Page 17 of The Bride's Billionaire

Their trail curved round, through trees and then up a flight of stairs. They would be at the base of Cristo Redentor soon, Tyler assumed.

“Well, I told you already I know of Madame Rosario. I was able to spend some time in her shop yesterday.”

“Oh, are you going to be married too?” Rogerio and Mr. De Santos laughed and nudged Tyler. He forced a laugh to join them.

“Is Mr. Sperring going to be married?” She looked amused, but a new glint sparked at him, and he hurried to explain. “No, not—”

“He had the best date of his life last night, and it ended with a proposal.”Mr. De Santos grinned as though he had been there.

“And she said yes!” Rogerio clapped Tyler on the back.

“Wow,” Kayla laughed. “That’s some date.”

“That’s what we said. That’s how our Tyler is.” Rogerio’s eyes sparkled in pride. “He knows how to seal the deal.”

Kayla’s forehead wrinkled as she looked from Tyler to the other men. “How long have you two known each other?”

“For years. Tyler and I used to work together.”

She nodded.

At last, they reached the final segment of stairs. Tyler’s chest had started to ache with the climb. He hid his shortness of breath, but their night was catching up to him, and he could only go so far on morning caffeine. Kayla seemed pale and quiet but otherwise unaffected.

As he watched her purposely avoid looking at him still, he wondered for the first time if she’d left without giving him her number on purpose. Maybe she had really wanted to keep the night what it was, just one night of fun. And now here she was, stuck with more of him.Heh,he thought to himself. He was not giving up. He knew she was affected by him, or she had been. He would restrain his wondering and not give in to rash misunderstandings until they had a chance to talk. Until then, it was fun, this secret they shared.

“So, what else have you seen?” Tyler stepped up beside her. The others were still within earshot but perhaps they might have a moment without eavesdroppers.

She lifted her gaze to the others and then glanced his way with a slight roll of her eyes. Oh, to be able to read her mind. Then she said, “I had a lovely walk on the beach.”

Rogerio and Mr. De Santos talked for many minutes about their beaches and which ones were the best and how famous they were and well visited by tourists. He stepped close enough to her that they rubbed shoulders.

“And you, Tyler. What are some of your favorite haunts here in Rio?”

“Well, it’s not as if I’ve been able to spend as much time here as I would like, but I certainly enjoy a good samba.”

She snorted and looked away.

“Ho ho!” Rogerio clapped him on the back. “Do you know how to samba?” He shuffled his feet and wiggled his hips, and then Tyler joined him. He watched Kayla out of the corner of his eyes. She seemed an entirely different person today, perhaps, or maybe she was tired.

Rogerio called to her. “And you too, do you know the samba tambem?”

She laughed and started wiggling her hips just the way Tyler remembered. “Oh, yes, I do! It’s become one of my favorites.” She moved to the front of them, going backwards up the hill doing the samba.

He wanted to wrap his hands around her hips and dance again like they had at the dance club. But instead he clapped his hands. “Well done!”

She turned, and they crested the last bit of stairs to stand in front of the Cristo Redentor. Mr. De Santos crossed himself, and Kayla approached reverently. He tipped his head back. The statue was so much larger than he thought, especially because it sat on such a tall pedestal. It was boxy in shape and panned out above him in a twenty-eight-meter arm spread. “Wow, that’s remarkable.”

Rogerio nodded. “Yes, we are very proud of it, all over Brazil. It is in all the movies and talked about, much like your Statue of Liberty, isn’t it?”

Tyler nodded. “Yes, very much.”

Rogerio and De Santos circled around to the other side of the statue, and as soon as they were out of eyesight and earshot, he reached for her hand. “What. Are. The. Odds?”

She widened her eyes and pulled her hand away, watching for the men to return. Then she lifted the corner of her mouth. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night to be able to deal with this.” Her eyes narrowed in what he hoped was mock accusation.

“You got sleep?”

“Well, no.”

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