Surrender 01 - Surrender

a lot more permanent. Too bad for them it would never happen.
    His mistresses were nothing more than employees and that’s precisely how he treated them. They got paid very well, were offered a severance package, and in turn, he was kept satisfied. It was win-win for both parties involved. Why not cut to the chase and offer the money to them up front? That was what they were in it for anyway.
    Arianna Harlow’s frozen expression made him think she wasn’t going to work out as his next employee, and he was taken aback by the slight stab of disappointment he felt . Though no one he’d offered a job to had turned him down yet, he expected it to happen eventually. Surprisingly, there were women in the world who felt…uneasy about this kind of arrangement.
    He honestly couldn’t comprehend why. After all, he was doing nothing but ditching the obnoxious dating part of sex. Why not cut to the chase and tell a woman exactly what he wanted for himself and expected from her? It made everything so much simpler.
    Arianna held an almost broken, yet still spirited look in her eyes, as though he’d just shot her beloved puppy and she were thinking of ways of seeking revenge. Annoyance began building inside Rafe as her gaze darted in any direction but at his face. He didn’t like feeling that weak emotion coursing through him. This was business — nothing more. There wasn’t room for anger, annoyance, feelings of any kind, really. Emotions like that were for lesser human beings than him.
    “Take this material home and read through it. I’ll let you consider your options. However, I expect an answer by five tomorrow evening.”
    He had a lot more work to accomplish that day and needed to get on with it. He handed her a stack of papers, then held his arm out to assist her from her seat. She glanced warily at his hand as if worried he were going to strike her. His irritation spiked.
    “I may be making a mistake by offering you the job. I should simply withdraw the offer, but luckily for you, I’ve decided not to. I hope you appreciate how fortunate you are that I’m giving you time to think about it. There’s a line of women who would literally kill to be in the position you’re in.”
    Though he could see the words registering in her brain, she was clearly trying to conceal what she was thinking. So the sooner she was out of his office , the better for him. He needed to take a few moments to decide whether she really was the right candidate .

    ***

    Ari felt frozen to her seat. She should tell the guy to go ahead and give the position to one of the many women in that disgusting line of his, and then take herself from the room. She couldn’t do this — no matter how much the job was paying.
    Guilt consumed her, though — guilt over her mother, who was lying helpless in a small bed, missing her life — a life she’d always lived to the utmost until a phone call woke her up in the middle of the night.
    “Thank you,” Ari replied as she finally accepted the hand Rafe was offering. As their skin touched, a small current of electricity passed through their fingers, sizzling her skin and making her insides burn in a strangely pleasurable way.
    She quickly pulled back from him, rattled, unhappy with the unwelcome and foreign sensation. Without anything more being said, she walked stiltedly toward the door and then made her way to the elevator.
    Ari could feel him beside her, no longer touching, but keeping pace with her as she tried to make a dignified exit. Why couldn’t he have just stayed in his office instead of insisting on walking her out? She felt the air weighing down on her lungs and began fighting the desire to gasp as she tried to suck in more oxygen. She knew the danger was all in her head — there was zero chance of her suffocating . Ridiculous as it was, she had to keep reassuring herself of just that .
    Mr. Palazzo reached out and pressed the down button and then stood with her; her eyes focused on the steel doors before her and she counted the seconds in her head. She’d heard the expression about tension being so thick you could slice it with a knife, but until this very moment, she’d never experienced the phenomenon. There was a first time for everything, and she seemed to be hitting several firsts in Rafe Palazzo’s presence.
    Open, open, open, she chanted inwardly. The elevator’s arrival was made known by the chiming of the bell, which seemed much louder than usual, and she fought the