Surrender 01 - Surrender

adored Lia as well, but he’d been older when Rachel was born and was consequently more protective of her.
    “Not that I want to join sides with your mother and sisters, but you do look a bit more ragged than normal, Rafe. Is everything OK?”
    “Don’t lump me in with Rachel. I think Rafe looks terrific,” Lia said, jumping into the conversation.
    He turned a grateful smile his sister’s way. Lia was a stunning woman, only five years younger than he was. She’d been turning heads from the moment she’d hit puberty, and he’d thrown more punches over her than he could count. His friends had been told in no uncertain terms that they were to keep their hands off.
    Times had been really tough when Shane had come home with him from college one Thanksgiving and Lia had decided she liked what she saw. Poor Shane had been between a rock and a hard place because he knew he couldn’t come anywhere near Lia, but the girl had been determined. She was only fifteen at the time — young enough that she was certainly jailbait for Shane, but old enough that she was growing into her looks.
    Luckily, Shane had kept his hands to himself, and therefore his and Rafe’s friendship remained intact. Lia had made Shane sweat a few times when she’d come out to the pool in a skimpy bikini. Rafe still saw red when he thought about that. She was too naïve and trusting of men. She didn’t realize how easily she could be taken advantage of.
    “You know, you’ve always been my favorite, Lia,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
    “That was just mean, Rafe,” Rachel pouted, her silver eyes sparkling as she punched him in the arm. Rafe laughed as he turned to Rachel.
    “You’re my other favorite, Rachel,” he declared, and she instantly forgave him.
    “Let me call the office and cancel my afternoon appointments. I’d much rather spend the day with you,” Rafe told his family before turning toward the door.
    “You don’t need to do that, Rafe. We can entertain ourselves while you finish work,” his dad insisted.
    “The nice thing about being the boss is that I can do what I want,” Rafe said with a wink before leaving the room.
    He sat down with an affectionate smile on his face. His family was a bit like a tornado; they caused chaos all around them. But it was a happy mess. Being with them was the only thing that seemed to keep Rafe’s humanity intact — if it weren’t for them, he knew, he’d be more cold-blooded than a reptile. Sometimes he was anyway, especially when he’d been away too long from the world of his happier past.
    He had to remind himself that he liked his life just the way it was. He just did not want the family his mother begged him to give her. Yes, he loved women, but not that way.
    He would never shatter the rose-colored glasses his family wore — never allow them to see who he’d turned into, a man who conducted his love life like a business transaction. He particularly didn’t want to break his mother’s heart. But marriages like his parents shared weren’t common. The majority of relationships ended tragically — like his marriage.
    “Happily ever after” was basically a myth, or a sick joke.
    “OK, phone call’s taken care of. Come with me and I’ll show you my new baby,” Rafe said as he walked into the room.
    “If you had a baby to show Mom, she’d be far less grumpy, and she’d allow me out from under her lock and key a little more often,” Rachel said with a mischievous smile.
    Rafe felt like wiping the smirk off her face. He knew that his mother would now lay on the guilt with a trowel.
    “While Rachel isn’t kept prisoner, she is right in one thing. I would love some bambini ,” Rosabella stated as she placed her arm through Rafe’s. “Just think of me, growing old and lonely, no little children to comfort me in my declining years…”
    “Much as I hate to disappoint you, madre mia , I just cannot bring children into this world,” Rafe said “I could never live up to your wonderful example. I’d be a miserable father to the poor creatures,” he continued as he led his family outside.
    “Poor creatures ? OK, maybe you are better off not being a father,” his dad said with a laugh.
    “See, just listen to the man,” Rafe told the others. “He’s clearly the only one making any sense.”
    “You seem capable of listening only when someone is agreeing with you,” Lia said as she darted ahead; she then turned around and approached him