Page 24 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

“Ahh.” Suddenly, the idea of Nush trying to seduce him sounded like a fantasy he hadn’t known he’d want. “What are those hopes?”

“Either we’ll have sex and I can work you out of my system—because all the fantasies I’ve spun about how good it will be can’t be real.” Her throat moved down on a hard swallow. “Or we don’t have sex but I realize what a controlling, arrogant, emotionally cold man you are and, hello...sweet liberation from two years of unrequited lust.”

Two years? She’d wanted him for two years? Not just months. Which meant she’d dated all those men for what?

Caio rubbed a hand over his face. If he’d needed any more proof that he didn’t really know Nush, here it was. Not once, by gesture or look, had she let on that she was attracted to him. Not once had she acted differently with him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” The question escaped his lips despite his resolution to not dwell on this giant elephant that populated their relationship now.

“It’s attraction, Caio. Desire. Lust. And this marriage...it’s just an amendment to our partnership, isn’t it? Like the one you suggested all those years ago. And when it’s over, I can move on with my life. Without you in it.”

She left without waiting for his assent. Because it was a given. They had no other choice.

Hehad no other choice. Not if he wanted to buy his stepfather’s company and break it off for parts. Not if he wanted to look him in the eyes and let the abusive bully see his destruction in Caio’s eyes.

Running a hand through his hair, he paced the length of his office, feeling like a caged tiger. For the first time in almost two decades, he felt like he’d been sucker punched.

He’d been angry with Rao for leaving all of his stock to Nush, for making her a target for both fortune hunters and the likes of Peter Huntington Sr., sharks already circling fresh blood. For leaving Caio with a god-awful mess instead of signing the papers that transferred his stock to Caio.

And yet, was this what his mentor had intended? For all he’d been a man of integrity, he’d played games like a maestro. Had Rao foreseen all along that Caio would be pushed to such lengths to protect both OneTech and even more importantly Nush? Or had he thought only to thwart what he’d called Caio’s corrosive, self-destructive need for revenge, even from beyond the grave?

And yet, Nush had delivered everything Caio needed straight into his hands. Along with herself.

In his wildest dreams, he hadn’t imagined that he’d be left with no other choice but to marry Nush. Or that every muscle in him would curl with anticipation.

Or most unthinkable of all—that the idea of marriage to the one woman who’d always brought out the best in him would fill him with a desperate need to make their arrangement permanentandreal.

CHAPTER SIX

NUSHSTAREDATthe beautiful diamond ring set in a princess setting and a simple platinum band, a boulder a hundred times the size of the twinkling diamond lodging in her throat.

If only the ring had been big and garish...

If only she hadn’t described the exact same style to Yana once at a jewelry store, which meant Caio had asked Yana what she’d like...

If only she hadn’t wished, with all the fervent hope of a fourteen-year-old, that she’d find a man exactly like Caio to marry one day...

If only she hadn’t let Yana persuade her to dress in a knee-length, ivory-colored sheath dress that made her look too much like a blushing, hopeful bride...

If only she hadn’t let Mira convince her to have the ceremony in the backyard of her grandparents’ house, just in case her mama wanted to attend.

If only Mama had stuck to her obstinate, hardheaded will and refused to attend.

If only all of them hadn’t been convinced that they had to at least make it look real and romantic with Peter Huntington Sr. spreading vile rumors about Caio’s supposed dark, wicked seduction of poor, innocent lamb that was her—because God forbid she could think for herself...

If only Caio hadn’t worn a black suit that made him look like her every fantasy come true...

If only she wasn’t a naive, impressionable, sorry idiot whose heart took dangerous flight when he stared at her with a thoughtful glint in his eyes when she arrived to stand by him...

If only her skin didn’t tingle every time he touched her even innocently...

If only she’d realized that sneaky universe granted your wishes if you weren’t careful—but not in the way you’d hoped for...

If only she hadn’t acted on her desire and kissed him and didn’t have to live with knowing how he tasted against her lips...

So manyif onlysthat should’ve stopped the fake ceremony from becoming all too real.

Until the moment when Caio had slid the ring onto her finger, she hadn’t pondered too much on how the moment would land. How many real dreams she’d woven around finding that special someone who’d always want her, love her, need her in return. How much she didn’t want to end up like her mom—angry and distant with a brittle self-sufficiency that had never served her or Nush well. How much shifting Caio into this new role in her mind and in her life made her feel anchorless, all of a sudden. How much of a raw, vulnerable and tangled mess a simple kiss could make of everything.

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