Book Read Free

Surrender to Me

Page 15

by Donna Hill

Leading up to her trip abroad, Rafe and Avery spent all of their free time together. As promised he took her to and picked her up from work and they returned to his home in Arlington. The time between them was beyond anything either of them expected. It was easy and fun, they were in tune with each other’s moods and needs.

  Avery knew that she was falling hard for Rafe. There was no way to deny it and there was no turning back. She was all in. Yet she couldn’t shake the echoes of doubt that sometimes crept into her subconscious and whispered in her ear that Rafe Lawson was still untamable. She noticed the sparks of restlessness in him, the faraway look in his eyes that he got at times when he thought she wasn’t watching. When she would ask him what was on his mind, he would blow it off and say that he was thinking about a piece of music. Then there were times when he would go out on his bike for hours at night, only saying that he wanted to keep his bike in shape, and he would return quiet and subdued and his lovemaking was fierce as if he only wanted to block out whatever it was that haunted him. Those were the times that the whispers grew louder. Perhaps this time away from each other was what they both needed.

  * * *

  “I’ll call you when I get settled,” she said when they pulled up in front of her office building.

  “Make sure that you do.”

  That smile.

  “Are you going back tonight or in the morning? You didn’t say.”

  “Tonight.”

  She nodded.

  “Well, you better get going.” He leaned over and cupped the back of her head. “You be safe.”

  “I will.”

  He kissed her long and slow and it shook away the misgivings that fluttered in her belly.

  “I’ll call you tonight.” She opened the door and got out.

  He popped the trunk, got out and came around to take her bag out. He stood in front of her and gently brushed his thumb along her bottom lip, leaned down and kissed the spot he’d touched. “Go,” he said, his voice suddenly thick.

  She grabbed the handle of her suitcase, turned and walked away. When she got to the door she stopped and looked behind her but he was already pulling off.

  Chapter 21

  It had been over a year since she’d been to Paris and the city of lights was as spectacular as she remembered. She only wished that she would have the time to explore, but their schedule was tight. They had to accompany the dignitaries from the US to all the meetings and stand at post during the hours-long meetings and escort them back to the hotel. She had to remain on call in the event that any of them decided they wanted to venture out of the hotel.

  She’d called Rafe when she arrived and only got his voice mail. Her apprehension grew but then he called right back saying that he missed her already and wanted to know how the flight was, how her room was and what her schedule was. They talked and laughed as if he was only down the street and not a half a world away. She told him she’d run into his father on several occasions, but he was nothing but cordial.

  They talked every night. It was the highlight of her day, but halfway through her assignment, she was called in by the Paris bureau chief.

  “You wanted to see me, sir?”

  “Yes, Agent Richards. Please have a seat. I’ve received orders from the main office. After the Summit is completed next week you are to be reassigned to remain here at the Embassy for six months. You will be relieving Agent Morrison.”

  Avery blinked in disbelief. “Sir. I don’t understand. I’m supposed to return home next week.”

  “Circumstances have apparently changed. If there is a problem you will have to take it up with Director Fischer. The orders came from him. I’m sure he will be more than happy to explain further. It’s out of my hands. You will be provided with living accommodations, of course.”

  He continued to talk but Avery had tuned him out. This couldn’t be happening. Not now.

  “If I can be of any assistance to you during your transition, my door is always open.”

  Avery focused on the bureau chief. She swallowed. “Yes, sir. Thank you.” She pushed up from her seat and walked out.

  As soon as she returned to her hotel room she called her father’s office. She knew deep in her gut that he was behind this “change in her assignment.” His secretary said that he was in meetings all day but she would surely pass along the message that she’d called. Avery called her father’s cell phone and only got voice mail.

  Then she called Rafe.

  * * *

  Avery had barely been gone a week and Rafe did everything he could to keep himself from thinking about her all day long. He’d thought that the time apart would do them both good. It would give him a chance to clear his head and try to figure out exactly what he wanted to do. If anything it did the direct opposite. All he could think about was when he would speak to her again and how many more days it would be before she returned. He never expected to feel the punch in the gut when she told him it would be six months before she was back in the States.

  “Can they do that?”

  “Actually, yes,” she said and sniffed. “It’s part of the job, but I know my father had a hand in this. There is no other explanation. I’m up for a promotion, so why station me here?”

  He tried to imagine not seeing her for six months and couldn’t. But he, too, had strings that bound him. He needed to be in the studio for at least the next month to finish up the album and then there was the editing and mastering.

  “Listen, we’ll figure this out.”

  “How?”

  He pushed out a breath. “We will. Look, I’ll talk with you tomorrow. You try and get some rest. Stay focused.”

  “All right,” she said, her throat tight.

  Rafe tossed the phone aside, stood up from the bed and began to pace. He walked to the window and stared out at the bright afternoon sun. He slid his hands into his pants pockets. When he’d first spotted Avery at his grandfather’s birthday party, he was totally attracted to the physical woman. Their brief conversation and her apparent dismissal of him sparked his interest and curiosity. So he did what he always did—he went on the hunt, determined to capture the game. When he found out that there was a feud between his father and hers it spurred him to toss a match and ignite a fire. He’d even gone so far as to try to see other women, cut Avery out of his life, but he couldn’t. The harder he tried the more difficult it became and he realized that he was fighting against the inevitable. She had seeped her way into his soul, made him feel again, made him believe that he could be happy again. And for the first time since Janae he was, and he no longer felt guilty.

  He picked up the phone. He’d told Avery that they would work it out, and they would.

  * * *

  Avery and the other team of agents were in the hotel lobby doing a sweep before bringing through the committee members for the next-to-last day of their meetings. Her heart nearly stopped when she spotted Rafe at the reception desk. It took all she had not to run to him. He flashed her a conspiratorial wink and a smile before he was escorted to his room by the bellhop.

  Avery could barely stay focused on her duties when all she could think about was that Rafe was here. The meeting dragged on forever and a day before her shift finally ended. Once the committee members were secured and their evening schedules verified, Avery, as casually as she could manage, went to reception and asked for his room number using her agent status to bypass the protocol of not giving out information on guests at the hotel.

  * * *

  She held her breath, knocked on his room door and waited.

  Rafe pulled the door open and she would swear on a stack of bibles that all the lights in Paris had truly come on.

  “Hey, darlin’,” he said in that easy drawl.

  She ran into his open arms and he lifted her off the ground and kissed her the way he’d
been dreaming about since she’d left.

  Finally he set her on her feet. She looked up at him and stroked his face. “What are you doing here?”

  “Thought that was obvious,” he teased. “I was in the neighborhood, figured I’d come see my lady.”

  Her heart raced so hard and fast that she felt giddy and light-headed.

  Rafe pushed the door closed. “You done for the day?”

  “Yes.”

  “So the evening is ours?”

  “Definitely. At least it should be. I’m always on call.”

  “We’ll go with the flow.” He stepped back. “Let me look at you.”

  She laughed and did a slow pirouette.

  “Hmmm. Definitely better in person.”

  Avery planted her hands on her hips. “Seriously, what are you doing here? You said you had to work on the album, you had deadlines...”

  “Pays to have friends. I worked it out with the producers. They hooked me up with a studio here so that I can work on the tracks and not fall too far behind schedule. I do need to meet up with them in the morning and set up some time frames.”

  “I’m impressed.” She sat down on the couch. “How long can you stay?”

  “As long as I need to.”

  She crossed her legs and linked her fingers on her knee. “I need to ask you something.”

  “Uh-oh.” He plopped down next to her and draped his arm along the back of the couch. “Ask.”

  “How can I put this? Um, I know that your family is...well off. I know that you have your own plane, you travel on a whim...your music is successful...but where does your money come from? I mean, you don’t have a ‘traditional’ job, for lack of a better word. I mean other than your club.”

  Rafe fought to contain his laughter. “You starting to think I’m just a layabout?”

  “No,” she squeaked. “I’m just trying to understand.”

  He rested his head back and looked toward the ceiling. “My great-grandfather was a sharecropper for a wealthy white family in New Orleans. He was a hard and faithful worker. So much so, that when the owner died he gave my great-grandfather a parcel of land. He and my great-grandmother worked that land and bought some more. They were the first real black landowners in the parish. Between the land and the businesses he built a small fortune that he passed down. With each generation the family wealth grew. My father gave each of us—me and my siblings—our inheritance when we turned twenty-five. I guess I got some of my nose for the land from my great-grandfather. I invested in land development. It’s not something that I announce to anyone for a variety of reasons, but I run two major development corporations. We specialize in affordable housing and rebuilding. Then there are the production companies that produce local musical artists as well as concert development and promotion. The businesses,” he turned to her and grinned, “are doing very well. Then there are the investments...”

  Avery stared at him in astonishment. “Why wouldn’t you tell me all this?”

  He gave a slight shrug. “No need. But now you know. Does it change anything?”

  “No, but it explains a lot. So the studios, those are yours?”

  He nodded with a sheepish grin.

  Avery shook her head in amusement. “And the housing—how many developments have you worked on?”

  “Several in the Lower Ninth Ward in N’awlins. One in Calcasieu Parish in Lake Charles, two in Baton Rouge.”

  “Does your father know any of this?”

  “Probably. Not much gets past him.”

  “So if you’re so successful on your own, why the animosity between you and your father? You not going into politics is that important to him?”

  Rafe blew out a breath. “There’s that,” he said quietly.

  “And...?”

  He looked away. Slowly he told her about losing his mother, how deeply he was affected by it. He told her that he was the one that was at his mother’s bedside when she died. And when he needed his father he turned all his attention to his career, all but abandoning his family. “It was the only thing that mattered to him for his sons,” he said, his voice taking on an edge. “He wanted to carve a new family legacy in politics and anyone that wasn’t on board got left behind.” His jaw tightened.

  Avery reached out and took his hand in hers. “Everyone grieves in their own way, Rafe. You...of all people should understand that. Your father turned to his career to hide his hurt and pain and loss. You turn to women, and drown your hurt in bourbon, and risk your life on highways and in the sky. It’s how you deal with your own hurt and loss.” She turned fully toward him and took his face in her hands. “You don’t have to hide behind anything anymore.” Her eyes stroked his face. “Not anymore,” she whispered.

  His nostrils flared and he rocked his jaw. The pounding in his chest intensified. He knew she was right. It was a truth that he’d struggled with accepting and still had not reconciled with it. He pushed up from the couch. With his head lowered he walked partway across the room. He kept his back to her.

  “Why?” he asked quietly.

  Avery came up behind him and slid her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his back. “Because I won’t let you.”

  Rafe slowly swung around. The right corner of his mouth curved upward ever so slightly. “You’re gonna have your hands full saving me from myself.”

  She ran the tip of her finger across his chin. “I work for one of the biggest, baddest gangs in the world, the US government. I protect people that sometimes I don’t even like and I’m damn good with a gun. I think I can handle one...complex...stubborn...dangerously handsome...crazy talented...sexy man.”

  He bathed her in his smile. “So you think I’m sexy?” he teased.

  She playfully slapped his arm. “I think I may need to check your sexy status.”

  “I aim to please,” he said and pulled her in for a kiss.

  Chapter 22

  While Avery worked during the day, Rafe spent his time in the Paris studio location and even worked out a deal to play at one of the exclusive nightclubs while he was in the city to test out some of his new music on a live audience.

  For months he’d struggled with getting his muse back. Now the music flowed from him like the air he breathed and he knew it was because of Avery. When he composed he thought of her and when he played she was in every note.

  Unfortunately, they had to be very discreet with the time they spent together, so Avery generally waited until late in the evening to come to his room and left before sunrise to return to her own. They couldn’t go out on the town together, but soon that would no longer be a factor.

  It was the last day of the summit and she was officially off duty at the end of her shift. Before she started at the Embassy she had a week off and she and Rafe planned to explore the city together. He was scheduled to play a late set that evening and Avery looked forward to getting out and listening to him mesmerize the audience.

  “I have to go,” she whispered.

  “What time is it?” he asked groggily and reached for her beneath the sheets.

  “No. Stop,” she giggled and swatted his hand away. “I have to get back to my room.” She tossed the sheet aside and got out of bed, barely escaping his grasp.

  “Are you going over to the studio today?” she asked while she got dressed.

  He stretched and yawned. “Hmm, later this afternoon. But I should be back by seven.”

  She buttoned her blouse. “I’ll be here when you get back.” She leaned over and kissed him. “Stay out of trouble.”

  “Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Try harder.” She hurried out, easing the door shut.

  Rafe tucked his hands beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling. In case things didn’t go well he hadn’t told Avery that he’d contact
ed his father and planned to meet him later. When he’d called his father’s room and told him that he was in Paris, Branford didn’t seem the least bit surprised, almost as if he was expecting him. Rafe wouldn’t put it past his father to know his whereabouts, and for whatever reason, for once, it didn’t matter. In a strange way it made him feel kind of good to know that even though he and Branford had this fence between them, his father still kept an eye out.

  Rafe slowly sat up. The past months had changed him, or rather the time with Avery changed him. He wasn’t sure what the exact turning point was, the moment that he decided to give in. If he thought about it, there was no specific event. There were little things: getting to know her, seeing her willing to risk her relationship with her father for them to be together. She understood his past and it didn’t matter. Instead of his past hurts and resentments pushing her away, it seemed to strengthen her and in turn it fortified him. He’d never dropped everything to jump on a plane and fly halfway across the world for a woman, or turn up on her doorstep to ask for forgiveness. Not even for Janae.

  After losing Janae he didn’t believe that he would ever love again. He didn’t want to and fought it every step of the way, but he was in love with Avery. Of all the women he’d known she was the one that seeped into his soul and settled in for the ride. The realization shook him to the depths of his being and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from his soul.

  But if he was ever going to be truly free he would to have to cut the tie that bound him to the hurt of the past. Avery was right. People grieved in their own way. His father chose to bury himself in work, built a wall around his emotions so that he would never feel the kind of loss he felt after losing his wife. He’d done the same thing as his father. As much as he’d tried to deny it, he was more like his father than he’d been willing to admit. It was probably why they always bumped heads.

  He drew in a long deep breath. Making peace with his father. He shook his head in amazement. If they were as much alike as he was beginning to realize then his father would be ready to mend fences, as well.

 

‹ Prev