Surrender 01 - Surrender

melt the skin from my bones. After leaving your hospital room, I went home and jumped my husband. He was so thankful, he told me to go back and do whatever it was I was doing before getting home,” Amber said as she fanned her face.
    “Amber!” Ari cried with mortification as she looked around.
    “Oh, come on, Ari. We all do the down and dirty. I just need a pic of your guy hanging above my bed so I can have red-hot sex with my hubby while fantasizing about your sex god.”
    “How cute. You’re actually embarrassing her,” Miley said with a laugh.
    “Come on. We’ve known Ari for months now. You know she blushes at even the mention of the S-E-X word,” Shelly said.
    “You are terrible, monstrous friends. I can’t believe I’m still standing here taking this abuse,” Ari said with a smile.
    “Yes, we’re horrible. I’m expecting a chariot of fire to show up to escort me to the gates of hell at any moment. For now, I’m still here, so spill the beans before we try Chinese water torture on you,” Amber threatened.
    “I just want to say that I truly feel sorry for your husbands. Living with any of you has got to be like being married to an FBI agent — all this constant interrogation. Geesh.”
    “Yeah, yeah. Now spill,” Shelly said, tapping her toe impatiently on the floor.
    “He was…just a friend. I refuse to spill anything further. I’ve been away from work for a couple of weeks now, and I don’t want to give them any excuses to fire me. If you promise to leave me alone for the entire day, then maybe, just maybe, I’ll share something with you after work,” Ari said, making sure to look each of them in the eye.
    “Fine, but I want you to know that I’m not very happy about this,” Miley pouted.
    “You can grumble and call me names behind my back.”
    “OK. That makes it a little better,” Shelly said with a forgiving smile.
    “We really have missed you, Ari. No one has managed to enter this friendship circle before you came along. You’ve turned us from the three musketeers to the Foursketeers.”
    “Foursketeers? That’s not a real word,” Ari said with a laugh.
    “Yeah, well, it sounded good in my head,” Amber responded.
    “Are you ladies planning on working anytime soon, or do you think chatting around the water cooler is in your job description?”
    “We’re going. Keep your pants on,” Miley said as she turned toward her office.
    “Miley,” Ari hissed and then glanced apologetically at her boss. “I’m sorry, sir. I’m coming now.”
    “It’s good to have you back, Ari,” he replied before smiling and heading back to his office.
    Amber hugged her again, and they all went to their desks. As Ari sat down, she took a relieved breath. The job was hardly exciting, but her friends made it worth being there. She truly hoped they never ended up going their separate ways. She’d found laughter again, and she didn’t want to lose it.
    Ari managed to avoid telling her friends much of anything about Rafe, but she didn’t know why they didn’t pump her for information. They had got ahold of her cell phone while she was in the bathroom and found several steamy text messages from him from the week before. Even though his parting words had left her to believe he’d wait for her to contact him, that hadn’t lasted long. The things he said to her were unacceptable – and yet they made her ache in ways she absolutely didn’t want to ache.
    Since the girls were determined to hook her up — she needed it! — they decided to use this opportunity for some matchmaking. The messages they’d read were all about what he wanted to do to her…all night long, but Ari’s replies were less than enthusiastic.
    Her friends wanted to see a show, and they were about to get their money’s worth.

Chapter Thirty-Two

    “I won’t take no for an answer; do you understand?”
    Ari stood frozen, as if trapped, knowing there was no way out. She either said yes and did this the easy way, or she said no and was kidnapped and had all sorts of tortures inflicted upon her. She wanted to run, but she knew there was no way out.
    “Fine, yes . I want you to know that I’m not going willingly and I’m very upset with you.”
    “I can live with that.”
    Ari watched as Amber sauntered away, obviously pleased to have gotten her way. Ari was stuck going out dancing with the girls. At least Amber had promised that they’d go a classy Latin club where her brother was a bouncer. Ari had