Surrender 01 - Surrender

asked with suspicion.
    “It’s a new relationship and I don’t want to scare her off with your talk of marriage and babies,” he quickly answered, hoping she’d let it go.
    Rafe missed the look between his sisters, who were now on instant alert to find out about his mystery woman. He never would have opened his mouth if he’d known how much chaos his ten little words would later cause him.

Chapter Seventeen

    “We’ve decided to stay for a week or two. Your mother and I haven’t spent enough time in California the last few years and your sisters are dying to go for another spin on the new boat. I’m starting to think it’s time to spend more of our time over here.”
    Rafe turned almost in horror at his father’s words. He was instantly suspicious. His family had grilled him the night before about Ari. They’d wanted to know who she was, how long he’d been dating her, what her family was like. The list went on and on. Rafe had a bad feeling that their impromptu extended stay had more to do with Ari than his new boat.
    It didn’t matter what his family’s reasoning was. If they wanted to extend their visit, that was fine with him. He’d just have to be on his toes and make sure he didn’t slip up about anything else.
    He had a lot of work to accomplish over the week, so he wouldn’t be able to spend a lot of time with them, anyway. He’d just alert his crew that the ship was at their disposal as well as any of his other possessions — his staff pretty much knew that, though.
    “It will be nice to see more of you. I will warn you that I’ll be very busy this week. We’re going into a major merger and I’ll most likely be working fourteen-hour days,” he said, hoping to head them off.
    “Not a problem, son. I remember those days of working too many hours. Thankfully, now I get to spend my days with your beautiful mother instead. We’re taking off for Ireland after we leave here. I haven’t been there in years and this time of year is a good time to go. I could use some decent beer.”
    “Well, my house is yours, along with all the vehicles. I’m leaving for the office now, but you can call my assistant if you need to reach me. Please don’t tell her it’s an emergency again just because you can’t find a certain bottle of wine,” Rafe warned.
    “That was only one time, Rafe — and it was our anniversary. We’ve had the same wine on that anniversary for the past twenty years. In my book, that does constitute an emergency,” his father answered in all seriousness.
    “All right. If I don’t see you tonight, I’ll try to get home a bit early tomorrow.”
    With those words, Rafe walked out the door and took a deep breath as he climbed into his vehicle. His family was wonderful, but overwhelming. It would be good to get back into the offices where he was the one in control.

    *****

    “I can’t believe how hard it was to track down this girl!” Lia said with frustration.
    “Well, we finally did it, so relax, sis. Rafe’s obviously into her, so I want to know why. I had to practically sit on Shane’s lap to get the information. It was fun to watch him sweat — especially when you walked in the room while I was hanging all over him. I’ve never seen Shane turn red before. That was entertaining,” Rachel answered with a giggle.
    “Nothing is going on between Shane and me. Even if I did like him, which I don’t , it’s not like Rafe would ever allow anything to happen. He still treats me as if I’m five instead of twenty-six,” Lia huffed.
    “I think you should just sneak into Shane’s room one of these days and jump his bones. It’s obvious you’ve been in love with him since you were fifteen.”
    “Focus, Rachel. We need to get to the beach and ambush Ari. Her office buddies guaranteed that they’d get her down there today. It was surprisingly easy to bribe them. They said she really needs to get laid. I found it interesting that big brother doesn’t have her chained to his bed if he’s so into her.”
    “Maybe he’s into her, but she doesn’t like him,” Lia said before both girls erupted into laughter.
    “Seriously, if there’s a woman out there smart enough to resist Rafe’s charm, she is definitely a keeper. I really hope that’s the case. Let’s get our detective gloves on.”
    “I like nothing better than a good mystery.”
    Rafe’s sisters jumped into his Mercedes convertible and immediately put the top down. It was a beautiful seventy-degree