Page 14 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

“What?”

“I’ll hurt you.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Nush said, striving for a levity she didn’t feel. “It was an accident.”

He sprang to his feet and away from her with that grace that, for once, couldn’t hide the fact that he didn’t want her to touch him anymore.

Nush stayed still, hope deflating inside her chest as fast as it had grown. Dread chased away every spark of pleasure. She’d thought to let him know of her desire, to let him see it, to find out that he didn’t return her interest, or that he didn’t feel the same attraction would be the hardest part of this.

But it wasn’t. It was this waiting.

That Caio had kissed her back, that even now his broad frame shook with tension was easy to see. That she’d only felt a part of something that had already existed between them was clear.

But waiting for his reaction to what they’d done, waiting to see what he’d say to her in the wake of the best kiss of her life...this was the hardest part. She felt as if her vulnerability was written all over her face, a giant neon sign waiting for his decision.

For long seconds, he looked at that framed photo of the three of them again.

“Caio?”

A rough thrust of his fingers through his hair. When he spoke, he sounded cool, distant. As if the kiss hadn’t affected him at all. “I should’ve stopped you. I will regret it for the rest of my life that I didn’t.”

Nush flinched as if he’d dealt her a body blow.

Caio wished he could take back the words instantly.

Cristo, he was full of a contrariness that he couldn’t fathom. He didn’t want to hurt her. Ever. And yet, that meant hurting her now. Killing the hope he saw in her eyes now before it was too late.

“That can’t happen again, Nush,” he said softly.

“And yet, it just did.” Her chin tilted up in a stubborn streak he knew so well. “You kissed me back. And you enjoyed the hell out of it. I’ve kissed enough men to know the difference.”

“I don’t need a reminder of your colorful love life of the past year,” he said, the taste of her on his lips a teasing promise he wanted to explore further.

Something glinted in her eyes, a flash of such pure satisfaction, that it was only then Caio realized how...judgmental and even a little jealous he sounded.

The situation was unraveling, getting away from him faster than he could fix it. And it made him lash out in a way that he’d never been with her. He did it even though he hated himself for the cruelty in his words. “I was taken by surprise. You were crying and I didn’t want to upset you further by pulling away.”

“You’re a bastard,” she said, her chin rearing down. “How dare you twist something so real up like that?”

“You have no idea how close to truth you are in your assessment, Princesa. I’m a bastard when things don’t go my way. Let’s do each other a favor and forget it ever happened.”

Shoulders straightened, stretching the tee tight across her chest until he could see the sharp points of her nipples. Eyes swollen from having cried, mouth pink from his kisses, hair a haphazard halo around her face, she looked like one of those mythical warrior women she became in her role-playing games. The stubborn streak that made her survive without breaking would never take his suggestion sitting down. He couldn’t stop admiring the quality even as he needed to push her away.

“Admit that you lost yourself to the kiss as much as I did, that you want this as much as I do. If I hadn’t moaned out your name and broken the spell, you’d have been f—”

“There is no this, Nush,” he bit out, his voice low and urgent. “You and I can’t...happen.”

She blinked. Studied him thoughtfully. He could almost see her consider this from all points, gather her arsenal, make logical leaps. Damn it, that she approached this with the weight and logic and thought she gave everything made him want to kiss and rumple her all over. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Caio.”

“What are you asking me then?” The question left his mouth against his wishes. An arrow shooting out of the dark, slumbering place that was remembering how she’d felt in his arms. How she’d responded to every caress. How she’d melted against him. How, even now, he wanted to hear from her own lips what she wanted of him, what she’d wanted of him. “What is it that you think I’m denying you?”

She licked her lips, her gaze zeroing on his own. Lust was a sizzling burn in his limbs as his libido made leaps he’d never before made. “I...”

Hesitation danced in her eyes and he gobbled it up like the big bad wolf he was. Who did she think he was? A hero straight out of those fairy tales who’d give her a happily-ever-after? One of those honorable knights she was so fond of reading about? Maybe that was the problem. “A red-hot affair? A fling that would cheapen everything we mean to each other? A quick fuck against the wall in this room that belonged to the man we both lost?”

“Don’t bring Thaata into this.”

“You’re his precious granddaughter. He’s in the middle of everything you and I do.” He let out a long sigh, willing himself to appeal to her rationality. “I can’t dishonor Rao’s memory like that. I can’t...dishonor you like that.”

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