Page 22 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

“Jesus, Nush. Stop.”

She ran a hand over the damned tie and then played with the edges of it. Her nails, painted a dark rust color, shone bright. Like her presence suddenly brightened his office. “Look, if we’re going to be married, it’s better to set things straight from the beginning, don’t you think? I really don’t want to pretend like we don’t want to rip each other’s clothes off and—”

His hand on her shoulder shut her up. Pink crested her cheeks but the daring minx held his gaze steadily. “If this is some kind of twisted game of petty revenge—”

“I wouldn’t sink so low.” Her chin dipped to her chest. “After Mira told me about the will and how...shocked you were, I realized what a god-awful mess I’d be leaving OneTech in if I left. Drunk Peter let me know of his father’s plans for the hostile takeover. I...couldn’t sleep that night. To let Thaata’s hard work and vision go to waste like that, to see the culture of the company change from what you and he built, the thought of all of those community programs canceled...all so the board members could pad their already fat pockets. It would be nothing but sheer cowardice. So I scheduled a call with Aristos and we went over everything—”

“You went to your sister’s estranged husband?” That she had gone to Aristos instead of him incensed Caio.

“Yes. With Aristos, there are no preconceptions. He hears me, sees me.”

“And I don’t?”

A short laugh, full of scorn, escaped her lovely mouth. “We both know you don’t. Or rather you have an outdated version of me in your head that you won’t update. And it crashes the entire system.”

Caio knew she was right, at least to an extent. He had a lot of preconceptions about her. About the role he wanted her to play in his life. About keeping her separate from the dirty politics of his everyday life. About not letting anything in the world hurt her...and yet, it was becoming clear that those very notions were hurting her. That his refusal to accept her as she was now was hurting her.

“Does Mira know that you talked to him?” Caio asked, just to poke holes in her plan.

“No,” Nush said with a roll of her eyes that said she saw through his cheap tricks. “It’s got nothing to do with her, or you.”

“Why him?” Caio couldn’t help but admire her. She had covered all her bases, had thought of every possibility.

“Aristos has always been kind to me and he’s an internationally renowned corporate lawyer and someone I could trust and—”

“I have a hard time believing he told you to marry me.”

“No. He helped me understand how things stand. After this, I can go back to being—”

“Being my worker droid, you mean,” he said, feeling the sting afresh all over again. At least, Nush had the grace to look ashamed.

“Something like that.”

“You know, the number of times that comes up, I’m beginning to believe you truly think that I exploit your brain for personal gain. For the record, I resent that.”

“I was angry when I said that. I’m over it now. For you to use me would mean that you have to first see me as your equal, right? It would be an actual development in our stilted relationship. I’m realizing you’ve a very twisted set of values.”

“Nush...”

“Please, I can’t spend another minute explaining to you that it’s not abnormal or wrong or dirty somehow for me to want you. I’m twenty-three years old and yes, you’re fourteen years older than me, but it’s not like you’re my father or cousin or...anything even remotely bordering onewww.” Her chest rose and fell with her agitation. “Although now that it’s become clear how you see me, I’m half over it already. There’s nothing more pathetic than lusting after a man who thinks you’re a little girl who needs his protection.”

She was more woman than any he’d ever met, Caio wanted to say. There was anger and determination in her, but there was also fear and something else he couldn’t put his finger on. And yet, she was here. She’d taken the risk of approaching him with an idea despite the risk of his rejection again.

He held off all the words that rose to his lips, refusing to let his emotions drive him. He’d already done that once. He hadn’t been cruel on purpose, but he’d been hard on her.

Arms folded at his chest, he watched her—her fire, her mobile mouth, her disillusion with him. A part of him wanted to believe that her infatuation with him had truly passed. A part of him wanted to prove the opposite—with his mouth and hands and body—that she wasn’t over him. For the first time in almost two decades, his mind and his heart seemed to be going in opposite directions. Leaving him irritable and tense, distracting him from his goal.

And now her outrageous idea that they should marry...the greedy, grabby part of him said she was the most valuable possession he’d ever possessed, urged him to accept the proposition. For now, at least.

He hadn’t asked her for her help.

And yet, what if he hurt her tender feelings for him? Would he be able to face himself if he took advantage of her?

“I can see that you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” he said slowly, fighting for reason amidst two conflicting parts of himself, “but—”

“A lot of thought?” Nush snorted. “I’ve spent a week talking to people I don’t like, hanging out with Peter and his deadbeat friends listening to them talk about women as if they were dogs or horses, a day listening to my father bitch about Thaata and Nanamma and how they cheated him out of his rights and then I went to see Mama and she was in amood. You can’t believe I did any of it on a sudden whim.”

She settled onto the couch, and stretched her long legs out in front of her, her chin dropping to her chest. “I’m all peopled out, Caio. Probably for the next decade.” A long exhale shuddered out of her. “I don’t know what Thaata was thinking leaving me all that stock. They’re all piranhas and sharks and vultures and... I can even see why you have to be so ruthless day in, day out.”

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