Page 29 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

“I don’t want you around him.”

“You’re a thug, Caio Oliveira,” Nush said, turning to him, gaze pinning him. “A bully. An arrogant ass. And I don’t need your pity. It’s bad enough...”

“Bad enough what, Nush? What was so bad that you’ve been running from me all night?”

“I’m not running from anything. I smiled at that mockery of a ceremony. I ate cake and laughed about the silly jokes everyone made about how you’ve had to jump in and save the poor, plain, weird Reddy sister again. I signed every piece of paper you put in front of me. And when you told me to leave, I followed your order, without looking back, like a good little solider.”

Her voice was full of an ache that he knew he was the cause of. It terrified him like nothing else had ever done. Her lower lip wobbled before she bit down on it.

“You’re acting like this was a real wedding day...”

“What would make it real then?”

His question vibrated in the air around them with all the intensity of a lightning strike. And suddenly, Caio wondered if it could be that simple. If that was what he’d been fighting against since she’d walked into his office and declared her outrageous proposal.

The idea of simply keeping Nush was a dangerous thought on so many levels and yet so alluringly appealing to the deepest core of desires and wants he’d buried under need for vengeance. Suddenly the sweet forbidden temptation that she was, was very much within reach. And he knew he wasn’t going to be able to let go of her.

Not now.

Not ever.

“What are you saying?” Nush said in a whisper.

“What would it take from me to make it real? A promise of fidelity? My commitment to make this work? My word that I don’t want anyone else? Only you.” Lightning flashed across the sky as if to underscore the fierce resolve in his words. A tremor skittered across her shoulders. “Ever since that kiss, all I’ve done is think of what else I’d do with you.” She didn’t say anything for so long that Caio felt a flicker of unfamiliar fear twist through his gut. “Come, Princess. You’re in pain. We can discuss this later when—”

“You want this to be real? Our...” she stumbled over the word, “marriage? When did you decide that?”

Shedding his jacket, he draped it around her shoulders, careful to not jostle her wrist. “I see no reason why it can’t be the real thing. Not when we both want each other, not when we’re already tied to each other. Not when I know no other woman would give me the kind of...loyalty that you do. The ceremony we had, the dress, the cake, the guests, the ring...it spooked you because it felt too real, didn’t it?”

Even in the little illumination, he could see the shock in her eyes. “Why did you go to such trouble?”

“I only plan to get married once,querida, and I thought it a fitting tribute to your grandparents’ memory to have it at their house.”

She pushed at him with an angry growl. “Don’t play games with me, Caio. Please. This...what you’re proposing, it can’t have anything to do with Thaata or OneTech or anything else. It has to be about you and me. If not, if you’re playing with my feelings for any other reason, then you’re...you’re a monster and I’d never forgive you.”

Her gaze held his in a silent, soft challenge and yet her words struck him hard at his core. Mira’s words came to him and he marveled at how well she knew Nush. If he got this wrong, if he ruined this between him and Nush, if he fractured her faith in him, it would shatter her and that in return would destroy him. At a level from which he’d never recover.

It was a risk with odds set high for failure because he could never give Nush all of himself. Parts of him had been lost long ago, to even himself.

And yet, the want in his gut persisted. The idea of leaving Nush behind as he watched the destruction he’d set in motion alone, thousands of miles away from her, felt empty. All his hard work and persistence and sacrifices, everything he’d denied himself in the pursuit of revenge...couldn’t she be the respite he allowed himself? Wasn’t he allowed to be selfish for once?

He knew her more than he did any other woman. He liked her company, he trusted her and damn it to hell, but he wanted to finish what she’d started in that study. He wanted to take her to his bed and keep her there until all she knew was him.

It was just a matter of making sure she knew what he could give and what he couldn’t. And he’d begin with the truth. At least in this. “When I made the arrangements, it was to ward off filthy rumors that I was taking advantage of you. I wanted the board and the world to see that it was more than a convenient paper arrangement. That you and I share more.”

“But we don’t share anything more and itisnothing but a filthy, monetary transaction—that you kicked me out of that room before my signature dried is proof enough.”

“I’ve been working toward a...time-sensitive acquisition for a long time,” he said, hating that he’d already hurt her. “That paperwork needed to be signed and sealed before I left town.”

“You turned the wedding into an empty mockery of the real thing when you know how much I... Maybe you were right that I don’t really know the real you,” she said in a defeated tone that sounded like a death knell. “Not two weeks ago, you told me we can’t have that sort of relationship. You said it was the biggest mistake of your life to kiss me. So what’s changed?”

Caio picked his words carefully. “Marriage is not some cheap, dirty affair, Nush. It’s a commitment, bigger than anything I’ve ever made to anyone. Doesn’t that say something?”

She searched his eyes. “You’re not letting me have you as some sort of medieval honor payment because I signed over my stock to you without a peep, are you?”

Hand under her chin, he tilted her face up, letting her see the desire he’d been fighting from the moment she’d touched her lips to his. “There’s nothing honorable about what I want to do to you. Is that answer enough?” He didn’t have to bend too much to speak at her ear and he loved that too. He loved that she fit so well against him, that she fit so well into his life. The shiver that wrecked her when their bodies grazed found an answering thrum in him. “As for who’s going to have whom...we’ll see about that,querida.”

She licked her lips and he groaned. “And if it’s horrible and boring and clunky...then what? You’ll return me with a patched-up label and the deal’s off?”

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