Submit (Surrender #2)(49)
Author: Melody Anne

As Shane pushed up hard inside her, Lia splintered, colors spraying behind her closed eyelids. He gasped and groaned as he, too, found release for himself. With not an ounce of energy left inside of her, Lia collapsed against his damp chest, then practically purred as he rubbed up and down her spine with his comforting hands.

“Thank you for that, Lia. It was so much more than I could have ever imagined,” he said as he kissed her temple.

Feeling completely indulged, Lia curled up against Shane and seemed to drift through time and space. It was more than she’d imagined as well. Now, they wouldn’t have to fight these feelings. Now, they could be together all the time, maybe for all time.

With those thoughts, Lia let exhaustion carry her away. She fell into a blissful slumber, still connected with Shane through fairy-tale dreams of happily ever after.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Time to wake up. We have a full day ahead of us.”

Ari grumbled and rolled over as she tried to tune out the sound of Rafe’s voice. It had to be some ridiculous hour of the morning, and she refused to get out of bed. Didn’t he have work to do?

“Rise and shine. Come on, Ari — you can do it.” The obvious smile in his voice made her want to throttle him. She wasn’t a morning person on the best of days, but when she’d had only a few hours of sleep, she was especially grumpy.

She’d received only a little sleep the night before last, and then spent yesterday recovering from her adventure with Rafe’s sisters. As she thought about yesterday, Rafe’s kiss with the slutty girl at the pool came flooding back, and she pulled the pillow over her head. She had no desire whatsoever even to speak to him.

He hadn’t come back to their room last night, so he’d most likely spent it with the blonde bimbo. Well, Ari didn’t care. He could do whatever he wanted. It wasn’t as if she liked him or anything, she thought angrily.

When the covers on the bottom of the bed moved, she seriously thought about kicking him as he exposed her feet. The room was a bit chilly and she just wanted a couple of hours of additional shut-eye; she certainly didn’t want to think about him.

“If you leave me alone, I promise to not kill you.”

“Ah, Ari, you can’t stay mad at me forever. I have a lot planned today. I don’t normally apologize, but I may have been out of line yesterday. I wasn’t into that woman at all. I was just pissed off about you and the bachelor party.”

Ari was shocked to hear him admit to jealousy. Was he telling her the truth? Could he truly have been acting out of some weird need for revenge, and not from lust for someone else? Did it matter? He was still slime.

“Come on. I promise if you let it go, I’ll make it up to you. I have a full day and night planned.” Ari felt herself starting to thaw, though she didn’t want to. She kept silent as she tried to hold on to her grudge against him.

When she felt him sit on the bed and lift her foot onto his lap, she knew he wasn’t giving up. Just when she was about to snap at him, he applied pressure to the ball of her foot and a groan emerged from her mouth instead of the snarling words hanging on the tip of her tongue.

His strong fingers massaged her foot, rubbing from the heels to her toes and back again. Thoughts of sleep evaporated as he soothed her sore ankles. As gorgeous as high heels made her legs, the pain at the end of the night rendered such shoes almost not worth wearing.

When Rafe set her foot down, she whimpered, not wanting him to stop his soothing ministrations. He chuckled, and she was tempted to throw her pillow at him until he picked up her other foot and gave it equal attention.

“OK, I forgive you. But only if you do that every single morning,” she said as he kneaded her foot, and then moved up her calf.

“Ari, I have no problem touching you every minute of the day,” he replied, making her heart skip a couple beats.

Several more minutes passed before she felt him rise from the bed. That had gone by far too quickly and she was now wide awake.

Still, if she rolled over, and put a pillow over her head, she might be able to fall back to sleep. She was more than willing to give it a try.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Rafe said and ripped the blankets off her. Sitting up with a pout, Ari pushed her tangled hair from her face.

“What’s the hurry to get me out of bed? Don’t you have meetings all day?” she grumbled.

“No. I canceled all of them. I told you that I have planned the whole day to make up for yesterday. It will be fun; you’ll see.”

The look on Rafe’s face and the surprise of his words washed the last of Ari’s cobwebs from her sleep-deprived brain. He looked…excited. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him look quite so upbeat before.

“OK,” she agreed without any further arguments. She wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to spend a day with him when he was acting so pleasantly out of character. Maybe the Vegas sun had fried some of his brain. Whatever it was, she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Ari jumped from the bed, and before she could take a step, he swatted her lightly on the butt, making her turn and glare at him.

“Get a move on, woman,” he said as he walked from the room whistling.

Ari watched him leave with her mouth hanging open. Who the heck was this guy? And what had he done with her Rafe? She’d expected the rest of their trip to be awkward and miserable, but instead, Rafe was acting almost cheerful and carefree. She didn’t know if she should be worried about the other side of the coin flipping over and jinxing her.

Confusion leading the way, Ari stepped into the bathroom and turned on the faucets. A hot shower, followed by a steaming cup of tea, and she’d be ready to face the day.

She hurried through the shower, then wrapped herself in the hotel’s soft robe before she made her way to the small table by the large windows overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. In the early morning hours, she enjoyed sipping on her tea as she watched the city begin to wake up.

“What are the plans for today?” she asked him as the caffeine kicked in. She finished her first cup and poured a second before picking up a croissant and taking a bite.

“That is to remain a surprise,” he answered as he browsed through the paper.

“I need a clue, at least, so I know what to wear,” she replied. It was a good excuse to get some kind of answer.

“A pair of jeans and a T-shirt will be fine.”

That didn’t tell her anything. They could just be strolling the Strip for all she knew. But watching Rafe while he read the paper, Ari realized she didn’t care what they did. This wouldn’t be a business function or some event where she was commanded to be the perfect mistress — it would be a real date, where they spent actual time together having fun.