Page 29 of The Bride's Billionaire

“True enough.”

A group of young men, teenagers dressed in white, gathered on the sidewalk behind them. Kayla grinned. “Capoeira. This will be good.”

“Is this that fight dancing?”

“Yes. Well, I’m not sure, but it looks like a form of fight dancing. Let’s watch for a minute.”

The men faced each other while others formed a circle around them and the two in the center moved forward and back, swinging legs in wide arcs, turning flips in the air, missing each other sometimes by a hair but never touching. It looked like an intricately planned dance.

“This is incredible. Do they practice?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that’s what they’re doing right now.”

After a few more minutes, when the crowds picked back up, Tyler and Kayla tipped their bikes and got on, heading back down the beach.

But they didn’t go long before Kayla’s phone rang. “I’m sorry I have to take this.” She looked concerned.

He held her bike while she stepped out of earshot, facing away from him. Her shoulders tensed, her head lowered, and he suspected it was a difficult conversation.

When she returned, she sighed. “Not good news.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. But here’s something we should take a look at.” She swiped at her phone a few times and came to stand beside him. “Apparently, we’re a big YouTube sensation, especially down here.”

“What?”

She found what she was looking for, and they stood close to watch it. “We’re trending in a few places.”

When the video started, she sucked in a breath. It was of the moment the other night when Tyler had dropped to one knee while the crowd around them shouted, “Agora, agora!”“They don’t post our names anywhere, but my brother recognized me and called to ask if I had news to share.”

“Did this mess up anything at home?”

She shook her head. “Oh, no. I mean, I may have to explain a few things. But this is nothing. What about for you?”

“I haven’t heard a word about it from anyone at home, and if I did, they’d think it was a classic escapade of mine. I was telling the Antar guys about it when you came in the first day.”

“I heard you.” She shook her head. “It’s an amazing story. And I’m glad it brought in more customers for the bar. Looked like they could use a revamp.”

“I don’t know if they would renovate. They’ve been like that forever.” He looked more closely at her face. “Was this the only reason your brother called?”

Her face darkened. “No. Everything’s falling apart at home.” She tried to be brave, to keep her face stoic. He saw the effort, the blinking away of tears, and his heart clenched on her behalf. “What can I do?”

She waved him away. “There’s nothing to be done. We just wait and see on the bid, and hope things work out.” She amended. “For both of us.”

He didn’t know how that would be possible, but he looked forward to this evening as much as he dreaded it, and that was a new position for him to be in, especially on the cusp of winning a fantastic new client.

Chapter 12

Kayla got ready for their evening dinner with a great heaviness weighing her down. She should be celebrating. A winning bid from Antar could help free her up and shoot her company to a new place of success where she could then hopefully pass off much of the decision-making to others.

But her brother had called again. Melissa, his wife, was doing worse. The newest medication wasn’t taking the edge off of her depression, and he worried more than ever about leaving her alone or with the children.

Kayla’s mother had been stepping in as much as possible, but she had picked up one of the children during a tantrum of kicking and screaming and tweaked her own back. So she had to take a break until she healed. The new medication, the potential of twenty-four-hour hospital stays that could last weeks and months, treatment centers, homes...her brother was at his absolute wits’ end, and she didn’t blame him. And then just now, her vice president had called, wanting to quit. Kayla had been training Manuela for weeks, working with her, helping her learn as much as she could so that Kayla could hand more off to her. Working to train a new vice president to do the same felt overwhelming to her. Taking on a large presence in Brazil would free her up financially, but bind her down in all other ways, especially when those closest to her were less and less help. She told Manuela to help them find a replacement, in the company or out, and hung up.

She tried to sigh out some of her tension, but nothing seemed to take the edge off of her stress knots. So she spent extra time on her hair and makeup, as well as the rest of her appearance, and left her room right on time to join Tyler in the hall.

His appreciative once-over made her smile. “You are one beautiful woman, Miss Finley.” His tux fit tight across his broad shoulders, the white collar and bowtie at his neck contrasting his tanned skin well.

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