Page 1 of His Willing Wife

Chapter One

Luca Winters stared down at the imageplaying out before him on his cell phone. It wasn’t some kind oftop-rate television show, nor was it any kind of porn. The videoplaying was of his wife.

His wife.

Those two words were still quiteimpossible to roll off the tongue, but they did.He’d never intended tohave a wife, but when he saw an opportunity in taking over theGoodwin Empire, he’d decided to throw Tillie Goodwin into the deal.The youngest daughter, who had completely taken him by surprise.The Goodwin empire had been in trouble for nearly five years. He’dwatched the gradual fall, until they had almost declaredbankruptcy. Luca had his eye on the company for much longer than ithad been failing. He’d waited for the right opportunity to strike.For three months, he sat in meetings with his lawyers and theirlawyers, trying to negotiate terms, on how best to finally make thecompany his.

He’d just been about to close the deal,after working through it with her father, brother, and even heruncle, and then he’d gotten a visit just before signing day. Tilliehad arrived in his office. Over the years he’d seen pictures of theyoung woman, but most of them had been blurry. She’d tried to stayout of the public eye, and seeing as her brother considered himselfa Lothario, the media lapped up his shenanigans like it was the bread that fedthem.

As for Tillie, she lived a quiet life, andfor the most part he didn’t have a clue what she did behind thescenes, but she had come to him, pleading. Not for herself, like hehad expected, or asking for more money. No, she had asked him toconsider what he did with the company he purchased.

At first, he was shocked to finally meetthe Goodwin daughter. The fact she pleaded for the workers, not forherself or her family, told him she cared for theworkers.

“I have researched what you do and I knowyou … like to tear up companies, dismantle what you don’t want,discard what is draining money, but I want to remind you that noneof this comes without consequences. There are hardworking peoplewho have done an amazing job for Goodwin and they deserve to betreated as such. All I ask, no, all I beg, is you consider theirlivelihoods first.”

It had been a long time since he’d seenanyone so considerate of others. Tillie wasn’t what he expected.He’d known plenty ofheiresses and hadn’t been impressed with most of them. Tilliewasn’t selfish like them.

She’d asked him nicely and then fought thecase, and he’d been so completely lost in her argument he’d simplynot said anything.

Once she realized there was nothing more shecould do, she got to her feet, about ready to leave, and then itgot interesting.

“Tell me, Miss Goodwin, just how far areyou willing to go for your workers?” he asked.

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“It’s simple, really. If youwant me to consider keeping your father’s empire without making too manychanges, then I’m going to need something in return.”

“What do you want?”

“How about you become mine?”

“What?”

“Marry me, obey me, serve me, and I willmake sure there is not a single good worker who loses their job.I’m not going to keep bad workers or lazy workers, but decent,hardworking people can stay. The others, I’ll cut them loose, butin return I get you, one hundred percent.”

This meeting had taken place three monthsago. They had marriedtwo weeks ago, and on their wedding night, Tillie had served himanother surprise—she’d been avirgin. Her family had been thrilled, if not a little taken abackby the sudden announcement of their upcoming marriage.

The sudden change in the relationship hadcome with a few … problems of their own. The first one simply beingthat negotiations had to change tactic. He owned the Goodwinempire, but her father and brother still remained in positions.Rather than making any decisions, they consulted him andhe made the final ones.So far, it had worked, but it had only been three months, and ittook awhile for some changes to be accepted. He wasn’t sure if herfather or brother were happy, but he knew her unclewasn’t.

Luca had discovered the uncle’s area inthe business was draining money faster than it was making, and ithad something to do with his technological approach. After muchdiscussion and multiple presentations, it had been agreed hisbudget would be removed, the staff placed elsewhere, and theuncle let go. He’d sofar been the only loss of staff, and from what Luca could see, thebiggest cause of the whole company’s problems.

Now, his other little problem was his ratherconfusing wife. Well, Tillie wasn’t confusing. She was the sameTillie, only now she belonged to him, and, well, he didn’t knowwhat to do with a wife. After finding out she was a virgin, he’dkept his distance.

He only allowed himself to look at her onthe security cameras he had placed around his home.

Tillie was once again inthe kitchen. It waslate, a little after seven, but there she was, hair pinned back,apron on, and cooking or baking something. From the informationhe’d gathered from her brother and father, Tillie was a homemaker.She didn’t like the limelight or the cameras. She had a ratherscary interaction with the press, and since that day, she hadsteered clear of them. He didn’t know exactly what it was thatcaused her fear, but he could imagine to a young person—which iswhat she’d been at the time—it could be ratherfrightening.

Luca didn’t understand her. He didn’t have aclue what made her tick, and how on earth did atwenty-five-year-old woman remain a damn virgin? Their weddingnight had been a disaster, and he’d given her a break, allowed herto get used to the idea of being married to him.

He’d kept his distance, but his needs werestarting to reignite. From the moment he had seen Tillie, he’d feltthis overwhelming attraction to her that he couldn’t deny. Thecamera angle was all wrong, but he knew hidden behind that counter was a body he craved.Full, ripe tits with nice, large nipples, and they were more than ahandful; he knew because he’d tested the weight of them himself.She did have a small waist, which flared out to wide hips, fullthighs, and a curvy ass. One designed to constantly have his handtouching it. She’d pulled her long brown hair back into a messy bunto keep it out of the way. Behind the apron, he saw one of the manywhite V-neck shirts he knew she owned.

Tillie wore anything andeverything. He’d seenher in jeans, pants, sweats, skirts, dresses, and she didn’t have aproblem wearing the same things either. Again, he didn’t understandhis wife.

Running a hand down his face, he had meantto be cruel when he offered her a marriage contract, but insteadshe’d taken the deal and now he had no choice but to followthrough. There was so much that could be saved at her father’scompany.

Luca watched as she dolloped mounds of whatappeared to be cookie dough onto baking sheets.

What the fuck had this woman done to him? He’d never been soobsessed with a woman before in his life. They were a means to anend, and yet here he was, getting no work done, and insteadwatching a woman through the security cameras he’d set up when hemarried her.

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