people for a minute to try and pull herself together. When they asked for her groom’s info and looked to me, she burst into tears and, well, I’m no good at dealing with crying women.

When I’m done, I take my time getting back to her room. I knock on the glass sliding door, which is partially open. She glances over, shrugging her shoulders but saying nothing over the sniffling, wiping away tears as she looks away from me. I wait at the door, not wanting to invade her space since I’m literally a guy she’s just met twenty minutes ago.

‘Come in,’ she finally says.

‘You doin’ OK?’ I ask.

‘No…’ she cries pointing to the bright blue folded clothing at the end of the bed.

‘What’s that?’

‘They’re scrubs. They want me to change into them. I guess hauling a wedding dress to and from x-ray is just too much of a pain in the ass.’ She mocks whoever has said this to her, obviously touching a nerve.

‘All right.’ I nod, unsure what reaction to have to the beautiful crying stranger now sitting in front of me surrounded by a metaphorical black cloud, who just thirty minutes ago was having the best day of her life. ‘How can I help?’

She sniffs loudly, grabbing a tissue from the small metal table near her. ‘You’re going have to turn around or something.’

I don’t ask any questions and immediately turn towards the wall exactly the same way I used to when I was eight years old and in trouble, probably over being too rowdy and breaking something I shouldn’t have.

‘You know you don’t have to stay here,’ she says her voice tinged with annoyance. ‘I would have been just fine on my own.’

‘I believe you would have. But I don’t feel right leaving you to get through this on your own.’

She lets out a heaving sigh. ‘Ugh…’

I quickly glance over my shoulder hoping she won’t notice. Not because I want to see her naked – I’ve never violated a woman in that way – but to see what exactly it is she frustrated about right this second.

‘I can’t get it,’ she says, her eyes meeting mine. There is a sadness about them that looks deeper than just from her problems today. I could be wrong but I’m pretty good at reading people for the most part. ‘It’s laced up the back and there is no way for me to undo it on my own.’

‘Can I help?’

She scrunches her face, obviously uncomfortable with this entire situation. ‘Close your eyes.’

‘You want me to close my eyes and unlace this?’ I ask now walking around to the other side of the bed to see what the challenge is. ‘With my eyes closed it’s gon’ be slower than a herd of turtles.’

‘Excuse me?’ She grunts a laugh.

I run my hand through my hair, resting it on the back of my head. I heard exactly how southern that sounded. I’m not deaf to it. For whatever reason, women seem to bring it out in me. No idea why either. ‘I’m sure the person who laced this wasn’t blindfolded? Am I right? I’ll close my eyes if you want but it’d be a lot easier with my eyes open and I’ll close them as soon as it’s unlaced.’

‘Fine.’ She sighs to herself as I start to unlace the dress. ‘I just thought that one time seeing my underwear today is probably enough, don’t you think?’

‘Considering it’s the first day we’ve known each other I’d have to agree. Maybe tomorrow it’d be OK though.’ I laugh to myself, slowly pulling the laces loose. I’ve got just about zero experience with dresses or weddings so put the two together and you’ve got a complication bigger than just unhooking a bra, which is pretty much my extent of undressing women for the most part.

‘What’s with the accent anyway?’ she asks.

‘What accent?’ I say in my best west coast impersonation.

‘Funny,’ she says, without a laugh.

‘Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, miss. I guess the last two years in Portland hasn’t been quite long enough for it to fade.’

She turns her head to the side, attempting to watch me but eventually giving up.

‘Done.’ I walk back around and sit in the chair against the wall, dramatically closing my eyes, even covering them with my hands as extra precaution, as she requested.

‘Thank you. Now, do not peek,’ she commands, the dress rustling as she slides it off and allows it to drop to the floor with a swooshing sound.

‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ I say. I sit silently, my eyes closed the whole time, listening to her curse to herself in a near whisper as she fumbles around for a few seconds. A groan here, a damn it there, and finally…

‘Shit,’ she blurts out. ‘Listen, do not open your eyes but I need help with my pants.’

I laugh to myself. ‘You want me to help with your pants?’

‘I’d rather you didn’t but I’m kind of in a pickle. So yeah… with your eyes