Surrender 01 - Surrender

strong enough to hold her yet. She didn’t meet any of their faces as they filed past her and walked from the room. When she was sure they were all gone, she finally looked up and found herself alone with Rafe. She should have fled with the rest of the board. She didn’t want to be alone with him.
    “Well, Ms. Harlow, it seems you have a decision to make,” he said with a confident smile. “Will you be accepting my very generous offer?”
    Ari remained silent as he stood by just waiting for the chance to pounce. Was he right? Did all women have their price? Had she just reached hers?
    Ari prayed for the floor to open up and swallow her. She’d rather be anywhere but where she was right then.

Chapter Nine

    Arianna tossed in her bed, restless, unable to get comfortable. Her body was burning up, heat scorching her from the inside out. An ache filled her core — pulsing, swollen, needing something — though she didn’t know what.
    “Shh. You’ll enjoy this,” Rafe whispered.
    His low, soothing tone calmed her, though her body temperature kept climbing. Her senses lit up in a blaze of eroticism as she felt his hands on her stomach, his fingers burning her flesh. They glided up the flat plains of her abdomen and outlined the mounds of her naked breasts. Where had her shirt gone?
    “Trust me,” he whispered, his mouth caressing her ear. His hands slid underneath her arms, and he lifted them higher, his fingers stroking her sensitive skin. Clasping her wrists together , he swiftly tied a silk scarf around them.
    Tight.
    Before she had a chance to resist, she was fastened firmly to the bed, unable to move her hands, unable to escape his touch. He kissed her wrists with feather-soft pressure , his tongue gliding along her beating pulse, then moving down her arms and over the top of her collar bone.
    “Do you like this, Ari? Do you want me to stop?”
    “No…please…” she pleaded with him. She wanted more. She opened her eyes, but saw only black and felt the gentle presence of a blindfold over her eyes. Instead of inspiring fear, her impaired vision heightened her pleasure as his hands and mouth continued stroking her body.
    His hands cupped her breasts, his slightly callused fingers circling her sensitive peaks but not touching her where she ached, where she needed to be touched.
    “What do you want, Ari?”
    “...You …”
    “ Mmm. And where do you want me? ”
    “I want your mouth on my…on my nipples,” she moaned. Embarrassment washed through her, but she knew he wouldn’t touch her unless she begged. Rewarding her, his thumbs brushed simultaneously across her peaked nipples, making her cry out.
    The tight buds were painfully hard as he circled them and then pinched them, drawing another cry from her. She needed more. Her legs opened on the bed, her body begging him to touch her where she really ached, end the torment she was feeling.
    When she was ready to cry out yet again, she felt the wet slide of his tongue across her nipple at the same time as he pinched the other side, making her back arch off the bed from the intense pleasure.
    “More!” she wailed, yearning for even more intimate contact. She pulled against her restraints, wanting to touch him, needing to pull him closer. She shouldn’t be doing this, but she didn’t care. She ached all over, her body shaking with a desperate need that only he could quench.
    “Ah, don’t get greedy, Ari, or I’ll have to stop. I’ll just fill your sweet mouth with my hardness and win my release there , leaving you here to suffer,” he taunted as he pulled away from her breasts.
    She whimpered in submission, willing to give him anything in that moment, as long as he just continued what he was doing.
    “Are you going to behave?” he demanded.
    “Yes. Yes, I promise,” she gasped as his hand settled on her stomach.
    “Good, Ari. That’s what I want to hear. I want your obedience. In turn, I’ll give you great pleasure, and you will satisfy my needs.”
    “Yes, Rafe. Please, more,” she agreed with the scratchiness of pure desire in her voice .
    His warm breath blew across her wet nipples, making them stiffen again and reach up toward his hot mouth. His lips closed over them as they swelled, and she felt him suck hard, his tongue swirling around the tight buds.
    It wasn’t enough.
    His hand began moving down her smooth stomach, his fingers dancing across her skin as he reached her thigh. His thumb grazed the pulsing flesh over her