Surrender 01 - Surrender

but the more she ran into him, the more she wanted to know about this mysterious man who offered so much, but demanded more than she could bear to give.
    “Just the drugstore will be fine. I need to get home and take care of things so I can be well enough to go to work tomorrow,” she said when she realized she’d never responded to his last comment.
    “OK. If you do change your mind, just let me know. Would you like to listen to music?”
    “No thank you. I’ve got a headache. I’ll just rest my eyes while we’re driving. I’ll feel better after taking a couple of ibuprofen.”
    Mr. Kinsor was silent as they pulled onto the road. At least they were in a comfortable car that cruised along quietly and without many bumps. It didn’t take them long to stop by the pharmacy and then reach her home. Ari was suddenly struck by the thought that she would miss having other people around her. As she stepped into her apartment she realized how truly alone she was most of the time now.

Chapter Sixteen

    “Rafe!”
    Rafe braced for impact as his sister threw herself into his arms. A rare smile spread across his face as she held on tightly.
    “How are you, Rachel?”
    “I’ve missed you. It seems like years since I saw you last.”
    Rafe laughed at his baby sister’s enthusiasm. She was eight years younger than he was and full of life, certainly the most vibrant young woman he’d ever known, and also one of the few females he had complete respect for. He adored both of his sisters.
    “I saw you two months ago. Are you going to let me go now?”
    “If you insist,” she pouted as she released him. “Two months might as well be two years. Mom’s a tyrant who never lets me do anything.”
    “You get away with far more than I’d let you get away with. You’re too beautiful to be allowed out in public,” he said, only half-teasing. He would slaughter any man who dared even look at his sister wrong. It was incongruous, he knew, that he was so protective of his sisters but so indifferent to the feelings and safety of other women.
    “You drive your poor father and me crazy. I am hardly a tyrant, peste ,” said his mother, Rosabella, calling Rachel a brat in Italian. She approached Rafe and planted a kiss on his cheek. “How are you, son? You have darker circles beneath your eyes than you had last time I saw you,” she scolded.
    “I’m wonderful, Mother, even better now that you’re here. To what do I owe this surprise visit?”
    “You sounded as if you were under more strain than usual the last time we spoke, so I told your father we must come and visit you immediately. It was about time for us to come back to California for a while, anyway. Your father grows restless in Italy if he’s there for too long. I think he just misses working, though he’s promised me he’s retired.”
    “I’m all grown up now, Madre. I keep telling you that. You really don’t have to worry so much about me. As for Dad, to tell the truth, I think he sneaks off to work when you’re in the States. I do notice a lot of secret phone calls, and I don’t think any woman is stupid enough to embark on an affair with the man.”
    “No, your father knows I would kill him if he ever tried something so foolish. And you tell me I don’t need to worry about you? You’re not a parent, obviously, or you’d never say something so ridiculous. A mother never stops worrying about her child, no matter how grown-up he insists he is. If only you would settle down and start a famiglia , my child, all of your stress would disappear and I’d get to see laugh lines around your beautiful eyes instead of worry lines on your brow.”
    “Mother,” he warned, though his tone wasn’t harsh.
    “Don’t you dare try to use your bossy tone with me,” she scolded, before shifting into Italian and calling him a few choice names. He immediately backed down out of respect. No, he wouldn’t fight his mother.
    “If you start harassing our only boy, he’ll change out his locks the next time he gets even a wisp of a hint that we’re flying in to visit him — and he’ll travel to another country far from here.”
    “Dad. It’s great to see you.” Rafe gave his father a hug, grateful for being rescued. They had been outnumbered from the day Rachel was born, giving his mother her second daughter. Rafe had been hoping for a little brother, but he’d been Rachel’s slave from the very first time she’d gripped his finger in her infant hand. He