Surrender 01 - Surrender

still feel attraction for him she just didn’t understand, but every time she was in his presence, she found herself fighting just a little more to keep her hormones at a respectable level, especially after that memorable dream a while back.
    With a quick pep talk, she tore her gaze from his mesmerizing eyes and focused up on a button on his shirt instead. She had to remain calm, had to get back to her apartment and the real world before she began to think she could accept his indecent proposal.
    “I appreciate your taking care of me the last few days, but I need to get home. I have a job that I happen to like and a life waiting for my return,” Ari told him, proud of the false bravado in her tone. Inside, she was shaking like a leaf in a fall breeze .
    “You’re not going anywhere, Ari,” he said before pausing. “Doctor’s orders.”
    As if his doctor’s giving an order was going to stop her.
    “Where are my clothes?” She’d learned enough about Rafe by now to know that arguing with him was useless. She wouldn’t bother with a battle she knew she’d lose. She’d simply get dressed and walk out the front door. She didn’t think he’d go so far as to physically detain her.
    “You have a fresh change of clothes in the bathroom — that door on the right. Why don’t you take a shower and then meet me downstairs for lunch?” As if the matter was settled, he turned and left the room.
    Ari really wished she were quick enough to come up with a suitably sarcastic retort, but of course she didn’t think of anything witty until she had locked herself in the guest bathroom.
    She looked around the space with awe. When she was younger, while watching romantic movies, how she’d dreamed of having such a wonderful bathing area! She hadn’t been poor, but the modest home she’d shared with her mother prized efficiency over what little luxury they might have been able to afford.
    The room she was standing in could be classified as a spa, it was so spacious and ornate. She glided across the heated tile, then ran her hand along the marble surrounding the large tub. She hadn’t planned to take a bath, unwilling to follow any order Rafe issued, but the tub was calling her name. He’d told her to shower, anyway, so taking a bath wasn’t exactly doing what he’d said. So there!
    The gold handles of the taps were smooth and well-polished; no effort at all was required to move them. A giggle escaped her as the water flowed out of the spout, cascading down like a waterfall. Several bottles of bubble bath sat clustered in a basket on the corner of the tub, and Ari’s hardest decision at that moment was which amazing scent to use. She finally settled on peach and honey, then inhaled the expensive aroma that surrounded her.
    Once Ari had stepped into the tub and had sunk down so only her face appeared above the water, she allowed a sigh of contentment to escape. With a wide smile, she decided she could stay in this exact spot for the next hundred years or so. Rafe could just go ahead and wait on her to show up for lunch. If her luck held out, he’d get so frustrated that he’d just leave, making it easy for her to escape.
    As she laid her head back on the soft cushion of the bath pillow and closed her eyes, she ignored the small voice inside saying that she was crazy to want to escape a secret haven such as this. But it wasn’t the incredible spa bathroom she was running from; it was the rules Rafe insisted on if she were to accept his generosity.
    She would be no man’s mistress — not for any amount of luxury or security. Part of her wished she could just say yes and let him take the weight off her shoulders, but a greater part of her knew that wasn’t who she was.
    Her mother had raised her to be independent, to earn what she wanted in life, and never to let anyone make her feel cheap. Being with Rafe would slowly suck away her soul — everything about who she was. It might feel like heaven, but in reality, it was just a very disguised hell.
    When she turned on the quiet jets and they began gently massaging her body, Ari’s mind shut off and she drifted to sleep, fully enjoying the magical ambience of Rafe’s guest bathroom.

    *****

    Rafe’s irritation grew dramatically as an hour passed with still no sign of Ari. He knew the woman was stubborn and wanted to do the exact opposite of anything he asked of her, but he found it exceptionally rude for her not to show up when he was being so