Surrender 01 - Surrender

appreciative, but you haven’t shown me any gratitude. I can think of at least a dozen ways you can repay me, Ari,” he countered with a smirk. “You know how this will end — you have to have figured it out by now. Why must you insist on fighting the inevitable?”
    Her eyes widened before they narrowed.
    “I don’t know how many times or in how many ways I can say no to you, Mr. Palazzo. I will never be your employee, mistress or whore,” she responded before spearing a piece of proscuitto-wrapped pear and forcing it into her mouth.
    “Ah, Ari, you’d make a good whore. I think you’re just holding out for more money. Fine. We’ll make your salary two hundred thousand,” he said mockingly, knowing his comment would set her off.
    Her face turned red; she glared at him and bit into a piece of artichoke, chomping down on it the way he was sure she’d like to be clamping down on his skin — and not in a pleasant way.
    Then, her lips turned up in a smile, once again surprising him as she slowed her vicious chewing, looking at him thoughtfully. He couldn’t wait to hear what came next from her plump pink lips.
    “You know what, Mr. Palazzo, I think you’re right. I could enjoy being a whore. Sex isn’t nearly as horrible as I remember it,” she said with a cool glance that started to send his heartbeat up. “I’ll just never be yours,” she finished as if she were talking about nothing more significant than the weather.
    Rafe knew she was only trying to bait him, and it was working. The thought of her with another man sent fire pulsing through him. She was free to whore around all she wanted once he was done with her — but no man would touch what was his, and right now she was, indeed, his.
    “You do like to push buttons, don’t you, Ari?” he asked as he signaled his staff to bring in the next course. “And don’t you think it’s past time you called me Rafe? After all, I’ve had my tongue circling your nipples while you begged me for more.”
    He smiled as her face flamed red while soup was being set in front of her, and smiled while she looked down at her plate in horror, too embarrassed to meet his employees’ eyes. She needed to learn that she couldn’t win in a battle against him. He wouldn’t allow it.
    “What’s the matter, Ari? You don’t have any more witty comebacks?”
    “Oh, I have plenty, Mr. Palazzo . I’m just not such a brash bastard as you are,” she answered between clenched teeth.
    He was suddenly moving around the table and lifting her from her chair before she even had time to blink. She looked at him with startled eyes and he felt her pulse quicken beneath his touch.
    “I’ve warned you to be careful, Ari. I mean it. Do not call me names. I don’t act so vulgar with you, and I expect the same courtesy,” he threatened as his fingers gripped her hair and he held her head back, forcing her to look into his eyes.
    “You don’t act so vulgar? Ha! You just announced in front of your staff that you were upstairs with your mouth all over my body. That’s as vulgar as it gets! Now, get your hands off me. I thought you said you didn’t hurt women,” she said.
    Her bravado stayed in place, but he could sense the fear just beneath.
    “I don’t hurt women, Ari. Am I causing you pain?”
    He looked into her eyes as she struggled against him. He had her held securely against him, with her head incapable of movement, but he knew he wasn’t hurting her. She couldn’t honestly say that he was.
    “You’re holding me against my will,” she finally answered as she moved her hips against his in a failed attempt at escape.
    “All you’re doing in your struggles is rubbing that delectable body against mine, making me want to throw you over my shoulder and take you back to that nice comfortable bed. Is that what you want?”
    “If you enjoy rape!”
    “I’ve never had to force a woman, Ari, and I never will,” he hummed as his mouth descended and he sucked on her neck, feeling her pulse. He felt her internal battle as she stiffened against him.
    Knowing he could make her submit was enough of a victory that he released her. Slowly, he walked back to his seat, watching with satisfaction as she dropped back into her chair as if her knees were incapable of holding her up.
    “You think you’ve won some small victory, but you haven’t won anything. Obviously, you can cause a strange reaction in my body, but you have zero of my respect,” she said with a